Demolition work of the giant council house blocks in the Elephant and Castle regeneration area is underway.

Already phase 1a has been developed by housing association L&Q in collaboration with Southwark Council and built by Durkan.

The south London council now wants to sign up a developer for the major redevelopment phases over coming years and will advertise the job on 12 September.

The next phase development site 1b/1c is intended to be in the region of 880 homes with work due to start in 2014.

The estate was built between 1967 and 1977 and became renowned as an area of deprivation, with crime and anti-social behaviour blighting the estate. Television programmes like The Bill and Spooks would often choose it as a backdrop when filming gritty scenes.