“the spectre at the feast”

The following is part of the text written by Tony for this exhibtion based around images of Claywood Flats in Sheffield, the images on display at Access Space (  http://access.lowtech.org ) help to illustrate this issue...

There is still a big difference between rented and
owned accomodation. When the private housing market
accounts for a large sector of the economy
productivity in other areas falls, and engineering is
often a casualty. This describes contemporary UK.

Many who become professional architects are from the
richer classes. This means that some of them end up
designing buildings where they would never consider
living themselves. The real proletariat now live in
containers, trailer parks, or worse. This type of
accomodation is haphazard, and usually bought off the
shelf. Some of Sheffield's 1960s tower blocks have
large balconies and fine views. These are much better
than in some of the more recent developments. A good
size balcony is still a desirable feature. The Park
Hill architects wanted each house to have a lobby
suitable for parking a pram, and a balcony sufficient
for out door eating. Even the rich are not getting
this in Sheffield.

Sheffield and other northern cities all seem to have
their 'Empty Quarters'. Look at the flats between
Burngreave and the Don Valley. These areas of
deprivation usually share a feature: loss of retail
banking services because of branch closures during the
80s and 90s.

Tower blocks from the 60s and 70s become slums. Socio
economic factors are to blame. Council housing is
segregated housing. Because owner occupiers have a
majority in the UK people who live in the council
rented sector are often stigmatised. They have also
been subject to political manipulation in certain
London boroughs. The Homes for Votes scandal in
Westminster involved the heiress to the UK's most
profitable supermarket chain, TESCO. This is a form of
social cleansing.

The USA is the same. Their draconian drug laws often
decree a doubling of penalties if drug violations
occur in municipal housing. There is much said about
crime on council estates, but little is said about the
more serious professional crime that goes on in highly
outsourced organisations. There is much theft of
contractor's vehicles and heavy machinary. Outsourcing
is meant to cure another crime problem where council
workers sometimes do second jobs in building while
officially at work for the municipality. This sort of
corruption always goes at the top where well heeled
executives often take on lucrative consultancies for
their rich friends, doing several jobs at once. Chirac
was mayor of Paris for more than ten years and the
municipality paid for his drinks bill.

The Claywood Flats were cleared quite slowly. Some
people actually wanted to stay there and hung on for
years. Cash incentives are used to get people to move,
but the cash is the sort of money that can quickly go
on drugs, alcohol or consumer stuff such as new
carpets and furniture.

The Claywood flats are being demolished piecemeal.
Mechanical claws are starting to rip out the lift
shaft of one of the towers.