‘It looks like a prison’: Backlash over flagship building dubbed ‘Radcliffe rustbucket’
04.08.2022 - 14:33
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Designs for a new ‘flagship’ civic building at the heart of the regeneration of Radcliffe have been pulled after a furious public backlash. Earlier this week, Bury Council released computer generated images of the proposed Radcliffe Hub, which will house the town’s swimming pool, indoor sport and leisure, library, a café and health facilities.
However, many residents commented that the exterior design of primarily brown metal cladding made the hub ‘look like a prison’ and one dubbed the building ‘the Radcliffe rustbucket’. A previous computer generated image of the building showed most of the exterior of the building glazed with a wider range of colours and a parade of shops and units at ground level.
That design provoked much less public comment when issued. Bury Council have now removed the new images from their website and Facebook page and claim they ‘weren’t consulted’ on the revised images.
They say the architects involved have been instructed to revise the designs ahead of a series of public consultations on the project set to take place in the next few weeks. Most comments about the new design on Facebook were scathing.
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One commenter, Scott Fleming, said: “I’ll be at the consultation meeting to tell them exactly what I think of this monstrosity. It offends my eyes which is is ironic because it looks like a place to house offenders.”
Kathy Rice, added: “Looks like a prison.. where are the shops?” And, Carol Kemp, wrote: “I for one hate the new look of ‘HMS Prison – Radcliffe’.”
Bury South MP Christian Wakeford nominated the project ahead of it receiving £20M of Government levelling up funding, which will partially fund the creation