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Balfron Tower Planning Application BALFRON TOWER PLANNING APPLICATION Comments to Tower Hamlets Council on Planning Applications Nos. PA/15/02554 and PA/15/02555 relating to Balfron Tower, The Brownfield Estate, 7 St Leonard's Road, London E14 0QR JAMES DUNNETT, MA, Dip Arch, RIBA for DOCOMOMO-UK General Observations Balfron Tower was designed by Erno Goldfinger for the LCC/GLC as social housing and built in 1965-67 and it was listed Grade 2 in 1996. It, along with its ancillary buildings and the whole of Goldfinger's work on the Brownfield Estate in Poplar, were nominated for listing at Grade 2* by DOCOMOMO-UK in 2014 and we understand from Historic England that their recommendations are to be submitted very shortly to the Minister responsible. So in our opinion these applications should be considered on the assumption that the whole of Goldfinger's work on the Estate has been listed at grade 2*. Indeed the Brownfield Estate has to be seen as the most intact complex of Goldfinger buildings in existence, and thus of capital importance, though it was not in fact - as wrongly stated in the applicant's Heritage Significance Report para.1.1 - 'Goldfinger's first public housing project'. The first was at Abbotts Langley in Hertfordshire eight years earlier, which has largely been demolished. Though it prefigured his work in Poplar in various ways, one of the useful aspects of the Heritage Significance Report is the demonstration in its Figs 2.17- 2.23 of how far Goldfinger was thinking 'from scratch' in the design of Balfron. Fundamental aspects of the design such as the wide spacing and plan form and fenestration of the service tower, are not present in the earliest sketches, and even the question of whether the access corridors should be central or lateral was undecided: the final result was the product of very hard development work apparently over two years from late 1962-64. It was all carefully considered and none of it was a foregone conclusion. DOCOMOMO-UK believes that the refurbishment of Balfron follow more closely the lines of the recent refurbishment carried out to Goldfinger's Carradale House adjacent, which from an architectural conservation point of view is far preferable as a model - though certainly not perfect - to what is now proposed for Balfron. In Carradale the flat plans have been lightly modified rather than ripped out altogether and the windows have been renewed in white- painted timber, with the cladding adjacent renewed as timber boarding. There exists a market for those who would be willing to buy into a block of such fame who would recognize that they will have a somewhat different product to what is generally on offer from the commercial market, and would be ready to appreciate aspects of its design that the present proposals will obliterate. 'Mid-century Modern' is now a fashionable sought-after category in architecture and design, whereas what we are being offered is 'Noughties post-Modern'. Certainly there are original features of Balfron which the present proposals aim to re-instate, and that is very welcome. But, as will be explained, even in these cases the accuracy aimed for in the reinstatement does not seem to be as complete as it should be. The impact of the proposed changes to Balfron will be discussed under individual subject headings. 2 Windows The proposed complete replacement of the windows and the external cladding alongside them will be the most striking change in the appearance of Balfron. The original windows to the flats were all timber, white painted, and all survive except on the east and south elevations where they were replaced about twenty years ago in white UPVC as near possible to the original design, when funds became available from the Ministry of Transport for renewal following the widening of the Blackwall Tunnel approach road. The solid panels alongside the windows are stained vertical timber boarding on the west front, facing the balconies from which the stain can easily be renewed, and a neutral grey vitreous enamel (or similar) panel on the less-accessible east elevation. The bedrooms generally face east or south and the windows are of a particular design which he did not repeat elsewhere - presumably in response to the visual and aural 'traffic pollution' in that direction prevalent even at the time of design on that particular site. The windows on these faces are mostly in the form of clerestory windows at high level against the ceiling, which they illuminate nicely, with only a single pivot window coming down to low level. The windows facing west, on the other hand, are all of the pivot variety coming down to low level, except for those giving directly onto balconies, which are vertical sliders presumably to avoid obstructing use of the balconies. There is thus a clear distinction between the two principal facades of Balfron responding to local environmental conditions, but the present proposal is to use windows of similar design on both facades, thus eliminating this important distinction. The elevations 'as proposed' on these two facades can be seen to be clearly duller than the existing with their unusual and distinctive glazing pattern. It is claimed that it would be impossible to restore the windows on the east facade to the original detail because little is known of it, but in fact original windows survive in at least one flat, and original drawings are almost certainly available in the RBA Goldfinger collection. It is not clear why the solid panels beneath the clerestory windows could not be treated in the same way as proposed for the solid panels in the altered design to allow acoustically-attenuated ventilation. The windows on the west elevation with pivots above two horizontal lights were designed, as described in the Design and Access Statement, to allow them to be cleaned from inside, but in an ingenious combination of formal and technical solution typical for Goldfinger, they also created a rhythm and pattern of central importance to the vitality of the facade, an inbuilt balance or counterpoint of horizontal and vertical that he always aspired to. It need not be taken for granted that all such windows need to be replaced. In other towers such as at the Barbican original timber windows have been refurbished. They were mainly double-glazed from the start. Total renewal would not necessarily be accepted in an eighteenth century listed building. But even if many or all need to be replaced, it is not clear why the existing profiles and material could not be retained even if the windows were in future to be cleaned from outside from gantries. From my own brief experience of living in one of these flats I can say that the existing windows from inside give a very satisfactory combination of view out with feeling of solidity. Though the proposed design now copies the basic divisions of the existing, the constant thin aluminium box-sections proposed will give none of the varied effect of the present and look like poor imitations. Then there is the question of the colour of the windows, which it is proposed will be a dark brown anodized finish, as against the present and original white, the argument advanced for the change being that it will show the traffic-generated dirt less. It is true that the replacement UPVC windows on the east elevation looked dirty within a very few years of their 3 installation, thus giving the lie to the notion that UPVC windows are maintenance free, but it seems likely that the proposed perforated corrugated metal panels will be liable to become clogged with dirt, and if the windows are in future to be cleaned from gantries externally, then the cleaning could presumably extend to the window frames as well. I believe that in Goldfinger's mind the smooth white frames served to highlight by contrast the rough texture and red-brown aggregate of the concrete - and of the timber boarding. He very much liked to express the different inherent qualities of natural building materials. The white colour of the triple pivots of the living rooms on the west elevation serves to bring them forward in contrast to the recessed dark timber boarding behind the balconies, thus enhancing the sense of relief. The proposed uniform brown will flatten all those contrasts. In addition to these considerations there is the fact that at present the uniform colouring of Balfron Tower, Carradale House, and Glenkerry House allows these three principal buildings in Goldfinger's part of the estate, and which together form a single composition of great importance, to read together. They all have white windows, stained timber boarding, and concrete with exposed Thames Valley aggregate. If the timber boarding and the white windows are suppressed in the single largest element, Balfron Tower, then the unity and expressiveness of that composition will be seriously weakened. It may of course be the applicants' deliberate intention to make Balfron stand out as different to identify it as 'private' as compared to the others still 'social' - but that would clearly not be an acceptable argument in this context. It is my belief (but apparently not the applicants') that the steel windows in the public areas have been replaced once already - I remember seeing stacked replacement windows in the garage about 15-20 years ago. But there is no harm in their being replaced again provided it is like for like and that the 'slit windows' are painted black externally, to retain their 'slit' quality. Plans of the Flats The intention of the applicants is to transform completely the planning of all the flats (not 'tweak' them, as claimed at one point in the documentation), apart from a very small number of 'heritage flats'.
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