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51°31′25.6″N 00°12′19.8″W / 51.523778°N 0.205500°W / 51.523778; -0.205500

Trellick Tower, seen from Golborne Road.

Trellick Tower is a 31-storey block of flats in North Kensington, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England.^[1] It was designed in the Brutalist style by architect Ernő Goldfinger,^[2] after a commission from the Greater London Council in 1966, and completed in 1972. It is a Grade II* listed building and is 98 metres (322 ft) tall (120 metres (394 ft) including the communications mast).

Goldfinger's design is based on his earlier and slightly smaller Balfron Tower (in Poplar, east London), and is in effect a sister building. It is also similar to Anniesland Court in Glasgow, design by J Holmes & Partners and completed in 1968. It has a long, thin profile, with a separate lift and service tower linked at every third storey to the access corridors in the main building; flats above and below the corridor levels have internal stairs. The building contains 217 flats and was originally entirely owned by the GLC with the flats rented as council flats. Shortly after its completion the building was transferred to the local council (the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea). Most of the flats are still social housing, but a significant minority are now privately owned.

The tower was completed at a time when high-rise tower blocks were going out of fashion as local authorities were beginning to realise the social problems they caused. By the late 1970s Trellick Tower had a very poor reputation for crime (rapes in elevators and staircases, children attacked by drug addicts)^{[citation needed]} and anti-social behaviour, and many tenants resisted a transfer there. However, with the introduction of the 'right to buy' council homes, many of the flats were bought by the tenants.

On 8 October 1984 a new residents' association was formed. As a result of pressure from the occupants, several security improvements including a door entry intercom system and the employment of a concierge were undertaken from the mid-1980s. Property prices rose and flats in the tower came to be regarded as highly desirable residences by some people, despite the slightly gritty edge which remains. Private properties inside the tower now (Sept 2007) sell for between £250,000 for a one-bedroom flat to £465,000 for three-bedrooms, whilst the tower itself has become something of a local cult landmark and was awarded a Grade II* listing in 1998.^[3]

In December 1989, four low power television relay transmitters with aerials were added to the existing communications equipment on the top of the lift tower. This was to solve reception problems for some residents of adjacent districts, including Notting Hill and Westbourne Grove. The transmitter installation is referred to by the BBC and Ofcom as "Kensal Town".

The projection at the top of the services tower is the plant room. The majority of the plant is located at the top of the tower. The grouping together of the boiler and hot water storage tanks reduces the need for pumps and reduces the amount of pipework needed. Shorter pipe runs also reduce heat loss. The oil fired boilers originally used became obsolete due to the 1973 oil crisis, the year after the tower opened. The flats now have electric heaters and the plant room lies practically empty. A planning application was made to convert it into a penthouse apartment but was refused by the local council.

Media coverage

In the song "Best Days" by Blur, Trellick Tower is referred to in the lyric, 'Trellick Tower's been calling'.

References

^ "Trellick Tower". open2.net. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
^ Trellick Tower London by Erno Goldfinger, Galinsky.com. Retrieved on 2009-06-08.
^ Historic England. "Details from listed building database ({{{num}}})". National Heritage List for England. accessed 28 December 2008

External links

[open2.net,_Trellick_Tower-1] "Trellick Tower". open2.net. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)

[2] Trellick Tower London by Erno Goldfinger, Galinsky.com. Retrieved on 2009-06-08.

[3] Historic England. "Details from listed building database ({{{num}}})". National Heritage List for England. accessed 28 December 2008

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 ==Media coverage==
+In the song "Best Days" by [[Blur (band)|Blur]], Trellick Tower is referred to in the lyric, 'Trellick Tower's been calling'.
-Trellick Tower is featured in the 1988 film ''[[For Queen and Country]]'', starring [[Denzel Washington]] and was the filming location for ''[[Shopping (film)|Shopping]]'', a [[1994 in film|1994]] film written and directed by [[Paul W. S. Anderson]].
-[[File:GU Canal Westbourne Park.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Trellick Tower as seen from Westbourne Park]]
-The whole of one side of the exterior to the building (top right image) was used for the credits for the [[BBC]]'s children's television show ''[[Incredible Games]]'', starring [[David Walliams]] in the early 1990s. Amongst the many other television appearances the tower was shown in episode one of the comedy series ''[[My Life in Film]]''.  Additionally the building also featured as Tommy Watson's residence in ''[[Tucker's Luck]]'', the spin-off to the hugely popular ''[[Grange Hill]]'' BBC TV series.
-In the song "Best Days" by [[Blur (band)|Blur]], Trellick Tower is referred to in the lyric, 'Trellick Tower's been calling'. The building is seen in Blur's video for "[[For Tomorrow]]", the video for "[[Kingdom of Doom]]" by Blur lead singer [[Damon Albarn]]'s 2007 project [[The Good, the Bad and the Queen]], in the video for "[[Tomorrow Comes Today]]" by further side project [[Gorillaz]], in the video for "[[I Shall Overcome]]" by [[Hard-Fi]] and in the video for "[[Little 15]]" by [[Depeche Mode]].It is also the backdrop for the Video of "I Want" by Department S. The video for "We Wont Be Here Tomorrow" by [[REVERE]] was filmed around the tower and features it in the closing shots.
-Swedish producer [[Andreas Kleerup]] has made a track called "Tower of Trellick", featuring on his eponymous album of 2008.
-A stylised image of the Tower featured prominently in an animation segment broadcast during the 2008 Olympic hand-over ceremony.
-The tower also features on the British television series [[Rude Boy Food]] on the Good Food Channel, presented by Jamie Oliver graduate [[Aaron Craze]]. More recently the tower was featured in an episode of [[Hustle (TV series)|Hustle]], series 6 episode 2.
 ==See also==