Queens Park Flats

The site of the former Queens Park Flats in Layton, Blackpool, is now transformed by redevelopment with new homes. It was once the site of the only high rise tower blocks on the Blackpool skyline.

New Homes at Queens Park

In 2011 the decision was made to demolish the notorious Queens Park estate. Doing so would make way for a new, attractive safe neighbourhood.

The £22 Million transformation is now complete. An area once blighted with anti- social behaviour and a high turnover of residents is now a vibrant new neighbourhood.

Not a pleasant place to live…

While the imposing tower blocks offered impressive views, they had social and environmental issues that gave the estate a bad name.

Residents of the high rise flats regularly complained of draughty properties, damp, and anti-social behaviour. The estate often made front page news following criminal activity. The turnover rate of 25%, compared to the council’s house average of 13.5%. According to a Status Survey, satisfaction levels in terms of overall quality of home, general condition of property, the neighbourhood as a place to live and value for money for rent were the lowest in Blackpool. The design and layout of the estate resulted in considerable security costs, leading to high service charges for residents.

Demolish and rebuild

Extensive consultation was first carried out with local residents. But knocking it down, in two phases, would make way for 191 new Council apartments and family homes.

It was extremely challenging to deliver the re-development. Of course the existing residents had to be taken into account. Tenants of Blackpool Coastal Housing were able to stay on the estate and move into the new homes. Then five tower blocks demolished in a very tight space. As if that’s not enough, existing services infrastructure determined the entirely new site layout.

The first two blocks were carefully demolished piece by piece. Then the second phase began with the explosive demolition of the three remaining tower blocks, watched by thousands of local residents. There’s more about that below.

Now there’s 191 flats and family homes there and a brand new playground. Turnover now averages at 5% a year and every property is occupied.

Demolition of Queens Park Flats

The day dawned for Elizabeth Court, Churchill Court and Walter Robinson Court! From 8am on the day around 700 residents nearby were evacuated to support centres. Then at 10am on Sunday 31 July 2016 controlled explosion demolished all three buildings. Two blocks had previously been dismantled piece by piece.

The Aftermath

Thanks to Juliette Gregson for photos from demolition day.

And what do you get when you demolish a tower block? A big heap of rubbish and a lot of dust!

A big exclusion zone was in place for the duration of the demolition work. And a big crowd of people gathered to watch this historic event, take photos and video it happening.

Here’s a close-up view of the explosion and demolition!

Two 17-storey concrete tower blocks, Charles Court and Ashworth Court, had already been demolished bit by bit in 2014.

Watch this fascinating time-lapse video of their demolition by contractors PP O’Connor Ltd.

More about Queens Park Flats

Queens Park isn’t far from Blackpool seafront. For many years the five distinctive tower blocks formed a landmark on the Blackpool skyline.

Queen’s Park Estate Flats began to be built in 1962 on the site of many terraced houses and shops. It was known locally as Queenstown – a village within a town. Its streets included St Joseph’s Road, with Talbot Road Post Office on its corner with Talbot Road, and Heyes Bros shop in its centre. A detached Victorian Villa was replaced by the new shops on Talbot Road. 495 flats were built in the five high rise blocks and 12 maisonette buildings.

The next photo was taken in 2015 from the roof of Sainsbury’s car park in Blackpool.

Juliette Gregson documented the flats before their demolition began.