Barton House as depicted on Sky News
Barton House is a 15 storey tower block on Marsh Lane in the Barton Hill area of Bristol. Construction of the block commenced in 1956 as Block A of Stage 1 of the Barton Hill Redevelopment Area. The block was completed in 1958 by Holland & Hannen and Cubitts Ltd. The consulting engineers were Clarkes, Nicholls and Marcell. At the time of completion it was the tallest tower block in the West Country.
The block has a T-shaped plan and contains a total of 98 flats, 84 of which are 2 bedroom and 14 are 1 bedroom, with the block housing around 400 people. It was constructed first as the control building for the Barton Hill estate and so central heating and hot water equipment was installed on the ground floor. These systems were later connected with the rest of the estate. The heating was powered by five oil-fired boilers. The ground floor also contained a bicycle store and laundry facilities. The lifts and stairs core is located at the junction of the T, which lead on to lift halls on each floor that lead on to access balconies.
The building rests partly on a reinforced concrete raft and partly on reinforced concrete strip foundations. Construction is based on a system of reinforced concrete cross-walls and 'Gothic' precast floor elements - so called because of the pointed arch shape created on their underside, a shape synonymous with Gothic architecture. There are also reinforced concrete external walls, although most of the loading is taken by the cross walls. Nearly all the concrete structural members were precast on site and lifted into position by crane.
Facade treatment at the time included using plastic liners in the formwork to break up the bareness of areas of the facade. Near the ground floor, the facade was given a rough cobbled surface. Balconies on the south and west are belt in flush with the facade and are faced with glass panels. The panels around the windows were painted saffron yellow, light turquoise or tomato.
2023 incident[]
On November 14th 2023, a notice was issued to all residents of the tower block to 'leave homes 'immediately' due to 'risk to structure'. There were concerns about the tower block's safety in risk of a fire, however no immediate risk of life was present. Due to Barton House's unique design and construction, there are no concerns that any other tower block has these issues, however more surveys are being carried out regardless.