The Heygate Estate was a large housing estate situated behind the Elephant and Castle shopping centre in Southwark, South London. The estate was demolished between 2011 and 2014 as part of the urban regeneration of the Elephant & Castle area. Anyone who ventured in there during the rehousing process would have felt the eire, vacant atmosphere of a place which was once home to more than 3000 people. I started exploring the site on my lunch breaks whilst at LCC college studying screen printing, circa 2009 - 2011. The LCC campus was across the road from the estate and was fairly easy to get access to.
It soon became a hall of fame for graffiti writers and I remember seeing a community garden get started there at one point too. It was also a good spot to ride street on my BMX. And I'm sure there were many other uses people found for the decaying plot.
It's one of those places that I visit now and can't recognise the place that it once was, for better or for worse, it has changed beyond recognition.
Below are a few photos that were shot on one of the site rooftops around 2014. Capturing its last moments from up high before it was torn down and rebuilt.
For extra reading, there's a good Wikipedia article on the history of the site, the architect Tim Tinker and some of the reasons why the area was regenerated. Click here for the Wiki article.
Photo credits to Matt Benson.
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