Battersea denied
by Carol Rahn
Why Place Matters
Being connected to the place where we live enriches our lives and improves our mental health. How can you be connected if you don’t know where you are? Places need names; communities need names. Naturally, we are concerned by the confusion between Battersea and Clapham.
Clapham and Battersea each have their own history and heritage; you are cut off from that if you think Battersea is Clapham. Battersea and Clapham each have their own local government; their own parliamentary constituency; their own schools; their own health management – if the two are being mixed up, people don’t understand institutions that matter for their day to day life.
Signage on St. John’s Hill for the new building
Creating confusion rather than ending it
So it was with dismay that we noted the name for the newest building in the Peabody Estate redevelopment is One Clapham. The good folks at Peabody and the developer, Mount Anvil, Ltd. told us that the original name, One Clapham Junction, was causing confusion between the station and their newest residential offering. So they decided to solve the problem by leaving out Junction and just calling it One Clapham. Wow. What sort of logic is that? If people are having difficulty distinguishing between a residential building and the train station across the street, we’ll clear it right up by giving it a name that refers to someplace nearly two miles away?
If the building is called One Clapham, people will think it is in Clapham. There can be no other outcome. And is it OK for people to think it is in Clapham? No, it is not ok. The Peabody Estate, like Clapham Junction station, is part of Battersea and should be seen to be part of Battersea. We’re proud of the redevelopment and we’re proud of Battersea. Why aren’t Peabody and Mount Anvil?
What do they think is wrong with Battersea?
And what do you find when you look at the Mount Anvil website and their promotion of One Clapham? Poor Battersea has disappeared in a rhapsody about Clapham – they even use a photo of Clapham High Street. “Every detail” of the building, they say, “is intrinsically Clapham,” and “Clapham epitomises the London village.” They can – and should – fix the website, but the fact remains that if they persist in calling this building One Clapham they will perpetuate and amplify a narrative that erases Battersea in favour of Clapham. We do not need this high-profile building and high-profile development to do that.
Naming contest anyone?
Perhaps we should have a contest to help them find a new name? How about One Battersea? Or One Burridge Gardens (which has been the name used for the whole redeveloped estate). The Lavender? One Falconbrook? Send your suggestions to us (or maybe to Mount Anvil).