An estate which was described as "Legoland" turned into a "dumping ground" after just 15 years.
The development used to sit on land which is now Hallwood Park in Runcorn. The Southgate estate once offered an innovative solution to Liverpool's slum clearances.
However, after just 15 years the estate faced a catalogue of problems, with residents moving out and a decision was made to demolish it. The estate had harsh concrete blocks, colourful frontages and "washing machine" porthole windows.
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It was first commissioned in 1967 but only completed its final phase 10 years later and was designed to contain 1,500 residential units with a population of 6,000 people.. Liverpool's slum clearances necessitated the creation of "new towns" to house the overspill created by the demolition of substandard and squalid living conditions in the city's Victorian slums.
While many were moved to new tower blocks in engineered housing estates like Cantril Farm (now re-named Stockbridge Village ), the designs for Southgate offered something totally different. It was designed by James Stirling. with a layout inspired by the Georgian squares of cities like Bath and Edinburgh.
Mr Stirling said the round porthole windows, referred to by residents as "washing machines", were inspired by Liverpool's maritime heritage. The estate was made up of flat-roofed terraced housing and deck-access apartment blocks, all linked up by "streets in the sky" walkways that passed above the traffic and allowed access to Shopping City.
Apartments on the estate were made from concrete panelling with colourful plastic cladding in bold blue, yellow and orange, which led to the estate being nicknamed "Legoland". But things quickly started to deteriorate on the estate, with the deck-access apartments making surveillance difficult which led to problems with criminality.
Occupants who had been moved out of the slums into new houses started complaining about anti-social behaviour and noise among a long list of other problems. The decision to install an oil-fired central heating system meant tenants could not afford to heat their homes after the oil crisis of the early 1970s.
Residents also complained about the inability to personalise the exterior of their homes, the lack of private garden space for many and the radical look of the development, which was a million miles away from the traditional housing on offer elsewhere in the region. With such a catalogue of problems, families started to move out leaving properties vacant and the estate was regarded as a "dumping ground for undesirables".
By the mid 1980s, Southgate estate was a mess and in 1989 the Warrington and Runcorn Development Corporation decided to demolish it completely, with work to tear it down beginning in 1990. While Southgate may have been short lived, photos from this bold architectural project still prompt debate over the decision to eradicate such a striking housing development.
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