Our housing correspondent, BARRATT HOLMES, surveys some of the slow-motion developments that have been troubling residents in the south of the borough
Down tools: cranes have dominated the Purley sky line for years. Though now, they are rarely seem to be working
The developers of one of the most controversial developments in Croydon of the past decade say that, four years after they won a planning battle to build the 17-storey “Purley Skyscraper” for the local baptist church, that “adjustments are required”.
Plans for the large-scale residential development with a church and community hall at Purley Cross were first submitted in 2016.
Thanks to a Nimby-esque intervention led by local MP Chris Philp, it took a High Court case and a direction from the then Secretary of State for the proposals for 220 new homes on sites straddling a busy road to be given the green light in 2020.
Work on the tower block was supposed to start in 2022. But now, developers Thornsett are promising nothing more than an “update” in 2025.
Croydon is plagued by stalled, half-finished and failed developments across the borough, in projects which when they were on the drawing boards of various prestige firms of architects were said to be worth billions of pounds – including many millions of public money, in the form of grants from the Mayor of London.
Nearly done: developers Thornsett say that they will hand over the completed South Site to Southern Housing in the New Year
It is not just Westfield, but also the Nestlé Tower and adjoining properties which stand part-done, if ever started. There’s also what was called Beamhouse Yard, on Surrey Street, where the contractors went into receivership. Only now, with the site under new ownership, is work starting up again.
Purley was a favoured spot for developers, but most of the tall construction cranes that dot the skyline there have recently been at a standstill, some for weeks on end.
As one loyal reader put it this week, “I am concerned that three major developments in central Purley have all stalled and local councillors cannot find out the reasons why.”
One site is on Banstead Road South – not far from the Purley Baptist Church’s site – and is as yet only part-built. “The site has been locked up for several weeks,” our concerned resident says.
Public grants: some of the builds, such as this one on Banstead Road South, have received significant funding from the Mayor of London
The £24million scheme is supposed to provide 67 homes for the Optivo housing association.
According to builders Selsdon Building Contractors, it is due for completion in June 2026. “It is an on-going project,” someone at Selsdon Building Contractors said today, refusing to comment further.
Another site, at 922-930 Purley Way, where three large blocks of flats are supposed to be being built, is also locked up.
Building costs have soared in the four years since lockdown, causing developers and contractors significant issues. There is a growing view among developers in the borough that the high costs of building tall residential towers outside Croydon town centre now makes any such schemes unviable.
Earlier this week, a quick view of three Purley building sites found them all closed, no crane activity and no obvious signs of anyone working on any site at all.
Will it ever be built?: a CGI of the 17-storey Purley Skyscraper is all we have got, after nearly nine years
Said our loyal reader, “Residents like me have to put up with the disruption during these projects, many of which were granted planning permission against our wishes. Now we have the eyesore of static cranes and boarded-up building sites.
“Purley Baptist Church must be despairing that they may not get their new church and be left with an empty plot of land where there were once local businesses which had to close and buildings were demolished.”
Proposed by a shadowy firm of developers who are ultimately based in an off-shore tax haven, MP Philp has raised no objections this time round. Indeed, together with his Tory mate Mayor Jason Perry, he is unusually enthusiastic about a scheme that offers no affordable homes whatsoever.
Quite the contrast to the campaign of objections Philp raised to the Purley Baptist Church scheme with its “skyscraper”, which is now called Mosaic Place.
When Tory minister Robert Jenrick gave the go-ahead for the project four years ago, he wrote that the tower “would change the character of the town [but] it would not unacceptably dominate it or the surrounding residential area to the extent that any material harm is caused”.
Stalled: work on three residential blocks on Purley Way also seems to have ground to a halt
Jenrick’s decision letter also praised the architectural quality of the scheme, saying it “would be beneficial in terms of character and appearance and would greatly enhance the public realm in Purley district centre, as well as regenerating a long-term disused site”.
The plan Jenrick and the planning inspector considered was for two sites. On the “Island Site” there are supposed to be the “skyscraper” and other buildings providing 114 homes, shops, a new church and community hall. On the other site, termed the “South Site”, there are 106 homes in buildings between three and eight storeys.
Work began on the South Site in February 2021 and was supposed to be completed two years ago.
Only now is it inching closer to completion.
“Thornsett is proud to be partnering with [Purley Baptist Church] to deliver this project,” a spokesperson for the developers told Inside Croydon this week.
“Phase One of the development…”, meaning the South Site, “…has been completed and is scheduled to be handed over to Southern Housing early in the New Year.”
That’s the good news.
Now for the bad news.
“For Phase Two, adjustments are required to meet new legislative requirements, including the Building Safety Act, as well as to address the broader challenges the development industry has faced in recent years.” That sounds like a reference to rising costs and diminishing viability of schemes, especial taller towers.
“We are currently in discussions with Croydon Council about these alterations and aim to provide a further update in early 2025.”
And that would take us to nine years since planning permission was originally granted.
Read more: Residents’ groups reject Purley ‘pool’ plan backed by Perry
Read more: Brokenshire blocks planning permission for Purley ‘skyscraper’
Read more: Council backs Purley Pool tax dodge by off-shore company
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