Greenwich lifts Carbuncle Cup for the second time

For those who wish Lewisham would pool its sovereignty with Greenwich - a cautionary tale. Woolwich Central, which is essentially a giant Tesco hovering above a car park in the middle of town, has won the Carbuncle Cup - making it two wins in three years for the borough after the Cutty Sark restoration won in 2012.

The judges for the award, which is designed to highlight bad architecture, said of the building:

"Some truly diabolical cladding and a massing strategy that seems to have been directly inspired by the 1948 Berlin blockade; we can only hope that residential leases come with free airlift."

The Carbuncle judges are always wrong - picking on ambitious, high-profile (usually London) projects, rather than the mundane, sheepish dross that ruins our streetscapes. And while this
is a terrible, ludicrous building which looks like it needs the stickers to be peeled off, the pity of it is that the square that Woolwich Central adjoins is a very nice bit of urban landscaping and - together - the two developments have given a shot in the arm to Woolwich town centre.

Away from the square and the superstore, the long, slow death of Woolwich shopping precinct continues, waiting for the arrival of Crossrail to deliver a reversal of fortune.