Lend Lease Wins Elephant & Castle Contract

Australia's biggest real estate developer, Lend Lease, has won a £1.5 billion contract to redevelop London's Elephant & Castle district south of the River Thames.

Lend Lease's group, which includes London developers First Base and Oakmayne Properties, won the 10-year contract to provide 6,000 new homes, two public parks and leisure facilities, Southwark Council said in the statement.

Lend Lease will partner in the project with the London Borough of Southwark, which includes regeneration of 23 hectares (56.8 acres) of previously developed land.Construction is expected to start in 2009, with the redevelopment taking place over ten years.

Lend Lease said the project was "one of the most significant schemes" of its type in Europe.