Stepped concrete flats face a red brick walkway, and the tallest block has a walkway on its seventh floor.
What Alexandra Road Estate looks like
Three parallel blocks run east to west across the estate. The tallest is seven or eight storeys, stepped back in a ziggurat form along the railway line. Its flat roofs are private terraces, and blue water tanks stand on some of them. A four-storey block stands on the far side of , a continuous red brick pedestrian walkway between the blocks.
A walkway on the seventh floor runs the full length of the tallest block, and the top two levels are maisonettes reached from it. Lower-floor homes are entered from open stairs, two dwellings to a floor. At one point a raised walkway crosses an open car park beneath the blocks.
Balconies project in stepped rows, with planters along their rails. The concrete is board-marked and unpainted. Blue painted metal handrails line the walkways and stairs. Lamp posts stand along the red brick paving.
is a footpath through the estate. runs along the east edge and along the west. The West Coast Main Line runs along the north edge, beside the tallest block. is a short walk away.
Shot in Alexandra Road Estate
The estate's own filming page says filming is prohibited unless it is licensed through FilmFixer, which manages film locations for Camden. Crews come several times a year. The Sweeney filmed the estate while it was still being built, and Anthony Minghella's Breaking and Entering (2006) was filmed on it too. Prime Suspect and The Bill are also named on the estate's filming page, which names no block for either.
BBC series Spooks, Silent Witness and London Spy
Scenes of the estate appear in BBC series such as these three. No block is given, so the photograph shows the estate as a whole.
Kingsman The Secret Service, 2014
Rowley Way
Played Eggsy's flat
In Matthew Vaughn's film, Eggsy's flat is on Rowley Way, on the estate. The photograph shows that walkway.
Park Hill is concrete, built as deck access flats, with long walkways running along its blocks. Its four decks were wide enough for milk floats. The concept was described as streets in the sky. Park Hill runs from four to thirteen storeys, so a frame has to choose the walkways and the lower blocks to hold the illusion. Try searching deck access flats now.
Dawson's Heights in Dulwich, London
Dawson's Heights is described as reminiscent of a ziggurat, the form of the tallest block here. It was built between 1964 and 1972. At twelve floors it is taller than the block here, so the frame has to keep the ziggurat massing and leave out the upper floors. Its twelve floors stand well above the tallest block here, so a telephoto frame from the street works better than a wide one. Try searching ziggurat blocks now.
