Telling us where you are in Kidbrooke
Kidbrooke station, with Southeastern trains to London Victoria, is the easiest marker. Much of the land around the station was once RAF Kidbrooke, a large stores base. The Ferrier Estate that stood here was demolished in 2012 and the land has been rebuilt as Kidbrooke Village, so many streets and building names are new. Give us the block name, the street and the nearest entrance. South of the old estate, Sutcliffe Park and its lake are another clear marker; the lake works as a flood defence, made when the Kyd Brook was partly let out of the underground conduits it had run in until 2006.
What the homes are like, and what that means for the lock
Kidbrooke stayed mostly farmland until the 1930s, and the station only opened in 1895. Building took off once Rochester Way was laid, and the area now has a large amount of 1920s and 1930s housing, much of it built as the Kidbrooke Park Estate between Shooters Hill and Rochester Way. The Ferrier Estate, built from 1968, has been replaced by Kidbrooke Village, a development of 5,300 homes.
That gives two quite different kinds of job. In the twenties and thirties houses, front doors have often been replaced with uPVC or composite ones, and the usual fault is a gearbox that stops the handle lifting. See uPVC door lock problems. In the new apartment blocks, flat entrance doors are usually fire doors, often with a communal entry system at the street, so a lock is replaced like for like.
Common jobs
- Flats in the new blocks, locked out or after a lost key.
- Composite doors in the newer homes with a gearbox fault.
- Lock changes after moving in.
- Burglary repairs to doors and frames.
Questions people ask
I am in a new block with a managing agent. Should I call them first? If the problem is the communal door, yes. If you are locked out of your own flat, call us and tell us the block.
I am in one of the thirties houses near Rochester Way. Is my door likely to be original? Often not; many were swapped for uPVC or composite. Send a photo of the door edge and the handle and it can be priced from that.
Is Kidbrooke SE3 or SE9? Both, so the postcode alone does not place you. Send the road name.
Nearby
We also cover Greenwich, Blackheath and Lee.
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