Building for Health on the Aylesbury Estate

The Aylesbury estate is in the London Borough of Southwark. It was built between 1963 and 1977, and is one of the largest public housing estates in Europe, covering an area of more than 28 hectares containing 2700 dwellings and 7500 residents. Its population makes it larger than many British towns.

It developed a reputation during the 1980s and 90s as “Britain’s most notorious estate” because of its high levels of crime and depravation, and it’s where Tony Blair made his inaugural speech as prime minister on 2nd June 1997, focusing on the nation’s 'forgotten people”. The speech launched a controversial regeneration of the estate, which continues to this day.

In 2017 Social Life published research commissioned by Notting Hill Genesis,Southwark Council’s housing partner for the Aylesbury Estate regeneration, on how residents were impacted by the demolition and rebuilding of their estate.

The research described estate residents as predominantly low income, with many unemployed. They were also ethnically diverse and highly transient. Interviews and surveys revealed that residents were broadly supportive of the regeneration, but unhappy with a lack of community facilities and poor public spaces. Many commented that they felt a lack of control over agencies and institutions governing their lives, and had no influence on the future of the estate.

In 2024, the Aylesbury estate had the highest level of socio-economic deprivation in the London Borough of Southwark, according to the most recent JSNA Annual report. More specific characteristics of estate residents include:

·      64% are from a non-white ethnic background

·      33% of children under 16 live in poverty

·      52% social renters

·      25% above average London crime rate

·      71 per 1000 have 3 or more long-term, health conditions

It is against this background that the vision, development and delivery of the Harold Moody Health Centre began morewthan a deacde ago. The Centre, which officially opened in July, provides a hub for two local GP practices, and a neighbourhood base for delivery of community health services.

The centre was named after Dr Harold Moody following a public vote. Dr Moody came from Jamaica in 1904 to study medicine at King’s College, London. Encountering racial prejudice, he was unable to gain work as a doctor and set up his own GP practice in Peckham in 1913. He lived and worked in the area until his death in 1947.

Dr. Moody founded the League of Coloured Peoples in 1931, which challenged racial discrimination and fought for equality. He campaigned for employment rights for Black seamen, fair pay for Trinidadian oil workers, and the lifting of the colour bar in the British Armed Forces that prevented the appointment of Black officers. Moody’s campaigning work influenced the Race Relations Act 1965, the UK’s first law against discrimination on the grounds of colour, race, ethnicity or national origins.

Conceived as a cohesive civic hub uniting health, learning, lay and social activity, the Harold Moody Health Centre was designated at the outset as the heart or neighbourhood centre for the estate regeneration and a destination and civic landmark for the community it serves.

From the beginning the project aspired to “create an environment that actively supports healing by promoting wellbeing, connection and dignity” according to Joe Morris of Morris + Co, lead designer for the Centre. His previous experience designing Ortus, a centre for learning at the Maudsley Hospital in south London, provided a grounding in creating places and spaces that support wellbeing amongst a vulnerable and often stigmatised population of users.

The design team established a set of future healthcare principles to guide the project from conception to completion, which “redefined healthcare as a broader notion of wellbeing, combining curative and preventative approaches that promote this through physical, psychological, social and environmental means”. They aimed to create a space and place that nurtured a sense of community and belonging, supported by shared facilities which offers dignity, comfort and long-term adaptability to its users.

The range of stakeholders in the project, each with specific groups of constituents and lines of accountability, presented both a challenge and an opportunity to deliver a place that supports the needs and aspirations of a large, diverse and changing community. The main stakeholders include

·      London Borough of Southwark – Aylesbury Estate renewal lead

·      Notting Hill Genesis – Aylesbury Area Redevelopment partner

·      Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust  – community health services provider

·      Nexus Health Group –GP service provider

·      East Street Surgery – GP service provider

·      South East London Integrated Care System – NHS health and care commissioner

·      NHS Property Services – head leaseholder

Delivering this project with a multidisciplinary team that itself underwent many changes, over almost a decade,  is a real achievement, and exemplary for a Build for Health approach to development and regeneration.

I went to visit the Centre recently and was immediately struck by the considerable public realm around the building. A large public square which included a library opposite the health centre, complemented by a smaller park-like space with trees and benches, is both inviting and inclusive.

the Harold Moody Health Centre and public square

public spaces alongside the Centre

The interior of the building is light and spacious – welcoming without being intimidating. Multiple seating areas and public toilets are available and accessible.

I was struck by the way the new centre supports our current national focus on neighbourhood health and prevention, which is remarkable given the shifts of focus across the NHS during the decade over which the health centre was planned and designed.

The new centre offers a broad range of services in a single location. Two GP practices are co-located with an expanded team that includes pharmacists, physiotherapists, nurse practitioners and mental health specialists. Complementing these are community health services provided by Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Trust which include speech and language therapy, health visiting, breastfeeding support, weight management and dietetic care. The co-location aims to foster collaboration across the health system and brings quality care directly into the community.

Its design and location give the Harold Moody Health Centre a clear civic identity alongside other public assets like the library. The buildings together frame a new public square, aiming to set the tone for the estate regeneration’s health and wellbeing agenda.

Darren Summers, Strategic Director for Integrated Health and Care, and Place Executive Lead for Southwark, emphasised this at the centre’s opening in July:

“the location of Harold Moody Health Centre, right at the heart of the estate, brings greater potential for health services to connect with local communities and to build bridges between clinical and non-clinical ways to support people more effectively to manage their health. This is a key ambition within our plans to develop neighbourhood models of working and build integrated neighbourhood teams across the borough”

The Harold Moody Health centre is located at 60 Thurloe Street, London SE17 2GB. Go visit and explore the regeneration of the Aylesbury Estate while you're there.

Clare Delmar

Listen to Locals

5 September 2025