Thamesmead, 1970
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- Опубликовано: 29 апр 2012
- Description: This film looks at the building of Thamesmead by the GLC -- including Stages 1 and 2. It shows the architectural plans and models; the planning of transport and shopping provision; the landscaping work etc. Looks at the input of the Greater London Council, through the Thamesmead Committee. Shows the first family to move in, the completion of the first tower block, and a meeting of the Residents' Association.
Date: 1970
Reference No: GLC/DG/PRB/11/022/004
Collection: GLC
This film is part of the collections at London Metropolitan Archives, a public research centre which specialises in the history of London. If you haven't visited an archive before, it's a little bit like a library but with one key difference; the majority of items in an archive are unique, handwritten documents which cannot be seen anywhere else.
We care for and provide access to the historical archives of businesses, schools, hospitals, charities and all manner of other organisations from the London area. With 100 km of books, maps, photographs, films and documents dating back to 1067 in our strong rooms, we're proud to provide access to one of the finest city archives in the world - you could call it the memory of London.
This channel provides highlights from our film and video collections and films which we have created. Find out more at www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma and explore our film clips, photographs, maps and prints of London at www.londonpicturearchive.org.uk
A fascinating description of a vision of its time, with laudable aims like so many New Towns. Transport plans totally centred on roads, with additional urban motorways and no real thought of rail links. Hard to imagine it being a top attraction for luxury yachts though.
I went to Thamesmead some years back, watched a charity football game between Thamesmead & an Arsenal XI and thought it looked very intimating due to a burned out car on a roundabout by the ground!!
How nostalgic to see Thamesmead before the different stages..... isn't it funny how we know all the stages 1,2,3,4 etc and didn't pay any mind to the building stages (well I didn't) and the Thamesmead logo I honestly thought was made up by us kids lol! I swear my primary school teacher Jan is in the school scene; wouldn't be surprised though I really can't think of how old she should be in this shot aaaawh well memories....I will forever have a soft spot for the home I call Thamesmead!!!
cdra baybee what school did you go
Hi, the Thamesmead project is well documented at LMA and you're right in noting how ambitious this building programme was. Not simply in terms of the logistics behind its construction, but also the challenge of developing a community for families to flourish in. LMA
And as with Robin Hood Gardens and the Heygate Estate, the council is spending millions knocking it down and rebuilding it... The buildings have only been standing 40/45 years... Such a waste of our money...
Lack of maintenance has destroyed Themsmead
+William Drabble and chavs moved in by other councils.
Paints a rosy picture and must have cost millions at the time. A glaring example of disastrous planning and failed new town utopianism. I was a kid in Abbey wood during the seventies and remember the view from Lessness Abbey down onto Thamesmead. Cant believe it won a architectural award, how blinkered the suits were. Great post though, something of a trip down memory lane
Used to live in Thamesmead. Feels weird seeing some of the tower blocks with the roof not yet built. Sad thing is that's roughly how they'll look as they're being pulled down, which might not be for sometime yet. I assume the two towers at Tavy Bridge (14:10/14:13) will be spared as they had a major facelift years ago and the new modern buildings have now been built around them.
Loool i just clocked the thamesmead tag at the end. We used to carry on like we designed it ourselves.
Great Video.
Just needs the Docklands Light Railway to bridge the Thames and include Thamesmead and Plumstead. (2030).
Crossrail is great if you want to get to Oxford Street or Canary Wharf. (2019).
Those town planner guys from back in the day had their hearts in the right place at least.
My mum & dad moved to Crawley in 1960 and my uncle Billy went to Cumbernauld in Scotland, okay they turned into a bit of a shithole but it was better than what they had before, they grew up in actual slums.
Thats great, cant wait to see "Living at Thamesmead", I will share with the 1000+ members on the thamesmead group. Thanks LdnMetArchives!
I was 9 years old when it come together. a very good time in my life.
Hi, thank you for posting a comment. "Somewhere Decent to Live" is available to view in the Housing playlist. "Living at Thamesmead", we hope to post on RUclips shortly. LMA
I remember the first time I went to Thamesmead (early/mid 90s), a load of my friends from school lived there, I thought id landed in communist Russia.
It was grey, cramped, dirty, intimidating and it seemed the sun never came out because it was blocked by shitty tower blocks.
You couldn't walk about in case you bumped into a crew from a different "stage" and there were more vandalised/burnt out cars than there were working ones.
The mothers were more violent than the fathers and kids ran feral in the streets.
The one thing it taught me was work hard at school, get a job and you won't end up in shit hole like that
The "new Thamesmead primary school " was actually Abbey Primary school.
I see my former classmates John H, Gideon B, Michelle N, Danny B, Lakis M,
I joined the school a year or so later.
Well spotted. I thought it was me but was not so sure. I can also see Paul N at the end on the right.
Am I the only one who thinks it looks alright?
No, it was really impressive, a great bold idea. But the reality is that it can only work if everybody who lives there is peaceful and friendly and that's just not how the world is.
@@martin-mi3cg Yep, hence why we moved away from Thamesmead in 2010.
I love the way he says, "Erith". He makes it sound posh. 😂
Well, Dennis Waterman came from there.
The impression I perceive from this presentation is one of an intellectual concept envisaged by egotistical minds from the architectural and planning fraternity. An almost utopian dream that should, in their eyes, pacify the residents and satisfy their every need. Virtually intimating that all the thinking has been done for them and they should live their and be grateful. Yes, it does all look very impressive, logical, almost systemised but there lies the problem. People don't conform to constructs, and in an environment like this they are deprived of the one thing that makes humans happy, natural imagery. Notice that the one thing missing from the area's of habitation is nature, tree's, plants etc. Yes there are parks but it requires walking through concrete area's, and the parks cannot be seen from a large proportion of the dwellings. And the lakes are just big ponds surrounded by concrete, which without natural exchange of water or regular maintenance become stagnant eyesores
Also many of the properties are overlooked and overlook others, like a goldfish bowl, depriving people of privacy, and the general noise will be reverberated by all the hard concrete surfaces.
So, it's easy to see why it was considered that this would be an idyllic 21st century life style but not enough research was performed to determine what was best for people. As an architectural statement it is interesting but factor in the people that it was all intended for and it fails, as has been proven.
You couldn't be more wrong, it's one of the greenest places in London. And the water is just fine. No problem with sound disturbance either, concrete is a great insulation material. It is planned in such way that the privacy is mostly taken care of too. I live here and after moving roughly 20 times within London I feel like I have found home --- only for this to be torn down..
TM AW 4EVA great archive
Hi, can you get these Thamesmead related archives:
Somewhere decent to live (GLC / chess Valley, 1967)
Living at Thamesmead (GLC /Tara Fims, 1974)
thanks
Living at Thamesmead is now elsewhere on RUclips. It is an ingenious "faction" film featuring a young couple living on the estate set in the context of the buildings and community.
It is amazing, how naive this is, but at the same time makes us all think that what we think is amazing and cutting edge now may well be tossed away by our ancestors and deemed unlivable. Thamesmead, while unfortunately inhumane to be in, stands as a colossal monument to what was through to be a progressive vision of social housing.
All that work to create a giant concrete toilet.
look good in the 1968 utopian if move forward eyeisaw 2018
I miss living in this giant concrete toilet and sad it's now getting pulled down. But at the same time glad we moved away when we did cuz of criminal activities that goes on round there.
I doubt if any of the architects would want to live in a place that was determined to cover every square foot with concrete slabs.
A failed utopia. I spent a few hours there today in the sun. It is SO uncared for and has fallen into such disrepair. Such decay. Southmere Lake is stagnant and disgusting. I had a couple of drinks in the Lakeside bar. It was surreal and felt disturbing... It's such a shame to see this film and the concrete dream that went with it with the benefit of hindsight and the knowledge that it just didn't work... And as with Robin Hood Gardens and the Heygate Estate, the council is spending millions kn
And looking at Abbey Wood before the flyover
180 The bus that never used to come!
lolol
I worked on it in the 60s and 70s as a Quantity Surveyor Always struck me as a bit bleak even when new Now its really bleak. Another major cock up by planners and Architects .Same old story
Wow, jobs in their own community. Forward thinking. You could save a fortune on gas.
The principle was good but they should have designed it to look like Venice
The type of residents make all of the difference.
If Thamesmead had 40% to buy houses and flats, 20% reserved for over 60's and the other 40% made up from a mix of young single people, family homes and maybe 5% students and 5% NHS, Metropolitan Police or government of employees etc, then the whole estate would be mount like it later became.
The tower blocks is probably what did it. Even in US they were legendary and torn down eventually.
That London died, years ago.
no wonder is was a mess, rolf harris was involved
This place looked a monstrosity I think, even when new, just millions of gallons of poured concrete in every direction you turn your head, why on Earth did they not just construct a load of normal houses with private gardens in blank canvases like they had, no they get busy and have to experiment with ideas with the comman man and his precious family as Guinie pigs, and then just leave it to deteriorate.
Because not everyone needs the same small boring shitty houses with useless gardens -- don't you fucking have enough already? I have lived in more than 20 places in London and this estate is by far best: it's beautiful, the planning of the flats is smart and convenient, the supporting infrastructure was great too -- much of it is gone now tho..
With any council where planning a scheme is happening. There should be at least one local council employee involved. That person should know the area and the people who live there. That should be a prerequisite for that particular council to implement this policy. Not enough taught goes into this kind of planning for communities. This is the number one reason why a lot of these estates fail. Council's, many are incompetent, a nod and a wink attitude is the norn. Some maintance crew's are a law onto themselves. Some do Jack shit, dubble Jobbing and nixers. If a tenant needs anything doing don't bother asking. Not all are like this but many are. 👊 ☘️ 🇮🇪
Clockwork Orange 😅
Sadly the bit where they filmed for Clockwork Orange is gone now and replaced with modern architecture.
Before globalist