The preservationist lobby is an increasingly vociferous anti-demolition movement.
It seems that there is no end in the number of reasons why buildings can’t be demolished in the UK these days. As if the idea of listed buildings weren’t enough to contend with, we now have to ensure that we’re not disrupting an area of outstanding natural beauty; a building of historic interest or significance; a nesting site for bats, rats and cats; or where the Queen once stopped to spend a penny on her way to the grand unveiling of yet another plaque.
At the heart of this lies a group of no doubt well-intentioned souls for whom a dilapidated building is apparently preferable to something shiny and new; people for whom progress is anathema; people with such a narrow field of vision that they’re genetically incapable of seeing the bigger picture.
Take, for example, the Norwich Society that has drawn up a list of more than 100 buildings that – in its collective wisdom – are worthy of preservation and protection against marauding “bulldozers”.
The list apparently includes pubs (well, that’s a surprise), shops, bridges and even factories.
Now yes, a country pub does have a certain olde worlde charm; and if an ageing bridge is still functional in the modern traffic-heavy world, then it ain’t broke so don’t fix it. But factories?
Is Norwich (or any other major city for that matter) so phenomenally well-off that it is willing to forego the inward investment and job creation opportunity of a new manufacturing plant merely to protect a dilapidated relic of the industrial past?
Setting aside the potential impact of rampant preservationism on the demolition industry, surely this stands in the way of progress and UK PLC’s ability to redress its economic woes.
