Jonathan Meades and Owen Hatherley have hit out at English Heritage’s decision not to recommend the listing of a Brutalist oil-fired power station in Hampshire
Meades said the decision not to recommend listing for Fawley Power Station was indicative of EH’s ‘dismal tendency to judge a structure on its use rather than its aesthetic qualities’.
Quoting EH’s comment that ‘there is little evidence that the practice [Farmer and Dark] was well-regarded and noted that none of their buildings have been listed,’ the famous TV critic and author told AJ:
‘So if none of their buildings have been listed it follows that this one should not be listed. This is a truly captious argument,’ said Meades.
‘Further, the denigration of ‘commercial and industrial’ buildings is an instance of the dismal tendency to judge a structure on its use rather than its aesthetic qualities. By this measure churches and colleges are invariably regarded as more valuable than car parks and shopping malls.
‘The demolishing of brutalist buildings is a rewriting of history. This one has much in common with certain of the Eastern Bloc structures photgraphed by Frederic Chaubin in CCCP.
‘It is worth noting that in countries such as Lithuania such buildings are valued even though they date from a period of brutal colonisation,’ he added.
‘My opinion is that it ought to be listed,’ said Meades.
Designed by utility experts Farmer and Dark Architects, the complex was built between 1964 and 1971 and is dominated by a 300m-long turbine/boiler house (topped by a 220m chimney) clad in ‘marine grade glass’; a feature that the EH report described as being ‘visually impressive both at close quarters and seen from a distance’.
The 2000MW facility, which overlooks Southampton Waters on the south coast, also includes a stand out pebble-shaped, ‘administration and control’ building (pictured above) that EH conceded was ‘undoubtedly quirky’.
However, despite concluding that Fawley was ‘..one of the most architecturally expressive and elegant of the core CEGB (Central Electricity Generation Board) structures of this period’ EH said that it did ‘not stand out from other power stations of this generation’ and declined to recommend its listing.
And Guardian critic and author Owen Hatherley also waded into the argument, telling the AJ that EH appeared biased against schemes by lesser known architects in lower profile areas:
‘EH’s pretext for not recommending listing seems flimsy,’ said Hatherley. ‘It’s as though they have said ‘this is on the outer, outer suburbs and not by a big architect in a style that is not usually listed.’
‘They will list churches by Basil Spence, but a monumental Brutalist power station on the outskirts of Southampton is not interesting; they are shrugging their shoulders somewhat.’
The failed listing application was made by the Keith Legg who worked at the site for 26 years and who is also the station’s unofficial historian.
Legg told the AJ: ‘I have worked at and visited many other power stations from the 60s 70s era and none of them hold a candle to the Fawley buildings. Most are glorified prefab sheds, Fawley was designed to be different and spectacular, even if English Heritage’s report seems to think otherwise.’
Legg added that the 300m-long glazed boiler house was ‘unlike anything else he had ever seen’: ‘In my opinion, it’s a stunning piece of engineering and design and would be criminal to lose it.’
‘English Heritage’s report is slightly dismissive of the architect (Farmer Dark) as not producing quality work. I’m not aware of their other work, but I struggle to believe that Fawley wasn’t their crowning glory,’ added Legg.
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