Council house looks like council house

[OdiesMum]

Why do councils insist on making their properties look like council properties?
I’m referring to a council estate in my city. It’s a terrible estate, bad reputation, horrible place to live (I used to live there). Anyway they pulled down the high rise flats and the crappy 70s council houses on the main road going through the estate and started building new houses. They looked lovely, modern new builds, you would never have known they were council ... really improved the look of the area. Once they were finished guess what the council did? They stuck bright blue tacky cladding all down the sides of them that just screamed out “council”. Ruined the look immediately. Why do they do this? Why put crappy cladding all over everything?? Why do they insist on council properties LOOKING like council properties?

Well I hope it’s not flammable blue cladding?

The only way you know they are council round here is everyone has the same door.

More and more private/non-HA/non-ex-HA houses in our town are having their front doors changed for these new dull brown corporate-style ones with the long bar rather than a handle/knob. Not only do they look like the door to an office block rather than a family residence, but the more people go for them, the less unique they get!

By contrast, we had a large local business close some time ago and the land was acquired by the HA. They've not long finished the new flats and, every time I drive past them, I'm really taken by just how attractive they are - for any private housing, not just HA.

My grandparents council house didn't 'look' council. They had a lovely little porch, a beautiful and lush front garden, and the inside, as a pp said, was like a Tardis. They did have flats behind them, one block was very ugly and grey cladding, the other was a small building that looked a bit like an office block (not particularly ugly for its time).

I hate the look of terraced estates to be honest. They look awful, a load of cheaply built 2up2downs privately bought and not maintained in the slightest. Give me 'council look' any day, even with cladding (hopefully the non-flammable kind ).

Whenever we drive through a nice 60's/70's estate with solid brick houses, good sized gardens, wide roads and pavements, and green areas I know it was built as a council estate. They are fantastic homes and environments.

Ones built since then tend not to be, although there are exceptions. I used to work for a housing association and we had new homes on a very fancy new estate. Yes, they were grouped together at the edge, and had cheaper fittings, but in some respects they were better as they had to meet our minimum standards eg bedroom sizes. Our surveyor snagged them early on and had all the windows replaced - the ones built for private sales kept those same windows.

I have a friend who lives in a new build council house and the rest of the homes are private development they are all identical and you’d not know it was council. There is no way to tell them apart.

However on saying that there is a council house look and many people and most folks can identify many council houses just by looking, I’m not sure why anyone is pretending otherwise. For many of them you can tell they are council or ex council immediately.

Why do they always have tiny windows? Not every window, but at least one window will be the tiniest window you've ever seen.

A dd has an ex council, most in the road are owned now but you can always tell those - different front door and often a porch added to what was a more or less identikit brick flat front.

They are very good houses IMO, relatively spacious compared to so many new builds. Even the 3rd bedroom is a very good sized single.

Incidentally the former owners bought it from the council in 1971 - well before Thatcher. They paid almost exactly a hundredth of what dd paid.

Why are would any council or any builder use cladding on any building after that horrendous fire?

Around our way they all have those small concrete porch squares over the doors

I worked as a housing officer on a lovely 1950s council estate that had a few detached houses, most of that estate has been sold via RTB. I've also worked in blocks of flats that were dank and dismal, same LA.

I'd have loved a council house in the 70s when our children were young. We had to make do with a private rented hovel until we could buy a house. We had the nerve to move a couple of hundred miles, didn't go down well when we tried to put our name down. How times, and lettings policies change.

Council estates have a look, and those who are denying so are being pedantic.

Not all council housing is on estates, though. It never was.

We think of the typical ugly, uniform looking “estate” council houses as being the archetypal “council house” but actually you’d be surprised which homes are social housing or ex-council.

Maybe the council got the cladding
from someone’s pal at a knock down rate. As soon as I hear the word “cladding” I shudder

My first house was a privately owned Victorian Terraced two bedroom and a bathroom type of place. Everyone chose their own front door and what colour they painted it was entirely their own business. The street had character and a sense of Community, some people lived out their whole lives in the same house, and everyone knew and helped each other.
Then along came a regeneration project for the whole area, the council offered a package of upgrades and Modernisations to all the homeowners for a bargain price, and those who refused were given a compulsory purchase order and helped to move into alternative accommodation, mostly a rented council house.

The destruction then really began, every house had the same white plastic window frames and front door, every kitchen and bathroom were identical cheap utility standard bulk buy rubbish, all plastic fronted kitchen Door units with imitation wood design and a grey worktop, gone were the lovely old Belfast sinks just ripped out and thrown into the skip. Every house stripped of its wallpaper, replastered and left with Magnolia internal walls and white gloss wood work.

The previous character of the street completely obliterated, until it was difficult to remember who once lived where, or for the older folk who remained to find their own front door amongst this sea of White. The council had turned the place into a mainly Housing association owned and Maintained community, destroyed the heritage and long relationships between neighbours some more than half a century long, my parents included. So sad to see a place so badly destroyed all in the name of so called Community regeneration.

Building standards for HA properties means they are actually often far larger and better quality than privately built ones. (I'm in Scoltnad, may be different elsewhere).

Here in Scotland i feel for those that have to live in the "4 in a block" housing that is everywhere. My BF lives in one, it is hellish, the noise from upstairs when the walk across the floor is so loud, if you happen to be in the tiny 5x6 bathroom at the same time upstairs is having a wee it sounds like rain hitting a tin roof, you are sat there feeling like someone is weeing on your head. As the bathroom is beside the shared path nothing is private. You hear everything from the house next door and from above, you hear them turning over in bed, having sex, placing their knife and fork on a plate etc. You hear every ping of a text and every conversation, my friend knows her neighbours bank details because she has heard them on the phone, you can't help but hear. Bloody awful way to live, the buildings should be demolished. Shameful way expect people to live.

I've got a new build council estate Close to me. They look like lovely houses. I envy want one who has one!

Cheaper kitchen installed
this is incorrect. They actually go for the high end of quality, much better then what many home owners buy for themselves.

It's cost. The council's have to prove value for tax payer money, so they are required to go with the most basic options that the contractor offers, which is why it always ends up being the same/similar materials.

To the pp who asked about tiny windows, same reason! Glass is more expensive than bricks, smaller windows are cheaper.

For those lamenting the change from Victorian architecture, that was only possible due to us exploiting the colonies. The cost today would be billions.

This is all from fascinating comments my architect DH makes on car journeys btw

NB should say that some of the newer housing can be built differently because councils can sell land to developers on condition that X % of the homes are handed back to the council as affordable homes. These are built in the style/materials of the private homes, but usually with some differences eg lower spec kitchens and lower quality communal areas in flats, because the service charges will be much lower for the upkeep.

@vivainsomnia

Cheaper kitchen installed this is incorrect. They actually go for the high end of quality, much better then what many home owners buy for themselves.

Both are probably true, just in different areas. Policies do vary a lot between councils, for housing and everything else.

Council tenant here, living in a street of mainly privately owned homes bought from the council years ago. All of us council tenants have had our steps and windows painted bright red without any say in the matter, basically branding us so people know which are the council houses!

It's easy to spot a Council house, they all have a clapped out Ford Cortina in the front garden

Professionally I work on many construction projects which have a mix of HA and private residences. For the vast majority, the only difference between them are the internal fit out. The external fabric of the building is the same no matter who is the end user. A developer will use the cheapest of materials to construct the home whether it is HA or private. Someone coming to buy the house won’t look at the windows or external walls to decide whether the house is worth paying for, they look at the quality of the kitchen and bathroom fittings.

The reason the look of HA/Council estates can be different, is because many have bought in to initiatives such as “places for people” which is quite specific about requirements for buildings and communal spaces. They often focus more on sustainability and environmental issues so the lack of a garage or driveway is because they are looking to reduce the number of cars in the area, not because of any legislation that says new private homes have to have garages (they don’t - that is market driven) These areas are more likely to have the planning gain aspects like amenity buildings because the council can’t be seen to be trying to avoid them being part of a project. This changes the look of an area too.

The look of the buildings externally is driven by architectural trends and planning. These colourful cladding panels are all the rage at the moment and are common to pretty much any resi project I’m on both public and private. Perhaps the reason you’re seeing them more on council projects is, these types of housing, more flatted or multiple occupancy buildings are currently more likely to be council led at the moment. Developers are focussing more on larger semi or detached developments as profits are better and its where the market currently lies.

It isn’t being done to somehow “badge” these buildings, but more because of individual HAs having the same architects who design for them across multiple projects, and the HA having their own preferred look. It’s the same thing as a Persimmon estate looking different from a Barratt estate or a Taylor Wimpey one.

Why are would any council or any builder use cladding on any building after that horrendous fire?

Because not all cladding is created equal. Cladding is a perfectly acceptable external wall finish if the correct spec is chosen and it is installed properly. The failings were not in the choice to have cladding, they were in the choice of which cladding, the checking and sampling process, and the final check of the installation.

There are some councils flats in central London in buildings that look exactly the same as private ones where flats sell for a million pounds. (Paddington to be precise for example).

So it's not always the case.

Oh, and on our private housing estate, the vast majority all have the same doors too.