Hackney's Nightingale Estate to be given £200m regeneration

A former east London council housing estate which was the background to a stunt on TV show Top Gear, is to get a new lease of life with a £200 million residential project, according to new plans unveiled today.

The demolition of Hackney council towers at the Nightingale Estate in 2003 saw Jeremy Clarkson’s team hoist a ‘indestructible’ Toyota Hilux on the roof of one of the buildings- it still worked after the property was destroyed.

But now the council wants the land at the Clapton site to be known for more than just explosives and flash cars.

It has just lodged proposals for 400 new homes on the derelict land.

They would include private, shared ownership and social-rent flats.

The project forms part of Hackney’s wider estate regeneration programme, which will see nearly 3,000 new homes replacing old council ones that are uneconomical to repair.

Councillor Philip Glanville, deputy mayor of Hackney, said: “Our ambitious regeneration programme will build thousands of new homes across Hackney to ease the capital’s housing crisis – with more than half of them genuinely affordable for local families.”

He added that money from some of the homes for outright sale at the development would help pay for new council housing elsewhere in the borough. Agent Knight Frank will advise on private sales.

Subject to planning permission, construction would start in 2017 and complete in 2020.