A 61-home affordable housing project has stalled for over two years while a dilapidated social club continues to tempt urban explorers
A derelict social club that’s been unused for over a decade and a half-finished tower block have sparked concerns about building safety in Bromley town centre.
Politicians say they have been pressing the owner of Conquest House in Elmfield Road to properly secure the decrepit building for years, calling it a “dangerous eyesore” that has attracted urban explorers and criminals.
New anxieties have emerged about the languishing Bromley Heights project that is meant to deliver 61 affordable homes for Bromley residents. Work on the housing development that is currently a concrete shell has stalled for two-and-a-half years.
Conquest House at 25 to 27 Elmfield Road, formerly known as the Bromley Conservative Club, closed its doors for the last time in 2015. The site has been vacant ever since and has become an unsightly structure in Bromley’s main business district.
Local politicians say they have been pushing developer and site owner Taylor Wimpey for years to appropriately safeguard the building. Taylor Wimpey said it has continually repaired the hoarding surrounding the site whenever needed.
Former Bromley and Chislehurst MP Sir Bob Neill wrote an open letter to Taylor Wimpey’s group operations director in 2019 calling for Conquest House to be properly secured as it had become “the epicentre of a spike in localised crime” due to multiple muggings taking place and squatters taking residence inside.
Seven years on, Bromley Town councillor Sam Webber and Bromley and Biggin Hill MP Peter Fortune continue to press the building’s owners to maintain and safeguard the ramshackle structure.
Cllr Webber has seen local youths attempting to break in and is worried someone could enter and hurt themselves. At present, a loose board at the front of the property can be removed allowing anyone to easily gain access.
Cllr Webber said: “I have been dealing with complaints from local residents about the Conquest House site since the day I was elected in 2022. It is now in a dangerous state and in the summer I witnessed young people attempting to break into it myself.
“The owners, Taylor Wimpey, have neglected to properly secure their site. I’m keen to hold them to the promises they have made to invest in more secure fencing. Now we read the company is exiting the London property market, what does this mean for Conquest House?
“I hope they step up and take responsibility now. This situation cannot go on any longer. More than seven years of neglect is more than enough for residents to have to tolerate. This site is a dangerous eyesore.”
In an interview with the The Business , a Times and Sunday Times podcast last month, Taylor Wimpey’s Chief Executive Jennie Daly said the business had no plans for new housing developments in London due to a “fundamentally broken” viability environment.
The last planning application for the site was to demolish Conquest House and build a nine-storey block of flats in its place. Bromley Council received the application in November 2021 but it was never determined.
Taylor Wimpey said it takes the security of the sites it owns “very seriously” and said a contractor would be fixing the broken boarding this week. However, the developer gave no indication as to what it planned to do with Conquest House in the future.
A spokesperson said: “We take the security of our sites very seriously and have continually revisited Conquest House to repair the hoarding, whenever needed.
“We have arranged for a contractor to fix the latest damage this week, and we are continuing to look at the best long-term future for the site.”
The other building that has raised eyebrows on Elmfield Road is just the other side of Kingfisher House Business Centre from Conquest House. Bromley Heights was approved by Bromley Council in 2021, a 10-storey block of flats with office space on its bottom two floors.
The development from Guinness Homes is set to deliver 61 shared ownership apartments. A topping out ceremony took place in March 2024 which was attended by Cllr Webber and project leaders.
A representative of the Greater London Authority (GLA) was also present, as funding from City Hall allowed Bromley Heights to become a complete shared ownership project. The housing development was originally only meant to deliver nine shared ownership apartments, with the remaining 52 being offered as private homes.
However, just two months after this topping out ceremony, the project’s contractor ARJ Construction entered administration. Bromley Heights has remained a concrete shell since May 2024, and Cllr Webber has raised concerns that the exposed concrete may become unsafe to continue building on.
Cllr Webber said: “As the three elected councillors for Bromley Town, my colleagues and I are concerned by the eyesore on the Bromley horizon that Guinness Homes’ Bromley Heights building has become.
“It has sadly stood unfinished since 2024 since the construction firm Guinness partnered with went into administration. We will do all we can to encourage the housing provider to get this scheme completed and to unlock the 61 new homes and commercial space that we were promised.
“I have raised this scheme in the council chamber and hope it will be completed as soon as practically possible.”
Guinness Homes claimed that although no work had been completed on the site in two-and-a-half years, it remained safe and the site benefitted from “enhanced security”. The developer said it was working with a replacement contractor to complete the project.
A spokesperson from The Guinness Partnership said: “We continue to work with a replacement contractor to explore options for recommencing the works. The site remains safe and we have enhanced security until works begin.”
The GLA has been approached for comment.
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