Saturday, December 31, 2011

So farewell then Leicester's New Walk Centre


Earlier this week Sir Peter Soulsby told BBC Radio Leicester that the New Walk Centre, which houses the City Council's offices, is to be demolished.

Today's Leicester Mercury quotes a demolition expert as saying that the roads surrounding the New Walk Centre could be partially shut for up to five months while the two towers are demolished.

The New Walk Centre was a speculative office development of the early 1970s - I have seen footage of the National Front marching through the city in those days, and in the background you can see the hoardings around what was then a construction site.

Is it unfair to suggest that the developers must have seen the council coming? Or at least, should we be shocked that such a building becomes unsafe in less than 40 years?

The good news is that Leicester's Town Hall, built a whole century before the New Walk Centre, is still doing fine.

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