At the risk of getting paranoid and jumping the gun, if conversion to residential is their plan, then they will need to apply for planning permission for a "change of use".

I don't know who got the conversions across the road done (that's in Southwark isn't it?) but there is precedent for Lewisham refusing such an application on the grounds of such a change having an adverse impact on the retail attractiveness of the local shopping parade (i.e. the parade goes below the critical mass required for the remaining businesses to survive). See here for an example (from 2005) which I found with a quick Google search.

Local residents will need to be on the ball if this is the plan.