[Closed] Worst building in UK

@jackthedog - far more eloquently put than I could manage!

What I find incongruous with Brits is that inside our homes we apparently aspire to light and space and open plan (viz all the Victorian terraces knocked through from front to back), and yet are too scared that the outside won;t look like everything always has.

This mock victorian rubbish we've littered our land and poisoned our culture with since the 90s

Speaking to my parents and in-laws (all boomers), and the idea when they were young of buying Victorian housing is anathema because it was old, and tired and represented the past and not the future. Now they've become more conservative as they've aged, they and their offspring have lost their more youthful view and entrenched themselves and everyone else in some facade (and charade) based on principles no-one actually seems to want.

OMITN (lives in a 60s bungalow and is planning on making it ever more light and airy)

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These flats in Southampton are supposed to be, and I quote, "A upside down spaceship."

Glad someone mentioned Brunel Uni.

if not already mentioned...
half of the homes on Grand Desgins. Especially that Mill that should have been demolished. And all the fugly cubic box houses.

Another vote for the Beetham Tower. Just bland, dull and ugly for something that was billed as a "landmark" building for Manchester. The architect Ian Simpson is the son of a friend of my dads and his fee involved getting the penthouse suite. (At least he can't see the bloody thing from there I suppose).

He grew up in Heywood where I also grew up. I think he must have drawn his inspiration from some of Heywood's finest architecture.

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And to think, he could have designed something intersting like this - probably my favorite modern high rise building. The Twisting Torso in Malmo.

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plyphon - Member

These flats in Southampton are supposed to be, and I quote, "A upside down spaceship."

Listed those are, just across the road from the Train Station..

nearly mentioned South Stoneham House (also in Southampton, and also a Uni building).

but that's more out of place than just "worst", and compared to that above, actaully looks "alright"

Long since been knocked down, but some of my favourite images =

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Modern houses aren't as horrible looking as the ones built from the 1930s to 1950s, with that god awful textured paint.

Unfortunately, we're no longer fans of modernity in this country, and so have reverted to caricature and a bland pastiche of a past that never existed.

What's weirdest of all is that in TV show/estate agent/aspiring middle class speak, "period" property really means Victorian and Edwardian. Which tells me all I need to know about the tastes of the British: stuck in the past.

There is that, I rather like some of the eco homes being built.

Glad somebody mentioned "the toast rack and fried egg" in Manchester. Brother's girlfriend studied there many, many years ago. Leaked all the time because of the tiers and slanted windows.

Now what we should be building is new homes that actually look new, something like this:

They actually look really cool imo, way better than those "cookie cutter" new builds that you see so many of.

Marrable House in Great Baddow. Already voted ugliest building in the country a few years back.

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And this is the building they pulled down to put it in:

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agent007 - I think they look pretty bloody cool too! Nice and open and airy. Loads of light. Whats not to like?

Don't UK style modern cooker cutter modern houses grate on us because we see them everywhere? If we had the euro equivalent I imagine they would start looking bad soon enough.

The reason modern houses all look the same is because it is cheaper to build - design once build 1000s, and because planning allows them - but if we want big volumes of housing built, you get what you get.

Hasn't it always been the same? I've owned a Victorian terrace and now live in a 1930s semi. Both mass produced to house growing populations.

Don't UK style modern cooker cutter modern houses grate on us because we see them everywhere?

For me it's not the ubiquity that grates; it's the dishonesty and vapidity. I take no issue with things being cookie cut, but cookies should taste good.

A lot of the buildings in this thread I really like .
This is one of my favourites,
Trellick tower .

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if we want big volumes of housing built, you get what you get.

Not really, as the '60s and '70s amply demonstrated there are tons of ways to build large volumes of affordable housing. From the tower blocks above, to Byker Wall, to Stella Park, to Hillside estates. The problem now seems to be that we're so terrified of houses going out of fashion in the way that the 60s houses have that everything is designed to look pre-war.

Another Southampton Uni building, the Faraday Tower, and my nemesis

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Its actually a ground breaking structural design for its time as every floor plate cantilevers off the central core, stiffened by perimeter upstand beams, with a double helix stair exiting at alternative floors (this means that whenever you go upstairs you come out 2 storeys higher on the opposite side of the building - everyone gets lost)

The structural engineer wanted to cut a slot up thew side of the building and fill it with glass. When I pointed out the building would fall down, the refurb was shelved and its been empty ever since 😳

Hopefully they will pull it down one day.

Edit - Christ, they even put it on a stamp!

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No need to be terrified of 60's and 70's architecture, hope is not lost. Amazing what a good architect can do with even the worst of the tower blocks - a bit of a transformation here for Sheffield:

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[img] http://im.ft-static.com/content/images/370ff8ec-9201-4b55-a9c9-b5185127fb84.img [/img]

It is a bit harsh slagging off those modern cookie cutter houses as so many live in them and many like them. Thing is they're no cheaper than similarly sized properties; many like as they require less maintenance and are more energy efficient.

Sometimes they appear on properties from hell type programs when bits start falling off them though.

Faraday Tower @ Soton Uni was ace.

Also was a demonstration of what happens when you install flappy doors at the base of tall buildings, and why revolving doors were invented.

The lecture theatre poking out of the adjacent building is ace too. Also cantilever. Fugly outside, not exactly pretty inside but is kinda clever functional design.

Also add the airfix building that the Electronics guys moved in to, but that one burned down, so doesn't count.

Hasn't the toast rack been removed/going to be razed?

It's great in Birmingham, the only place you could find a brutalist building replaced with something worse.....

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Why they couldn't carry on with the 00's methods which involved modern interiors built in old shells I don't know. Great way of modernising whilst keeping history.

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Hasn't the toast rack been removed/going to be razed?

Nope. IT's listed. Though it is for sale, after Manchester Metropolitan University moved out.

[url= http://thetoastrack.wordpress.com/ ]It has its own blog. [/url]

It's great in Birmingham, the only place you could find a brutalist building replaced with something worse.....

Such a shame. It was a superb building....

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The structural engineer can't make the shape work without £££ or losing volume to structure, so the design gets compromised.

I do like that Malmo tower though. Very classy.

It's great in Birmingham, the only place you could find a brutalist building replaced with something worse.....

I know brummies like to whinge but you are kidding right? The old library building was a concrete monstrosity. The new building is bright, vibrant and energetic. Very impressed when I visited, especially with the multilevel roof garden with views over the city.

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One I'm particularly familiar with, and which has finally been removed, was the Southgate precinct in Bath; completely enclosed, dark, gloomy passages, that always seemed to smell of wee, even if they didn't actually do so.
The replacement is much better, wide open pedestrian 'streets', big open area right in the centre.

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Arriving in Bath by train offered a view of the bus station and the multistory carpark at the other end of Southgate:

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Scintillating.
What's there now looks just like this original concept:

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Cheers for the defence 40mpg! Although I think you highlight a major issue... The concept of a "concept architect".

Good architects (which I hope I am one) should be able to design something fantastic that meets the brief and enhances its location, but that brief includes budget, understanding the local planning context, working with the M&E engineer and structural engineer to realise the design etc. yes, there will be compromises but if they fundamentally damage the project, then the architect has done a bad job.

When practices have concept architects and delivery architects it's impossible for all that to happen and you get seriously compromised buildings.

There are lots of bad architects out there (as with all professions), but there are some fantastic ones too. As 40mpg alluded to, it's tough balancing so many different things & people but that's the challenge (and the joy) of the job.

I reckon I'd definitely have taken the bus station with a bit of TLC over the dodgy faux-georgian facade.

I much prefer the bus station as at least its of its time.
Not like the crap they replaced it with .

Another beauty is the Alexandra road estate , I would post a picture but I cannot find a single photo that does it justice .

Another beauty is the Alexandra road estate

Love Alexander Road - it's like something out of Logan's Run.

I reckon I'd definitely have taken the bus station with a bit of TLC over the dodgy faux-georgian facade.

Glad somebody else said this; I thought the exact same thing.

Not quite a building, but I give you Pasmore's Apollo Pavillion. (The Pivvy)

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out of an urban scene like:[img] [/img]

It's the pavilion you object to? It's not even close to the worst building in the photo.

fixed!! 😀
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This monstrosity in Aylesbury.

I don't mind a bit of concrete brutal ism but this is pretty grim.
I would have opted for the Northampton bus depot but it's been posted already.

Ha! I used to work for the company that built the development in the OP. I seem to recall the flats being snapped up off-plan by Chinese investors who had no intention of setting foot in them.

DezB - Member
The Barbican Centre

Looks like the same architect as Portsmouth's Tricorn Centre, which got demolished about 10 years ago

I won't have a bad word said about the Tricorn Centre. That place was awesome to skate in when it was empty. Great memories 🙂

I've always thought that, with the likes or the Tricorn, Barbican etc, people are obsessed with the hardness of concrete grey rather than the structure itself. The Tricorn had amazing and interesting structural shapes and architecture. You just needed to open your eyes and look a bit deeper.

I love concrete buildings, I don't understand how we don't live in buildings like Alexandra road or this beauty.
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And have furniture like this.
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I don't understand how we don't live in buildings like Alexandra road or this beauty.

Horses for courses. Like 70s chic in a po-mo nod and a wink kind of way, but growing up and living in the bone-cold concrete and sweaty-summer polyester of it all did nothing whatsoever to endear me to such. Have been happier under canvas, and most definitely in wooden-floored and stone buildings. Now, I can imagine Tatooine-like cob-built communities, homes that aren't simply 'machines for living in', each unique, yet part of a whole...could more happily envision that. And no plastic furniture ! I favour a home that lives and breathes, one that acquires a character and a patina that doesn't look like an old beige IBM machine. Concrete and plastic are values as much as materials? Concrete is also non-ideal for the UK climate. Tho I do appreciate some concrete structures, Frank Lloyd Wright for instance did some astonishingly beautiful stuff with that material, mostly in the desert. His creations were usually filled with bespoke Arts and Crafts furniture, natural materials, and every dwelling designed essentially around what he considered the 'heart' of a home - the hearth. My memory of concrete high rise is one of wall grilles and rancid hot air being pumped around, or fake-flame wall- mounted electric heaters. You could never seem to get the place feeling nice.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-29011813

Good to see a few buildings close to me mentioned, Brum library, Brierly Hill and Tanhouse flats.

I have to say, I do like a bit of brutalist stuff, the old Brum Library is something I do actually like, not subtle but very striking. Controversially perhaps, the kind of building I don't like is something like the former Egg HQ in Brierly Hill.

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willard - Member
Stumpy01, what year were you there?? It's changed a lot since I left ('96) in more than just the buildings on campus.

New accommodation across the river from the Gym and on the old all weather pitch. A new lecture block up by where the old Maths building was. Departments slashed and burned. Sad really.

Started in '95 and left in 2000. Did a Foundation in Eng (after mucking up A level maths) and then 4 yr Mech Eng degree, so lingered about for a while.
Yeah, I heard about a lot of changes. They were putting in new accommodation while I was there on the other side of the road (opposite the front pond). A mate of mine ended up having to live on the RAF base round the corner for about a months as the building was late being finished.

In my last couple of years there, they were bringing in a lot more 'soft' subjects, which seemed to help with the male/female ratio!

I really like that 'twisted torso' tower up there (perhaps on the previous page).
I think the problem with 'interesting' buildings in terms of housing stock is that it adds cost, so no one does it. I'd love to have the money to buy some land and get something made that was striking and modern; just need the lottery win first!

Have always found this as bit of an eyesore.
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Haven't houses always been built to 'cookie cutter' designs no matter the era?

My house is the same design as my friends 100 miles away but both are 65 years old.

I think the problem with 'interesting' buildings in terms of housing stock is that it adds cost, so no one does it.

Not necessarily, in fact good design using prefabricated elements can actually cut build costs and site time pretty drastically.

I think the real issue is the lazy, conservative and unadventurous nature of the UK builders and UK housebuyers in general. People value an extra (but tiny) bedroom over light and space for example. And with a supposed shortage of housing in the UK, all the s**t that the big builders turn out ends up selling - so where's the incentive to change?

There's also an aversion to pre-fabricated construction in the UK. I think it stems from after the war when lots of cheap, poorly build pre-fabs were thrown up quickly and didn't last well. Mortgage companies and builders seem to prefer houses built from brick, but the latest developments in housing design stemming from Germany use timber and modern materials with great success.

The planners and tight UK building regulations normally make it very difficult for people to do anything different or something that the army of NIMBY's believe is out of character with the area. The reality though is that these NIMBY's are preventing the construction of tomorrows listed buildings.

Because of this the UK is just stuck in a rut (positively in the dark ages) when it comes to housebuilding, whilst the rest of Northern Europe surges forward and embraces new technology in this area.

Nobody has mentioned Croydon yet.

*is dissapoint

Haven't houses always been built to 'cookie cutter' designs no matter the era?

In every era except for about 25 years from the 50s to the 70s when all manner of interesting experiments in low cost/social housing were tried. Many of which we're now demolishing and replacing with the horrible pastiches being moaned about up thread.

Just around the corner from me...

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From a different angle...

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[i]The Tricorn had amazing and interesting structural shapes and architecture[/i]

Totally agree. Met my (now-ex)wife there too. In the nightclub at the top 🙂
I like to think the demolition co-incided with the death of our marriage...
(ps. 😆 )

binners - Member

I've always reserved a special loathing for the piccadilly hotel.

Yup.

Ugliest building in Manchester since Cannon Street and the Arndale Bus Station bit the dust.
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However, I'm going for this:
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New CIS headquarters.
Hubris made real.

In every era except for about 25 years from the 50s to the 70s

Specifically, 1978. That was when it changed round here, and I can see it on my street, from my kitchen. The first two and three quarter streets on the development I live in (built 1976-1978) are relatively bold and build to Scandinavian designs, featuring the then novel "Velux" windows in asymmetric roofs, as part of cleverly designed houses that give a disproportionate amount of floor space downstairs for two / three bedroom houses (the ground floors are larger than the first). The street design was interesting too, with houses at different angles (no one looks out straight into someone else's front window) and lots of subtle variation on window frame colours and shade of brick used etc.

Not selling well enough, mid '78 they abandoned this half way through the far side of our street, and completed it with identical, detached (but with tiny gaps between) square brown bricked boxes. As the following streets were developed, the designs got more and more "retro" until by the mid 1980s they were stone clad pastiches of two hundred year old farmhouses.

You can blame the developers all you like, but the post '78 unimaginative boxes sell a lot more quickly and for more money than the '76-'78 ones with more creative and thoughtful design. Can't really blame developers for responding to market demands, depressing though it might be.

They were building beautiful modern (then) houses before the 50s ,

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They were building beautiful modern (then) houses before the 50s ,

Of course, but not by and large as part of the big affordable housing projects - I can't think of any Art Deco housing estates (other than maybe frinton park).

[i] featuring the then novel "Velux" windows in asymmetric roofs, as part of cleverly designed houses that give a disproportionate amount of floor space downstairs for two / three bedroom houses (the ground floors are larger than the first). [/i]

Sounds like a road near me.
Lovely looking houses - we viewed one to buy a few years back... so impractical inside! Tiny bedrooms and minute living room with a huge chimney breast in the middle. We bought a square box instead.

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There are many large Art Deco flats complexes.
Not as large as modern estates like thamesmead and probably not social housing .

There used to be an industrial estate near where I used to live where most of the buildings were Art Deco.
And there is the Hoover building that is now a tescos .

I can't think of any Art Deco housing estates (other than maybe frinton park).

There's one in Madrid* - Colonia de la Prensa. It's falling down, though 🙁

*I realise the thread is about the UK!

Anyone up for a game of 'Rate my house'?! Could get messy....

Don't know about the worst in Britain, but I work in the worst in Edinburgh, as in 'most dangerous'.

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Beautiful building sadly neglected and [url= http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/education/worst-school-building-shut-over-safety-fears-1-3529417 ]now most likely doomed[/url].

There's a lot of concrete monstrosities, but if I was given just one building that I could launch an air strike against, then it'd be this crass, garish monstrosity.Christ! It'd look overly vulgar in Essex, never mind Trafford Park! Its utterly hideous! Inside and out! In all its 80's-excess, lets-celebrate-consumerism horror....

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That looks like it was air dropped from vegas!

That makes me feel a little unwell. Similar to the redevelopments in Skopje: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28951171

Glad you guys have the money to buy houses with interesting architecture.

I live in a Victorian terrace house - only £100k now, but more interesting architecture than 95% of all the houses built nowadays.

your all wrong 😉

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I am looking to move house soon and I am dismayed about the newer houses you can buy. The "cookie cutter" houses from the 80/90/00/10's are just so depressing, using bits of features pinched from other eras.

What will people think of as the "90's style" in a few decades. Everyone knows what a Georgian/Victorian/Art Deco/Brutalist/1940's/60's house looks like, but you can't tell an 80's semi apart from a 2010's one now.

We could have had funky new designs making new areas of towns into distinct styles, like periods of building in the past did. With my Victorian terrace you can look back and see the reason why they were built - there's history there even though the houses are a bit compromised for modern living in some ways - and appreciate them for what they are. What are going to be the excuses for building the houses we do now?

I want a cosy house with lots of light, that is warm and dry and makes me feel at home. Modern materials can be cheap and energy efficient but we are still stuck with crappy houses using outdated materials built badly, squeezing too many onto plots of land to ensure maximum profit, by people who couldn't give a crap about what they are building as long as their bank balance is increased.

This country has a rich history of great architecture and people think it will be ruined by "modern" architecture - IT WON'T if you let people get on with it and promote new ideas. The only thing that will happen in the future is that people will discuss the merits of each period of housebuilding with the same fervour we have discussed Brutalism here - some good points, some bad, but improving all the time.

As it stands, all people will be saying about the houses of the last 30 years is that "yeah, from the 90's they couldn't be bothered anymore and they are all crap". So eventually everyone will agree but for the worst reasons.

Ah! An architecture thread. Allow me to stand in for Fredelfinsafetydibnah, then. Without the emoticon-littered mockney.

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(Attach own rant about Tory scumbag privately-built friends of etc. here).

Trafford Centre is spot on. It's a temple to consumerism. What should it look like?

It's the place and all it stands for that is ugly, not the building itself.

My house is the same design as my friends 100 miles away but both are 65 years old.

There is an exact replica of the 1930s Shefield semi I used to live in a museum in York. Was very spooky when I saw it.

I think the reason for the current trend for bland copies of period houses is an attempt to stop them looking dated very quickly.

A road of 60s or 70s houses with their dull bricks, wood panneling and weird chimnies may be a more thought through design but they look much more dated than a similar road of houses from the 30s.

The developers are aiming at timeless rather than "period" but missed the mark and either ended at dull or dated.

Whether they have suceeded is a matter of opinion but I think it's clear that they are doing much better now than in the 90s and 00s. There is at least some more variety in the way they have tried to achive timeless.

Come on STW, you know this is the one. 😉

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Personally I think pretty much everything that came from the 90s postmodern movement is aesthetically criminal. What a confused, dishonest and ultimately empty period in design history that was.

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Ah, No1 Poultry. I recall the Coq d'Argent being quite pleasant of a summer evening.

Agree it's always tried too hard against the brutish (not Brutalist) style of the Bank.

Trafford Centre is spot on. It's a temple to consumerism. What should it look like?

On the other hand here's one of the best modern buildings in Manchester
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Trafford Centre is spot on. It's a temple to consumerism. What should it look like?

The container port that was there before was more aesthetically pleasing. But I take your point. My hatred for the awful, gaudy architecture is compounded by my loathing for everything it represents

slowoldman - good call. I love that building!