Will Robin Hood Gardens Be Listed At Last?

Architect Richard Rogers is renewing attempts to have Robin Hood Gardens – a residential estate in east London designed in the 60s by Alison and Peter Smithson – listed, writing to some 300 leading professionals in the construction industry to ask them to lend their support to the campaign.

According to Architects Journal, the listing recommendations for the site could be put before Tracey Crouch, new heritage minister, by today (June 19th), although it’s possible that the campaigners may have time to drum up even more support as Historic England is still to submit its report.

“Last time listing was considered the views of the architectural community were ignored but we believe there is now a real chance of saving the building for posterity but only if the minister hears, first hand, the views of the profession on the architectural merits of these exceptional buildings,” Mr Rogers said.

Back in 2008, a campaign was launched by the Twentieth Century Society and Building Design magazine to have the estate listed as a historical landmark but English Heritage did not back the idea because it failed to meet criteria for listed post-war buildings.

Completed in 1972, Robin Hood Gardens features two concrete blocks that serve as very effective noise barriers against the Blackwall Tunnel, a landscaped garden at street level that separates the concrete blocks and the acoustic walls. Sadly, the garden – which the architects imagined would operate as places where people could come and relax – became a hotbed for criminal activity instead.

Stockport architects and others – do you support the campaign to have Robin Hood Gardens listed? Let us know.