22 CASE STUDY Building a community
While only a relatively modestly- scaled development with 27 homes, Marklake Court is being seen as an exemplar of a community-led social housing project. Jack Wooler spoke to Hari Phillips, director at project architects Bell Phillips, about how the south London residents rose to the challenge.
new community-led social development near London Bridge has been built that sets an example for the quality that developments led by dedicated tenants can produce. In 2015, Southwark Council granted planning permission for 27 new council rent homes, named Marklake Court, to be added to an existing 1960s estate in Bermondsey. With space being limited, the project team utilised a site previously containing little-used garages to home the new residences.
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The development comprises a mix of apartments and maisonettes, including three fully accessible homes. At a density of 302 units/hectare, the dwellings are sized for between one and six residents, allowing the development to cater for a range of users, from downsizers to growing families. Aided by the local authority, along with igloo Community builders and Bell Phillips Architects, the local residents of the Kipling Estate have taken the helm in the project, and manage the completed building. Intrinsically linked to the design process, prospective residents from the estate were given the opportunity to customise their own flats – in part to appease the reported 30 per cent of residents who were previously living in inappropriately sized homes – and took a leading role in the design process. This innovative approach to develop- ment is not just a landmark in community building, but has created new homes in an underused site, and freed up old homes for Southwark council’s waiting list.
GETTING STARTED
THIS INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT IS NOT JUST A LANDMARK IN COMMUNITY BUILDING, BUT HAS CREATED NEW HOMES IN AN UNDERUSED SITE
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One of the key aspects of the Marklake Court project was the level of agency afforded to the local community in the development, having played a significant role in the design and initiation of the build. The entirely ground-up approach to development has been described by the architects as a “unique model for the construction of new housing, delivered by the local community, for the local community.”
For some time before the project got underway, residents had reportedly been expressing frustration around the lack of
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