Sheep magazine Archive 2: issues 10-17

Other inclusions were to have been two
swimming pools, one indoors and one
outdoors and also a wading pool. There
were to have been playgrounds and lawns.
The original plan was changed slightly
and the pools were replaced by a bowling
green and tennis courts, but never built.
There was of course a communal laundry
including driers.
Waste disposal also had to be considered
and after Livett had visited France it was
decided to employ the ‘Garchey’ system
of disposal. The waste was stored in a
receptacle under the kitchen sink and
when there was a convenient amount it
was flushed with the water from the sink
and into the waste stack and then onto
a central processing plant where it was
dried and then burnt in an incinerator. The
idea was to use this to heat the swimming
pools but this was never put in place.
The system also had its negative side,
there was fracturing in the stacks and this
caused bad smells and also difficulty in
cleaning problems under sinks. However,
on a positive note, the Karl Marx Hof flats
in Vienna did not have lifts, but Quarry
Hill flats would have eighty-eight lifts each
capable of carrying two passengers and
obviously an improvement on Vienna’s
flats.
At last, in 1938 people started to move
into the flats. Life was so different and
better now for those who had been living
in unsanitary and unacceptable conditions.
These brand new homes had the benefit of
spacious living with areas for the children
to play in. Other benefits were shops, and
also nearby was ‘Tommy’ Tomasso’s shop.
People might also remember Emmet’s fish
and chip shop too.
There was a heavy blow about to be
announced to the tenants in the 1970s. It
was discovered that the steel frame within
the flats was decaying and the decision was
made to demolish them. This happened
in 1978 despite campaigns from tenants
for them to be renovated, but due to social
problems and poor maintenance, the
Quarry Hill Flats were demolished in 1978.
A book by the photographer Peter Mitchell
captures the demolition of this great social
experiment, and by inclusion also tells the
story of the Quarry Hill Flats development,
the book is available from RRB Publishing,
which is a division of RRB Photobooks Ltd.
Bristol, UK
www.rrbphotobooks.com
www.rrbpublishing.com
43
MAY DAY 2016