Tustin Estate

Hayhurst and Co are working with DSDHA, Kennedy Woods and Resolve Collective to develop options for the renewal of the Tustin Estate in Southwark. Forming part of the local authority’s ‘Great Estates’ programme, the project is being delivered through a pioneering, co-design process to develop a number of options that are shared with the community and then whittled down to a preferred option which will be put to a ‘resident’s ballot’.
Located at the junction of the Old Kent Road and Illderton Road, the existing 1960s estate includes 529 homes, Pilgrims’ Way Primary School and a number of shops, restaurants and community facilities. The homes are distributed across three 18-storey towers, mid-rise concrete-framed perimeter blocks around the edge of the estate and a low-rise brick-built houses to the north. The school is located in the centre of the estate.

The estate’s renewal is being driven by it’s community who developed their own manifesto and governed by it’s own ‘Resident’s Project Group’. An active engagement strategy with residents, business owners and the school has been at the heart of the project and has maximised opportunities for the design team to develop options alongside members of the local community, including those often excluded from conventional consultation processes.

We established a community café on the estate where residents could come for a free hot drink, a biscuit and a one-to-one chat with council officers and the design team. This extended to a mobile coffee cart that we wheeled around the estate so as to facilitate impromptu conversations with residents that may not have otherwise happened. Other events have included youth career advice, events and zine making for young people and garden workshops for all.

The proposals comprised 4 options looking at different levels of renewal. Option 1 is to ‘do nothing’ thereby allowing residents the opportunity for there to be no change to the estate. Option 2 was to add infill homes without any loss of existing homes as well as upgrades to the public realm whilst Option 3 is to carry out partial demolition and development of new homes. Option 4 seeks to redevelop the whole estate in a number of phases over a number of years.

Within each option, the team has developed a number of different landscape-based strategies such as developments with a shared ‘common’ or development with a series of ‘pocket parks’. Similarly, options for the school have looked at different levels of development and how a new school might positively interact with different types of landscape strategies that continue to provide a heart to the centre of the estate which so many of the residents currently enjoy.

Pilgrims’ Way Primary School is a 1FE (form entry)  primary school at the centre of the Tustin Estate. It is a single storey building with a main hall and kitchen facilities on site. The building is surrounded by a mix of hard surface playgrounds, grass landscapes and it also has smaller garden spaces, an orchard, nature garden and allotment.

The location of the school within the estate has been determined in association with the development of the new housing and the opportunities to develop the whole estate by reducing disruption to existing residents, including the school. The arrangement of the school on the new school site has been developed with the Headteacher and Governors of Pilgrims’ Way Primary School

The arrangement of the new school creates a prominent front onto Tustin Common, at the centre of the estate. The location of the main visitor entrance and pupil entrance off the main public space to the estate gives the benefit of the greater width of the public walkways and the opportunity of an open area where pupils and parents can freely congregate.

The plan for the new school recreates many of the benefits of the spatial arrangement and key adjacencies between learning and administration spaces, seen in the existing building. Including classrooms are arranged around a central circulation and library space.

The arrangement of the new school creates a prominent front onto Tustin Common, at the centre of the estate. The location of the main visitor entrance and pupil entrance off the main public space to the estate gives the benefit of the greater width of the public walkways and the opportunity of an open area where pupils and parents can freely congregate.

A community access to the Hall and services access for refuse and kitchen deliveries are located to the rear of the school site, with access off the northern end of Hillbeck Close. This provides a safer location for vehicle movement and the opportunity for public access to the main hall during school hours.