British Tower Blocks

[Butterfield]

Welcome Sehenswert and thanks for the photos.

I once went and took some photos of the Druids Heath blocks but it's difficult to get them all into one picture. There's some distant shots of them somewhere in the depths of the West Midlands Tower Blocks thread!

[Sehenswert]

Originally Posted by Butterfield

Welcome Sehenswert and thanks for the photos.

I once went and took some photos of the Druids Heath blocks but it's difficult to get them all into one picture. There's some distant shots of them somewhere in the depths of the West Midlands Tower Blocks thread!

Thanks Butterfield. I must say your enthusiasm and good humour definitely inspired me to get invloved. Looking forward to sifting throught the Midlands threads and hope to get some more photos soon (especially interested in certain blocks I've noticed in Birmingham which have bright blue lights at the top of them which come on at night). Keep up the good work.

[Butterfield]

Thank you.

I've seen and discussed just about every tower block in the West Midlands area on that thread - so much so that I have very little to say about them these days.

I still check both that thread and this one whenever people post in them though and as ever any new contributions are always welcome!

[fatweegee]

Some facinating Red Road stuff, first block due down in next two weeks............

http://www.redroadflats.org.uk/?page_id=2741

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzIVkbN00B8

[Stefan88]

It's nice to see this thread busy again. It's been a while. Welcome Sehenswert

[fatweegee]

First of Red Road came down today - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...-west-18385434

[Paperyostrich]

I'll have to admit I'm in love with tower blocks, sadly living in a small I only get a very rare chance to see tower blocks, and here in Salisbury due to the height restrictions the tallest flats (you can't call them tower blocks) are only about 4-5 floors high. and their the taller ones! most are about 2-3 floors, especially the few where I live.

[Butterfield]

**

[Kolothos]

Originally Posted by Paperyostrich

I'll have to admit I'm in love with tower blocks, sadly living in a small I only get a very rare chance to see tower blocks, and here in Salisbury due to the height restrictions the tallest flats (you can't call them tower blocks) are only about 4-5 floors high. and their the taller ones! most are about 2-3 floors, especially the few where I live.

Odd that. Living in Glasgow, I live among huge tower blocks, I've had relatives that have lived in them, and some of my earliest memories are from my great grannies flat on the 22nd floor of a block in the Gorbals.

And yet I can't wait to see the things go down. They're demolishing the blocks around where I live just now. In the 1970's, Glasgow went about destroying high density tenement flat areas and replacing them with tower blocks and 'shopping precincts'. The idea was some kind of futuristic utopia where less people would have more space in which to live in. These two links are to a promotional video made in the early 70's to describe what was happening to Glasgow. Four decades later, we realise that this was a very bad idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2oQzt_ZG2g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MioxC...feature=relmfu

Some historic areas of the city were cleared out and destroyed. And thanks to that we now have massive gaping holes right next to the city centre and run down tower block schemes that have went neglected for too long, also right next to the city centre.

[SE9]

Thamesmead in south-east London.

Tavy Bridge



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AA005 by i-like-concrete, on Flickr

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AA045 by i-like-concrete, on Flickr

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AA049 by i-like-concrete, on Flickr

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AA052 by i-like-concrete, on Flickr

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AA039 by i-like-concrete, on Flickr

[SE9]

Brixton in south London.

Loughborough Estate

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Loughborough estate by Doilum, on Flickr

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Day 21: Council Flats, Camberwell Green, London by jozerC, on Flickr


Loughborough Road Estate by French Disko, on Flickr


Loughborough Road Estate by French Disko, on Flickr

[SE9]

Camberwell in south London.

Wyndham Estate

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Wyndham and Comber estate: Camberwell by james_rawimages, on Flickr

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Wyndham and Comber Grove Estate by pixelhut, on Flickr

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Wyndham Estate by sarflondondunc, on Flickr

[SE9]

Walworth in south London.

Brandon Estate

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View from Kennington Park Toward the Brandon Estate by Andrew Moreton, on Flickr

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2012-03-25 12.51.12 by sevaphillips, on Flickr

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Brandon Estate - Kennington by sarflondondunc, on Flickr

[lneylon]

Originally Posted by SE9

Brixton in south London.

Loughborough Estate

Always loved those. Closest we've got to Unite d'Habitation in this country IMO. Look well maintained as well.

[lneylon]

Can't remember if I'd mentioned this before, but finally got a copy of this on DVD http://www.utopialondon.com/. Next time the missis goes out I'll get round to watching it, but it looks great:

[citybus]

Just goes to show you that a significant portion of London tall blocks were designed by architects. Everywhere else made do with much cheaper buildings that came out of a pattern book. London was one of the few places where flats can be found in decent inner city areas. Red Road was very ambitious but it was built in what looks like a desert/ the world's largest crap golf course. Over a thousand dwellings in an acre yet there seems to be just one tiny shop.

[i_like_concrete]

Welshpool House in Hackney, London. Nextdoor to Broadway Market and London Fields.

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[lneylon]

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[Tubeman]

Awesome!!! Looks like the Tricorn Centre getting raped by a tower block

[Tubeman]

Originally Posted by lneylon

Always loved those. Closest we've got to Unite d'Habitation in this country IMO. Look well maintained as well.

I've said it many times before, but painting the concrete white makes a huge difference.

I'd love to see the Barbican Centre painted white, for example