DH Painter & Decorator paints the outside of homes in Blackthorn, the Development Corporation estate in NN3 about 3.8 miles north-east of Northampton town centre. Dean works mainly on the timber that remains on these 1970s houses, plus any rendered or painted wall panels, and plans each visit around the estate's footpath layout.
A 1970s New Town estate, seen from the outside
Northampton East was the Development Corporation’s eastern expansion, and Blackthorn was one of its separately planned estates. The county Historic Environment Record logs topsoil being scraped in September 1974 so the ground at “Blackthorn 1” could be terraced for houses, which puts most of the estate at around fifty years old. Terraced houses dominate: 44.9% of homes around Blackthorn Bridge Court and 64.1% in the neighbouring Census area are terraced, with semis making up roughly a quarter and a small number of detached houses and purpose-built flats.
That age matters more than anything else for outside work. Half a century is long enough for original timber to carry many coats, for some owners to have swapped to uPVC and others not, and for every house in a row to have drifted off in its own direction. Nothing on the estate is listed or inside a conservation area, so the decisions sit with you as owner rather than with a planning officer.
We cover Blackthorn from our Northampton base. Our general method for outside work, from surface checks to finishing coats, is on the main exterior painting page; this page sticks to what is particular to this estate.
Front doors on footpaths, vans in the courts
Blackthorn was laid out on Radburn lines, keeping pedestrians and cars apart. Many homes front onto walks such as Blackthorn Walk, Spinneyside Walk and Birds Hill Walk, while cars are kept to cul-de-sacs like Longmead Court, Collmead Court, Pikemead Court and Hopmeadow Court. For a painter that changes the day in a few practical ways:
- Ladders, sheets and tins are carried from the court to the house, so the kit list is trimmed to what the job needs.
- Ladder feet often land on a public path. Dean sets out barriers and keeps a walkway clear for people heading to the school on Waingrove or the shops at Bridge Court.
- Court parking is shared and tight, so jobs are planned to finish in as few visits as possible rather than leaving a van parked for a week.
- Mid-terrace houses have no side passage. Anything for the back elevation goes through the house, so we lay protection along that route first.
What tends to need paint on these houses
Exterior wall materials on the estate are not recorded in any source we have read, and houses differ, so the first visit is a walk round to see what each surface is. The common candidates are:
- Timber fascias and soffits that were never capped, usually flaking after decades of overcoating. See our fascia and soffit service.
- Front and back doors, frames and porch timbers where they have not been replaced.
- Rendered, clad or previously painted panels on the elevations, which need a different system from the timber.
- Garden fences and gates, often done in the same visit to save a second trip through the house.
On porch timbers and door frames that look original, the bottom layers are tested before any heavy sanding, as early components occasionally carry lead.
Whose job is the outside?
Tenure on the estate is unusually mixed. Census 2021 found 30.2% of homes around Bridge Court and 53.1% in the neighbouring area were social rented, much of it from the council, alongside 17-21% private renting. The council paints the outside of houses it still owns, so the private jobs come from owner-occupiers, right-to-buy buyers and landlords letting ex-council houses. Those homes often have a mix of replacement doors and windows, so the job is usually painting what timber remains and refreshing the walls, not repainting an entire facade.
For more on the estate as a whole, see our Blackthorn area page, and for how quotes are put together, our painting cost guide.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
