Finally, we come to the brutalist landmark concrete block in east London. Balfron Tower, is designed by Erno Goldfinger and opened in 1968. It built as a part of the Brownfield Estate, an area of council housing in Poplar, Tower Hamlets. This large-scale public housing (Grade II listed in 1996) was the first chance for the Hungarian-born architect to realize his idea about housing that had been in development for over 30 years. Goldfinger believed the ideas shown by Balfron could offer an alternative to the slum housing that was common throughout Britain in the 1960s.
This high-rise living consists of a residential block and a lift tower, connected by precast concrete bridges on every third floor. The bridges form a series of horizontal bands across the eastern façade and its concrete structural grid framing each residence. There are 146 homes, consisting of 136 flats and ten two-story maisonettes. From 27 stories in the tower, the maisonettes are located on the ground floor and the 15th floor, giving a break in its fenestration pattern. The lift tower also functions as a service area with laundry rooms and rubbish chutes, designed with a series of vertical slit windows.
Nevertheless, the social and environmental problems which afflicted most of council estates also infected Balfron from the late seventies. Older adults felt isolated, and parents complained of a lack of playing space. The building also suffered for reduced maintenance. After the abolition of the GLC, the London Borough of Tower Hamlets become the new caretaker of the tower, describing it as a disaster area.
Ownership was transferred to Poplar Harca, a housing association in 2006, with a plan of a major refurbishment. Residents were offered to keep their flats or move out and get new homes on the estate. In 2011, however, it was determined that all houses would have to be vacated. The tower as a whole was to be redeveloped for the luxury market, and all of the flats will be for sale into private ownership. Subsequently, artists were invited and moved in. Critics accused Poplar Harca of ‘art washing,’ a strategy using arts vibrancy to raise property prices. In the meantime, Tower Hamlets had 23,500 households on social housing waiting list, and about 1,500 were living in temporary accommodation.
Thank you for joining our tour of the London Council Housing. We had not only intended this tour of some of council housing’s progressive history and present necessity, but too often controversial regenerations schemes are shown as a counterpoint to the aspirations of previous generations. If you have completed this tour, we hope that you would see them not as monuments to a past era but as guides of what we could achieve in a radiant future.
