Where are we now?

We understand that the regeneration of Kingsbridge is important to our residents and it has been some time since they voted for change. We remain committed to delivering on this promise, but the challenges since the ballot has made this difficult. The increase in interest rates, the rising cost of materials and labour, and high inflation since 2022 are making our ability to progress this project and confirm time frames difficult.

We are looking at alternative ways of funding the regeneration. We are in discussions with the Mayor of London’s team to understand what financial support they could offer us to progress the project. The commitments to social housing that the government have made following their comprehensive spending review should help, but we do need a bit more time to understand the details of the government’s proposal.

At present the project continues to be paused as we work through these challenges.

We understand that delay in setting out clear timescales and the uncertainty relating to the regeneration of Kingsbridge will be frustrating for resident. We are working to make the regeneration happen, but it is going to take more time.

We don’t expect to be able to restart regeneration consultation until the Spring of 2026 at the earliest. Once the consultation begins again, we expect to be working towards submitting a planning application for the estate regeneration.

In the meantime, our repairs and maintenance team will continue to maintain the estate and the delays to the regeneration project will not change this.

There is no need for residents to move at the moment as this begins either once we are much further progressed with the project.

What has happened so far?

In 2019

• A steering group was formed comprising residents from all three blocks. All volunteers, their role is to make sure residents are at the heart of any possible regeneration.
• The steering group appointed independent advisors (Christine Searle, Rob Lantsbury and Ifte Ahmed from New Mill Consultants) to work with them and us on this project.
• They also appointed Mike Tyrrell, former CEO of Tower Hamlets Community Housing, as a residents’ advocate, whose role is to represent and support residents throughout the ‘option appraisal’ process.

In late 2019/early 2020

• With New Mill, we gathered information from 66% of households on the estate through our ‘Starting the Conversation’ questionnaire. Residents told us what they liked, disliked and felt could be improved about their homes, blocks and neighbourhood. Two thirds of these questionnaires were completed during face-to-face meetings.
• We shared the questionnaire results with residents so they could gain an understanding of the views of their neighbours. The results will also be shared with the architects appointed to work with the Kingsbridge Estate on possible regeneration options.
• We worked with Kingsbridge Estate residents, Mike Tyrrell and the independent residents advisors to appoint Haworth Tompkins architects.

In late 2020/2021

• In September 2020 we kicked off the first round of consultation and introduced our project architects, Haworth Tompkins. A key objective of this phase was to delve deeper into the detail of Kingsbridge Estate and help build our understanding of what works, what doesn’t and what residents wanted to see in our evolving ideas.  A report summarising the consultation process and feedback received was published in December 2020.
• In January 2021 we launched the second round of consultation, which included the presentation and discussion of five options for how Kingsbridge Estate could change. These were early ideas presented to residents to gather feedback on what they did and didn’t like as well as how the options could be improved. It was also a chance for residents to respond to the feedback from Cycle 1 and provide any additional comments on the Draft Resident’s Brief. A report summarising the consultation process and feedback received was published in May 2021.
• In May 2021 we launched the third round of consultation, presenting the refined options in more detail, along with some further assessment of each option conducted by Quod. Each option was scored against five criteria:
  • 1. Financial viability: Is the proposed work within budget?
  • 2. Implementation: Considering the current risks and possible challenges of getting an option built.
  • 3. Residents’ brief: How well does it meet the brief?
  • 4. Environmental impact: What is the environmental impact of the proposal?
  • 5. Socioeconomic benefit: How do these proposals benefit the local area and community in addition to improving the existing homes and providing new ones?
• Cycle 3 was concluded and the report was published in August 2021.
• In November 2021 we launched the fourth round of consultation. Only the preferred options were developed and further tested against the appraisal criteria based on feedback from Cycle 3. A report summarising the consultation process and feedback received was published in April 2022.

In 2022

• In April 2022, we launched the fifth round of consultation, where the Options Appraisal process was concluded with the presentation of the preferred option. The preferred option was for a full redevelopment of the estate, which was then put forward to a resident ballot.
• In November 2022 residents were provided with our Landlord Offer document which set out the commitments if the ballot was successful, along with the example plans and designs to provide residents an idea of what they could typically expect if the proposed regeneration goes ahead.
• During November and early December 2022, a ballot was held for residents to vote if the regeneration proposals to demolish the existing blocks and build new homes should go ahead. A turnout of 75.6% of eligible voters took part in the ballot, of which 85.4% voted ‘yes’ and 14.6% voted ‘no’.

Contact us

We are always happy to hear from you and to answer any questions you may have. For more information please contact the project team:

• Issac Amoah, Regeneration Officer [email protected]
• Email the team at [email protected]

You can also contact:

• Mike Tyrrell, Independent Resident Advocate, on 07958 225 416 or email [email protected].