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After WWII Britain needed to replace the houses bombed by the Germans and some of the very old terraced blocks that dated from Victorian times and, in many cases, did not have running water or inside toilets. In order to make the best use of space, architects and planners decided to build upwards with so-called tower blocks. The very first such block was built in Harlow in Essex in 1951. Planners believed that by surrounding these tower blocks with green spaces and by promoting the great views which could be had, people would enjoy their new living environment.
At first that was probably true but many people had got used to having their own little private garden, either to relax in during summer or to grow flowers and vegetables. In tower blocks, parents couldn't let children out to play and supervise them and often the open spaces were not well looked after.
On 16 May 1968 a 22-storey tower block in Newham, East London, spectacularly collapsed only 2 months after it was opened. Amazingly, if you look at the picture, only 4 people were killed and 17 injured. A gas explosion destroyed some walls and one complete corner of the block collapsed. The way it happened and the news coverage that followed put many people off high-rise buildings and soon new homes were being built on housing estates. It was obvious that something was wrong with the building regulations which allowed the collapse to happen and major changes were made to ensure it wouldn't happen again.
There are, however, still many tower blocks in the UK and, as you probably know, disasters still happen. The Grenfell Tower fire that happened on 14 June 2017 was the latest, and let's hope the last, disaster involving a high-rise residential building. This time around 80 people died and 70 were injured. The building had 129 flats.
Guess what, there is now a review of building regulations as, it is believed, the fire spread so quickly because of the material used to cover the outside of the building. This had been put on a short time earlier to improve the look of the tower and is, so it seems, in common use around the UK. Wouldn't it be lovely if the people who set these regulations down could test things first. Certainly many of the tower blocks built in the 1950s and 1960s were done so too quickly and the building work was not of the highest standard. People who lived in those blocks frequently complained of leaking ceilings and mouldy walls and lifts that often broke down.
Forward to 1969AD
