When WCDG began in 1972, there was no residential property on the South Bank, says Ball, with River Court, 600 flats beside Blackfriars Bridge, the first development, followed in the 1980s by projects in Coin Street and the 1990s by County Hall. “The South Bank itself used to be wharfs with dense housing one block back from the river,” he says. “There was, and still is, 19th-century housing on York Road, Stamford Street and Southwark Street, plus council housing. In 1980, 65 per cent of homes in Waterloo were council homes with a further 25 per cent on protected rent. Much social housing around Waterloo Station has been lost. The area on the far side is still primarily social rent housing.” Council housing increases the further you head into Lambeth.