The London Open House event hosted by the Lenox Project at the Master Shipwright’s House in Deptford was a great success, with 962 visitors welcomed to the venue over the two-day opening.

Lenox Project volunteers worked with the owners of the Master Shipwright’s House to host the event as part of London Open House on 17th and 18th of September, having spent the previous weekend tidying up the grounds, baking cakes, designing and ordering merchandise and flyers and making sure everything was in place to give our visitors a great Deptford welcome!

We were delighted to have historical re-enactor Jim Evans and his crew on site for both days, entertaining our visitors with some very loud bangs from weaponry of the period, not to mention demonstrations of hand-to-hand fighting, story-telling and even bouts of carousing in drunken-sailor style!

Stalls selling tea & cakes and our unique merchandise were staffed by our team of volunteers on the day, including our patron Dame Joan Ruddock, and we provided flyers with information about the history of the Master Shipwright’s House for those wanting to know more.

Our director Julian Kingston and historian Richard Endsor, who were in period costume, spent the weekend telling visitors about our ambitious plans and explaining the history of Deptford’s dockyard, the Lenox and our restored Saker cannon.

New for this event were the ‘bow’ and ‘stern’ posts which was Jon’s idea, put together by him and Julian so that we could show visitors the size that our exact replica will be. Richard is standing next to the bow post in this photo – the stern post is by the riverside in the very far distance and barely visible!

We even had a film crew present on the Saturday, interviewing Dame Joan and Julian about the project, both for a short item which was shown on ITN London News last week (we hope to be able to post the clip in due course) and also for a documentary which is in production.

To top off the entertainment, we had vessels sailing past on the river as part of Royal Greenwich’s Tall Ships 2016 event, which were also popular with our visitors.

We were delighted to welcome so many visitors to enjoy the house and grounds, find out about the project, and support us by buying merchandise and signing up to our mailing list. And while events in the grounds kept people entertained, the star turn was still the house.

Special thanks go to the local businesses who supported us – Lush Designs which is based in Cockpit Arts in Deptford kindly allows us to sell their Lenox tea towels to raise funds for the project, and Jones Hire in Creekside, was happy to loan us a huge tea urn free of charge for the weekend.

In turn our team was happy to support another local business – the Dog & Bell pub – where we repaired for a restorative drink or two after a hard day’s work.

As we begin the process of applying for charitable status, we have been approaching other organisations to ask them to write letters of support for the Lenox Project. These will be submitted to the Charities Commission as part of our application and are intended to demonstrate that we have a worthwhile and workable mission statement and that the charitable aims we intend to pursue can be delivered through our project.

We were delighted to receive a letter of support from the Museum of London’s director of enterprise Richard Sweet last week, in which he confirms the museum’s support for our plan to build and launch the Lenox replica, and our intention to aid the revitalisation of the economic, cultural and historic heart of Deptford.

The project site looking west towards Deptford Strand

Members of the Lenox Project team visited the safeguarded wharf on the Convoys Wharf site last week to assess project site options with the developer, Hutchison Whampoa.

Lenox Project director Julian Kingston and architectural adviser David Graham inspected the area of the riverside site that was proposed as the most feasible location for the scheme by independent consultant Buro Happold in its report which was published earlier this year. 

The canal entrance viewed from the foreshore

The visit was facilitated by Paul Hunt, senior commercial & development manager at Hutchison Property Group (UK), and was preceded by a foreshore walk at low tide to inspect the river wall, in particular the entrance to the canal which originally occupied part of the site.

Our proposals involve reusing the canal to create the docks necessary to build the Lenox and provide a home berth. South of the canal entrance, the alignment of the canal can also be clearly seen at ground level where the top of the buried canal walls are delineated by stonework.

The canal entrance looking east towards Greenwich

A significant amount of work is required to develop these proposals in conjunction with the developer and gain the necessary approvals, and we look forward to starting this process as soon as is practicable.

We’ll be at the Deptford Lounge in Giffin Street on 23 April along with our sister project Sayes Court Garden – come along and find out what we’ve been up to over the last few months.

We’re looking to recruit new team members too, to help us move the project up a gear. If you are interested in being involved in this exciting project, come along and find out more!

Saturday 23 April, 12.30-3pm

Deptford Lounge, Giffin Street, SE8 4RJ

Deptford Station/Deptford Bridge DLR/Buses 49, 188, 199, 53, 453

http://deptfordlounge.org.uk

We are delighted to announce that the latest version of the Lenox Project Vision document has been published.

This version has been revised to include more detail of our proposals for the project and the site, and are set within the context of the conclusions of the GLA feasibility study.

You can download the new document from our website here

The final report of the independent study to identify the most feasible location for The Lenox Project on Convoys Wharf was published on 15 December 2015.

The report, by consultant Buro Happold, identifies a site on the safeguarded wharf as the most feasible option of those considered.

The study supports our own assessment of the benefits that The Lenox Project will bring to the development and the wider community as follows:

• The project will enhance the overall attractiveness of the development and will have positive regenerative impacts on the local community.
• The location of the project will create a standalone visitor attraction within the development and present opportunities for supporting commercial facilities to develop locally.
• The Lenox Project is expected to attract huge visitor numbers, which will support a wide range of local businesses and become a prime catalyst in the regeneration of Deptford.
• The commercial uses around the Lenox would gain from the induced spending impact of the Lenox visitors. These benefits will have a wider impact on the local community, once the project is established as a major tourist attraction.

The remit of the study was to examine different lease scenarios for The Lenox Project on two sites, the safeguarded wharf and the Olympia building, and to rank them in order of feasibility.

The report also identified negotiation of new lease terms as a key factor in determining the level of success of the project and its wider aims.

Aerial view of the site with the Olympia Building in red and the safeguarded wharf in blue

The detailed scenarios can be viewed in the published report, which is available to download from the GLA website. They are summarised as follows:

Olympia Building options:
Half of the Olympia Building would be made available to The Lenox Project, with waterway access to the Thames and a home berth provided by reinstatement of a part of the original basin. The lease terms involved a combination of market and peppercorn rents for varying periods up to a maximum of 20 years. The space would not have allowed the project to realise its wider aims, unless it were able to expand beyond the Olympia Building, which was not on offer for the purposes of the study.

The assessor consulted the developer, Hutchison Whampoa, and The Lenox Project during the initial stages of the study and it soon became apparent that being located in the Olympia Building, whilst preferable in terms of historical context and central location, carried a much higher risk of delay to the project. This was because the start of the project would be wholly dependent on the developer progressing the refurbishment of the building, not withstanding the fact that the space on offer would not accommodate the project.

Safeguarded wharf options:
The Lenox Project would be accommodated on 3,975m² of the safeguarded wharf with waterway access to the Thames and an additional area required for the home berth. The lease terms also involved a combination of market and peppercorn rents for varying periods up to a maximum of 20 years. The option chosen in the study as the most feasible also allowed for extending the lease terms beyond 20 years by mutual agreement in circumstances were the safeguarded wharf were de-designated.

The GLA provided information on the emerging approach for the devolution of wharf powers to the Mayor of London, and the possible removal of safeguarding for Convoys Wharf. The GLA also advised that the process of deregulating the wharf would be aided by the presence of The Lenox Project on the site. This was the most important issue raised during the study, with potentially significant benefits for the feasibility of the project. In addition, deregulation of the wharf would trigger diversion of funds to The Lenox Project that were originally set aside by the developer for wharf activities.

As part of the feasibility study process, The Lenox Project provided the assessor with information on how the project could occupy the safeguarded wharf. The assessor produced a plan showing how the various elements of the project might be accommodated, including a dry dock for construction of the Lenox, a wet dock to provide a home berth and the Deptford Dockyard Museum. The Lenox Project would occupy the entire river frontage on the safeguarded wharf, with access for pedestrians and cyclists maintained along the riverside.

The conclusion of the independent feasibility study allows the Lenox Project to embark on the next stage; preparation of a business plan based on firm proposals for the location of the project.

The full report can be downloaded from the GLA’s website.