Should English Heritage Change?

[BEDROCK]

Well looks like another listed building namely the Apollo Theatre crumbling and falling to bits, nearly causing fatalities.

 

And countless other eyesores namely the old Roxy building in town and Park Hill flats, all needing pulling down but due to listing, they cannot.

 

I think the Roxy building in town looks filthy, when Gatecrasher did a few events there after the Republic fire, the whole place stunk to high heavens, the carpets were soaked and rotting and they still have the original Roxy signage inside and that was decades after it last was Roxy.

 

The white tiles outside are dated beyond belief and resembles a very bad 60's project very much like Park Hill.

 

The Roxy building would look great if they wrote in to law that listed buildings can have major cosmetic work done like removing the tiles, sandblasting the walls with clean vibrant lighting and signs, like a modern club should have and that the insides can be fully refurbished to meet modern health and safety regulations while still keeping the structural integrity original to the listed status.

 

I say that any public performance area or building should by law be able to improve instead of being stuck in a time warp and become a dangerous hazard for the paying public who deserve better.

[megalithic]

Nowt wrong with Park Hill flats.

[Jessoo]

I agree with everything you say Bedrock.

 

This is such an important issue of concern to all of us as taxpayers and the paying public.

 

English Heritage should remove the shackles that hamper and constrain councils and property owners. At present there is often a conflict of interest and safety issued are either overlooked or sidelined.

 

We do indeed deserve better.

 

English Heritage are soon to announce changes in the way the organization is organized, and funded. It is to be hoped there is opportunity for them tackle these long overdue aspects of our heritage buildings.

[BEDROCK]

Also, how many of these Gothic buildings like the one being propped up by scaffold next to Penny Black pub in town, it has been propped up for years and is not only offensive and grotty but a health and safety hazard.

 

There are numerous buildings around that have been left to decay for decades yet cannot be touched because of being listed, the whole listing business is out dated and dangerous to modern progression.

 

I also believe that listing things should be able to be removed, like having a good enough case to redevelop instead of multi national investors and developers being impeded by a piece of paper saying they cannot even touch a light, original windows or even doors, the whole thing is a mess.

[muddycoffee]

Its the same problem with all lobby groups. they stick their opinion in when it is not needed by the owners of some property or anyone who is trying to run a business.

 

Their own interest is keeping old buildings stuck in the past, but this means that it is often unfeasible to continue operating. I know of one local saga where an owner went bankrupt due to their "help".

[Nagel]

Well looks like another listed building namely the Apollo Theatre crumbling and falling to bits, nearly causing fatalities.

 

And countless other eyesores namely the old Roxy building in town and Park Hill flats, all needing pulling down but due to listing, they cannot.

 

I think the Roxy building in town looks filthy, when Gatecrasher did a few events there after the Republic fire, the whole place stunk to high heavens, the carpets were soaked and rotting and they still have the original Roxy signage inside and that was decades after it last was Roxy.

 

The white tiles outside are dated beyond belief and resembles a very bad 60's project very much like Park Hill.

 

The Roxy building would look great if they wrote in to law that listed buildings can have major cosmetic work done like removing the tiles, sandblasting the walls with clean vibrant lighting and signs, like a modern club should have and that the insides can be fully refurbished to meet modern health and safety regulations while still keeping the structural integrity original to the listed status.

 

I say that any public performance area or building should by law be able to improve instead of being stuck in a time warp and become a dangerous hazard for the paying public who deserve better.

 

By the 'Roxy Building' do you mean the place that is now the O2 Academy Sheffield?

 

I was surprised to read that it is listed, so I looked online and couldn't find any evidence of it being a listed building.

 

It's not listed is it?

[Anna B]

Nobody appreciates their immediate past. That's why we pulled down a load of Victorian and Edwardian treasures in the 50's and 60's to put up modernist stuff some of which is now being listed. It's representative of a period of time.

 

Difference is the Victorian stuff was beautiful and built when we had an Empire and were super rich. We'll never be able to afford to build like that again, so much expensive carving and detail, so we'd better take great care of what we've got.

[ECCOnoob]

Lets just pause for sanity here before we start using this tragic event as a catalyst to pull down every heritage site.

 

There is too much light heartedness being thrown around this forum about this incident with silly jokes and snidy comments. Lets not forget people have been injured. Some serious.

 

Now, the full story of what has happened is yet to emerge. There are investigations ongoing and until they are concluded NOBODY - even BBC and Sky News will be able to say what has caused it.

 

It MAY have been a structural failure.

It MAY have been negligent repair/maintenance

It MAY have been illegal or unauthorised renovation/restructure

It MAY have been unsafe or illegal excavation

It MAY have been effect from other buildings/structures/tunnels causing vibration or undetected microcracking.

It MAY have been human interference or vandalism

It MAY have been something more sinister - although no suspicions yet of terrorist act.

 

It does not automatically mean that every building over a certain age should be condemmed.

 

There has been plenty of "modern" constructions which have had plenty of issues. None of these are heritage. The few famous ones are...

 

1981 - Walkways collapse into hotel lobby killing 117. Built in: 1979

1993 - Hotel collapse killing 137 people Built in: 1980

1995 - Department Store collapse killing 502 people. Built in: 1987

2013 - Fenchurch St Tower causing dangerous heat point. Built in 2009

 

And Bridgewater Place blowing people over. Built in 2007.

[dosxuk]

By the 'Roxy Building' do you mean the place that is now the O2 Academy Sheffield?

 

I was surprised to read that it is listed, so I looked online and couldn't find any evidence of it being a listed building.

 

It's not listed is it?

 

No, it's not.

 

And neither are the carpets / vinyl floors, many walls, stage or even Roxy sign original from it's previous incarnations.

 

The OP clearly knows nothing about the topic.

[cgksheff]

By the 'Roxy Building' do you mean the place that is now the O2 Academy Sheffield?

 

I was surprised to read that it is listed, so I looked online and couldn't find any evidence of it being a listed building.

 

It's not listed is it?

 

No. It isn't.

 

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/professional/protection/process/national-heritage-list-for-england/