I had spent the day in Southampton in May, the first area I explored was Wyndham Court.
At the end of a long day I found myself there again, with an hour to spare before my train back to Bournemouth.
The sky was no longer blue, the sun was now occluded.
The photographs were almost monotone, so with a small tweak I made them monochrome.
Designed by Lyons Israel Ellis for Southampton City Council in 1966, ED Lyons being the partner in charge and architects Frank Linden and Aubrey Hume also assigned to the job.
The structural engineers were Hajnal-Konyi and Myers and the firm of builders was G Minter.
Lyons Israel Ellis, though well known as a finishing school for the famed likes of Stirling, Gowan, Colquhoun et al, were the sort of Brutalists that didn’t get Yale scholarships, shiny monographs or late careers in pomo. They are found more often designing local authority housing, comprehensive schools and other unsexy things – most of them robust enough to be extant and in good nick. From their Old Vic extension through to the London School of Engineering, they were giants of big, chunky, angular neo-constructivist architecture rife with skylines, cantilevers and complex geometries, all in satisfyingly raw, tactile concrete. As Colquhoun later put it, this was architecture for those who had nothing but contempt for ‘the Englishness of English art’ and other consolatory narratives.
Their masterpiece, Wyndham Court, ought to be as well-known as the Brunswick Centre or the Barbican, and isn’t largely because of where it is. It is a monumental, civic housing project on the grandest scale. As a building, it shows more than a hint of rhetoric creeping into LIE’s usually astringent aesthetic. Placed just outside Southampton Central Station with a fine view of the docks, its service tower skyline and long, streamlined volumes have more than a hint of the ocean liner about them. Here they arc around a square, with shops on the ground floor, high-density-city centre living for council tenants rather than as an aspirational loft-living lifestyle. A magnificent vote of confidence in a city which has built little of note since, it’s also, for me, the building that announces that I’m ‘home’ far less depressingly than BDP’s repugnant West Quay shopping centre on the other side of the railway line – a massive concrete statement that another city was and still is possible.
1971 built of a pre-cast concrete panel system, dour, on an awkwardly sloping site.
I beg to differ – what’s the opposite of dour?
So says the online Thesaurus – and I heartily concur, for the whole building has had a makeover and a half.
Civic is a super energy-efficient workspace in the centre of Wigan town centre. The BREEAM Excellent building has space for business of all sizes, from desks for solo start-ups, all the way to big open plan offices with their own front door.
The brutalist beast has been lovingly restored by Capital&Centric to celebrate its architecture, with original waffle ceilings, corduroy concrete and stunning feature windows that flood the space with light.
It was great to visit and tour Wigan Civic Centre on Millgate, to see the inspiring work being done to create sustainable workspaces and amenities in the centre of our town. This development, alongside others taking place and planned across the North West, will help to revitalise our public spaces
With students, start-ups and professionals situating themselves elsewhere in Greater Manchester, Wigan town had been missing out on the economic and cultural vitality that high quality workspace brings. Civic’s transformation represents not just the overhaul of a tired concrete building, but a wider renewal of place and opportunity for Wigan.
Working with Wigan Council and Capital & Centric, we completed the refurbishment of the 50,000 sq ft building that is Wigan Civic Centre. Delivering aspirational office accommodation to stimulate economic growth with the goal to create a lasting social impact in Wigan. In addition to exemplar market-leading workspace, amenities include a rooftop terrace, mini cinema, gym studio and co-working/coffee shop space.
Here’s the exterior.
Many thanks to the Cotton CaféBar for kindly allowing us in after hours.
Ultimately, civic stands as a symbol of optimism for Wigan, proving that intelligent commercial design can catalyse economic renewal, secure a sustainable future, and truly lift a town’s spirits, without erasing its history. It is a gold standard for the adaptive reuse of 20th-century landmarks.
Barclays House was constructed by Barclays bank from 1972 to 1975 as part of a move to decentralise its offices from London.
The structure, was designed in the Brutalist style by architects Wilson, Mason and Partners. It consists of three main wings, each octagonal in plan, and dominates the town centre skyline.
Barclays first occupied the office in January 1976. The building’s basement is below sea level and is often flooded or damp, which prevented its use by the bank for storage. The structure has also sunk over time due to its significant mass
Barclays left the site in January 2022 and put the structure up for sale by sealed bid auction. The highest bidder was Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council but they withdrew from the purchase in September 2022.
BCP offered £17 million, almost three times more than the next highest bidder, thought to be Fortitudo at £6.5 million, who wanted to demolish the structure and build three apartment towers.
In February 2023, boarding was put up around the building and the Bournemouth Daily Echo reported that a new buyer had been found. In November 2023, proposals for redevelopment to residential use were announced, 362 flats are proposed for the building.
Town hall planner Gareth Ball has given the go-ahead for VCRE Four Poole Limited to convert the historic building into a 362-bedroom apartment block.
No parking spaces will be available for the future residents, as noted by BCP case officer Mr Ball as being in accordance with the council’s rules. Instead, the development will come with 488 cycle spaces – or one space for every resident. The scheme will feature a gym, communal workspace, squash courts, a games room with table tennis, pool, video games, surfboard storage and a rooftop garden.
Barclays House was bought last year for £5.3 million, according to documents.
Here are the photographs I took in May 2026 – incorporating the multi storey car park.
But what of the future?
This recent ARC projectinvolves transforming the former Barclays building in Poole into 362 modern residential flats while preserving the existing building’s façade. This project focuses on revitalising a heritage landmark by repurposing it with innovative designs that offer easy access to public transport, exceed space standards for comfort and practicality, and create a strong sense of community through shared internal and external amenities.
After twenty years, the waterproofing on the top deck of the busy Avenue Road council car park in Bournemouth was failing. Water was penetrating the structure and dripping onto users’ cars on the lower levels and also into a tenant’s offices situated below. More importantly, this was affecting the structural integrity of the car park.
Being close to the sea, the car park is subjected to highly corrosive moisture and salt levels, which if left unprotected could cause long term structural damage. And indeed, further investigation by the contractors Concrete Repairs Ltd. and Triflex’s Technical Team revealed that part of the concrete substrate was cracking and failing causing potential health and safety issues.
As a result, the council needed to refurbish the car park and have a reliable waterproofing solution that would extend the car park’s service life. In addition, this work needed to be finished before the start of the busy summer tourist period.
Concrete Repairs Ltd. and the Triflex Technical Team visited the site to complete an extensive site survey. Testing was also conducted to determine the suitability and compatibility of the substrate and the requirements for its preparation. Triflex DeckFloor was specified for the decks with DeckFloor Ramp System to provide a more aggressive aggregate was to the ramps and inclined areas of the car park. The ramp system incorporates emery aggregate which provides additional traction for those harder wearing areas.
Always a pleasure to walk the spiral ramp of a multi-storey car park, with the extra added pleasure of a passing motorist enquiring after my well being.
“Are You Lost?”
“No I’m taking pictures, but thanks anyway, if I ever am lost I’ll certainly know who to ask.”
Something of an anomaly, combining accommodation with a leisure facility.
The Outlook is ideally suited to students looking for quality, self catering, en suite accommodation in central Bournemouth, just a minute’s walk from the town’s excellent amenities.
The student accommodation has recently completed a comprehensive refurbishment, the work which included considerable redesign, new furnishings and decoration.
Excitingly close to Oasis Fun Bournemouth’s No.1 indoor fun centre.
Want to keep the kids entertained?
Then why not visit Oasis Fun today for a fun-filled experience for the whole family. We have an amazing bowling alley with six lanes, an indoor soft play centre, large Adventure Golf course, arcades and pool tables. Oh, and we have a café serving snacks and a fully licensed bar.
The large and colourful mural in Hamtun Street in Southampton’s Old Town charts the history of the city from Roman Clausentum and Saxon Hamwic, to the modern docks and football.
The mural was commissioned by Sainsbury’s to decorate the façade of their supermarket in Lordshill, Southampton.
The 19m long and 3m high mural consists of thirty seven concrete and glass mosaic panels depicting landmark buildings and iconicevents from Southampton’s history.
Thanks to a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the mural was cleaned and restored by ceramic artist Oliver Budd.
Artist and conservator Oliver Budd creates and restores mosaics for public and private commissions. Budd Mosaics was set up in 1960 by Kenneth Budd, a contemporary of Henry and Joyce Collins. Kenneth invented the technique of prefabricating mosaics in the studio on aluminium mesh panels.
By July 2011 it was installed at Hamtun Street in the heart of the Old Town.
A cross-section of the local community helped create a new mural depicting contemporary Southampton. The design was inspired by ideas from young people at Prince’s Trust, residents of Ironside Court, parents from St. John’s School and local people who attended mosaic workshops led by artist Joanna Dewfall.
Joanna Dewfall’s design captures the city’s iconic buildings, maritime industry and present-day life. The border, made during mosaic workshops, contains themes from past and present celebrating Southampton’s cultural diversity.
The new mural is located on Castle Way, round the corner from the Hamtun Street Mural.
My first encounter with the work of Henry and Joyce Collins, was on the side of the former BHS in Stockport.
Wyndham Court is a block of social housing in Southampton which opened in 1970.
It was designed by Lyons Israel Ellis for Southampton City Council in 1966, ED Lyons being the partner in charge and architects Frank Linden and Aubrey Hume also assigned to the job. The structural engineers were Hajnal-Konyi and Myers and the firm of builders was G Minter.
It is located near Southampton Central station and the Mayflower Theatre. Wyndham Court includes 184 flats, three cafes or restaurants and 13 shops, and was completed in 1969.
It is built from reinforced concrete and finished with white board-marked concrete, with narrow bands painted horizontally between windows and the partition walls that separate the apartments’ balconies. Because it is built on a hill, the building has six storeys at its northern end and seven at the southern. There is an underground car park which was constructed from the basements of previous buildings on the site
This was my very first visit on my day out in Southampton having also taken a look around Nelsons Gate.
Walking around the building I was quickly engaged by two residents, emerging from their concrete clad home. Assuming that I was from the Council, I was given a lurid account of rodent infestation, faulty locks, open doors and all manner of ills. Having explained my unfortunate lack of municipal affiliation, we parted amicably as we went our respective ways.
The flat itself is situated within this large purpose built block, benefits with this particular block include secure entrance system and lift access to each floor. This particular flat is found on the 4th floor and offers a private front door, as you enter the hallway leads round to a large living room which has plenty of space for dining as well, the kitchen is separate but has been cleverly designed to include an large opening hatch that creates the feeling of open plan to this area. The kitchen is clean and tidy and is supplied with the white goods including a brand new washing machine.
The main living space has lovely big windows that not only offers lots of natural light but also offers a stunning viewing, where you can see glimpses of the Cruise liners docking. The bedroom is accessible by multiple doors either from the living room or hallway, the bedroom is a great size and also features nice big windows, along with plenty of storage. Back into the hallway there are two useful storage cupboards and last but not least a fully tiled bathroom with shower and bath. Further benefits with the flat include electric heating and external storage cupboard next to the front door, the block also boosts a communal garden which is a nice place to sit and enjoy some fresh air.
Wyndham Court, ought to be as well-known as the Brunswick Centre or the Barbican, and isn’t largely because of where it is. It is a monumental, civic housing project on the grandest scale.
On arriving a Southampton Central there it is looming over Blechynden Terrace.
A big brute of a building Nelson Gate, comprised of sixteen-storey Norwich House, seven-storey Frobisher House and five-storey Grenville House.
Though it seems that for some time there are those which wish to tame the brute.
Plans for a multimillion-pound development including a hotel, homes, offices and shops in Southampton city centre have been revealed.
The Nelson Gate scheme, proposed by developer FI Real Estate Management, would also see Norwich House and Frobisher House revamped.
A public square would be created by the city’s central railway station, as well as a new pedestrian route.
A full planning application is expected be submitted later in the summer.
Chris Hammond, leader of Southampton City Council, said: “Nelson Gate is one of the gateways into the city from the station, so to see a brand new development is fantastic. It really showcases what the city has to offer for those coming in.”
Ellis Williams was appointed to develop designs and achieve planning permission for the redevelopment of Nelson Gate in Southampton, transforming the existing 1970’s office accommodation into an iconic residential and public space. Through positive and extensive engagement with Southampton Council, the site has been re-imaged as an arrival gateway into the city from the Central Railway Station.
The existing office buildings and car park will be transformed into 247 residential apartments, 42,000 sq ft Grade A office space, a 224 bed hotel with extensive dry leisure and 14,000sf commercial / food and beverage space fronting onto a new public realm and urban park.
Aligned with other significant investment into Southampton, Nelson Gate will create a truly unique place for people to live, work and socialise.
The scheme is expected to be delivered in two phases. The first phase, focusing on the existing buildings and their immediate surroundings, is projected for completion by September 2026. However, it is important to note that this timeline is a challenging target.
Subsequent observation and research revealed it to be an extension to a group of Barnsley Co-operative buildings.
I should have noted that the building of 1910, was the work of architect Arthur Walshingham, the terracotta and green faience, very much in the style of Northmoor Road.
The building housed grocery and footwear shops, an elegant marble floored entrance hall, a restaurant and assembly room. Its original shopfronts were mahogany with metal sills on a granite base, the windows were divided by columns with green faience shafts.
In 2016 the Barnsley British Co-operative building, sited opposite the existing buildings, suffered a large fire and unfortunately had to be demolished due to safety concerns.
For more than a century it had been considered the place to shop in town. Many will recall it as the Co-op’s toy department where, every year, excited children would queue with mums and dads to meet Santa in his grotto at Christmas.
It closed in the 1980s.
In 1993 the plan was to turn the imposing Victorian Grade II listed building into a ’high class’ venue which it was anticipated would be aimed at a clientele in the 25-plus age group.
Here we are again, following visits in 2020 and 2023.
There has been some low level maintenance undertaken to almost secure the site, and someone from the Corporation has given the walls a coat of paint, subsequently undone by the local scrawlers.
Who knows what fate awaits them?
I shall endeavour to keep you posted with further posts.
Sculptor and designer, born in London 1925, where he continued to live. Studied at Southern College of Art in Portsmouth, at Royal College of Art and at British School in Rome; was an Abbey Award-winner. Went on to lecture widely and was a member of the design advisory board, Hammersmith College of Art and Trent Polytechnic. Also did work for Concrete Society and completed a frieze for Swiss Cottage Library.
Federation House – 1965-66 Gilling Dodd & Partners
Originally home to the National Federation of Building Employees Investments.
Now how in part to The Shandon Bells – named for the chimes of St. Anne’s Church in Cork.
The church is noted for its eight bells, immortalised in the song The Bells of Shandon by Francis Sylvester Mahony. The largest weighs a little over one and a half tons and was originally cast by Abel Rudhall of Gloucester.
Excellent price – max £4 for whole day. Awkward to exit on foot, it needs more signage, but worth a bit of faffing around for the very reasonable cost. Really easy to pay by phone, although it costs an extra 20p to do this. As other have said, it closes at 8pm, but great for daytime adventures!
2017
Open 24 hours, no lifts but cheap. Always managed to find a space.
2023
Parkopedia
Crosville buses DVG279 and ENL826 head out of Liverpool past the multi-storey car park and AUEW offices in Mount Pleasant.
One of Liverpool’s traditional “Freddie Boswell” street sweepers is going down the hill with his dustcart.
Photo 1985 Chris Palmer
On my way somewhere else, took a left off Lime Street to walk around and about this monumental concrete car park.
I was on my way to see Ed Ruscha amongst other things.
Volare Digital Camera
I think he would have admired the view.
No fancy cladding and a limited pedestrian access, should you happen to be sans auto.
Attached to the car park is the 051 Complex – made for the Liverpool dialling code.
Club 051, ofiveone, The 05’…
Whatever you wish to call it, this iconic venue has touched the hearts of literally hundreds of thousands of clubbers spanning its illustrious history. Those infamous stairs down to the dance floor are truly part of clubbing folklore for those who have walked them, and now because of a team of people who dared to dream, you can once again enjoy the spine chilling ofiveone experience!
Lead architect Ivan Dale Owen of Sir Percy Thomas & Partners also responsible for the site’s 1960 masterplanning.
He then spent over a year working for Walter Gropius’s practice, The Architects Collaborative, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.He returned to Britain, where he became a senior architect/planner with William Holford & Partners in London, where he worked on plans for the reconstruction of London after the war.
He returned to Wales with health problems and in 1958 was hired by Percy Thomas & Son as an associate in their Cardiff office. By 1964, Percy Thomas & Son had become Sir Percy Thomas & Partners and Owen had become a partner. He changed the philosophy of the practice, transforming it with a contemporary modernist style.
Rio Architects worked with Cardiff University designing visually attractive, innovative and cost-effective buildings. The Rio team are enthusiastic and dedicated, taking time to meet the client Departments at all stages of the project to ensure that an informed and good working relationship is developed and maintained the innovative design of the new podium development for the School of Bioscience incorporates hexagonal shaped glass panels was developed in conjunction with Solaglas.
Ian Lomer
Director of Estates Development, Cardiff University
Arts and Social Studies Library designed by Faulkner-Brown Hendy Watkinson Stonor 1976
RIBA pix Josephine Reid
Music Department 1971 Alex Gordon Partnership.
RIBA pix Stanley Travers
Three Obliques – Walk Inis a 1968 sculpture by Barbara Hepworth. Three casts exist; two are in private collections and a third is displayed outside the Cardiff University School of Music.
Exploring the University of York campus the first point of interest which we encountered was the Water Tower.
Siward’s Howe, sometimes written Siwards How and also known as Heslington Hill or Bunny Hill is a terminal moraine located to the south-east of the city of York.
The howe is situated north west of the Morrell Library building of the University of York. The southern side of the howe is part of Alcuin College of the University of York.
Its imposing water tower is visible from many parts of the nearby suburbs of Tang Hall and Osbaldwick.
Siward’s Howe is named for Siward, Earl of Northumbria, the 11th century Danish warrior.
Siward died at York during 1055 and is rumoured to have been buried beneath the tumuli at the wooded summit.
Built in 1955 the water tower contained one million gallons of water – the largest in England at the time.
It’s still operational, and provides water to Dunnington and Elvington.
The shape of the tank and supporting structure on plan takes the form of a large central square portion, each corner of which is eclipsed by an octagonal tower seven faces of which are revealed.
The central tank is fifteen feet deep and is eighty three feet and six inches square.
The Tower comprised of an inverted twenty one metre diameter conical tank which was made up of thirty two pre cast concrete petals each weighing eight and a half tonnes. The Overall Height of the Tower was approximately twenty eight metres, the central core stem being two point three metres diameter .
Photo Steve Collins 2011
Photo RIBA pix
The landmark, built in 1965 to hold fifty thousand gallons of water for the chemistry department, is crumbling away due to carbonation and has been covered in a protective net to stop pieces hitting passers-by.
Bill Burns, building maintenance surveyor for the university, said many concrete structures of the 1960s and 1970s were suffering the same fate as the speed of building often meant salt got into the aggregate used in the concrete mix.
There was a degree of uncertainty surrounding the demolition of the pre-cast structure of the Tower as it had been subject to deterioration since erection. At Tender stage, the thirty two petals forming the bowl of the water tank were described as each individually being restrained by wire ropes to the central core. Upon opening up the works, it was found that the stated thirty two restraining Ropes had only been used during the construction of the bowl and had been removed, therefore the petals of the tank were gaining support from the ring beams.
Having previously posted a history of the University of York’s Modernist architecture – here’s further information regarding Fred Millett’s concrete reliefs.
Fred Millett 1920–1980 was an English muralist, poster artist, and teacher at the Polytechnic of Central London. A number of his surviving works were commissioned by large British institutions including London Transport, London County Council and National Westminster Bank. The University of York commissioned Millett to create over 20 concrete relief panels that were to be integrated within the modular architecture of the Derwent and Langwith Colleges.
Millett’s panels created a cohesive group of works while also being distinctly different from one another due to the use of a variety of textures, geometric shapes and negative space. Larger, more detailed works follow the main covered walkways through Derwent College leading to Heslington Hall.
Smaller, less detailed works were placed near accommodation blocks and laundry rooms which suggest that they were intended for the individual enjoyment of the students who live within the College rather than a university-wide viewing experience.
In a 1973 interview, Sir Andrew Derbyshire, who was the first project architect for the university, lamented that the project could not afford better finishes for the CLASP panels – such as adding white marble aggregate – but he did appreciate their appearance in bright sunlight or when they “glisten[ed] in the pouring rain.” Asked about the integration of the Millett sculptures to enliven the panels, he stated: “Yes. Well, that was an attempt. I would have liked it to have gone a bit further than that.”
This was my first visit to the campus, and having discovered the first of the reliefs, I cantered around from block to block, like a giddy one penny child in a seaside arcade – wondering where to look next.
Though plans for a university in York first appeared as early as 1617, it would be over three centuries before they came to fruition. In 1960, permission was finally granted for the University of York to be built, marking the beginning of our journey.
Before the Second World War, Heslington was a quiet rural retreat with a local aristocracy, and a working agricultural village.
Fresh, young, forward-looking and enthusiastic, the University of York was known for its friendly atmosphere before it even opened its doors.
Planning and building the University happened with astonishing speed. In April 1960 the Government approved the establishment and less than three years, on 9 October 1963, the first students walked through the gates of Heslington Hall.
In the 1970s, college social life began to blossom.
Central Hall was the venue for The Who, The Kinks, Fairport Convention, John Martyn, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Hot Chocolate, Humphrey Littleton, Acker Bilk, Paul Tortelier, Julian Bream, John Williams and others.
Paul and Linda McCartney appeared one day out of the blue with their new band Wings and performed a concert in Goodricke College Dining Room.
The beginning of the 1980s came with significant challenges for the University.
The decade saw the start of cuts across higher education. Staff were exhorted to make economies including turning down their thermostats, recycling, and making telephone calls as short as possible. There was also a fire in the Department of Chemistry.
In 1990, the Vice-Chancellor, Berrick Saul, recounted to court that York had been described by a senior member of the Universities Funding Council as “a well-run university with a relatively low profile.”
What a difference a decade makes.
By the end of the 1990s, York was dominating national league tables for research and teaching and was receiving international press coverage for achievement across the disciplines.
University Chancellor Dame Janet Baker at the opening of the University’s Baby Unit, October 1994 – York Digital Library
The 90s was characterised by advancement and recognition. York remained a popular choice among prospective students growing from 4,300 to 8,500 students without compromising its high entry standards. As the Sunday Times pointed out, “elitism does not appear to be the price of excellence at York”. York was one of only very few universities whose entry from state schools and colleges (around 80 per cent) was the same as the proportion of A-level students in the state system.
The introduction of official quality assessments and the proliferation of newspaper league tables saw the University’s stock rocket. After years of academic advancement, York began to get the recognition it deserved. National recognition attracted additional funding and investment. Research grants rose to over £20m per annum, and the University enjoyed one of the highest incomes per researcher in the higher education sector.
The Sir Jack Lyons Music Research Centre is opened by Roger Wright, controller of BBC Radio 3, 2004
The planning for Heslington East began in earnest in 2002 with the arrival of Brian Cantor as Vice-Chancellor. It took years of master-planning, liaison with interest groups, negotiations with land-owners and local communities, an 8-hour city planning meeting and a Public Inquiry to achieve the purchase of land and complex planning permissions for a site equal to the size of the original Heslington West campus. In 2009, the new Goodricke College opened as the first building on Heslington East.
At the time of the 40th anniversary in 2003, we wrote about Heslington East:
It will be everything that the designers of the original campus hoped for – integrated, landscaped and traffic-free, with a large expanse of water, and a very eager populace.
On 25th November 2010, we were named “University of the Year” at the Times Higher Education Awards, achieving praise from the judges for our “success in combining academic excellence with social inclusion, as well as its record in scientific discovery”.
The development of Campus East continued throughout the decade, with four new sites to accommodate academic departments and a variety of support and social buildings, including the Ron Cooke Hub and York Sports Village.
Campus West also saw much expansion and redevelopment during the 2010s, with the opening of the £13.8m Spring Lane Learning and Teaching Building and £16m Biology teaching and laboratory facility in 2016.
The University of York was founded in 1963 and work on its campus facilities in the grounds of Heslington Hall was begun in 1964. The first two colleges, Langwith and Derwent, accepted residential students for the autumn term of 1965. The original buildings were designed by Sir Andrew Derbyshire of Robert Matthew Johnson-Marshall & Partners, and assembled using the CLASP system of prefabricated construction.
RIBA
Founded in 1956 by architects Robert Matthew and Stirrat Johnson-Marshall, RMJM’s first offices were based in London and Edinburgh.
RMJM is now one of the largest architecture and design networks in the world. Services include architecture, development management, engineering, interior design, landscape design, lead consultancy, master planning, product design, specialist advisory services, and urban design
Langwith College 1965 – photo Reginald Hugo de Burgh Galwey
Constructed using the Consortium of Local Authorities Special Programme – CLASP system, formed in 1957 by Local Authorities in England to develop a shared prefabricated system for the construction of school buildings. The resulting CLASP building system was initially developed by Charles Herbert Aslin, the county architect for Hertfordshire.
CLASP’s popularity in coal mining areas was in part because the system permitted fairly straightforward replacement of subsidence-damaged sections of building, and the lightness of the structures. The system was also later used for the construction of railway stations, offices, university buildings, and churches until the late 1970s.
Today, 3000 examples are still in use.
Photo – Keith Gibson 1965
The system utilised prefabricated light gauge steel frames which could be built economically up to a maximum of four storeys. The frames were finished in a variety of claddings and their modular nature could be employed to produce architecturally satisfying buildings. Initially developed solely for schools, the system was also used to provide offices and housing.
The cynics’ definition of the CLASP acronym, circulating in the 1970s, was:
collection of loosely assembled steel parts.
CLASP buildings fell out of favour in the late 1970s. Budgetary advances and changing architectural tastes made the scheme obsolete.
Walkway Derwent College with concrete relief by Fred Millett 1965
Photos 1965 Bill Toomey
Fred Millett 1920–1980 was a muralist and poster artist who exhibited at the Festival of Britain and was commissioned by London Transport, National Westminster Bank, University of York and the General Post Office. He also taught Perception and Communication at the Polytechnic of Central London.
Fred Millett – Sculpted Wall Raglan Estate Camden 1965
Originally part of the children’s playground, the work is a feature of a post war estate designed by Frank Scarlett in Kentish Town
JB Morrell Library seen from the south side of Heslington Road with linking pedestrian bridge and ramp in foreground and cast aluminium sculpture by Austin Wright.
Austin Wright 1911-1997 is a significant post-war sculptor whose personal and professional lives were deeply intertwined with the city of York.
He was born on 4th June 1911 in Chester but spent his childhood in Cardiff. Though a largely self-taught artist, Austin took evening classes at Cardiff Art School. Austin attended New College, University of Oxford for his degree in Modern Languages before he started his teacher training. His first job as a teacher started in 1934 at The Downs, Malvern in Worcestershire. The school attracted artistic people. W.H. Auden taught English for example, and the art master organised a Dada exhibition one year. Here, Austin taught painting and sculpture as well as French and German.
Covered pedestrian bridge linking the southern side of the campus to the JB Morrell Library on the north side.
Central Hall
Colloquially known as The Spaceship designed by John Speight, constructed in 1966–1968. The hall is seen as a tour de force of the university, appearing on merchandise and often used as a background for university publicity.
Central lecture and recreation hall to the University of York, 1966-1968 by Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall & Partners with Stirrat Johnson-Marshall and Andrew Derbyshire as partners in charge, and John Speight as job architect.
* it forms part of a wave of seven new universities that improved access to higher education and marked the high point of publicly-funded architecture in post-war Britain;
* it is a physical manifestation of the University of York Development Plan, which was heralded as the beginning of contemporary university planning in Britain;
* it continues a historic tradition established by late-C19/early-C20 ‘red brick’ universities of featuring a great hall for special events.
* it has an imaginative and bold design with a striking architectural form and massing that is the focus of the most dramatic views across the campus lake;
On Wednesday 21st January, I boarded the 9.33 for Blackpool from Platform 14 Manchester Piccadilly station.
10.35 the train terminated at Preston – thus far and no further.
Thinking on my feet, I legged it rapido to Preston Bus Station and just about caught the 68 bus to Blackpool.
Already an hour or two behind time I elected to alight at Squires Gate, and take a walk along the South Promenade toward the town centre.
The promenade is home to a plethora of public art works and sculptural shelters.
The Great Promenade Show originated from the major redevelopment undertaken by the then Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to replace and strengthen the 2km long South Promenade’s seawall flood defences. This £20 million project entailed removing the existing Victorian promenade and replacing it with a new well-designed concrete promenade on two levels. The upper level was to incorporate ’roundels’ every hundred metres, on which it was intended to site specially designed features, including wind shelters and visual displays possibly representative of the history of Blackpool. A Millennium Lottery bid was made by the Council to this end, though a commitment to start building had to be made before the outcome of the bid was known. The bid was unsuccessful, but the sites for visual features along the new promenade remained, as did the Council’s commitment to occupying them. At this point, responsibility for managing the project shifted from the Council’s Technical Services Department to its Education, Leisure and Cultural Services Division.
Like a sinister exhibit in one of Blackpool ‘s Victorian freak shows, the skeleton of a killer whale made from pulsating dark blue neon can be viewed through portholes within a metal tank like a decompression chamber.
The work was subsequently removed.
The structure has been on display for the public to enjoy for over 15 years and was deemed unsightly due to corrosion, which is why the decision was taken to remove it. PTSG Building Access Specialists Ltd planned the decommissioning and contract crane lift from start to completion.
Designed to be viewed in motion from the adjacent tram track and road, the photographic image of a swimming child laser cut into an 8m long curved stainless steel screen gradually resolves and disappears again as the viewer moves past.
Glam Rocks by Peter Freeman
Inspired by Las Vegas and the Blackpool Illuminations, three large pebble-like modelled shapes glitter after dark, as hundreds of fibre optic light points on their surface slowly change colour and sparkle.
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? by Michael Trainor and The Art Department
Blackpool is known as the “ballroom capital of Britain”. This rotating ball 6m in diameter, covered in almost 47,000 mirrors, has been claimed as the world’s largest mirror ball, and is named after the 1969 film about a depression era ballroom marathon in the USA.
Desire by Chris Knight
An abstract sculpture 8m high, contrasting rusty corten steel with shiny stainless steel spikes, inspired by the town’s reputation as a destination for ‘dirty weekends’, and its hidden ‘fetish scene’. It casts the shadow of a spiky heart on the promenade.
Swivelling Wind Shelters by Ian McChesney with Atelier One
Three 8m high, stainless steel shelters turn like weather vanes, keeping their occupants away from the prevailing wind. Designed by architect Ian McChesney, in collaboration with engineers Atelier One, the graceful sculptural form of the shelters, shaped like whales’ flukes, is structured like an aircraft wing, vibrating in strong gusts of wind.
Sandcastle the UK’s largest indoor water park.
Sandcastle opened on 26 June 1986 on the site of the former South Shore Open Air Baths as a joint public/private partnership. Operation of the facility was taken back into Blackpool Council ownership in 2003. A significant investment in new attractions costing £5.5M was also agreed, which was delivered in two phases, with the second opening in 2006 on time and on budget.
In 2012, Sandcastle opened two new Aztec-themed slides, one with a chamber called ‘Aztec Falls’, and a toboggan-like slide called ‘Montazooma’.
Situated adjacent to the South Pier at Blackpool was the open- air swimming bath. Elliptical in form, it was designed in the renaissance style of architecture, with white ivory terracotta, known as ‘Marmola’. It was said to be the largest and finest of its kind in the world and similar in design to the colosseum of ancient Rome.
Built at a cost of around £70,000, Designed by JC Robinson – Borough Architect, it was officially opened on the 9th June 1923, the same day as the first Blackpool Carnival, by the Mayor of Blackpool, Councillor Henry Brooks. The opening ceremony was followed by a short swimming exhibition in which Blackpool swimmer Lucy Morton took part. The following year Lucy was to win a gold medal in the 1924 Paris Olympics.
Sadly in 1983, following years of neglect and falling attendances, the bath was demolished.
Built to the designs of Joseph Emberton for Leonard Thompson; restored and altered 1972 and 1977-9 by Keith Ingham. Reinforced concrete in the International Modern style. Circular plan, the circle broken by three principal projections marking the main entrance and foyer, the main exit and the main public stairs. The key to the plan were the central kitchens on the ground and first floors, serving (on the former) a number of restaurants and (on the latter) a banqueting room. Kitchens now on first floor only. The result is a sequence of intriguingly curved rooms; originally there was no public access to this inner core area or directly across the building, but this has now been provided. The basement contained stores, a billiard room and sports facilities, now in mixed use. Between ground and first floor is a mezzanine office range, with private flat over. Top floor built as roof garden, provided with a glazed curtain wall in c.1940 by Emberton and largely infilled as an extra floor in 1972.
Modern Mooch 