Tuesday, November 02, 2004

Yesterday's council flats, today's luxury pads

Once upon a time only the poor lived by the smelly, noisy, working River Thames in Deptford. Now converted council flats are all the rage for the well-off who want a river view. The following is from enrager:

A riverfront tower block of flats is being transformed into luxury apartments with prices starting at £230,000. Private developer Berkeley Homes has now begun work on converting Aragon Tower, on the Pepys Estate, Deptford, following its sale by Lewisham Council for £10.5m.

With five floors being built on top of the existing 24 floors, the scheme will be the capital's tallest refurbished private residential tower to date. Standing at 300ft in height, The Z Apartments will comprise 158 two-bedroom apartments and three-bedroom penthouses with split-level layouts and views of Canary Wharf, Greenwich and the River Thames.

Mark Dickinson, operations director of Berkeley Homes, said: "Deptford is already proving popular with the young and fashionable, so we're looking forward to the launch of what we believe will provide buyers with the most spectacular residential scheme in Deptford to date."

Lewisham Council will use the sale of Aragon Tower to finance a £7m leisure centre, which will include a swimming pool, on the Sundermead Estate, behind Lewisham Shopping Centre, Lewisham. This is the same Lewisham Council which is planning to close down the existing swimming pool in Lewisham, having just spent millions on its refurbishment. The sale will allegedly help fund £4m of affordable housing on the Pepys Estate or the surrounding area. Oh really?

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