Peckham Lido

Thanks to Ruby from MyLondon for covering our campaign in her piece on the Peckham Lido

Peckham Rye Lido that's been derelict for 34 years is step closer to reopening The lido first opened its doors in 1923

Back in 2016 we had a gem of an idea to rebuild the old Peckham Lido on Peckham Rye Common and through the support of thousands of local people in a Spacehive Mayor of London crowdfunding campaign we raised the money to do a feasibility study into the work.

We’re really excited to announce that the feasibility study for Peckham Rye Lido is now complete. The good news is that the study has concluded that the project is feasible! The Peckham Lido CIC remains very positive about the potential of a lido on Peckham Rye.

As part of the feasibility study we spoke with lidos around London and the country, leisure operator experts, business planners, planners, architects and more to examine the viability of a swimming pool on this site. We also held online and public consultations which showed 80% of people who responded support the idea.

A lido on this site is a financially viable facility that wouldn’t require funding from the council to operate.

There remains some uncertainty about the use of the old lido site. We are eagerly awaiting a response from Southwark Council to confirm if they support the use of the old site.

Many thanks to everyone for your contributions to the crowdfunding campaign and your continued support in bringing outdoor swimming to Peckham.

View the feasibility study here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/34bugr8ekzj6o1c/5765%20PL%20Feasibility%20Study%20Summary%20Report%20v2%20email%2020-4-2021.pdf?dl=0

Positive progress to report!
In December we commissioned Fourth Street management consultants to undertake an outline operational business plan for rebuilding . This work has now been completed and we’re in possession of an excellent piece of work. The report has raised many questions and areas that need further work, but Fourth Street’s conclusion is very exciting:

“On balance, we conclude that there is ample justification to believe that a redeveloped lido in Peckham Rye can produce a sustainable business that is not only viable in its own right but could generate a small surplus for reinvestment. The characteristics of the local market are encouraging for this type of offer and, as important, the concept goes with the grain of current trends in health and fitness generally and swimming in particular. Moreover, it is our considered view that Peckham Lido could be a significant economic asset for LB Southwark and for South , producing a valued new leisure destination, but also reinforcing the perception of Peckham as a great place to live and work and providing a powerful source of civic pride.”

We’re now looking to meet with Council to review the work. After this we’ll be back with a further update.

Thank you for your ongoing patience.

Spacehive Mayor of London London Borough of Southwark

This morning we met with our design team, architects Studio Octopi and Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design. We’re excited to report that they’ve made excellent progress. We can’t wait to update you further.

To assist them with their work, we’re looking for your memories of Peckham Rye Lido up to its closure in 1987.

When did you swim there and for how long? What are your memories of the pool and surrounding facilities? What did it feel like to swim amongst the trees of the park? Do you remember what it cost? Did you always pay or slip in over the fence!?

We’d like to include some of these memories in the next stage report, alongside any more photos or memorabilia you can find. You can send them to us on social media or by email [email protected]

Many thanks for your help and patience as we work towards rebuilding Peckham Lido!



If you can share to broaden the reach that would be really appreciated - The Peckham Peculiar Peckhamplex Peckham Levels Peckham Rye London Peckham Free Film Festival The Dulwich Diverter

Dear Supporters,

Sorry for the long delay in posting and longer delay in delivering the feasibility study. Since our first consultation event, we’ve come up against a number of challenges which we have not wanted make public until they were resolved. Some of the issues we’ve been tackling go back as far as the pledges made during the crowdfunding campaign.

Peckham Lido CIC had to pause working on the project to focus our energy on getting these issues sorted. We’re delighted to say the issues are now resolved and we will be resuming the work set out in our crowdfunding campaign in September. Our architects Studio Octopi - https://www.facebook.com/StudioOctopi/) are now pushing ahead with the remaining work on the consultation and pre app, which we will publish later in the year.

Thank you for your patience and ongoing support.

Studio Octopi Studio Octopi are architects based in London working across the UK

Hello Lido backers and supporters,
Sorry we haven’t messaged in a while. We have been busy behind the scenes working on the Lido project. It's been much more complex than we expected and we have been working methodically through it around our full-time jobs and family lives. Since we raised our crowdfunding to deliver a feasibility study into re-building and re-opening Peckham Lido on the original site we have been working on delivering that promise. Since getting funding in summer 2016, we have built a website, registered as a C.I.C and consulted with Peckham residents online and in person to work out what people actually wanted from a Lido. Once we had done that we went to meet other lidos around London and the UK, as well as fundraising experts. Our design team at Studio Octopi have been there to support us along the way with expertise on planning and architecture. Now we have a sound business model, a clear view of what the council would support on the site. It hasn’t all been easy there is still a small but vocal opposition to the project mostly from some members of the Friends Of Peckham Rye Park group. They believe the lido should should not be rebuilt in it's original location. In principal we would share their concerns, but believe that the lido would be such a great community asset that it would be worth using a relatively small section of the park which is currently less well used. We have just sent a revised design brief to Studio Octopi that encompasses all of the research and planning we have done. They will deliver new design briefs and their partners will deliver detailed planning and environmental reports. Once we have taken delivery of those we will be going back out to the people of SE15/22 to ask them what they think of the proposal. Expect to hear more from us soon. If you are keen to get involved with the project then please let us know in what capacity and any specific skills you have.

The Peckham Coal Line is under threat from a housing development which would block the route and demolish some amazing historic buildings. Please take a few mins to object to the planning application if you'd like the Coal Line to go ahead!

Getting some Peckham Poolspiration in Berlin at the Badenschiff floating lido.....

For the next stage of the lido campaign we are looking for someone to take on the job of writing a business plan and commercial strategy for the lido. We have a small budget to pay someone to do this. Please get in touch or share with anyone who may be interested in taking on this job. Please contact us at [email protected]
Also, please take the time to fill in our online consultation- we will be using the comments to inform the next stage of the designs.

glacf.commonplace.is

Heroic Peckham Local Chris Styles is only swimming the channel to raise money for the Carers Trust , a charity who raise money for 700,000 young carers in the Uk who are giving up their childhoods to care for a relative. Swimming the channel is an incredible feat, for a brilliant cause, please donate a few quid if you can!
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/slogthechannel

Read Chris's story Chris is raising money to help Carers Trust