The estate surrendered a hall and a playground for eight homes on the narrowest of votes the committee can take.
The Brooklands Park Estate in Blackheath Park has already paid for its eight new council homes. The 1950s community hall, which served as a nursery until it closed in 2018, has been knocked down. More than half the adjoining playground went with it. Planning permission for Richmount Gardens was granted in March 2024 on a 3-2 vote of Greenwich's planning committee, over objections about exactly that loss. What the estate does not have is the six houses and two bungalows it was promised in return.
Last month the builder went under. Helix Construct, based in Newbury, filed notice of its intention to appoint administrators on 10 September, and administrators were in place a week later. Greenwich Council has since said work on six of its Greenwich Builds housing schemes has stopped as a result, that all six sites have been physically secured, and that it has begun reviewing each one. It has named a single site publicly: a nine-flat block at Lemonwell Drive in Eltham. Residents of the other five are left to work out for themselves whether they live next to one of them.
The council's own record of contracts awarded places Richmount Gardens in the same batch of work. The job covered five sites in the borough, was worth about £17.4m and ran from September 2024 to a completion date of 13 September this year. It went to Helix, with the Blackheath scheme listed alongside the Eltham one. This paper has not been able to open the council's register file directly and has read the entry through a search extraction, corroborated by a national contract award notice from August 2024 recording the same batch and the same total.
That Richmount Gardens was well past the paperwork stage is not in question. The hall came down, and the William Mitchell mural inside it was lifted out, restored by the Heritage of London Trust and reinstalled last autumn at Brooklands Primary School, about 250 metres away. The artwork, at least, is safe and in use.
Eight of the council homes Greenwich set out to build were meant to be here. The estate surrendered a hall and a playground for them on the narrowest of votes the committee can take, and a secured, empty plot is not what that committee approved. The council owes the people who live around it two things it has not yet given: confirmation that Richmount Gardens is one of the six, and the name of the builder who will finish it. We are asking Greenwich for both.
- Helix Construct Ltd filed notice to appoint administrators on 10 September 2026; administrators confirmed by 17 September 2026
- Greenwich Council says work on six Greenwich Builds housing schemes has halted as a result, but has named only Lemonwell Drive, Eltham, publicly
- Council contract C/1000537, Greenwich Builds Phase 2 Year 1 Batch 3, worth £17,370,504.02 excl VAT, ran 16 September 2024 to 13 September 2026 and covered Richmount Gardens alongside Lemonwell Drive
- Richmount Gardens planning permission (23/0890/F) was approved 19 March 2024 by a 3-2 committee vote
- The scheme demolishes a 1950s community hall and part of a playground on the Brooklands Park Estate, SE3, to build six houses and two bungalows
- The William Mitchell mural from the hall was removed, restored and reinstalled at Brooklands Primary School in autumn 2025, before Helix's collapse
- No council statement yet confirms Richmount Gardens specifically is among the six halted sites
- No dated site visit has established the current physical state of the Richmount Gardens plot
Every factual claim in this story is linked to the evidence behind it. Where the newsroom has added judgement or framing, it is listed separately. Sources accessed 2 October 2026.
- Helix Construct collapse halts Greenwich Builds schemes (media)
- Helix Construct administration halts six council housing projects (media)
- Royal Greenwich Contracts Register (council)
- Find a Tender contract award notice (dataset)
- Greenwich Council approves Richmount Gardens housing scheme (media)
- Richmount Gardens planning record (council)
- Historic artwork rescued and moved to Royal Greenwich primary school (council)
- Helix Construct files notice to appoint administrators (media)
Claim by claim (8 facts, 8 editorial judgements)
- Helix Construct Ltd filed notice of intention to appoint administrators on 10 September 2026; administrators were appointed by 17 September 2026 — media, 2026-09-29“Helix Construct Ltd, based in Newbury, Berkshire, announced that it was planning to appoint administrators two weeks ago.”
- Work on six Greenwich Builds housing schemes has stopped as a result of Helix Construct's collapse — media, 2026-09-29“Work on six of Greenwich Council's new housing projects has been halted after the contractor building them ceased to trade.”
- The council has publicly named only Lemonwell Drive, Eltham, among the six halted schemes, saying all six sites have been physically secured and individual reviews have begun — media, 2026-09-29“all six affected development sites have been physically secured and individual reviews for each project have commenced”
- Council contract C/1000537 was awarded to Helix Construct, covering Greenwich Builds Direct Delivery Phase 2 Year 1 Batch 3, worth £17,370,504.02 excluding VAT, running 16 September 2024 to 13 September 2026, and including Richmount Gardens alongside Lemonwell Drive, Middle Park Avenue, Orchard Estate/Morden Street and Simnel Road — council, 2026-03-01“Contract C/1000537 awarded to Helix Construct, 16 September 2024 to 13 September 2026, value £17,370,504.02 excl. VAT, Greenwich Builds Direct Delivery Phase 2 Year 1 Batch 3”
- A Find a Tender contract award notice dated 22 August 2024 corroborates the same batch and total contract value for Helix Construct — dataset, 2024-08-22“contract award notice referencing Greenwich Builds Direct Delivery Phase 2 Year 1 Batch 3, value matching council register”
- Richmount Gardens planning permission (23/0890/F) was approved on 19 March 2024 by a 3-2 vote of Greenwich's planning committee — media, 2024-03-22“Conservative Pat Greenwell... and Labour's Majella Anning... voted against. But her Labour colleagues Clare Burke-McDonald..., Gary Dillon... and Gardner voted for the development.”
- The scheme demolishes a 1950s community hall, closed as a nursery in 2018, and part of an adjoining playground on the Brooklands Park Estate, to build six houses and two bungalows to a zero-carbon standard — council, 2024-03-22“six houses and two bungalows, demolition of community hall and part of playground”
- The William Mitchell mural from the demolished hall was removed, restored by the Heritage of London Trust and reinstalled at Brooklands Primary School, about 250 metres from the original site, in autumn 2025 — council, 2025-11-01“discovered in a disused community centre in Blackheath that was being demolished... relocated to Brooklands Primary School... approximately 250 meters from the original community centre site”
- Judgement: The community hall's demolition and the mural's removal and reinstallation, completed by autumn 2025, show substantial construction progress had occurred at Richmount Gardens before Helix's collapse in September 2026
- Judgement: Greenwich Council has not confirmed, on the record, that Richmount Gardens is specifically one of the six halted Greenwich Builds schemes
- Judgement: Framing the estate as having 'already paid' for the homes through the loss of the hall and playground.
- Judgement: Describing the 3-2 planning vote as 'the narrowest of votes' and treating it as a reason the council owes the estate a finished scheme.
- Judgement: The judgement that a secured, empty plot is not what the committee approved and not what the estate agreed to.
- Judgement: The characterisation that the council naming only one of six halted sites leaves residents of the other five guessing.
- Judgement: The closing judgement that Greenwich owes the estate a named replacement builder and a date, and the question the paper will put next.
- Judgement: The inference that the mural's rescue and the hall's demolition show the site had already been worked on well before the collapse.