The Stephen Lawrence Centre, designed by award-winning architect David Adjaye, opened in Deptford in 2008.

The site was previously occupied by a Thames Water pumping station, which comprised a two-storey office building with a basement in the south, and a 4 m deep, 8 m diameter underground chamber in the middle which contained numerous pipes and pumps. An investigation was carried out on this site by GEA in 2004 and one of the requirements of the fieldwork was ensuring that the numerous below ground obstructions were avoided.

The site is underlain by Upper Chalk, which is a principal aquifer, and the Ravensbourne River borders the site to the east. The fieldwork, and particularly the cable percussion drilling, had to be carried out under strict conditions to ensure that the underlying aquifer was not polluted as a result of the drilling operations and close liaison with Thames Water was required to achieve the investigation objectives in accordance with their protocol.

The redevelopment comprised the demolition of the existing building and the construction of a two-storey art centre and a two-storey cantilevered studio building. As part of the new development the central hardstanding area with underlying chamber and pipes was not to be altered. Therefore, piled foundations were recommended to support the anticipated moderate to high loads and where the piles are located in close vicinity to the buried chamber, it was recommended that they were permanently cased to prevent loads being transferred onto the chamber or nearby pipes.