Bristol Architecture

Although it now has a high-rise neighbour (The Eclipse), Castlemead Tower is still a commanding presence in the city centre and a lovely example of 1970s concrete architecture.

As you approach the city centre from the M32, along Newfoundland Way, it seems for a while that you are heading straight for the building (until you reach the Bond Street junction and turn away).

Castlemead Tower, Bristol

At 80m, I thought it was also the tallest building in Bristol although Wikipedia places St. Mary Redcliffe in the No.1 spot at 89m. It's height appears further accentuated due to the exterior concrete panels rising up in unbroken vertical lines from the first floor. When viewed from a distance it also gives the impression of a building that is coming up out of the ground.

Castlemead Tower from Castle Park

The distinctive projections around the top of the building are suggestive of the overhanging machicolations that were a feature of medieval castle construction (although in this case there are no openings for dropping things onto people underneath).

Concrete projections at roof level.

Here is a photo of Raglan Castle (Not far away over the Welsh border) so you can see what I am thinking of.

Raglan Castle

However, despite the apparent lack of facilities for dropping things from the top, there was an incident last year where a man entered the building, started smashing things up inside and then threw a load of office equipment out of a 10th or 11th floor window.

Here is a link to the story as it was reported at the time.

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Bad-day-office-Bristol-workers-run-cover-man/story-13938649-detail/story.html

Looks good from just about every angle.

Car Park Architecture - Part 2

I have been in Bristol a couple of days a week of late and my various routes from Temple Meads have taken me past a number of fantastic examples of concrete architecture which have included the NCP multi-storey car park on Lower Castle Street in Broadmead.

Broadmead multi-storey car park, Lower Castle Street, Bristol

Although flanked on either side by the much bigger Castlemead tower and Marriott Hotel, it nonetheless holds its own architecturally and in fact all three buildings sit satisfying well together. (I will include more on Castlemead Tower in a future post).

Castlemead Tower, Broadmead car park and The Marriott hotel.

I especially like the way the designers employed a split-level construction with this building. Multi-storey car parks usually seem to be built in continuous horizontal layers so perhaps the sloping terrain here led towards this particular architectural solution. Or maybe the designers just fancied trying something different to mirror the slope of the street. Either way, it resulted in giving the whole structure an additional vertical dynamism, a bit like a fault line on a rock face.

Broadmead multi-storey car park facade

A closer inspection reveals that each layer has nicely bevelled-off edges and corners which gives the impression that the two sections are just about to interlock with each other.

Close-up of the nicely designed concrete edges of the parking decks.

Although this is not a plug for National Car Parks, I also happen to think that the NCP logo is a great piece of design in its own right and the contrast between the black on yellow signage and concrete car park walls is visually always very satisfying.

The NCP logo always stands out well.

Referring back to an earlier post on Bristol car parks, I have recently come across a short  Pathé news film from 1961, showcasing the brand new (as it was then) Rupert Street multi-storey car park.

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/multi-deck-garage

Broadway Nuclear Bunker

On Saturday I visited the Royal Observer Corps underground monitoring post (or Broadway Nuclear Bunker as it is more excitingly called) on one of it's occasional open days.

The ROC monitoring site as seen through the perimeter fence

Although it was removed from active service in 1991 the site was subsequently revived under the management of Broadway Tower and has been open to visitors since 2010. 

The access shaft hatch with the white Ground Zero Indicator for
determining the position of a nuclear detonation. 

The fenced site is situated in the corner of a field very near Broadway Tower and also includes the now roofless remains of the original above ground observation post which I believe dates from the Second World War.

Looking down the access shaft

The bunker itself is in great condition and the visit was further enhanced by a brief talk from an ex-member of the Observer Corps which gave a fascinating insight into the operation of these bunkers during the Cold War. 

Looking up the access shaft

Much of the original equipment was already in place but some items have been re-introduced and added to make it as complete as possible.

What a fully equipped bunker would have looked like.

The role of the bunkers was essentially to determine the position of nuclear explosions and gather data on the initial blast and also the radiation levels following a bomb drop.

Close-up of the BPI (Bomb Power Indicator) for
determining the approximate size of a nuclear blast.

At the height of the Cold War there were nearly 1600 of these small bunkers situated at 8 mile intervals across the UK in a grid-like formation so most of us are never more than a few miles from a ROC site. However many have since been destroyed and those that do remain are in varying states of decay and inaccessibility, so the Broadway bunker is probably one of the few remaining maintained and accessible examples in the country.

In the event of a fire inside the bunker
an asbestos fire blanket was supplied.

This was the last listed public open day for this year but for information regarding private functions and future open days you can visit the Broadway Tower website

The ROC site as seen from the top of Broadway Tower.

For more details on the history and workings of these bunkers I would recommend 2 books - 
Cold War Secret Nuclear Bunkers by Nick McCamley published by Pen & Sword and also Cold War - Building for Nuclear Confrontation 1946-1989 by Wayne D Cocroft and Roger JC Thomas published by English Heritage

Above ground elements of the FSM meter (foreground)
for measuring above ground radioactivity with the BPI (bomb power indicator) behind 

If (like me) you are more interested in the visual appeal of concrete bunkers, then Nick Catford's "Subterranean Britain - Cold War Bunkers" published by Folly Books is the book for you.

To finish - a view from Broadway Tower

and just one more...

Heritage Open Days

The National Heritage Open Days scheme will be running from tomorrow and over the weekend (6th - 9th September) so why not take a look at their website to see what is going on in your area and take the opportunity to visit places and buildings not normally open to the public.

The website can be found at http://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/

Last year I went up the Eagle Tower in Cheltenham which is open again for one day although I think you need to book in advance this year.

Eagle Tower, Cheltenham

I also happened to hear a short piece about it this morning on the radio which also drew attention to the possibility that the scheme may at risk of funding cuts in the future which is not good.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9749000/9749006.stm