Students ask TV show to help them storm the tower

Published on Wednesday 2 March 2005 12:05

ITS grey mosaic tiles and faceless windows have long seen it derided as one of the Capital’s worst legacies of 1960s architecture.

But now a campaign is under way to take advantage of a hunt for Britain’s ugliest building in a bid to get Edinburgh University’s Appleton Tower demolished.

Students and university staff are being asked to bombard the makers of a new Channel 4 show Demolition to nominate the eyesore for the wrecking ball.

The programme makers hope to persuade the owners of the "winning" building to take part in a regeneration project which will see the place knocked down.

Scores of students have contacted Channel 4 to nominate Appleton Tower after the student newspaper, The Student, urged them to vote.

The building, which towers over George Square, was constructed during a redevelopment of the area by the university in the early 1960s.

The makers of Demolition, a four-part series fronted by Kevin McCloud due to be aired in the autumn, are on the look-out for eyesores that "make your life a misery". The show is being backed by the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Andy Milne, editor of The Student, said: "The only thing Appleton Tower is useful for is as a distinctive but ugly landmark. It is an abomination.

"It’s a real shame it was ever built, because the rest of the central campus has really good architecture and it’s totally out of place overlooking George Square. We’re very hopeful lots of people will nominate it for Demolition."

Steve Cockburn, president of Edinburgh University Students’ Association, added: "Every person you speak to agrees Appleton Tower is an eyesore. That whole area is being redeveloped by the university, which obviously offers the possibility of it being knocked down, but I’m not sure that’s being planned at the moment."

The university announced plans last summer to refurbish the tower - which currently houses the university’s informatics and neuroscience department - as part of a multi-million-pound regeneration of its central campus.

Over the years, the building has been condemned as an eyesore by the likes of the Cockburn Association, the city’s main heritage watchdog, arts impresario Richard Demarco and the influential architecture body Documomo.

The Cockburn Association has named it alongside the St James Centre, the Jury’s Inn Hotel on Jeffrey Street, and Clifton Terrace, at Haymarket, as one of the Capital’s ugliest buildings.

But George Pitcher, chairman of the Southside Association, said he would have "mixed feelings" about the demolition of Appleton Tower.

He added: "From the outside Appleton Tower is a blot on the landscape but it’s actually a great building inside. I wouldn’t have thought it’s anywhere near being the worst building in Britain."

A university spokeswoman said:

"Appleton Tower is a very important facility providing essential research and teaching and learning facilities.

"Despite its exterior appearance, some floors were refurbished recently to a high standard to house part of our world-class school of informatics, whose original building was destroyed in the Cowgate fire."

The programme makers intend to create a shortlist of hated buildings chosen by viewers which a team of experts will then judge on their design and construction.

They then hope to secure agreement with the owners to knock down the building voted the worst and build a better-designed replacement.

• You can cast your vote for the ugliest and most hated building in Britain at www.channel4.co.uk/demolition

Which Edinburgh building would you like to see demolished? Call the news desk on 0131-620 8732 with your suggestions.