Upperthorpe Towers (Sheffield) | residential neighbourhood

 residential neighbourhood  Add category

Alongside the bottom section of Crookesmoor Recreation Ground is a line of towerblocks, which are in the district of Upperthorpe. The lower three were completed in 1959, and later the top 4 joined them to be completed 2 years later in 1961. These blocks originally the same style as the single bedroom blocks at Callow Mount, were modernised and reclad between 1993 and 1996 at a cost to the council of £7 Million.

The principle reason for the refurbishment was that the thermal insulation was extremely poor and it was making the living conditions bad for the residents because heating had become expensive and difficult to afford for people on low incomes. Insulation was not an important consideration when the towers were originally built because fuel was much cheaper in 1960 and it was not something which anyone thought of as a priority. The lack of insulation and poor state of the buildings was blamed on some of the health problems of the residents, as evidenced by damp apartments. Also the Co2 immissions for the blocks was below that required by the UK government, security was an issue, there were vacant flats and problems with residents wanting to move out due to the poor quality of the accommodation. By improving the blocks the owners ( Sheffield Council ) wanted to increase the value of the property, and their desirability which would make it much easier for them to be let to tenants.

The blocks were wrapped in rockwool, then clad with an aluminium rainscreen, the underfloor heating was replaced with a municipal gas fired heating scheme, and the open balconies were enclosed with glass. All windows were replaced with sealed double glazed units.

The flats had an existing problem referred to as "cold bridging" where each floor slab was exposed all the way around at it's edge as part of the external wall of each tower, this had the effect of cooling the floors and was solved with the new cladding method.

The first 4 blocks were completed by 1994, the final 3 were complete by 1996. By 1998 the same contractors "Henry Boot" had also improved the 4 similar Netherthorpe blocks ¼ of a mile away toward the city centre.