Business plans for redevelopment at Knight's Walk are pressing ahead following a recent progress report.

Knight's Walk was included in the report on Homes for Lambeth (HfL)’s business plan for 2020-23, which was approved by cabinet on March 15.

According to the report, which included Knight's Walk: “HfL has made good progress over the last year, securing five planning consents and starting the construction of new homes at the South Lambeth Estate.

“The sites that have secured planning consent will deliver 123 new homes, 66 per cent of which will be affordable homes.

“Furthermore, through optimisation of its ‘small sites’ projects it has identified a further 47 homes that can be delivered across the programme.

“This increases the number of homes in the programme to 4,889, of which 2,067 will be affordable homes.

“In addition, a minimum of 1,268 homes are proposed to be delivered at council level rent.”

Investment

At the cabinet meeting Cllr Matthew Bennett, cabinet member for planning, investment and new homes, said he visited the Westbury Estate before Christmas with tenants who were viewing their new homes while they were still under construction.

“We’ve spent a lot of time over the last few years arguing over the principle of what we’re doing. 

“And arguing facts, and non-facts in some cases, back and forth about what this council is doing.” 

“But to see the looks on people’s faces as they stepped into new homes […] made everything worthwhile,” he said.  

Ambitious Programme

The Knight's Walk project forms part of an ambitious Estate Regeneration programme being brought forward by Homes for Lambeth on behalf of Lambeth Council.

The scheme has been developed through close working with the local community, providing new homes for existing and new residents. The building designs build on the legacy of George Finch’s work at Cotton Gardens who designed dwellings to suit different lifestyles and facilities that enriched the overall sense of community. Our scheme completes a new urban block containing a wide variety of dwelling types and tenures.

The building bridges between the more historic context to the north and the highly regarded Cotton Gardens Estate to the south west and reaches 7 stories along Kennington Lane.

The new buildings step carefully along their length to create a varied building frontage that supports interaction along Knight's Walk and makes the most of the open views towards the park and play space. The highly articulated façades and roofline echoes Finch’s work.

Knight's Walk is part of the Cotton Gardens estate in Kennington, next to the famous “dancing towers” by George Finch. It’s a peaceful, leafy neighbourhood, and our plans aim to keep this character while improving the outside areas and adding to the number of homes.

Two Phase Scheme

In total, 84 new homes will be built in two phases, replacing 18 of the existing patio houses, and integrating with the remaining 15 of these low-rise homes. All 14 of the current secure tenants will move into new council-level rented homes, and there will be a further 25 affordable homes, including 13 new homes for people on the council's housing list. There are also plans for a community space for all residents to use for clubs, meetings, events and socialising.

Replacing the existing garages, the first phase of this scheme is a small, stepped five-storey block on Renfrew Road.

Phase 2 involves replacing selected low-rise patio houses and one apartment block, allowing us to build an additional 68 homes, a mix of council-level rent, affordable and open market.

Current works are progressing well, including scaffolding starting to be removed nearing brickwork completion. Roofing works are also complete, with the tower crane to be removed. Internal works are progressing well with properties taking shape.

 Cabinet member for planning, investment and new homes, Matthew Bennett said:

“We’ve spent a lot of time over the last few years arguing over the principle of what we’re doing. 

“And arguing facts, and non-facts in some cases, back and forth about what this council is doing.” 

“But to see the looks on people’s faces as they stepped into new homes […] made everything worthwhile”.