Lambeth Council has loaned a further £5.5 million to its wholly-owned house building company, added to £5 million loaned last year. It comes as a progress report on Homes for Lambeth’s business plan for 2020-23, approved by cabinet on March 15, stated a lack of resident support was a “likely” risk to its regeneration programme. The council’s controversial programme, run by HfL, is focused on six estates, including Westbury, Knights Walk, South Lambeth, Central Hill, Cressingham Gardens, and Fenwick. The loaned money is expected to be paid back out of “project surpluses”, profit made from the new homes. But the Green opposition, who are against the demolition of the estates, have warned it is a risky strategy and HfL could end up like Croydon’s failing housing company Brick by Brick.
The surprising slice of Italy in southeast London
Dawson Heights has become a place of architectural pilgrimage
The architect, Kate Macintosh, designed Dawson Heights aged only 26
Where I live in southeast London, a pair of asymmetrical housing blocks dominate the horizon. They peek over hilltops and around corners. They’re like a portrait whose eyes follow you around a room.
The past year has provided the lemons (no travel) to create lemonade (exploring close to home), thus I set out to discover more about Dawson Heights (1964-72), a pair of ziggurats built on a spoil heap. Less well-known than other modernist masterpieces, they’ve become a place of architectural pilgrimage, described as resembling battleships, Italian hilltop towns, castles, and Inca pyramids.