Refurbishment to Blackbird Leys' five tower blocks are all set to begin

At a launch event on Wednesday for people to find out more about the scheme, Oxford City Councillor Mike Rowley told contractors: “Welcome back to Blackbird Leys.”

Site setting-up in Evenlode has already begun and the tower will shortly become the first to receive a makeover, ahead of Windrush, also in Blackbird Leys.

Hockmore Tower in Cowley, Foresters in Wood Farm and Plowman in Northway are all also due to get major refurbishment in the coming years.

Speaking at the event on Wednesday, Mr Rowley, the city council’s board member for housing, said: “Despite very difficult financial circumstances, the council has lived up to its commitment to spend £20m providing decent homes for nearly 1,000 current residents, and the next generation.

“This will save a small fortune in bills and improve the quality of life for residents. Those of you who to live in them or have seen Evenlode know they are beginning to decay.”

Addressing contractor Willmott Dixon, which built the Leys Pools and Leisure Centre in 2014, he added: “Welcome back to Blackbird Leys.

“I know I told you ‘I’m now officially off your backs’ before, but I’m a politician and you shouldn’t believe anything I say.”

Tower residents – some with children in tow – and local politicians spent the afternoon mingling with Willmott Dixon representatives, who gave more details on the plans.

As well as the works already described including over-cladding, improvements to heating systems, electrics and windows, residents will also be able to get digital TV.

Willmott Dixon director of energy services Rob Lambe said: “The works we are doing are certainly not without challenge.

“The work will not only change the skyline of Oxford and extend the life of the towers. It will significantly benefit the lives of residents, and our success will not only be measured by business metrics but in terms of the impact it has on residents and the wider community.”

Long-standing residents said they were generally impressed with the plans they had seen so far.

Guiseppina Lubrano, of Hockmore Tower, said she would like her block to have a real garden.

She said: “If everything goes how I was told, it will be beautiful. I’m looking forward to seeing Hockmore completely renovated. Unfortunately it hasn’t got a garden and the only thing I do hope we will have is a nice new entrance.”

Mike Morris, of Windrush, added: “I’ve had my flat done already but I think the plans are very good indeed.”

THE WORKS PLANNED

WORK on each of Oxford’s tower blocks will take about 52 weeks to complete, with refurbishments staggered over the course of two years.

A site set-up is now under way at Evenlode in Blackbird Leys, with mast climbers – rising platforms for workers to reach upper floors – due to be attached at the end of March along with scaffolding around the base. A deck will be built over the only entrance to make sure residents can get in and out safely. 

According to Willmott Dixon operations manager Alex Sanderson, work on Evenlode is due to start in April and end in January or February next year.

Over-cladding and roof work will be done first, followed by internal modifications in the flats. 

• How Plowman Tower will look in the future

• An artist’s impression of what Hockmore Tower will look like

• An artist’s impression of what the new-look Evenlode Tower will look like

•  An artist’s impression of what Forester Tower will look like

• An artist’s impression of what Windrush Tower will look like

Alongside new windows, residents will see their old heating systems replaced with new electrical panel heaters, and sprinklers installed throughout.

Mr Sanderson said: “The sprinkler system is now the standard used across all new builds. The only difference is they are being ‘retro-fitted’.

“The lifts are being repaired and upgraded. In some of them it’s not things you can see but the carriages are being replaced in Hockmore.”

He added: “Hockmore will be more of a challenge, in terms of management and equipment and labour, because it’s four storeys up on top of a shopping centre.”

Once work is completed the flats can choose between digital, freeview or cable TV. Satellite television is currently only available in half the flats.

The same setting-up process is expected to begin at Windrush Tower in early March.

WHAT THE TENANTS SAY

Blackbird Leys resident Brenda Walton, 70, sits on Oxford Tenants Scrutiny Panel, which gives feedback to the council from its tenants.

Her parents, two of the original tenants of Kestrel Crescent when the estate was first built, moved to Windrush Tower in 1968. 

She said: “It was like a little village then. Everybody knew everybody else. My kids used to visit them and they loved it.”

Mrs Walton, who now lives in Sorrell Road, said that council tenants – who account for 239 of the 290 flats in Oxford’s towers – were looking forward to the works.

• From left, residents Brenda Walton, Giuseppina Lubrano, Mike Morris, Elizabeth Helliwell and Jimmy Keaveney at Evenlode Tower

She said: “All of those I’ve spoken to are really keen about the refurbishment. Most are keen on the fact that the balconies will be enclosed and the heating bills will go down. The flats will also be safer because of the sprinkler systems. They know there is going to be interference, but they are willing to put up with it.

“There has been a big fuss about the leaseholders, but from the tenants’ point of view, the feeling is ‘Let’s get this done so we can enjoy living here for a bit longer’. And I know my mum and dad would have loved it.”

YEARS OF DELAYS AND EVER-GROWING PLOTS

Years ago when the towers refurbishment project was first being planned the projected cost was about £8m.

Later this would jump to £16.6m, then to £18.36m in July 2014, finally topping £20m in May 2015.

The final sum was raised from the council’s housing budget, which includes tenants’ rents.

Last year it was briefly feared that the project would stall again after changes to government policy created a £33.6m “black hole” in finances, but it had already been paid for.

The council is attempting to charge 51 leaseholder households for repairs.

Provisional bills sent to leaseholders are around the £50,000 mark but will be determined by HMCTS.