Shortlist announced for first phase of Elephant & Castle

Architects Cartwright Pickard, Haworth Tompkins and Panter Hudspith Architects are set to battle it out to design homes for the biggest site in the first phase of the £1.5bn Elephant & Castle regeneration scheme in south London.

The three practices will make their presentations for the 200-home Stead Street site next month.

The architects will have to put their designs before a panel that will include residents of the Heygate Estate, which is to be demolished within the next five years as part of architect Make's masterplan.

Haworth Tompkins is perhaps best known for its refurbishment of the Royal Court Theatre in London and Panter Hudspith for its redevelopment of Middlesbrough Town Hall.

Cartwright Pickard, meanwhile, has experience of regenerating a south London estate, having designed a 30-storey tower for the notorious Aylesbury Estate in Southwark.

The shortlists for the 16 sites in the first phase of the scheme have been drawn up by Southwark council from a 15-strong panel of architects.

Among other practices included on the panel are Sarah Wigglesworth Architects and AOC. Upcoming practices dRMM and s333 are set to each take on the more established Glen Howells Architects for the chance to design 100 homes for the Symington House site.

About 1000 of the 5300 homes planned for the scheme will be built in the first phase

About 1000 of the 5300 homes planned for the Elephant & Castle scheme will be built in the first phase, most of which will be submitted for planning by September and are expected to start on site by the end of the year.

Last month Southwark council delayed choosing the overall developer of the 70 acre scheme by six months. The three shortlisted parties - a consortium led by St Modwen, which already owns the shopping centre at the centre of the regeneration project; Lend Lease; and Oceancrest, a consortium that includes Chelsfield, Malory Clifford and Le Frak - have been given an extended deadline of September to submit their bids.

Originally bids were supposed to be in this month.

Southwark council has also revealed that Elephant & Castle will be the first regeneration project in London to establish a major off-grid energy scheme.

The Elephant & Castle project team will put a proposal to use combined heat and power and other renewable technologies to the council executive next week.

If the proposal gets the go-ahead, the Elephant & Castle team will tender for an energy partner in the next few weeks.