Before and After 2012: Carpenters Road Estate resident Dolores John-Phillip

@ Hajia Dahiru

Carpenters Estate – A brief Introduction

Carpenters Estate is a 20-acre estate situated close to the Olympic Park, and in recent years has seen significant transformation since the development of the park. The name of the estate originates from a company called Worshipful Company of Carpenters; the company built rows of Victorian houses between Carpenters Road and Stratford town centre to house their workers and to improve the lives of the area’s employees and residents.

Redevelopment & Community

During WW2 almost two-thirds of the estate had been destroyed by frequent air raids and areas of the estate were deemed uninhabitable and unsafe. In 1967 Newham Local Authority issued a compulsory purchase order on the estate to build new council housing. By the late 1960s, the area was redeveloped with new social housing which included three tower blocks: Lund Point, Dennison Point and James Riley Point and provided 700 homes along with maisonettes and low rise housing. There was also a school, a nursery, a pub and businesses situated on the estate. Regular events were held at the Carpenters & Dockland Centre and Carpenters Cage and over the years, a strong tight-knit community developed.

The introduction of the Right to Buy Scheme allowed council tenants to purchase their homes at a discounted rate many residents took advantage of this opportunity and became freeholders, today the majority of the houses are privately owned. There were plans from as early as 2001 to redevelop the site and in 2004 Newham Council stated, “the estate was falling into disrepair and needed significant improvement work to bring it up to a modern standard and maintain it”. However, this would prove too expensive and the Greater London Authority recommended the demolition of the tower blocks along with several smaller low rises. Because of the redevelopment of the site and the demolition of the tower blocks and low rise blocks in Doran Walk, by 2012 almost half the residents had been forced to leave the Carpenters Estate.

To learn more about Trisha McCauley and Hajia Dahiru’s  research journey with photography, you can attend their free photography walk exploring the architecture of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on the 3rd June and their free photography workshop inspired by the London 2012 Olympics on the 22nd June.

You can also read Dolores John-Phillips’ story in more depth here and you can listen to her story by clicking below.