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Nechells Green, Duddeston, Aston, Birmingham

Duddeston Manor Estate, Nechells Green, Aston.

Queens Tower is a 36 metre tall tower block on the Duddeston Manor Road in the Duddeston Manor Estate. It is located in Nechells Green, Aston, Birmingham, England. It is notable as being a member of the Duddeston Four which were the first four tower blocks in the city.

It was completed in 1954 and was opened by Harold Macmillan on February 5, 1954. It has an X shaped footprint. Constructed out of brick, the tower proved to be expensive and encouraged the council to seek cheaper alternatives in later tower blocks.

A coal-fired boiler was located in the basement of the tower, which supplied heating and hot water to the block as well as South Tower, High Tower and Home Tower. This was later modified to become a gas boiler, and when tower was modernised in the early 1990s, this was removed and each flat was given its own boiler. The Garchey refuse disposal system was installed in the tower, and the refuse from the other blocks in the Duddeston Four were transferred to the basement of Queens Tower where it was spun in a giant dryer to remove excess water and burned in a gas furnace.

There are seven staircases within the block - one public access stair case at the front, and another at the back, and then five emergency staircases, with one in each corner and one in the centre.

The estate was one of four in the Nechells Green / Duddeston complex of 27 tower blocks and part of the 67 tower blocks in Aston. It had a refurbishment along with Cromwell Street Estate in the 1990s, while the other 2 estates (Kellett Road Estate & Rupert Street Estate) were demolished to make way for modern low-rise housing. The only tower block on the Duddeston Manor Estate to be demolished was Churchfield House.

Duddeston Manor Estate tower blocks[]

The Duddeston Four...

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