Squatters
The Heygate Estate is the high-water mark of a place doomed to fall. Once a sixties design of utopian excitement, this South London area of Elephant and Castle is facing regeneration once more. As the long-term residents of the towering estates are retired to peripheral housing, a hunt begins. An on-going battle between the Southwark Council closing up shop and multi-cultural squatters fighting London’s high cost of living.
The council employs a company of welders to seal up each individual apartment with sheet metal within 24 hours of them being emptied. They do this at great speed in an attempt to keep squatters of all descriptions from gaining access – many times they fail.
Demolition is imminent, when these massive structures, once full of life, stories and routine will be washed away and forgotten. Basic legal rights mean a court order is required to evict the unwanted lodgers, and while the council grows increasingly frustrated, groups of friends form, regroup and rejoice at the reality of another night of relative sanctuary.
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