Recently in South Kilburn Category

It is a serious period of transition for me as we gear up to go on site with the first UKR pilot.  I am clearing the decks.  This week I chaired my final meeting of the South Kilburn Neighbourhood Trust, after nearly five years during which it has been my honour and privilege to serve that fine community.  

And, though I say so myself, I think I leave SK in pretty good shape.  And in pretty safe hands. With the amount of visible progress being made, South Kilburn is seriously becoming a "good news" story: multiple cranes can be seen swinging into action every morning and we have nothing short of a phoenix rising from the ashes of a crumbling 1960s council estate, with the decant programme now significantly underway, under the stewardship of the London Borough of Brent, as master developer and landowner.

I've been dithering about since yesterday morning trying to work out what to-do about your "Big Society".

The BURA position, until now I guess, could be roughly summarized as "two cheers for Big Society - we think - but what exactly is it please?"

Now, I've just decided to go for it, in a "let's get back to our roots" sort of a way. And this has been somewhat reinforced by the fact I spent this morning in South Kilburn realizing more and more ways that I could develop these ideas with the residents there.

In for a penny in for a pound I reckon. It's not as if we're long on alternatives in regeneration right now.

I have just given a fairly full-on quote in support of BS (as I'm now going to call it, just to irritate everyone senseless) to "Regeneration and Renewal" and have come over all hot and flustered by my bravura.

Dr Evans is on hols, you see, and can't hold me back. And - worse still - we elect a new BURA Board this week so I'm taking a huge chance that the rookies will be comfortable with what I've said.....well they can kick out of the chair if not.

South Kilburn really does seem to be on a bit of a roll now (although there was still the ritual kerfuffle this Saturday morning when one of our officers had to come over to my place to get me to sign emergency papers before I flew out to MIPIM; same thing happened last year! Ah, the course of urban regeneration never did run smooth). 

I am really thrilled to report that the Homes and Communities Agency have come through with a very innovative and creative deal, awarding Brent council funding for the building of 500 new homes in place of crumbling 18-storey tower blocks on the South Kilburn Estate.

London and Quadrant (L&Q) are our chosen partner, the two sites (Albert Road and Carlton Vale) are being sold to them with - and this is the crucial part of the deal - the proceeds then being reinvested into the regeneration of the South Kilburn Estate. 

All parties, from HCA throughout, are investing for the long term here. It's a serious group effort.

Two-hundred and eighty-six new homes will be delivered now and the next phase of regeneration can begin. What a huge relief. 

Here you see a lovely photograph of the leader of Brent, cllr Paul Lorber (Liberal Democrat) on the right side of the picture and the lead member for regeneration cllr John Detre (Conservative) on the left, pretending that it is they themselves who will be demolishing the reviled bison blocks. 

The admirable "Place West London" weekly e-letter carries the news this morning that Boris and Brent council have approved plans for the phased demolition and redevelopment of the Barham Park Estate. 

This is hot on the heels of the hefty approval that we got in nearby South Kilburn last week, thus neatly proving not one, but two, of my recent pet theses: first that Brent is the new Southwark and, secondly, that there is no better time than this point in the cycle for local authorities to bring their de-risked projects to market.

Get your skates on out there!

Construction at Barham will start this summer and is estimated to take five years to complete, in this case by our old friends Notting Hill Housing Association and the late Alan Cherry's Countryside Properties (btw, Richard, Guy and others, I can only apologise about not being able to attend Alan's Memorial Service in a couple of weeks. I will be strutting my stuff out at MIPIM on that day, and I have to earn my crust. I will be deeply sad not to be with you).   

Up to South Kilburn on Tuesday morning for the launch of the Granville New Homes development (pictured) with Brent Housing Partnership; guest of honour being Richard McCarthy CBE, director general at the CLG.

And - despite the rain - what a very jolly affair it was too!

It was lovely to see Richard, who I first knew when he was on the PRP Board at Paddington (and chief executive of the Peabody Trust) and who, later, when I was in the Thames Gateway at Kent Thameside and he was at the then-ODPM, was our senior report in government.

By this point (which must have been about 2005, I guess) Richard was held in such reverence in Kent circles that I was once - seriously - formally reprimanded for behaving "inappropriately with a civil servant at MIPIM" (a reference to an incident when I had kissed the blessed McCarthy on the top of his head as I was leaving a dinner and, yes, of course I had partaken of a glass or two of Vimto, although I would have done the self same thing had I been sober!).

Grant Shapps made rather a splendid speech at the RIBA yesterday (alright, alright, so I admit I wasn't actually there but I received a copy - independently - from three of my best moles!). He began by 'fessing up his political apprenticeship as a candidate in the council elections for the Borough of Brent in 1994 (which, needless to say, is very Handy-Harry since I am hoping he will come to our assistance in South Kilburn!).

In 1994, the ward that Mr Shapps's was contesting was dominated by the Chalkhill Estate, which (just like the South Kilburn Estate) was built in the late 60's and comprised of the notorious "Bison Blocks" (or dirty great slabs of concrete, to you and me). The design of the Chalkhill Estate was based on that of Park Hill in Sheffield (Park Hill was back on the telly yet again last night, did you see?). The blocks were linked by 'Walkways in the Sky'.

 

                                                 Park Hill, Sheffield

Mr Shapps tells a charming story thus: "One day I came across an elderly man who had lived in his sixth floor Chalkhill flat since it was built. 'The milk float used to come up in that lift and then drive along this 'Walkway in the Sky' to deliver bottles to my front door,' he explained as we chatted in the draughty walkway outside his flat. And there it was. For the briefest of moments I fleetingly recognised what the architect of the Chalkhill Estate must have had in mind as he sketched out his utopia in the sky."

Hindsight is an exact science and one of the things that the more puritan element of the urban regeneration lobby sometimes forget is that some of these mistakes - on a monumental scale admittedly - but mistakes, honestly made, were by people who knew no better. In our current climate of political correctness and litigation and paranoia it is almost impossible these days to publicly admit you made a mistake, and that is indeed a most terrible shame.

So the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has launched a new advisory group to look at sources of private finance for housing. This is truly splendid news in my view.

And nobody better to chair this than my old gaffer, the lovely Nigel Hugill, who can bore for Europe on the development of future investment sources in both private and affordable housing.

Nigel will be assisted by an illustrious group of boffins including Sir Adrian Montague (who I once had the honour of serving on a committee and who, I have to confess, I nigh-on worship) and the other Montague - David - of L&Q (who I don't really know but who is very highly regarded) as well as Barclays' Nick Salisbury (who is such a complete love, a welcome addition to any party).

This really is the A team here. And these guys aren't just smart finance thinkers, they're also trying to do some real good: they've all got their hearts in the right place when it comes to driving away poverty through providing real viable homes for real people.

This blogging lark is getting me into hot water! I've just taken a call from Andy, Ace Reporter on the Kilburn Times (love him!): do I have any comment to make about the story he intends to run this week about my rather - uh - intemperate remarks about £50m spent in South Kilburn and it not being too clear where it all went.

Well! I had to confess to the lovely Andy that I had been just a little reckless and unguarded (yet again!). And I did try to place my slightly foolish remarks in the context that I am basically incandescent with rage about the waste in the regeneration sector in general over the last ten years. (Incidentally, I went past "The Public" gallery in West Bromwich this morning for the first time (pictured below) and was genuinely shocked! Another blog, another day I reckon).

Furthermore, that most objective commentators are somewhat critical of the New Deal for Communities (NDC) programme - of which South Kilburn is a leading light of course - and I am nothing if not a commentator on such matters. AND actually, just to completely compound my felony, there is really rather a lot to show in South Kilburn, some very good work has been done and it's wholly irresponsible of me not to pay huge tribute to that. So there you are. I have been a bad person and I'm in the naughty corner again.