Council still thinking about knocking down Barton House, months after residents’ return
Photos: Alexander Turner
The Barton Hill high-rise evacuated just over six months ago could still potentially be knocked down and replaced.
City Hall bosses are are still weighing options for the future of the 15-storey tower block, including both demolition and extensive refurbishment, council sources said this week, but nothing has been decided yet.
The admission came after response on 16 May to a freedom of information (FOI) request request by Bristol 247 journalist Ellie Pipe. This said Bristol City Council had commissioned reports last year exploring the option of demolition, after concerns around structural issues surfaced.
Those fears intensified in November 2023 following a separate review by surveyors that suggested the building could collapse if a fire started, triggering a sudden order for residents to leave their homes.
Hundreds of people were forced into temporary accommodation, with most returning in February after the council said the building had been made safe. Some experts have raised questions about whether it should have done so.
Further information on the building’s future is now expected this summer, as the council completes a review of its tower blocks. Barton House, on Marsh Lane near the Feeder Canal, was built in the 1950s and is Bristol’s oldest residential high-rise.
High-rise estates under scrutiny
Back in 2020, the council approved a five-year strategy for managing its housing and associated ‘assets’ on estates such as garage sites. As part of this, its estates were graded according to how expensive they are to maintain and also awarded a ‘social score’ considering. things like nuisance complaint levels, and how quickly people try to move on from estates after getting housed.
Even before the structural problems at Barton House, reports obtained by the Cable via FOI requests had suggested that high-rise estates at Barton Hill and elsewhere could be at risk of demolition.
But the council successfully blocked the release of more detailed information about individual streets or high-rises, and little has been said publicly since then. In the past two years, it has spent millions refurbishing some towers, including in Barton Hill, and replacing flammable cladding.
This work has yet to be carried out at Barton House, although its roof was replaced in 2022 after serious problems with leaks.
The most recent FOI response revealed that two council reports have been written, exploring whether or not the block should be knocked down. But the council argued that it is entitled to withhold the actual reports, and associated emails, because the estates review is still ongoing.
The request asked for “copies of proposals to demolish and replace Barton House made since November 1, 2023”. The response then confirmed these documents do exist.
It said: “Having reviewed the results of the fresh searches, I can advise that the information consists of one internal ‘Options Appraisal’ report for Barton House (with an additional addendum document) from September 2023 prepared for consideration by the service area and senior management boards; a related externally commissioned ‘Development Scenarios’ report for Barton House from November 2023; and emails regarding the commissioning and preparation of both reports.”
In the response, the council said the documents were exempt from freedom of information law, as they are “material in the course of completion”. That means because they form part of a wider review, they don’t have to release the information until that review is completed.
A public update on the progress of the review is expected by the end of July. The review is assessing the long-term viability of a number of tower blocks, many of them built in the 1960s, and older buildings in poor condition are taking priority.
Barton House is far from being the only high-rise where residents have concerns, with people in St Jude’s also angry with the council about the state of their blocks.
‘Trust needs to be rebuilt’
A spokesman for ACORN, the community union representing some Barton House residents, said representatives would meet soon with Barry Parsons, a Green councillor for Easton who is the new chair of the housing policy committee.
The spokesperson said: “This is yet more evidence of what ACORN members from Barton House have been saying for a long time: the council has been withholding information from residents.
“Residents are being asked to trust the council when they say Barton House is now safe,” ACORN’s statement added. “Council leaders should ask themselves: would you trust someone who’s withholding information from you?
ACORN said the previous Labour administration had “consistently” withheld information and stonewalled invitations to meet the union representatives from Barton House.
“We hope this is the beginning of a new relationship between residents and the council,” ACORN said. “Trust will need to be rebuilt.”
Bristol City Council has been approached for comment.
