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Mike Auger is managing director – South at Muse
Building homes in a time of economic gloom
The Lewisham Gateway development has been a two-decade project marred by financial and global turmoil. Mike Auger explains how it overcame these challenges to deliver homes
The current property cycle has not been easy for developers of any size. Major macro-economic events beyond anyone’s control have derailed huge swathes of the economy, and few sectors have felt the impact of recent crises more than property.
The financial crisis of 2008, the UK’s exit from the European Union and, most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic all took place in recent years. The costs of these shocks cannot be overstated, and can be measured in lost growth, programme delays and generational opportunities for regeneration overlooked.
We cannot know what further shocks lie ahead, but it is increasingly obvious that, as a sector, we must continue to build resilience to navigate future challenges and deliver the housing and regeneration that communities across the country need and deserve.
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At Muse, we grappled with each of these challenges as they unfolded during our Lewisham Gateway redevelopment project. This major, 20-year regeneration scheme will transform the entrance into Lewisham with over 1,000 new homes, new commercial spaces and new connections to Lewisham’s high street.
We witnessed how each of these events threatened to unravel this once-in-a-generation regeneration scheme, and learnt what it takes to overcome them.
Lewisham Council selected Muse as the development partner for Lewisham Gateway in 2004 and has worked tirelessly on the project ever since.
The project emerged as part of a long-term vision to connect Lewisham’s town centre to the extensive transport infrastructure available in the local area. Much of the site was a big roundabout, meaning the town centre road network needed radical rethinking to unlock its potential.
“We cannot know what further shocks lie ahead, but it is increasingly obvious that, as a sector, we must continue to build resilience”
While the project itself carried seemingly insurmountable problems, few would have expected the major external events we would also face.
Just a few years after getting to work on developing the masterplan for the site, the financial crisis of 2008 arrived. Many will remember the devastating impact of this recession on our sector: UK construction activity fell by 17.1% between the first quarter of 2008 and the second quarter of 2009, as investment started to dry up and confidence began to dissolve.
In these moments, we found strength in the success of our partnerships. Like many major projects, we too faced funding challenges as a result of the recession. However, we were able to overcome these by articulating the strengths of our vision for Lewisham Gateway, buoyed by a coalition of partners that were bound by a shared mission.
These partnerships, including with Lewisham Council and the Greater London Authority, were founded on trust and a shared understanding of the transformative impact Lewisham Gateway promised to deliver. This proved vital in harnessing Homes England support, secured in 2014, that was critical to keeping the project going.
The UK’s exit from the European Union and the COVID-19 pandemic created different types of challenges. Against the backdrop of each of these unprecedented events, it was our partnerships which again allowed us to continue on course.
We had been due to commence phase two of the project in March 2020. After working through the initial COVID lockdown period, we were able to safely start phase two in July 2020. Facing the challenges of an economy grappling with a pandemic, including significant labour shortages, we uncovered safe, innovative solutions to help restart work on site.
“We witnessed how each of these events threatened to unravel this once-in-a-generation regeneration scheme, and learnt what it takes to overcome them”
Indicative of the strength of our partnerships, it was during the era defined by COVID-19 that we were able to secure our partnership with Get Living, which will become the custodian of the second phase of the development on completion. Securing the deal was a testament to the wider vision and alignment of interests which bound Muse and our partners from across the public and private sector together.
Lewisham Gateway has been a journey spanning almost two decades and one for which we are now approaching our destination, with the project set to complete next summer. We have weathered multiple crises and economic shocks to provide over 1,000 new homes, new connections and public spaces, and an evening economy where there was little. All of this will support local communities in Lewisham for generations to come.
Since 2004, Muse and our partners have been connected by a shared vision to deliver a transformative regeneration project to enrich the lives of Lewisham’s communities.
Undeterred by the economic gloom, it is this robust foundation of positive partnerships, addressing clear and tangible needs, that has allowed us to deliver Lewisham Gateway.
Mike Auger, managing director, Muse South
