The Tower Block
Having dealt in the previous module with the question of density, it would be logical to discuss the role that high-rise development has played in the UK.
Whether attributed to myth or tradition, it is an unavoidable factor in current housing policy that the English (Scots have a different tradition relating to higher densities and more stories – with Glasgow having the greatest number of towers than any other British city) are attracted to the prospect of living in a house with a garden. This vision often extends to a cottage with a front and rear garden. And few would pass up the opportunity but few can afford, to live in a Georgian terrace, a form of housing which, apparently, shares the highest rate of approval and prices. In this context, the enthusiasm for building high-rise developments in the late 50s and 60s could be seen as an experiment doomed to fail except as it applied to council tenants with very limited choice.
As the Country emerged from the Second World War there was clearly a need for a substantial number of homes. This coincided with the emergence of a new breed of confident architects, new(ish) ways of building multiple storeys, and a significant amount of damage to inner cities caused by German bombing. There was a legacy of unfit housing that had survived the War. In this context, most of the rebuilding of British cities took the form of tower blocks many of more than 20 storeys high. There were three forms of construction; the building of a steel frame, the pouring of reinforced concrete in situ and, and most popular at that time, large preformed panels held together by gravity. The latter was seen as a way of mass produced housing using factory labour and production lines into the building process.
Any discussion of high-rise development in this country soon turns to the incident at Ronan Point, a 22 story tower built in 1964 that, 4 years later, suffered a partial collapse when a gas explosion on the 18th floor caused all the panels on one corner of the building to fail and fall apart. The 4 deaths did not include the resident who caused the explosion in lighting her gas fire. The image of collapsing towers has been imprinted on the English psyche and the reputation of tower blocks is only now starting to recover.
High-rise development was not an inevitable consequence of slum clearance and replacement with peripheral states. This trend has already started and, before the War, was based on low rise models. However, the social dislocation that was already being experienced (see Jevons R & Madge J 1946 Housing Estates: a Study of Bristol Corporation Policy and Practice Between the WarsUniversity of Bristol) and the alien form of high rise housing that was now being made available fed into and exacerbated these trends.
In terms of density, although the towers needed a substantial area on the ground for separation and landscaping, high-rise represented a more efficient way of accommodating people in urban areas. Hundreds rather than tens of people could be accommodated on an acre of land. The estate in which Ronan Point was located was finally cleared by 1986 and the thousand flats were replaced withless than 100 two-storey houses. It must be added that the accommodation of popular car ownership and use became a much more pressing matter since high-rise building stopped in the 1970s although the ‘answers’ in low rise development have been no more successful. In the case of tower blocks the cars have taken over from landscaping that had already started to fail due to difficulties of care and maintenance. The other maintenance problem had been the lifts which needed to be 100% reliable for access above the third floor.
The discussions now taking place about how to construct over 200,000 dwellings per year have, inevitably, brought the prospect of high-rise developments back into the picture. In fact, there have already been a number of isolated examples in some of the major cities. It will be interesting to see how the lobbyists for ‘garden cities’ view the prospect of tower blocks.
Although the picture of Ronan Point missing one of its corners was compelling, the problem with high-rise developments was more to do with the failure of managing the tenants. A large majority of tower blocks had been constructed by or for councils and residents had moved from terraces which, at least before the war, had enabled a level of social interaction if not engendering community spirit. This was no longer possible with a small number of flats sharing a floor. With designs incorporating “streets in the sky" (a concept attributed to Le Corbusier) these corridors often had ‘hiding places’ and lacked the casual surveillance that had been possible in the streets that they replaced. However, the prime example of this form of development at Parkhill in Sheffield, following selective demolition, has been refurbished, reoccupied, and listed as a building of special architectural or historical interest. Meanwhile, the Aylesbury and Heygate Estates in London built on similar models are being demolished, but as much for their reputation for antisocial behaviour as for their physical condition. Trellick Tower is another example of a listed building which, despite substantial difficulties in maintenance (not helped by the tenure being divided between council tenants and owner occupiers), has become a desirable place to live. The ex-Council flats in West London can now change hands for £500,000.
On the question of height, in continental cities higher rents and prices are charged for the higher floors. Even in England, penthouses command ‘top dollar’ and there have been some imaginative schemes where these have been retro-fitted to existing high-rise developments. The development of the “entry phone" came too late to save many high-rise developments. Although the technology might not amount to full security, when associated with CCTV that has also become ubiquitous, the tower block has become a more attractive proposition. This is particularly the case now that privacy rather than communality and neighbourly interaction has become the norm if not the goal in housing generally.
This is only a brief note on high rise to complement the discussion on density. Notwithstanding steel frame construction, entry phones and CCTV, and less vulnerability to flooding, there are cultural reasons (including unhappy memories of the post War experiments) why this is likely to remain a minority of new house provision in this country, even as it maintains its popularity elsewhere.
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