Imagine Golden Lane at Net Zero

A walking tour looking at how a housing estate close to the Barbican Centre is or is not tackling climate emergency and biodiversity loss.

Golden Lane residents set up the campaign Imagine Golden Lane Estate at Net Zero in 2020. It currently has projects on cycle storage and insulation. The walk starts at the Barbican, described as: 'The architecture of fossil fuels at its glorious best....' [Barnabas Calder], moves to the Museum of London and Bastion House, at the centre of a campaign to retain and re-use rather than demolish, then it explores Golden Lane Estate - post-war public housing at its best. The estate now offers major challenges: 75% of the flats have little insulation, heating is through individual gas boilers and there is little biodiversity.

The walk will address how to move towards net zero in a poorly thermally performing estate and the need to improve biodiversity. It will consider the power and the ability of the individual resident to tackle climate emergency alongside the responsibility of the local authority.