Derwent Tower

Dunston, United Kingdom

Exterior only

Visible from the street; the inside is private.

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Reference#SOSBrutalism↗

Derwent Tower was a 29-storey residential tower block completed in March 1971 in Dunston, Tyne and Wear, designed by the Owen Luder Partnership for Whickham urban district Council. Standing 85 metres tall, the strikingly angular brutalist structure earned the nickname "Dunston Rocket" during construction and retained it among locals throughout its life. Its bold form was wholly unique among British high-rises at the time, sharing design DNA with Luder's nearby Get Carter car park. The tower's construction was exceptional: built atop a sunken concrete caisson—a harbour-engineering technique applied to residential architecture for the first time—which became an underground spiral car park, the building's plan changed dramatically between the 10th and 11th floors to accommodate services and water tanks, and flying buttresses extended from ground to fifth floor as additional structural support. The building housed two-bedroom flats up to the 10th floor and smaller one-bedroom units above, and appeared in a 1970s Tudor Crisps advertisement. Despite the architect's reservations about the site's poor ground conditions, the council insisted on construction. Derwent Tower was demolished in 2012.

Architect

Owen Luder

Movement

brutalist architecture

Built: 1972
Type: tower block
Place: Dunston, United Kingdom

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Location

54.95210, -1.63944