Nine Elms
Huge sums of money are being poured into Nine Elms, which up until now has been little more than an industrial stretch between Vauxhall and Battersea, home to a disused power station and Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. This is the capital’s biggest regeneration project, and the area is about to change dramatically. The Mayor’s office are enthusiastically calling it “Nine Elms on the South Bank”, hoping some of the magic of the cultural complex will rub off. It’s a desert in terms of public transport at the moment, so top of the list is to add a new underground line from Kennington to extend westwards. Battersea Power Station will be turned into flats and shops, and new green spaces will brighten up the area. Also, the American embassy is relocating here complete with moat, and if there is one sure fire sign of an area that’s on the up, its official buildings surrounded by water.
Stats:
Cash injection: £8 billion for the Battersea Power Station revamp
What’s changing: Two stations (Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms) will connect to the West End and the City via the Northern Line, the old power station will be turned into flats, shops and a park, re-development of New Covent Garden Market, a green space between Battersea Park and Vauxhall Cross with a cycle path, and a high street near the Vauxhall interchange station.
More figures: 16,000 new homes, studios in Battersea Power Station start from £338,000 (although work won’t be completed till 2016, 600 flats have already been sold). 30,000 new residents are expected to move into the area by 2030.
Affordable homes: Undecided, an undisclosed percentage of homes in the Battersea Power Station will be deemed affordable, while developments like Sky Gardens may have none.
\n\nOld Street
How is Old Street still so run-down? It links Shoreditch to Clerkenwell, so one would expect gleaming office windows, plush apartment blocks and a shiny new station, but there’s nothing of the sort. This may be about to change however, as Mr Cameron has pledged to spruce up the old roundabout by building a new venue for start-up businesses. Most of these will be technology companies, part of East London’s Silicon Roundabout.
Stats:
Cash injection: £50 million.
What for: A new building designated as a civic space with classrooms and an auditorium, to be used by businesses to train people in IT-related disciplines. Barclays, IBM, Microsoft and KPMG are also due to set up shop here.
More info: Old Street is in the borough of Islington, which is one of the four worst London boroughs for income, education, homelessness and ill health (the number of people under the age of 65 who die each year is higher than the average). Will Old Street’s expanding Tech City reverse its fortunes?
Bermondsey
Bermondsey is one of those divisive neighbourhoods so typical of London; to the east rows of identikit estates sit in stark contrast to the chic restaurants and delis of Bermondsey Street and Maltby Street bordering Borough. There is even an offshoot of the White Cube gallery here now. Property developers have been busy with the office complexes around Bermondsey Square, called “mini Canary Wharf” by some, which is also home to Bermondsey Square Hotel and a long-running antiques market. Just off Jamaica Road, Bermondsey Spa has been earmarked for regeneration next.
Stats:
What’s happening: Constructing a public square in Bermondsey Spa with homes, shops, a café and new NHS centres
More figures: 2,000 homes are to be built
Affordable homes: Approximately 800
\n\nNorth Kensington
For many decades North Kensington was the black sheep in the Kensington-Notting Hill family, but no longer, as even the well-off have become priced out of these mega-expensive enclaves. A lot of the efforts are being concentrated on the Wornington Green Estate near Ladbroke Grove. It’s being demolished and rebranded as Portobello Square, with tenants of the old estate able to move into the new development when it opens. Shops and restaurants are planned too.
Stats:
Number of homes in Wornington Green Estate: 538
Number of these which are social housing: 538
Number of homes to be built on Portobello Square: 1,000
Number of these which will be social housing: 538, but this is unconfirmed
More figures: One bedroom flats start from £450,000
Elephant & Castle
It’s been touted as the new Shoreditch since Shoreditch became the West End, but instead it’s more likely that Elephant & Castle will shake off its down at heel image and become a paragon of new build homes, high street shops and middle class families strolling through furniture stores at the weekend. The Heygate Estate is set to be demolished, and there has been some controversy over “social cleansing”, as a leaked document showed that the number of affordable homes planned didn’t match up to the council’s promises, however they’ve since refuted those claims. Additionally the tube station and nightmarish roundabout are getting much needed makeovers.
Stats:
Cash injection: £1.5 billion
What for: A leisure centre with a swimming pool, café and crèche, tearing down the Heygate Estate and building 536 homes in its place, modernising the station and roundabout
More figures: 5000 new homes are planned
Affordable homes: 1,625
