Excalibur Estate
Excalibur Estate | |
---|---|
General information | |
Location | Catford, Lewisham |
Coordinates | 51°26′06″N 0°00′02″W / 51.435115°N 0.000604°W |
No. of units | 189 |
Construction | |
Constructed | 1945-46 |
Listing | |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
Designated | 16 March 2009 (six houses) |
Reference no. | 1393212 |
The Excalibur Estate was a post-war 1940s housing estate of 189 prefabricated houses in Catford, South London. The estate contained the last sizeable collection of post-war prefabricated houses in the United Kingdom. In 2011, Lewisham Council approved a plan to replace the prefabs with 371 houses, with demolition scheduled to begin in 2013.
Background
Following the
Fifteen hundred homes in Lewisham were destroyed in the first year of the war alone. The level of destruction across many British cities brought about the passing of the Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act 1944, which led to the building of Excalibur and many estates like it.[5]
The Excalibur Estate was constructed as one of these projects on parkland in Catford between 1945 and 1946 by German and Italian
Despite only being intended to stand for ten years, many prefabricated estates survived much longer. Many corporations replaced such estates with conventional-build or permanent prefabricated council houses throughout the 1950s, 60s and early 1970s. Unusually Excalibur survived to the 2010s.[7][8]
Etymology
The estate is so called because the streets are named after characters from Arthurian legend. The precise reason for these street names is unknown.[9]
The estate
The estate consisted of 189 single storey, two-bedroomed prefabricated bungalows constructed by the
The nearest railway station to the estate is Bellingham.
Demolition proposals
The London Borough of Lewisham proposed to demolish and replace all of the properties on the 12 acres (4.9 ha) site from 2013, using the developer L&Q. As they were the last large inhabited collection of prefabricated houses of this era, this decision proved controversial.
Conservation battle
Conservationists fought to save the estate from demolition, which they claimed was a unique surviving example of twentieth-century architecture. They succeeded in seeing
Case for demolition
Lewisham Council rebutted claims that the houses had historical significance and maintained that it would be "virtually impossible to bring them up to modern standards, a view shared by a number of residents, who were mainly council tenants."[13] The council repeatedly argued that residents favour redevelopment; citing a poll amongst residents in which 56 percent voted in favour of redevelopment.[14] Conservationists have argued this result was inevitable as residents felt there was very little prospect of the council spending any money on their homes, leaving them in outdated accommodation.[15] Of the estate Lewisham Council stated "We have a responsibility under the national Decent Homes programme to bring all its housing up to a recognised standard. It simply is not financially viable to refurbish the estate."[16] Of the listing, Lewisham mayor Steve Bullock said. "The listing by English Heritage was perverse and it has made me extremely concerned about the way that organisation behaves… These are temporary prefabricated buildings, not architectural gems"[17]
Parkland covenant
Campaigners argued that the proposal to build new homes on the site could be subject to legal challenge. Prior to the building of the prefabs, the land was parkland. The land was donated by the then
Parts of the original Forster Memorial Park are still in existence to the west of Excalibur. Other housing however separates Excalibur from the remaining parts of the park, so if returning the estate to parkland were to become a reality, Forster Memorial Park would be divided into two parts by Longhill Road and Battersby Road.[19]
Redevelopment
In April 2011, Lewisham Council approved a plan to replace the prefabs with 371 homes. Only some of the new homes would be for social housing. The project was originally set for completion by 2018,[20][21] but after delays, all the buildings – apart from the six with Grade II listing – are now due for demolition, with the redeveloped estate due for completion by the mid 2020's.[4]
See also
References
- ^ Historic England (16 March 2009). "Excalibur Estate, Nos 1-7 (Odd), No 25 and No 39 (Grade II) (1393212)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
- ^ Peter Walker (2 January 2011). "Largest postwar prefab estate to be demolished | Society". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
- ^ a b "Bulldozers home in on historic prefab estate". The Daily Telegraph. 19 August 2011. p. paragraph 28. Archived from the original on 20 August 2011.
- ^ a b Mulligan, Euan O'Byrne (20 June 2022). "Excalibur Estate: Catford redevelopment enters new phase". www.thisislocallondon.co.uk. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
- ^ Telegraph, paragraph 5
- ^ "Sonia Zhuravlyova: The End is Close for Palaces for the People". Huffingtonpost.co.uk. 20 October 2012. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
- ^ "Google Maps". Google Maps. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
- ^ Taken March 2013.
- ^ a b "Largest postwar prefab estate to be demolished". the Guardian. 2 January 2011. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
- ^ Telegraph, paragraph 3
- ^ Boogie, Doctor (9 March 2008). "The Excalibur Estate, London". Nothing To See Here. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
- ^ Telegraph, paragraph 7
- ^ "Largest postwar prefab estate to be demolished". The Guardian. 2 January 2011. Archived from the original on 21 April 2023.
- ^ Telegraph, paragraph 8
- ^ Telegraph, paragraph 11
- ^ Telegraph, paragraph 24
- ^ Telegraph, paragraph 26
- ^ Uni-Seco prefab system.
- ISBN 978-0-540-09036-5.
- ^ "Lewisham Council - Excalibur". Lewisham.gov.uk. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
- ^ "L&Q: Excalibur Estate Regeneration Project". Lqgroup.org.uk. Archived from the original on 25 May 2013. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
External links
- Catford from the OpenStreetMap
- Jim Blackender Excalibur Prefab Estate Catford
- Dan Kitwood An audio account of a resident
- Guardian, 28 December 2012 Residents' accounts
- Simon Jenkins, Guardian, 6 January 2011 Excalibur's castles built from postwar dreams must not be demolished
- Flickr Flickr image gallery
- L&Q, Redevelopment proposals
- Riba Journal Excalibur's End