Archinect - News

UNESCO assessing impact of skyscrapers on Tower of London

2024-08-07T19:29:00-04:00

The Tower of London’s status as a world heritage site may be at risk due to the influx of new skyscrapers in central London. UNESCO has requested that the UK government submit a State of Conservation Report that addresses the historic site’s preservation and the threat of increased high-rise buildings in the area. As reported by the BBC, a UNESCO spokesperson said the request was due to concerns about “cumulative impacts” from nearby high-rise developments and insufficient protection of the Tower’s “outstanding universal value”.

Previously on Archinect: The City of London skyline is expected to add these eleven towers by 2030

Concerns were initially raised by the English historic preservation body, Historic England, regarding City Plan 2040, the City of London Corporation’s (CLC) draft policies for new office, residential buildings, and overall development. Historic England believes these policies are likely to “severely harm” the likes of the Tower of London. On the other hand, depu...

UK gov't cancels long-controversial highway tunnel project near Stonehenge

2024-07-30T16:59:00-04:00

The British government’s plans to construct a new two-mile underground tunnel near the Stonehenge UNESCO World Heritage site have been called off in what’s being framed as a major victory for preservationists.

The BBC has more on the late budgetary decision, which ends a yearslong legal back-and-forth between local campaigners and National Highways. The issue had, at one point, threatened its protected status. A campaigner with Stonehenge Alliance told The Art Newspaper: "This entire monstrous project, a proposal to drive a gash of concrete and tarmac through our most sacred prehistoric landscape, should never have got off the drawing board."

London’s landmark Marks & Spencer department store gets a new life after court ruling

2023-07-20T17:26:00-04:00

A number of prominent architects had previously voiced their support for retrofitting the century-old store ahead of the inquiry, which began last October at the bequest of Secretary Michael Gove. Gove cited a concern for neighboring landmarks in the vicinity as part of his decision to strike down the retailer's demolition scheme in addition to its potential "lifetime carbon usage."

According to a report today in Bloomberg CityLab, "Marks & Spencer Group Plc will review its future as a fixture on London’s Oxford Street after losing government backing for a plan to demolish its flagship art deco store and rebuild a modern replacement [...] The case is a major win for the campaign group, which argued the 'handsome' building should be retrofitted rather than demolished, on the grounds that it would have a much lower environmental impact."

Advocates, including SAVE Britain's Heritage, hope the ruling will establish precedents by which the future of two dozen or so other "high street ti...

Richard Rogers’ Channel 4 headquarters gains Grade II-listed status in London

2023-04-03T11:58:00-04:00

Following an advocacy campaign by Historic England, the UK's Department for Culture, Media and Sport recently granted Grade II-listed status to Richard Rogers Partnership’s 1994 Channel 4 headquarters building in Westminster, London, answering some concerns as to its future after the property was targeted for a private sell-off by the struggling broadcaster just last year.

The group’s official entry praised it as a demonstrative and highly sophisticated design that displayed all the key elements of the High-Tech movement while functioning rather seamlessly as the flexible first home of the country’s high-brow intellectual mainstay.

The Channel 4 Building, 124-126 Horseferry Road, London © Historic England Archive DP434074

Historic England cited this status also in terms of its cultural significance, emphasizing its early-90s commissioning came on the heels of Rogers’ seminal Lloyd’s Building and stating that it was one of the “most significant” UK projects of the Italian-born Briti...

Retrofits could add $42 billion to the UK’s economy, report shows

2023-03-06T14:34:00-05:00

Retrofitting the UK’s historical buildings, from Georgian townhouses to the mills and factories that kickstarted the Industrial Revolution, could generate £35bn of economic output a year, create jobs and play a crucial role in achieving climate targets, research has found. The organisations behind the report are calling on the government to work with industry to [...] advice into a national retrofit strategy, as the UK only has half the skilled workers needed to retrofit all old buildings.

The report from a consortium that includes the National Trust, Historic England, and property group Grosvenor also outlined Britain’s need for 105,000 additional skilled workers to help meet the country’s lagging 2050 net zero decarbonization goals. By that time, the retrofitting market is anticipated to have a value of between £3.5 and £6.5 billion per year (equal to $4.2 and $7.8 billion in USD).

The UK has an underused levy for work programs to help meet the goals. Currently, there are an estimated 6.2 million homes in the country which are considered historic, with another one-third of all commercial buildings carrying the same designation.

An English department store demo could create a new special historic status for former retail palaces across the UK

2022-08-24T12:48:00-04:00

Historic England is taking action as preservation advocates in the country prepare for what could be a seminal decision that might alter the face of building conservation in the UK for years to come.

More than 50% of the country's historic department stores have reportedly closed since 2015, leading proponents of their adaptive reuse (including The Guardian critic Oliver Wainwright) to successfully petition against the proposed demolition of a landmark Marks & Spencer outpost on Oxford Street in Central London. Architects, led by Julia Barfield, Sarah Wigglesworth, and Stirling Medalist Steve Tompkins have been lining up with the group to voice their support for retrofitting ahead of an October inquiry into the matter that was called recently by Communities Secretary Michael Gove. Many see this as a potential public rallying cry for retrofit projects throughout the country.

Previously on Archinect: Save Britain's Heritage details threats faced by landmark department stores

A group c...

Historic England objects to proposed monument at site of ancient Roman chariot-racing track in Colchester

2022-02-14T14:41:00-05:00

A proposed monument for a historic Army barracks could "harm" remains of an ancient Roman chariot racing track, Historic England said. The Roman Circus, a scheduled ancient monument in Colchester, Essex, shares a site with the Royal Artillery Barracks. An application has been submitted for a monument and two blue plaques to recognise the barracks as one of the earliest in the Colchester Garrison.

According to the Local Democracy Report Service, the Roman chariot-racing track is the only one of its kind in Britain and one of only six unearthed in northern Europe. Historic England, the public body that looks over England’s historic environment, does not believe the proposed commemorative monument would yield public benefit that outweighs the potential harm on the racing track.

Historic England has recommended a new location away from the ancient site be found for the monument. The applicant behind the monument was surprised by Historic England’s objection, noting that a block of residential units had been built near the site and was deemed acceptable.

London's muscular supermarket makes history

2019-07-26T14:29:00-04:00

History has been made in England, where the Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners-designed Sainsbury complex in London has become the country's first historically-recognized supermarket.

Built between 1986 and 1988, the muscular complex is designed in the High-Tech style of the time, a mode that combines technological advances in industrial materiality with the formal and structural clarity of Brutalism to create a particularly expressive variant of late modern architecture. The complex was developed by the Sainsbury grocery chain as a mixed-use project that matches a sizable supermarket with a group of row houses and apartments. Both buildings have been recognized as having Grade II significance, the country's third-highest level of significance.

The long, rectangular supermarket is articulated as a series of bays framed by massive structural steel members. The steel, coated in a fire-proof paint typically use...

PoMo yay, Brutalism nay?

2018-05-21T14:56:00-04:00

That we are now starting to get to grips with PoMo architecture’s controversial legacy is welcome, not least because other important buildings have already been destroyed, and others are threatened. [...] Today the worlds of design and conservation are more closely allied than before. But even as this latest batch of postmodern buildings has won protected status, it is worth noting that important brutalist buildings are still excluded from the roster.

Commentary by Catherine Croft for The Guardian on Historic England's recent selection of 17 postmodern buildings to be listed as heritage without extending the same love to important examples of the brutalist school.

Recently received Grade II listed status: Judge Business School, University of Cambridge by John Outram. Photo: inkelv1122/Flickr.

One of Britain's most important 20th-century housing complexes may be demolished

2017-12-26T10:00:00-05:00

Despite being in the midst of a housing crisis, the United Kingdom seems bent on destroying some of the finest examples of social housing the post-war era has to offer, even tampering with the heritage-listing system in order to do so. The Robin Hood Gardens council estate, an icon of brutalist architecture, was recently demolished despite a huge effort involving nation wide press coverage and support from architects like Zaha Hadid and Richard Rogers to save it—a three story segment was even purchased quite unusually by the V&A Museum in order to salvage an intact piece of the building.

Now, it appears the Alton Estate in Roehampton may be next in line for the chopping block. According to Apollo Magazine, the complex is under threat "from proposals to demolish the center of the estate and replace it with a very large, very clashing new development." Inspired by Le Corbusier's L'Unite d'Habitation in Marseille, the Alton estate designed by London County Council's architects departme...

In order to avoid historic listing, developer destroys Jacobean ceiling

2017-09-01T14:19:00-04:00

In order to avoid being listed by Historic England, a developer recently demolished an ornate Jacobean pendant ceiling at one of their sites. Previously a hotel and bar, the owners, Midas Properties/G&E Baio Ltd, had a planning application to subdivide and convert the building into student flats that was currently under review.

The property—15 Small Street—is located in Bristol, a town best known for its examples of Georgian and Victorian architecture though having been a medieval and 17th-century city as well, there are fine examples of Jacobean works deserving of preservation. Bristol's Conservation Advisory Panel had applied last week for the building to become spot-listed.

Historic England was in the process of assessing the building, but had been unable to arrange access with the owners, who were also deferring scheduled site visits by Bristol City Council planning officers. In the interim, the developer was able to demolish the almost 400-year old ceiling.

Historic England d...