Southgate Estate

The apartment blocks were constructed of pre-cast concrete panelling along with colourful GRP cladding and were arranged around landscaped squares, some of which included children's parks.

[1][2] The two and three-storey, flat-roofed, terraced houses were clad in blue, green, and orange plastic panels and included the large round windows seen in the apartment blocks.

[1] In 1977 architectural writer Sutherland Lyall described the finished estate as follows: "There is a nice, colourful, cheap and cheerful air about in the squares which are mostly planted out in grids of trees...

The deck-access design and repetitive use of stairwell towers, where there was an absence of natural surveillance, encouraged criminal activity, and made the control of these problems very difficult.

Occupants complained of anti-social behaviour; high rental and heating costs; impact noise entering their homes resulting from use of the pedestrian access decks; an inability to personalise the exterior of their homes; an absence of private garden spaces for the mid-level family duplexes; remoteness from local shopping and public transport facilities; and pollution from the oil-fired power plant.

The combination of these factors led to a significant proportion of the estate's families leaving the development to be replaced by younger, single people, which often exacerbated the problems.

[4] The problems experienced at the Southgate Estate were typical of modernist housing developments built in Europe and North America during the post-war period, particularly those employing the deck-access principle.

[1] Stirling, the architect, later argued that the Development Corporation, whilst adopting his architectural concept, deviated from the intended design for reasons of cost and time savings.

[4] The original estate was subsequently replaced by a housing development called Hallwood Park, which was designed and laid out in accordance with more traditional planning and architectural concepts.

Hallwood Park, which was constructed by Merseyside Improved Houses, is now a number of years older than its predecessor estate was at the time of demolition and, according to surveys, is considered to be a success amongst its residents.