Lancaster West Estate, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, for Lancaster West Neighbourhood Team, with Lancaster West Residents' Association

Following the Grenfell Tower Tragedy, Lancaster West Neighbourhood Team was set up to be an innovative new, hyper-localised neighbourhood management model, providing 21st century model housing services that have residents at their heart. In partnership with Lancaster West Residents’ Association and other key stakeholders, Lancaster West Neighbourhood Team set out to rebuild the community through collaboration, co-designing the services, and refurbishment of the estate itself.

Who is on the project team? (designer, consultants, etc)

Lancaster West Neighbourhood Team [LWNT], Arup, TACE, United Living, Tonkin Liu, Capital, RLB and several multi-disciplinary consultants.

Describe the context of this project, its neighbourhood and people.

Following the Grenfell Tower Tragedy, LWNT was created to develop a new housing service, with residents at the heart. In partnership with estate residents, we have ambitions to deliver a 21st century model estate, rebuilding the community through collaboration, co-designing the services, and refurbishment of the estate itself. The community is diverse and culturally rich, however Notting Dale scores 1 on the deprivation index, and LWE contained some of the worst housing stock in London. • 40.1% of residents were not born in the UK, and 18 languages spoken • 10% of homes living in fuel poverty • 31.5% of residents with a degree level qualification • 50% of residents in receipt of welfare benefits • Above average levels of poor physical and mental health with life expectancy up to 10 years lower than the borough average. Creating a holistic approach and sustainable living is a key driver for our vision. To draw on the vibrant and rich culture within the borough, we collaborate with over 30 local partners, ranging from resident-led groups, to voluntary services, enterprise, horticultural, schools, employers, training providers, leisure facilities, to design and deliver a broad range of programmes to support improved health, wellbeing, support and connection. These ambitions requires coordination and integrated master-planning across all disciplines, Our vision for the estate is holistic; creating safe, warm and efficient homes, providing sustainable infrastructure that supports the local neighbourhood, enhancing the public realm. We aspire for Lancaster West estate to become a place where residents thrive. 

Please describe your approach to this future place and its mix of uses. How will it function as a vibrant place? How does it knit into, and serve the needs of, the wider area?

Working with local partners and resident groups, we took on an exercise to listen to what residents wanted to see from services on and around the estate, leading to co-design of the Future Neighbourhood Vision. Collecting over 300 individual comments, using a variety of engagement methods, and delivered in partnership with Arup, the FN Vision is pivotal in developing infrastructure and set key priorities within the local community. The vision identified 23 pilot projects residents wanted to see delivered. To date, 9 of these projects have been delivered, including food growing spaces, a Library of Things, and an Employment and Training Hub, The latter was set up in partnership with Lancaster West Residents’ Association to tackle significant employment and training inequalities in the ward, including: - 31.7% of residents are in full time employment (41% in wider RBKC), - Only 31.5% of residents have a level 4 qualification (52.7% in wider RBKC) and, - 23.6% of the adult population in the ward have no qualifications at all. The Hub is now home to LancWest Works, offering residents employment, learning, and career-focused training opportunities with the LWNT, partners, and contractors. In financial year 2022/23, 7 residents were recruited into LWNT, into roles such as Refurbishment Project Support Officer and Community Development Assistant Recently, LancWest Works has partnered up with our in-house Green Skills Academy (GSA) to offer residents the chance to gain qualifications in the green built environment to enhance sustainable living, contributing to the identified needs of this future place.

What is the environmental impact of the project? How will the carbon use and material impact of the development be mitigated? What is the sustainability strategy?

LWNT’s Sustainability Strategy demonstrates our commitment to creating the UK’s largest eco-neighbourhood across five central pillars; 1) Refurbishing Homes to be comfortable and energy efficient 2) Generating a clean, green energy supply 3) Creating a garden estate with a thriving environment 4) Supporting sustainable living and a local green economy 5) Developing green skills and services Over 100 residents contributed to the creation of this strategy and 45 residents still actively participate on the Lancaster West Green Group. LWNT are committed to be a gas free neighbourhood by 2030; with every home aiming for EPC B. Across the programmes on the Estate (refurbishment, landscape, and Heat Network) there is a commitment to reduce embodied carbon and actively embed this commitment within our procurement strategies. To improve and increase green spaces, making them more accessible and functional, and supporting local biodiversity, LWNT have transformed over 2000m2 of grey space into new green space, and biodiversified over 1000m2 of existing green space, through the creation of co-designed community gardens. Since its creation in 2018 the urban greening factor of the estate has increased from 0.32 to 0.46 as a result of these gardens. Creating a sustainable estate requires both changes in infrastructure and behaviour. To address this LWNT have established a range of ‘MOT schemes’ that tackle damp and mould, gardens & balconies, physical wellbeing, and energy advice. All with a net-zero focus, we are dedicated to ensuring services are in place that provide, consistent and climate aware support for our residents.