Elephant and Castle

Hampton and Steedman Streets Improvements

One of the first Walk Elephant projects has secured a budget to transform the public realm along Hampton and Steedman Streets. The funding has been secured as part of the recent redevelopment of the Highline building at 2-10 Steedman Street and the associated section 106 agreement for the development.

The Walk Elephant initiative highlights the potential to improve the 'Walworth Ladders, which are the side streets that connect the local neighbourhoods and estates to the bustling Walworth Road. This project seeks to improve two of these ladders at Hampton and Steedman streets; a high quality route for pedestrians will be made between the Newington and Draper estates, Walworth Road and Elephant Park beyond. 

This project will also improve the public realm connections to Spare Street, which is one of the first sections of the Low Line to open in Southwark: a new landscaped walkway alongside the viaduct which connects the river Thames at Blackfriars to the Elephant and Castle. The refurbished arches along Spare Street are now occupied by Hotel Elephant, a local not-for-profit which delivers affordable artist workspace and has a café gallery which opens out onto the new walkway.

This project builds on the recent opening of a new feature lighting scheme at the entrance to the Newington estate, which was opened in May 2017 and funded by the Cross River Partnership, and the Big Bulb Plant project to plant hundreds of daffodil bulbs in the Newington estate in October 2015.

In October 2016, an initial meeting was organised with residents from the Newington and Draper estates to define a brief for the project. The following key objectives of the project were identified:

  • where possible to narrow both streets to one car width retaining any existing parking and create wider footways
  • to widen the footways and create a small public square in front of the new Crossway church for civic events
  • to improve tree pits for existing trees and plant new trees where underground services allow
  • to create a left turn only out of Robert Dashwood Way (Steedman Street to become one-way exit to Walworth Road only)
  • to remove bollards and use planters or furniture to prevent vehicles mounting kerb
  • to consider raised table where budget allows
  • to investigate new solutions to replace vehicle barrier into the Newington estate (note: access for refuse and emergency vehicles needs to be retained)

Share your thoughts on the design 

Having agreed the brief for the project, we consulted residents on an initial design for the scheme in July 2017 and a detailed design for the scheme between 29 January 2018 and 18 February 2018. The plans were amended to take on board comments from the community. Please visit our consultation hub to download a copy of the design.

Next steps

Final changes to the scheme were made during 2018 to take into account all of the comments made. Traffic orders have been prepared to get ready to start the works on site with our contractors, FM Conways in the summer of 2019.

Contact us

This is a partnership project which is being coordinated by the council with the Newington and Draper Estate tenants and residents associations, local residents and business, the Walworth Society and Living Streets.

If you'd like to hear more about the project, please contact us.  

Dan Taylor 
Programme manager
020 7525 5450

Page last updated: 26 July 2023

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