A few years ago the heating pipes for Baly, Ponton, Ducavel and Despard Houses were re-routed. They were moved from the interior of the buildings, where they were difficult to maintain, to the exterior of the building. The pipes were clad with a mixture of white PVC and painted plywood. The plywood quickly degraded, delaminating and shedding the pigeon-spikes that were installed on top.
The coucil applied for retrospective planning permission for the above work in 2015 (Ref. 15/00106/RG3), but this was refused on the grounds of the materials chosen being unsuitable (the painted plywood) and insufficient drawings being provided. Lambeth has now made an updated planning application (Ref. 16/05754/RG3) in which they propose to replace some of the cladding with powder-coated galvanised steel. Comments can be made on this application through the Lambeth Planning Portal.