Biscuit Factory
Grosvenor estates, the Duke of Westminster’s property development company, is redeveloping the Peak Freans Biscuit Factory in Bermondsey. Some of the older parts of the factory built in 1866 are being retained, while the rest of the 10.6-acre site will be cleared to provide a mixed-use development including office space and 800 new homes. The neighbouring 3.5-acre Lewisham & Southwark College (LeSoCo) site has also been acquired by Grosvenor and will form part of the redevelopment site.
Grosvenor submitted a confidential viability assessment claiming that its development would not be able to support a policy-compliant affordable housing offer (35% affordable). Instead Southwark has accepted Grosvenor’s offer of 26% affordable housing, 60% of which will be social rented.
In April 2014, Grosvenor made representations to the GLA’s Further Alterations to the London Plan (FALP), suggesting that its site should be listed as an ‘intensification area’, allowing a higher density development on the site.
Planning permission for demolition of the biscuit factory and redevelopment of the site was approved in May 2013. (See Officer’s report for further details)
In October 2015, Grosvenor began a consultation for what is understood to be plans to increase the number of homes on the site. Full details are not yet available, but Grosvenor has set up the following website for its new consultation: