The Sentinels

The Sentinels are two 90 metre tall residential tower blocks on Holloway Head in Birmingham, England. The two towers, called Clydesdale Tower and Cleveland Tower, are both 31 storeys tall and were part of a major regeneration and council home building scheme following World War II which in the 1960s and 1970s saw the construction of hundreds of tower blocks. Originally built and operated by the City of Birmingham, the buildings were part of a stock transfer from Birmingham local authority to Optima Community Association in 1999, and today the buildings are owned by Citizen housing association (itself an amalgamation of several West Midlands housing associations). The Sentinels were the tallest purely residential tower blocks in the city until the completion of the 102 metre tall skyscraper Bank Tower 2 in 2019. They are also surpassed by the 132 metre tall residential tower known as The Mercian located on Broad Street with 42 floors. History Planning The tower blocks were the brainchild of the Chairman of Birmingham's House Building and Housing Management Committees returning from a visit to Chicago to witness the opening of the Marina City development which consists of two 61-storey towers. The councillors decided that Birmingham needed a development similar to this and in 1965, plans began to surface for the construction of twin towers at Holloway Head to overlook the new ring road. After discussions over height, it was decided that the tower blocks should be 32 storeys tall, one storey taller than the Red Road tower blocks in Glasgow, Scotland. It was decided to construct them out of concrete, which was common among tower blocks in the city during that time. They were designed by C.Bryant & Son. and both towers were identical though angled differently to provide a different perspective to each block.