Westminster had been deemed ‘at risk’ by heritage group
Richard Rogers’ Channel 4 headquarters building in Westminster has been granted grade II-listed status amid concerns for the future of the 1990s high-tech building.
Earlier this month campaign group the 20th Century Society included the building, designed in conjunction with structural engineer Ove Arup & Partners, on its list of the UK’s 10 modern buildings most “at risk”.
The society said the Horseferry Road building was “undoubtedly” one of Rogers’ most significant public commissions in the UK. But it said Channel 4’s decision to move its national headquarters to Leeds and uncertainty over the broadcaster’s future ownership left the structure “vulnerable to alteration or redevelopment”.
Richard Rogers Partnership director John Young was project partner for the £38.5m building, which was completed in 1994 by Bovis. It won a RIBA National Award the following year.
The new status was conferred by the Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport and was effective from last Thursday.
Government heritage adviser Historic England described the building’s “degree of survival” and the low level of internal or external alteration among its reasons for designation.
It said the high-tech building was “an important British work” by Richard Rogers Partnership – which became Rogers, Stirk Harbour & Partners in 2007 – and an “elegant work” of the high-tech movement “displaying many of its key principles”.
Clad in pewter-coated powder-grey aluminium and glass, the building includes roughly 15,000 sq m of space and was designed to accommodate up to 600 staff. The design also incorporates a car park and a landscaped garden square.
Historic England said the “Big 4” metal sculpture, which was installed in 2007 on the piazza in front of the Channel Four Headquarters was not part of the grade II listing.
No comments yet