Latest developments

Southern Housing Group has been involved in the regeneration of the Bromley-by-Bow area in East London for the last 10 years.

We’ve worked with local landowners, businesses, Tower Hamlets Council, and the London Legacy Development Corporation to bring about substantial change in Bow.

Bow River Village is located close to the A12 and is bounded to the East by the River Lea. Formerly a site of industrial and warehouse buildings, planning permission for a masterplan delivering over 700 homes and 100,000 square feet of commercial space was achieved in 2012.

Our private sale arm, Southern Space, took on Phase 1 of the project to deliver 219 homes and 10,000 square feet of commercial space in 2016. Phase 1 comprised of a mix of tenures including affordable rent, shared ownership, private sale, and private rent homes. The affordable rent homes at Bow River Village were delivered with funding from the Greater London Authority.

Other benefits of the project include improvements to the towpath and neighbouring River Lea, with improved access to the river from the West. We're working with fellow developers Vastint across the river to deliver a new bridge, improving connections to open spaces and transport links for local residents.

Phase 2 of Bow River Village started in early 2017 and will deliver another 112 homes for affordable rent, shared ownership, and open market tenures close to the river. We've also recently acquired two sites to deliver Phase 3 of Bow River Village and will provide a minimum of 400 much-needed quality homes for affordable rent, shared ownership, and private sale.

Visit the website for more information.

We believe that, alongside other housing associations, we play a key role in providing good quality and truly affordable homes. 

This belief is reflected in our development programme, which continues to prioritise affordable housing, and currently plans for 60% of our future homes to be for affordable tenures. 

In 2017/18, our Development Team delivered a total of 197 new homes to our customers, including 85 homes for shared ownership. And with over 700 homes currently under construction, 2018/19 will be another busy year for the Group.

Southern Housing Group is a not for profit registered housing provider and a registered charitable housing association. We don’t distribute our surplus to shareholders – every penny we make and more is invested in providing good quality homes and services.

We know that Britain is going through a housing crisis where the number of homes we have is far fewer than the number of families that need them. So when we redevelop our estates we always want to increase the number of homes available to local people with low incomes. We aim to build as many properties as possible for truly affordable (not just “affordable”) rents.

To do this we often need to build homes for sale or for higher rental prices to fund the homes with lower rent rates. The amount of this kind of housing we need to provide will depend on the overall cost of the development and the amount of public subsidy that is available for the affordable homes.

If we’re redeveloping buildings with social or affordable housing on an estate we'll always seek to replace all the low rent housing and wherever possible increase the supply too.

Lisgar Terrace in West Kensington is an inter-war development built by Southern Housing Group in 1928, currently undergoing a £50m regeneration project.

In 2010, we secured planning permission to upgrade this historic development to redesign homes to modern standards, significantly improve our customers’ living conditions, and increase the total number of homes by 20%.

The redevelopment has been divided into five phases over eight years. Phases one to four are already complete and have provided 154 new affordable homes, the majority of which were offered to existing residents.

We expect to complete Phase 5, which consists of 72 new homes for private sale, in November 2021. Find out more in the Samuel Square private homes for sale information box on the home page.

Social housing providers are under increasing pressure to deliver more homes to help tackle the lack of affordable housing in many areas. It is difficult to compete with private developers to find the right land and opportunities to build so we are maximizing the development potential of our existing estates through our 'Hidden Homes' program. The aim is to regenerate older properties and build new homes on existing land, where we have the capacity to provide them.

Watch this video to find out more about our Hidden Homes program and the ideas behind the redevelopment of Lisgar Terrace 

Updates and resident information

Newsletters

Here you can read the latest updates on the regeneration, Covid updates, who to contact for more information and details of how you can get more involved. 

• August 2021 Entrance gates Q&A newsletter
• June 2021 newsletter
• February 2021 newsletter (Durkan)
• December 2020 newsletter 
• October 2020 newsletter 
• June 2020 newsletter 
• Lisgar Terrace Phase 5 Community Newsletter for June 2020 (Durkan)

Steering Group

The Lisgar Terrace steering group was set up to scrutinise the redevelopment and address resident concerns throughout the project. The meets regularly and is attended by resident members and representatives from Durkan and Southern Housing Group including Housing Management, Estate Services and the Regeneration team. We also invite expert guests to explain and answer questions on topical issues including landscaping improvements and gated access to the estate. 

• Minutes of the virtual meeting held at 6pm on 12 May 2021 via Zoom
• Minutes of the virtual meeting held at 6pm on 10 February 2021 via Zoom
• Minutes of the virtual meeting held at 6pm on 19 November 2020 via Zoom
• Unfortunately the meeting on 19 March 2020 had to be cancelled due to Covid-19. 
• Minutes of the meeting held at 6pm on 10 December 2019 at Lisgar Terrace Community Hall

Covid-19 updates

Following the initial lockdown in March 2020, Durkan resumed works on site in May 2020, maintaining safe, social distancing following guidance from Public Health England and the Constuction Leadership Council. Durkan's letter to residents (May 2020) outlines their return to work strategy and explains how you can get in touch with the site team by phone or email, if you have any queries. 

See how the site looked on the evening of Friday 13th March, just before social distancing was introduced. 
This Lisgar Terrace tour video has a soundtrack so remember to turn on the volume for the full experience.

Who's involved?

Our architects  

Biscoe + Stanton Architects - BSA provides a full architectural service, tailored to the housing industry, to take projects through all stages of the design and construction process from inception to completion.

BSA combines commercial awareness, a high level of design skill, and experience in design and planning spanning nearly 40 years of practice. Their approach is to treat each site as unique and to apply this skill and knowledge to produce the right solution for that site. 'We produce feasibility studies to establish the scope of potential development for a site, and then work with clients, planners and the consultant team to design a scheme that fulfils their aspirations for the site'.

BSA designs respond to the character of the locale and provide each scheme with its own sense of place.  https://www.biscoestanton.co.uk/

Our contractor

Durkan is a financially independent, family owned, developer and contractor. They invest in, develop, construct and refurbish affordable, quality homes and communities throughout London and the Home Counties.

'As a developer, contractor, partner and investor we offer an end-to-end solution delivering complex projects with skill and expertise. We are trusted by our clients and everyone that we work with for our honesty, integrity and commitment to quality'.

Durkan are industry leaders in their ability to create meaningful social value through resident liaison, training and apprenticeships and local employment opportunities. http://www.durkan.co.uk/

Our Employers Agent

Philip Pank Partnership is a multi-disciplinary construction consultancy providing Employer’s Agent, Quantity Surveying, Contract Administration, Building Surveying, Party Wall Surveying, Principal Designer and Site Inspection services.

All of Philip Pank's surveying and technical staff have extensive experience of working with Public and Private Sector Residential and mixed use new build and refurbishment works, as well as specialist resource providing forensic investigation and defects reporting and rectification works. https://philippank.net/

Our landscape architects

Levitt Bernstein are our landscape architects for the final phases of Lisgar Estate. As architects, landscape architects and urban designers, they create award winning buildings, living landscapes and thriving urban spaces, using inventive design to solve real life challenges. Putting people at the heart of their work, each project is different but the driving force behind every one is the desire to create an environment that is beautiful, sustainable and functional.

Introducing Samuel Square

Phase 5, known as Samuel Square, has newly launched and comprises of 72 homes for private sale – 20 units of which are already sold.

Samuel Square is a beautifully accomplished regeneration that has retained the character of this historic West Kensington site. Set between two Conservation areas, the location has been part of the urban fabric of W14 for over a century, but has been renewed and enhanced for a contemporary lifestyle.

The development consists of three buildings; Dorigen Court, Peacock Court and Garland Court, each a collection of one, two and three-bedroom apartments – with Help to Buy launching for the one-bedroom apartments later in 2021.

Interior designers have incorporated elements from the period in which the original building was constructed, yet updated with a contemporary finish. From the sash windows to the boundary brick walls, everything has been repaired or replaced to retain the authentic look and feel of the 1920’s original. The buildings’ greatly expanded floor-space has created apartments that meet current space standards, while the introduction of thermal and acoustic insulation means the interior refurbishment is as good as a new-build.

The vision for Samuel Square is to create homes that bring the best of city living for residents and an enhanced quality of life. Layouts styled for the 21st Century, eco-efficient homes, and beautifully landscaped south-facing courtyards and communal gardens have created a development that has one foot in the past, yet another very firmly placed in the future.

Find out more about Samuel Square by browsing the Southern Space Samuel Square sales site or visiting the Southern Space Instagram profile.

Have your say...

If you have any comments or questions about the regeneration of Lisgar Terrace, you can use our online form below or contact us by email at: regeneration.team@shgroup.org.uk