2017
TQ3880 : A moribund Robin Hood Gardens, Cotton Street
taken 7 years ago, near to Blackwall Tunnel, Greenwich, England
A moribund Robin Hood Gardens, Cotton Street
The protracted death throes of the Smithson estate are finally nearing their end (
TQ3880 : Robin Hood Gardens, Robin Hood Lane (1)). Redevelopment of the site has been on the cards for at least ten years. Campaigns to have it listed have failed; a succession of starchitects proclaiming the estate to be the best building since the Parthenon have left the powers that be unmoved. As to what the current residents think, you can find an opinion poll to support demolition and another to preserve the estate. The western block (here) is now empty and largely boarded up behind hoardings; the eastern will follow in a few months. Demolition has started at the north of the site.
The replacement development, Blackwall Reach, looks to be offering bog-standard fare, in many ways inferior to RHG, but will at least have the merit of providing more housing than is being demolished. That is a novelty. It seems unlikely, however, that many current residents will be able to remain in the area. One would not have to be overly cynical to suspect that that is not an accident.
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