Regenerating West Kentish Town Estate

Residential architecture LondonCouncils all over London and other parts of the UK are facing challenges to regenerate estates. Many of them are past their prime and some are deteriorating so they are becoming dangerous. The only option is to revamp them. The latest project like this to get the go ahead is West Kentish Town Estate. Camden Council will allow the regeneration. The hope is the project will provide some of most interesting residential architecture London can offer.

A 1960s development

The West Kentish Town Estate was built in the 1960s. It features an array of three and four storey blocks. The properties are interesting because they are made of prefabricated concrete panels. They were a great choice at the time due to the low cost and short build time. However, today they are deteriorating, resulting in structural problems. There are also issues with the drainage, internal electrics, and amenities in the homes.

With all of these problems, the only choice was to look at regenerating the estate. Early ideas have been around since 2018. In March 2020 a vote among residents was massively in favour of the work. Now, AHMM and a team of other architects, including us, will take on the £321million redevelopment.

The new plan

The masterplan for the site is to create a total of 880 homes. This will include replacing all of the current 316 homes with new ones. Plus there will be at least 40% more affordable units. Then there will be a final selection of properties for private sale. These sales will help to partially subsidise the whole project.

The early concept designs for the site are really interesting. The new homes will be in a mix of mid-rise blocks and quaint mews streets. This will make much better use of the space on the site. There will also be a lot more greenery.

New residential architecture for London

This project could be a really great example of how to revamp an old estate to create new homes that people will love. More importantly, it has the chance to make the whole area a nice place.

At Coffey Architects we couldn’t be happier to be involved in the project. If you are thinking about designing residential architecture, London has few teams with credentials that can match ours. Whether it is a larger regeneration or creating a new private home, contact us to find out what we can do for you.