The Garchey System was an early refuse disposal system in the United Kingdom. Devised by Louis Garchey, a Frenchman, it was first installed in blocks of flats in France during the 1930s. [1] It was first used in the UK in 1935 after the City of Leeds installed it in one of its housing blocks. [2] A British firm holds the UK rights. [3]
Similar systems were installed in various buildings during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. A more sophisticated system was installed in London's Barbican Estate in the 1960s and 1970s.
The disposal system is distinguished for its water-borne method of refuse conveyance. [2] Conventional waste chutes convey dry refuse from individual flats. With the Garchey system, refuse (ranging from potato peelings and ashes to small bottles and tins) is collected in a unit below the sink in each residential unit through a large plug in the sink. When the refuse has accumulated in the unit and was soaked with water, it is discharged into cast iron stacks. [3] From there it is flushed with water to central tanks for periodic removal or treatment. [1]
Some installations of the Garchey system (e.g. Spa Green Estate) caused complaints for its tendency to produce foul smell and "bubbling back" of the refuse due to poor maintenance. [4]
Clerkenwell is an area of central London, England.
A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower 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 in some varieties of English, such as British English, as tower blocks and may be referred to as MDUs, standing for multi-dwelling units. A very tall high-rise building is referred to as a skyscraper.
The Derwent is a river in Yorkshire in the north of England. It flows from Fylingdales Moor in the North York Moors National Park, east then southwards as far as its confluence with the River Hertford then westwards through the Vale of Pickering, south through Kirkham Gorge and the Vale of York, joining the River Ouse at Barmby on the Marsh. The confluence is unusual in that the Derwent converges on the Ouse at a shallow angle in an upstream direction.
The Barbican Estate, or Barbican, is a residential complex of around 2,000 flats, maisonettes, and houses in central London, England, within the City of London. It is in an area once devastated by World War II bombings and densely populated by financial institutions, 1.4 miles north east of Charing Cross. Originally built as rental housing for middle and upper-middle-class professionals, it remains an upmarket residential estate. It contains, or is adjacent to, the Barbican Arts Centre, the Museum of London, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Barbican public library, the City of London School for Girls and a YMCA, forming the Barbican Complex.
Park Hill is a housing estate in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It was built between 1957 and 1961, and in 1998 was given Grade II* listed building status. Following a period of decline, the estate is being renovated by developers Urban Splash into a mostly private mixed-tenure estate made up of homes for market rent, private sale, shared ownership, and student housing while around a quarter of the units in the development will be social housing. The renovation was one of the six short-listed projects for the 2013 RIBA Stirling Prize. The Estate falls within the Manor Castle ward of the City. Park Hill is also the name of the area in which the flats are sited. The name relates to the deer park attached to Sheffield Manor, the remnant of which is now known as Norfolk Park.
Sir Frederick Ernest Gibberd was an English architect, town planner and landscape designer. He is particularly known for his work in Harlow, Essex, and for the BISF house, a design for a prefabricated council house that was widely adopted in post-war Britain.
A garbage disposal unit is a device, usually electrically powered, installed under a kitchen sink between the sink's drain and the trap. The device shreds food waste into pieces small enough—generally less than 2 mm (0.079 in) in diameter—to pass through plumbing.
Swarcliffe, originally the Swarcliffe Estate, is a district of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is 4.9 miles (8 km) east of Leeds city centre, and within the LS14 and LS15 Leeds postcode area. The district falls within the Cross Gates and Whinmoor ward of the Leeds Metropolitan Council.
Chamberlin, Powell and Bon was a British firm of architects. They are best known for having designed the Barbican Estate in central London.
A drain is the primary vessel or conduit for unwanted water or waste liquids to flow away, either to a more useful area, funnelled into a receptacle, or run into sewers or stormwater mains as waste discharge to be released or processed.
Spa Green Estate between Rosebery Avenue and St John St in Clerkenwell, London EC1, England, is the most complete post-war realisation of a 1930s radical plan for social regeneration through Modernist architecture. Conceived as public housing, it is now a mixed community of private owners and council tenants, run by a resident-elected management organization. In 1998 this work by the architect Berthold Lubetkin received a Grade II* listing for its architectural significance, and the major 2008 restoration brought back the original colour scheme, which recalls Lubetkin's contacts with Russian Constructivism.
Richard Alfred Hardwick Livett (1898–1959), known as R.A.H. Livett, was an architect and pioneer of modernist social housing.
Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council housing or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011 when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in social housing. Dwellings built for public or social housing use are built by or for local authorities and known as council houses. Since the 1980s non-profit housing associations became more important and subsequently the term "social housing" became widely used, as technically council housing only refers to housing owned by a local authority, though the terms are largely used interchangeably.
A council house or council flat is a form of British public housing built by local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing a number of council houses and other amenities like schools and shops. Construction took place mainly from 1919 after the Housing Act 1919 to the 1980s, with much less council housing built since then. There were local design variations, but they all adhered to local authority building standards. The Housing Acts of 1985 and 1988 facilitated the transfer of council housing to not-for-profit housing associations with access to private finance, and these new housing associations became the providers of most new public-sector housing. The characterisation of council houses as 'problem places' was key for leading this movement of transferring public housing stock to the private arena. By 2003, 36.5% of the social rented housing stock was held by housing associations.
Lancaster Road (West) Estate is a housing estate in North Kensington, west London.
Greenhouse is an eight-storey, mixed-use block of eco-flats in Beeston, Leeds. The building took its present form in 2010, after renovation of a 1938 development, Shaftesbury House. As Shaftesbury House, the building was noted for its technologically innovative, modernist housing of migrant workers. As Greenhouse, it has been noted for an approach to promoting ecological and social sustainability far ahead of most of the UK building industry.
The Hunslet Grange Flats was a complex of deck-accessed flats in Hunslet, Leeds.
Wilmington Square is a garden square in Clerkenwell, Central London. It is bounded by Regency and Victorian terraces, most of which are listed buildings. The central public gardens contain flower beds and mature trees, a pavilion or shelter, and a water fountain.