Disused land on a Lower Clapton estate will be transformed into 400 homes after ambitious plans were passed by councillors.

Hackney Gazette: How the Nightingale Estate will look when work is completed. Picture: Hackney Council.How the Nightingale Estate will look when work is completed. Picture: Hackney Council. (Image: Archant)

Just 31 per cent of the homes will be “affordable”, which includes social rent and shared ownership. The rest will be sold at market rate with the money funding the whole project.

The new development is the final stage of the estate’s regeneration, which has already seen 300 affordable homes built by housing association Southern Housing and another 400 of Hackney’s homes refurbished.

It comes after years of consultation with locals and the project, expected to be finished by 2020, will also see improvements to public spaces across the estate, a new community centre, a café and retail space.

It forms part of the town hall’s programme to build 3,000 homes across 18 estates.

Hackney mayor Philip Glanville said: “This fantastic development, with its high-quality design, is the result of years of close work with local residents, and will bring hundreds of desperately needed new homes for Hackney.

“I’m proud that we are building thousands of new homes ourselves through our Estate Regeneration Programme – with more than half for social rent or shared ownership.

“Wednesday’s decision means we can now get to work on delivering more homes for residents struggling to find an affordable place to rent or buy.”

Construction will start later this year. In total, the regeneration of the estate will have delivered more than 750 new properties when complete.

Architects at Karakusevic Carson have designed the new-look estate.