The Heygate Estate, where Gawl has his base when we first meet him, is a real housing estate. All the tenants have been evicted over the last few years and it is due to be demolished this year, 2014. But it was still going strong back in 2000. And a few decades earlier, before Gawl moved in, it's where this author lived for several years, which is why I used it in the book.
Darren Dash