It has been ten years since work began in earnest on the regeneration of one of the few surviving sections of old-school central London. While the rest of Zone 1 seemingly saw wall-to-wall gentrification, Elephant and Castle remained an outpost of stubborn, scruffy ordinariness, an oasis of discount stores, greasy spoons and traditional boozers.
Over the past decade, billions of pounds have been lavished on sprucing up the Elephant. But while the old place certainly looks quite different – a cluster of new towers, thousands of new homes, a gaping hole where the 1960s shopping centre once stood – this is a regeneration that has had its fair share of troubles.
In fact, controversy has swirled around Elephant and Castle even before developer Lendlease set to work on its centrepiece in 2013. To make space for the £2.5 billion, 3,200-home Elephant Park development, Southwark Council first needed to clear the council estate it was to replace.
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