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A Question of Value

In a time of austerity measures and recovery it seems strange that in the British architectural scene the current debates should centre on demolition. Obviously the powers that be still want to maintain a front of progress. Austerity and progress may not sit particularly well together but you would expect a proper assessment of value would be integral to both.

Questions of value have been raised in the press of late with a debate sparked over the relative values of Preston bus station, BDP’s striking example of brutalist modernism. Questions of style and taste are raised by the public and function by the councils in their defence of the demolition proposal. This time round the World Monuments Fund recognises its value in the bigger picture and adds it to their Monuments at risk list along with Sir Denys Lasdun’s Royal National Theatre on the South Bank.

This sort of publicity and awareness will always surround these striking and public examples but there are many more buildings without the architectural gravitas on the cards for demolition. Progress and development are the buzzwords here but austerity and value don’t even come into it.

Dundee City Council are leading the way with the planned demolition of Tayside House, their former headquarters to make way for a new waterfront masterplan already underway. Granted Tayside House had its problems, the bridged entry on the 3rd floor being but one, but the demolition of a building with many more years of life without any talk of adaptation seems to have gone relatively unnoticed.

Urban Splash has already started to demonstrate what can be done by stripping a building back to its concrete frame and giving it a new jumper. Not that I am endorsing gentrification but could the Councils not break the mould and show a little creativity, or at least encourage debate with a targeted design competition.

It would be amiss of me not to mention the £45m V & A proposal the jewel in the crown of Dundee’s waterfront redevelopment. As exciting as the prospect is it should not overshadow the larger debates of sustainable redevelopment. This is a question of sustainable, social and economic value? When will we start to make some real value judgements with a bit of holistic thinking. We are in a housing crisis and due to our current and foreseeable economic climate cannot afford to build more homes, yet are demolishing the highest density housing we have where smaller investment and better design could see adaptation and improvement or at the very least an exploration of the prospect.

It would be unfair to focus the attention on Dundee when this is in fact a national issue. Sighthill tower blocks in Edinburgh have been demolished and Ibrox Towers in Glasgow are also due to go. Finally Aberdeen is following Dundee’s lead in demolishing St Nicholas house.

It’s time for a rethink and architects have to lead the way on public debate and proposals to make it happen, as this level of joined up thinking won’t be coming from elsewhere.
 

www.jamiesfolio.com
 

Image: Tayside House, Dundee by Jamie Ross