The new residents of William Cuffay House in Walworth are celebrating getting keys this month.
Construction completed on the new council block overlooking Pelier Park at the end of 2020 with the seventeen flats now ready for their new tenants.
The development includes four one beds, nine two beds, and four three bed flats. All are double or triple aspect with panoramic views over London. The block has also been designed to be ‘car free’.
All properties in the seven-storey building, which includes two duplexes, are at social rent.
Jessica Smith, a new resident in the building, said: “I’m so happy with my new flat. It’s really spacious and an enormous improvement on where I was living before.
“I love that everything is brand new, it’s like having a clean slate. I want to say thank you to Southwark Council for giving me and my family the opportunity to live here”.
Councillor Stephanie Cryan, Cabinet Member for Council Housing, said: “I’m particularly proud of this development which showcases the very best of council housing – spacious, high-quality design, modern fixtures and fittings, and enviably located.
“I’m delighted that residents in housing need are moving into these new homes which provide them with the safe, secure, affordable and high-quality housing they desperately need.”
The development is named after William Cuffay, the son of a former slave who was a leading figure in the Kennington Chartist movement in the 1800s.
The Chartist movement was the first mass popular political movement in British history and campaigned for workers’ rights and universal suffrage.
A virtual opening event to welcome residents to the new building will be held on March 31, 2021, by Southwark Council.
The shadow minister for housing and planning, Mike Amesbury MP, will be in attendance along with councillors from Tooley Street.