Local historian John Beasley has been honoured with the naming of a residential building after him at Peckham Place on the Wooddene Estate, Peckham.
Notting Hill Genesis and Higgins Partnerships chose Beasley House in recognition of the contribution John has made over the years to the community of Peckham through his historical books about the area and his 28 years as Editor of Peckham Society News.
To mark the occasion John visited the development with his son Michael and daughter Kathryn Chapman. John said he was deeply touched by the naming,
Michael Beasley said: “We are immensely proud of all that Dad has achieved in the borough since moving to London in 1960 and delighted that his contribution to Peckham in particular has been recognised in this way. It is an amazing honour, for a remarkable man.”
Murray Maunder, Project Director for Higgins Partnerships commented: “It was wonderful to meet John and his family and show him around the development. John has been an important part of the Peckham community and it is great to be able to mark his commitment to the area in this way.”
Mark Walford, Senior Project Manager for Notting Hill Genesis said: “We are committed to honouring important figures in Southwark’s history as part of our development programme here and none more so than John Beasley, who has done so much to capture the borough’s past, is now being celebrated in the present and will continue to be remembered in the future.
“It was an honour to meet John and his family, to discuss their experiences and memories of the area and show them around a development that we are so very proud of. We feel it is a fitting tribute to a significant figure in Southwark’s history.”
Wooddene Estate was formerly a 1960s concrete built estate forming part of the Acorn Estate in Peckham. Higgins was appointed to the £70m project to regenerate the area into a mixed-tenure development, Peckham Place with an on-site energy centre to serve the 333 new homes, comprising 54 social rented, 78 private sale and 201 shared ownership, as well as provide new community facilities, retail space, landscaping and open green space with private and communal garden areas and a community pocket park, with its own cycle lanes within the development.
Header image shows John Beasley outside Beasley House at Peckham Place, Wooddene Estate, Peckham.
