More information : The blocks were built by Longbenton Urban District Council. The Primary Address is a current street address located in the centre of the former site. New development is now extant. The Alternate name was the name given to the contract for the development. (1)
The Former Addresses of Alnwick Towers, Bamburgh Towers, Callaly Towers, Elsdon Towers, Dunstan Towers, Ford Towers, Glanton Towers, Kielder Towers and Hepburn Towers were the names given to the groups of up to three blocks. The groups contained blocks with varying numbers of storeys and were grouped to form irregular shaped courts with generous amounts of soft landscaping. The deck access blocks constituted the first phase of Contract B19 that would ultimately combine multi-storey blocks and low-rise housing to provide 1,528 dwellings. This equated to 154 bedspaces per acre, which was considered an essential basic planning concept of Killingworth Township. Details of tenders for the project can be found in "Killingworth Township Contract 19.- 1,562 Homes". (2)
Building began in Spring 1968. Altogether, there were: twelve six-storey blocks containing 252 dwellings in total; one seven-storey block containing 24 dwellings; two eight-storey blocks containing 64 dwellings in total; five nine-storey blocks containing 160 dwellings in total; seven ten-storey blocks containing 240 dwellings in total. By 1988 the only remaining blocks were Alnwick Towers, Bamburgh Towers and one block from Calally Towers, making seven blocks in total. The dates of demolition are unknown. (3)
A collector road known as the Bailey, looped around the designed environment with the intention of reinforcing the "castle town" concept by adding to a feeling of security. Housing access roads known as "garths" radiated from the "bailey". Killingworth Township as a whole was a much larger initiative that aimed to respond to local problems of housing and unemployment by providing for up to 20,000 people. The central "citadel" of Killingworth township, adjacent to the group of deck access blocks, contained the commercial and industrial interests of the township. The orignal intention in the design of Killingworth Township was to follow a flexible masterplan. As a rigid planning concept, the group of deck access blocks were criticised for sidelining this overall vision. F. J. Penn was the Project Archtiect. The area had previously been coalfields and subsequently classified as derelict. (4)
Parking was also provided for all residents in multi-storey car parks with additional off-street parking for visitors. Construction was of precast concrete panels both externally and internally. The flying decks were precast concrete units carried on square tubular steel frames. Roy Gazzard was the Director of Development. L. R. G. Preston was the Chief Architect. C. W. Dowse was the Group Architect in charge. B. Swinburne was the Assistant. F. White was the landscape architect. (5)
Additional source consulted. (6) |