Hulme, Manchester

Hulme was originally an ex-industrial suburb to the south of the City of Manchester, England. It is known chiefly for its social and economic decline in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, and its subsequent redevelopment in the 1990s, as part of one of Europe's biggest urban regeneration projects. Hulme has been transformed into what it is today by learning from the mistakes of idealistic designers of the past, Hulme has many faces, but also a long interesting history, not just socially but physically. The district of Hulme has been changed and adapted many times over the

course of the last two hundred years, having seen times of prosperity from the industrial revolution, redevelopment and regeneration, but also times of destruction, abandonment and social and moral decay.

Old Hulme could be described as your ‘classic slum’, being a product of the industrial revolution, Hulme itself was the quintessential inner city estate, containing unnumbered factories and companies, a typical high street along what is Stretford Road, its shops, places of worship and entertainment were renowned throughout Manchester, pictured above is Hulme as it was just before the slum clearance in the thirties, it shows the old terraced housing that was reminiscent of many industrial towns in the north of England, at the turn of the century the districts of terraced houses stretched as far as you can see in every direction you looked, they were reminiscent of industrial Manchester

Hulme was first listed for slum clearance in the early thirties, but huge local resistance, not only by people who owned properties, but also by tenants, who were alarmed at being banished to Wythenshawe, and the loss of their community, the opposition was so large that redevelopment had still not begun when the second world war broke out in 1939. Old Hulme and its community was very much still thriving around the early fifties, the first phase of construction started in 1946, but slum clearance did not begin properly for another ten years. In the fifties plans for Hulme were altered and the area was renamed as a ‘Comprehensive Redevelopment area’, to be constructed in five different phases of flats and maisonettes, Phase five, aptly named ‘Hulme V’ or the crescents, formed nearly a quarter of the whole redevelopment of the district.

In the late 1980’s saw a constant debate between the community representatives, the city council and central government on possible solutions to Hulme’s problems, however it was not until 1991 and the secretary of states new scheme city challenge, was there the potential for a comprehensive approach to what was more then an issue of replacing concrete, with bricks and mortar. Traditionally communities grow in an un-regimented and organic fashion, yet when Hulme was redeveloped in the sixties, everything was removed, fore example that of utilities and roads, removing all traces of what went before, something that become synonymous with sixties redevelopments up and down Britain, even the basic infrastructure was done away with, the designers had to look back at the history of Hulme, old and new, and discover what had worked and what had not in order to create the basic framework for the New Hulme to grow from.

In conclusion the estate of Hulme in Manchester, is possibly one of the most convincing examples, that it is possible for a large, deprived council estate to become what it was before the 1960’s redevelopments, that being a socially and physically functioning part of the city once again. The regeneration of Hulme in itself is unique, This made it not ‘just another inner city estate making short-terms gains from a soon-to-be forgotten scheme’, but potentially a ‘metaphor for regeneration Hulme is not just another post war council estate getting a quick and cheap facelift, but the complete regeneration of a blighted area of the city, that works not just on an aesthetic level, but on a social level as well. Hulme is an excellent case study, proving that social housing projects can work, what I feel has made Hulme a success is public consultation, by simply letting the people who will live there have some input in the design, explaining what would work for them, not just on an individual level but also a community level as well, the designers have created a community where people want to live, that they are proud of, and importantly feel a sense of creation and ownership of.

The redevelopment of Hulme in the sixties was doomed from the onset, the failure of private developers and the government to provide low-cost housing for the lower classes is infamous throughout the country, the bureaucratic restrictions, administrative costs, and use of cheap materials and construction resulted in housing that ten years later was worse then the slums that went before it, Equally disappointing is the failure of the designers themselves, which totally disregarded the needs of the people for whom it was intended, the fact is by learning from the problems of Old Hulme and the sixties redevlopment, seeing what worked and what did not, through the help of designers, government institutions and the people and community of Hulme itself, a new Hulme has risen from the rubble and decay that went before, Modern day Hulme has become what it was before the infamous crescents, it is not just another disjointed estate, it is a community once again!