Nightingale Estate, E5 (geograph 3195479)

The Nightingale Estate is located in the Lower Clapton area of the

London Borough of Hackney London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, next to

Hackney Downs Hackney Downs is a park and an area of historically common land in the Lower Clapton area of the London Borough of Hackney. The name is sometimes also used to apply to the neighbourhood around the park. Hackney Downs Park The Downs open space ...

. The estate originally consisted of six 22 story

tower block A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently ...

s, but was redeveloped between 2003-2006 and replaced with mostly

low-rise building A low-rise is a building that is only a few stories tall or any building that is shorter than a high-rise, though others include the classification of mid-rise. Definition Emporis defines a low-rise as "an enclosed structure below 35 metres 15 ...

s. Only one of the towers, ''Seaton Point'', still remains.

History

The original six , 22 story Nightingale Estate blocks were approved and built in 1968 by the then

Greater London Council The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...

. These were: *Seaton Point, distinguishable by its chimney *Embley Point *Farnell Point *Rachel Point *Rathbone Point *Southerland Point Nightingale Estate Hackney 1980

In the late 1980s/early 1990s, the flats fell into disrepair. Rising problems of crime and anti-social behaviour on the estate led to some residents taking action. As part of a then

UK Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

regeneration scheme,

Hackney Council Hackney London Borough Council is the local government authority for the London Borough of Hackney, London, England, one of 32 London borough councils. The council is unusual in the United Kingdom local government system in that its executive fu ...

drew up plans to redevelop the estate which led to five of the blocks (with the exception of Seaton Point), being demolished. Farnell Point was the first to be felled by implosion in July 1998, followed by Embley Point and Southerland Point in December 2000. Finally, Rathbone Point and Rachel Point were demolished in November 2003. Between 2003-2006, a redevelopment saw low-rise housing built to replace the demolished towers. In 2017,

announced a £200 million plan to construct 400 homes on the site, in addition to 300 built earlier.

In popular culture

Embley Point was home to London

pirate radio Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially w ...

stations in the early 1990s including

Kool FM Kool London, also known as Kool FM, is a former London pirate radio station that now broadcasts as an internet radio station, playing jungle, drum and bass, and old skool. Kool is generally regarded as being instrumental in the development ...

. One such station ''Rush FM'', was subject to a high-profile raid in July 1993 resulting in media coverage about alleged drug and rave party links to stations operating from the estate. The estate is represented on the artwork for the first three singles released 1994 by

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

act

Spring Heel Jack Spring Heel Jack is an English electronic music duo, consisting of John Coxon and Ashley Wales. Formed in 1993 in London, England, Spring Heel Jack began their career exploring drum and bass and jungle, but have since branched out into free ...

- member Ashley Wales lived at Rachel Point. It has also featured in the

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

s of bands Travis,

Suede Suede (pronounced ) is a type of leather with a fuzzy, napped finish, commonly used for jackets, shoes, fabrics, purses, furniture, and other items. The term comes from the French , which literally means "gloves from Sweden". The term was fir ...

, and Blur. Seaton Point is the setting for the 1998 novel of the same name, edited by

Robert Dellar Robert Dellar (16 December 1964 – 17 December 2016) was an activist, musician and poet who founded Mad Pride with others. He died of a pulmonary embolism Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blockage of an artery in the lungs by a substance that has ...

and contributed to by him amongst other authors. The BBC television show ''

Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...

'' used the estate demolition as part of a stunt for the 'indestructible'

Toyota Hilux The , stylized as HiLux and historically as Hi-Lux, is a series of pickup trucks produced and marketed by the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota. The majority of these vehicles are sold as pickup truck or cab chassis variants, although they ...

, which was hoisted onto the roof of Rachel Point. The car still worked after the demolition and was placed on the wall of the ''Top Gear'' studios.

References

External links

Nightingale Estate
at Hackney.gov.uk {{coords, 51.557, -0.060, display=title Residential buildings completed in 1968 Former buildings and structures in the London Borough of Hackney Housing estates in the London Borough of Hackney 1968 in London Clapton, London