London Square’s 700-home Woolwich Central project has reached a major milestone with a second concrete core now rising behind the Woolwich Tesco Extra. New photographs from London Construction Magazine (LCM) highlight rapid progress on the reinforced-concrete frame for the 15-storey Phase 3 building next to General Gordon Square. Multiple tower cranes and an additional concrete core are now active across the main development area. This marks a significant visual shift from April, when only one principal core dominated the site.
Construction activity behind Tesco at London Square Woolwich, with a second concrete core and multiple tower cranes visible across the wider development. Image: London Construction Magazine.
From one visible core to a wider structural build
The front Phase 3 building will provide 122 private-sale homes and addresses General Gordon Square on the former undeveloped parcel beside Tesco. The frame is now well above its early-2026 condition, with floor slabs following the concrete core and the structure becoming a substantial presence on the square. Behind Tesco, the newer LCM photographs show another concrete core rising within the wider Phase 4 construction area. Public documents reviewed by LCM do not identify that visible core clearly enough to assign it to a specific Phase 4 block, so LCM is not doing so from photographs alone.
Carey London has said it is delivering the structural frame for London Square at Woolwich. Carey branding is also visible on the core formwork and site equipment in LCM's latest photographs. The public material reviewed by LCM does not identify Carey as the overall main contractor for the complete development, so its confirmed role is described here as structural-frame delivery rather than a main works appointment. London Square formally marked the start of excavation works in May 2025 after acquiring Phases 3 and 4 from Meyer Homes in June 2024. Piling and structural work on the General Gordon Square building followed, with the concrete frame becoming visible during the first half of 2026.
Why the correct number is now 700 homes, not 712
The development has repeatedly been described as a 712-home scheme, including on older project material. The current figure is 700. Royal Borough of Greenwich planning records for amendment 24/1641/NM explain the discrepancy. The amendment reduced the total from 712 to 700 homes by replacing studio apartments on levels one to 12 of Block A with larger two, three and four-bedroom homes. The change removed 12 units from the consented total.
That is worth clarifying because Formation Architects' project page still carries the earlier 712-home figure, while current planning records and London Square's 2026 announcements use 700. The original consent contained 122 homes in Phase 3 and 590 across Phase 4; the subsequent amendment reduced the overall scheme without changing the 122-home front building.
The current development has also become a clearly defined three-tenure project. Phase 3 contains the 122 private-sale homes. In June, London Square and QuadReal announced a £120m forward-funding agreement for 241 Build-to-Rent homes, which will be operated under QuadReal's UNCLE platform. Two months later, London Square confirmed a £100m agreement with Hyde covering 337 affordable homes: 190 for social rent and 147 for shared ownership. London Square describes the affordable provision as 49% by habitable room and says the deal is supported through the Greater London Authority's Affordable Homes Programme.
The two transactions are separate funding arrangements and should not be confused with the construction value or total development value, neither of which has been publicly confirmed in the material reviewed by LCM. What they do establish is how the 700 homes are now divided between private sale, Build-to-Rent and affordable housing. That distinction between consented housing and homes actually moving through physical construction is particularly relevant against the wider London housing delivery gap examined by LCM this month.
Seven rear buildings must be delivered around an operating Tesco
Phase 4 is considerably larger than the building visible from General Gordon Square. Formation Architects describes six perimeter buildings, Blocks A, B, C, F, G and H, together with the central Block DE. The buildings rise between 13 and 16 storeys and sit behind and around the existing Tesco development.
The physical relationship with Tesco is one of the more unusual construction features of the scheme. The original Royal Greenwich planning report includes alterations to the roof of the existing Tesco loading bay to provide residential amenity space, alongside lower-ground parking, cycle storage, new public realm and pedestrian connections through the site.
Tesco remained open during LCM's latest site visit, with hoarding directing customers to the operating store while structural works continued immediately around it. That interface makes the rear phase more than a conventional cleared-site residential build: construction has to progress alongside an established retail operation and its servicing requirements.
The Phase 3 reinforced-concrete structure rising directly in front of Tesco at London Square Woolwich, photographed during construction in August 2026. Image: London Construction Magazine.
Second stairs and Gateway 2 changed the delivery context
The current scheme also carries a building-safety history that predates construction. Formation Architects says the design was resubmitted in 2023 to incorporate second fire stairs in the taller residential buildings. The architect now records the project status as "Planning Achieved + Gateway 2 approval", while London Square's June 2026 QuadReal announcement also states that the site has full planning permission and Gateway 2 approval.
An exact public date for the Building Safety Regulator's Gateway 2 approval was not identified in the material reviewed by LCM. The 2023 planning redesign for second staircases and the later Gateway 2 approval are therefore treated as separate stages rather than interchangeable approvals.
London Square says the energy strategy uses central air-source heat pumps, high-performance building fabric and optimised glazing. The developer claims those measures contribute to a 76% reduction in regulated carbon emissions across the masterplan; the baseline behind that percentage is not stated in the current public announcement, so the figure remains a developer claim rather than an independently verified performance result.
A site that has taken almost two decades to reach this point
The cranes now filling the skyline disguise how long the remaining Woolwich Central land spent waiting for development. The wider Love Lane masterplan received outline permission in 2007. Later proposals included an 804-home scheme with a 27-storey tower, which Greenwich refused and which subsequently failed on appeal in 2020. A lower-rise Formation Architects scheme followed, with the current planning permission formally issued in 2023 before London Square acquired the remaining development land in 2024. The change from years of planning iterations to multiple structures physically rising is therefore as important as the individual tower now visible from General Gordon Square.
It also adds another major live housing site to the Greenwich construction pipeline. LCM has separately examined what is actually under construction at Charlton Riverside, where the distinction between long-term housing capacity and active delivery is equally important. London Square's current programme points to completion of the overall Woolwich development in 2029. No individual topping-out dates for the Phase 4 buildings have been publicly confirmed. For now, the clearest change since LCM's April visit is visible on site: the front building is no longer the only structure defining the project, and the build behind Tesco has begun to emerge above the hoarding.
Carey London and London Square branding on a rising concrete core behind Tesco at the Woolwich Central development. Image: London Construction Magazine.
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Expert Verification & Authorship: Mihai Chelmus Founder & Editor, London Construction Magazine | Construction Testing & Investigation Specialist |