星空传媒

Ecohomes in the sky

Brompton House, which overlooks Liverpool鈥檚 Sefton Park, became the first high-rise refurbishment to be awarded a 鈥減ass鈥� EcoHomes rating in June 2002, following a 拢3m refit. The block also received eight out of 10 in a National Home Energy Rating, which assesses how much heat is needed to keep a building warm and how much carbon dioxide it produces. Securing the EcoHomes standard, awarded by research body BRE, is challenging enough for new-build schemes, but making this 1960s tower block environment-friendly required even more ingenuity. Liverpool Housing Action Trust took on 67 towers in the area in 1993, but Brompton House is one of only 12 that will be left standing. Richard Tomkinson, the trust鈥檚 senior development programme manager, says: 鈥淭here were considerable social and physical problems in some of the blocks, but this wasn鈥檛 the case in Sefton Park. There鈥檚 a fairly elderly tenant population and we wanted to keep the community together.鈥� There is also little extra land for building near the park, and decontaminating brownfield sites in the city is, of course, expensive. So Liverpool Housing Action Trust decided to upgrade the five towers in Sefton Park, starting with Brompton House. The refit included injecting foam between the external and internal envelopes to secure and insulate the structure, installing double glazing and enclosing balconies and common landings. Bob Marais, block representative for Brompton House, says his fuel bills have dropped by a quarter since the refit. 鈥淚 haven鈥檛 had my heating on since March. In winter, you鈥檇 have it on for half an hour and the rooms would stay warm for four or five hours.鈥�

The garden centre

As caretaker of 16-storey Appletree Court in Salford, Greater Manchester, Betty Burton鈥檚 workroom looked out onto a wasteland of concrete and patchy grass. Now, she鈥檚 chair of the tenant management organisation, the grounds include a vegetable garden, wildlife garden, ponds, a lawn and a greenhouse 鈥� and that workroom is the kitchen of a cafe serving homegrown vegetables to residents and visitors. Since tenants took over the management of the block in 1996, empty flats have been replaced by a waiting list and enthusiastic tenant gardeners. There are even plans to start a business making garden ornaments, hanging baskets and window boxes. 鈥淢y dream was just to make this a beautiful place to live,鈥� says Burton. 鈥淏ut the younger people say, 鈥楴ow we鈥檝e got this, we can make money out of it鈥�.鈥� The tenant management organisation had to campaign for the right to use the land at the front of the tower, as it was earmarked by the council for new low-rise housing. After approaching what was then the Department of the Environment, tenants won the right to use two-fifths of it. Most of the initial funding 鈥� a 拢25,000 grant from the Department of the Environment 鈥� was spent replacing the poor soil. Now, though, the project has just been awarded a 拢10,000 grant from conservation charity BTCV to replace the decking in its Japanese garden. The cafe, staffed by New Deal workers, houses a National-Lottery-funded centre where residents can socialise or drop in for advice or training. In fact, Salford鈥檚 housing department uses the cafe as a venue for meetings. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very cheap,鈥� says Burton. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not out to rip people off, we just want the place to be used.鈥�

Sink estate rises again

A decade ago, the Holly Street estate in north London was synonymous with inner-city deprivation and poor housing management. But although the medium-rise 鈥渟nake blocks鈥� have been replaced with suburban-style family housing, Grange Court, the 20-storey tower block, is still standing tall with smart new cladding and enclosed balconies. It was saved partly to retain housing density and partly thanks to the fierce tenant loyalty. Hackney council spent 拢9.8m on the refurbishment, and the tenant management organisation has sorted out the security, maintenance and allocation problems that have earned tower blocks their poor reputation. Only people aged over 50 and their carers are housed there, there鈥檚 a 24-hour concierge and a new cleaning contractor has been brought in. 鈥淭he cleaning was very poor,鈥� says Ken Gilmour, chair of the tenant management organisation. 鈥淣ow the pavement outside is washed down and the windows sparkle.鈥� Unpopular narrow lifts have been converted to hotel-style versions with mirrors and a camera, and public areas have been carpeted; residents vacuum the corridor in between weekly visits by cleaners. There鈥檚 also a room on the ground floor where the block鈥檚 300 residents can watch television or chat, bolstering the sense of community. 鈥淭he idea is that nobody ever needs to feel lonely in this building,鈥� says Gilmour. He loves the view from his west-facing 16th-floor flat, which takes in the London Eye and the City. The spacious flats in the tower were another reason why Grange Court鈥檚 residents wanted to stay. 鈥淭ower blocks don鈥檛 need to be pulled down provided they鈥檙e given the right treatment and the right communities are living there,鈥� says Gilmour.