Holloway prison in North London closed its doors in 2016, having been home to some of the UK’s most notorious female inmates for more than 150-years.
The former women’s prison held notorious women like, Myra Hindley, Maxine Carr, Rose West and the famous suffragette women, Emmeline, Sylvia and Christabel Pankhurst in 1912.
The Peabody housing association are to build over 400 homes for social rent and 600 homes for sale, that will be “genuinely affordable,” the 10-acre site.
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Brendan Sarsfield, chief executive of Peabody said, “As well as providing new homes we will also ensure social infrastructure and placemaking are at the heart of our proposals.”
In a deal worth £81.5m, the housing association received a loan from City Hall of £41.6m, the new homes are to be built in partnership with housebuilder, London Square.
London Square and Peabody are to start the building project in 2022, subject to planning and aim to complete the building project by 2026.
The mayor of London Sadiq Khan said, “For too long, Londoners have rightly been fed up of seeing public land sold off to the highest bidder and then developed with little or no social or affordable housing. We have made sure the Holloway Prison site will be different.
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“Our ground-breaking loan to Peabody means the majority of new homes on this site will be genuinely affordable, with around four in 10 of all new homes being for social rent.
“This shows what is possible on public land. We’ve been able to do this even with the limited powers we currently have.
“Ministers now need to play their part and give us the step-change in investment and powers over land we need to truly fix London’s housing crisis.”
Holloway prison is in Labour leader’s Jeremy Corbyn constituency, he said this is good for the local community.
Corbyn said in a tweet, “For too long private developers had free rein to buy up public land and build properties that are completely unaffordable for the local community.
“But under a Labour Mayor and Labour council, the former Holloway Prison site will include 600 social and genuinely affordable homes.”
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Rory Stewart the prisons minister said, “The sale of Holloway will help drive forward our commitment to replace ageing prisons with modern, purpose-built establishments.
“I am determined to see this money reinvested to improve rehabilitation and ultimately reduce reoffending.
“We have worked closely with the local authority and others to ensure the amount of affordable housing on the site meets local needs, and I am pleased we have achieved this aim while giving good value to taxpayers.”
A spokesperson for Islington Council said, “The Holloway Prison site is one of enormous significance for Islington. Aside from its historic importance, it also represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver a considerable amount of much-needed, genuinely affordable housing for local people.”
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