image for illustration: Portsmouth, Civic Offices by Mike Faherty, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Disappointment has been expressed after a bid to have Portsmouth’s civic offices listed failed – which it is feared will pave the way for its demolition, reports The News.
The News writes:
The application… to have the civic offices in Guildhall Square designated as a listed building was submitted to Historic England by The Twentieth Century Society (C20), a British heritage charity established in 1979….
A Historic England spokesperson said: ‘The Portsmouth Civic Offices building was designed in 1971-6 by post-war planners Teggin and Taylor as a key component in a wider masterplan for Portsmouth. We assessed the building for listing, but although Portsmouth Civic Offices has some architectural and historic interest, it is not sufficient to meet the criteria for listing a civic building of this date, and we therefore recommended that a Certificate of Immunity from listing should be issued. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has decided that it is minded to grant a COI.’…
