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The Hulme Crescents, Manchester: bringing

‘a touch of eighteenth century grace and

dignity’ to municipal building04  Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by Municipal Dreams in Housing, Manchester  

≈ Comments 

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1960s, 1970s, egeneration

!n 197" the chair o# Manchester $ity $ouncil%s Housing $ommittee described the Hulme $rescents

de&elopment as an 'absolute disaster ( it shouldn%t ha&e been planned, it shouldn%t ha&e been built%)

*1+ y that time, the estate -as already a by-ord #or the #ailure ( -orse, the inhumanity ( o#si.ties% mass public housing) /hat reputation has lingered long a#ter the demolition o# the $rescents

in 1994)

/his -on%t be a re&isionist piece but let%s at least loo a little more closely at -hat -ent -rong)

/he $rescents

s -e sa- -hen -e looed at the city%s early municipal housing in ncoats, Manchester -as the

'shoc city% o# the !ndustrial e&olution) Hulme -as also the home o# many o# those #irst industrial

-orers) !n 1914, a pecial $ommittee o# the $ity $ouncil reported a population o# 63,177 li&ing

there in ust 13,137 homes, 11,506 o# -hich laced baths or any laundry #acilities)

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Hulme in the 1930s

!n 1934, the area -as designated #or slum clearance ( the largest such area in ritain) ut little -asdone be#ore the outbrea o# the econd orld ar and it -as the -ar itsel# -hich -ould accelerate

demands, e.pectations and plans #or change) $ity $ouncil report in 1942 declared 6","37 houses

in Manchester -ere un#it #or human habitation a total o# 76,272 ne- homes -ould be re8uired to

meet longterm needs)

/hat cause -as taen up in the 1945 City of Manchester Plan, scathing in its condemnation o# 'the

meanness and s8ualor o# Hulme% and Manchester%s other industrial suburbs ( 'the drab streets, the

dilapidated shops, the sordid public houses, the dingy schools, the sulphurous and sunless

atmosphere%)

adical action -as needed ( and promised) ut the city -as clear that #lats and highrise -ere not

the ans-er: *2+!t -ould be a pro#ound sociological mistae to #orce upon the ritish public, in de#iance

o# its o-n -idely e.pressed pre#erence #or separate houses -ith pri&ate gardens, a -ay

o# li#e that #undamentally out o# eeping -ith its traditions, instincts and opportunities%

Manchester%s model -as its o-n ythensha-e ;state  ( a spacious outo#to-n suburb built on

garden city principles, begun in 1927) /he $ouncil proposed 40,000 ne- homes in similar

schemes) ut neighbouring authorities ( in particular, a##luent $heshire ( #eared this urban

incursion and the uncouth incomers they #elt it -ould bring and -ere #ar #rom cooperati&e)

lum clearance began again in Manchester in 1954 but the programme ( aiming to demolish 7500

houses a year ( #altered as the rate o# ne-build dried up to little o&er 1000 a year by the end o# thedecade)

similar picture e.isted at national le&el) $ouncil house completions had #allen to hal# the 229,000

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 pea achie&ed in 1953) ut the sense o# urgency persisted) round 1m slums remained and ust

30,000 -ere being cleared each year) Conservative go&ernment committed in its hite Paper o#

1963 to building 350,000 ne- council homes annually) !t -as outbid the #ollo-ing year by the

incoming <abour administration%s promise o# 500,000)

tills taen #rom dam $urtis% 19"4 $ documentary '!n8uiry: /he =reat ritish Housing

Disaster%

uch ambition demanded ne- methods and ideas) <o- density suburban estates hadn%t deli&ered

the numbers and -ere, in any case, unpopular -ith some tenants and hamstrung by planning

restrictions) !ndustrialised and systembuilding methods seemed to o##er a solution)

/he Ministry o# Public uilding and ors too speci#ic responsibility #or promoting: *3+

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the use o# ne- and rapid methods o# construction, standardising the use and production

o# building components to the greatest possible e.tent, and securing the -idespread

dissemination o# the best modern practices)

/he $onser&ati&e =o&ernment e.pected 25 per cent o# local authority housing output to be

constructed using industrialised methods, a proportion raised by <abour to 40 per cent ) $ouncils

-hich 'seemed to be cooperating -ere >re-arded? in terms o# enhanced capital allocations,speeding appro&als, etc)%

/hat pressure, those dynamics ( local and national ( came together to create the Hulme $rescents)

Hulme rede&elopment mid1960s @ Aisual esources at MMB

!n 1962, the $ity $ouncil announced a #i&estage programme to build some 10,000 ne- homes o&er 

a tenyear period) t pea, 4000 homes -ould be cleared and built each year) !t began relati&ely

modestly ( 24" maisonettes, #lats and houses to be built at a cost o# C1m) !t gre- in 1964 as

rebuilding commenced -ith 5000 ne- homes and Manchester%s #irst highrise ( a series o# thirteen

storey to-er blocs)

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Hulme under construction

!t culminated in its #inal stage, Hulme A, un&eiled in ctober 1965, -ith -hat the then chair o# the

Housing $ommittee, ;ric Mellor, claimed -ould be 'one o# the #inest schemes in ;urope% ( #our

decaccess si.storey crescent blocs ( 924 homes in all ( at a cost o# o&er C3)"m)

/his -asn%t cheap but it re#lected -hat the $ouncil #elt to be the ambition o# the de&elopment) !n

design terms, it had been promised: *4+

a high 8uality o# #inish, both internally and e.ternallyEobtained because structural

components, #ittings and ser&ices -ill be manu#actured and super&ised under #actory

conditions and not subected to climatic and other haFards o# an open site)

!n planning terms, this -as to be 'an urban en&ironment on a city scale% in a #orm -hich -ould

 promote 'greater choice o# #riends among neighbours% and 'easy contact% #or elderly people '-ith

the passing -orld%)

$lopton al and the $rescents 1972 @ Aisual esources at MMB

nd Manchester #elt it had been true ( in part at least and as #ar as circumstances allo-ed ( to its

earlier ideals in creating innercity 'streets in the sy% -hich -ould #oster a community atmosphereain to the terraced housing that had been cleared)

/he Manchester Evening News -as gushing in its praise: *5+

*#+ all rede&elopment schemes that -ill reu&enate the ritain o# tomorro-,

Manchester%s plan #or Hulme stands out boldly) Gor it is uni8ue) Here is a #ascinating

concept -hich should mae proud not only the planners but the citiFens) /hat the design

#or a thousand maisonettes in long cur&ed terraces -ill gi&e a touch o# eighteenth

century grace and dignity to municipal housing is -elcome indeed) ut abo&e all the

 plan is realisticE /han goodness someone has been using both imagination and

common sense in planning homes)

/his -as an echo o# the rhetoric and &ision o# the scheme%s designers, Hugh ilson and <e-is

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omersley ( ilson had been the chie# architect o# $umbernauld e- /o-n and omersley

responsible, as $ity rchitect, #or the Par Hill ;state in he##ield: *6+

e #eel that the analogy -e ha&e made -ith =eorgian <ondon and ath is entirely

&alid) y the use o# similar shapes and proportions, largescale building groups and

open spaces, and, abo&e all, by sil#ul landscaping and e.tensi&e tree planting, it is ourendea&our to achie&e, at Hulme, a solution to the problems o# t-entiethcentury li&ing

-hich -ould be the e8ui&alent in 8uality o# that reached #or the re8uirements o#

eighteenthcentury loomsbury and ath)

/he $rescents -ere named a#ter the #our maor architects o# =eorgian ath, $harles arry, Iohn

 ash, obert dam and illiam Jent)

$harles arry $rescent, 1972 @ Aisual esources at MMB

$onstruction began in 1969 and -as completed ( using those stateo#theart systembuilding

methods o# the day ( rapidly) /he topping out ceremony #or the $rescents too place on 14 Iuly

1971 and early reactions -ere positi&e)

!%&e spent some time on all this bacground and many o# you -ill be more interested in the

un#olding disaster -hich #ollo-ed) till, it seems to me to be important to understand the conte.t

and, yes, the ideals -hich shaped the estate) /his conte.t doesn%t e.cuse the mistaes that -eremade but it should, at least, help us mo&e beyond the simple desire to blame and condemn)

o -hat did go -rongK e%ll e.amine that in ne.t -ee%s post)

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The Hulme Crescents, Manchester: a ‘!ritish

!antustan’

 

!n 1971, the Hulme $rescents -ere thought to represent the best o# modern social housing as -e

sa- in last -ee%s post) /he planning principles -hich inspired them -ere intended not only to

 pro&ide decent housing but to honour and #oster community) /he construction techni8ues -hich

 built them had seemed to promise mass housing on a scale and at a pace -hich -ould #inally

eradicate the scourge o# the slums)

!# only brie#ly, this e.citement -as #elt by residents as -ell as politicians and planners: *1+

! -ent #or a -al -ith my granddad be#ore the $rescents started to get bad) nd they

-ere -onder#ul places) Gull o# really ne- ideas and loads o# hope #or the people li&ing

in them) People taled to each other) nd ! can remember laugher -ith a #amily thatli&ed in them) /hey ased me and my granddad in #or a cup o# tea) ho-ed us round the

strange -ay the #lats -ere designed) ut the #lat -as so clean and nice and they -ere so

 proud o# it) /hen suddenly, about 1972 ! thin it -as, things started to go -rong)

hat did  go -rongK

Girst and #oremost, the $rescents% systembuilt engineering -as a disaster) /he blocs -ere erected

too 8uicly and their construction inade8uately super&ised) ein#orcing bolts and ties -ere

missing problems o# condensation emerged #rom poor insulation and &entilation &ermin spread

rapidly through the estate%s ducting) *2+

hose #ault -as thatK <ocal authorities ( pressured by central go&ernment and dri&en by their o-nambitions to build big and build #ast ( can certainly tae some blame) /he =o&ernment%s ational

uilding gency, -hich promoted industrialised building but #ailed to pro&ide any e##ecti&e

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o&ersight, is also responsible)

ut arguably it is the cartel o# construction companies -hich dominated systembuilt housing in the

si.ties and early se&enties -hich is most culpable) /he construction industry sold products un#it #or 

 purpose and #ailed to meet e&en their o-n standards o# 8uality control) *3+

/he collapse o# onan Point in May 196" -as an early indicator o# this looming disaster and had its

o-n impact on the $rescents) Plans #or gas#ired central heating -ere ettisoned in #a&our o# asystem o# under#loor heating) #ter the 1973 oil crisis, -hen #uel prices rose si.#old, this became

 prohibiti&ely e.pensi&e #or the estate%s ne- residents)

Aie- bet-een obert dam $rescent and illiam Jent $rescent *to le#t+ 1976 @ Aisual esources

at MMB/here -ere also #oreseeable design #la-s) /he dense street layout -hich had pre&iously connected

Hulme to itsel# and the city -as abandoned the busy main thorough#are, tret#ord oad, closed)

/-o large high-ays, the Mancunian ay and the Princess Par-ay, enclosed and isolated the

estate) /he open space bet-een the $rescents ( intended as an amenity ( -as largely ust that and

laced #orm and #unction) !t came to #eel rather desolate) *4+

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!n 1974 a #i&eyear old child died a#ter #alling #rom a top#loor balcony

and matters came to a head) 643 residents signed a petition asing to be mo&ed) 1975 sur&eyre&ealed that an o&er-helming 96 per cent o# $rescentd-ellers -anted to lea&e the estate) /he

$ouncil agreed no #amily should be re8uired to li&e abo&e the ground #loor in any o# its decaccess

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homes)

t the same time, &andalism and crime -ere ri#e ( a litany, #amiliar #rom the other council estate

 badlands o# the day, o# muggings and breains, gra##iti and destruction, compounded by the

Housing Department%s #ailure to ade8uately maintain and super&ise the estate)

/here%s no denying that in the case o# the Hulme $rescents there -ere inherent design #la-s -hich

contributed to social breado-n on the estate) ut there is also a bigger picture -hich is o#tenneglected in their story)

/he maority o# #ormer Hulme residents had, in #act, been rehoused in outo#to-n estates) =i&en

its early problems and deteriorating reputation, the $rescents rapidly became hardtolet) s -as

typical in such circumstances, 'problem #amilies% and &ulnerable tenants ( -ho had little choice in

-here they might be housed ( came disproportionately to be settled there)

1973 sur&ey sho-ed the estate to be the most depri&ed in Manchester) /he 197" World in Action 

report ( a searing e.posL o# -hat it described as 'a ritish antustan% ( estimated 60 per cent o#

residents -ere in receipt o# bene#it) *5+

/his -as a reality that -ould ha&e challenged any #orm o# housing ( as -e%&e seen -here similar

circumstances a##ected suburban estates such as lacbird <eys in .#ord or orris =reen in<i&erpool) ut the Hulme $rescents o##ered a per#ect storm o# disad&antage) /hey -ere ripe #or

 political action)

$ampaigning groups ( a mi. o# housing acti&ists and local residents ( began to spring up)

Manchester and al#ord Housing ction -as established in 1973) /he Hulme /enants% ssociation

and Hulme People%s ights =roup -ere acti&e by the midse&enties, the latter pro&ided o##ices on

the estate by the $ity $ouncil -ho came to regret the opportunity o##ered to their political

opponents) /hese groups sil#ully made use o# a media #ar less de#erential than it had been ( in

reporting city planners% &isions ( in the 1960s)*6+

@ http:---)e.hulme)co)u 

/he $ouncil still hoped something might be sal&aged #rom the $rescents) !n 197", it proposed

housing single people and students in the estate and suggested the blocs be subdi&ided)

/he latter ne&er occurred but the remo&al o# #amilies -as achie&ed by 19"0) n anarchic #ree#or

all de&eloped that created 'Planet Hulme%) /his -as 'a Modernist utopia decaying, gone crumbledand decadent% a creati&e, ohemian encla&e) ut it, despite -en Hatherley%s celebration o# its

&ibrant subculture, -ent bad too and became ( at least to the #e- 'ordinary% residents that remained

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and certainly to more con&entional citiFens ( a #rightening place: anarchic in the most peorati&e

sense o# the term) *7+

/he case #or the $rescents% demolition came to be seen as o&er-helming as political attitudes

shi#ted too) <abour le#t emerged, critical o# -hat it regarded as the paternalism o# traditional

<abour local go&ernment and committed ( it claimed ( to promoting genuine participation) /his

ne- le#t controlled the $ity $ouncil by the early eighties)

Gor Peter hapely, a rising ideology o# consumerism -hich transcended party politics ( and

certainly underlay it ( -as more important) t any rate, the design and planning process -hich

-ould build the ne- Hulme -as a &ery di##erent animal to that -hich operated in the si.ties)

!n 19"" it looed as i# Hulme -ould #orm the testingground #or the /hatcher go&ernment%s

Housing ction /rusts) /enant resistance to this bureaucratic and topdo-n initiati&e bloced the

attempt to impose a /rust on Hulme and established the principle o# a tenant ballot in #uture H/

 proposals)

/he outcome #or the $rescents -as the Hulme tudy ( a generously#unded oint initiati&e o#

go&ernment, council and residents to study the estate%s #uture) !t didn%t produce much more than a

report but a marer o# participation had been set do-n)

/his -asn%t immediately ob&ious in -hat became the trans#orming moment o# the estate ( the $ity

$ouncilled bid #or $ity $hallenge #unding in 1992) ut the essence o# the ne- approach -as the

 buFF-ord 'partnership% and a comple. ne.us o# central and local go&ernment, pri&ate in&estors,construction companies, housing associations and tenants came together to #orm the ne- Hulme)

Hulme egeneration <td too the lead ( a oint company comprising the $ouncil%s Hulme

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ubcommittee and de&elopment company M;$) /he subcommittee itsel# included Hulme

$ommunity Homes ( another three-ay partnership o# housing department, housing associations

and tenants) nd then there -as the Hulme /enant Participation Proect ( an autonomous body

#unded by $ity $hallenge and Housing $orporation)

/his -as all as comple. and stri#eridden as it sounds but the tenants did in the end -ield signi#icant

in#luence and in ey respects came ( alongside some ne- planning -isdom and in opposition to

other ( to determine the ey elements o# the ne- estate) *"+

s to that, you can tae the short &ersion or the long) /ony Hughes, a caretaer #or the orth

ritish Housing =roup ( -hich -as one o# the ey players in the ne- Hulme (states simply, 'e

-anted more houses than #lats, gardens, lots o# greenery and sa#e areas #or children% *9+

/he long &ersion is contained in the 40 page Guide to Development in ulme published by Hulme

egeneration <td in 1994) *10+ !t%s an essential primer to -hat has been called e- Brbanism ( the

attempt to 'create a ne- neighbourhood -ith the >#eel? o# a more traditional urban community%)

/o summarise some ey aspects, the guidelines stressed permeability ( busy streets -hich

encouraged through mo&ement) /his -as a principle -hich challenged both some o# the negati&e

characteristics o# the #ormer estate ( #or one, the &ery sense o# an 'estate% isolated #rom the -ider

city ( as -ell as some #a&ourite tropes o# t-entieth century to-n planners, notably the culdesac)

!t sought to tacle headon some o# the most problematic elements o# the $rescents as they hade&ol&ed ( the nogo Fones and 'escape routes% -hich encouraged crime and &andalism ( and replace

them -ith the 'natural sur&eillance% o# streets:

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treets -ill once again pro&ide both a means o# communication and transport, and (

together -ith -ellde#ined s8uares and ci&ic spaces ( a sel#super&ised area o# public

contact and interaction)

Much more could be said o# the ey themes outlined ( the call #or 'landmars, &istas and #ocal

 points% and the demand #or 'a clear de#inition o# public and pri&ate space% most notably ( but the

measure lies in the ne- Hulme that actually emerged)

arde treet

ld Nor treet

/he $rescents -ere #inally demolished in 1994, replaced ( #or the most part ( by a prettycon&entional streetscape o# redbric terraces *'arratt rabbit hutches% in Hatherley%s -ords+ and

#unctional lo-rise #lats) /he architectural e.ception is the small Homes #or $hange de&elopment (

a product o# the 'alternati&e Hulme% o# the eighties -hich chose to build a little oasis o# decaccess

rutalism)

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Homes #or $hange, $hichester oad

/he goal o# mi.ed tenure has been achie&ed) !n 2002 there -as a mi. o# 42 per cent public sector

housing, 22 per cent housing association and 36 per cent pri&ate) o-, as Manchester $ity $ouncil

has comprehensi&ely embraced the -orld o# <Ms and not#orpro#it housing pro&iders and

di&ested itsel# o# direct responsibility #or housing, the proportion o# housing association properties

is much higher) *11+

/ellingly, the 2006 e&aluation o# Hulme%s regeneration notes that the '8uality o# pri&ate housing and

its maintenance has been problematical, -hile the 8uality o# public sector and housing association

d-ellings appears to ha&e been much higher%)

tret#ord oad

Housing type doesn%t magically trans#orm social and economic realities) /he same report describedrelati&ely high le&els o# crime ( though #alling ( and unemployment le&els o# 17 per cent ( #i&e or

si. times abo&e the national a&erage though still a signi#icant #all #rom the 30 per cent pre&iously

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reported) till, those -ishing to mo&e #rom Hulme had #allen by 63 per cent and the rede&elopment

as a -hole -as a success)

!t%s been a lengthy analysis but it%s hard ( in a balanced -ay ( to summarise the Hulme story

 brie#ly) /his -as ( there can be no doubt ( a social housing disaster) Design #la-s met structural

#ailings and -ere compounded by a do-n-ard spiral o# social breado-n)

/here -ere high ideals and positi&e principles e.pressed in the creation o# the $rescents)!ncompetence ( some o# it -il#ul in terms o# the actual construction ( undercut any good these

might ha&e done)

/he considered conclusions o# the Ioseph o-ntree Goundation ha&e merit ( and certainly the

 bene#it o# hindsight: *12+

ede&elopment in Hulme during the 1960s -as imposed as the product o# political

ideology and architectural #ashion and local people -ere not in&ol&ed in the assessment

o# needs) Positi&e #eatures contributing to social cohesion, continuity and a sense o#

identity -ere lost)

ut then Municipal Dreams ha&e ne&er been shaped in a &acuum and ha&e al-ays been constrained by the social and economic circumstances o# the day and the limitations ( rather than the

male&olence ( o# the political actors -hich brought them into being)

"ources

*1+ Grom the =uestboo o# the eOHu<M; ebsite ( a great resource on the history o# old Hulme

and the Hulme estate)

*2+ Iohn I) Parinsonailey, Manchester! An Architectural istory, 2000

*3+ /his is described in dam $urtis% 19"4 $ documentary '!n8uiry: /he =reat ritish Housing

Disaster %

*4+ /ed Jitchen, People" Politics" Policies and Plans! The City Planning Process in Contemporary #ritain *1997+

*5+ orld in ction, '/here%s o Place <ie Hulme%, 10 pril, 197"

*6+ Peter hapely, '/enants rise $onsumerism, /enants and the $hallenge to $ouncil uthority in

Manchester, 196"92%, $ocial istory, Aol) 31, o) 1, Gebruary, 2006

*7+ -en Hatherley, A Guide to the New %uins of Great #ritain *2010+

*"+ ll this is best outlined and in greater detail by lison a&etF, Council ousing and Culture!

The istory of a $ocial E&periment  *2001+

*9+ Quoted in <aurette Riemer, 'ocial $limbing: ;states are /rans#ormed%, Daily Mirror , 23 Iune

2001

*10+ Hulme egeneration <imited " %e'uilding the City( A Guide to Development in ulme, Iune

1994

*11+ <esley Macay, Evaluation of the %egeneration of ulme" Manchester , Ai&a$ity 2020,

Gebruary 2006 and /ony =ilmour, 'e&olutionK /rans#orming ocial Housing in the Manchester

$ity egion%, ;H 2009 Prague $on#erence '$hanging Housing Marets: !ntegration and

egmentation%

*12+ Ioseph o-ntree Goundation, '<essons #rom Hulme%, eptember 1994

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!mages, -here credited, are taen #rom the Glir set on Hulme%s rede&elopment posted by

Manchester Metropolitan Bni&ersity%s Aisual esources $entre)