The workshop that will look at the kinds of homes we want to build on Somerleyton Road has been postponed for a few weeks. It was due to take place tonight, Thursday 6 March.
It’s a really important discussion and we weren’t quite ready with the detail. Everyone who registered should have received an email yesterday and we’ll be rescheduling very shortly.
Are you interested in visiting one of London’s largest housing regeneration developments? You can register here to join us on a FREE visit to Woodberry Down estate.
Woodberry Down Estate in Hackney is undergoing a major redevelopment involving the demolition of 1,981 homes and the construction of more than 4,600 new social rented, private, and shared ownership homes as well as a host of other amenities.
For anyone interested in designing housing schemes, this is an exciting opportunity to help develop ideas. We’ll look at how we can establish design principles, social infrastructure and long-term stewardship of developments and how to apply this to community-led regeneration in Somerleyton Road. It will also give us a chance to see a community development trust in action!
If you are interested in visiting the Woodberry Down Estate on Wednesday 5 March between 9am and 12pm register for a free ticket now. But hurry, spaces are limited.
A bus with wheelchair access will leave No. 6 Somerleyton Rd at 9am sharp.
Lambeth Council, working with the Brixton Market Traders’ Federation, has launched a competition for a team to design, build and run activities in a fantastic central Brixton location, close to the Rec, the markets and the stations. Rather than put up with an empty space for two years we want a lively destination that can employ people whilst adding to the buzz about Brixton.
“I am delighted to announce the launch of the competition to decide the meanwhile use of the space at Pope’s Road. The project presents a fantastic opportunity to support local enterprise and employment in Brixton, a part of London with a rich history, a bright future and an active and engaged community. While a challenging brief, we hope to encourage innovation and creativity from bidders and a commitment to working with local businesses and residents. This is a chance to be involved at a very exciting time in the regeneration of Brixton, with all it has to offer ”. Cllr Imogen Walker, Cabinet member for Environment and Sustainability
We’re hoping to announce a strong shortlist at the end of March, which we’ll publish on the website. We’ll be looking for your feedback. More information here.
Around 20 people attended a workshop to go through the financial model for the Somerleyton Road project. This model identifies all the costs needed to make the project happen and all the possible sources of funding.
The council’s financial advisors (Grant Thornton) took the group through the model and explained the assumptions that had been used (e.g. the construction cost for a new home would be £1200 per square metre and an additional £150 per square metre if it is built above the Victoria line tunnel. These assumptions will change as the project develops and we start firming up our requirements.
We hope that sharing the model in this helps you to get involved. We want people to understand what decisions will be based on and what impact certain requirements might have on the overall project and what we can achieve on Somerleyton Road.
For example, at the workshop people told us we should aim for high sustainability standards and we discussed the option of building passivhaus homes. These are a specific type of eco home which result in very low heating bills. These homes tend to be more expensive to build but have longer term benefits to normal housing.
Grant Thornton modelled the development using 60% of the homes at private rent levels and 40% of the homes at Council target rent levels (e.g. £94 per week for a one-bed flat. They then showed that if 100% of the new homes are Council target rent, the rent levels are not high enough to pay back the borrowing and the scheme has a financial hole of £21m.
The group agreed that a summary version of the model along with the full version should be made available so we’ll upload these to the Future Brixton website next week.
We’ll also start planning site visits to schemes elsewhere in London so we can better understand how to achieve ambitious sustainability targets without adding significant costs to the project.
A series of workshops will now be organised by focusing on key aspects of the project including design, housing mix, long term management as well as returning to the financial model.
The design team and development manager will be in place in May when the serious work of preparing the planning application will take place.
Here is a sketch produced on the night which tries to capture some of the main discussion points. Summary sheets of the financial model based on three different scenarios are available on the library page.
Sketch notes by Odd Zebra
Many of you have told us you want more information on the Financial Model for Somerleyton Road.
This workshop is aimed at people interested in how the finances of the scheme will work and how the Model will be used to help with decision-making. Our financial advisor, Leke Adebiyi (from Grant Thornton), will be running this interactive session.
At No. 6 Somerleyton Road
On Thursday 23 January 2014
From 6.30pm to 8.30pm
Lambeth Council and Network Rail have jointly appointed AECOM and Fluid Architects to work with local people on a masterplan development brief for Brixton Central. This area was identified in the Brixton Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) as a major area for growth and investment in the town centre.
Lambeth Council and Network Rail are the major landowners in this area and we want local people to help with proposals for its long-term future. The masterplan development brief will detail the type of development and public space we want in the area, as well as how it should be delivered.
The first stage of this work will be to set up a local reference group that will help us to involve the whole community later in 2014. Members of the Fluid team will be speaking to and meeting with key Brixton based groups and individuals they hope will join this group. If you are interested in finding out more about joining the reference group, please get in touch via the Future Brixton email address.
Working closely with the Brixton Rec User Group (BRUG), the council is commissioning additional survey and capacity work for Brixton Rec, to understand the nature and scale of improvements needed. This will include looking at how the building could be further modernised to meet future leisure demand in the area, as well as the potential to improve its energy efficiency. The findings from this work will be consulted on in the summer/autumn of 2014.
Wider engagement with local people will take place in the summer, with the study finishing in the autumn of 2014. More information at Brixton Central.
We’re inviting individuals and organisations who would like to get more involved in the Somerleyton Road project to join us for our Stakeholder Meeting and Christmas Social.
Please join Cllr Pete Robbins, Brixton Green and Ovalhouse on Wednesday 18 December, 6.30 to 8.30pm at No. 6 Somerleyton Road.
Over the past year many of you have joined us at workshops and events to shape the plans for Somerleyton Road. You’ve established priorities for the development and given us great ideas, including ideas about how a community stakeholder group can operate to stay involved with the project and feed back to local people.
At this meeting, based on your feedback, we’ll present a plan for the stakeholder group for discussion. We’ll also take this opportunity to update you on the financial model and work programme for next year.
There’ll be food and refreshments and a chance to socialise at the end of the meeting. We’re at a vital and exciting stage in the project, and hope as many of you can join us as possible.
Please RSVP by noon Tuesday 17 December to futurebrixton@lambeth.gov.uk
