Harriott, Apsley and Pattison Houses
Newsletter September 2025
Dear Residents,
You’ll have noticed that there’s been a lot of activity around your estate since the early summer. The pram sheds have now all be vacated and the council’s development partner Vistry have installed site hoarding around the pram sheds and the former adult care centre, making the area safe for the demolition of these buildings. The estate Residents Panel met with the project team, staff from Vistry as well as the council’s Neighbourhood Housing Officer for your estate on 10th September to share updates and hear any live issues facing residents
Come and hear the latest news on the scheme
The council and Vistry would like to invite all residents of the estate to an engagement event, to give you the chance to hear from the team about all areas of the project and ask any questions you may have. Attendees will include:
• Representatives from Vistry will be on hand to discuss construction matters,
• the Council’s appointed valuer Tim Surry (from JLL) will be available for leaseholders to progress their buyback conversations,
• colleagues from the council’s Housing Options team will be there for Tenants to address any concerns or discuss any changes in circumstance.
It would be great to see you at either the Saturday 11th or Tuesday 14th at Stepney City Farm.
Event date:
Saturday 11th Oct at 10am – 1pm
and
Tuesday 14th Oct at 4 – 7pm
Venue: Stepney City Farm, Stepney Way September 2025
Construction Update
Since the last newsletter, you will have noticed less on-site activity, while Vistry completed site surveys for pre-commencement planning conditions. Vistry has also been working to get dates from the statutory authorities to disconnect services to the adult care building. Once the services have been disconnected and planning conditions approved, demolition can start. A newsletter will be shared with residents ahead of demolition starting to confirm timescales.
There have been a few issues of concern raised by residents with the project team to do with rubbish collections and concernsregarding anti-social behaviour. Residents of the estate were very quick to contact the council so that we could act on this with expediency. We very much appreciate residents getting in touch with us so we can address issues quickly and appropriately to lessen the impact of the works.
Residents Engagement Event Venue
Vistry Site Contact
Stefan Taylor - stefan.taylor@vistry.co.uk
Council Officers
Sabaj Uddin – Sabaj.uddin@towerhamlets.gov.uk or 0207 364 2534
Imelda Burke – Imelda.Burke@towerhamlets.gov.uk or 07966023672
Your Independent Tenant & Leaseholder Advisor
Mo Ali – M.ali@ppcr.org.uk or 07940 431503
Compulsory Purchase Order 2025 - Confirmation
HAP Compulsory Purchase Order 2025 – Inquiry Documents
HAP Compulsory Purchase Order 2025 - Core Documents
You can view London Plan (CD 3.2) and the Local Plan (CD 3.3) via the following links: Local Plan part 1, Local Plan part 2, and London Plan.
Phases
Why does the Council need to build more homes?
The average cost of renting a flat in Tower Hamlets is now more than the average household income. There are already more than 19,000 households on the housing register in need of an affordable home and more than 2,000 households are living in temporary accommodation. Although more new homes were built in Tower Hamlets in 2018 than anywhere else in the UK, the average price is now 22 times the average salary, so our residents often can’t afford to buy them.
In response, the council has committed to delivering 2,000 new council homes. These genuinely affordable homes will include properties big enough for families. One in ten will be wheelchair accessible.
At just eight square miles, space to build in Tower Hamlets is in short supply. We’re making the most of land that we already own, including buildings no longer used as they once were.
But that isn’t enough. We also need to look closely at whether there is room for us to increase the number of homes on existing estates.
We can do this by finding ‘infill sites’ or gaps on estates where new buildings can go. We’re also looking carefully to see if we can redevelop existing estates to replace older buildings with ones that are modern, better designed and crucially, that provide more council homes for our residents.