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Estate plagued by crime to be demolished for £1bn rebirth
Ruth Bloomfield07.04.09
A NOTORIOUS "sink" estate is to get a £1billion makeover in the biggest development in London since the Olympic park.
The Ferrier Estate in Kidbrooke - used as the backdrop for the film Nil By Mouth - is being demolished and 4,000 homes built in its place.
It emerged today that Greenwich council has granted planning permission for a masterplan for the area, designed by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands, the firm which created the Millennium Dome and oversaw the Oxo Tower restoration.
As well as thousands of homes, there will be shops, offices, a school, health centre, sports facilities and more than 50 hectares of open space.
When complete, the scheme will provide 1,525 shared ownership and socially rented homes, with the remaining 2,475 privately owned.
Greenwich also granted permission for the details of phase one of the project, which will include 449 homes, 220 of which will be private.
Demolition of the estate has already begun, and it is hoped that the first residents will move in later this year.
A spokeswoman for Berkeley Homes Urban Developments, one of the project's partners along with the Southern Housing Group and the Homes and Communities Agency, said: "The demolition is the first outward sign that the site is now under way and will be one of the biggest regeneration projects in the UK, outside of the Olympic Park."
John Anderson, chairman of Berkeley Homes Urban Developments, added: "We are delighted that Greenwich council has granted planning permission, which means we can press ahead and deliver this scheme that will meet the needs of the local community.
"The regeneration will help revitalise Kidbrooke, and provide improved housing and facilities for the immediate neighbourhood, as well as attract new interest from further afield."
Peter Brooks, deputy leader of Greenwich council, described the news as a milestone for the area.
The Ferrier Estate is seen as one of London's worst examples of Seventies planning, and its concrete towers were allowed to run down over three decades.
Unemployment among its residents has been as high as 75 per cent. The estate was also plagued by crime and violence.
Last year members of a gang who styled themselves the Ferrier Boyz stabbed a young man who confronted them after they robbed his 14-year-old brother.
The Old Bailey heard how Faheem Javaid, 20, was stabbed four times, punched, beaten with a brick and pounded with a motorcycle helmet after he confronted the youths.
Gang leader Abdul Yassin-Noor, 20, was jailed for 15 years for attempted murder. Alex Ojerinola, Simba Chiuture and Neil Williamson, all 17, and Younatan Frezgi and Trevon Bert, both 15, were jailed for between five and eight years after being variously convicted of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and robbery.
Gary Oldman chose the estate as the backdrop for his 1997 directorial debut, Nil By Mouth, starring Ray Winstone.
The film followed a family affected by drugs and violence.
About 5,000 people lived on the Ferrier Estate, but Greenwich council began moving them out in 2006, leaving the 276-acre site a virtual ghost town.
The Olympic Park is set to transform 110 hectares of east London, including restoring 3km of rivers and planting more than 2,000 trees.
Reader views (11)
Looks lovely in the drawing, , , ,as did the previous scheme.
- Frank H., London UK.
It's sadly true. I grew up on a council estate in the 70's and it wasn't bad. Wind forward 20yrs and with no respect for the law, benefits culture and lack of discipline in all walks of life it's like a jungle. The problem is not the architecture, but the do-gooders will never say it.
- Mark, London
Either the criminals are relocated to some other place, or they will simply destroy this 'regeneration' like they do everything else.
There is a third alternative..
- Trunk, US
Build two houses right in the middle. One for the Mayor and one for the local Police inspector, AND make them live there.
- George, London
You can take the people out of the gutter but you cant take the gutter out of the people, so wherever you put these " problem" peoples, they will still be a problem. More police, more arrests and more prison sentences is the answer.
- Lynn, London
Yes and when rebuilt with the same people living there, it'll look like a tip again within a a few years. Who were those left wing idiots in the late 60s who said that if you put problem families with decent people it will raise their standards - the opposite happens to be true. Council and Housing Association properties should be tiered, decent people who are good neighbours and who look after their properties Grade 1 buildings, fairly decent but who don't pay their rent on time Grade 2, and low-lifes who don't work and make everyone else's life a misery a Grade 3 sink estate with barbed wire surrounding it!
- Sue, Orpington, Kent
Spruce it up and let all the EU migrants/asylum seekers move in
- Grim Reaper, Hell
Great, bring on the social housing but are they going to move all the ex-residents back in? Look forward to seeing how many of the 1525 shared homes materialize.
- Joe, Brighton, UK
This area used to be a quite nice one. But since the war, a changing population has changed the ethos of the area completely - How long will it take to civilise these people?
- Jonathan Montmorency, cooden, uk
I suggest that the problem is not with the estate but the people who live there.
Rebuild, make all spanking new, move the same people back in and it will be the same hell hole within the year.
- Frank, Home Counties, England.
Drugs and violence and family breakdown are just getting worse. In 25 years this new development will be in the same state as the one it's replacing. Replacing estates isn't the answer. Getting people to take responsibility for their actions is the answer.
- Phil Jones, London UK
