Robin Hood Gardens, go see it now

I have so much to say about Robin Hood Gardens, I'm not sure where to start.

The estate was designed in the 1960s by Alison and Peter Smithson and building work completed in 1972. It's a design very much of the era - incorporating the then much lauded 'streets in the sky' concept, with wide landings where people living on higher floors could socialise as if on their doorsteps on the ground.

These 'streets' are located on every third floor...

                                 Picture courtesy of Tower Hamlets local history library
The estate sits just to the south of the Balfron Tower on the eastern end of Poplar near the Blackwall DLR station.

There are two main blocks, both with a long, linear shape, built from pre-cast concrete and home to 213 flats. The lower block is seven storeys high, the taller ten.

                                 Picture courtesy of Tower Hamlets local history library
The entrances are imposing, almost dwarfing the people entering.

Between the two buildings is a landscaped grassy area, built using the rubble of of the construction spoil.  At the moment the area seems sadly underused - one of many problems that could be fixed by some slight intervention from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

But that won't be a problem for much longer, because following many years of campaigning from residents at the estate and the architectural community the demolition of these two buildings and the reshaping of the land here is certain to go ahead.

For some reason the council thinks that these buildings - known for well-proprtioned rooms and a lot of happy residents - are not worth investing maintenance money in, and has long been pushing for the demolition and remodelling of the area as part of the wider Blackwall Reach regeneration project.

In 2008 the architecture newspaper Building Design launched a campaign to have the buildings listed - gaining support from industry heavyweights such as Zaha Hadid, Norman Foster, Dan Cruickshank and Lord Rogers, as well as the philosopher Alain de Botton and the New York Times.

English Heritage, a government quango, opposed the listing of the building despite a recommendation from its own advisers that it should be listed. Eventually the then architecture minister Margaret Hodge (famously, not a fan of brutalist architecture) ruled that Robin Hood Gardens wouldn't be listed.

Following an appeal the government upheld its decision and even granted it immunity from listing.

A sad day.

(see an excellent timeline of events, as published in Building Design, here)

I spoke to one of the residents here at length. He has been living on the estate for more than 15 years and said the councils' claims that the majority of residents want the buildings torn down are based on a survey of a very small section of the community.

He has carried out his own survey, of every resident, and has found above 80% support for its remodelling.

Nonetheless, the council is pushing ahead with its plans. Two teams have now been shortlisted to redevelop the estate. Neither proposal includes a reworking of the existing buildings.

Unlike Park Hill in Sheffield, another example of a typical 1960s brutalist estate (that had the luck to be listed), where the developer Urban Splash has worked hard to make a revamp work.

     Images courtesy of Urban Splash

At Robin Hood Gardens demolition will start next year.

I urge you to go see the estate before it disappears.