Portrait of a tower block

Anyone familiar with east London will recognise Winterton House. It is one of the tallest buildings in the borough of Tower Hamlets, the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf excepted – a 25-storey, brick-clad tower block topped with a strange metal gantry that appears to pinch the building together.

The building has been owned and managed by 3,000-home landlord Tower Hamlets Community Housing since 2000. It contains 138 flats, of which 137 are for social rent.

Tower Hamlets itself is one of the most culturally diverse boroughs in the UK. It is also a borough of contrasts; it plays host to both the global headquarters of HSBC and the highest incidence of child poverty in the UK. 

Winterton House is, then, both a landmark and as dense a concentration of social housing as can be found in the East End of London. As such, it is as suitable a place as any to try and find an answer to the question: who lives in the capital’s social housing in 2015?

Challenging stereotypes

Earlier this year, I set off with a camera, notebook and an itchy buzzer finger to find out. I hoped the results would reflect the diversity of the surrounding city, and that it might therefore challenge some old stereotypes – the ones that can prompt winces at the mention of the terms ‘tower block’ or ‘housing estate’.

The resulting sample is small and necessarily self-selecting; most people, confronted by a strange man asking to be let into their home to take their picture, were either wary or simply uninterested. Either response is entirely understandable.

As it turned out, those residents who did agree to participate are a group of people diverse in age, background and employment. They include a theatre technician, a black cab driver, two nurses and a swimming instructor; they come from as far away as Mauritius and as close as a few minutes’ walk. In other words, the residents of Winterton House who agreed to take part don’t fall neatly into any category – apart from the one marked ‘people willing to have their photograph taken’, perhaps.

Does this admittedly unscientific survey reflect a broader truth about London’s social housing? I hope so – but after 23 flights of stairs, I’m not sure I have the strength left to find out.

Honda Cruz, 32 (see photo above)

‘I’ve lived here about 10 years, and in east London for about 19 years. I am originally from Somalia. I teach swimming to children in Shadwell and Bethnal Green. I graduated from university recently – I was studying health and social care. I hope to become a social worker.

‘It’s quiet here. It feels quite safe – I travel a lot and don’t have to worry about coming back at night because there is a security guard downstairs between 4pm and 8am.’

Paul Dunne, 57

‘I’ve been a theatre technician for 40 years. It’s a mixture of backstage and lighting. You get to do a bit of everything. It’s great fun. Next Tuesday, I should be working at the National – I’ve been doing a bit of War Horse.

‘I’ve got a neighbour from Luxembourg, one from Thailand, and there are lots of locals living here too. The people are wonderful.’

Roy Oluwasegun-Williams, 54

‘I worked as a life skills worker at St Mungo’s until I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia six or seven years ago. I’ve lived here since 1997.

‘I remember the building that was here before – it was derelict and full of asbestos. They used to have raves before it was stripped back down to its metal frame and rebuilt.

‘My son is staying with me. I had to fight for visiting rights – we’ve always been close. He’s seven years old now. I see him every other weekend. Everyone in the block knows him.

‘I’m very happy here – the only issue is space.’

Liz Collins, 46

‘I’ve been housebound for the past four years with poor health. But I won’t let it get me down. I used to be an addict; I’ve been clean now for nine years.

‘I live with my cat, George. I was getting out of a cab a few years ago and I saw some teenagers putting a kitten in a bag by the canal, so I rescued him. Now I think he’s the one keeping me going.

‘I know everyone and I get on with everyone – there’s a sense of community here.’

Alexis Biankazi, 39

‘I come from France. I’ve lived in Winterton House since 1998. It’s my birthday today – my brother is on his way from Belgium to take me out.

‘I work as a surgical nurse at Guy’s and St Thomas’, looking after people when they come out of surgery.

‘When I moved in, my friends and family from Paris would ask, “Do you live in a hotel?” It was clean, it was new. I am happy here – we have everything. I didn’t like it at first. I thought it was too crowded. But my mum said no, this is the place to live. You can see people from different cultures; that is what we need.’

Paul George, 39

‘I’ve lived in Tower Hamlets my whole life. I moved into this flat 15 years ago – I was one of the first to move into the block after they rebuilt it.

‘I’ve been a black cabbie for six years. It took me four years to get “the Knowledge”, driving around London on my moped. I got knocked off four times. The sooner I was off that bike the better.

‘I know all my neighbours. Most have been here as long as me. They’re great. We’re quite lucky really.’

Barbara Beasley, retired

‘I was born in Whitechapel. Tower Hamlets wasn’t even invented then! Before I retired, I was a fracture clinic receptionist, and for extra money I used to work at A&E in the Royal London. I fell out of bed and I was at work.

‘It’s a fabulous place here – a vibrant, buzzing place to live. I’d never move out of the East End.

‘My neighbours are great, but I’m not one of these ‘come in and have a cup of tea’ types. I don’t do that. It’s my life and what I do is my business. Know what I mean?’

Nana Darkwah, 28

‘My family moved to Sheffield from Ghana when I was 11. I moved to London to study health and social care at City University. And now I am a nurse at the Royal London. I’m on maternity leave now; I have a little boy.

‘I love living here – I don’t have to get a train or a bus, as I can walk to work and save a lot of money. I really enjoy it.’

Melvyn Smith, 71

‘Before I retired, I was managing director of a recruitment consultancy. I’m from Yorkshire originally and I’ve lived here about eight years.

‘We started the garden [at Winterton House] from scratch about five years ago. It was a dog toilet back then; now we have ducks and chickens, and we’ve won awards from Tower Hamlets in Bloom, the Royal Horticultural Society and the East London Garden Society. My co-chair Ken and I have put lots of time into it – we’re here most days of the year.’