What’s your opinion on the huge rate of 1960’s/70’s Tower block demolition scheme in The UK at the moment? Do you think we should be refurbishing the flats instead considering the current housing crisis, or do you think these flats were a failed social experiment and should all be demolished?
by BraveBoot7283
3 comments
Is there a huge rate of them being demolished? If there is it will be ones with large maintenance costs required in areas with little housing demand. End of the day these flats have worked where they were placed where there was consistent jobs and enough housing pressure that people didn’t take other options and failed where there wasn’t. No different to any other housing really, just on a bigger scale.
They weren’t a failed social experiment, but they were failed by poor management and maintenance. The first occupants appreciated them for generous spaces and facilities compared with what they came from. Subsequent generations saw them as a stepping stone to a house or low rise flat which was denied to them because of overwhelming demand for housing and later on, Thatcher’s Right to Buy. Add in the aforementioned ineffective management and poor maintenance and you have a recipe for universal hate of them. Should they be demolished? Yes, because after 50 or 60 years the structures will be suffering in some cases, services are past their sell by dates, and not least, post Grenfell they don’t meet what the occupants demand in the way of fire safety which is just not economic (They were safe, as built but that’s a whole other subject). We are looking at their replacements being low rise mixed market blocks crowded on the site which I don’t think will work in the long run either.
We should be building more.
Social housing should be all high-volume with the private sector left to push low-volume housing. Contrary to popular belief, a garden is a luxury.
Newer, modern apartments with basic WiFi built into the service fee and good facilities.
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