1985 Handsworth riots 1500 police officers drafted into the area, about 45 shops looted and burnt, and a trail of damage running into hundreds of thousands of pounds. As well as racial tension, unemployment was seen as a major factor in the riots; by the time of the riots, fewer than 5% of the black population to have left school that summer had found employment. The riots were the first of a series of similar riots across the country during the autumn of 1985, notably the Broadwater Farm riot in London which also resulted in a fatality (the murder of policeman Keith Blakelock).
Broadwater Farm where a gas explosion in 1968 caused progressive collapse, killing four people. Broadwater Farm was built using the same Taylor Woodrow-Anglian system of panels as Ronan Point. The domino-like system of large structural slabs speeded the building and allowed cheaper, less expert labour to be used to assemble the prefabricated panels. Even so, construction standards were ignored; mortar joints stuffed with newspaper reduced drying time and weakened the buildings. The blocks were inspected for safety in 1985 about the same time that gas was installed. Gaps, wide enough to see the flat below, were found between the external wall panels