nigeldale
Nottingham Inland Revenue Centre receives Grade II listing photo (left) Source 20th C Society
C20 is celebrating the listing of another highly significant early 1990s building, with the former Inland Revenue Centre in Nottingham by Hopkins Architects (1993-95) – the first British project to receive maximum points under the BREEAM assessment – awarded Grade II listed status, just as the building reaches its 30th birthday. News of the listing has added poignancy, as this was a case particularly championed by Elain Harwood – the C20 stalwart and Historic England investigator, who was born in Nottingham and sadly died in March of this year.
The Inland Revenue (now known as HMRC) vacated their purpose-built complex in 2022, relocating to new offices elsewhere in the city. Outline planning permission for conversion from office to residential use was first granted in February 2018, with proposals for 332 one and two bedroom dwellings. After consultation with Hopkins Architects, the Society concluded that the building would be suitable for conversion, but that there was a risk of serious damage to the clarity and fabric of the original design, without a sympathetic approach and the protection afforded by listing. Source c20society.org.uk/news/sustainable-pioneer-hopkins-inland...
(Right) is an image of the same building used to represent a futuristic megastructure in the Dennis Potter 1996 TV play Cold Lazarus.
Plot: Cold Lazarus is set in the 24th century, in a dystopian Britain where the ruined streets are unsafe, and where society is run by American oligarchs in charge of powerful commercial corporations. Experiences are almost all virtual, and anything deemed authentic (such as coffee and cigarettes) has either been banned or replaced by synthetic substitutes.
At a cryonics research institute in London, funded by the pharmaceuticals tycoon Martina Masdon (played by Diane Ladd), a group of scientists led by Dr. Emma Porlock (Frances de la Tour) is working on reviving the mind of the 20th-century writer Daniel Feeld (Albert Finney), whose head was frozen after Feeld's death shortly after the events of Karaoke. Unable to see any profit in the project, Masdon considers discontinuing it, but the media mogul David Siltz (Henry Goodman), who has been spying on Masdon, envisages making a fortune from broadcasting Feeld's memories on TV, and proposes to Porlock that her team work for him.
Porlock is unaware that a member of her team, Fyodor Glazunov (Ciarán Hinds) is a member of the resistance group RON (‘Reality Or Nothing’), which attempts to undermine the reliance of society upon advanced technology by carrying out violent attacks. Glazunov identifies Kaya, another of Porlock's team, as a potential recruit to his superior Andrew Milton (David Foxxe), but Milton kills Kaya, believing her unsuitable. Angered by Kaya's murder, Glazunov kills Milton. Porlock then discovers the truth about Glazunov but, to distract him from the possibility of killing her, consults with him about the Siltz deal. Glazunov approves of the broadcast of Feeld's memories, which he believes might provoke a revolt against the 'inauthentic' life propagated by the authorities. It is shortly after this that Porlock accepts Siltz's offer, just as Masdon realises the potential of the Lazarus project.
As more of Feeld's thoughts and memories are unearthed, it becomes evident not only that Feeld's mind is conscious of its predicament, but also that Feeld is attempting to communicate with the scientists, and is pleading to be allowed to die. At this point Glazunov, Porlock and Luanda Partington (another long standing member of the team) begin to doubt the morality of their project. Another of their team, Watson, having been coerced into informing on his colleagues, unwittingly denounces Glazunov as a RON member and saboteur. Having been warned, Glazunov heads for the laboratory to put Feeld out of his misery. In the confrontation that ensues, Glazunov is able to kill Siltz, and, after a final communication with Feeld (in which they make eye contact), he destroys the laboratory, Feeld's head, and himself, in the process. Source en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Lazarus
Nottingham Inland Revenue Centre receives Grade II listing photo (left) Source 20th C Society
C20 is celebrating the listing of another highly significant early 1990s building, with the former Inland Revenue Centre in Nottingham by Hopkins Architects (1993-95) – the first British project to receive maximum points under the BREEAM assessment – awarded Grade II listed status, just as the building reaches its 30th birthday. News of the listing has added poignancy, as this was a case particularly championed by Elain Harwood – the C20 stalwart and Historic England investigator, who was born in Nottingham and sadly died in March of this year.
The Inland Revenue (now known as HMRC) vacated their purpose-built complex in 2022, relocating to new offices elsewhere in the city. Outline planning permission for conversion from office to residential use was first granted in February 2018, with proposals for 332 one and two bedroom dwellings. After consultation with Hopkins Architects, the Society concluded that the building would be suitable for conversion, but that there was a risk of serious damage to the clarity and fabric of the original design, without a sympathetic approach and the protection afforded by listing. Source c20society.org.uk/news/sustainable-pioneer-hopkins-inland...
(Right) is an image of the same building used to represent a futuristic megastructure in the Dennis Potter 1996 TV play Cold Lazarus.
Plot: Cold Lazarus is set in the 24th century, in a dystopian Britain where the ruined streets are unsafe, and where society is run by American oligarchs in charge of powerful commercial corporations. Experiences are almost all virtual, and anything deemed authentic (such as coffee and cigarettes) has either been banned or replaced by synthetic substitutes.
At a cryonics research institute in London, funded by the pharmaceuticals tycoon Martina Masdon (played by Diane Ladd), a group of scientists led by Dr. Emma Porlock (Frances de la Tour) is working on reviving the mind of the 20th-century writer Daniel Feeld (Albert Finney), whose head was frozen after Feeld's death shortly after the events of Karaoke. Unable to see any profit in the project, Masdon considers discontinuing it, but the media mogul David Siltz (Henry Goodman), who has been spying on Masdon, envisages making a fortune from broadcasting Feeld's memories on TV, and proposes to Porlock that her team work for him.
Porlock is unaware that a member of her team, Fyodor Glazunov (Ciarán Hinds) is a member of the resistance group RON (‘Reality Or Nothing’), which attempts to undermine the reliance of society upon advanced technology by carrying out violent attacks. Glazunov identifies Kaya, another of Porlock's team, as a potential recruit to his superior Andrew Milton (David Foxxe), but Milton kills Kaya, believing her unsuitable. Angered by Kaya's murder, Glazunov kills Milton. Porlock then discovers the truth about Glazunov but, to distract him from the possibility of killing her, consults with him about the Siltz deal. Glazunov approves of the broadcast of Feeld's memories, which he believes might provoke a revolt against the 'inauthentic' life propagated by the authorities. It is shortly after this that Porlock accepts Siltz's offer, just as Masdon realises the potential of the Lazarus project.
As more of Feeld's thoughts and memories are unearthed, it becomes evident not only that Feeld's mind is conscious of its predicament, but also that Feeld is attempting to communicate with the scientists, and is pleading to be allowed to die. At this point Glazunov, Porlock and Luanda Partington (another long standing member of the team) begin to doubt the morality of their project. Another of their team, Watson, having been coerced into informing on his colleagues, unwittingly denounces Glazunov as a RON member and saboteur. Having been warned, Glazunov heads for the laboratory to put Feeld out of his misery. In the confrontation that ensues, Glazunov is able to kill Siltz, and, after a final communication with Feeld (in which they make eye contact), he destroys the laboratory, Feeld's head, and himself, in the process. Source en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Lazarus