Modern building conservationists are trying to save a multi storey car park by asking for it to be Listed - dubbing it a 'classic'. The 20th Century Society want to permanently protect the 1950s Rupert Street car park in Bristol city centre.
They say the 'revolutionary' car park should be preserved - as it was the first in Britain to have a continuous, sloped spiral parking ramp. The group want it to be made into a giant electric car parking facility - in a bid to save the site from plans to turn it into a new block of flats.
Developers have been drawing up plans to demolish the site and replace it with student and key worker housing, which will be submitted in spring. The proposal would see 250 co-living rooms for young people and key workers and 320 student rooms built at the Rupert Street car park.
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The NCP car park in Lewins Mead would be removed in its current form, but a replacement car park with 412 spaces, 86 spaces less than the current capacity, would be built. Cafés and co-working spaces are also included in the plans.
A 21-storey tower block would sit in the centre of the site. At present, the tallest building in Bristol is still the spire of St Mary Redcliffe Church , with claims the 26-storey Castle Park View, which was completed this year, potentially taller, depending on where the split-level base is measured from.
Castle Park View is currently the tallest occupied building in Bristol, which would make the Rupert Street scheme the second tallest if built. However last year developers hoping to build a 25-storey tower block on top of the council’s new green heating station next to Castle Park View wanted to increase the height to 33-storeys, which would smash the record height for any building ever built in Bristol.
Built between December 1959 and October 1960, the group says that the site is an 'iconic' example of brutalist architecture.
A spokesperson for the society told the BBC: "A clear opportunity now presents itself to adapt this innovative 20th century structure to provide a green and exciting solution to a very 21st century problem".
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