Overview[]
The Heygate Estate was a very large housing estate located in the heart of Elephant and Castle in South London, which was home to thousands of people (1200+ homes).
History[]
In the mid-late 2000s, major regeneration was planned for the Elephant and Castle area, including the demolition of such estates like Heygate, and therefore, between around 2010 and 2014 demolition took place. Due to the harsh-brutalism-nature of the estate, much photography and filmography took place in the area. For example, in 2004, the Aylesbury Estate (its architectural and visual style nearly completely identical to Heygate's) was used as a filming location for a UK channel called Channel 4 for one of its idents. The ident takes place turning a corner on one of the balconies of the estate, then revealing the logo of the channel and the rest of the estate. However, residents were not very happy with the ident as it 'made the estate look rougher than it was'. Therefore, the ident was re-filmed with residents of the estate, walking around and engaging in physical activity around the area where the ident was originally filmed. This airing was a one-off.
Stats[]
- Designed by Tim Tinker
- Constructed 1971–1974
- Demolished 2011–14