Take a sneek peek at the trailer for the 14th Floor film...

Thanks to Shane Davey, producer and director and his team of volunteers the 14th Floor came to life. Over 120 people attended the launch of the film at A Foundation, Rochelle School 7th October 2010

Click on the link below to view the trailer

http://vimeo.com/15821472

East End Life 26.09.2010

14th Floor events coming up! Guided walks of housing estates

A key aspect of the 14th Floor project has been to develop two guided walking tours in Tower Hamlets focussing on key sites which figure prominently in the rich history of social housing in the borough. Thanks to the hard work of Nadja, Penny, Shane, Alabama and Malcolm and volunteers who put forward ideas at our open day, we are delighted to be able to announce two walks taking in estates in Poplar and Bethnal Green.

Places are free but booking is essential due to limited numbers. Please email localhistory@towerhamlets.gov.uk or call 020 7364 1290 to book.

Poplar
Tuesday 5th October 2010
Starts 3pm
Meeting at Idea Store Chrisp Street
1 Vesey Path,
East India Dock Road,
London E14 6BT
020 7364 4332

Bethnal Green
Saturday 9th October 2010
Starts 1pm
Meeting at Bethnal Green Library
Cambridge Heath Road,
London E2 0HL
020 8980 3902/6274

http://www.ideastore.co.uk/

Booking is essential via localhistory@towerhamlets.gov.uk or call 020 7364 1290

14th Floor is also presenting a screening of a new documentary film and panel discussion - see below...

14th Floor events coming up! Film screening and panel debate

14th Floor film screening
Thursday 7th October 2010, 6.30pm
Rochelle School, Arnold Circus

14^th Floor is a documentary film by Shane Davey about the history of social housing in Tower Hamlets. Using rarely seen imagery from the archive collections and interviews with former and current residents, architects, artists and historians, the film charts the development of social housing in the East End.

Shane who lives in Poplar explained: “The unique context provided by the extreme deprivation and slum clearances of the 19th century and the postwar reconstruction of the Blitz-damaged borough provided fertile ground for experimentation in addressing key issues of poverty and regeneration. But how did this affect the lives of local people and families, whose homes were lost, made and re-made?”

Earlier this year Shane won the 28 Day Feature Film Challenge: Best Film Award with The Horror of the Dolls, a chilling movie set in Poplar's Balfron Tower. 14th Floor will have its premiere at Rochelle School (the former school which served the first Old Nichol slum and later the Boundary Estate and is now a converted gallery) at 6.30pm.

Directions: www.afoundation.org.uk/london/visitus.php
Nearest tube: Shoreditch High St

Booking required via localhistory@towerhamlets.gov.uk or call 020 7364 1290

Panel discussion and book signing

Monday 4th October, 6.00pm
Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives, Mile End

A panel discussion with Lynsey Hanley (author of Estates: an intimate history), Mike Tyrrell, CEO of Tower Hamlets Community Housing and Marcel Baettig, CEO of Bow Arts Trust. Before the talks, project manager Shane Davey with a volunteer will talk briefly about their experience on the 14th Floor project, especially the making of the documentary which premieres on Thursday 7th October at Rochelle School.

Venue: Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives, 277 Bancroft Road, London E1 4DQ
Nearest tube: Mile End / Stepney Green

Free but booking required via localhistory@towerhamlets.gov.uk

or call 020 7364 1290

Call for submissions - Images of the history of social housing in Tower Hamlets

Please click on the images below to find out more about how to get more involved in 14th Floor project by submitting your own archive image/s and/or images of your own artwork/s made in response to social housing across Tower Hamlets...

We are looking forward to receiving your submissions...

Archive Open Day: A volunteer's perspective

In the run up to the Archive Open day I spent a lot of time looking through the collections here at Bancroft Road, trying to select images and newspaper clippings that would provoke discussion amongst our visitors, and encourage strangers to share their memories with each other. By Saturday morning we had stacks of fascinating material for participants to look through and talk about. Several chose to make copies of images, writing down their thoughts to contribute to a growing collection- perhaps some of these will make it into the postcard set. Visitors also heard from borough archivist Malcolm Barr-Hamilton about some of the amazing resources available here in the local history library, and a few even had a go at filming the action.




Participants marked sites that had particular personal significance. We had some great discussions as different people began to map out their own memories of social housing in the borough...

'This is our lovely community garden in Hind Grove. A place where residents come together to grow fruit and veg and make friends.'

'During the latter part of my childhood, living here was very safe and I was very happy'(Lansbury Estate)

'I love Carradale House, especially the Greening Brownfield project on the disused tennis courts'

Balfron Project

An exciting new project led by artist Simon Terrill, the Balfron Project is a large-scale photographic event to be staged at the Grade II-listed building Balfron Tower in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

Captured on film with a large format still camera, the event will result in a mural sized photograph, documentary film and project archive, presenting both this icon of 1960s New Brutalism and its connection to the lives of the people who inhabit it today.

Archive Open Day

Come along to the Local History Library & Archives this Saturday (28th August) for a special open day looking at the history of social housing in Tower Hamlets. A variety of activities will be going on including film screenings, a reminiscence session, archive workshops and more. There will also be an opportunity to sign up to participate in the making of the project's film, the development of guided walks and production of a postcard set -- all happening during September.

ARCHIVE OPEN DAY
11am-3pm
Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives
277 Bancroft Road
London
E1 4DQ

• Browse the collections
• Make a film
• Tell your stories
• Bring your photos
• Discover our maps and make your own

Please RSVP to confirm your free place :
localhistory@towerhamlets.gov.uk
020 7364 1290

NB Filming will take place at this event.

The Story of London – city of ideas, innovation and pioneers

The Story of London – city of ideas, innovation and pioneers

16 AUGUST 2010

- The Story of London returns with ten day celebration looking at city's role in technological, cultural and social advances – and challenges for the future
- Speakers include Sir Terry Farrell, Billy Bragg, John Hegley, Charles Saumarez-Smith, Mark Easton, Sir Crispin Tickell with more to come

London's rich history as a centre for world-beating ideas, invention and pioneers is being celebrated this autumn, when the Story of London returns.

Originally initiated in 2009 by the Mayor of London Boris Johnson, this year's ambitious cultural festival runs from Friday 1 until Sunday 10 October. Organised in partnership with a range of organisations, including funding partners the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), English Heritage and the Renaissance London (London Museums Hub), events are taking place all across the city.

Around 100 events are being planned for audiences from every corner of the capital to get involved in, encouraging them to share in the story of the most exciting city in the world. One of the aims is to raise the profile of cultural attractions throughout the city, to people living locally, as well as Londoners from across the capital and tourists.

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: 'London is a city where around almost every corner there has been a great Eureka! moment. Full of pioneering bright sparks in every field, there are hundreds of stories to be discovered. From the inventor of the incandescent light bulb to surgical techniques, from beer making to fashion and digital art, London continues to play a crucial role in every sphere of human activity. The Story of London is about invention, ideas and exploring the city. Who knows, you too might be inspired to instigate the next big thing.'

The Story of London will enable Londoners and visitors to explore the role the capital has played in technological, scientific, cultural and social advances over the centuries - and discover how the city will change and develop as it faces the challenges of the 21st century and beyond.

These achievements will be highlighted through a range of events and activities, including film, music and live performance, guided walks, talks and debates, exhibitions and workshops. From art, fashion and poetry, to history, science and technology, to transport and the environment, there will be something to suit every interest.

The season will include the legacy of Jimi Hendrix at the Handel House Museum; the development of surgical practices at the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons; a new project that 'remixes' archive film to create new visions of London; and the chance to create your own version of London's future 'in a box'. There will be talks from the likes of environmentalist Sir Crispin Tickell at the Museum of London; musician Billy Bragg and architect Sir Terry Farrell at the British Library, plus BBC Home Editor Mark Easton, who will be speaking at the Wellcome Trust. Poet John Hegley will be taking part in a special Poems on the Underground event at LSO St Luke's. Other names will be confirmed shortly.

There will be opportunities to use the latest technology to help you navigate and explore the city in a new way, including a look at what London would be like had Joseph Bazalgette not developed the first sewage and an experiential look at London architecture involving newly composed music. Hip website the Londonist will be hosting a special pub quiz, in conjunction with the Royal Institution at its 'Time and Space' bar.

Following the extraordinary success of the walking tours through Brunel's tunnel at Rotherhithe – the first to be constructed under water – there will be guided train journeys. These will include a descent by temporary staircase into the Grand Entrance Hall, which was originally constructed above ground, before being sunk for the railway.

Key partners in the Story of London include the Heritage Lottery Fund, which is supporting a range of events, with awards being given to London community groups, heritage and arts organisations that show an exciting legacy of famous figureheads and unsung heroes, charting the ever-changing face of London as a city of ground-breaking ideas and innovation. From the story of Grade I architecture and its changing environs, to the history of social housing in the East End, or Ghandi's student days in Wandsworth to the stories behind London's famous Blue Plaques and London's street theatre, a myriad of inspiring stories are waiting to be told this Autumn.

Sue Bowers, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund for London, said: 'From central boroughs like Tower Hamlets, Camden and Islington, to Sutton in the South, Havering the East, and Wandsworth in the West, it's fantastic to see Londoners young and old, from inner and outer boroughs, getting involved and interpreting this years theme of Innovation for a second exciting festival programme. We look forward to hearing more over the coming months from those volunteering their time to research the heritage that inspires them to put on the exhibitions, street theatre, artworks and guided walks that will go towards this year's Story of London.'

English Heritage will be putting on events at Down House, where Darwin wrote 'On the Origin of Species', Chiswick House whose gardens were birthplace of the English Landscape Movement, and a range of other activities looking at some of London's greatest and lesser known heritage assets.

Nigel Barker, Acting Regional Director, London region, English Heritage commented: 'Without its pioneers, visionaries, and risk takers, London’s unique heritage would be much the poorer - extraordinary and innovative feats of engineering have resulted in some of the city's greatest landmarks. Initiatives like the Story of London are an increasingly important in these times of financial restraint – they champion free access to, and enjoyment of, our capital’s outstanding history and heritage. English Heritage are delighted to again be supporting the Mayor’s Story of London.'

Renaissance London is supporting several museums across the capital as part of the festival: Museum of London; Geffrye Museum; London Transport Museum; Bruce Castle Museum; Orleans House Gallery; London Shh (Benjamin Franklin House, Burgh House, Dr Johnson’s House, Freud Museum, Handel House Museum and Kelmscott House); Church Farmhouse; Eastside Community Heritage; Handel House Museum; Greenwich Heritage Centre; Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons; Valance House Museum; and Bromley Museum.

Professor Jack Lohman, director of the Museum of London, says: 'As part of the Mayor’s Story of London festival, the Museum of London will display dramatic images of a London affected by climate change. Like postcards from the future, familiar views of the capital have been digitally-transformed by architectural illustrators GMJ. They bring home the full impact of global warming, food scarcity, rising sea levels and how all Londoners will need to innovate to survive.'

Further details will be released in due course. The website is www.london.gov.uk/storyoflondon.

Notes to editors

1. The Story of London is organised by the Mayor of London in partnership with a host of organisations across the capital. It takes place from 1-10 October and is designed to offer new experiences and insights into the capital, historically, culturally and socially. This year's festival celebrates London’s rich and varied history as a place of innovation and ideas, and explores how it will develop as it faces the challenges of the 21st century and beyond. The aim is to inform, entertain, educate and inspire, with dozens of events and activities covering history and heritage, art and architecture, design and fashion, music, theatre and film. More information can be found at www.london.gov.uk/storyoflondon.

2. The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) uses money raised through the National Lottery to sustain and transform a wide range of heritage for present and future generations to take part in, learn from and enjoy. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our diverse heritage. HLF has supported 33,900 projects, allocating £4.4billion across the UK, including £865million to projects in London alone. www.hlf.org.uk

3. Renaissance London is a partnership of four museum services working closely with the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council to deliver the Renaissance in the Regions programme of investment in England's regional museums. Renaissance London works to invest in and transform the 250 or so non-national museums in London. This is done through providing a comprehensive service to schools, supporting a range of projects designed to demonstrate how museum collections are vital in communities, improving the regions collections and expanding the diversity of collections. Renaissance London is also engaged in building and engaging new audiences and is leading on London’s Stories of the World project, which is part of the Cultural Olympiad for London 2012.

The museums supported by Renaissance London to take part in the Story of London festival are: Museum of London; Geffrye Museum; London Transport Museum; Bruce Castle Museum; Orleans House Gallery; London Shh (Benjamin Franklin House, Burgh House, Dr Johnson's House, Freud Museum, Handel House Museum and Kelmscott House); Church Farmhouse; Eastside Community Heritage; Handel House Museum; Greenwich Heritage Centre; Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons; Valance House Museum; Bromley Museum. www.mla.gov.uk/what/programmes/renaissance/regions/london

4. English Heritage is the Government's advisor for the historic environment. It provides advice on how best to conserve England's heritage for the benefit of everyone. Most of England's heritage is in private hands. It work's with landowners, commerce and industry, planners and developers, national, regional and local government, the Third Sector and local communities to help them conserve the historic environment. It promotes public knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of our heritage. It is also entrusted with the custodianship of some of the most important monuments of human history – such as Stonehenge and Hadrian's Wall. For further information, please visit www.english-heritage.org.uk

East End Life 16.08.2010

About the project

The 14th Floor project has been conceived to celebrate the history of social housing in Tower Hamlets, a borough which hosts some of the oldest and most architecturally and historically significant council housing in the capital. The borough is also home to a groundbreaking collaboration between arts charity Bow Arts Trust and the housing association Poplar HARCA which enables use of vacant flats awaiting renovation for local artists as live/work and exhibition space. The summer-long project is a partnership between Bow Arts Trust and Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives, and is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Volunteers will be recruited by the Project Co-ordinator, a visual artist, from among the residents of the borough. Together they will research, investigate and discuss the historical development of the estates and buildings, and consider their impact on residents' lives using the archive collections at Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives. Participants will interview each other about their experience of the borough's housing estates and developments, and undertake research to trace their history. Images and testimony generated from the volunteers' research and interviews will be pulled together in a publication to be disseminated during the GLA's Story of London festival in October this year.

Participants will then work with the artist, using their learnings to create new artwork to be installed and exhibited in situ on one of the estates during the Story of London festival. Depending on the artist to be recruited and the volunteers' interests, this could take a variety of forms, perhaps a performance, film, painting or photography. Walking tours of selected estates will also be held for the public during the festival, developed and led by the partnership and volunteers. Finally, a launch event is planned to involve a debate on social housing with authors, architects, residents and council members/officers.

For more information, contact towerhamletssocialhousing@gmail.com and check out the historical background info provided.

We are currently recruiting the Project Co-ordinator - see below!

VACANCY: Project Co-ordinator

We are currently recruiting for a Project Co-ordinator!

Short term contract: 12 weeks (August 2010 – mid October 2010)

Fixed fee: £2800 (estimate 28 days FTE)

Overview

A visual artist with an interest in the history of Tower Hamlets and skills in community engagement is sought to co-ordinate and deliver a 12 week project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund as part of the Story of London 2010. The project is a partnership between Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives and Bow Arts Trust and aims to inspire local volunteers to create a collaborative artwork for the Story of London festival in response to a summer-long programme of research, visits and discussions about the history of social housing in the East End.

Purpose of the role

The post holder will recruit and manage a team of approx. 15 residents of Tower Hamlets and will be supported by a project board comprising members of the Local History Library & Archive and Bow Arts Trust staff.

You will lead the volunteers in researching, investigating and discussing the development of the estates and buildings, in particular those with historical and architectural significance, and consider their impact on residents' lives. You will facilitate visits, meetings and oral history interviews for the volunteers and provide a forum for structured discussion and debate about their lives on these estates, and with them undertake research using the council's extensive and rich archive collections to trace the history of social housing developments in the borough. You will then pull together, with the volunteers, images and testimony generated from their research and interviews, and produce a publication to be disseminated to the public during the Story of London Festival which runs from 1-10 October 2010.

You will finally lead the volunteers in a creative collaboration in response to the heritage, using their learnings to develop a new artwork to be installed and exhibited in situ on one of the estates during the Story of London festival. Depending on the artist’s specialism and the volunteers' interests, this could take a variety of forms (eg a performance, film, painting or photography).

You will also facilitate the volunteers in developing walking tours of the featured estates to take place during the festival, and programming a launch event.

Throughout the project term you will be responsible for keeping accurate records about the project, including receipts for expenditure and volunteers’ expenses.

Duties

• Recruiting and managing 15 volunteers from housing estates in Tower Hamlets
• Taking responsibility for the successful delivery of three project outputs: production of a publication, a collaborative artwork and walking tours
• Arranging reminiscence / oral history sessions with the volunteers and other residents, recording them to an acceptable audio quality standard and providing copies to the Archives
• Contributing to programming and delivery of launch event
• Convening weekly volunteers’ meetings, visits and discussions
• Keeping records of expenditure, including volunteers’ expenses
• Reporting to the project board at meetings every 2-3 weeks
• Evaluating the project’s success and producing final report
  

Please note, project activity is concentrated across the 12 week term and the postholder will be required to be available to work on the project consistently between the beginning of August and mid-October.

Person specification

• A fine art graduate, or equivalent experience
• Experience of community engagement
• Experience of managing volunteers
• Experience of collaborative working
• Experience of producing publications and events
• Strong interest in the history of the East End
• Excellent record-keeping
• Upholds principles of equal opportunities at all times

Fee and payment

A fixed fee of £2800 exclusive of VAT is available. Payment will be made in four instalments.

Recruitment and selection

Please submit a CV and covering letter via email to Anna Sexton (asexton@bowarts.com) by 12 noon Friday 30th July 2010. You must be available for interview on Tuesday 3rd August. The post is subject to CRB and ISA vetting.

The covering letter should outline your interest in, experience and suitability for the post, and your proposed methodology for recruiting the volunteers and producing the project outputs in no more than two pages. Please include two references stating if we can contact them pre- or post-interview. For further information please read the posts below.

The history of social housing in Tower Hamlets

Nineteenth-century philanthropists

The first attempts to react to the crisis of overcrowding and insanitary housing in the mid-nineteenth century were by philanthropists who set up housing organisations. The Metropolitan Association for Improving the Dwellings of the Industrious Poor opened a lodging house for 300 men in Spicer Street in 1850. The philanthropist Angela Burdett-Coutts had Columbia Square built in Bethnal Green. In 1864 the Peabody Trust opened flats in Commercial Street. Many blocks in what is now Tower Hamlets were built by the East End Dwellings Company. The Four Per-Cent Industrial Dwellings Company was founded by Sir Nathaniel Rothschild in 1885 to provide homes for Jewish refugees fleeing from persecution in eastern Europe.

Peabody Square, Shadwell, 1867. Copyright Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives

The beginnings of local authority housing

Under the Artisans’ and Labourers’ Dwellings Act of 1875, the Metropolitan Board of Works was empowered to clear houses from areas unfit for human habitation and replace them with improved dwellings. Many schemes under this act were carried out locally including several in Whitechapel as well as in Cable Street and Tench Street in Wapping. The Metropolitan Board of Works was succeeded by the London County Council. The first major project of slum clearance and rebuilding undertaken by the LCC was in an infamous area of Bethnal Green known as “the Nichol”. The LCC built the Boundary Estate on the 15 acre site: 23 blocks containing a total of 1,069 flats. The estate is now a conservation area.

Plan of the Boundary Estate, Bethnal Green, c 1900

The three borough councils of Bethnal Green, Poplar and Stepney also started to provide housing schemes in the early twentieth century. One of the most innovative was Poplar Council’s Chapel House Estate on the Isle of Dogs, a cottage estate in the “Garden City” spirit. Poplar was also responsible for strikingly modern flats such as Providence House in Limehouse Hole, with its almost unbroken series of concrete balconies wrapping around the building. Stepney Borough Council’s schemes included the prestigious Riverside Mansions in Wapping and the ultra-modern John Scurr House in Ratcliff. Bethnal Green’s first scheme was the Bethnal Green Estate of 1922-24, four neo-Georgian blocks around a central courtyard.

Providence House, Poplar, 1935. Copyright Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives

For more historic images of social housing in Tower Hamlets visit the Digital Gallery at the Idea Store website: http://www.ideastore.co.uk/en/articles/information_digital_gallery

The post-war period

The terrible bombing of the Second World War had the effect of rendering many areas uninhabitable that otherwise might not have been dealt with for decades. The Comprehensive Development Areas in Stepney, Poplar and Bethnal Green brought many new homes into existence, mostly flats. Some such as the Cranbrook Estate in Bethnal Green and Lansbury Estate in Poplar have been widely acclaimed.

The Cranbrook Estate, Bethnal Green, c 1969. Copyright Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives

In the 1960s, high-rise flats became a conspicuous feature of the skyline of East London. Certain of these such as the Balfron Tower in Poplar and Keeling House in Bethnal Green are now listed buildings while others have already been demolished as social failures. Recent attempts to have Robin Hood Gardens in Poplar statutorily listed having failed, it seems likely that this architecturally-admired estate will join them.

Balfron Tower, c 1969 (from East London Papers vol 12)

For more historic images of social housing in Tower Hamlets visit the Digital Gallery at the Idea Store website: http://www.ideastore.co.uk/en/articles/information_digital_gallery

The future of social housing?

Towards the end of the twentieth century, private developers entered the market to develop social housing in Tower Hamlets. Now common in the borough are mixed-use newbuild developments in which an agreed proportion of residences are sold to private owners as well as allocated for social renting, shared ownership and/or for ‘affordable housing’ for key workers. Some of these are architecturally significant and in future seem likely to be considered part of the borough’s built heritage.

The award-winning Donnybrook Quarter, Bow, shortlisted for the RIBA Building of the Year. A mixed use scheme consisting of living units as well as community, work and retail spaces, completed in 2006.

The Donnybrook Quarter, Bow. Photo: Peter Barber Architects