Tower Blocks UK: Birmingham City Nechells Green redevelopment area, u4 and u13/17, m13-19.jpg

Abstract

Multi-storey block details: 4: three 16-storey blocks containing 270 dwellings; 13/17: one 7-storey block containing 51 dwellings; four 6-storey blocks containing 162 dwellings; one 12-storey block containing 71 dwellings; Multi-storey block name(s): 4: Thames Tower; Severn Tower; Medway Tower; 13/17: Southdown House; Newlands House; Malvern House; Greenbank House; Ash Tree House; Elm Tree Tower; Image detail: View of 6-storey blocks on Bradburne Way and Elm Tree Tower with 16-storey Cromwell Street blocks in background Original Commissioning Authority: Birmingham County Borough Council; Image taken: 1981;Context: Tower Block UK is a project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, bringing together public engagement and an openly-licensed image archive in an attempt to emphasise the social and architectural importance of tower blocks, and to frame multi-storey social housing as a coherent and accessible nationwide heritage. The Tower Block UK image archive is a searchable database of around 4,000 images of every multi-storey social housing development built in the UK. The photographs were largely taken in the 1980s by Miles Glendinning and are made available here for public use. As many of the blocks documented and photographed have since been demolished, the archive functions in part as a repository of information on an important aspect of UK heritage that is now vanishing. The archive itself catalogues multi-storey blocks as part of the developments within which they were initially commissioned and built. It gives details of notable dates, such as when local authorities approved the developments and when construction began or finished. Alongside this, the archive provides information on the local authorities, architects, and other agents involved in the processes of commissioning, designing, and constructing mass social housing. While the most historically 'accurate' identification labels in the database are the original overall development or project names, the archive also contains details of the individual blocks built.