Imagine a tower block transformed: top floors, with views across the city, command high prices (which help fund improvements) and are much sought after by young professionals. Themiddle floors contain high quality sheltered housing; below them there are three floors where flats have been turned into live/work spaces.
The first floor is a hive of activity, with a busy social space, the offices of the neighbourhood management and maintenance team, whose high-quality services are now being hired by other local housing bodies, and the base for the state-of-the-art information and communications technology network, that connects every household to a range of internet services and television, but also provides active health and security monitoring for older people, on-line shopping and food delivery, high-tech services for the live / work spaces, and immediate access to security and maintenance.
On the ground floor the concierge’s area provides secure access to the floors above, and links to the CHP scheme which (thanks to improving energy efficiency) is now selling its surplus power back to the grid. But part of the floor is open access, with its attractive shop, and brightly lit, well-sheltered space that provides a pleasant place to wait for the regular bus (there’s talk of a light rail or tram system coming in to the area) and easy access to the covered parking for the visits of the mobile library and the weekly healthy living clinic bus.
Outside space is limited, but the garden area is well tended and very popular, and there is a waiting list for the small but intensive allotment plots. The block itself provokes comments (but has won awards): the murals and sculpture around the entrance have turned the original straight lines into a graceful entrance arch that links the building to its surroundings: above that the Gaudi-influenced curves of the new cladding combine high quality insulation with an attractive colour scheme that runs up the building and integrates with the photo-voltaic panels on the south and west faces that help keep the fuel bills down. The rainwater collection systems support the ‘grey water’ system that helps save water and further keep the bills low. And all just five minutes from the city centre.
Imagine…