If you like our hell-hole so much, come and live here, top architect told: Challenge to Lord Rogers over tower block campaign

  • Residents of Robin Hood Gardens challenged Lord Rogers to live in block
  • Architect behind Brutalist building said it should be saved from demolition
  • Residents suggested he swap his £12m Chelsea townhouse for a night in one of their blighted flats
  • The architect wants to give the estate, which opened in 1972, listed status 

By TANIA STEERE FOR THE DAILY MAIL

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Lord Rogers described the Brutalist masterpiece as the 'best piece of social and architectural thinking in the last 50 years' 

Lord Rogers described the Brutalist masterpiece as the 'best piece of social and architectural thinking in the last 50 years' 

It is a towering bleak council estate that has become a crumbling eyesore with even residents unhappy with their living conditions.

But for architect Lord Rogers, it is Brutalist masterpiece that needs to be saved for its architectural merit.

Now, however, residents of Robin Hood Gardens in East London have challenged him to experience life there for himself as he campaigns to save it from demolition. 

Residents have suggested he swap his £12million Chelsea townhouse, where he lives with his wife, for a few nights in one of their blighted flats.

Alfred Harris, 55, a hygiene officer, invited Lord Rogers to stay in his two-bedroom home. 

He told The Daily Telegraph: 'The ceiling is almost constantly leaking. I go to the office and tell them, but they ask me to fill out another form. Who knows when someone from maintenance will actually come round?

'I would happily have him live with me for a bit to experience what it's like to live in this place.'

But for Lord Rogers, the architect behind the Millennium Dome and the Pompidou Centre, the development is 'the best piece of social and architectural thinking in the last 50 years'.

He was asked yesterday by residents if he would be happy to live there and he replied: 'Absolutely'.

But Shamin Sattar, 25, a British Airways worker who lives on the estate with her family, added: 'If only he knew what we were going through I'm sure he wouldn't want to save the building. It should be knocked down.'

Residents of Robin Hood Gardens in East London (pictured) have challenged him to experience life there for himself as he campaigns to save it from demolition

Residents of Robin Hood Gardens in East London (pictured) have challenged him to experience life there for himself as he campaigns to save it from demolition

Lord Rogers took his campaign to preserve the estate to BBC Radio 4's Today programme yesterday.

He has asked 300 leading architects to lobby the heritage minister, Tracey Crouch, to give the Robin Hood Gardens estate, in Poplar, which opened in 1972, listed status.

The last attempt in 2009 collapsed when English Heritage said it 'fails as a place for human beings to live'.

Lord Rogers had not responded to the residents' invitation last night.

 

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