FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

We’re facing increased building costs due to high inflation and high interest rates and this has led to difficult choices. We’ll continue to focus our resources on activities we know are important to you, including repairs, building safety, tackling anti-social behaviour and complaint handling.

This is a pause until the market has stabilised. We're not able to speculate on when this will be as the timing will depend on external factors.

This will not be wasted. The feedback received so far is being collated into a report that will be useful when the project restarts.

We've written separately to the garage tenants affected by the proposal. For the time being nothing will change. Once the development resumes, we'll write again to those affected to let them know our plans. 

We renewed the lease for the Community Hall in October 2023. The next break clause is in Oct 2028 (every 5 years). We hope to deliver a new facility before then. We recognise the value a community facility brings to the community and there are no plans to end that. 

There is high need for more affordable housing in the areas we have housing stock. 

We're in a period of challenging market and economic conditions (high build cost inflation, contractor insolvencies, shortage of labour and materials, rent caps, enhanced specification requirements for fire and building safety and low carbon net zero measures). These conditions affect the viability (whether the value generated by the development is more than the cost of developing it) and delivery of new affordable homes. 

These challenges, along with requirements to invest in existing stock mean that many social housing landlords are now exploring existing assets to provide more affordable homes. 

Garage sites, while benefiting individual tenants, offer little in the way of wider social value. The garage site we're proposing to redevelop is in a local urban context of relatively tall buildings and good local public transport links. This suggests the proposed site has high potential to be redeveloped to provide new homes.

The plans are constantly being developed and redeveloped as we engage with residents, the planners and the design team to produce a scheme that works in the best way possible. We are working towards submitting the final plan in early 2024. 

We’ll hold a final engagement event in February 2024 where we’ll go through the plans and explain the process of commenting on them via the Council planning portal.  

The height of the new building, along with its scale, massing and appearance, will be decided in consultation with Lambeth Council planning officers. The final design will comply with local planning policy, building regulations and the specific constraints of the garage site.  

The new building will have some impact on existing buildings. In terms of overlooking, the building will comply with acceptable building distances. Windows have been designed to reduce overlooking of sensitive surrounding areas. 

In terms of daylight, regulations specify what the acceptable daylight levels are within buildings in an urban context. Some of the current homes currently have exceptional access to daylight. Although daylight measurements may reduce for some homes, all homes will retain acceptable levels of daylight.

The new homes will be a mix of shared ownership and social rent. 

It’s our aim to deliver a 100% affordable scheme. Our assumption is that half the homes will be shared ownership and half will be for social rent. The exact mix will depend on how many homes we're able to deliver.

Homes for social rent

We recognise the urgent need for more genuinely affordable social rented accommodation and will seek to maximise the delivery of homes for social rent, within our financial constraints.

Shared Ownership

Shared Ownership homes specifically target middle income individuals and families who may be priced out of the private market, but who are ineligible to qualify for social housing.

Income thresholds for these homes are set by the Local Authority using local income data and are therefore affordable for the targeted demographic.

The new building will have one entrance and all residents will have access to the communal garden from the shared foyer.  

All our new homes are required to have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of B or above. EPC is a guide to how energy efficient a property is. It includes estimated energy costs and a rating (or band). Bands range from A to G, with A being the most energy efficient. The average EPC rating in the UK is D.

Lambeth Council has nomination rights for any new homes that we build in Lambeth. The Council offers new or vacant homes to people on their needs-based waiting list. 

We're aware that some existing residents would like a new home on the estate for themselves or their family members and we're fully supportive of a local lettings plan. This is where some new homes would be retained and offered to estate residents who are in housing need (eg overcrowded or under-occupying). 

We'll continue to raise this with Lambeth Council.

The proposed development offers opportunities to improve the wider estate. We've been hosting engagement events to explore what kind of improvements residents would like to see and our design team are developing designs and presenting them back at follow-up events. Our aim is for existing residents to gain long term benefits from the development. 

In addition to contributions towards local employment, training and apprenticeships that are a statutory requirement of developments, we also require our contractors to donate time, money and/or resources to support our own residents as part of the contractor's social value contribution to the local community. We have a range of community projects, resident support offers and social impact activities as well as our Fresh Visions charity, which we encourage contractors to contribute to locally. 

We will retain ownership of the new building. We’ll work with a contractor to build the new homes but the contractor won't have any ongoing interest or ownership of the new building.

Service charges for flats in the new building will be calculated by the home ownership team to cover the servicing needs of the new building and its residents. 

Other costs including repairs and maintenance come from rents. 

There are currently 259 parking spaces across the estate. Some parking will be lost to accommodate the new building, additional trees and a new substation. We expect there to be 250 parking spaces once the new development is complete.

A parking survey carried out over two days and evenings in October 2022 showed parking was at 81% and 84% capacity on the estate, indicating there's capacity for some spaces to be re-utilised.

The garage site contains 19 garage spaces, 17 of which are rented by estate residents. We're speaking with garage tenants individually to understand their storage and parking needs. 

Pilon currently lease space on the ground floor of Benson Place and use other areas for storage. Their lease is ending shortly and we expect this to release a number of parking spaces, as they'll no longer park their vans on the estate.

Three accessible spaces will be provided for the new development. Residents have told us that sometimes the only spaces available are for Blue Badge holders. The provision of accessible spaces is set by policy so we're not able to change these to general use but we will look to re-utilise existing blue badge spaces for the new development. 

The new building will be a car free development in recognition of the exceptional local public transport links. Generally, there's a drive to reduce personal car usage for environmental reasons and specifically, Lambeth Council are seeking to reduce parking and encourage sustainable travel. 

We'll keep garage tenants informed of progress as we work towards submitting our plans. We anticipate giving garage tenants three month's notice from the point we receive planning consent. Although subject change at this early stage, we expect to require vacant possession by Autumn 2024.  

We're liaising directly with the garage tenants to understand their storage needs and work with them to find suitable alternative arrangements. 

We understand there’s a need for additional cycle storage on the estate. We’re working with the housing management team to look at opportunities and locations and will provide updates through the consultation process.

We have a duty to seek to provide affordable housing where we see an opportunity. We recognise that some people may be more affected by the proposal than others but believe the benefits of providing new homes to many people in housing need have to be considered when making these decisions. 

Before we submit the application, we’ll offer residents the opportunity to read the planning documents and hear how they might comment if they wish to. Anyone who wishes object will have the opportunity to do so through the planning process. 

We intend to submit a planning application in March 2024.  

There are various factors that could affect how long it takes to receive a planning decision, but we’d expect to have a decision by Summer 2024.

We'll begin the tender process for a contractor when we submit the planning application. The tender process is likely to take around 12 weeks, by which time we also expect to have a planning decision. 

The contractor will begin investigative and site enabling works ahead of construction, which we expect to begin around April 2025.

We expect construction to take between 16 – 24 months to complete, depending on the design.

During the tender process, contractors will be asked to provide a logistics plan which explains how they will minimise disruption during constriction. This will form part of our decision-making process. 

All contractors in our selection process will have accreditation by the Considerate Constructors Scheme. You can read more about what that means here: The Code of Considerate Practice - Considerate Constructors Scheme (ccscheme.org.uk).

No trees will be lost for the new building. We are proposing to increase the number of trees including where there is currently hard standing.

We're looking at options to enlarge and improve the community facilities on the ground floor of Benson Court, in consultation with residents. We'll review the arrangement we have with the EMCA for hire of the Community Hall when it comes up for renewal.

No. We’re consulting with residents about current play facilities on the estate and intend to invest in improvements to existing facilities.

We have investment plans to maintain our estates and a responsive repairs team to address issues with existing homes. Investing in the development of new homes for people in housing need is also a key objective of our strategic plan.

We're committed to enhancing our maintenance and repairs service post the completion and occupation of the new building to prevent any backlog.

We plan to ensure we have sufficient skilled operatives to meet demand and reduce any backlog. In addition, engaging reliable external contractors will provide extra resources to handle any unexpected surge in repair requests.

We aim to keep our residents informed about the progress of repairs and maintenance work. Additionally, we welcome feedback to improve our services and look forward to working collaboratively to enhance the living experience at Lansdowne Green Estate.

We’re undertaking CCTV surveys of the underground pipes to understand the capacity of the existing infrastructure. If necessary, we’ll upgrade the system to ensure it has sufficient capacity for the new homes.  

If you have any questions that are not answered here, or want to ensure that you have the latest version, please contact us at lansdowne.green@southernhousing.org.uk or 07926 076901