Visited with juicerail, on arrival it was apparent that the storms had done us a favour by blowing the hoarding over so it didn't take us long to find a way inside. On the ground floor three panels of wood covering the lift shafts with black streaks running down them reminded me slightly of the bleeding doors bizarrely. Aside from those every floor was pretty much identical, stripped bare and ready for development so we headed straight for the roof to catch the sunset. We were soon followed by two Chinese lads with their cameras. Probably not the greatest idea to be wandering about up there in broad daylight as unbeknown to us a member of the public had spotted us and called the police fearing one of us was about to commit suicide. Luckily we caught the best of the sunset before we heard a symphony of sirens heading for us and we realised our days were numbered. Four police cars, one on every corner of the building awaited us so we headed downstairs to take our telling off and were sent on our way without too much of a drama 
The story behind the monstrosity:
This spectacularly ugly 1960s concrete tower block has been a sizeable blot on the Colliers Wood skyline in south London for years on end. The Colliers Wood Tower has enjoyed several names over the years, starting life as the “Lyon Tower” (after its original occupants, property company, Ronald Lyon Holdings), as well as ”The Vortex” and the ”Brown & Root Tower”, and several unprintable names. A truly hated building, the tower got off to a bad start when the first attempt at construction was found to contain serious errors, so the three storeys that had already been built were demolished and the project started again from scratch. Such is its unpopularity, it romped home to be crowned the ugliest building in London in a 2006 BBC poll, and it also made the top 12 in Channel 4′s UK-wide Demolition programme in 2005. The same BBC poll quoted an architect working for Golfrate Property Management (the current owners) as saying the building was due a make-over and new lease of life. By 2009, the building was in such a parlous state that the ground and first floor windows and doors were boarded up, and green netting draped across the sides to prevent falling debris causing injury to passers by.
There was also reports of the premises being used for making porn movies....
Sometime in Spring 2011, two cosmetic slabs of cladding were attached to the building to give an indication of how its appearance may be improved, while the adjacent spiral car park was finally demolished in June 2011. These are a much lighter colour than the underlying concrete surface and would change the look of the Tower significantly if installed across the building but subsequently no more significant works have taken place. Planning permission has been granted for the conversion of the Tower and an extension to the north (towards Colliers wood underground station) to provide 150 apartments, with shops on the ground floor. The planning permission also allows for an extension to the south (to be built as part of a second phase) providing another 68 apartments. In February 2014, Criterion put out tenders out for their ‘Construction Work Packages’; this is for contractors to build-out the scheme. These tenders will be assessed in March 2014. The construction team is anticipated to be in place, and on-site in April 2014. Once on-site works commence, the scheme build-out will be around 18 months. Anticipated completion is autumn 2015.
The pics:
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3. The sort of bleeding doors.....
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17. Credit to juicerail for taking this one
A few more piccies here: Colliers Wood Tower - a set on Flickr
Thanks for looking
The story behind the monstrosity:
This spectacularly ugly 1960s concrete tower block has been a sizeable blot on the Colliers Wood skyline in south London for years on end. The Colliers Wood Tower has enjoyed several names over the years, starting life as the “Lyon Tower” (after its original occupants, property company, Ronald Lyon Holdings), as well as ”The Vortex” and the ”Brown & Root Tower”, and several unprintable names. A truly hated building, the tower got off to a bad start when the first attempt at construction was found to contain serious errors, so the three storeys that had already been built were demolished and the project started again from scratch. Such is its unpopularity, it romped home to be crowned the ugliest building in London in a 2006 BBC poll, and it also made the top 12 in Channel 4′s UK-wide Demolition programme in 2005. The same BBC poll quoted an architect working for Golfrate Property Management (the current owners) as saying the building was due a make-over and new lease of life. By 2009, the building was in such a parlous state that the ground and first floor windows and doors were boarded up, and green netting draped across the sides to prevent falling debris causing injury to passers by.
There was also reports of the premises being used for making porn movies....
Sometime in Spring 2011, two cosmetic slabs of cladding were attached to the building to give an indication of how its appearance may be improved, while the adjacent spiral car park was finally demolished in June 2011. These are a much lighter colour than the underlying concrete surface and would change the look of the Tower significantly if installed across the building but subsequently no more significant works have taken place. Planning permission has been granted for the conversion of the Tower and an extension to the north (towards Colliers wood underground station) to provide 150 apartments, with shops on the ground floor. The planning permission also allows for an extension to the south (to be built as part of a second phase) providing another 68 apartments. In February 2014, Criterion put out tenders out for their ‘Construction Work Packages’; this is for contractors to build-out the scheme. These tenders will be assessed in March 2014. The construction team is anticipated to be in place, and on-site in April 2014. Once on-site works commence, the scheme build-out will be around 18 months. Anticipated completion is autumn 2015.
The pics:
1.
2.
3. The sort of bleeding doors.....
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17. Credit to juicerail for taking this one
A few more piccies here: Colliers Wood Tower - a set on Flickr
Thanks for looking
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