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Tag Archives: Lunar House
Property billionaire in £30m swoop for Apollo and Lunar House
Housing correspondent BARRATT HOLMES on how Criterion Capital have scooped a cut-price bargain on two landmark Croydon buildings, as they plan to deliver the country’s largest office-to-resi development Croydon’s 1960s landmark buildings Apollo House and Lunar House have been sold … Continue reading
Planning consent granted for 580 flats in ‘space-age’ Croydon
Croydon Council has approved the plans to convert two 1960s office blocks on Wellesley Road, Apollo House and Lunar House, from office to residential use. More than 580 flats will be created as part of a scheme on behalf of … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Fairfield, Housing, Lunar House/Apollo House, Planning, Property
Tagged Apollo House, Fairfield, Ho Bee Land, Lunar House, Wellesley Road
12 Comments
Two town centre office blocks set for conversion into 630 flats
Two more of Croydon’s 1960s brutalist landmark buildings are set to be converted into flats, in further residential intensification of the town centre. Singaporean investor Ho Bee Land bought government office blocks Apollo House and Lunar House for £99million in … Continue reading
Collins named as new £175,000 director of children’s services
Stuart Collins – no, not that one – has been appointed as the council’s corporate director of children, young people and education, taking over from septugenarian Debbie Jones. The job was advertised in August with a £175,000 per year salary. … Continue reading
Posted in Children's Services, Croydon Council, Katherine Kerswell, SEND, Stuart Collins, Youth Services
Tagged Children young people and education, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Debbie Jones, Katherine Kerswell, London Borough of Croydon, Lunar House, Ofsted, Ofsted inspection, Stuart Collins, Tory
1 Comment
More than 100 Afghans in Croydon protest against deportations
A crowd of more than 100 Afghan refugees gathered outside the Home Office’s Lunar House in central Croydon today to protest at the Government’s policy of deportation to Rwanda. The protestors included some who served with the British military, usually … Continue reading
Posted in Fairfield
Tagged Afghan refugees, Afghanistan, Afghans, Home Office, Lunar House, refugees, Rwanda, Taliban
7 Comments
From Croydon to Peckham, activists stand by asylum seekers
The civil disobedience action aimed at frustrating, delaying or even stopping altogether the removal of asylum seekers from their accommodation in south London on to other locations, including deportation to Rwanda, has shifted from Croydon’s Lunar House to Peckham today. … Continue reading
Asylum seekers tricked at Lunar House for Rwanda removal
The first potential deportees under the Tory Government’s controversial Rwanda scheme were taken from a Home Office building in Croydon at the dead of night, after having arrived at Lunar House for what they had been misled to believe was … Continue reading
Posted in Fairfield, Ria Patel
Tagged Green Party, Home Office, Lunar House, Ria Patel, Rwanda
11 Comments
Youth charities to benefit as Wates finish off 2 Ruskin Square
The Government Property Agency has appointed Wates to carry out the fit-out of 2 Ruskin Square at East Croydon, with the building firm undertaking to work with local youth and anti-crime groups while they are working on the project. Ruskin … Continue reading
Posted in Business, East Croydon, Property, Ruskin Square
Tagged 2 Ruskin Square, Apollo House, East Croydon, Government Property Agency, GPA, HMRC, Home Office, Lunar House, Ruskin Square, Wates
3 Comments
Council needs a better plan to help refugees arriving here
CROYDON COMMENTARY: After organising a vigil at Lunar House last night, Councillor RIA PATEL says that this borough needs more help from Whitehall to deal with a homelessness crisis being created by Government Last week in Parliament, the Prime Minister … Continue reading
Ruskin Square move will bring transfer of immigration centre
The Home Office will soon be moving more than 5,000 civil servants into its new, state-of-the-art office building – or “Government Hub”, as they call it – at 2 Ruskin Square, close by East Croydon Station. The Government Property Agency … Continue reading
Developers sell latest East Croydon office block for £267m
At least one development project in Croydon town centre has managed to be completed ‘on time and under budget’ Schroders, the investors behind the Ruskin Square development next to East Croydon Station, have sold their latest office block in a … Continue reading
Commission chair: Refugee debate is run by ‘controversialists’
A widely respected former MP who is chairing a public commission on the integration of refugees yesterday hit out at the “highly contentious” nature of the current national debate about refugees and asylum seekers, saying it was being “led by … Continue reading
Posted in Community associations, Crime, Croydon Central, Sarah Jones MP
Tagged Alex Carlile, asylum seekers, Chief Superintendent Andy Brittain, Commission on the Integration of Refugees, Croydon, Croydon Central, Croydon Refugee Forum, Lord Alex Carlile, Lord Carlile, Lunar House, Metropolitan Police, Sarah Jones MP
3 Comments
Government to pay £2.3m of borough’s asylum children’s costs
The Home Office will pay an additional £2.3million to Croydon this year to cover the rising costs to the borough of being a first stop in this country for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. The cash-strapped borough last month threatened to copy … Continue reading
Far-right’s refugee ‘protest’ at Lunar House attracts just 10
Lunar House in central Croydon has long been a ‘target’ for the far-right’s attempts at protest against migrants and asylum-seekers. Saturday’s limp effort demonstrated, once again, that the racists can’t organise a piss-up in a ‘Spoons, as our special correspondent, … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Central
Tagged BNP, Lunar House, National Front, Tony Martin, Wellesley Road
9 Comments
Croydon warns Whitehall it will end taking child asylum-seekers
Just as the US-backed government in Afghanistan collapsed under assault from the Taliban, with potentially tens of thousands of people urgently seeking refuge outside their homeland, so Croydon Council has announced that it will refuse to take any more unaccompanied … Continue reading
£50m shortfall in Home Office payments for asylum children
The council says that the government has underpaid it by around £50million, money which it says is owed for taking care of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who arrive in the UK in Croydon. The council claims that over the past decade … Continue reading
Philp slams shut Britain’s door to asylum-seeking children
Croydon Tory MP Chris Philp chose the eve of the annual Holocaust Memorial to announce that the government is slamming the nation’s doors shut in the face of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. The Dubs Amendment was passed in May 2016 in … Continue reading
Council welcomes extra £4m for asylum seeker care costs
The government has agreed to pay an additional £4million per year to Croydon towards the costs the council incurs in caring for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, or UASCs. Over the past decade, Croydon has looked after more than 5,000 unaccompanied asylum-seeking … Continue reading
Ruskin Square signs government tenant in £300m deal
Schroders have announced a multi-million-pound deal with Whitehall to build and rent out a second large office block at Ruskin Square, their £500million development next to East Croydon Station. And in doing so, they may well have pulled the rug … Continue reading
Ruskin Square and Westfield in battle to secure Home Office
Multi-billion-pound developments in central Croydon could be forced to go head-to-head in a battle to secure the Home Office as tenants for their office buildings. According to a report published this morning by Property Week magazine, the Home Office is … Continue reading
Croydon MP warns of mounting crisis in Calais refugee camps
Sarah Jones, the MP for Croydon Central, today branded the Tory government “a disgrace” for failing to fulfil its undertakings under the Dubs scheme to accept unaccompanied child refugees from camps in northern France. Jones has been on a visit … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Central, Sarah Jones MP
Tagged Alf Dubs, Croydon Central, Lunar House, Sarah Jones MP
1 Comment
Protestors use Stormzy’s music to drown out fascist chants
There have been calls for far-right groups who try to hold rallies around Lunar House, the Home Office’s passport and visa office in central Croydon, to be forced to pay for the policing of their events and other related costs. … Continue reading
Posted in East Croydon, Policing, Tramlink
Tagged East Croydon station, Lunar House, Metropolitan Police
1 Comment
Local charities carrying burden as NHS fails asylum seekers
Asylum seekers are being left behind in using health services, because their greatest need is just surviving the day, rather than health issues, according to a report from Healthwatch Croydon. The report – Refugees and Asylum Seekers: The health and … Continue reading
Posted in Charity, Croydon Council, Health, Healthwatch Croydon
Tagged Croydon Healthwatch, Croydon NHS CCG, Lunar House
2 Comments
£4m Home Office cut is unfair to refugees and to Croydon
COUNCILLOR SIMON HALL on how the government has cut funding from Croydon towards looking after some of the most vulnerable new arrivals The refugee crisis across Europe has been making international headlines, with footage of human misery being shown nightly … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Council, Fieldway, Simon Hall
Tagged Afghanistan, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Home Office, Labour, Lunar House, refugees, Simon Hall, Syria, Tory
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‘I don’t come from round here. I am a migrant, too’
CROYDON COMMENTARY: After watching the news, PETER UNDERWOOD has a confession to make The BNP has decided to parade its ignorance in the centre of Croydon tomorrow. When I see their members’ nasty, hate-filled, anti-immigration stance – echoed by too … Continue reading
