Images from ‘dirtymodernscoundrel’ blogspot

‘Concretopia: A Journey around the Rebuilding of Postwar Britain’ is a new book by John Grindrod, published by Old Street. It documents the author’s journey to find out how Britain was rebuilt after the Blitz, in concrete, steel and glass. It features chapters on the rebuilding of Coventry, the development of the South Bank, the creation of the Barbican and the building of the Parkhill estate in Sheffield. The author visits the once-Blitzed city centre of Plymouth, the futuristic New Town of Cumbernauld and the 1950s housing experiments in the Gorbals, Glasgow. The book also recounts Grindrod’s meetings with New Town pioneers, tower-block builders, Barbican architects, inhabitants of prefab homes and town planners from the Sixties.

John Grindrod grew up in the New Addington Estate, Croydon. He is also the author of ‘dirtymodernscoundrel‘ blogspot.