It's clear that they did at least try to build something decent even if the reality didn't quite live up to the dream. Having lived there myself for a few years I can tell you that many of the problems were caused by a minority of the people that lived there who, in hindsight, simply didn't appreciate what they had. You can blame the Architecture for enabling some of these problems but ultimately its the humans themselves that must take responsibility for their actions.

1977 I fell asleep on a London bus and woke in Thamesmead 'Bleeding Nightmare'

I have fabulous memories of Thamesmead. My family went there while stage 3 was being developed, I was 4 when we went to live there - such a unique experience: new school (first pupils), built a church as a community (St Paul), walked the amazing wild/abandoned areas, had access to new outlooks in dental and health, sailed on Southmere Lake, was fascinated by building work - I recall the smells of wood protector, the sounds of the pile-drivers, the building of the Thames barrier, the warning siren. Loved it. 💖💗💞 Alas such utopias never seem to last for long.

Feel like I'm watching a episode of Black Mirror. That place turned out to be the total opposite of what their describing.

I love it..."The Yacht Basin". Yep I'm sure most of the Thamesmead residents had yachts.

These estates built in the 60s were designed by middle class professionals who were never going to live in them - they probably lived in Nice leafy suburbs . It was a social experiment at the cost of ordinary people - bet they'd never need a yacht marina . . .

Nice to see these promotional films in their entirety rather than tiny clips shown out of context in documentaries.

It's utterly fascinating to see what the people planning and building these projects had in mind at the beginning and with time we now know how they turned out. Amazing.

Utopia for the start of the seventies. I was at a party in one of the tower blocks in about 1980, and got lost trying to get home. The GLC was great in those days. I really enjoyed this clip. Thank you for putting it up.

This film is so hopeful for the future...Most of those people would have still been working a few years later when it had turned from a dream into a nightmare. I wonder what they thought of their utopian project in hindsight?

Kubrick saw the squalor coming when he filmed Clockwork Orange there the following year

I moved from London as a child to Milton Keynes in 1970,to another GLC funded project the Lakes estate. That started off well too. 10 years later the cracks were showing 30 years on and it's turned into a modern ghetto.

I was born in Thamesmead in 1975. Dreadful memories, but it was idyllic compared to what it is nowadays.

Volunteered at Radio Thamesmead in the late 1980s/early 1990s. Amazing time. A social connection in the city that puts the 'Lon' into Lonely.

I lived there in the early 80s. SE28. A monstrous and scary place. The concrete estates harboured criminals. Not to mention it's on the wrong side of the thames water barrier.

I lived on Abbey Estate at this time 1970. Thamesmead was new. Joined Newacres library '73. This film was played to us at school. Went to De Lucy then Abbey Wood Comp. I still have the Thamesmead street plan which i got from their housing office in Harrow Manor Way.

First question the Dad asked Do we have a Public House 17.55 ! Love it !

Thamesmead: A Solution for a Utopia in the 1970s A Nightmare of Social deprivation by the 1980s

All the suits congratulating themselves and each other. I bet they never lived there. Probably didn't want to.

Thamesmead was one of the areas blacklisted by me and most other Driving Instructors in the 1980s because there were too many teenagers looking for trouble..

Everything looked so well thought out like playing a city simulation game. Where is all the affordable housing today?

I lived in Maplin house back in 95 with my newborn daughter, we moved out some weeks later when some feud between dealers saw one ending up brown bread on our landing, I said to the missus we are so out of here, spent a year in Gravesend then moved to the west country and now live in a town where quite a few of us ex South Londoner's are here. My grandfather was still working at the old GLC when this was made. I quite liked Thamesmead but a newborn in a high rise is never a good mix, was often down the estate social club or the pub near the estate entrance, got to know the gypsy's opposite and my baby girl was blessed by their elder. I do regret leaving South London, miss the fast talk, fast deals and what was a community now all gone.

Thamesmead - a cross between a megastructure (Cumbernauld) and various planned communities (the experimental new towns of 1930s America and the 1960s planned community of Reston Virginia) - may seem bizarrely misguided and even socially criminal today, but its ideology and idealism were common hallmarks of urban planning in the mid- and late 1960s. To people of the time, it may have seemed both 'futuristic' and yet nothing out of the ordinary since everybody was doing it - and 'garden estate' social housing (where working class people could finally live in the scenography of the bourgeoisie and literally sail up to the door of their council flat) was a prevalent image. One of the conceits of Modernist thought was that historic social ills could be regulated out of existence by central institutions if infrastructural support were provided. But although Jane Jacobs' 'The Death and Life of Great American Cities' had been published nearly a decade before, many of these über-planned 'communities' had ignored Jacob's assertions and dispensed 'history' with the social ills, not realizing that communities are organic and evolutionary - and, in a bitter irony, ended up generating more social problems than those which they had originally intended to refute..

This was paradise to some people. Question is what went wrong

Was Mr. Seton Forbes-Cockell ever a resident of Thamesmead ? I would hazard a guess that he wasn´t. More likely to have been a resident of Kensington or Mayfair !

The only thing the town planners failed to factor in was people and how they tend to turn these places into crime infested dumps. I lived there for a few years and it is a pretty dangerous place. Probably a nightmare now.

Thanks for the post. My nan lived in Abbeywood so spent a little time going over the walkway to get to the chippy. Was always a bit scared lol More tenuous links as kubrick filmed here for Clockwork orange and in my hometown of Aylesbury

Thanks Martin, great to see you’re still around

fantastic footage. Even the colours look better than they do now.

As a young merchant seaman from Medway Towns, I traveled into London on the train through Gravesend regularly. Did not look good whilst being built, total disaster so very sad

Started the year I was born, 66. We were living in Bermondsey then, moved to Woolwich then Abbey Wood. We moved further south into Penge and then Croydon before leaving London altogether. They were great days.

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED. It looked amazing the ideas on paper and drawings and models, but in reality it really went very very wrong Thamesmead has become nothing more than London’s dumping ground now for the very poor and also houses one the the biggest prisons in the country Belmarsh

Misfits was also filmed at Thamesmead

I think this is where the artists who created Judge Dredd in the comic 2000AD got their ideas from in imagining Mega City One; a high-rise dystopian crime-ridden future. I grew up in Manchester in the 70s and the bus route into Town took me through Moss Side and Hulme, past the infamous "Bull Ring". These flats were scary looking places, all gone now, thank God, Manchester is looking much better. These 1960s concrete monstrosities surely represent the biggest failure in architecture/social planning ever.

My Uncle and Aunt were among the first Tenants ,, no yacht views for them though . Titmuss Avenue they lived . I was impressed with the under floor heating though I must say. . It could have been lovely by the look of this film , but it certainly isn't now and don't think it has been for a long time

I’d love to see this restored and high quality. It’s lovely

A 5 room maisonette?? In 1970?? Most are lucky to get a 4 bedroom flat today. I'm shocked!!!

5:58 At Thamesmead the pedestrian will have an environment entirely of 'His own'. They really didn't have a clue back then did they. Probably thought women were still shut away in the home 24/7

2:37 there is something so poignant and sad about this particular frame when they show the great workmanship in that stone wall. And then the wild English lavender growing.

Good grief, the bloke was worried the scaf was going to help thieves break in and the council has the audacity to say, well you should have insurance. What a bleak place and bleak times the 1970s were.

Amazing to see such places new, before they turned into run down dumps. They actually looked decent!

This was filmed on the only sunny day in the UK in 1970

This was in a time where there were massive public contracts up for grabs to build houses and these estates were almost always poorly planned, under funded and badly made. The product was the cold sterility that turns communities into slums, the walkways were infested with muggers, sex pests and gangs, the monolithic cast concrete structures spanning out and up made it feel cold, it was and is a really filthy estate too. No wonder it was used to depict a dystopian future.

The arsenal was my childhood playground, somewhere to escape the rat race, a natural paradise with barn owls, kestrels, whole heronry’s, hedgehogs, grass snakes, lizards, many endangered birds and animals, the beautiful sound of birds singing and grasshoppers and crickets chirping, I remember Chris Packham helping to relocate water shrews to new sites, it is quite depressing now, kinda like Mordor devouring the Shire.

I was at school in Wanstead at this time, and the Motorway Opposition Group were campaigning against losing houses in Nightingale Lane, our sports field next to the River Roding, and other homes to a projected part of the M11 that was to run through the borough and link with an inner ring road. One friend's family had a notice that they would be subject to Compulsory Purchase as one of the supports for a flyover was planned to be placed exactly where their front garden was. More concrete monstrosities were projected for parts of Forest Gate and Plaistow areas but never got far. There seemed to be a general mad fetish for building high rise fire traps and to cover as much land as possible in concrete. I left in 1970, and was sublimely happy to do so. The docks were under threat to the new container shipping fleets, and the dockers refused to embrace the new technology, assuming that they would have jobs for ever. The docks died, the ships left, and the river emptied of a huge trade.

And then it all went so horribly wrong!

17:57 When asked about a public houses the TM Information Officer thinks he's sold it mentioning that there's in fact two. 😀

Are those houses still there?Im from Glasgow and it looks like the Gorbals during the 60s 70s.Most of the houses that were built during that period have been demolished.The utopian dream of the 60s became a drug and crime infested nightmare.

I can’t help but think London will never be sorted in the next 20 years it has been nothing but problems and stress since I started as a working professional in 2006 / progressively getting worse every year until now it’s utter despair , and I hate the people that did this to our city , millennials betrayed and it’s a f war zone now physically and mentally

Typical 70s Documentary. It's really a throw back way of doing things from the 60s.

Cool video. 👍

14:55 "(...) sit out and get the sun...when there is any." This is England after all.

Take a scenic area and turn it into a monstrosity!

Imagine if these tenants could see it now😪😪

The middle classes and graduates used Thamesmead to practice their civic planning fantasies on. Also, I bet the EDL loves this film.

Clearly a lot of thought and time, money and planning went into the scheme not at all like now I know it didn't work out but at least they tried something different again not like now and everything is the same.

beautiful thing

Cameo from Mitt Romney's dad at 23:20

Clockwork orange

I just had a look at it on google maps, it seems pretty grim, not to mention there is a sewage treatment plant and a prison right next to it!

Could someone please identify the intro track for me!!! I can't seem to find this specific sound in the album referenced in the description

The people were resourceful and proud that’s why they wanted them gone.

The residents and council management are in charge of cleaning and maintaining their residences and common areas. The Gooch family got that memo.

Magical

Stanley kubrik "a clockwork orange"setting

Not a single hi-vis in site

Bloody hell! Did the planners get that wrong! I worked on Thamesmead through the 80’s & early 90’s. Terrible place rife with crime and misery. Ripping it all down now thank god!

Hidious!

19:18 Feels weird there was initially no roundabout at the end of Yarnton Way leading into Harrow Manor Way there as this was way before my time. Though from what I've seen of old Thamesmead photos, looks like the roundabout was built soon after.

.. a Paradise!

Never dump bad council tenants into a community of good tenants. The good tenants do not have the power to raise the bad tenants. That's part of what destroyed most council properties. Local factory work would have helped. But no one cared enough as long as it took existing tenants out of Westminister Council in particular.

Paved paradise, put up a parking lot.

Why was that the guy talking about insurance? If it's outside bedroom windows, there's a risk of perverts and what not. He should've assured him of barriers around the scaffolded buildings and security or something. Insurance he says(9_9).

Wow even new it looks awful

Looks a great place to live. I especially like the marinas and with the new Crossrail, I have no doubt this must be a very desirable residence.

I lived in Abbeywood and found thamesmead a cool playground for kids but you always had to look over you shoulder for gypsies and make sure no on nicked your BMX etc atleast there was affordable housing back then for young families

Sod that living in a tower block like that they turn my stomach over, In those days they didnt really realise they are dangerous to live in incase of a fire break out and it feels like jail your cooped up in there, demolish the lot them dont build them.

No mention of the sewage works at Crossness or the other sewage works across the river at Beckton!

I live in thamesmead not a nice place now they started knocking some blocks down but builder new ones lots of stabings and shootings and crime

I'm surprised that the tower blocks were still allowed to be built. Maybe they were passed the point of no return when the Ronan Point incident occurred.

If nothing else it was great to see Barking and Belvedere power stations! Childhood memories on the skyline

I've lived in thamesmead. It's not nice. It's a lot better than what it was to be fair tho. Alot of work has gone into to it to make more pleasent. Especially the tower blocks, they don't look half bad more as far as tower blocks go. But how on earth did they think that looked half decent when they built it. Mad.

What were they thinking? Why would anyone think it would be preferable to live in a dingy concrete hamster run?

Many things changed since then. Except one thing... Propaganda was top notch back then same as nowadays.

And then a flash storm happened and boom: Misfits.

the green dress is that Jeremy Clarkson as a child

Didn't turn out well, people live in a dream world.

Where are the Gouch family now? I think west Thamesmead closer to woolwich/ Plumstead looks better . The tower blocks with walk ways do not exist here . It’s mainly yellow brick semi detached houses and low rise flats . Perhaps this was built after the concrete first bit of Thamesmead closer to abbey wood to the east and south. I was like what 😳heck is this !!! When I first went there! It felt cold and dead

They built the biggest dump site. Whole place needs to be rebuilt

Interesting video but a shame there's no detail of the construction.....e.g. are the room walls just concrete, plastered or concrete with plasterboard with a skim of plaster or even insulated plasterboard and then a skim of plaster? The heating is not even mentioned, apparently originally there was District Heating (decommissioned in 2000 and individual boilers installed.) Was this District Heating oil fired or gas fired...….there's no evidence of radiators 15:01...….was it underfloor heating? etc. There may be a radiator lurking behind that brown armchair 15:11 (can just about see what may be a radiator valve on the LHS and a return pipe on the RHS). This development is a good example of how poorly insulated buildings were in the 60s (designed in the 60s) because architects think like accountants, and because fuel was relatively inexpensive they didn't design in good insulation due to an unacceptable pay back time in their view. Double glazing? almost certainly not. Countries like Austria & Germany were I believe far better insulated in those days. The UK is not THAT much warmer than continental Europe. Amazing coincidence that the boy's friend is known as Ste 16:08 (Beautiful thing film). I had a friend called Stephen but he was known as Steve never Ste (unfortunately he's now on my long list (of ex friends LOL)). Edit: Having watched `Beautiful Thing' again recently the flats in the film appeared to have warm air central heating (ducting grilles in walls are evident in some scenes).

Before we had to be replaced.

Dystopian accommodation for the plebs.

Now its all been pulled down!!

Come from the states to Thamesmead estate.... LOL trip of a life time......but guess clock work orange was!!

Why is every greater London authority totally useless? Edit: 18:20 That interesting Welsh mixed with Received Pronunciation accent is incredible.

Because in the 1960s of not all gardens and thoroughfares we're being redeveloped

Humans know how to go to a place and destroy it. We are very good at that.

I can remember every family in Thamesmead having a two mast yacht and free pair of rose coloured glasses,

George Romney, Gov Michigan and eventual secretary of housing and urban development. Mitt's dad. Idyllic community. Now i'm going to dig for reasons it failed.

It looks like a giant version of Broad Water Farm.