In the late 1960s, plans were drawn up for the wholesale redevelopment of Covent Garden. A bitter fight by local residents and businesses, under the banner of the Covent Garden Community Association (CGCA), forced their withdrawal. After a public inquiry in 1973, the GLC’s alternative plan was thrown out in favour of the CGCA’s own proposal — memorably titled Keep the Elephants out of the Garden — which prioritised local families in poor housing, their sons and daughters, and residents who had been forced out of the area and wanted to return.

The CGCA set their sights on the old Odhams print works — the area’s main redevelopment opportunity. Despite lukewarm support from the GLC, they steered the project through and even secured the majority of new homes for people with genuine local connections — no small feat given new legislation that favoured applicants with no ties to the area whatsoever. Donald Ball’s design was bold: 73 L-shaped patio flats cascading around open staircases for the first two storeys, rising to an upper walkway serving a further 29 flats, all above a podium of shops and parking.

Completed in 1981, Odhams Walk is one of central London’s most surprising oases of calm — hidden in plain sight, just steps from one of the world’s busiest tourist destinations. The planting matured magnificently over the years — patios and planters displaying every possible variation, from minimalist calm to an Italian family’s vegetable garden and fiery blazes of crocosmia and pelargoniums. Following essential maintenance work to reline the planters, much of that planting was lost, and residents are now working hard to restore the flora to its former glory. There is no vandalism, no graffiti.

Odhams Walk was awarded the Housing Design Award in 1982 and the Brick Development Association’s Architectural Award in 1983 — recognition that has only grown with time. The gardens here have always been central to the character and architecture of the estate.

We are currently working to restore our planting to its former glory and will be sharing updates here soon.

SUPPORT THE RESTORATION OF OUR GARDENS (GoFundMe)

In February 1982, just months after Odhams Walk was completed, the Architects’ Journal published a detailed building study of the estate — one of the most thorough architectural appraisals of any housing development of its era. The issue featured two contrasting perspectives: a critical appraisal by Christopher Woodward, who famously predicted vandalism and social failure, and a far more sympathetic assessment by Kenneth Campbell, who recognised in Donald Ball‘s design something altogether more ambitious — an urban village in the heart of London. History, as residents know, has proven Campbell right. The full article, including original floor plans, photographs and cost analysis, is available to download HERE.