Better known for its lavish stately country homes, Britain's National Trust is changing tack this month by offering tours of concrete buildings seen by many as hideous eyesores.

Large-scale, rugged and mostly grey, so-called brutalist architecture flourished around Britain in the post-war years, partly due to the relatively low cost of construction.

Some architects saw the style as modern and progressive, although many brutalist housing estates are now a byword for urban decay.

"Love it or not, brutalism was the dominant post-war architectural movement that sought to offer the best of design to the masses through public housing schemes, new universities and venues for the arts and education that were accessible to all," the Trust said in a statement.

The Trust's "Brutal Utopia" tours are due to start on September 25, and include London's Southbank Centre, the Park Hill flats in Sheffield and the University of East Anglia campus in Norwich.

As part of the project, the Trust is also offering guided tours of London's brutalist architecture on a 1962 Routemaster coach, where experts will "chart both the utopian visions and often-dystopian outcomes" of the building style. afp