130 & 132 Headlam Street, Byker Wall

Three terraces of houses, one pair of houses and one `stilt' block of flats. 1978-80 by Ralph Erskine's Arkitektkontor; site architect Vernon Gracie; structural engineer, White, Young and Partners; main contractor Fairclough Building Limited.. Pale metric modular brick cladding to concrete blockwork cross-wall construction, with concrete Marley Modern tiled roof save to flats (nos 10-14 even). Two storeys, save for stilt block of flats of three storeys raised over open ground floor.

Nos. 1-5 (odd) have blue weatherboarding to front, with brown and blue at first floor level; green fences to rear. The gap between nos. 5 and 7 is filled by bird boxes, heating link and pergola. Nos. 7-17 (odd) with brown weatherboarding to front, with blue spurs between first-floor windows; projecting brick porches with fronts clad in weatherboarding. Nos. 2-8 have blue and brown first-floor weatherboarding to front set between windows, and red brick retaining walls to front. Nos. 2-4 (even) have green weatherboarding and brick fences to rear. Nos. 10-14 (even) are three-storey flats entered via open stairs to left. Green balcony, and green fencing underneath. South-facing front overlooking dramatic fall in hillside, has blue balconies. Red brick retaining walls and brown fences a part of the composition.

Nos. 16-30 (even) are fully weatherboarded, with red to nos. 16-22 and 26, brown to no. 24 and blue to nos. 28 and 30. Bird box to no. 16, projecting porches to nos. 20 and 22, 26-30; nos. 16, 18 and 24 with blue metal door hoods. Bird box to no. 30. Red brick retaining walls with brown fences. Windows of timber in timber subframes with aluminium opening lights, save to no. 17 which have been renewed in upvc. Timber doors, some renewed in hardwood. Interiors not inspected but not considered to be of special interest.

Blue timber pergola with plastic sheet roof an integral part of the design. A good late group on the top of the hill.

The Byker area, first extensively developed in the 1890s, was earmarked for redevelopment from the late 1950s, with a new motorway to the north. In March 1967 the Housing Architect's Department proposed the building of a barrier block to shelter the area, and this idea was supported by Ralph Erskine, who was invited to develop the area for Newcastle Corporation in 1969. His Plan of Intent, published in 1970, promised a complete redevelopment programme of housing and landscaping with cost yardsticks, while maintaining the traditions and character of the neighbourhood, and to rehouse the residents without breaking family and social ties. His achievement in rehousing 40% of the original residents on the original site was exceptional, as were his methods of keeping the community informed of development and seeking their support and suggestions for the low-rise housing. In achieving these goals Erskine sought to exploit the south-facing sloping site, to develop a system of pedestrian routes through the estate and to provide a `specific "local" individuality to each group of houses.' The estate was redeveloped in a rolling programme of no more than 250 units at a time, to try to maintain the community's infrastructure. The idea was a sheltering perimeter block, which protects the estate from traffic noise and creates a micro climate, with low-rise housing in its lee. The modular metric facing brick of 290mm x 90mm x 65mm was developed by Crossley and Sons in County Durham, in collaboration with the City of Newcastle. When mortared, it forms a 12" by 4" by 3" unit. The inventiveness of the decoration, developed following the relatively muted `pilot scheme' at Janet Square, marks Byker out from other post-war housing for bringing the humane concepts of `romantic pragmatism' with its neo-vernacular details and materials to public housing in a unique way. It is probably also the greatest achievement of this important and idiosyncratic international architect. `If there is something marvellously lighthearted about the design, this I would say is the topographical keynote of the new Byker' (Architectural Design, June 1975, p.333).

Sources
Tyne and Wear Archives
Architectural Review, December 1974, pp.346-62
Mats Egelius, Ralph Erskine, Architect, Stockholm 1990, pp.148-60 LISTED GRADE 2*