Planning Case Study 170
Convoys Wharf, Deptford Dockyard, and part of Sayes Court Estate, London Borough of Lewisham.
Planning scenario(s)
Heritage assets affected
- Designated heritage assets with archaeological and historic interest
- Undesignated heritage assets with archaeological and historic interest
Type of application & broad category
Local planning authority
Authority: London Borough of Lewisham
References: 2002/52533/O; DC/13/083358
Development proposal
2002/52533/O
- 2005 - resolved to approve by Lewisham BC and referred to GLA (not actioned)
- 2005 - safeguarded wharf appraisal, not compliant with London Plan
- 2010 - amended outline application submitted
- 2010 - additional material submitted
- 2011 - GLA report on the 2010 application,
- 2011 - Lewisham BC issued a Regulation 19 Request
- 2011 - Revised application submitted
DC/13/083358
- 2013 - outline application - permitted
Outline application for the comprehensive redevelopment of Convoys Wharf, to provide a mixed-use development of up to 447,045m2, comprising residential units, employment space including waste recycling and processing facility, boat repair yard, river bus facility, wharf with associated vessel moorings, retail, restaurants/bars, cultural/community space, leisure facilities and provision of car parking spaces together with revised vehicular access.
Archaeological information known about the site before the planning application was made, or before the development commenced, as appropriate
Deptford Royal Dockyard, operational between 1513 and 1869, was one of the largest industrial complexes in the country until the mid-19th century, and used for the construction and repair of warships. This internationally important site includes: a Tudor naval storehouse (scheduled monument, NHLE no 1021239); the Olympia warehouse, a master shipwright’s house, a former office building of the royal dockyard, the boundary wall of the royal dockyard, gate piers of the dockyard, all of which are Grade II listed buildings, with the exception of the master shipwright’s house which is Grade II*.
The site was recently described in the press as:
‘Henry VIII’s royal dockyard, founded in 1513, where Queen Elizabeth I knighted Francis Drake in 1581 after he circumnavigated the globe aboard the Golden Hind. Nearby, the 17th-century diarist John Evelyn, created a famous garden in the grounds of his house, Sayes Court, where the young Peter the Great of Russia, in Deptford to study shipbuilding, wrecked a fine holly hedge in 1696, crashing through it in a wheelbarrow in a drunken episode.’
Following the Napoleonic Wars the yard was a key site for stores and was commissioned to build small ships. The yard closed in 1869 and the buildings were demolished to foundation level or dismantled for rebuild elsewhere. The Corporation of London then used the site for the import of cattle.
Archaeological/planning processes
Given the importance and complexity of the site there have been successive phases of archaeological assessment and evaluation as the redevelopment scheme has progressed, undertaken pre-application or pre-determination:
- 2000 - archaeological desk-based assessment 2000 - evaluation trial trenches
- 2001 - further trial trench evaluation 2008 - historic fabric assessment
- 2010 - geo-archaeological borehole and test pit evaluation 2010 - second stage trial trench evaluation – 5% sample
- 2011-2 - area excavation
Archaeological evaluation showed that the remains of elements of the 19th century docks survived well on the site, including the five 19th-century slipways, together with the stone-lined 19th-century entrance to the Great Dock, and the contemporary masonry-lined version of the Dockyard basin. The survival of earlier phases had been affected by the later (especially 19th century) redevelopment and expansion of the docks but elements from the Tudor, Stuart and Georgian docks were present including storehouses, dock basins, slipways, and boundary walls.
The site of the Tudor storehouse was scheduled in 2003. Other elements of the site were also assessed as being of national importance, including the Great Dock and other docks (including that which contained the Golden Hind), the Basin, mastponds, slips, wharfs and river wall, together with their associated buildings and working surfaces.
In 2003 the (then) English Heritage non-designated archaeology adviser to the LPA produced an overall framework document that set out the means by which the protection and management of the site could be addressed, through one of three strands: management agreement, conditions, and S106 agreement.
In response to the 2003 framework document, the developer’s archaeological consultant produced a Scheme for Archaeological Resource Management, that, after negotiation, was recommended for approval as part of the 2013 scheme.
In 2011-12 area excavations (the largest undertaken on any naval dockyard) were undertaken further to inform the redevelopment of the site and the eventual full planning applications, by establishing the degree of survival of the archaeological remains present and the requirements for preservation in situ.
In 2015 a draft decision notice was issued, granting planning permission subject to the conclusion of a S106 agreement, with the following conditions relating to heritage assets:
- 6 - River wall survey to inform repair or replacement work
- 7 - Tall building design statement
- 13 - Each Reserved Matters application shall be accompanied by a Heritage Statement demonstrating how the design (including but not limited to layout, public realm, architectural treatment and materials) has been informed by heritage assets, both above and below ground.
- 34 - Prior to any site work a Scheme of Archaeological Resource Management has to be submitted and agreed in accordance with Our Future Heritage (English Heritage 2003)
- 35 - Pre-commencement archaeology condition
- 36 - Pre-commencement building recording condition
- 37 - Pre-commencement details of any below-ground development need to be approved in order to protect archaeology
- 38 - Foundation design condition
- 39 - Fencing off of sensitive heritage asset
- 40 - Structural survey and protection measures for Olympia slip cover
- 54 - Possible repairs to jetty
- 64 - Archaeological work to be carried out by a qualified body
- 67 - Setting-back the building mass at Plot P01 to respect Master Shipwrights House, Grade II*
Attention is drawn to Condition 13 above which requires that each reserved matters application will have to demonstrate how the design of the development has been informed by the heritage assets present.
In 2018 reserved matters planning applications have begun to be submitted for the development of individual areas of the site.
Outcomes: archaeological
At the time of writing (2019) all applications are currently on hold awaiting the submission of further information, including site wide cultural, destination and remediation strategies, and plot specific remediation strategies.
Other outcomes/outputs e.g. other public benefit such as public engagement, research and new/changed work practices
There has been huge public interest in the site, as reflected in national press articles; the responses of interest groups, the local MP and Government Minister; and a House of Commons Adjournment Debate.
References and links/bibliography
- Pre-Construct Archaeology 2001, An archaeological evaluation of Convoy’s Wharf, Deptford. Unpublished report.
- CGMS 2000, Convoys Wharf, Deptford, An archaeological desk-based assessment. Unpublished report.
- CgMs 2003, Independent appraisal of the archaeological importance of the Convoys Wharf site, Deptford. Unpublished report.
- English Heritage 2003, Our Future Heritage: a framework for the management of the heritage resource. Unpublished report.
- MoLA 2010, Convoy’s Wharf, Prince Street, London, Evaluation Report. Unpublished report.
- CgMs 2010, Scheme of Archaeological Resource Management, Land at Convoys Wharf, Deptford, London, 5th Revision, D Hawkins, (original document September 2009, revised October 2009, 2nd revision November 2009, 3rd revision December 2009, 4th revision January 2010, 5th revision January 2010, 6th revision November 2018). Unpublished report.
- Alan Baxter Ltd 2013, Convoy’s Wharf Heritage Statement. Unpublished report.
- MoLA 2017, The Deptford royal dockyard and manor of Sayes Court, London: excavations 2000-12, ed. Anthony Francis, monograph 71.
https://www.mola.org.uk/deptford-royal-dockyard-and-manor-sayes-court-lo...
