More About Page High

A Social Housing Rooftop Village of 92 Flats in North London

Page High was built in the mid-70s. There are plenty of rooftop developments, usually above shops. The rooftops often consist of cafes, bars and sometimes gardens. But Page High is a permanent residential development, and that makes it different.

Close by is another unusual residential rooftop development, Sky City, also in Wood Green; in fact, it's just the other side of the High Road. Being substantially larger and above shops on the busy High Road, Sky City is more visible and perhaps better known locally than Page High, which sits just off the High Road.

If you know Wood Green, we’re on Lymington Avenue and directly opposite Lidl. We’re on top of Matalan (the unit that used to be occupied by Sainsbury)—or rather, we’re on top of the carpark (Bury Road) that is on top of Matalan.

We’re high up, about six or seven stories. But the estate of 92 flats feels like it’s on the ground. There’s a wide pathway, a street in sky, between the two rows of low-rise buildings that make up most of Page High. Flats consist of one and two room apartments.

Flats have front and back balconies, and 'ground' floor flats have front gardens. On one side of the estate, residents have a view over to Alexandra Palace. On the other side, the view is over to Noel Park and Tottenham (the Spurs stadium is visible, clearly so when it’s lit up for evening matches).

The estate is managed by Sanctuary Housing Association. When Page High opened, and for its first few years, there was a tenants’ association. But the group died out. Why? Because there wasn’t much to talk about. The estate was well managed.

Over the past few years, however, we have not been so fortunate. There is now a widespread feeling that the estate has been abandoned by Sanctuary. Repairs are increasingly unreliable. The estate is not maintained as well as it used to be.

Our tenants’ association has been set up to address on-going problems with security, repairs and the condition of the estate. We are here to work with Sanctuary to improve the estate.

Our group is on Twitter and working with other local and national groups to defend social housing.

Many people at Page High have lived on the estate for decades. Their children have grown up here. They have deep ties to the local area. They remember a time when Page High was pretty much a model social hosing development. We think it can be again.

But the estate, unfortunately, is now under threat of demolition. The Wood Green Area Action Plan, Haringey council’s plan for central Wood Green, sees Page High, and the carpark on which it stands, as targets for ‘regeneration.’

What does ‘regeneration’ mean? Unfortunately,  it often means social, and ethnic, ‘cleansing.’ Ordinary people are forced out of their homes and communities and have to pick up the threads of their lives elsewhere.

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That adds up not only to enormous financial expenses, but it also means disruption to the fabric of everyday life.

Homes have to be re-made. Old neighbours, and old friends, are lost. Children might well have to attend different schools.

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There are parts of Haringey that require genuine regeneration, certainly. But, we should always remember, the best people to lead on improving communities are the people who live there--and this the council has yet to learn.

The people who live at Page High largely want to stay where they are. We want to see improvements in the estate, certainly. What we don’t need is the forced displacement that the council euphemistically calls ‘decanting.’

What Page High requires, rather, is that the landlord, Sanctuary Housing, lives up to its responsibilities.

As residents, we’re pleased to be living in historic social housing. We want to work with Sanctuary to make the estate a model for genuinely affordable housing.

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If you live at Page High and want to get involved with the tenants' association, or if you live elsewhere and just want to know more about the estate, get in touch. We'll be pleased to hear from you.