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\u201cIt\u2019s my concrete nest high in the sky, which turns orange as the sun sets,\u201d says Dutch artist Joline Kwakkenbos of her 18th-storey flat in Arlington House, in the seaside town of Margate, Kent. One of four flats owned and let by the artist Tracey Emin, the white-walled, concrete-floored space looks west towards the haunting Reculver Roman fort that appears in many of JMW Turner\u2019s paintings. \u201cIt\u2019s like living in a moving painting, with a seagull that visits every morning,\u201d says Kwakkenbos.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Down on the 11th floor, overlooking the Dreamland amusement park, John Moss\u2019s view is different. A 70-year-old former Thanet District Council employee, he has lived here since 2003 and has taken the building\u2019s owner,\u00a0Metropolitan Property Realizations Limited (MPRL), part of the Freshwater Group of Companies, to property tribunal 12 times. \u201cWe know it needs work and is difficult to manage,\u201d he says. Grievances over the years have ranged from alleged excessive service charges for lift repairs to residents being charged for electricity used by mobile phone companies with masts on the roof. Ten have resulted in a reduction in costs and charges levied against residents. \u201cA lot of people want the building knocked down,\u201d Moss says. \u201cIt\u2019s not exactly pretty from the outside.\u201d But the \u201cfight to have repairs done\u201d is one he\u2019s prepared to take on.<\/p>\n
Artist Joline Kwakkenbos in her 18th-storey \u2018concrete nest\u2019, owned by Tracey Emin<\/span> <\/span>\u2018It\u2019s like living in a moving painting, with a seagull that visits every morning\u2019<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n A hulking concrete monolith that has loomed over Margate\u2019s train station and Main Sands since 1963, Arlington House is the town\u2019s most divisive building. To some, it\u2019s a greying, demolition-ready eyesore, and costly to maintain. Others argue it\u2019s a modernist icon, pointing to architect Russell Diplock\u2019s distinctive sawtooth facade, which echoes the waves below \u2014 each of the building\u2019s 142 flats has almost wraparound sea views.\u00a0In the context of a housing crisis, the government\u2019s housebuilding targets of 1.5mn over five years, and concerns over embodied carbon, it\u2019s one of the starkest examples of the central tension over brutalist high-rises in the UK.\u00a0<\/p>\n None of this was quite the plan<\/strong> when the Catford-born Bernard Sunley bought the land in 1961 to construct a \u201cpark-and-buy shopping centre with luxury flats\u201d. Sunley had gone from building airfields during the second world war to becoming one of Britain\u2019s most prominent property developers, but was terminally ill when he submitted drawings \u2014 inspired in part by travels in Cuba and Florida, and his previous developments in the Bahamas \u2014 for the plot that included a shopping arcade, a restaurant, a theatre and a rooftop swimming pool. Though the latter two didn\u2019t make it into Diplock\u2019s final designs, the building opened in December 1963 with a Carrara marble and teak lobby, and crisp white concrete cladding with mica flakes that reflected the sunlight.<\/p>\n But riots between rival youth groups mods and rockers in the spring of 1964 dented Margate\u2019s appeal, and in July 1964 it was mockingly reported in the Daily Mirror that just one person lived at Arlington House. Sunley died later that year, and in 1969, MPRL took over the building. Today, the portfolio of its primary business, Daejan Holdings, includes London apartment blocks and prime commercial buildings, including Holborn\u2019s Africa House, and several addresses on Oxford Street. The founding Freshwater family is reportedly worth around \u00a32.6bn.<\/p>\n High-rises such as Arlington were built in postwar Britain as high-density replacements for bombed homes<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n Many buildings like Arlington House emerged after the second world war \u2014 often erected by councils that needed to replace bombed buildings with high-density housing. In many cases there was a utopian vision: often they were conceived as\u00a0Le Corbusier-influenced \u201cstreets in the sky\u201d. The reality was sometimes quite different. <\/p>\n It\u2019s one of the most architecturally amazing developments of the 1960s. The folded facade is special, and there\u2019s a remarkable quality of space and light inside the flats<\/p>\n Catherine Croft, director of the Twentieth Century Society<\/p>\n Making high-rise brutalist homes and buildings fit for purpose in the 21st century is complicated and expensive \u2014 especially in the wake of 2022\u2019s Building Safety Act, designed to avoid a repeat of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire that killed 72 by reforming regulations for new and existing buildings. Cladding has taken most of the headlines, with the National Audit Office estimating it will cost \u00a316.6bn to fix unsafe cladding on tall buildings in England \u2014 but the regulations have brought a sharp focus on all high-rise buildings.\u00a0<\/p>\n Their fate tends to fall into two camps. Scores of brutalist tower blocks have faced the wrecking ball over the years, including at least a third of Glasgow\u2019s infamous \u201csink estates\u201d and Poplar\u2019s Robin Hood Gardens, an east London council housing estate designed by prominent architects Alison and Peter Smithson. But a handful of blocks have gained listed status, including, in London, the Barbican Estate and Ern\u0151 Goldfinger\u2019s Trellick and Balfron Towers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Catherine Croft, director of the Twentieth Century Society,<\/strong> which campaigns for the protection of buildings, says that Arlington House should be listed, even though a 2011 application to English Heritage failed. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the most architecturally amazing developments of the 1960s,\u201d she says. \u201cThe folded facade is special, and there\u2019s a remarkable quality of space and light inside the flats.\u201d In a statement last year, Emin said: \u201cIf this building were in any European town or city it would have been protected from the beginning.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Making high-rise brutalist icons fit for purpose in the 21st century is complicated and expensive especially since new regulations were introduced in the wake of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire<\/span> <\/span>The Arlington\u2019s residents will potentially be hit with a one-off repair bill of around \u00a35.3mn<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s also the view of many residents in a building where the demographic has shifted, in many ways reflecting the gentrification of Margate itself. While Moss says that the vast majority of residents were retirees when he moved here in 2003, newer arrivals include younger artists, architects and government special advisers. <\/p>\n On the 14th floor, fashion photographer Oliver Marshall describes his west-facing flat \u201cas a mid-century dream that\u2019s second only to living in the Barbican\u201d. Just along the corridor is Nicholas Cullinan, director of the British Museum, who runs the Arlington House Instagram account dedicated to a building, he says, that \u201cspeaks to a moment of vision and optimism in Britain\u201d. The flat he shares with his partner, art dealer Mattias Vendelmans, boasts shimmering mirrored wall panels and Eileen Gray furniture, and was featured on the cover of World of Interiors<\/em> magazine last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n And yet, for many, the narrative around Arlington House is of spalling concrete, rotting windows and derelict public spaces \u2014 including a ground-floor shopping arcade where the remaining joke shop, doughnut shop and tattoo parlour closed in 2009 to make way for a Tesco supermarket that never materialised. <\/p>\n Tom Bradshaw (left) lives in this flat on the 18th floor with his partner Jake Bland, among a breed of arty residents<\/span> <\/span>Bradshaw is the new head of the residents\u2019 association\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009<\/span> <\/span>.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009and wears his Arlington House tattoo with pride<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n Some residents have long been at odds with MPRL and building managers Highdorn, both part of the Freshwater Group. As well as tribunals over service charges, including a 2019 case that resulted in around \u00a3105,000 being refunded to leaseholders, there have also been disagreements around maintaining the building\u2019s mid-century aesthetic. Last year, Emin was part of a high-profile campaign to block MPRL\u2019s plans to replace the original aluminium sliding windows with modern tilt-and-turn windows, which the artist argued were \u201cbulky, unsuitable and inappropriate\u201d and would have \u201cruined the facade\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n These grievances are coming to a head this autumn, with residents potentially facing a bill of around \u00a35.3mn, which Moss alleges could mean an average of more than \u00a337,000 per flat \u2014 more than some paid for their homes \u2014 to pay for significant issues including repairs to the exterior and roof, and a faulty fire alarm system. It\u2019s a response to a Hazard Awareness Notice issued by the Building Safety Regulator and Thanet District Council earlier this year.<\/p>\n \u201cThe charges are unreasonable,\u201d alleges Tom Bradshaw, an ecommerce manager who lives on the 18th floor with his partner Jake Bland, and is the new head of the building\u2019s residents\u2019 association. He points to an estimated \u00a31.2mn charge for scaffolding. \u201cThere\u2019s a lack of proper communication, which is stressful for those who can\u2019t afford the kinds of sums involved.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Russell Diplock\u2019s building opened in December 1963\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009<\/span> <\/span>… with a Carrara marble and teak lobby<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n Arlington House is far from alone as a brutalist block facing maintenance challenges and escalating costs. Refurbishments of Poplar\u2019s Balfron Tower have been widely criticised, with Croft labelling the result an \u201cersatz hybrid\u201d. The building has been in the news recently for its two lifts breaking down, leaving some disabled residents stranded in their flats. \u201cThere is often a lot of short-termism and lack of maintenance with these kinds of buildings,\u201d says Croft. \u201cThey are difficult to organise and manage, and often freeholders don\u2019t understand how to sensitively tackle their very specific problems.\u201d<\/p>\n At the Grade II-listed Golden Lane Estate in the City of London, by the same architects as the nearby Barbican, the quote for a mass refurbishment of the 559-home 1950s estate has ballooned from \u00a329mn to \u00a3105mn; partly the result of more extensive fire safety and fabric repair works to meet Building Safety Act standards. With approximately half of the estate privately owned, it\u2019s unclear how the cost might be split between leaseholders and the City of London.\u00a0<\/p>\n Diplock\u2019s sawtooth facade echoes the waves below and provides sea views <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n To some, demolition is the answer. Alongside a report last year on the UK\u2019s high-rise buildings by the Policy Exchange think-tank, journalist Peter Hitchens questioned the \u201crash and much-regretted tower-block frenzy of the 1960s\u201d, saying that his instinctive reaction was to \u201cpull [tower blocks] all down if I could\u201d, before conceding that another way was possible. Create Streets, a research institute and think-tank founded by Nicholas Boys Smith, has long argued that London\u2019s high rises should be replaced with low-rise terraced homes.<\/p>\n But there are also examples of well-received repurposing projects. Developer Urban Splash has twice been nominated for the Stirling Prize, in 2013 and 2024, for its ambitious regeneration of Sheffield\u2019s vast Park Hill estate, which is listed. Originally built in 1961 with 1,160 dwellings inspired by Le Corbusier\u2019s Unit\u00e9 d\u2019Habitation in Marseille, a two-phase project costing more than \u00a3100mn has remodelled much of the estate, adding student accommodation, workspaces and space for businesses including a nursery and caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n Residents David and Elizabeth Walker are active in the campaign to protect Arlington House: \u2018It\u2019s such a crisp architectural statement, even more so because it feels slightly out of place\u2019<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n At Arlington House, there may be little hope for <\/strong>a change of listing status \u2014 though whether that would be a blessing or a curse remains in doubt given the jump in costs generally involved in maintaining a listed building. But there is at least a sense of momentum behind an increasingly passionate and motivated group of residents \u2014 who have taken on their own role as a quasi protection committee.\u00a0 <\/p>\n David and Elizabeth Walker are among the building\u2019s more active residents. They met while working at an architecture firm, and have lived on the 16th floor since 2017, enjoying the \u201cWhere\u2019s Wally?\u201d-esque scenes around the station below almost as much as the sunsets. <\/p>\n According to Tracey Emin, \u2018If this building were in any European town or city it would have been protected from the beginning\u2019\u00a0<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n With experience of contracting for major architectural projects, they\u2019ve recently been digging into the small print of the \u00a35.3mn quote, including the possibility of using mast climbers \u2014 platforms that move up and down a vertical mast, and would have less of a visual impact than scaffolding \u2014 for the exterior works. <\/p>\n Don\u2019t miss our weekly newsletter, an inspiring, informative edit of the news and trends in global property, interiors, architecture and gardens. Sign up here.<\/p>\n Like so many at Arlington House, they\u2019re spurred on by a love for the building. \u201cIt\u2019s such a crisp architectural statement, even more so because it feels slightly out of place,\u201d says David. \u201cA lot of the people who hate it have never been inside. It\u2019s not just the light in the flats that we love, but the really interesting mix of people who live in the building. The WhatsApp group can get spicy, but it\u2019s generally such a friendly and supportive community.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard not to imagine what it could be like if it were properly refurbished, and shown some love,\u201d he adds, noting that a clean could see the building returned to its original white. \u201cIt could be a true icon, in all the right ways.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n MPRL\/Highdorn didn\u2019t respond to requests to comment<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0Find out about our latest stories first \u2014 follow<\/em> @ft_houseandhome<\/em> on Instagram<\/em><\/p>\nHouse & Home Unlocked<\/h3>\n