Archaeological investigations beginning in 1996 showed that a palisaded Late Bronze Age settlement had stood on the Oliver Close site in the 9th and 10th centuries.
[1][2] Afterward, however, the site was only in marginal use until the expansion of London reached the Lower Lea Valley in the late 1800s.
During World War II, prefabricated Anderson shelters were set up on the Oliver Close site for protection against air raids.
As high-rise estates became associated with overcrowded conditions, poverty, and crime, governments gradually changed their approach to public housing.
By 2002 all five towers at Oliver Close had been demolished, and in April 2002 the Housing Action Trust was disbanded.