About Us

The Millbank Estate

The Millbank Estate is located next to the Tate Britain Gallery, the Houses of Parliament and the River Thames, and is built on the site of the old Millbank Penitentiary. The Estate comprises fifteen beautiful red-brick arts and crafts mansion blocks commissioned by the London County Council (LCC) between 1897 and 1902. Today the Millbank Estate is made up of 561 individual flats, with about a 50/50 share between tenants and leaseholders, managed on behalf of CityWest Homes by the Millbank Estate Management Organisation (MEMO), a Tenant Management Organisation (TMO) run by and for the residents of the Estate. The Estate benefits from surrounding or close gardens and parks such as Millbank Gardens, Vincent Square and also from its tree lined streets.

Local History

Originally constructed to provide working class flats for 4,430 people, Millbank was a flagship project in many ways. Unlike earlier large housing projects, it had no shared lavatories or sculleries, and more spacious courtyards than were to be found in the more affluent mansion blocks in Victoria. Owing to the importance and quality of its architecture, the Estate has been designated Grade II listed. Named after eminent artists from the last three hundred years, including Ruskin, Gainsborough and Hogarth, the blocks themselves bear testament to the area's rich cultural heritage and the Estate's proximity to the Tate Britain Art Gallery, the University of the Arts and one of the Countries best Secondary Schools.

MEMO

The TMO under the name Millbank Management Organisation was established in 1997. It has a resident shareholder elected board of 12 members, who are responsible to Westminster Council for the proper execution of the Modular Management Agreement (MMA) under which the Estate is run. The new board’s short-term target is to form a motivated team of around 9 full-time staff carrying out the day-to-day work, ensuring that residents’ needs are fully met by delivering best practice housing services, and the estate’s fabric is maintained and, where possible, modernised to exemplary standards.