Case studies
London Borough of Greenwich
In 2003 we were asked by the London Borough of Greenwich to undertake a study of the Frances Street Estate at Woolwich Dockyard. This included examining a number of defunct garage areas, 5 tower blocks, a block comprised exclusively of bed-sitting room flats, an abandoned underground car park and a large single storey supermarket.
We identified potential for raising £5m in capital receipts from redundant land — money that could be spent on environmental improvements (which we also identified) or in helping the local authority to meet the decent homes standard. As a result of this work we also consulted local residents on their preferences and opinions about the locality.
Following our success with this task Greenwich appointed us in 2004 to carry out similar work looking at 43 estates and blocks totaling 7000 properties in the Charlton and Kidbrooke neighbourhoods.
One
of our recommendations was to provide ground floor garden areas to all maisonette
blocks.
Abandoned
ground floor flats were a feature of all five tower blocks on the estate.
Disused
underground parking area.
Poor
quality bungalow shops on the edge of the estate.