page_title: High-rise building
section_title: Great Britain
hierarchical_section_title: High-rise building / Modern development / Europe / Western Europe / Great Britain
caption_attribution_description: English: I took this photo myself in 2007.
context_page_description: A high-rise building is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdiction. It is used as a residential, office building, or other functions including hotel, retail, or with multiple purposes combined. Residential high-rise buildings are also known as tower blocks and may be referred to as "MDUs", standing for "multi-dwelling unit". A very tall high-rise building is referred to as a skyscraper.
  High-rise buildings became possible with the invention of the elevator and less expensive, more abundant building materials.
  The materials used for the structural system of high-rise buildings are reinforced concrete and steel. Most North American style skyscrapers have a steel frame, while residential blocks are usually constructed of concrete. There is no clear difference between a tower block and a skyscraper, although a building with forty or more stories and taller than 150 m is generally considered a skyscraper.
context_section_description: Tower blocks were first built in the United Kingdom after the Second World War, and were seen as a cheap way to replace 19th-century urban slums and war-damaged buildings. They were originally seen as desirable, but quickly fell out of favour as tower blocks attracted rising crime and social disorder, particularly after the collapse of Ronan Point in 1968.
  Although Tower blocks are controversial and numerous examples have been demolished, many still remain in large cities. They present a significant fire risk, as modern safety precautions can be prohibitively expensive to retrofit. The destruction of the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in 2017 by fire had been complained about by a local action group several years before the incident, yet remedial work had not been carried out.
  There are old high-rise buildings built in the 1960s and 1970s in areas of London such as Tower Hamlets, Newham, Hackney, and virtually any area in London with council housing. Some new high-rises are being built in areas such as Central London, Southwark, and Nine Elms. In East London, some old high-rises are being gentrified and new high-rises that previously didn't exist are also being built in areas like Stratford, London and Canary Wharf.
caption: The three tower blocks of the Crossways Estate in Bow, London, United Kingdom, before their refurbishment
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