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Reasons for decline
As noted in the outline history above, circumstances combined to create a
positive context for the acceptance of high-rise living in the UK at the
end of the Second World War. In the late 70’s, this form of living had
become almost universally unacceptable, in both image and practical living
conditions, due to bad detailing, design and quality, often in combination
with poor maintenance and increasingly polarised social groupings. The
originally utopian estates became the least desirable places to live in
the UK. In the midst of all the negative images, was a change of
procurement method, following a change of government. New emphasis on
private forms of housing management, promotion of house building,
developing and property ownership, led to a poorer perception of lower
income populations living in rented council estates, especially high-rise
types. It is often difficult to obtain a mortgage and exercise a ‘right to
buy’ in the council estates.
The decline of tower blocks had many causes. Some of them are listed
below.
Design flaws
While the design flaws were most obvious in the system-built blocks such
as Ronan Point, there were also other defects such as
• Inadequate heating systems
• Unreliable lifts
• Poor ventilation leading to condensation and mould
• Inadequate acoustic insulation
• Inappropriate use of materials, i.e. asbestos
• Lack of community facilities
• Poor design making cleaning and maintenance difficult
Poor management
These problems with design and construction developed over many years, and
as quality declined service problems became more apparent. Some of the
most obvious problems were:
• Inadequate cleaning of public spaces
• Failure to undertake repairs adequately or rapidly
• Inadequate security systems leading to crime and anti-social behaviour
• Inadequate maintenance of surroundings and common spaces
• Insufficient assessment of new tenants and letting policies
These problems combined to create unpopular and often unsafe living
environments, which led to blocks being seen as ‘housing of the last
resort’ and as symbols of urban decay and alienation. Long-term residents
who had been delighted with their ‘homes in the sky’ when they moved into
new blocks found themselves fighting to try and force their local
authorities to maintain a semblance of order.
The National Tower Blocks Network , active in the late 1980s and early
1990s, spent much of its efforts in campaigning to have blocks demolished.
They were often successful. Some authorities took this on actively. In
Hackney ‘blow-downs’ (where blocks were literally blown up in controlled
explosions) drew big crowds in the 1990s.
But in the late 1990s a new spirit emerged. Inspired by those blocks where
residents had taken some degree of control (see Apple Tree Court in
Salford, page xx) more demanded refurbishment rather than demolition. The
Sustainable Tower Blocks Initiative published its first report in early
2000 and found plenty of examples, albeit often isolated, of emerging good
practice.
A similar revival of interest was taking place among housing managers and
professional groups. Similar driving mechanisms as the post-war era could
be in place now to mark a positive context for the construction of new
towers, and the revitalisation of the existing ones. Urban densities are
at such high levels, that private developers now consider high rise blocks
as acceptable social forms, and saleable to their target markets. Notable
recent examples of tower block refurbishment include the Denys Lasdun
designed cluster tower in Claredale Street, Bethnal Green, London which
was recently refurbished for private sale by Munchenbeck and Marshall
Architects. A block considered uninhabitable, left entirely empty now has
flats and maisonettes that sell at premium rates.
Transfer of stock
At the moment, local authorities own most of the tower blocks in the UK.
Recent stock transfer agreements mean that a number are now owned or
managed by housing associations, and this is likely to increase in the
next few years. Many high-rise residents pay rent to their local authority
or housing association. The majority of tower blocks in the UK cater to
social housing needs and this creates the social stigma that they are not
appropriate for the upwardly mobile. The example of the Denys Lasdun tower
in Bethnal Green emphasises this point. From a sustainable perspective, a
mixture of tenure seems to be a positive approach to this problem.
| introduction
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drivers for high rise living |
reasons for decline |
Bibliography
This article relies on the following work:
GLENDENNING, Miles and MUTHESIUS, Stefan (1994) Tower Block: Modern Public
Housing in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, Yale University
Press, US
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