Wher Prime Ministers Feared To Tread

摘要

During the nineties, Harlesden was one of London's least-loved satellite townsrna symbol of urban deprivation withrnhigh crime levels and low life expectancies. At its centre was the notorious Stonebridge estate, a dispossessed wasteland littered with brutalist tower blocks that was considered so dangerous that in 1995 prime minister John Major cancelled a speech there for fear of being shot.rnMore than a decade later, Stonebridge estate has become an unlikely symbol of successful urban regeneration. Where once stood oppressive tower blocks, there are now smaller scale housing units, and crime in Brent is now 8% lower than in London as a whole. The children of Stonebridge no longer play among the detritus of burned-out cars, but in the Stirling prize-nominated Fawood children's centre, designed by Will Alsop (for more on the surrounding architecture, see the box on page 39).rnMuch of this has been achieved by the Stonebridge Housing Action Trust, which was set up in 1994 to help clean up the area and rebuild 1,775 homes. The trust's final architectural commission before it wound itself up in 2006 was for a mixed-use development next to Alsop's children's centre that would provide a focal point for the community and link the street with the reshaped estate. Hillside Hub, designed by Edward Cullinan Architects, is that building.