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Unhappily for some, the regeneration of an area often goes hand-in-hand with the demolition of at least one fading 60s housing block. The Heygate estate in south London, home to 4,300 people, is one such monolith soon to be razed as part of Southwark LBC's £1.5bn, 170-acre ‘regeneration masterplan'.

For a council asking tenants to give up their homes against their will so they can be demolished is one of the biggest, and most sensitive, jobs it can do.

Southwark is in the process of shifting around 1,300 households, which must each find suitable housing and be relocated by September 2009 - the whole job is estimated to cost £500,000.

In a couple of years from now, when the dust has settled and the exodus is long forgotten, the crumbling housing block Heygate residents once called home, will be replaced by 5,300 new homes, a pedestrianised town centre, market square and green spaces.

Project manager of the mass move Rev Ola Agbaimoni heads up the 55-strong team who are helping residents through the labyrinthine job of moving house. There has been extensive partnership work and, so far, it seems to be working. It is the first time that partnership working has been used to manage a re-housing scheme in the borough.

Rev Agbaimoni developed a clear strategy before starting the re-housing project. ‘My ethos is to deliver a service that really puts the local residents at its heart. We are dealing with people and sometimes public services seem to forget this. Some people have lived on the estate more than 30 years or all of their adult life. For many people living on the estate, this move isn't what they would have chosen at this time so it is important that we remember this when dealing with them.'

Southwark staff have come up with their own ideas for how to manage the move. They set up a case management team whose job it is to look after the physical side of moving people including helping people to find new schools, register with their new GPs and arrange removal services. Every resident is assigned a case management officer who works with them throughout the move. The team work in an office on the estate so that all residents can see their officer at a time that suits them.

Working alongside the case management team is the housing team made up of anti social behaviour specialists, housing officers, youth workers, environmental enforcement officers, community support officers and mediation services - their job it is to keep the estate safe and to reassure residents. So far the team has forced out 58 squatters from empty homes. The anti social behaviour unit do a monthly ‘blitz' of the estate to make sure that empty properties are secure and they hold weekly surgeries for anyone who wants to discuss issues of anti social behaviour on the estate. Each household has received a ‘home-loss' payout of £4,400 from the council and a ‘disturbance' payout for any incremental moving costs.

All tenants are able to decide which re-housing route they would like to follow - either moving to a new housing association property, or to existing council housing within the borough – and the decision is binding. Every resident who wants to move to a new housing association home is able to, and they can also choose where this home will be located and what fittings and finishes it will have. Rev Agbaimoni advises other councils facing the same challenge to prepare. ‘It is really important to take the time to do the project planning and the project mobilisation. That is working out your objectives, the business case for doing what you're doing, how you are going to do it and your key risks etc.