INVITATION – STATEMENT BY ARCHITECTS FOR SOCIAL HOUSING
The church hall, Christ Church, Gipsy Hill, 1 Highland Road, London SE19 1DP tomorrow (Saturday) 2pm
On Saturday, 20 February, Architects for Social Housing will be presenting their architectural proposals for the continuity and future of Central Hill estate.
The Save Central Hill Community campaign has been fighting since last February to save the estate’s 456 homes and the community they house.
Having recently cancelled their own proposed exhibition of proposals by PRP architects for the demolition of the estate, Lambeth council’s cabinet have pushed back the final decision on the demolition of the estate to this June, and residents are understandably worried about what will happen to them.
Architects for Social Housing (ASH) have been working with the Save Central Hill campaign since last June, holding design workshops with residents and asking what they want for the estate.
Residents have voted overwhelmingly against demolition and for refurbishment, and we have come up with design proposals that will save the estate from the bulldozers.
At the invitation of the Residents Engagement Panel, and as guests of Jonathan Croucher, the vicar of Christ Church, who has generously offered the church hall for our use, ASH will be exhibiting our architectural proposals at a public event open to all.
Our designs propose alternatives to demolition, with infill and build-over options that increase the housing capacity of the estate and generate the funds to refurbish the existing homes.
Lambeth’s own surveyor has estimated the cost of refurbishment at £18.5 million. In contrast, the cost of rebuilding the existing homes, without adding a single additional unit, has been estimated by one of Lambeth’s own regeneration architects at around £120 million.
We ask that other housing campaigns in Lambeth and across London come and support the Central Hill community. Lambeth have ignored, bullied and lied to them, and they need your solidarity at this key moment in their campaign to save their homes.
ASH’s proposal is a model we have used with partial success on Lambeth’s Knight’s Walk, where we helped save half the homes, and is currently being put forward by West Kensington and Gibbs Green estates as part of their application for a Right to Transfer to a housing association.
If you would like to get a closer look at what ASH does, and discuss how we might be able to help save your estate from demolition, please come and join us in our fight to Save Central Hill Community.
Architects for Social Housing
