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Elephant And Castle The Elephant and Castle, commonly shortened to 'the Elephant' is a major road intersection in inner south London, and is also used as a name for the surrounding district. The Elephant consists of two largeish roundabouts, a shopping centre and a former office building (Alexander Fleming House - now a residential block), both widely derided as "ugly". "Elephant and Castle" has largely replaced the original name of the area — Newington. The roundabouts direct traffic arriving from and heading to the south-east of England along the New Kent Road and then the Old Kent Road, and towards the south of England on the A23 as well as splitting traffic into the City of London and the West End. The roundabouts form part of the London Inner Ring Road and as such form part of the boundary of the London Congestion Charge zone. The Elephant is also home to Elephant & Castle station, London South Bank University, The London College of Printing and the Metropolitan Tabernacle. History The name of the area derives from a pub of the same name in the area. The earliest surviving record of the name is in the Court Leet Book of the Manor of Walworth. The court had met at "Elephant and Castle, Newington" on 21st March 1765. Apocryphally, the name of the pub is a corruption of the Spanish Infanta de Castile, meaning the eldest daughter of a monarch, who had supposedly visited London via this area. In recent times the area has been depressed economically and has had a reputation for crime, particularly on the pedestrian subways criss-crossing underneath the traffic roundabouts. However with the area's close proximity to the major areas of employment, including the West End and the City, a certain amount of gentrification has taken place. Regeneration project The area is now subject to a masterplanned redevelopment budgeted at 1.5 billion. A Development Framework was approved by Southwark Council in 2004. It covers an area of 170 acres and envisages restoring the Elephant and Castle to the role as a major urban hub for inner South London which is occupied before World War II. Planned features include: - 800,000 square feet/75,000m2 of retail space (this is far larger than the existing shopping centre)
- 5,300 new and replacement homes
- five new open spaces
- an integrated public transport hub and two tram routes
- a new City academy
There will be major changes to the road intersection designed to make the area more pedestrian friendly. Walworth Road will be expanded to the north through the site of the former shopping centre, creating a pedestrianised boulevard to what is now the northern roundabout. This roundabout will be turned into a public square. Two skyscrapers will flank the boulevard. A substantial amount of post World War II social housing which is deemed to have "failed" will be demolished, including the Heygate Estate. This will replaced with new housing developments comprised of a mix of social and private sector housing. The current timetable, which like any large development project may be subject to delays, is as follows: - 2005 Selection of commercial development partner.
- 2006 First residential projects commence.
- 2005-2010 Development of the southernmost section of the regeneration area including the Walworth Road extension, the Heygate Boulevard and St Mary's Churchyard.
- 2006-2011 Phased demolition of the Heygate Estate and relocation of tenants to new social housing in and around Elephant & Castle.
- 2010 Demolition of the Elephant and Castle shopping centre.
- 2010-2014 Construction of the Civic Square and start of development on the Heygate footprint.
- 2014 Completion.
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