wrote:
On Wed, 5 Aug 2020 20:25:36 -0000 (UTC)
Recliner wrote:
Graeme Wall wrote:
Not heard of gentrification?


I think the concrete wastelands of Thamesmead would be immune from that.
But if they're replaced by smart riverside apartment blocks and leafy low
rise 'executive housing' with 'water festures', they could become quite
desirable.

Compare Canary Wharf in the 80s to now, albeit for a certain meaning of
"desirable". Living in an overpriced box 20 floors up looking at skyscrapers
is not my idea of it but it certainly works for some people.

Yes, although I wonder how many of those glassy apartments are occupied
seven days a week? Some are just investment properties, perhaps used by
their foreign owners for a couple of months a year (or maybe just left
empty, 'safety boxes in the sky'). Many others are owned by the richer
Canary Wharf workers (eg, dealers or senior executives) and used as
pied-Ã*-terres for maybe three or four nights a week. Their real family
homes are in leafier places, many miles away.

Thamesmead is far enough away that homes there might actually be lived in.