Our local Tesco Express store is located on England’s Lane. Until the 19th Century the only buildings in the area were located on this road - two simple farm cottages. They're still intact today and can be found just across the road from Tesco. These cottages stand in stark contrast to five modern tower blocks nearby. Collectively known as Charlots estate, they were built over five years (1965 to 1970) on land lain derelict since the end of the Second World War.
Each tower was named after a village near the town of Eton; Blashford, Dorney, Bray, Burnham, and Taplow. They contain 711 homes, of which about 20 per cent are owned by leaseholders. The remainder are public housing administered by the local council. The tallest tower is 23 storeys high, offering commanding views across London. They’re a prominent local feature; so much so that I use them as landmarks to locate our street, often on flights passing over central London.
Shortly after we arrived at Swiss Cottage, the council started refurbishing the towers. Every tower is being reclad and every flat refurbished. It’s a huge undertaking with each building progressively wrapped in scaffolding, while temporary construction lifts and plaforms are installed on the exterior. The entire project is part of a staggering £65 million, 15-year maintenance contract, largely funded by the central Government.
I learnt today that one tower on our street has 141 carparking spaces - almost one per unit. However, this number will fall to 83 spaces after refurbishment as only 38 were in active use when the council approved redevelopment. This isn’t surprising. The tube makes it so easy to get around London that many people never bother to own a car. We rarely use our car in the city. We've clocked up barely 5000 miles in it over the last two years. Garry’s parents were responsible for much of this mileage when they used the car to tour much of Britain last year.
Last October, Blashford was the first tower to complete its make-over. As a result, work on the towers closest to us is now well underway. I’m fascinated by the progress. Every morning on my way to the tube station, I’m mesmerized by workers erecting scaffolding, or riding work platforms up the side of the building. I’ll be watching for a while. Work on the last tower isn’t scheduled to be completed until January 2010.
This isn’t the only major construction project undeway. At the end of our street, opposite the new Fitness Centre, hoarding has gone up around a former retail complex. The council has approved a £7.5 million development of 76 residential units, including 25 affordable homes, and retail outlets on the ground floor. We’re living in a construction zone!
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1 comment:
Gentlemen, I'm encouraged and comforted by your noticing the renovations taking place upon the Chalcots estate, changes which have been hotly and libidinously contested by the cruelly aesthetic Twentieth Century Society yet, strangely not, in similar ways, by the residents themselves.
My own sojourn here began only in December when a friend offered me a place to stay, whose view echoed the vista of London from Harrow-on-the-Hill which my father showed me first in 1967.
There is joy to be found, living in these flats. Here upon the twenty-first floor, facing south, the generous proportions of the rooms and skirting-boards are to be savoured especially in the impressive size of the main picture window in the lounge area. To think that, while taking tea and sausages with my flat-mate, I may sit back and gaze at the building containing the 'Mother of all Parliaments' only a couple of miles away does wonders for my ego in the face of friends from less-blessed European countries (such as Belgium, which may not be a country for much longer anyway). One may even rent a window to the BBC for near-aerial coverage of the New Year's fireworks, or lease a chair to Qinetiq to test military-strength lasers upon the stonework of the Palace of Westminster.
The improvement work itself comes with advantages for the adventurous. Were one to begin morning relations disregarding the warning buzzer of the external hoists, one is (or, rather two or more are) likely to find one's self participating in an outrage of public decency. Cameras are carried for this purpose. The occasional cuts in the water supply, hilariously timed to co-incide with pre-work ablutions (for the working class, that is), provoke excellence in water conservation and self-discipline. They also expose the stereotypical ignorance of Camden's authorities in discovering where the devolution of responsibility has placed the execution of maintenance in this Private Finance Initiative. Still, we shall soon have a new boiler, and the lavatory seat is round and worshipful, definitely not optional. And London's finest radio stations occasionally broadcast from the roof, while their funding activities take place below. Our rabbit once ate the leftovers and thought she could fly. Thank you for including our humble home in your blog.
yours sincerely,
Quintus Beauchamp.
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