The Brutalist Thamesmead estate of A Clockwork Orange fame is set for a £1.5 billion makeover.

Housing association Peabody, which owns 80% of the land around the south east London site, has revealed plans to demolish its 1960s concrete blocks and build more than 20,000 new homes in their place.

Proctors and Matthews Architects and Mecanoo devised the first phase of the scheme, which has been submitted to planning bosses.

‘The perceptions formed by a Clockwork Orange are just wrong, but we know we need to spend a great deal of money on good design,’ Pauline Ford, Peabody’s interim executive director of Thamesmead, told the Evening Standard. ‘This is a place on the cusp of something special.’

As part of phase one, almost 2,000 new homes and 10,000 sq m of offices, shops and leisure space will be built. A new civic square on the edge of Thamesmead’s Southmere Lake takes cues from European piazzas and forms the heart of those plans.

The surrounding buildings will be made from brick as local residents pushed for a move away from concrete during consultations. Some of the towers from architect Robert Rigg’s original masterplan will be retained, however.

Should the project receive planning permission, the first phase will begin early next year, and will be completed in 2021.The whole regeneration is expected to be finished in 2024.

Thamesmead is best known as a backdrop in Kubrick’s dystopian tale, but has also featured in music videos, including The Libertines’ ‘What Became of the Likely Lads’ and electro artist XO’s recent ‘Divine Disaster’.