It rained on me most of the time I was in Bracknell. It was sunny in Virginia Water on both the way there and the way back. But raining in Bracknell.
Having thoroughly confused some locals by asking for directions to the only residential tower in the town (one of whom clearly thought I was a mentalist), I finally came across the 17-storey block in the conservation area of Easthampstead. Not quite sure what qualifies the area as conserved - the 50s houses thereabouts have been routinely subjected to the usual improvements of coaching lamps and mock-Georgian windows. But the tower itself is very good.
Apparently nicknamed the 'thruppeny bit'.
Quaintly dated iconic branding.
The tower sits atop a large smooth concrete disk. This is in turn surrounded by a sort of moat, which provides ventilation and light to the car park underneath the whole thing. The frequency of the trees growing in the moat suggests that they were deliberately placed there, or at least deliberately not removed. Not sure that it was a great idea, as it gives the place a rather unkempt air of abandonment.
The moat / blast pit.
The moat is spanned by a couple of concrete bridges. The load-bearing central core is hidden in the shadows of painted concrete screens, implying the whole building is light enough to rest on just those slim supports.
Not sure if the listing is my photography or the tower itself...
The styling is unashamedly space age - the tower sits like a rocket resting on a launch pad. It is so much more 'designed', more interesting than the later, lazier blocks built across the the country, which are now so widely hated. As the external doors to the block are (wisely) locked, I didn't get to infiltrate, so I have no idea what it's like inside. Perhaps it awash with needles and urine. But, from the outside, in a burst of sunshine on a rainy day, it looked really rather decent.
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