Future Brixton pop-up market stall
2014-11-15 11am to 3pm
Brixton Station Road
A market stall to exchange ideas and information about the Brixton Central masterplan, Somerleyton Road and Your New Town Hall.... More »
How did it come about?
In the 1950s and 1960s Somerleyton Road was at the heart of Brixton’s West Indian and Irish communities. Forty years ago the homes were demolished and it became harder for local businesses and the community to thrive.
In 2008 Lambeth Council began working with local people on a masterplan for Brixton to guide investment and development in the area. Some Brixton residents came together as they felt Brixton people should be at the forefront of any redevelopment of Somerleyton Road. They set up the Brixton Green community benefit society and over 1,200 Brixton people became shareholders.
During the following five years Brixton Green and Lambeth Council worked hard to make it possible for such a big asset to be developed in partnership with the community. In 2013 the Lambeth Council’s cabinet agreed and the Somerleyton Road Project was set up.
What are we asking for?
People have said what they need – homes they can afford, jobs and training, and a chance to build a community.
The Somerleyton Road project aims for:
- - around 300 new homes to rent, as many as possible at council rent levels
- - a theatre for Ovalhouse which will provide performance and opportunities to participate for all ages
- - training and job opportunities, including a chefs’ school, radio station and workspaces
- - healthy activities, such as a street gym, dementia centre and spaces for growing food
- - and more right in the heart of Brixton.
You can read more about what we want from the site in the project brief for Igloo
Not for profit
Rather that going into partnership with a private developer, the council has chosen to act as its own developer. This means the council and the community have more control over what is built and can focus on building affordable homes and a thriving local community rather than making a profit.
Igloo has been appointed as the development management team and delivery partner for the project. It brings together a professional team that includes project managers, quantity surveyors, architects (led by Metropolitan Workshop) and planners.
The final development will be owned and managed by a new community body in which the residents, community and business occupiers and the wider community have a say. The homes will all be for rent and will be set up as a new housing cooperative to make sure tenancies and rents are fair.
To ensure partnership working, a steering group has been set up with representatives from Lambeth Council, Brixton Green and Ovalhouse, chaired by the Cabinet member for Jobs and Growth. This group is committed to keeping the local community at the forefront of the development and will ensure the plans continued to be shaped by local people.
How do we make it happen?
We have an exciting opportunity to do things differently - local people, organisations and businesses working together to make the best use of publicly owned assets.
Over the next six months the community and the Somerleyton Road project team will need to work together to produce a workable scheme that we hope will exceed our aspirations. The final scheme will need to be submitted to the planning authority and we’re aiming for this in early 2015.
You can read the Project Team reports in the Library on this website.
You can read more about the site itself here and how we decided on what we wanted from the site on the Agreeing the Somerleyton Road brief page.