Project
Lefevre Walk
Year
1993–2006
Client
Tower Hamlets Housing Action Trust and Lefevre Walk residents
Site Area
5.8
Number of homes
400
Homes per hectare
68
Local authority
London Borough of Tower Hamlets
The masterplan replaced existing 1970s slab blocks with 400 new houses and flats on tree-lined streets. The heart of the new neighbourhood is the new Lefevre Square, closing the view along Roman Road. A motorway boundary is designed as a city wall, protecting the new neighbourhood from sight and sound of the traffic.
Massive deck-access blocks were replaced by a 60:40 mix of houses and four-storey flats. Flats are arranged in ‘villas’ of no more than 16 homes, each with a private garden or large balcony. Family houses have rear gardens and front doors on to landscaped courtyards or streets. This reintroduction of a traditional street layout and human scale has achieved a remarkably high density compared to its ‘brutalist’ predecessor.
The new homes were designed in close consultation with the community. PTE successfully managed a complex resident choice programme, whereby each home was tailored to its future occupants. PTE keeps in touch with residents, who are delighted with their new homes.
A major estate regeneration project. By the end of the third phase, a profound relationship of good will and mutual respect had been established. One of the resident coordinators exclaimed about life in her new home:
It's like waking up everyday and thinking you must be on holiday.”
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Resident
