|
|
 |
| |
Cllr Chris Naylor, caretaker Jules Parker and Glenda Jackson MP |
Historic social housing block reopens
THEY were built as homes for the Victorian “deserving poor”, squatted by punk legend Sid Vicious in the 1970s and then faced demolition in the 1990s.
Now New Court, a red-brick block of flats that can lay claim to being one of the oldest social housing projects in the world, faces a bright future.
Tucked down a tiny alley off Flask Walk in Hampstead, the homes, dating from 1854, have been given a £5million, four-year makeover. Hampstead and Highgate MP Glenda Jackson helped residents celebrate the end of the project on Friday and told the New Journal the importance of ensuring there is social housing in the heart of one of the UK’s most expensive areas.
“I first found out about this scheme by talking with the people who live here,” she said. “It is of historic importance, and wonderful to keep them in the social sector and see them brought up to modern standards.
Ms Jackson has worked with residents on a long-running campaign to safeguard the future of the flats. They had been earmarked for demolition but the MP took up the residents’ case and helped strike a deal between Camden Council and housing association Genesis.
She added: “Another important aspect is this is a development of more than one bed properties – there are homes here for larger families. This is essential.”
Genesis already manage 2,381 properties in Camden and the renovation work was partly paid for by selling 11 of the homes privately.
And although this has taken some flats away from the low-cost sector, Genesis director Steve Colman said it meant the blocks had a mix of home owners and tenants.
Mr Colman said: “Not long ago people were trying to get this block pulled down. It was only the work of the residents and Glenda Jackson that saved it.”
He quoted Nye Bevan, the Labour minister in the 1945 Clement Atlee government, saying the scheme helped fight “the sharp knife of segregation by income,” adding: “In an area like Hampstead, this is so important.”
Caretaker Jules Parker, who has lived in the block for 20 years, said the tenants were thrilled with the high standard of work. “It was really hard to do,” he said. “It was pretty horrendous living here while all the work was going on. We are all so glad it’s finished and we can get back to normal.”
Because the block is tucked behind cottages, the only access was by a small path. This meant all building materials had to be brought in by hand on a wheelbarrow. With vaults beneath the courtyard, no heavy plant machinery could be used.
Architects have changed the layout behind the facades of some of the homes, creating three-bed flats out of what was previously four single bed homes.
But they have also delicately restored many period features. Communal stairs had large slabs of York stone which needed replacing. Surveyors took samples of the stone to a laboratory, analysed their geological make-up and then sourced more stone from the same quarry the original slabs were taken from 150 years ago.
Mr Parker added: “What is so important is the history of the buildings has been respected. They have done things like restore the memorial to people who lived here and fought in the First World War.”
And although the graffiti in the flat Sid Vicious lived in with fellow Sex Pistol John Lydon has long been removed, his initials, scratched into a brick on the corner of a communal entrance, can still be seen. |
 |
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
