Colville Estate regeneration gets the go ahead!

The masterplan for the regeneration of Colville Estate was approved at Hackney Council's Planning meeting on July 18th, paving the way for the replacement of existing council homes and the construction of much-needed new housing for the Regents Canal / Hoxton area.

Picture from Flickr

The masterplan - defined jointly by residents, architects and the Council - is for a mixed neighbourhood of almost 900 homes, made up of private, social rented and intermediate properties. The plan is specifically designed to retain the community feel that is so important to 'The Colville',which nestles between Regents Canal and Shoreditch Park, at the South of De Beauvoir Ward.


Over the past year, Colville Estate Tenants and Residents Association (CETRA), Hackney Council's Regeneration Team, Karakusevic Carson Architects and De Beauvoir's Councillors have worked together to put together the proposal.


At the planning meeting, a number of Colville residents, including the CETRA committee, spoke in favour of the proposal as did Cllr Rob Chapman, representing the three De Beauvoir councillors who all believe that the plan balances the residents desire to retain a distinct community feel with the need for the proposal to be self-financing. 


Two tower blocks will replace the existing Harwood Court tower and the finance from the private flats within these and elsewhere on the estate will be used to fund the replacement of the social housing already on the estate. Without the construction of the towers the height of the buildings elsewhere on the new estate would need to be increased very significantly.


The masterplanning process ran alongside the development of the first phase of the regeneration, which has seen the construction of 20 new council houses in the now completed Bridport House.


You can see a couple of images of the masterplan below: 

The above picture shows a model of the overall site - with the masterplan elements in white, and the below picture shows a sketch of a proposed streetview:

You can see more coverage of the approval here, here and here. 


The scheme now moves forward to agree phasing and then to appoint an architect for the detailed design, builders for the construction, and a developer for the private aspects of the scheme.


We realise there are many aspects of the scheme around which people have questions - including leaseholder rights and timescales - so if you do have anything you want answered please do get in touch.