News

Elephant's Big Step - The Evening Standard September 2005

ELEPHANT Castle is at last getting into its stride as a Pounds 1.5 billion

regeneration giant. Sixteen firms of architects have been chosen to deliver innovative designs for the project, which will include 5,000 new homes. The first private flats for sale, in 280-unit South Central, are nearing completion.

Two housing association consortia are getting to work on 1,000 new shared-ownership homes, including flats, and Southwark council will soon choose its main development partner.

Shortlisted candidates include regeneration veteran builders Taylor Woodrow and Canary Wharf Plc.

Within a few years, Elephant Castle will be unrecognisable to those who know it today. The infamous pink shopping centre is to be demolished along with graffitied subways and failed concrete council estates, such as the Heygate. In their place will be a grand boulevard from Walworth Road that will be flanked by Continental style piazzas, and a new bustling market square surrounded by showpiece residential and office towers.

After its 170-acre revamp, Elephant Castle will have 1.8 million sq ft of new commercial and leisure space, and the housing stock will have quadrupled.

Resurgent London is not short of regeneration zones, but Elephant Castle is a special case because of its proximity to the West End and City, says development expert Andrew Palmer, director of property consultant DTZ Residential.

The area marks the southern boundary of the congestion-charge zone and is a mere mile away from Westminster and the jobs of Whitehall.

"At the moment, values at Elephant Castle are 30 per cent lower than the average for zone one and that's an anomaly that won't last much longer," says Palmer.

Like Stratford, where 2012 Olympics investment is expected to propel the local property market, Elephant Castle is one of Ken Livingstone's "opportunity areas". The mayor wants it to become a new transport hub serving south London.

The snag for buyers at the moment is a temporary supply shortage of new homes in the regeneration zone.

Tomorrow, developer Oakmayne launches the second and final phase of flats at South Central, which sets the standard for other developments to follow. The aqua marine-colour building faces onto Walworth Road and has stepped upper storeys with big roof terraces and triangular balconies - or, as architect Piers Gough puts it, "like a concertina with continuous ribbons of balconies like knicker elastic".

Forty apartments are for sale, priced from Pounds 260,000 for one- bedroom units and Pounds 290,000 for two-bedroom flats.

Penthouses cost Pounds 475,000.

Underground parking spaces are Pounds 20,000 each. Oakmayne is offering incentives such as stamp duty refunds to buyers who reserve on the launch day.

Completion is due in November.

A show flat is open for viewing. Call 020 7403 6644.

Oakmayne has teamed up with Lend Lease, a giant commercial property developer, to bid for the big prize: to become Southwark council's main development partner.

Meanwhile, planning permission is being sought for 400 flats on Elephant Road. A scheme on Crampton Street has already received planning consent and marketing will commence early next year.

Other applications for the regeneration area include a 23-storey tower on the site of Eileen House, and two towers on the present site of London Park Hotel.

At Wansey Street, work is progressing on a 31-unit scheme, a mix of rented and private homes. Call Southern Housing on 0845 6120021.

Sandwiched between the listed town hall and Victorian terraces, it serves as a model for the architecture to come.

Chris Horn, Southwark council's development director, says high- quality, individualistic design will characterise the new Elephant Castle.

"There will be no standard unit types and no palette book, which is why we are using a mix of young and smaller architect practices as well as established ones," he says.

Southwark's core objective is to put back The Elephant's heart and soul by creating a distinct new quarter - one that helps lift the aspirations of existing residents (many of whom are trapped on the grim Heygate council estate) while attracting hundreds of newcomers.

Most residents and businesses broadly welcome the changes, though some complain of token consultation and "top-down" solutions. There is a suspicion that the new Elephant will be for newcomers who will profit from the predicted property boom.