‘Refurbish, don’t demolish’- Extinction Rebellion’s housing arm protests property developers

Protesters from Extinction Rebellion conducted unannounced site visits to property companies yesterday afternoon.

Housing Rebellion members gathered in Elephant Park, Elephant & Castle to protest against, amongs others, estate agents Savills.

The protesters had a number of survey questions they intended to ask these companies.

These included asking if the company was involved in the demolition of social housing, creating unsustainable new buildings and greenwashing.

In Lambeth, Savills is currently surveying all the council housing and has been directly involved in the demolition and regeneration plans for six estates in the borough.

Georgina Schueller, from Lambeth, who attended the protest, said: “The Heygate estate, which is now Elephant Park, is a warning to everyone about what regeneration leads to.

“The cheapest one-bedroom flat there now is more than £700,000.”

The protesters’ demands included, ‘Refurbish, Don’t Demolish’ and ‘Housing for people and planet, not profit.’

The protest coincided with the opening day of MIPIM, the world’s largest property fair, in Cannes in the South of France.

The fair controversially attracts politicians from across local and national governments to make deals with private companies on public land and housing.

Housing Rebellion organisers said: “According to ‘London at MIPIM’ their aim is to promote the “investment potential the city is able to offer global capital”.

“We suspect Global Capital measures their investment returns in cold hard cash, not in units of carbon saved or in the number of people securely housed.”

Savills has been approached for comment.

Pictured top: Housing Rebellion protesting near Elephant Park (Picture: Housing Rebellion)