Rural Urban Synthesis Society (RUSS) - The Playtower Commons

About us

RUSS (Rural Urban Synthesis Society) is a Lewisham-based Community Land Trust established in 2009 to create socially, environmental and economically sustainable neighbourhoods and permanently affordable homes. We believe local people should have a genuine role in shaping, delivering and managing the places around them, and that important community assets should be protected for future generations. That is why we have bid for the Ladywell Playtower: to bring this much-loved landmark back to life and secure it in community stewardship in perpetuity.

We know how difficult ambitious community-led development can be. In 2024, after a 15-year journey, RUSS built 36 permanently affordable homes at 12 Church Grove in Lewisham – London’s largest community-led, 100% affordable housing scheme. Delivering Church Grove taught us both the financial realities of delivering a major community asset and the tenacity required to see it through.

For the Playtower, we have assembled a group of partners spanning early years, creative enterprise, health and wellbeing, community development and affordable housing, supported by specialists in architecture, heritage, planning, sustainability, finance, venue management, and fundraising.   Together, we have the experience and expertise to take on the challenge of restoring the Playtower and keep it working for Ladywell’s future. 

Our Vision: The Playtower Commons

“Human flourishing is not a mechanical process; it’s an organic process... All you can do, like a farmer, is create the conditions under which they will begin to flourish.”

– Ken Robinson

The original 1884 vision behind the Ladywell Public Baths was to promote health, leisure and dignity. Our proposal, shaped by consultations with over 600 local people, brings that vision into the 21st century by transforming the whole site into a multi-use community commons shaped and owned by the people of Ladywell.  A place to connect, create and thrive. We’re calling it The Playtower Commons.

By human flourishing, we mean the foundations people need to live well: secure housing, social connection, health, creativity, jobs and access to green public space. Our proposal intentionally brings these together in one place.

The Playtower – Ladywell's new public living room
The restored Playtower will be somewhere to meet up, work or attend an event, with a café, affordable studios and workspaces, and the magnificent former Bathing Hall transformed into a flexible space for performances, celebrations, classes, markets and community events.

Nursery and affordable housing – bringing generations together
A flagship LEYF nursery and Early Years Training Academy will provide places for more than 100 children and support around 100 apprentices at any one time. Above it, 11 affordable homes intended for older people will create opportunities for an intergenerational programme bringing children and older residents together.

Coroner's Court - bringing the site to life early
We plan to bring the Coroner’s Court, Mortuary and green back into use within the first year, with affordable health, wellbeing and creative activities, outdoor saunas, community gardening and meals, training and an interim café.

A new Village Green
At the heart of the site, a new Village Green will provide public space for relaxing, meeting, gardening, food growing, markets and events. Landscaping will include a water feature marking Ladywell’s historic well and improved connections towards St Mary’s Churchyard.

Restoring a building designed for separation as a place for connection

Our vision for connection has shaped the design itself. Where the historic Playtower separated people by class, we want the restored building to bring different people together.

The magnificent Bathing Hall will remain one large space. Its roof, windows and galleries will be restored, original cast-iron balustrades reinstated and the rose window reopened. The building will become accessible, and the Playtower’s distinctive conical roof will return.

At the heart of the design is our decision to retain the central green as public space. It becomes the place where the different parts of the Commons meet – connecting the Playtower, Coroner’s Court, Mortuary and neighbouring St Mary’s site.

Community Benefit

We didn’t develop this proposal simply to make these buildings beautiful again. Their restoration is an opportunity to create something transformational for our community – making Ladywell greener and more beautiful, strengthening its economy and, most importantly, creating new opportunities for people to connect, create and thrive.

Lewisham is a borough of enormous creativity and potential, but also real inequality. That is why the Playtower Commons deliberately brings different uses and people together.

A centre for young people, skills and opportunity
Young people will be at the heart of the Playtower. Lewisham Youth Theatre will bring youth arts and creative activity to the site, while local schools, colleges and youth services will connect young people with work experience, mentoring, careers activities and opportunities.  LEYF’s Training Academy will create routes into Early Years careers, alongside apprenticeships and training in construction and hospitality.

Creating local jobs and helping Ladywell’s economy flourish
The Playtower will be a place of employment as well as activity, creating jobs across culture, hospitality, early years, health and wellbeing, creative enterprise, and the running of the site. Affordable studios will help local artists, social enterprises and small businesses put down roots here, while new events and visitors will bring footfall to this end of Ladywell. We will work with existing local businesses so that they benefit from that increased activity too.

A healthier, more connected community
The Coroner’s Court, gardens and wider Commons will make opportunities to live well part of everyday life, through affordable movement classes, therapy, gardening, saunas and Arts and Health programmes. Bringing a nursery and homes for older people together will create opportunities for intergenerational activity programmes, helping tackle isolation and strengthen social connection.

A greener place that everyone can enjoy

Instead of building on the central green, we are keeping it for the community. Around 625 square metres of green space will be brought into active use for gardening, food growing, planting, wildlife and simply spending time outside.

Above all, the Playtower will remain in community stewardship for generations to come. It will be a place shaped by the community, used by the community and belonging to the community.