New affordable housing scheme to help fund world leading mental health care for children

A new housing development on De Crespigny Park in Southwark took a step closer last night after Southwark Council’s Planning Committee voted in favour of the scheme. The plans include the construction of 187 new homes and a nursery.

The land is currently occupied by buildings used by the Trust’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) which will be moving to the new £65m Pears Maudsley Centre for Children and Young People currently under construction in Denmark Hill.

The existing buildings (Mapother House, Michael Rutter Centre and Professorial Buildings) are no longer fit to provide high-quality modern mental health care.

When the Pears Maudsley Centre opens its doors in 2023, it will be a world-leading centre for children and young people’s mental health, bringing together clinicians from South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust with researchers from King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience to work alongside each other and develop new innovations in care.

The approved modernisation plans, will see the surplus land redeveloped to provide much needed new homes in the heart of Camberwell. The 187 new homes have been designed to be in keeping with the area and meet the needs of families, couples and single people.

Fifty per cent of the new homes will be affordable and 70 per cent of those will be available at social rents. A car free development, it will create an attractive public realm and will improve pedestrian and cycle networks locally.

The development will help fund improved mental health services and forms part of the Trust’s ambitious plans to invest more than £140 million in modern new services and facilities to improve patient care and experience for local people.

Chief Executive, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, David Bradley, said:

“Southwark Council’s decision helps to ensure we can provide modern facilities fit for the highest standards of 21st century mental health care.

“We also take our responsibility as an anchor institution very seriously and the 50 per cent affordable housing at the heart of these plans will be a significant boost for families and individuals in need of high-quality homes in Southwark.”