Built as part of a £1.5bn regeneration, the Elephant Quarter consists of several tower blocks. Its website describes the flats as offering “effortless living” in an area “at the centre of everything”. The tower blocks, set to open later this year, contain a concierge, gym, dog-play area and co-working spaces.
Elephant and Castle sits within Southwark council, and politicians from the Green Party, which now controls the local authority jointly with the Liberal Democrats, condemned the high rents.
Benali Hamdache, who leads housing for the Greens at the London Assembly, said: “These prices are astronomical and show how private rents in our city have spiralled far beyond what most Londoners can afford.
“This is what happens when we lose grip of housing and allow homes to be treated as financial assets rather than places for people to live.”
He added: “Elephant and Castle has become a symbol of everything that’s gone wrong with London’s housing.”
Alexandra Austin, a Green councillor responsible for new homes, said Southwark was becoming “increasingly unaffordable, with residents either being priced out or struggling to get by”.
“The rents in this development – approved under the previous administration – are out of reach for the vast majority.”
Southwark Labour said the party “shared concerns” at the prospect of excessive rents at Elephant and Castle.
The price for a one-bedroom flat at the scheme is just above average earnings in London, which stood at £3,082 a month in May according to data from the Office for National Statistics.
