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A tree grows from the windows on Electric Avenue, Brixton

TruXta said:
Who owns it/them?
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Not sure. When they were built it was as business and living premises for the shop owners when Brixton was an out-of-town shopping destination. The access to the flats are from the shops. The shop owners stopped living above their businesses at some point. I guess they belong to whoever owns the shops.
 
quimcunx said:
Not sure. When they were built it was as business and living premises for the shop owners when Brixton was an out-of-town shopping destination. The access to the flats are from the shops. The shop owners stopped living above their businesses at some point. I guess they belong to whoever owns the shops.
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Not strictly true. Most have separate entrances (though not all) and can be accessed outside the shops.

Re ownership, it's believed some are owned by professional freeholders, and others are by the people who own the shops. I know the council are interested in trying to get the buildings sorted out. Some are locally listed.

Some people are slowly cottoning on to the fact that they are sitting on a pot of gold and doing them up (the building opposite the one in the picture has recently been refurbed and now has tenants in). Part of the problem is that they've been left for so long that some of them are in a shocking state and will cost an absolute fortune to sort out.
 
I do hope these places can be turned back to residential, though not sure I would want to live there too noisy.
 
I'm sure some of them have got what looks like the refrigeration units for the shops below taking up most of the window space on the third floor.
 
It's rare to be something other than a buddleia - perhaps it's the combination of a fruit market and scavenging birds.
 
leanderman said:
It's a shocking situation.

Mainly in terms of homelessness

But also in the sheer contempt it shows from the owner toward the neighbourhood.

Not just the tree - but corrugated metal. So sad.
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It doesn't look like corrugated metal above the shop hoarding in the lower picture, mainly because the edges are too neat. Looks like some kind of ribbed/slatted wooden panels.

But you're right it is a state, and could be a really nice place. Might be storage, I suppose. Looks like a serious water ingress problem though.
 
Living life7 said:
That means the market will be the
Next to go.
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I don't necessarily disagree. Unfortunately, in the 10 years I've been here, the buildings are getting worse and worse in Electric Ave. Unless someone gets funding to sort them out they'll eventually fall down. Rental prices have already gone up by at least 1/3 in the last year for people living in some of the buildings without any investment. I don't know what the answer is.
 
What's the bets that if the owner wanted to put some windows in, do some repair, that Lambeth would have them in court if they deem them to be out of keeping, yet they'll happily sit back and watch the place deteriorate in to dereliction without a word.

They should be able to place an enforcement notice on it to have it repaired and take possession if it is not complied with.
 
Smick said:
What's the bets that if the owner wanted to put some windows in, do some repair, that Lambeth would have them in court if they deem them to be out of keeping, yet they'll happily sit back and watch the place deteriorate in to dereliction without a word.

They should be able to place an enforcement notice on it to have it repaired and take possession if it is not complied with.
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I think you're being a little harsh. In fairness to Lambeth they are trying really quite hard to get Electric Ave sorted (I speak as someone who's had dealings with them on just that). The main problem is that the owners are either absent or don't give a shit.
 
Smick said:
What's the bets that if the owner wanted to put some windows in, do some repair, that Lambeth would have them in court if they deem them to be out of keeping, yet they'll happily sit back and watch the place deteriorate in to dereliction without a word.

They should be able to place an enforcement notice on it to have it repaired and take possession if it is not complied with.
Click to expand...
I don't have a problem with in keeping type regulations on development, modification or renovation. The high street in the town nearest my parents didn't have any rules and lots of Victorian and even Georgian sash windows and beautiful stained glass name and number plates over doors were ripped out to be replaced with cheap and convenient upvc in the 80s. What would have been a beautiful market town high street looks fucking awful now- once this stuff is gone it can never be recovered.
 
Manter said:
I don't have a problem with in keeping type regulations on development, modification or renovation. The high street in the town nearest my parents didn't have any rules and lots of Victorian and even Georgian sash windows and beautiful stained glass name and number plates over doors were ripped out to be replaced with cheap and convenient upvc in the 80s. What would have been a beautiful market town high street looks fucking awful now- once this stuff is gone it can never be recovered.
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Well quite. And I'll be the first to tear Lambeth a new one if they fuck it up, but if you look at the windows that are going in on the block above Iceland at the other end of the road they are very much in keeping, whilst being (afaics from a distance) double glazed so as to make the building liveable. The planning app for there went through several iterations before actually being approved.
 
colacubes said:
Well quite. And I'll be the first to tear Lambeth a new one if they fuck it up, but if you look at the windows that are going in on the block above Iceland at the other end of the road they are very much in keeping, whilst being (afaics from a distance) double glazed so as to make the building liveable. The planning app for there went through several iterations before actually being approved.
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Apparently the apartments above the st pancras hotel aren't allowed even secondary glazing as the building is listed to within an inch of its life. Can't say I fancy living somewhere that busy and noisy with just Victorian glazing between me and the outside world. At least community listings like the one in Brixton allows sensible modifications
 
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