British Tower Blocks

[Erebus555]

Ok, the whole thing is buggered. I'll blank the post.

[lneylon]

Originally Posted by Erebus555

Jesus, there's some monsters in Doncaster!

Yeah, I'd seen them from the train years ago, but this was the first chance to get some snaps. Should have taken my camera, but it was all last minute.

I'll see if I can find some photos taken by someone who isn't either driving whilst taking the photo, or trying not to get mugged whilst waving mobile phone in the air.

According to my "bible" there are another cluster somewhere in Doncaster, but life is too short to be driving round searching.

[belfastbap]

Sorry for the super late reply. In response to the Divis, Belfast question, yes, the mid rise area of the estate was demolished in the early 90s. It was universaly hated by it's inhabitance and had become a breeding ground for crime and an 80% unemployment rate. The 20 storey Divis Tower remains today. Untill a few years ago the top two floors of the tower were used by the British Army as a base and watch tower. In 1981 a man was killed by a sniper who was stationed in the tower.

Here are some pics of North and South Belfast blocks.

Welcome to Mount Vernon, North Belfast.
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Rathcool Estate, North Belfast.
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Finaghy, South Belfast.
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Dunmurry, South Belfast.
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Belvior Estate, South Belfast.
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Seymour Hill, South Belfast.
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[Butterfield]

Wow!

Thanks for those! We've seen hints of Belfast tower blocks on here before but nothing on that scale.

[Stefan88]

Nice pictures. I really like the allignment of the Rathcool Estate.
How many blocks does Belfast have does anyone know?

[lneylon]

Marvellous pics of Belfast. Sectarian Murals, abandoned shopping trolleys, urchins playing on burnt wasteland.

The tower block stats as of 1991 with the index on how to read them (this will tell you the number of blocks in 1991):

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[Erebus555]

What is this bible then!? It looks quite valuable to us tower block-ers.

[lneylon]

I did post stuff about this book on the old thread (see the bottom of http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...08485&page=104)

Appendix 1 of this book has a complete list of all high-rise stuff built 1945-1989. I created a page with all of Scotland's info to keep Schemie busy and I believe he's put all the info for Scotland on the wiki.

I keep meaning to get the time to photo the whole of Appendix 1, but I might just wait for Borras to get his copy as he's got a scanner.

[Mr. B]

Thieves, Belfast Stealing the name of our area in Glasgow, Mount Vernon. They even copied us by building Tower Blocks.





Of Course I am just kidding.

[up the tigers]

Originally Posted by lneylon

According to my "bible" there are another cluster somewhere in Doncaster, but life is too short to be driving round searching.

Yeah there are some more but they're not quite as accessible as the other ones. They are right in the middle of an estate towards the east. Theres only three though and two of them look quite small.

[Erebus555]

Originally Posted by lneylon

I did post stuff about this book on the old thread (see the bottom of http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...08485&page=104)

Appendix 1 of this book has a complete list of all high-rise stuff built 1945-1989. I created a page with all of Scotland's info to keep Schemie busy and I believe he's put all the info for Scotland on the wiki.

I keep meaning to get the time to photo the whole of Appendix 1, but I might just wait for Borras to get his copy as he's got a scanner.

We're on different page formats. A new page starts after 25 posts on my computer so the old thread only reached 89 pages whilst you have directed me to page 104. I'll mooch around for it anyway!

[lneylon]

Originally Posted by up the tigers

Yeah there are some more but they're not quite as accessible as the other ones. They are right in the middle of an estate towards the east. Theres only three though and two of them look quite small.

They are on Lothian Rd, Intake in Doncaster and there is 1x13 storey and 2x9 storeys.

image hosted on flickr

[Stefan88]

Looks abit like a ghost town. I can't see one pedestrian anywhere in that photo. Does anyone go outside in the day in Doncaster?

[belfastbap]

Thanks, I took them the other day. I am going to get to work on the rest of Belfast's blocks soon.
On my last count Belfast had 32 blocks ranging from 10 to 20 floors. Bar medium rise estates, hardly any have been knocked down since they were built.

[up the tigers]

Just discovered the 'bible' in the Hull uni library. I'm off to get it tomorrow

[Erebus555]

CAN SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT THIS BIBLE IS!!?!???!

[up the tigers]

Its our name for this book just about tower blocks, where you will find them and lots of other stuff. Apparently there are not many out there.

[lneylon]

Originally Posted by Erebus555

CAN SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT THIS BIBLE IS!!?!???!

Sorry Erebus, thought most people caught the stuff on the old thread about this. It was Schemie who christened it "the bible".

The book is:

Tower Block: Modern Public Housing in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies) (Hardcover)
by Stefan Muthesius (Author), Miles Glendinning (Author)

"Synopsis
After World War II, the most urgent reconstruction problem in these islands was in the field of public housing, and the opportunity presented itself to create innovative buildings and to finally abolish slums. Everyone, including the slum-dwellers, united behind the plan to build new dwellings as quickly as possible. In this book Miles Glendinning and Stefan Muthesius tell the story of a great adventure of building and explain the architectural and political ideas that lay behind it.

The authors tell how high-rise blocks - buildings in a modernist design that promised to address scientific and social needs with unprecedented precision - were constructed in almost every urban area. They explain that architects and planners working for a few "progressive" local authorities were the first to create the new housing patterns, and that powerful local politicians determined to "give the people homes" later encouraged widespread large-scale implementation of these patterns.

The authors discuss where the buildings were built and why they looked as they did, describing various designs, construction methods, and community layouts through the 1950s and 1960s. Numerous illustrations and plans complement the text. This book - with its interweaving of architecture and politics, theory and practice, and local and national issues - will interest not only architects and historians of the postwar era but also readers interested in the growth of the Welfare State.

The book includes a gazetteer of significant housing developments in Britain that is arranged by regions. "

I posted some pics and some of the Appendix on:

http://pedals.**********/blocks/index.htm

http://pedals.**********/blocks/appendix1.htm

[l'effroyable]

Originally Posted by lneylon

Balby Bridge (17 storey):

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At least there's 1 survivor of "the width of two blocks stuck together" design that was used up the hills in Sheffield for the Claywood & Norfolk Park estates, all demolished now... (if I'm right)

[Stefan88]

Wow the author is called Stefan and he's a fan of tower blocks
My name is Stefan and Im a fan. How ironic.
Maybe I should do something else at uni