Built in the late 60s, the 543 flats which made up Victoria Park Estate were by the mid-nineties, in the top 7% of the country’s most deprived housing areas. The eighties saw the local authority trying to reverse the decline. However, the growth of housing association and private rented sector expansion meant that the conditions on the estate continued to drop.

Cost considerations for the maintenance and repair of the estate meant that the council and residents agreed that Victoria Park should be demolished and redeveloped.

A case study looking at the demolition and reconstruction of a large housing estate. It describes multi agency partnership working to develop solutions and deliver a complex reconstruction project while minimising resident disruption.

A development scheme was agreed which offered a range of different types of dwellings in keeping with existing local architecture. As the land was the only asset available to fund the development, demolition and sale of existing land had to be carried out in phases, with some residents remaining in old flats until new ones were built.

Consultation and communication played a large part in the whole project, ensuring that the resulting development was socially inclusive, safe, attractive and a desirable place to live.

The new estate now has 217 homes - 132 privately owned and 85 rented. The design - in keeping with the local area - comprises flats and larger homes with no discernable differences between the rented and private dwellings.

Access to the nearby park has been improved and more play equipment installed. The estate has achieved ‘secure by design’ accreditation, and the overall result is a more diverse and sustainable community.

Learning points: multi agency partnership working to develop solutions and deliver a complex reconstruction project while minimising resident disruption; the solution was financed solely through the land value.

The community

A housing partnership was established between local housing associations and the council and a dedicated project team including council officers and local tenants was set up to ensure that the mistakes mad in the building of the old estate were not repeated.

RENEW North West
info@RENEW.co.uk

//1998

case

Urban Policy

Housing, Urban environment