Weekly (or thereabouts) round-up . . .

                      New face of the Elephant? Condos behind the Heygate Estate

From London SE1: Boris Johnson 'actively trying to broker Elephant and Castle regeneration deal'. Developers Lend Lease are 'in a dire position' due to the credit crunch. Boris goes on to say:

"It's a fantastic project and we'll do everything we can to help it go ahead," said the Mayor.
"The trouble is we've got a credit crunch and the developers – Lend Lease I think it is – are simply in a dire position.
"So the [section] 106 money that's normally available is not going to be available to do the fantastic things.
"I know that we're actively trying to broker a deal between Southwark Council and Lend Lease. We want to get it done, and if we possibly can, we will."

Micheal Caine has been all over the papers, of course, due to his film 'Harry Brown', part of which is being filmed on the Heygate.

From the Sun: 'Screen Legend Micheal Caine on Broken Britain' (Sir Micheal blames Labour). And from femalefirst.co.uk: Harry Brown Looks at Broken Britain

And even Clint Eastwood has been spotted on the Heygate and the Walworth area. From South London Press: Clint Eastwood rides into Walworth

And from the blog Love London Council Housing: a live report from the Heygate Estate. Aside from complimenting yours truly, they write:

. . .as of last Friday (Oct. 30th), there wre 117 secure, non secure tenants and leaseholders left - 67 secure tenants, of whom half have direct offers for alternative accommodation.  Those left behind . . . are living surrounded by vacant properties boarded up to keep out squatters.

 So the drama continues. According to London Se1, Lend Lease's exclusivity agreement is due to expire at the end of November. If all falls through, maybe the council can turn the Heygate into a movie set!