Demolition

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Britain's worst buildings | X-list | Dirty dozen | Map

The dirty dozen

Former RIBA president George Ferguson gives an overview of the 12 buildings that received most nominations from the public as worthy of demolition

Westgate House, Newcastle

Westgate House is a drab, disused, 1970s concrete office block in the heart of Newcastle’s historic Grainger Town. After five years of dedicated work, it’s actually being demolished and Demolition’s George Ferguson was invited to cast the first blow.

Number 1 Westminster Bridge, Central London

Officially known as the Greater London Council Overflow Building, this building was once connected to City Hall by an overhead walkway. Now completely inaccessible, it sits stranded in four lanes of traffic, left empty and decaying since the GLC was closed down 20 years ago. 

Lodges supermarket, Holmfirth, Yorkshire

Located in the picturesque Last of the Summer Wine village of Holmfirth,  Lodges supermarket was built in the 1970s in yellow brick. It is completely out of tune with its setting and has stood derelict and unused for eight years.

The Tower, Colliers Wood, South West London

Located in what is principally a little town of Victorian terraces,  where few buildings are  more than two storeys high, The Tower,  completed in the late 1960s, is 19 storeys of offices in black concrete, glass and steel. When the local council asked residents, 86% described it as the worst thing about living in Colliers Wood.

The Scottish Parliament Building, Edinburgh

Winner of this year’s Stirling RIBA Prize for architecture, the Scottish Parliament Building has divided public opinion, due in part to its price tag of £431 million pounds.

 

Gateshead Multistorey Car Park, Newastle

An icon of mid-60s brutalism, loved by architects and academics, hated by a lot of Geordies, this was the UK’s first major free-standing multistorey car park to incorporate a shopping centre. It is most famous for its starring role in the great British gangster movie, Get Carter.

The Cement Works, Rugby

A giant structure the size of a cathedral, which sits in the town of Rugby, this is the only industrial building to make it on to the Dirty Dozen list. Locals complained about the emissions, the dust and the many lorries that trundle through the town every day.

Park Hill, Sheffield

One of Britain’s largest concrete structures, the Park Hill apartment complex was opened in 1961. It’s the only housing project on our shortlist and it’s also the only listed building. Park Hill has been listed Grade II by English Heritage, which puts it in the top 10% of listed buildings in the country.

Crown House, Kidderminster

Built in the 1960s as a central government building, Crown House was exempt from the usual planning permission. Located on the aptly named Pitts Lane, it once housed the Inland Revenue.

 

The Bus Station, Northampton

Northampton Bus Station should welcome you to the historic town centre, but the reality is quite different. Built in 1974, and big enough to accommodate a pair of supertankers, its mammoth size and shape are down to the fact that it is a bus depot as well as a bus station. To make it even bigger, three storeys of now empty office space were added on top.

The Imax Cinema, Bournemouth

Erected in the 1990s to reinvigorate Bournemouth’s tourist trade with a visitor attraction and wet weather facility, the IMAX was expected to be the ultimate entertainment experience.  Instead, it closed after three years and residents complain that it blocks the view of a beautiful seafront.

Cumbernauld Town Shopping Centre, Scotland

Built in the 1960s as the centrepiece of the visionary new town of Cumbernauld in Scotland, the shopping centrelooks like a huge concrete space station on stilts, eight storeys high, with a dual carriageway running underneath it. Large sections are empty but it is home to a smattering of offices, a library and a low-rent shopping centre connected by a bewildering array of ramps and walkways. According to our poll, it’s the worst building in Britain.

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