CATFOR D CONVERSATIONS WINTER 2019 ISSUE 4 Imagining Back the Catford’s Bakerloo Everything you need to know about future the Bakerloo Line Extension. How might London change over the PAGE 8 coming decades? PAGE 2 Winter SE6 Says news Updates from our summer The latest from Team Catford, including engagement events. the new home for Catford Cornucopia. PAGE 4 PAGE 10 Catford has evolved throughout the decades – what might the future hold? Lewisham Hippodrome, 135- 137 Rushey Green, Catford, c. 1912 Lewisham Local History and Archive Centre and Archive History Local Lewisham TEAM CATFORD WINTER 2019 Imagining Catford’s future The only thing that is constant is change. How we experience the city is According to the Mayor of London’s the next two decades. Catford town centre constantly evolving. The buildings we live Transport Strategy, London is predicted to has been identified within an Opportunity in, the ways in which we relax, socialise and grow to 10.8 million by 2041. As a zone 3 Area by the Mayor of London’s draft New travel to work are all being shaped by, and town centre within the city, Catford can no London Plan and in recognition of the for, new generations. longer be considered a mere suburb. growing demand, it is hoped phase two of Catford stands on the brink of its the Bakerloo Line Extension will connect biggest regeneration for generations and it Catford to the tube network for the first is worth reflecting on how the town centre Catford stands time. has developed over the decades. As the population of Catford rises over During the eighteenth century Catford on the brink of its the coming decades, the look and feel of was a small rural settlement – with its the town centre and the streetscape will name supposedly derived from the wildcats biggest regeneration shift. Transportation, public spaces and the that frequented the ‘ford’ over the River community infrastructure will need to be fit Ravensbourne. for generations to serve more people than ever before. Throughout the nineteenth century, Just as 10 years earlier, few would have over 150 National Rail stations opened south Whilst it is difficult to estimate exactly predicted that by 2008 the smartphone of the river, and small rural settlements how the population of Catford will grow, would become a ubiquitous presence and were carved into bustling urban centres as Lewisham as a borough is projected to completely transform our daily lives, it can the rail network developed and London’s have the second highest rate of growth be difficult to predict what the cities of the population grew. of all of London’s inner boroughs over future should and will look like. Above The changing face of Rushey Green TEAM CATFORD WINTER 2019 A tale of tall cities With the high cost of land in the Lewisham Local History and Archive Centre and Archive History Local Lewisham capital and limited availability of suitable Above Eros Cinema, Rushey Green,1959 brownfield sites, one of the ways in which London is responding to the need for a greater number of homes is by building up. The London Tall Buildings Survey 2019 published by New London Architecture found that there were 541 When will the The tastemakers tall buildings in the pipeline across the capital in 2018, with the potential to future arrive? of tomorrow deliver 110,000 new homes. These tall buildings are generally A 2015 survey by the World The regeneration of Catford going up in east (48%) and central (18%) Economic Forum, predicts that by town centre is set to be completed by London, with 11% of these in the pipeline 2025 we will reach significant tipping the mid-2030s and its new buildings for south London. At this rate the London points on a range of future defining will sit alongside historic parts of the we experience fifteen years from now is technologies. These include having town such as the iconic Broadway likely to be one in which neighbourhoods the ‘first 3D printed car in production’ Theatre, completed around 100 years of tall buildings are commonplace. and ‘10% of people wearing clothes earlier - but what will city life be like? Walking around areas such as Greenwich connected to the internet’. Although How will we experience home and Peninsula or Nine Elms in Battersea gives many of these innovations will travel, and how will our open spaces a real sense of what may become the become part of our everyday lives in be used? norm of urban living in the 2030s. under a decade, they can still seem difficult to believe. A once in a generation opportunity What makes Catford town centre a unique, exciting and a once in a generation opportunity is that unlike many regeneration schemes in London, Lewisham Council owns a large amount of the land that is earmarked for change, meaning that the Council can undertake a holistic approach to regeneration and ensure that the Catford of the future works for those who live, work, shop or run a business in Catford today. n IMAGINING CATFORD’S FUTURE 3 Lewisham Local History and Archive Centre TEAM CATFORD WINTER 2019 SE6 Says Throughout the summer, Team Catford spoke with local people about some of the initial plans for the town centre. We held 12 engagement events over 70 hours, and had more than 1,400 face-to-face conversations. Much of our discussion focused on Catford town centre will remain the Dedicated engagement events have been indicative building heights for homes civic hub of the borough and the framework held in the Civic Suite, Broadway Theatre and to be built in Catford over the coming plan has also provided the opportunity to at Catford Cornucopia – a pop-up engagement decades. This number of new homes will re-evaluate the Council’s civic functions and space previously at 17 Catford Broadway, but accommodate a growing population and consider how local people want them to now open in Catford Shopping Centre. Team meet the Council’s increased demand for integrate with the needs of the community. Catford has also engaged with people at housing, and the architects working with After thousands of in-depth Catford Food Market, Catford Vegan Festival, the Council have drawn up visual scenarios conversations since the initial plans were local school fêtes and community festivals, as of building heights across the town. first presented in May, we have gathered well as the Catford South Assembly and the The plans will see the South Circular a huge amount of valuable feedback from Lewisham Pensioners’ Forum. Road rerouted behind Laurence House to local people. Following are some of the key themes create a larger pedestrianised area in the This feedback will be fed through that emerged from our conversations, town centre and, within this, there are the the framework plan as it is developed by feedback from forms that people filled out options to create a series of smaller, more architects working on behalf of Lewisham at events, and the comments made by visitors secluded spaces or a single large open space. Council. to catfordframework.commonplace.is 4 SE6 SAYS @TeamCatfordse6 TEAM CATFORD WINTER 2019 New homes With over 9,000 people on Lewisham’s housing waiting list, we have a unique £ opportunity to build new, affordable homes in Catford town centre, but it is also important to balance the need for Will new homes be Can Catford accommodate new homes for residents of the future affordable? more people? with the priorities of those that live in Catford today. Most people understood the need for new homes in Catford over the coming decades, but there were reservations when it came to tall buildings in the town centre. Whilst it is true that across London there have been sites with tall buildings ? that have been unpopular with local residents, the model that we displayed at Where is the best place How will the regeneration benefit engagement events throughout summer to put tall buildings? people living in Catford now? showed that buildings would ‘step-up’, with lower buildings on the outside of the site and taller building heights towards the centre. Architecturally, this gradual rise in heights feels more integrated with the surrounding buildings and prevents the feeling of tall buildings towering over the area. Ensuring that the new homes built would not price out local people and lead to gentrification was another key concern. How can How do we make 50% of the homes built in Catford town regeneration address taller buildings work centre will be genuinely affordable with the housing crisis? for families? 70% of these homes offered for social rent, ensuring that new homes would be accessible for those who need them. Traffic, transport and infrastructure As the population of Catford increases submitted. Future transport improvements network from 2029, providing three times over the course of the framework plan, would enhance existing stations and bus as many trains and a 46% increase in conversations reflected a concern that train routes, to ensure Catford’s transport links capacity (you can read more about this on journeys into central London would be are prepared for increased demand. page eight). crowded during morning rush hour. Others Concerns around traffic, transport and The Mayor of London’s 2018 Transport were worried about the impact on buses, infrastructure reflect the current picture Strategy set out a number of essential schools and GPs. of Catford, but improvements are planned pledges that will improve the existing The impact of the increased number for the coming decades. Lewisham Council, transport system. These include creating of residents on the transport infrastructure in partnership with Southwark Council, are ‘a London suburban metro’ and improving will be an important consideration on pushing for the Bakerloo Line Extension ‘the overall accessibility of the transport individual planning applications as they are to connect Catford with the underground system.’ [email protected] SE6 SAYS 5 TEAM CATFORD WINTER 2019 SE6 Says Sandra Thompson Local teacher ‘There used to be a reggae and soul club called The 10 – I’m talking back in the 90s.