towards sustainable tower blocks - making it happen

Tower blocks can be successes as well as disasters. Many residents like high-rise living, and are already taking big steps towards making their blocks better places to live. They need support. It isn't fashionable to argue for making tower blocks work. But it has never been more necessary.
The Sustainable Tower Blocks Initiative has brought together residents and professionals to examine the problems and the potential of high-rise living. From the residents' point of view, many of the problems they experience on a day-to-day basis arise either from basic physical inadequacies, or else difficulties in the relationships between themselves, landlords and contractors.

The STBI report sets out the problems afflicting tower blocks, and also explores their advantages
and potential. It identifies the processes that could transform tower blocks and sets out some key recommendations.

• Tower blocks (of satisfactory construction methods) in inner city areas with
  adequate housing demand should not be demolished without a detailed option appraisal - an assessment of all the alternatives. The government should issue guidance accordingly.
• Government action is also needed to carry out a reform of the funding regime. Without this essential step there is no chance of turning round the nation's high-rise stock. Under current funding arrangements refurbishment can cost up to £5 million or more, while demolition may cost only a tenth as much.
• The prospects for tower blocks differ substantially depending on where they are in the country. The national picture of pressure on land and a need for greater numbers of homes does not ring true in every area. It is important that the development of policies and solutions for the future of tower blocks be tuned to the different needs of different areas.

Next steps - how to make it happen

Recognition of the value of tower blocks is long overdue. They have a major contribution to make to the regeneration of our cities. We must stop treating them as 'throw-away housing' and invest in their future. After years of inadequate funding of repairs and housing management services, much housing stock, both high- and low-rise, is today in need of major refurbishment.
A great deal needs to happen if a tower block is to be turned around. The key ingredients in the process are as follows.

• Suitable funding systems
• An appropriate lettings policy and a stable population
• Effective security systems
• Good quality, appealing social space inside and outside the block
• Effective community involvement and democracy
• Services which are at least adequate in the eyes of residents
• Changing the image and sharing good practice.

Policy-makers and practitioners should revise their attitudes towards tower blocks. High-rise housing must be seen as a key target for strategies on social inclusion, neighbourhood renewal, housing, best value, the modernisation of local government, and democracy and active citizenship.

Central government must ensure that, with so many policy initiatives in play, it delivers a truly joined up approach.

Policies and programmes must be designed around four key objectives:

• long-term community development,
  
• the provision of good quality services,
  
• physical improvements to the stock, and
  
• attention to the underlying structural problems of the wider neighbourhood.
  

The next steps:

Central government

The government should take the critical step of reforming the funding regime. This must introduce incentives to pursue sustainability. It should also introduce a requirement for a full assessment of the alternative options before any tower block can be demolished.

The government's focus on 'active communities' is welcome. At ground level this requires support for the development of effective and accountable residents' networks and tenant management organisations. Central government must put in place the policy and funding framework to give solid, long-term support to this work.

Local authorities and other landlords

Local authorities are being asked to take on a more strategic role in addressing local housing needs. It is vital that they understand and harness the contributions that tower blocks can make.
Landlords who are carrying out demolitions should think again. They should pull back from unnecessary demolitions and prioritise alternative solutions. It is not realistic to imagine that all blocks with problems can be demolished in the near future.

A higher priority must be given to community development and tenant participation, as central ingredients in building sustainable, active communities. People need to be more closely involved in deciding whether a high-rise flat would suit them, and existing residents who have been housed inappropriately need to be given the chance to move elsewhere.

In terms of housing management, landlords must pursue strategies to increase accountability and support tenants to take more control and responsibility, particularly within the development of neighbourhood-level management schemes.

Regeneration agencies

Many tower blocks fall within area-based regeneration initiatives. Good partnerships between agencies and the community are vital from the beginning of the regeneration process. No tower block is an island, and problems will need to be tackled in conjunction with action to strengthen the local economy, to improve health, and to redevelop local facilities. Just like local authorities, agencies should be looking beyond physical improvements to emphasise community development and more responsive services.

Tenants groups

Some degree of tenant management is a common factor in most good tower blocks. The STBI is encouraging tenants groups to come together to form a national tower block residents network. Its purpose would be to enable these communities to have a stronger voice in discussions.