Arch Street will be used to house some of the residents who have had to leave the Heygate Estate. The estate was built as a model for urban housing in the 70s and failed because it was not a safe place, the maintenance costs were extremely high and its refurbishment was not feasible.
The small-scale operation is surrounded by much taller blocks of flats and is constructed on a site having several limiting factors (an adjacent 14-storey tower block, a main road to the south and a railway track on the west side).