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Turner Works - PlayWell

Learn about Turner Work's plans for the transformation of Ladywell Playtower

Ladywell Playtower

PlayWell: A New Life for Ladywell Playtower

From the creators of South London cultural institutions Pop Brixton, Peckham Levels, and Mountview Drama School, and the team that restored Catford’s oldest building ‘The Catford House’, Turner Works presents…

PlayWell

A frontal visualisation of Turner Work's proposed PlayWell campus, with the tower at the centre, a cafe to the left and event space to the right.

Our Vision: A cultural campus for the next 150+ years

The Ladywell Playtower is a magnificent building that has stood empty for far too long. Working with and for the local community, we will transform this historic bathhouse and its surrounding grounds into a vibrant cultural and community centre - a new destination for South London. Much like the Horniman Museum, it will combine a London-wide regional draw with a super-local heart. It will be a welcoming, inclusive, and inter-generational meeting and making place for all to call home.

PlayWell will be a flexible, "loose-fit" and inclusive public place that can adapt and evolve for the next 150+ years. Rescuing a building of this scale requires a team that balances deep community connection with sharp commercial acumen. Backed by our proven track record of successfully delivering community spaces and heritage-led projects fast, on time, and on budget, we will not leave this site sitting idle. Co-design and community engagement will begin the moment we take early guardianship of the site. From the outset, Turner Works - led by a proud Lewisham local - will establish a fully staffed Project Hub in the former Mortuary building next to the Playtower. This puts boots on the ground and activates the site early on, with local markets, exhibitions, and performances. We’ll draw on all our years of experience as operators of “meanwhile” spaces to create an exciting destination while the main restoration is planned. We’ll set up a Community Steering Group to channel this process from the very beginning. 

Ultimately, PlayWell's exact uses will emerge through this in-depth engagement and co-design with the community. For now, our illustration has been inspired by all we’ve heard from the community so far, including the results of Lewisham's 2026 public consultation, and positive engagement with the Young Mayor’s Advisors.

Visualisations of the PlayWell campus, and specifically visitors using the Play Cafe, set against the redbrick building.

Our plans for PlayWell

A visualisation from inside the event space, show performers on a stage and visitors watching from a balcony.

Playtower Rescue Fund & Housing

Restoring the Playtower will cost approximately £8m, for the main building works alone. In close partnership with Lewisham Council, we will establish a new charity, the ‘Playtower Trust’, which will raise the money needed for the ‘Playtower Rescue Fund’. Once PlayWell is up and running, the Trust will look after it for the long term as well.

The Rescue Fund will need a whole set of ingredients to reach its target, from Government grants to philanthropic donations. One important component will be major funders like the National Lottery. They will only award their grants if the project brings significant "match-funding" to the table first. To generate this vital match-funding, our proposal includes an illustration of sensitive, community-oriented housing on the site - including exploring the delivery of much-needed affordable homes - with public-facing uses at the ground floor, such as a nursery and maker-spaces. The land value generated by these homes would directly fund the Playtower's restoration. This can provide the financial key to unlocking the site. We will test alternative financial structures with the Council, as long as all solutions prioritise bringing the Playtower back to life.

A visualisation from inside the cafe, facing a barista at the counter. Above, a family can be seen on the balcony.

What people say about Turner Work's

"Turner Works have been fantastic. Thanks to their open approach to collaboration, challenges have always been met head on." 

Lewisham Council, describing our work on The Catford House and 113 new affordable homes at Thomas' Yard Lane

"The best thing about Turner Works is that they don't just understand buildings; they understand people. They steered the process and gave us the opportunity to create an amazing space in our community, a space to be proud of."

‘Department’, Isle of Wight (an abandoned Grade II listed Victorian department store, transformed into a much-loved community arts centre)  

Illustrated isometric street-level view of the proposed PlayWell scheme in use, showing labelled zones including Maker Spaces, Creative Studios, Wellbeing, Nursery, Community Sauna, Homes, Play, Cafe and Events areas, populated with people using the spaces.
Two architectural cross-sections of Ladywell Playtower, Section A-A and Section B-B, showing the building's interior across multiple floors, with a key plan indicating where each section is taken. Eleven key interventions are numbered and highlighted in green, including a new lift tower, the courtyard as a central connector, a double-height arrival space, an expanded event mezzanine, basement weatherproofing, and retractable seating and pool cover.
Floor plans of the proposed Ladywell Playtower restoration showing basement, ground and first floor layouts, colour-coded by use: green for events and culture space, blue for creative studios, and yellow for cafe.
Aerial illustration of the Ladywell Village area around Ladywell Playtower, showing how the Turner Works x PlayWell proposal would use the Playtower alongside two nearby development sites, Streetside and Gardenside.
An eight-panel illustrated storyboard titled "A Day at PlayWell", showing the building in use across Morning, AM, PM and Evening. Panels depict the courtyard, cafe, small and medium event spaces, creative studios, the foyer, the large event space in the restored swimming hall, and the cafe mezzanine, each with a short caption describing the activity shown.
Flowchart showing the delivery roadmap for PlayWell: starting with establishing the Playtower Trust Charity in Year 1, branching into growing the Playtower Rescue Fund (Years 1-3) and setting up a project hub on site (Year 1), leading to restoring the Playtower (Years 3-4) and early activation on site through markets, events and exhibitions (Years 1-4), converging into "a new vibrant campus for Ladywell" from Year 5 onwards. Community Steering Group input feeds in throughout.
Illustrative rendering of a proposed glazed ground-floor community space opening onto a wildflower garden, showing a diverse group of adults, children and a wheelchair user socialising both inside the glazed room and on the surrounding terrace, with a "PlayWell" sign visible above the entrance.
Two illustrative renderings side by side. Left: an external view of a multi-storey building with planted balconies, showing residents relaxing outdoors among greenery. Right: a close-up of a sheltered walkway with a family and young children sitting and playing, with other residents socialising nearby amid planting.
Site plan showing the Playtower's location and surrounding context.
Diagram showing PlayWell's ambition for Ladywell Playtower at four scales: "A beloved place for Ladywell residents" (local), "A home for the diverse creative community of Lewisham" (borough), and "A magnetic cultural destination for London (and beyond)" (regional), with the PlayWell logo at the centre.

Document Library

Turner Works - Exhibition Board 1

Turner Works - Exhibition Board 2

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