Lend Lease lodges Elephant & Castle application

Lend Lease has formally submitted its plans for redeveloping a housing estate in south London’s Elephant & Castle neighbourhood.

Its request to Southwark council seeks outline permission for approximately 2,500 new homes, plus shops, restaurants, community facilities and what it describes as “London’s largest new park in 70 years”.

The proposals for the Heygate Estate are predicted to create more than 5,000 new jobs and follow consultation work with Southwark Council, community groups and leading players in architecture, design, planning, engineering and sustainability.

Mark Dickinson, Lend Lease managing director for development in Europe and the Middle East, said the scheme was “one of Europe’s most exciting regeneration projects”. 

“London desperately needs new homes and Lend Lease is proud to be playing a part in helping the capital to meet the growing demand,” he said.

“We are the perfect partner for Elephant and Castle - our expertise in developing large, complex, mixed-use regeneration schemes is second to none.

“I am delighted to be bringing Lend Lease’s global experience in regeneration to this vital part of south London.”

Fiona Colley, Southwark’s cabinet member for regeneration, said the transformation of the Heygate Estate was “a hugely important cornerstone” to the authority’s £1.5bn regeneration plans for Elephant and Castle.

“We welcome the planning application, which will be considered by the council’s planning committee, making further steps towards the long-awaited vision for the area that residents look forward to seeing become a reality,” she said.

The first phase of construction for the scheme is expected to begin in 2013, subject to planning permission.