Architects BPTW, PRP and Hawkins Brown ignore letter from Lambeth residents

Residents from the Central Hill Estate in Lambeth have appealed for a response from the architects who have applied to demolish and rebuild their estate. They wrote an open letter to all the architects asking them to engage with residents who want to refurbish rather than demolish the estate.

Campaigners explained to RHN why they wrote the letter and appealed again for these architect firms to reply to their letter:

“In December 2021 the architectural practices of BPTW, PRP and Hawkins Brown set out their commitment to the climate emergency and community engagement at a series of public exhibitions. These exhibitions were held as part of a tender process orchestrated by Homes for Lambeth, a wholly owned private company and subsidiary of Lambeth Council. The tender process for the project seeks to secure a masterplan for the demolition and construction of 1200 new homes with a commitment to only replace the existing levels of Council level rent – truly affordable – homes at the Central Hill Estate. The Refurbish Don’t Demolish campaign feels passionately that a development programme, already 10 years in the planning and delivering inconsequential numbers of new homes of all tenures to date, must consider the climate emergency and social justice at its core. Therefore it is not only the responsibility of councillors and decisions makers to take the courageous steps that rise to the challenges of our time but also for those professionals, consultants and advisors to step up. Unfortunately in the case of BPTW, PRP and Hawkins Brown for all of their reputation and renown they have failed to demonstrate their actions meet their words. With the word “TRUST” placed centrally by all the practices at the exhibition we wrote to them to ask them to step down from the process as designed by Homes for Lambeth and to engage with us to address the immediate and human issues at Central Hill Estate – namely to work constructively to arrest the managed decline of Central Hill, to imagine and co-design a better future and agree a plan to deliver it. Unfortunately to date we have received no response from these architects – all of whom have professed their desire to engage. We ask them again to engage with us honestly and with freedom to tackle the issues we face - not simply to design a new housing estate by spreadsheets.”

Radical Housing Network met recently with the Section of Architectural Workers, a trade union for architects. Any workers in architecture firms can get in touch with SAW if they have concerns about the ethical practices of their employers in relation to estate regeneration or the climate emergency.

We also welcome any architecture workers to contact RHN directly with information that could be passed in confidence to residents, to support them in challenging architect plans which threaten their communities, their homes, and all our environment.

The campaign has been covered in detail in the architects journal