Lewisham house collapse: £700k terraced house crumbles amid building work in south-east London

The building collapsed just before it was inspected
Ken Taylor

A terraced house has collapsed while undergoing building work in south-east London.

The £690,000 house dramatically caved in on itself a day after police had closed off part of a road in Lewisham after it began to sag.

Neighbours said there was a sound "like a bomb had gone off" as it came crashing down on Wednesday.

It is understood those living next door to the Victorian terrace in Lampmead Road had already been evacuated due to structural concerns.

The area was cordoned off due to the roof leaning over the pavement
Ted Aston

Lewisham police had tweeted a picture of the leaning house moments before the roof caved in, saying it was "structurally unstable".

Ken Taylor, who lives opposite, said heard a "big crunch" at around 11am.

The 74 year-old company director told the Standard: “It was strange, first of all a couple of bricks fell out then gradually the whole roof sagged outwards and some of it fell off.

“Today they were just about to start inspecting it with a cherry picker when the whole roof fell in, maybe it was the vibrations from the cherry picker.

“It was really exciting, there was a big crunch and a big cloud of dust, it was like a bomb had gone off.

“Lots of people have been coming round taking pictures since it happened.”

The house was sold at the beginning of the year for £665,000 and was valued at about £690,000 before the incident according to Zoopla.

A planning application asking for permission to build rear and side extensions was lodged with Lewisham council in April.

Mr Taylor added that the house had undergone a lot of work since it had been sold in January and had not been lived in for a while.

Local architect Ted Aston, 55, told the Standard: "The roof of the building was leaning over the street, the corner of the road was cordoned off and they weren’t letting anyone near it.

“I spoke to a police officer outside and she told me next door had been evacuated, as she understands it all of the internal walls have been removed.

“These buildings are nearly 100 years old and even though some partitions appear to be non-load bearing, some of the partitions become part of the whole building.”

A Met Police spokesman confirmed no-one was injured in the incident

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