Blast building ‘needs to be demolished’
Wednesday 3rd March 2010, 6:00PM GMT.
A building destroyed in the Shrewsbury explosion needs to be demolished to make the site safe and secure, architects said today. And another could be put in its place at 1-5 Bridge Street, if plans are approved.
Architects have applied to Shropshire Council to demolish the remains of the building, which was wrecked in a massive explosion on January 3.
A separate application would need to be lodged for a replacement building.
Carl Huntley, from Shrewsbury-based Base Architecture and Design Ltd, which has put in the application on behalf of the owner of the building, said it needed to be completely demolished.
He said: “We’ve had two structural engineers look at the property. One of the engineers operates on behalf of the insurance company so they reviewed the property and effectively condemned it.
“We had our own engineer go in and said the building was too dangerous for any kind of reconstruction work and building control at the council have been in and condemned the building.”
Mr Huntley said it would be a “very careful and exacting demolition procedure”.
He said it was not clear what would happen to the site in the future – but he ruled out it becoming a car park because of restrictions laid down as it is in a conservation area.
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A letter has been submitted on behalf of the Town Residents Association desperate that these 1930s buildings should be preserved at all cost. They are worried that a building designed in 2010 could take its place. (SHOCK HORROR)
The importance they place on the 1930′s does not however apply to well designed buildings we have in Shrewsbury built in the 1960s.
The buildings that were damaged were of no architectural value or quality they merely looked old which in the eyes of the spokesman of the TCA is sufficient qualification. This is in order to retain Shrewsbury as a town of old buildings ie: only old is good.
Sadly this obsession with trying to keep Shrewsbury in aspic with neo -Georgian/Victorian/Tudor pastiche style buildings, whether it be 1930′s pastiche or developer pastiche of the present is turning our town into a dishonst parody.(similar to the automated plastic clock of a mediaeval scene that we once had in the Darwin Centre.)
We were lucky that we did not lose a precious, genuine old building in the explosion as those we have are wonderful and should be preserved and protected.
Even more importantly we were lucky no lives were lost though several young people have had their own lives changed for ever. They are looking forward to a future that they nearly did not have and we should do the same with the bulldings and build great architecture for today and for their tomorrows. Well designed modern buildings sit much better next to real old buildings and do not compete with them or demean them in the way that false old period style buildings do.
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A letter has been submitted on behalf of the Town Residents Association desperate that these 1930s buildings should be preserved at all cost. They are worried that a building designed in 2010 could take its place. (SHOCK HORROR)
The importance they place on the 1930′s does not however apply to well designed buildings we have in Shrewsbury built in the 1960s.
The buildings that were damaged were of no architectural value or quality they merely looked old which in the eyes of the spokesman of the TCA is sufficient qualification. This is in order to retain Shrewsbury as a town of old buildings ie: only old is good.
Sadly this obsession with trying to keep Shrewsbury in aspic with neo -Georgian/Victorian/Tudor pastiche style buildings, whether it be 1930′s pastiche or developer pastiche of the present is turning our town into a dishonest parody.(similar to the automated plastic clock of a mediaeval scene that we once had in the Darwin Centre.)
We were lucky that we did not lose a precious, genuine old building in the explosion as those we have are wonderful and should be preserved and protected.
Even more importantly we were lucky no lives were lost though several young people have had their own lives changed for ever. They are looking forward to a future that they nearly did not have. We should look forward to the future too with this new opportunity and build great architecture for today and for our tomorrows. Well designed modern buildings sit much better next to real old buildings and do not compete with them or demean them in the way that false old period style buildings do.
Report abuse