Teviot estate, Tower Hamlets

535 homes have been earmarked for demolition by housing association Poplar HARCA at its Teviot estate in Tower Hamlets.

The estate underwent a stock transfer to Poplar HARCA housing association, which was completed in 2007.

The estate borders the Limehouse Cut canal to the North, the River Lea to the East and Langdon Park and Balfron Tower to the South. Poplar HARCA have already come under criticism for its privatisation of Balfron Tower.

The scheme is part of Poplar HARCA's ‘Poplar Reshaping’ masterplan which envisages the redevelopment of ten estates: Aberfeldy, Brownfield, Bow Bridge, Coventry Cross, Burdett, Devons, Lansbury, Leopold, Lincoln and Teviot.

In December 2018, residents were told they would be balloted on the regeneration options for their estate, but that if they chose refurbishment then they would have to have new homes built above them in order to pay for the refurbishment.

In March 2019, residents were informed that their steering group had requested the refurbishment option to be taken off the table.

Unsurprisingly, the majority of residents voted for full redevelopment in May 2019.

Residents were also told that the scheme would take 7 to 10 years to complete but in tender documents reported in the Housing Today journal, Poplar HARCA cites a contract term of between 15 and 20 years:

It is noteworthy that Poplar HARCA's rehousing offer to leaseholders is more generous than most (with the exception of Circle Housing's offer in Merton as it allows a certain amount of the shared equity loan to be written off after 7 years (Circle writes it off completely).