South Kilburn is a large

housing estate A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Popular throughout the United States a ...

in Kilburn, in the

London Borough of Brent The London Borough of Brent () is a London boroughs, London borough in north-west London. It borders the boroughs of London Borough of Harrow, Harrow to the north-west, London Borough of Barnet, Barnet to the north-east, London Borough of Camden ...

. Typical of

brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...

60's designs of

public housing in the United Kingdom Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council estates, council housing, or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011 when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in so ...

it is characterised by high-density housing in low-rise flats and 11 concrete

tower block A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently ...

s. It was approved in 1959 and extended in 1963. This scheme was further developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s; redevelopment occurred during the 2010s. The population is predominantly

Afro-Caribbean Afro-Caribbean people or African Caribbean are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern African-Caribbeans descend from Africans taken as slaves to colonial Caribbean via the ...

Location

South Kilburn is within the

, to the east/southeast of Queens Park tube station, immediately south of Kilburn Park tube station, north of

Maida Hill Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district consisting of the northern part of Paddington in West London, west of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn. It is also the name of its main road, on the continuous Edgware Road. Maida Vale is p ...

, and to the west of the

Paddington Recreation Ground Paddington Recreation Ground is a park in Maida Vale, City of Westminster, just north of Paddington. Its 27-acre site is the largest area of parkland located entirely within the City of Westminster. It was the first park of its kind in London, ha ...

. Carlton Vale is the

numbered street A numbered street is a street whose name is an ordinal number, as in ''Second Street'' or ''Tenth Avenue''. Such forms are among the most common street names in North America, but also exist in other parts of the world, especially in Colombia, w ...

that separates the northern and southern parts of the estate.

Redevelopment

In 2014 a massive redevelopment project was started by the

to redevelop the estate, starting with the demolition of two of the 18-storey housing blocks on the estate. This has continued with the creation of new housing blocks built to modern design quality and energy efficiency standards and owned by several different

housing association In Ireland and the United Kingdom, housing associations are private, Non-profit organization, non-profit making organisations that provide low-cost "Public housing in the United Kingdom, social housing" for people in need of a home. Any budge ...

s along with infill developments owned by the local council. Per the plans for this regeneration scheme, the redevelopment so far has seen a net loss of social housing units as most of the new blocks replacing the demolished buildings include a number of flats for social rent ("council housing") along with flats for sale on the private market. The Gloucester House and Durham Court section of the regeneration, begun by

Telford Homes Telford Homes is a housebuilding company that specialises in developments in non-prime areas of London. In April 2018 it was reported that Telford Homes was expecting record profits and revenues for the financial year 2017/18 as a result of Lond ...

housing association in 2017, will see the demolition of 209 flats and their replacement with 235 new-build units, nearly half of which (133) will be for private sale. The construction of market-rate flats for sale has made the area popular with real estate investors and home-buyers who see the area's central location and numerous transport links as attractive features. In May 2019, inhabitants of the newly built Merle Court (opened in 2012) were forced to move due to design problems in the building. Several months later the mandatory balloting procedure of residents for Phase 2 of the South Kilburn redevelopment scheme was met with a campaign by some local residents to extend the ballot to all 8,000 residents, many of whom, in anticipation of future demolition, are settled on the estate as residents in temporary accommodation, and who, Brent Council argues, do not need to be included under the

Greater London Authority The Greater London Authority (GLA), colloquially known by the metonym "City Hall", is the devolved regional governance body of Greater London. It consists of two political branches: the executive Mayoralty (currently led by Sadiq Khan) and the ...

's rules on estate regeneration balloting.

Problems with crime

South Kilburn has long been plagued by

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

, the streets and blocks that characterise the dense sprawl of housing being the site of numerous shootings and a drug trade controlled by various

gang A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectivel ...

s, including the notorious £R. The gangs of South Kilburn have been known to have an ongoing rivalry with gangs from the nearby Mozart Estate, which has resulted in numerous shootings, stabbings and

kidnapping In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...

s. The rivalry has been reported to be a typical "postcode war", as South Kilburn is part of NW6 while the Mozart Estate is in W9 and in the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and London boroughs, borough in Inner London. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It occupies a large area of cent ...

2007 raid

On 18 April 2007, 500

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

, including firearms officers, raided the estate in a series of dawn raids after a months-long

sting operation In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person attempting to commit a crime. A typical sting will have an undercover law enforcement officer, detective, or co-operative member of the public play a role a ...

where members of a gang known as F.A.C. (Fire Arms Cartel) had been selling

gun A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, p ...

s to undercover police officers. Numerous arrests were made resulting in prosecutions with claims that the police had 'smashed' an 'untouchable gang'. Although crime levels subsequently fell to some extent, there were similar raids in 2011 when 250 police officers once again stormed the South Kilburn Estate in a co-ordinated drugs raid. The gang rivalry between the South Kilburn and Mozart estates has continued with numerous gang fights as well as the shooting of innocent victim Daniel Omari Smith, gunned down in 2010 in a

KFC KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) is an American fast food restaurant chain headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, that specializes in fried chicken. It is the world's second-largest restaurant chain (as measured by sales) after McDonald's, with 2 ...

in a case of mistaken identity. In 2013, mother of one Sabrina Moss was killed in a takeaway shop on Kilburn High Road while celebrating her 24th birthday, when she was hit by bullets from a

MAC-10 The Military Armament Corporation Model 10, officially abbreviated as "M10" or "M-10", and more commonly known as the MAC-10, is a compact, blowback operated machine pistol/submachine gun that was developed by Gordon B. Ingram in 1964. It is ...

submachine gun, intended for South Kilburn gang members from the F.A.C. gang who were also in the takeaway. Her friend as well as two South Kilburn gang members were also hit by bullets and injured in the attack which was perpetrated by members of the Kensal Green Boys gang who were involved in a long-running feud with gangs from the South Kilburn Estate.

Mohanna Abdhou murder

In May 2017, Mohanna Abdhou, a 20-year-old woman, was shot and killed while hanging out with friends on the South Kilburn Estate outside Dickens House. The intended targets were probably a group of young men from the estate who managed to escape being shot while Mohanna, who had no involvement with gangs, was tragically hit by a bullet in the stomach and died. Once again, this killing was connected by police and prosecutors to the tit-for-tat violence between local gangs in and around the area. The gang war between the Mozart and South Kilburn estates continues despite community and local government action. The area continues to be affected by its history of gang violence and drug dealing.

Who They Was

The critically acclaimed novel ''Who They Was'', written by Gabriel Krauze, recounts his life in South Kilburn, and his experiences around the South Kilburn Estate with gangs, drugs and crime.

Housing corruption

A scheme started by the South Kilburn Partnership to redevelop the estate was accused of corruption in 2010 when £50 million allocated for the estate's redevelopment went missing.

References

{{coords, 51.530, -0.197, display=title Kilburn, London Housing estates in London