The Carpenters Estate in Stratford has been on my list of places to visit for some time, and I finally got around to it this weekend.
The estate was built in 1967 and includes terraced homes, small blocks of flats, a school, shop, police office, pub and three tower blocks - James Riley Point, Dennison Point and Lund Point.
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| Shop and police station |
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| Stratford & New Town Ward police station |
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| The Carpenters Arms pub |
It's been in the news recently for all the wrong reasons. Newham Council has promised the site to UCL, which wants to build a new campus there. In order to facilitate the sale of the site, the council has been 'decanting' residents, leaving sad, boarded up empty homes dotted around.
The process of selling and developing the site, which sits adjacent to the Olympic Park, has been going on for some time. Now the majority of residents left there are leaseholders and freeholders.
One man, who grew up on the estate and still lives in the house his parents raised him in, put it nicely. "We've been living next to a construction site for the last six years, and now just when we're about to get all the benefits of that - living next to a new royal park - we're being forced to move out," he told me.
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| The Orbit |
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| The Olympic Aquatics Centre as seen from the Carpenters Estate |
The residents are fighting to stay. There are notices dotted around - "Save our Homes. Say no to UCL on Carpenters Estate".
The council argues that the tower blocks are too expensive to renovate and that the cost per leaseholder (estimated at £120,000) would not be reflected in the value of the home.
The blocks were good enough, however, for the BBC and Al Jazeera to use as broadcasting studios during the 2012 Olympic games.
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| The BBC broadcast from here during the Olympic Games |
As is so often the case in these situations, it seems inevitable the residents will be forced out of their homes. A deep-rooted community will be dispersed - something that the council argues can be justified for the jobs and wealth created in return.
Such a nice blog! Im an art and architecture student from Madrid, and I'm glad to find it. Congratulations Andrea, go on posting :)
ReplyDeleteAgain the working classes are squeezed out for universities for the wealthy. As it's next to the olympic park it will probably be for 'research' therfore postgraduates and professors.
ReplyDeleteEXCELLENT blog. Thanks for the info. How about they compulsorily purchase a chunk of King's Road or High Street Ken instead? Get rid of the banker parasites and the Russian investors etc instead of these families who've been here for generations.
ReplyDeleteThis is a shameful thing for UCL to try to do. Most UCL student and staff are opposed to it.
ReplyDeleteI lived here as a child between 1969 & 1981.
ReplyDeleteI admire and applaud your work. Thank you
however, there is no chance to save this estate as is the case with all of the victorian housing that has been knocked down and new residences built on the isle of dogs for homeowners. Council housing is a poor never in this day and age and unfortunately, we have a government system that favours the businessman and most of the MP's, local government and just about every relative official are up to their eyeballs in corruptive practice!
This process has been ongoing for the last 30 odd years and to be honest, shame on the local residents who all shunned the original project of investment on the isle of dogs back in the late 70's, which is now the very successful Canary Wharf.
The ongoing redevelopment provides a huge economy to the local area and also brings new business to sustain local business.
Not everything is bad!