Concretopia A Journey Around The Rebuilding Of Postwar Britain

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John Grindrod: Concretopia A Journey Around The Rebuilding Of Postwar Britain (Paperback, 2013, Old Street Publishing Ltd)

Paperback, 440 pages

English language

Published July 7, 2013 by Old Street Publishing Ltd.

ISBN:
978-1-908699-89-3
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(3 reviews)

Tower blocks. Flyovers. Streets in the sky. Once. This was the future.

How did 'austerity Britain' become a space-age world of concrete, steel and glass? John Grindrod set out from his home town of Croydon on a journey around the country to find out. Along the way he visited new towns, blitzed cities, high-rise flats and shopping centres, and met the people who built and lived the postwar dream.

2 editions

reviewed Concretopia A Journey Around The Rebuilding Of Postwar Britain by John Grindrod

None

How the UK built advanced housing and then stopped doing so, in a history that goes from the Barbican to Ronan Point. Being written 10 years ago it doesn't include Grenfell which was yet another wake-up call for the developers of corner-cut housing. Though it isn't all bad. The covering of fields with Barrett homes, reliant utterly on the car and some kind of misguided suburban dream (to build the suburbs without the 'urbs'), isn't the only way. This book indicates that once there was a way to get back homes. 

reviewed Concretopia A Journey Around The Rebuilding Of Postwar Britain by John Grindrod

Concretopia A Journey Around The Rebuilding Of Postwar Britain by John Grindrod

An enoyable non-fiction read on a subject - the postwar rebuilding of homes in Britain - that does not immediately suggest that it would be so engaging. As I read I was struck by how many of the places of my life - Cwmbran, Hemel Hempstead, Plymouth, Milton Keynes, etc. - featured in the book, but if you are interested in mid-century modern design, brutalism, etc. then there's something here for you even if you don't know these places.

I'd score it 4 out of 5, it misses out on a higher score for the (frankly lazy) mistake of stating Cwmbran's location as being "between Cardiff and Newport", a 30 second look on Google maps would've shown this as nonsense.

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Subjects

  • Brutalism (Architecture)
  • Architecture
  • History
  • Architecture and society
  • New towns
  • World War, 1939-1945
  • Influence