IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Wansey Street, LONDON, SE17 1JP

This is the site of Southwark Council's demolished Heygate estate. An approximately similar view from Walworth Road is Image, taken during demolition. See Image and http://www.elephantpark.co.uk . The branding associates the development with romantic, historic-sounding Elephant and Castle rather than unappealing Walworth despite the latter being an apparently vibrant community that has not yet been gutted. One has to question the sense of a brandname that evokes the hot, dusty savannah – or is it a subliminal appeal to the many people of African and African-American origin in the area?

This was a corner of Southwark Council's Heygate estate, demolished in recent years for redevelopment: see Image and http://www.elephantpark.co.uk . A view of Wansey Street during demolition is Image

The Heygate Estate, completed 1974, is being demolished and redeveloped. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heygate_Estate http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/11/look-heygate-estate-whats-wrong-londons-housing

The cranes are at a site off Heygate Street. The tallest old building towards the middle is, or was, Newington Library.

The near derelict estate was awaiting demolition, a controversial decision by the local council as the buildings were structurally sound and 3000 people had to be displaced.

The estate, completed in 1974, is to be redeveloped. Demolition is taking place on both sides of the street. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heygate_Estate http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/11/look-heygate-estate-whats-wrong-londons-housing

The estate, completed in 1974, is to be redeveloped. Demolition is taking place on both sides of the street. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heygate_Estate http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/11/look-heygate-estate-whats-wrong-londons-housing

Block of 228 vacated flats awaiting demolition.

The southern perimeter block, separated from the rest of the estate by Heygate Street. Either another monument to 1960s idealism doomed by modern tastes (now everything must glitter, concrete's just too grey - boring) and/or a mercenary council, or another concrete hell-hole past its sell-by date. Take your pick. Although planned during the previous decade, the Heygate's 1,200 flats were built in 1970-74. The four vast concrete blocks forming the perimeter are certainly forbidding ("impressive from a distance" wrote Pevsner), but the inside is surprisingly green and the spacious flats meant that for a time it was not an unpopular place to live. Later it fell victim to the usual blights and Southwark Council are, perhaps unnecessarily, demolishing the whole lot. They started earlier this year but it will take several years to finish the job. Old communities will vanish and it seems likely that most of the old occupants will be priced out of the new development.

Turquand Street is on the right. Behind the camera is the Parish Church of St John the Evangelist, Walworth.