We will be visiting every tenant to complete a housing needs survey. This is a detailed survey that will provide us with information on your personal need, preferences and aspirations for your home and estate.

We will discuss the available options on a one-to-one basis with residents. Everyone would need to move off site for what we expect to be a minimum of 2 years.  We have made the assumption that you will want to stay in the local area and will work with you to ensure you have a temporary or permanent home that meets your needs whilst the redevelopment is underway.

You will have the option to move away either temporarily or permanently.

Existing Riverside tenants of Friars Close & Burrell Street will be guaranteed the Right to Return, and a home in the new development.

All tenants will keep their same tenancy type when they return to their home on the newly built estate.

All rents will remain the same for each unit type.

All homes will be accessible on all floors of the development through the installation of lifts and level access to properties. The new development will have wide accessible communal areas in each block to accommodate all needs. We will ask for residents’ preferences when allocating new homes and will accommodate these preferences where possible.

If you need to move you will get help with costs. This can include things like the cost of disconnecting and reconnecting a washing machine, redirecting mail and removals. If you have to move more than once, you will receive a disturbance allowance each time you move.. Riverside will discuss with you in more detail what is and isn’t covered by a disturbance payment before you move.

If you have lived in your home for over 12 months, you will also be entitled to receive a home loss payment – the amount of this is set by Government and is currently £6,400 (March 2020). You will only receive this payment once. If you are temporarily relocated during redevelopment and then move back to a new home on your estate, it is important to note you will not receive this payment twice. But for each move we will assist you with the costs associated with moving to a new home. The statutory home loss payment will be paid directly to the named tenant.

We will be providing all existing tenants of Friars Close and Burrell Street with a home to meet their need and we will also build some additional affordable homes. To cover the cost of building the new homes for existing residents, we will have to build some homes for private sale too, all of which will result in a more dense site, with higher blocks than what the scheme currently has.

There will be different parties involved in determining the number of homes that we build – Riverside, the local authority, developers, architects and you the tenants.

We have no fixed plan of numbers at this stage. Levels of funding to build the affordable homes are low compared to the cost of building a new home. To cover the cost of building new homes for existing residents, we will have to build private sale homes.  There are different parties that will be involved in determining the number of homes that we build, the main being Riverside, the Local Authority, and you as tenants.

The new homes will meet the GLA home standards.  Over the next month we will arrange to measure the inside of your home to understand the current size of the existing properties to make a comparison to the GLA size standards.

No, the site would be tenure blind, you would not be able to tell the difference between affordable and private sale blocks. External communal areas and green spaces will be shared.

We will consult with you throughout the redevelopment process. We will hold consultation events with you to work up design proposals to agree what your new estate looks like including the layout and how the inside of your home could look.

We can explore this if/when the redevelopment goes ahead, no decisions have been made at this point. Our priority is to rehouse existing residents in Friars Close in modern, accessible accommodation.

This will be determined by Southwark Council’s Planning Department and GLA policy. As there is currently no parking at Friars Close, it is unlikely that parking will be provided.

All blocks will meet the required health and safety requirements at the time of planning submission. Following the Grenfell tragedy, an Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety has been commissioned by the government which recommends new policy for new developments. We will talk you through these during the consultation process.

The proposed homes shown are of typical layouts and these will be developed further as the design progresses. With regards to bedroom sizes, all bedrooms will meet current standards and we will show these to you at a future consultation event.

There are 26 homes in Friars Close and 2 homes in Burrell Street, there are 28 homes in total that fall within the redevelopment programme.

Our intention is redevelop Friars Close and Burrell Street, this will be in consultation with both you, our tenants and Southwark Council, we aim to submit a planning application in Summer 21, once planning permission is granted we can then provide a definitive start on site date.

We don’t yet know how many blocks the development will be or how high, however, as shown at the event, we expect the building to be taller than the current building. Southwark Council planning team will influence the size and height of the new building/s and as our conversation with them continues, we will confirm this detail at a future consultation event.

We imagine the development will take around two years, as we have more information we will be able to update the programme and give you more information.

We are still working through the detail for the temporary accommodation, we intend to provide you with homes that are within walking distance from Friars Close.

Yes the homes for sale, along with GLA grant funding will pay towards the cost of the affordable homes that we will build.

We have ambitious sustainability targets which match those set out by the Greater London Authority (GLA) and Southwark Council. The development will aim to reduce carbon emissions where possible.

We will take into consideration your feelings on the name for the redevelopment and will consult with you on any name for Friars Close.

We are required to provide ample storage for bikes within the new development, in addition to storage within properties. There is no requirement or plans currently to provide parking for motorcycles on site.

Your temporary move will be guided by commitments that we make to you, the ITA will work with you to formalise an offer on your temporary move.  You, the tenants and the ITA will work together to agree guiding principles on your new home, this will cover things such as where your home will be, what size, when you are required to move, costs that will be covered and much more.

We understand that most tenants have a preference to have a closed plan kitchen, we are working to meet those preferences and will keep you updated with layouts of the new development.

Yes your rent levels and tenancy rights will remain the same.

Yes, you can contact you Resident Liaison Officer Jade Adnett on 07980 761482 who will talk to you about the options of moving off the estate either temporarily or permanently.

There is no “right to buy” for tenants under their tenancy agreement, this is a right that local councils include for existing tenants, as a housing association we are unable to provide those rights.  The new private sale homes will be on the market for anyone to be able to purchase.

It is likely that there will be a service charge increase for the new development due to more services being provided on site. We will plan and design spaces to ensure that the service charge include in the new development is affordable for everyone.

We do not expect that there will be any funding or opportunities available for residents to purchase for sale properties at a discount. This may change by the time we come to sell homes and will let residents know of any updates.

SC means service cupboard, this is a space within your home that will hold any service equipment, such as the boiler, meters etc.

We understand how important security is to you, the new development will be designed and managed to ensure that security is a priority and that open spaces will be a safe place for all.

We have not yet identified what the temporary accommodation will be, we are working to ensure that we meet your needs as far as possible in the temporary move.

We have committed to ensuring the whole of the redevelopment is tenure blind throughout – this means you will not be able to tell the difference between market sale and affordable rented accommodation. We do not yet know where the entrance will be or how many but they will be completed to the same standard.

The new development will be parking free, apart from the requirement to provide disabled parking spaces. Any residents who have parking permits for the local area, issued by Southwark, you will be able to retain these permits.

Our intention is to install audio visual door entry, the detail of this will be provided at a later stage.

As shown in our open space images we will be required to provide play space for children of a wide range of ages. We currently have no plans for outdoor gyms, this would be equipment that would add to a service charge cost, however if this is something residents are interested in incorporating we can look at options.

We will come up with a completely new scheme, but will take account of all the feedback (to date) that you have already provided through our consultation with you.

The size of homes will remain the same and we remain committed to providing you with a home that meets your housing need. Overall changes will be related to the number of homes, heights of the building/s and scheme layout.

We are thinking about climate change and will make the new homes as energy efficient as possible through both the design and the materials that we use. Riverside is very conscious of its responsibility to help the government meet its target of carbon net zero by 2050. It is unlikely that we will provide air conditioning, however, homes will be designed with good ventilation, insulation, and passive measures to prevent overheating.

Yes all homes will be on a single level, with step free access to all rooms.

There were many reasons, including the number of homes and heights of the building, but they also had unreasonable expectations around the layout and the amount of amenity space that we needed to provide. Also the process of meeting with Southwark council and having discussions was very challenging, resulting in delays, which ultimately impacted on securing funding from the Greater London Authority to help us build these homes.

We are at an early stage in design and it would not be accurate or fair to comment on heights at this point, except to say that we expect a taller building than the one we last showed you.

All residents have the opportunity to move off the estate from this point on. If you would like a transfer off the estate please contact your Housing Officer, David Wade or your Resident Liaison Officer, Jade Adnett, and we will work with you to identify a property that meets your housing need. All residents have the Right to Return (RTR) and will be able to return to a newly built home.

We will be able to provide more accurate timeframes at an event in early 2022. We anticipate the temporary moves will start in approx. 2 years.

This is one of the reasons we have teamed up with Mount Anvil (MA), they have the expertise and planning experience to create a scheme that the planners will accept. We also have the option to appeal the council’s decision if we believe the scheme meets their requirements and is rejected for a second time.

We must meet specific planning requirements when developing proposals, however Southwark council and the Riverside board have made it clear that proposals must be supported by the residents, so demonstrating resident support also forms part of the planning submission. Having the community behind us will impact decisions made. The voice of tenants is powerful.

Due to the delays that we have outlined, we will not be able to meet the timescales needed to secure the GLA grant. The rules for GLA grant funding in the future have changed and it is unlikely that we will have another chance to secure grant funding. This means we will have to make changes to the scheme to make it financially viable and will have to increase the number of private sale homes to subsidise the cost of the social and affordable homes.

We remain committed to keeping existing rent levels for each unit size. Rents for existing tenants will not increase due to redevelopment.

We will need to increase the number of private sale homes that we build. The money made from the sale of these homes will help cover the cost of the affordable homes.

There may be some differences in the finishes within the homes, but the design, quality, and care taken will be the same for all homes whether for sale or for rent. Block/s will be tenure blind, so that that from outside, you would not be able to tell which is rented and which is privately owned.

We are looking into arranging this for one of the Mount Anvil completed sites. We will come back to you with more detail on this soon.

We will continue to consult with you at each key milestone, ensuring you are kept up to date on proposals and discussions with the council. We will provide you with a resident engagement programme in early 2022.