The estate has 312 flats in three long blocks, linked by covered walkways at ground level.1 It was finished in 1974 and listed for demolition in 2021. Today it is being renovated instead, with most of its residents still living there. We spoke to three of them in the community room on the ground floor of Block B.
What did you think when you heard it would be demolished?
Fatma: Honestly? That they were talking about some other building. Everyone outside called it ugly. Inside, it's light, it's quiet, the flats are bigger than anything new. My kids grew up on those walkways.
How did you start organising?
Ruud: With a tape measure. The report said the flats were too small. So we measured them, every type, and compared them to new ones. Ours were bigger. That was the first meeting where the city people stopped smiling.
“We were never against change. We were against being moved for it.”
Who helped you?
Ines: Two architecture students came to do a project and stayed for three years. A retired engineer from Block C checked the structure himself. We learned words like 'thermal bridge'. Now I correct people at parties.
What is the building like now?
Fatma: Warmer. New windows, a new skin on the outside, the walkways are lit. It still looks like itself. That mattered to us more than we expected.
What would you tell other residents?
Ruud: Measure everything. Write it down. Go to every meeting, and bring food. People are kinder when they've eaten.