Myatts Fields North massive £150m regeneration project

[ViolentPanda]

I think its St Gabriel's house. I'm moving in there on Friday. It's listed so they can't fuck with it too much.

It used to be a seminary, then a school, now its flats. Each flat is a different layout which is kinda cool tho im not looking forward to the heating bill. Massive high ceilings, no gas, and the landlord says she can't put in double glazing due to its listed status tho i suspect thats bollocks.

Any idea what the listing status is - grade 1, grade 2 or whatever? If it's grade 2 (no star), then she could at least request permission.

 

[gabi]

Its Grade II. I've just read the details. It was a war hospital during WW2. It's a beautiful building with most of the original features still in there. Looking forward to living there.

I will ask about the double glazing again as it looks out directly onto that fucking construction site, which aint exactly quiet altho they claim those guys only work 9-5.

 

[nagapie]

The building I am talking about is definitely not flats, there is still controversy about who should be maintaining it - Lambeth or the Diocese - and it has fallen into disrepair.

I was speaking to a teenager who lives in the new builds at Myatts Fields. She says the quality of the homes is very poor, they can hear every move their neighbours make and they couldn't' hear anything before. There are apparently already issues with the building work cropping up. She said more but it was a while ago so I cant remember it all.

 

[ShiftyBagLady]

interesting to see a notice on a lamppost by the marketing suite telling us that there is some form of asbo in force for the whole development
which will give police and pco's the power to disperse groups of more than two young people
who pose a perceived threat to residents.................

What the actual fuck? Not content with cleansing the area of it's long term residents they also want to alienate the young ones by making it difficult to make use of the space in their neighbourhood?
I don't know how they think they can get away with this shit.

 

[cuppa tee]

What the actual fuck? Not content with cleansing the area of it's long term residents they also want to alienate the young ones by making it difficult to make use of the space in their neighbourhood?
I don't know how they think they can get away with this shit.

Yes especially as the new community open spaces feature seating and outdooor table tennis tables............

 

[editor]

One fuck up after another:

More people than ever are finding the costs of heating and lighting their homes are becoming unaffordable.

The simplest way to combat the problem is to switch energy tariff with experts reckoning those that have never switched could save up to £300 a year.

But many Londoners who live in social housing estates are not allowed to switch because their landlord has “locked” them in to buying from one supplier.

In one shocking case, residents of the Myatts Field North estate in Lambeth have been locked into buying their heating and hot water from E.on for 40 years under a private finance initiative contract agreed by Lambeth council.

Liz Wyatt from Fuel Poverty Action, which uncovered the scandal, said: “The government’s solution to the fuel poverty and energy bill crises has been a mantra of “switch, switch, switch to bring down the bills”.

While we know that constantly switching will not lower energy costs to an affordable rate, we’re concerned that some social tenants do not have this option to try to get some of the better deals.”

Surprisingly, getting the cheapest deal for their low-income residents, as they have the power to do, does not seem to have been a factor in some landlords’ choice of deal.

“Social landlords should be using their role to help alleviate poverty and empower their residents,” said Wyatt.

“Localised energy could be a part of this if these social landlords were to find the cheapest deal for their tenants and support community-run energy initiatives. Instead, they are making bad deals with energy suppliers without consulting their tenants and are failing to respond to tenants’ concerns.”

One resident from the Myatts Field North estate said: “Intermittent hot water has been a problem and they have finally admitted that our block is being starved of hot water because they cannot balance the system. If we were not chained to this contract many of the residents would move supplier.”

http://www.standard.co.uk/business/...ck-in-unaffordable-energy-deals-10226200.html

 

[ViolentPanda]

One fuck up after another:

Fucking outrageous!
Mind you, if the intermittent hot water is caused by an unbalanced circulation system, it's more likely to be a plant problem than a power problem.

 

[Twattor]

^

 

[cuppa tee]

Here is the academic critique of Myatts North regeneration.............it's a bit of a read
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/IJLBE-01-2014-0007
I think this is also interesting generally in terms of the process of gentrification
particularly the concept of "dispossession" which gives focus to the idea of
who or what "reclaim brixton" is reclaiming Brixton from.........

 

[Diamond]

One fuck up after another:

That should be actionable.

 

[editor]

Here is the academic critique of Myatts North regeneration.............it's a bit of a read
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/IJLBE-01-2014-0007
I think this is also interesting generally in terms of the process of gentrification
particularly the concept of "dispossession" which gives focus to the idea of
who or what "reclaim brixton" is reclaiming Brixton from.........

Interesting,, and damning...

Purpose

– This paper aims to ground Harvey’s (2003) top-down theory of “accumulation by dispossession” in the everyday lives of people and places with specific focus on the role of law. It does this by drawing upon the lived experiences of residents on a public housing estate in England (UK) undergoing regeneration and gentrification through the Private Finance Initiative (PFI).
Design/methodology/approach

– Members of the residents association on the Myatts Field North estate, London, were engaged as action research partners, working with the researchers to collect empirical data through surveys of their neighbours, organising community events and being formally interviewed themselves. Their experiential knowledge was supplemented with an extensive review of all associated policy, planning, legal and contractual documentation, some of which was disclosed in response to requests made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Findings

– Three specific forms of place-based dispossession were identified: the loss of consumer rights, the forcible acquisition of homes and the erasure of place identity through the estate’s rebranding. Layard’s (2010) concept of the “law of place” was shown to be broadly applicable in capturing how legal frameworks assist in enacting accumulation by dispossession in people’s lives. Equally important is the ideological power of law as a discursive practice that ultimately undermines resistance to apparent injustices.
Originality/value

– This paper develops Harvey’s concept of accumulation by dispossession in conversation with legal geography scholarship. It shows – via the Myatts Field North estate case study – how PFI, as a mechanism of accumulation by dispossession in the abstract, enacts dispossession in the concrete, assisted by the place-making and ideological power of law.

 

[Belushi]

Here is the academic critique of Myatts North regeneration.............it's a bit of a read

But well worth the time! This is happening across London.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Here is the academic critique of Myatts North regeneration.............it's a bit of a read
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/IJLBE-01-2014-0007
I think this is also interesting generally in terms of the process of gentrification
particularly the concept of "dispossession" which gives focus to the idea of
who or what "reclaim brixton" is reclaiming Brixton from.........

I read it last week. It's pretty damning for Lambeth's two preferred models for "regeneration": PFI or SPV, because both will generate the same sorts of shenanigans on the part of the developers, whether that be the council's SPV or a PFI "partner".

 

[Belushi]

Anyway, lets not forget the real victims here http://www.standard.co.uk/news/lond...-internet-access-or-phone-lines-10260717.html

 

[Gramsci]

Anyway, lets not forget the real victims here http://www.standard.co.uk/news/lond...-internet-access-or-phone-lines-10260717.html

Saw that today.

What is gobsmacking about it is that this "regeneration" project has been in the planning and construction for years. Yet the Council/ developers did not sort out the basic infrastructure in the planning- blaming it on BT instead.

 

[Gramsci]

Here is the academic critique of Myatts North regeneration.............it's a bit of a read
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/IJLBE-01-2014-0007
I think this is also interesting generally in terms of the process of gentrification
particularly the concept of "dispossession" which gives focus to the idea of
who or what "reclaim brixton" is reclaiming Brixton from.........

Started to read this last week. It was on Cressingham Gardens FB. Best analysis I have seen of this particular kind of gentrification (Council led).

"accumulation by dispossession" is Marxist concept. Harvey, whose idea it is, is a Marxist geographer.

Its influenced by Marx idea of "primitive accumulation" in Capital Volume one. Which if I remember correctly is how he answered the question of how Capital got started.

Later on ideology played more important role. ie convincing people that capitalism is the only way to run things. Primitive accumulation was depriving people of common land rights ( enclosures) and the Highland clearances. Both done with force not the more subtle use of ideology. Property "rights" are essential to Capitalism. Which is where the law comes in later after the "primitive" bit.

And yes it does give focus to RB. Reclaim Brixton demo was for a few hours saying this is our common land.

 

[Twattor]

Saw that today.

What is gobsmacking about it is that this "regeneration" project has been in the planning and construction for years. Yet the Council/ developers did not sort out the basic infrastructure in the planning- blaming it on BT instead.

Not something that either the council or the developer have any control over - BT and Openreach are a law unto themselves. In these days where very few people still uses a land line, BT don't want the speculative expenditure and won't bring any infrastructure into a site until the first order is placed for a phone line. On sites with flats that is usually a lift or possibly a door entry system, but for estates with houses they won't start the ball rolling until the first resident has moved in. The same applies on greenfield as well as brownfield sites.

Because you can't operate a lift without a designated emergency phone line, developers often get around this by ordering lines for the site cabins which they then switch over to the lifts at completion. Increasingly, BT make it so difficult to get these that contractors don't bother with landlines at all and install lifts that run off a sim card. This enables the properties to meet building regs and therefore be occupied, but leaves the residents to pick up the headache of dealing with BT.

 

[Rushy]

Not something that either the council or the developer have any control over - BT and Openreach are a law unto themselves. In these days where very few people still uses a land line, BT don't want the speculative expenditure and won't bring any infrastructure into a site until the first order is placed for a phone line. On sites with flats that is usually a lift or possibly a door entry system, but for estates with houses they won't start the ball rolling until the first resident has moved in. The same applies on greenfield as well as brownfield sites.

Because you can't operate a lift without a designated emergency phone line, developers often get around this by ordering lines for the site cabins which they then switch over to the lifts at completion. Increasingly, BT make it so difficult to get these that contractors don't bother with landlines at all and install lifts that run off a sim card. This enables the properties to meet building regs and therefore be occupied, but leaves the residents to pick up the headache of dealing with BT.

And then, of course, all those cables which could have been easily hidden under ground end up being draped all over the street and buildings.

 

[editor]

Got this email from a resident:

Lambeth council and in particular Cllr Mathew Bennett wants everyone
to believe his stamping down on rogue landlords (recent bbc and other
news) but Lambeth are the biggest rogue landlords of them all. There
are many problems on this development and the stories can go on for
the rest of the year.

I would like you to come down to our estate to see and smell the refuse pollution that we had had to endure. we have
state of the art bin pods that do not get collected for months right
now on mostyn rd in particular the residents can not open their
windows for a fear of flies, mice and foxes. some residents have
placed mesh on their windows to try and prevent infestation.

We have had a petition response which was a cut and paste job and still the
pollution. Cllr Bennett has the audacity to make programmes about
private landlords when he should be looking in his own back yard.

 

[cuppa tee]

another award for Oval Quarter....

http://www.higginshomes.co.uk/blog/2015/award-wins-for-oval-quarter-and-arboretum

meanwhile the whines about Internet issues seem to have had an effect as there are a whole
heap of BT vans in the manor ATM

 

[Twattor]

Got this email from a resident:

I don't think there's a problem with the bin pods per se. The concept itself is pretty good - no bin chutes that will block, no festering heaps above ground, no bin stores infested with rats as it is all kept underground supposedly out of sight and out of mind. Plus, as there is no obvious bin store then there's nowhere obvious to leave piss stained mattresses, sofas etc.; the residents have a bit of pride in the area and the estates become self policing and better places to in which to live.

The problem here is in the implementation, and as opposed to the issues with BT this is a true example of a fundamental failing in planning and infrastructure - nobody considered beforehand how the refuse would actually be collected. The outcome is that the contractors that won the tender for refuse collection in Lambeth turned out to have insufficient vehicles capable of collecting the refuse from these receptacles.

If you take a walk thorough Clapham Park you'll see that they have abandoned this, locked the pods and gone back to bulk bins in the car parks.

 

[cuppa tee]

Myatts Field North today.............

 

[CH1]

Myatts Field North today.............
View attachment 73833

Are they knocking those house down? If so where have the residents been rehoused to?

 

[cuppa tee]

Are they knocking those house down? If so where have the residents been rehoused to?

Yes, those and a whole lot more.
Theoretically the residents were to be rehoused in the social element of Oval Quarter
but I hear many weren't for various reasons......

 

[CH1]

Yes, those and a whole lot more.
Theoretically the residents were to be rehoused in the social element of Oval Quarter
but I hear many weren't for various reasons......

I know someone from there who ended up in a street property in Saltoun Road. He actually prefers that - but it's not the upgrade people were promised is it?

 

[ViolentPanda]

Yes, those and a whole lot more.
Theoretically the residents were to be rehoused in the social element of Oval Quarter
but I hear many weren't for various reasons......

From what I recall from the academic paper done on the PFI, that happened/is happening for both the social and "affordable" housing, with some former leaseholders and freeholders who'd chosen to go into "shared ownership" being rooked so badly on "Compulsory Purchase" that they couldn't raise mortgages to cover the difference between what they received and what the minimum percentage share cost.

 

[ViolentPanda]

I know someone from there who ended up in a street property in Saltoun Road. He actually prefers that - but it's not the upgrade people were promised is it?

We had a "what's happening to your estate" circus today at Cressingham Gardens. A resident asked a Lambeth functionary what happens if he refuses to swap his secure council tenancy for an "assured lifetime tenancy" when the estate is "regenerated". He was assured that Lambeth would do their best to move him somewhere were he would retain his secure tenancy. Many people round the table chuckled, as we're well-aware how thin street properties are on the ground,and that he'd probably have Hobson's Choice about his tenancy unless he wanted to end up in temporary accommodation fora decade or more.

 

[cuppa tee]

From what I recall from the academic paper done on the PFI, that happened/is happening for both the social and "affordable" housing, with some former leaseholders and freeholders who'd chosen to go into "shared ownership" being rooked so badly on "Compulsory Purchase" that they couldn't raise mortgages to cover the difference between what they received and what the minimum percentage share cost.

You are correct, I should said said "social/affordable" in my post

 

[cuppa tee]

Passing through by the demolition site again I notice progress is rather slow
I also notice a group of workers cleaning and palleting up the yellow london stock bricks the old estate was built from
another guy was loading up a few red brick for his garden, I got into conversation with him and he told me the yellow bricks
are much sought after and will sell for £!.20 each, so I am now wondering how many bricks there are in the 300+ demolished
properties and who will be pocketing the dosh accruing from their sale................

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/YELLOW-RE...l-size-yellow-brick-1-30-bricks-/201379490441

E2A ........reclaimed roof slate can fetch a fair bit too

 

[Twattor]

Passing through by the demolition site again I notice progress is rather slow
I also notice a group of workers cleaning and palleting up the yellow london stock bricks the old estate was built from
another guy was loading up a few red brick for his garden, I got into conversation with him and he told me the yellow bricks
are much sought after and will sell for £!.20 each, so I am now wondering how many bricks there are in the 300+ demolished
properties and who will be pocketing the dosh accruing from their sale................

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/YELLOW-RE...l-size-yellow-brick-1-30-bricks-/201379490441

Where viable it is usually a perk for the demolition contractors and factored into their price for the works.

However, it takes a lot of effort to demolish something in a way that doesn't damage the bricks, so it isn't usually cost effective unless you're dealing with Victorian (or older) lime mortar.

The ones you saw are more likely to be being cleaned for localised repairs.