I love these videos 👌 I’m a 54 year old lady from Edinburgh and as I was actually born in a tower block in 1966 I am so interested in this stuff. The block I lived in was called Capelaw Court in Edinburgh and was demolished in 2005 it was heartbreaking watching it getting blown up. We lived on the 14th floor. We moved out in 1982 , my parents were the first tenants to occupy our flat back in 1961 before I was born . It was a brilliant place to grow up it was like a village in the sky. On the ground floor there was 3 washrooms with massive washers that were top loading . I was fascinated with these and washed my dolls clothes in them much to the annoyance of the mums waiting on a machine . My brother was always surfing the lifts and made a key out of an old bicycle pump as he always watched the express lift engineers accessing the top of the lift and copied the shape of the key. You guys would have lived Capelaw Court it was an H shaped building with the maisonettes in the middle . There was a long landing on the 2nd, 5th, 8th, 11th and 14th floor. Keep up the adventures but be safe lads . Cheers Eve 😃
According to Wikipedia the boiler room was in operation for only one year. The tower opened in 1972, and in 1973 was the oil crisis during which the prices for oil skyrocketed. So these oil-fired boilers were quickly taken out of service and the apartments were fitted with electric heaters. Good thing that removing all the old equipment from up there would be extremely expensive because this means that this "museum" will probably remain for the future.
The tower was designed in 1967 and construction began in 1968, so it is from the 60s, but the first residents moved in after the tower was finished in 1972.
@@OneKnifeYeHand It's doppleganger--Balfron Tower--was designed and completed in the 60s... Erno learned a lot from that one, and Trellick is improved in many ways.
Bit like Hammersmith flyover which was exquisitely designed but unfortunately the heated road surface conked out pretty fast and then them iriots used grit salt to keep it ice free in chilly weather with obvious outcomes.
There have been multiple offers by developers to turn the unused spaces in the plant room into a penthouse but they've never accepted the offer. I think when the lift motors get replaced soon, almost all of it could be emptied out. Awesome video!
Quite possibly, since during the refurbishment you see here (i.e. all the scaffolding) they're required to retain (or copy) the original tiles, original finishes, etc.
Ben these boilers are not efficient. They were installed because they were cheap in terms of the fuel they burned. That changed with the oil shocks of the 70's when oil producing nations realized how they were being ripped off and shot up their prices. Suddenly the fuel for these things skyrocketed in price so it was much cheaper to install electric water heaters in each flat. They are also inefficient in terms of the electrical power consumed by their circulation pumps. It's not only the fuel they burn, it's pumping the hot water around the building which would be done by one or two very large 3 phase water pumps. The entire building would have had hot water pipes in a return loop back to the boilers. The idea is hot water is circulated around the hot water loop so hot water is available anywhere in the building. When somebody turns on a hot tap it draws hot water off of the loop running through that flat. If this wasn't being done somebody on the 5th floor would be waiting an awful long time for hot water to arrive all the way from the boiler room. And those pumps would run 24/7 pumping hot water around in circles. That boarding school I told you about I went to in the 70's and 80's had a system like this. That school was demolished 10 years ago and replaced with new buildings. The difference in the electrical bill was huge with the removal of the boiler room and its circulation pumps. It is still a boarding school but instead of a central boiler room it now has bathrooms with a 300 liter hot water cylinder next to each bathroom.
Grate trip down memory lane for me Big thanks guys I lived across the road in homfield house well I grew up there watched 2 man jump with para shoot off roof of T|tower but only 1 opened so unfortunately 1 didn’t make it I was just a kid on my way home from school then I’m 51 now all the old London is being knocked down or hidden under cladding it’s grate you are putting all this on TH-cam the 21st century version of a photo album and history book Thank you Beno 👍👍
Amazing! You guys have the skill of Mission Impossible agents. I just imagine the boiler room with the music from that classic 60’s spy series for added atmosphere. That boiler room would make a nice setpiece for spy movies. Those old boilers also have a lot of Bakelite switches, that’s a material you don’t really see anymore. My uncle collects old electrical outlets and switches and many of them are made from Bakelite.
Thanks. This did feel like a mission. We were urbexing this place for 1 hour 30 mins. The entire time we had to be completely serious and alert. We had to be ready at all times in case we were noticed. Also we had to have good communication with each other and know how we were doing things at all times. Doing this sort of urbex is something that has to be taken seriously. It is not a simple light hearted thing like some of my other videos. If caught we risked having nasty security guards (who may be very rough with us) and corrupt police (who may illegally arrest us and/or illegally make us delete our pictures and steal our keys, although we took as few keys as possible just in case this happened). Although not at this site, some building sites have maffia security. Jordan has had a bad encounter with them, so far I haven't, but they do exist (especially in Manchester).
@@benolifts Hat tip to Beno & Co., who (as a Yank) I'm guessing has some kind of Lift Technician license that might be at risk, and slightly less legal protection than in US/Canada. So besides the practical reasons for not showing their faces, it adds to the humor and "youthful escapades" vibe! PS: wouldn't "mafia" security become "cooperative" if you "greased" their palm with a 10-pound note, eh wot? ;')
Please can you make a game when you are exploring a tower block and security is trying to find you! As you pass levels you should go to taller and more interesting tower blocks.
It's got to be a thankless task being the concierge of this tower block. Dealing with all sorts at all hours of the day would send anyone round the bend. Mouthy kids, old dears, silent types ~ no wonder he's a rude git. I've had the experience of dealing with him/one of his clones and the unnerving feeling of my every move being watched is still burnt into the back of my head. Still managed to score though. Nöel Coward said "If you want to be subversive, dress like a stockbroker." It works!
Ben ive been glued into your lift videos for the last few nights, great job and you have me wanting to be on a lift with you when surfing!! Can you do Broadwater Farm in Tottenham, north London? the uk government want to pull the place down. i used to live in the area and had many friends that lived in the estate. there was lots of 70's lifts there that where badly modernised in the 90's for you to hate on, it would be great watching!!
Do you still live there ?? What is it like living there ?? I'm curious as to what its like. from the out side the building looks dilapidated but I imagine that the inside is modern ?? :)
Lift Technicians with comedic voices, who aren't afraid to abuse their access keys... LOVE IT! :D Also gotta love the safety factor of having the oil-fired boilers in a completely separate tower from the living spaces... fck'ing BRILLIANT!... stylish too.
The Service Tower reminds me of... a *Rocket stood on a Gantry* , eh wot!? ... "T-minus-15, Guidance is internal... T-minus-3 all engines running WE HAVE COMMIT!... and LIFTOFF, liftoff of Apollo 11!..." :D You can't tell me that wasn't part of old Erno's style influences, after all, The Modernists preceding him had been "borrowing" from aircraft design for 4 decades at that point.
Awesome video! Although maybe put photos in the video like you used to! I struggle to see all the awesome things you capture because the camera is moving too fast! Again, love all this stuff
I'm surprised there's not a davit type crane permanently on the roof of the service tower... I mean you're not going to get a grand piano in one of those weird narrow lifts, eh wot? But perhaps that's why the boilers were "retired in place", and are still there decades later.
how did you get in when I cycled there I went in the entrance and a officer stopped me and told me where am I going then I told him that I'm here to film the lifts then he said no and kicked me out
I feel safer with the old *worm gear* lift motor setups because, hey, inherent *braking* eh? You can't drive a worm gear from a spur gear, only the worm gear can be the driver...
@@Juliukas101 Umm, anyone who's had the shit-yer-pants *weightless* free-fall experience of a failed lift?... and survived. Granted, it's a small club.
Even though I do not live in the UK, we can clearly see the Balfron tower lifts were modernised in the 1990s (presumably late 1990s) era. This however, as the label above the indicator states, was modernised in 2012. However, I’m not sure if this lift was already modernised once in the same period as the balfron tower lifts, or they remained in their original condition up till modernisation.
Beno Tried to find older pictures of the lift before the 2012 modernisation. Found out that it was already modernised by generic around the mid 1990s - early 2000s, so the 2012 modernisation was the second one. There was also a very blur picture of the original lifts from 1972. Cannot deduce much from the picture unfortunately since it’s very blur www.architecture.com/image-library/RIBApix/image-information/poster/trellick-tower-cheltenham-estate-edenham-street-north-kensington-london-the-lift-lobby/posterid/RIBA24062.html
I agree that the building is interesting, but they look ugly as hell. I don’t really know about the living conditions in them but they don’t look great that’s for sure.
All of your photographs are taken in 4:3 aspect ratio and you could edit them to fit the videos aspect ratio and I think your videos would look good aswell in 18:9/2:1 aspect ratio because it looks more cinematic and wider and the things you do would really suit this! What do you think to these suggestions?
The image sensor of the camera is 4:3 so taking it at 4:3 is full quality. I angled the camera for a 4:3 picture, so to resize it would loose part of the picture that I was trying to include. I don't think anyone minds that the video jumps to 4:3 for the pictures.
These so-called "custom" padlocks are NOT Medeco, or similar super-tricky designs with multi-axis pins... awaiting further videos, with upgraded lock-picking skills... ;') ... after all, Beno's tax money is paying for these Council schemes and intrigues... da public has a "right to know", eh wot?
28.5 Mobile communications 25.5 Mobile communications 22.5 ??????????????? 19.5 Water tanks 16.5 ??????????????? But is locked off 13.5 Water tanks 10.5 Boiler room equipment 7.5 ?????????????? But is locked off 4.5 Water pumps 2 Community
I love these videos 👌 I’m a 54 year old lady from Edinburgh and as I was actually born in a tower block in 1966 I am so interested in this stuff. The block I lived in was called Capelaw Court in Edinburgh and was demolished in 2005 it was heartbreaking watching it getting blown up. We lived on the 14th floor.
We moved out in 1982 , my parents were the first tenants to occupy our flat back in 1961 before I was born . It was a brilliant place to grow up it was like a village in the sky.
On the ground floor there was 3 washrooms with massive washers that were top loading . I was fascinated with these and washed my dolls clothes in them much to the annoyance of the mums waiting on a machine .
My brother was always surfing the lifts and made a key out of an old bicycle pump as he always watched the express lift engineers accessing the top of the lift and copied the shape of the key.
You guys would have lived Capelaw Court it was an H shaped building with the maisonettes in the middle . There was a long landing on the 2nd, 5th, 8th, 11th and 14th floor.
Keep up the adventures but be safe lads . Cheers Eve 😃
According to Wikipedia the boiler room was in operation for only one year. The tower opened in 1972, and in 1973 was the oil crisis during which the prices for oil skyrocketed. So these oil-fired boilers were quickly taken out of service and the apartments were fitted with electric heaters. Good thing that removing all the old equipment from up there would be extremely expensive because this means that this "museum" will probably remain for the future.
The tower was designed in 1967 and construction began in 1968, so it is from the 60s, but the first residents moved in after the tower was finished in 1972.
@@OneKnifeYeHand It's doppleganger--Balfron Tower--was designed and completed in the 60s... Erno learned a lot from that one, and Trellick is improved in many ways.
One wonders how jury-rigged the electrical upgrades were to handle the individual per-unit water heaters...?
@@MajorCaliber trellick was notoriously a vertical slum
Bit like Hammersmith flyover which was exquisitely designed but unfortunately the heated road surface conked out pretty fast and then them iriots used grit salt to keep it ice free in chilly weather with obvious outcomes.
Thank you for this awesome video. I love this architecture and it is so interesting to see its inner workings.
I am glad you enjoyed it
Superb. Well done 😎✅
My old school still had and used it's original 1970s boiler until about 2019 to my knowledge. I remember it used to break down quite often
There have been multiple offers by developers to turn the unused spaces in the plant room into a penthouse but they've never accepted the offer. I think when the lift motors get replaced soon, almost all of it could be emptied out. Awesome video!
Comment section of Jago bought me here. Great video!! Keep it up.
Imagine the concierge seeing this 😂 💀
Even the railings in that boiler room are amazing. You're a breath of fresh air Beno!
Trellick is so beautiful, a masterpiece of Brutalism.
trellick is the ugliest thing in london
@@petergibson9956 I saw it when I went Heathrow I saw parts falling they might else demolish
@@rekzslesbianmum658trelick tower is a grade two listed building
I know this might sound crazy but the building is Grade II listed so does that mean the boilers are too?
Quite possibly, since during the refurbishment you see here (i.e. all the scaffolding) they're required to retain (or copy) the original tiles, original finishes, etc.
Does this mean they will be restoring all of the asbestos ;) :D @@MajorCaliber
Thanks! Is interesting visit all corners of that building.
Ben these boilers are not efficient. They were installed because they were cheap in terms of the fuel they burned. That changed with the oil shocks of the 70's when oil producing nations realized how they were being ripped off and shot up their prices. Suddenly the fuel for these things skyrocketed in price so it was much cheaper to install electric water heaters in each flat.
They are also inefficient in terms of the electrical power consumed by their circulation pumps. It's not only the fuel they burn, it's pumping the hot water around the building which would be done by one or two very large 3 phase water pumps. The entire building would have had hot water pipes in a return loop back to the boilers. The idea is hot water is circulated around the hot water loop so hot water is available anywhere in the building. When somebody turns on a hot tap it draws hot water off of the loop running through that flat. If this wasn't being done somebody on the 5th floor would be waiting an awful long time for hot water to arrive all the way from the boiler room.
And those pumps would run 24/7 pumping hot water around in circles. That boarding school I told you about I went to in the 70's and 80's had a system like this. That school was demolished 10 years ago and replaced with new buildings. The difference in the electrical bill was huge with the removal of the boiler room and its circulation pumps. It is still a boarding school but instead of a central boiler room it now has bathrooms with a 300 liter hot water cylinder next to each bathroom.
Grate trip down memory lane for me Big thanks guys I lived across the road in homfield house well I grew up there watched 2 man jump with para shoot off roof of T|tower but only 1 opened so unfortunately 1 didn’t make it I was just a kid on my way home from school then I’m 51 now all the old London is being knocked down or hidden under cladding it’s grate you are putting all this on TH-cam the 21st century version of a photo album and history book Thank you Beno 👍👍
Such an awesome video!
I live less than aMile from Trellick. One of the last spots in Notting hill thats still old school.
You should have seen the area in the 70s & early 80s: Grim!
A lot of the original structures below have gone.
Hmmmmm.... SOUNDS FAMILIAR!!!!
13m 48 seconds, old pirate radio aerials
35 Roof level
34 Water tanks
33 Lift motor room
32 Upper boiler room
31 Lower boiler room
28.5 Mobile communications
25.5 Mobile communications
22.5 Unexpected empty floor
19.5 Water tanks
16.5 Plant room 15A (but is locked off)
13.5 Water tanks
10.5 Boiler room equipment
7.5 Plant room 6A (but is locked off)
4.5 Water pumps
2 Community
Amazing! You guys have the skill of Mission Impossible agents. I just imagine the boiler room with the music from that classic 60’s spy series for added atmosphere. That boiler room would make a nice setpiece for spy movies. Those old boilers also have a lot of Bakelite switches, that’s a material you don’t really see anymore. My uncle collects old electrical outlets and switches and many of them are made from Bakelite.
it's an impressive Mission: Impossible situation.
Thanks. This did feel like a mission. We were urbexing this place for 1 hour 30 mins. The entire time we had to be completely serious and alert. We had to be ready at all times in case we were noticed. Also we had to have good communication with each other and know how we were doing things at all times. Doing this sort of urbex is something that has to be taken seriously. It is not a simple light hearted thing like some of my other videos. If caught we risked having nasty security guards (who may be very rough with us) and corrupt police (who may illegally arrest us and/or illegally make us delete our pictures and steal our keys, although we took as few keys as possible just in case this happened). Although not at this site, some building sites have maffia security. Jordan has had a bad encounter with them, so far I haven't, but they do exist (especially in Manchester).
@@benolifts Hat tip to Beno & Co., who (as a Yank) I'm guessing has some kind of Lift Technician license that might be at risk, and slightly less legal protection than in US/Canada. So besides the practical reasons for not showing their faces, it adds to the humor and "youthful escapades" vibe! PS: wouldn't "mafia" security become "cooperative" if you "greased" their palm with a 10-pound note, eh wot? ;')
Doesn't urban exploring sometimes feel like playing pacman with the ghosts following you all the time?
More like playing slenderman where security can catch you at any moment
Please can you make a game when you are exploring a tower block and security is trying to find you! As you pass levels you should go to taller and more interesting tower blocks.
@@benolifts FNAF or NATC
Dude, you should be a voice actor in South Park, your voice is hilairous,
I was really getting musle pain from laughing at your voice. :D
bruh, his voice...
It's got to be a thankless task being the concierge of this tower block. Dealing with all sorts at all hours of the day would send anyone round the bend. Mouthy kids, old dears, silent types ~ no wonder he's a rude git.
I've had the experience of dealing with him/one of his clones and the unnerving feeling of my every move being watched is still burnt into the back of my head. Still managed to score though.
Nöel Coward said "If you want to be subversive, dress like a stockbroker." It works!
Ben ive been glued into your lift videos for the last few nights, great job and you have me wanting to be on a lift with you when surfing!! Can you do Broadwater Farm in Tottenham, north London? the uk government want to pull the place down. i used to live in the area and had many friends that lived in the estate. there was lots of 70's lifts there that where badly modernised in the 90's for you to hate on, it would be great watching!!
I can't remember if I have been to Broadwater Farm. I think I did once but left as I couldn't get to any secret areas back then.
@@benolifts, you are.....
if you ever get a chance please try again :D
Why’s it covered in scaffolding?
Cool you passed my floor 24
Do you still live there ?? What is it like living there ?? I'm curious as to what its like. from the out side the building looks dilapidated but I imagine that the inside is modern ?? :)
Ben went back in time! Yay!
Nice boiler room :D
Lift Technicians with comedic voices, who aren't afraid to abuse their access keys... LOVE IT! :D
Also gotta love the safety factor of having the oil-fired boilers in a completely separate tower from the living spaces... fck'ing BRILLIANT!... stylish too.
The Service Tower reminds me of... a *Rocket stood on a Gantry* , eh wot!? ... "T-minus-15, Guidance is internal... T-minus-3 all engines running WE HAVE COMMIT!... and LIFTOFF, liftoff of Apollo 11!..." :D You can't tell me that wasn't part of old Erno's style influences, after all, The Modernists preceding him had been "borrowing" from aircraft design for 4 decades at that point.
Nice video you guys are awesome!
Thanks
Awesome video! Although maybe put photos in the video like you used to! I struggle to see all the awesome things you capture because the camera is moving too fast!
Again, love all this stuff
I live in a tower block now 16th floor I love all the views I’m in Walsall west midlands
Hi Beno! Will you be doing any videos on the W12 centre at Shepherds Bush which has a 1960s tower block above it, and Ashcroft Square at Hammersmith?
Yes, I hope so
Does Jordan ever take. Photos of the servers and things he finds?
Why did you. Make two sentences when there should have been one?
I'm surprised there's not a davit type crane permanently on the roof of the service tower... I mean you're not going to get a grand piano in one of those weird narrow lifts, eh wot? But perhaps that's why the boilers were "retired in place", and are still there decades later.
how did you get in when I cycled there I went in the entrance and a officer stopped me and told me where am I going then I told him that I'm here to film the lifts then he said no and kicked me out
Your first mistake was to mention anything about the lifts. Just go in and act like you are meant to be there
@@benolifts i don't know what to say to them. I'm scared
awesome video
Yatta!
Love your videos
So do I!
Yatta!!!!
It is nice bc they go into old buildings trying to uncover mysteries while trying to not get caught
Always wanted to go here, slightly jealous that you got to go there.
Hmmmm..... SOUNDS FAMILIAR!!!!
I feel safer with the old *worm gear* lift motor setups because, hey, inherent *braking* eh? You can't drive a worm gear from a spur gear, only the worm gear can be the driver...
Who cares about such meaningless garbage?
@@Juliukas101 Umm, anyone who's had the shit-yer-pants *weightless* free-fall experience of a failed lift?... and survived. Granted, it's a small club.
These towers in London are a reminder of how industrial it became.
Lifts modernised kinda recently so sadly nobody filmed them in their original condition. Any idea what they were like before?
Even though I do not live in the UK, we can clearly see the Balfron tower lifts were modernised in the 1990s (presumably late 1990s) era. This however, as the label above the indicator states, was modernised in 2012. However, I’m not sure if this lift was already modernised once in the same period as the balfron tower lifts, or they remained in their original condition up till modernisation.
The lifts would have most likely been Express or Bennie. I have never seen a 3 lift relay allocation system yet. Would have been very advanced.
Beno Lifts then would you say the lifts remained original up till the 2012 mod or they were updated before that?
Beno Tried to find older pictures of the lift before the 2012 modernisation. Found out that it was already modernised by generic around the mid 1990s - early 2000s, so the 2012 modernisation was the second one. There was also a very blur picture of the original lifts from 1972. Cannot deduce much from the picture unfortunately since it’s very blur www.architecture.com/image-library/RIBApix/image-information/poster/trellick-tower-cheltenham-estate-edenham-street-north-kensington-london-the-lift-lobby/posterid/RIBA24062.html
Shibe That building is a few years older, but I Guess there’s still a high possibility the lifts there were made by the same manufacturer
I agree that the building is interesting, but they look ugly as hell. I don’t really know about the living conditions in them but they don’t look great that’s for sure.
So... the "concierge" (aka Security Guard) is a German SS sergeant? @8:29 ... lol...
You're mad as a hatter but that's why we love you and subscribe!
trellick is excellent.
Ben, when can you come to America? i want to film with you.
I am not sure when I can come to the USA. Flights are expensive.
*And so as mine.*
The Benoster STRIKES AGAIN!!!!!!! Great job man this really fuels my autistic inclinations ☺️😘🤠😳🦐
i have a cousin who lives is the Trellick tower 30th floor
That is lucky for them
Wow superb! Can you come do some round by me?!
Chill out my guy.
Otherwise great video.
The lifts work fast.
Trellick Tower Has A High-Rise Elevator!
I wouldn't count it as high rise. Its a 2.5 m/s generic lift.
@@benolifts Yeah, I Was Wrong. It's Slow.
All of your photographs are taken in 4:3 aspect ratio and you could edit them to fit the videos aspect ratio and I think your videos would look good aswell in 18:9/2:1 aspect ratio because it looks more cinematic and wider and the things you do would really suit this!
What do you think to these suggestions?
The image sensor of the camera is 4:3 so taking it at 4:3 is full quality. I angled the camera for a 4:3 picture, so to resize it would loose part of the picture that I was trying to include. I don't think anyone minds that the video jumps to 4:3 for the pictures.
@@benolifts True, not really an issue... ROCK ON BENO!
Awesome
Yatta!!!!!
I used to live here
If I lived there I would never move out ! I’ve seen vids of inside the flats and they look really cool 👍🏻👍🏻 I love this building .
There is A fucking concierge in this block? What?
These so-called "custom" padlocks are NOT Medeco, or similar super-tricky designs with multi-axis pins... awaiting further videos, with upgraded lock-picking skills... ;') ... after all, Beno's tax money is paying for these Council schemes and intrigues... da public has a "right to know", eh wot?
Lucky man!
28.5 Mobile communications
25.5 Mobile communications
22.5 ???????????????
19.5 Water tanks
16.5 ??????????????? But is locked off
13.5 Water tanks
10.5 Boiler room equipment
7.5 ?????????????? But is locked off
4.5 Water pumps
2 Community
You have been reported for unlawful trespass and use of a drop key.
Yay! Sounds fun.
You must be sad huh
Oh no 😱😱😱
Party Pooper 👎🏻👎🏻
I love. The deasal pumps. That's what the spill kits. There for.
Are you dyslexic?
Yatta!
First!
Yatta!
RATP!
Yatta!
Southern Vectis!
Yatta!
Bugs Bunny!
First stop
Arriva stop
Southern Vectis stop
You were not first.
I already did the first comment.
Let's.... Pokémon Tretta!
You need to calm down and stop talking so fast, like someone possessed.. I wanted to watch but had to switch off because of the annoying narrative..
*REPEAT!!!!!!!!*
MMMM SOUNDS FAMILIAR