The long wait for the future of one of south-east London’s best-loved Victorian landmarks is nearly over. Four detailed blueprints for rescuing the Ladywell Playtower — a Grade II-listed former swimming baths that has sat empty for two decades — have gone on public display, and residents are being asked to rank their favourite.
The four shortlisted teams were chosen by Lewisham Council after an earlier round of engagement drew more than 500 responses. That feedback showed strong backing for a future that honours the building’s heritage while offering affordable activities and services for local people. The new consultation marks the final stage of plans to secure the building’s long-term future, and the council says responses will shape which partner is selected later this year.
It is the most significant step yet in a process the council insists has put the community at its heart from day one, with residents invited to explore each scheme in detail before delivering their verdict.
The four visions on the table
Hackitt CIC proposes a community-owned hub built around health, wellbeing and skills, with hydrotherapy facilities, affordable wellbeing services, co-working spaces, training opportunities and community gardens. Its plans place particular emphasis on support designed for disabled, neurodivergent and chronically ill residents, keeping the building’s social mission front and centre.
Liquid Listening envisages an arts and wellbeing destination rooted in hydrotherapy and sound-based therapy, combining hydrotherapy pools with wellness and event spaces, immersive listening experiences, heritage gardens and educational facilities. The team’s plans also include dedicated services for people with special educational needs and disabilities.
RUSS, the Rural Urban Synthesis Society, has put forward The Playtower Commons — a community-owned, mixed-use scheme featuring cultural and event space, artist studios, a nursery for more than 100 children, affordable homes aimed at older residents, outdoor wellness facilities, community gardens and a brand-new public village green.
Turner Works, meanwhile, is pitching a cultural and creative destination inspired by the likes of Pop Brixton and Peckham Levels. Its proposal includes performance spaces, creative studios, education facilities, community gardens and markets, with new housing potentially helping to fund the restoration of the historic site.
A landmark with a long and colourful past
The building began life in 1884 as Ladywell Baths, a public bath house serving a rapidly growing neighbourhood. Constructed in a striking Venetian Gothic style, with its distinctive tower giving the Playtower its name, it later became a community centre before finally closing its doors in 2004.
Since then it has spent 20 years on the Heritage at Risk Register, and efforts to find it a new purpose have repeatedly stalled. Most recently, plans approved in 2022 to turn the site into a cinema and housing development were dropped after the developer said rising costs and funding difficulties had made the scheme unviable.
How to have your say
Residents can review the four proposals and share their views through an online survey, which runs until Monday 16 November. A public drop-in session will also be held at St Mary’s Centre on Ladywell Road on Thursday 15 October, from 3pm to 8pm, where people can quiz those behind the schemes face to face.
Cllr Daniel Dream, Lewisham’s cabinet member for inclusive regeneration, planning and housing delivery, said the much-loved building had stood empty for far too long and praised residents for engaging with the process. The council says it is determined to move forward at pace while finding the right partner to restore the building, protect its heritage and create a future everyone can be proud of.
His message to the borough is simple: explore the proposals, have your say, and be part of making local history. Whichever team is chosen, the restoration of the Playtower will bring to an end a saga stretching back two decades — and open a new chapter for one of Ladywell’s most recognisable buildings.
