Three blocks in Goresbrook Village will be torn down to make way for the new development

A developer has been appointed to lead the regeneration of one of Dagenham’s most run-down estates.

Countryside Properties will work on the mammoth project to demolish the three 1960s tower blocks in Goresbrook Village and replace them with 149 new homes, 98 of which will be owned and managed by Barking and Dagenham Council.

Residents have been gradually moving out of properties in the blocks, which have been nicknamed the Lego estate because of their distinctive red and white brickwork.

More than two thirds of the new homes are set to be three and four-bedroom family houses.

The remainder will be two-bed flats and fourteen of the homes will be designed for wheelchair use.

A shop will also be included in the development.

Cllr Phil Waker, cabinet member for housing at the council, said: “Goresbrook Village had reached the end of its natural life, so we took the decision to include this in our programme of estate renewal rather than spend millions trying to renovate the flats.”

Building works on the new development, which will be low rise as opposed to the 16 storey blocks currently in place, will start early next year and the works are expected to be completed in March 2015.

Goresbrook Village achieved national fame when it featured on the Channel 4 series Tower Block of Commons in 2010.

It is one of three housing estates which are being regenerated as part of the council’s Estate Renewal Programme. The others are Leys in Dagenham and Gascoigne in Barking.

New flats will be built in Abbey Road, along with retirement bungalows in Wood Lane and Rainham Road South.

Almost 500 homes for affordable rent are also to be built in the William Street Quarter and Thames View areas of Barking.