As high-rise blocks are demolished on
estates in South
Kilburn and Barking (below), 2818 new homes
in the skyscrapers of the former London 2012 Olympic Athletes'
Village in Stratford are awaiting their first occupants (above).
The difference between those coming
down and those going up is not so much architectural, as
proprietorial. Private housing is replacing public: 1439 of the
apartments in East Village, as it is now known, are being offering
for private rent by Get Living London, a joint venture between the
Qatari sovereign wealth fund and property company Delancey. The
remainder are 'affordable' homes for sale, shared-ownership, or rent
by Triathlon Homes, a public-private partnership.
Only time will tell whether ownership
status is more important than architecture and the strength, or
otherwise, of the local economy – or whether East Village is
destined to become a densely packed, down-at-heel, buy-to-let
opportunity earmarked for a future wrecker's ball. More pictures here.
