New 'West Central' Apartments, Stoke Gardens

 

 

‘West Central’ development, seen from Stoke Gardens

 

Remember the scaffolded development in this post? Well, this is what hatched: a pair of joined six-storey cuboids containing apartments of varying size and  going under the suitably generic name ‘West Central’. The building was erected by Barratt Homes, who in the past earned a reputation for bland, uninspired, low-quality housing; this development clearly seeks to be a more modern, chic approach to er, bland, uninspired housing.

 

Echoes of the 60’s tower blocks we looked at in the last few posts are clear (even if these aren't as tall): flat roofs, geometric design, minimalist colour scheme, rendered finish. Variation in window size and subtle asymmetry prevent it from being too stultifying, although the awkwardly-included, poorly-positioned and stingily-proportioned little oriel windows poking out of the side give the development a rather cold, almost institutional feel– oriel windows are meant to be fun, not sharp, mean and intimidating. Some good weather above works well with the colour scheme in this shot, but the building is not so fortunate when Slough’s usual drab climate takes over.

 

So, nothing to write home about; another dull design and another instance of high-density developments being squeezed into the central ward of Slough. Two-bed flats were advertised online at £236k, with one-bed flats being listed at around £170k in November of last year; even at these eye-watering prices I’m sure every last inch will be snapped up, such is the demand in Slough at the moment– dull homes and desperation get on like a Barratt house on fire.

 

 

‘West Central’ development as seen from Grays Road.

 

Following from the last post, here’s the new West Central block development as it appears as part of the neighbourhood. Here’s a fun game: compare this view with the one in this post. In that picture, Tower House, a minimalist multi-storey cuboid, looms over its low-rise neighbours and is scheduled for demolition, finally erasing the last traces of the unpopular 1960s experiment with high-rise high-density housing; meanwhile, the brand, spanking new West Central, a minimalist multi-storey cuboid, er, looms over its low-rise neighbours and heralds the first chapter of a brave new world that we’ve, er, seen before and rejected. Like a game of whack-a-mole the moment one goes down another pops up somewhere else, identical to the last, and the town’s housing policy seems ever more absurd.