Case Studies in Estate Regeneration:

Demolition, Privatisation and Social Cleansing

Case Studies in Estate Regeneration: Demolition, Privatisation and Social Cleansing

by Simon Elmer

Description

Created in its current form in 1997 by the Labour government of Tony Blair and formalised in 2016 as a national programme by the Conservative government of David Cameron, estate regeneration is the product of a financialised housing market that, since the neoliberal revolution overseen by the governments of Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, has marketised housing provision in the UK. As such, estate regeneration, which now means demolition and redevelopment, is not merely one aspect of the UK housing crisis but one of its primary instruments. It clears high-value land for redevelopment and investment by global capital looking for a property market underwritten by government subsidies that artificially raise UK house prices. It builds residential properties for the highest possible price in order to realise the maximum value uplift in land prices. It removes from competition with the market the only housing to have escaped the huge escalation in housing costs this programme is driving. And it evicts the residents of estates on lucrative land through a programme of privatisation and social cleansing designed to remove constituents more likely to be reliant on government and council-funded social services.

Originally published between 2016 and 2019, the articles in this book include 13 case studies of estate regeneration schemes; a map of the estate regeneration programme in London; and a report on the social, financial and environmental costs of estate demolition, to which it proposes a design alternative that increases the stock of social housing, the most in-demand housing type in the UK.

List of Contents

Preface | 1. Mapping London’s Estate Regeneration Programme | 2. Regenerating Hackney’s Estates: The Dirty Tricks of a Dirty Council | 3. Financial Compensation for Human Rights: The Aylesbury Estate | 4. The Intellectual Bloodstain: Academia and Social Cleansing on the Ferrier Estate | 5. Estate Demolition and the Business of Homelessness | 6. Sheffield Tent City and the Social Cleansing of Park Hill Estate | 7. The Consultation Game: TM Architects on Northwold Estate | 8. An Exemplary Regeneration: King’s Crescent Estate | 9. Class War on Woodberry Down: A National Strategy | 10. Excalibur: Open Garden Estate | 11. Knight’s Walk: The Good Practice Guide to Gentrification | 12. The Carpenter’s Estate: A Fresh Start or Business as Usual at Newham Council? | 13. Public Subsidies for Private Profit: The Colville Estate Regeneration | 14. The Regeneration of Ham Close Estate: 1. What the Green Party has learned from Labour, 2. For a Socialist Architecture | 15. The Costs of Estate Regeneration: 1. Gains and Losses, 2. The Social Costs | 3. The Financial Costs | 4. The Alternative to Demolition | 5. The Costs of Refurbishment and Infill, Appendix: Policy Proposals on Estate Regeneration | Publication History | Image Credits | Bibliography.

About the Author

Simon Elmer lives between London and Hong Kong. In 2002 he received his PhD in the History and Theory of Art from University College London, and he has taught at the universities of London, Manchester, Reading and Michigan. In 2015 he co-founded Architects for Social Housing, for which he is Head of Research. His books include The Housing Crisis: Finance, Legislation, Policy, Resistance (2025); Architecture is Always Political: A Communist History (2024); and with Geraldine Dening, Saving St. Raphael’s Estate: The Alternative to Demolition (2022), For a Socialist Architecture: Under Capitalism (2021); and Central Hill: A Case Study in Estate Regeneration (2018). Case Studies in Estate Regeneration: Demolition, Privatisation and Social Cleansing is the third volume in the ASH Papers, which collect in book form the most important articles from the ASH website.

Simon’s articles have appeared in Off-Guardian, UK Column, The Daily Sceptic, Real Left, The Conservative Woman, The Exposé, People’s Lockdown Inquiry and Unity News Network. His interviews and presentations about the Great Reset can be found on the podcasts of The Delingpod, Panda, UK Column, Brokenomics, London Bitcoin Space, Elevate, Campfire Conversation, On the Fringe, Trish Wood is Critical, Tom Nelson, Thinking Coalition, Think Twice, Common Knowledge, Planet-Uplift, Radically Human, Jerm Warfare (TNT Radio), Jason Olbourne (TNT Radio), Reality Check Radio, Doc Malik,Sonia Poulton and Staying Free.

Publication Details

Publisher: Architects for Social Housing (April 2025)
Distributed by Lulu Press, UK
Language: English
Hardback and paperback: 434 pages | 220 illustrations
ISBN 978-1-3004-2850-3 (hardback)
ISBN 978-1-3004-2845-9 (paperback)
Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.5 in | 14 x 21.6 cm

Endorsements

‘Let’s assume that there is still some morality, some sense of humanity, and some belief in civil society in our politicians, planners and, yes, even in our developers. Let’s also assume that they are open enough to see the merits of convincing arguments that present alternatives to their policies on London’s social housing. Now let’s ask them to read Architects for Social Housing’

Mark Crinson, Professor of Architectural History,
Birkbeck, University of London,
Fellow of the British Academy

‘ASH have done so much to protect housing estates from demolition by affirming their architectural, social and political heritage and value. Moreover, they have demonstrated with their designs that much of the rhetoric which condemns them as incapable of being effectively maintained or refurbished is based on misguided policy and questionable intentions.’

Jamie Burton, King’s Counsel, Doughty Street Chambers
Expert Group for Housing Rights Watch

‘A judgement has to be made, not just on the quality of a building, but whether it contributes to the Common Weal, or its opposite. ASH have demonstrated that there are other ways to practice architecture and maintain professional integrity.’

Kate Macintosh, MBE
Architect of Dawson’s Heights and Macintosh Court

‘I cannot praise the work of ASH enough, their tenacity and the detail of work in their project is exemplary. Their use of space is intelligent and carefully thought out, and their figures speak for themselves. If we had more ASHs in the social housing arena we wouldn’t have a housing problem.’

Nikita Woolfe
Director and Producer of Concrete Soldiers UK