'Whether the council stays or goes - no demolition' say campaigners for 'modernist icon' Shirehall

This week, Shropshire Council put forward plans to move staff into across town into the Guildhall as part of a long-term ambition to vacate its current base, which it says is now too large for its needs and too expensive to run.

The move may spell the beginning of the end for the county’s landmark civic building, which was designed by county architect Ralph Crowe and officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1967.

But while the site could now be sold to boost council coffers, campaigners from built heritage group Shrewsbury Civic Society say pulling down one the county’s most prominent modernist buildings would be an act of “short-term thinking”, and has urged the council to protect the building if the site is sold.

“Whether the council stay or don’t stay, our position is two words – ‘no demolition’. It’s as simple as that. The building should not be demolished. Today’s politicians are making a decision on the history of Shrewsbury forever and they’re looking for short-term fixes to make good the finances,” said trustee and former chair Simon Beedles.

“The building very definitely divides opinion but you can still realise something is worthy of preservation even if you think it’s ugly.

“It’s iconic and to me it reflects a time of change from the war generation to the ‘hippy’ generation when everything was challenged and new ideas came in; this reflects that time.

“The opportunity to retain the physical part of that thinking will be removed by people who think it’s just an ugly bit of concrete and they want to make a few pounds.”

Shropshire Council successfully applied in 2020 to have the building made immune from being granted protected status as a listed building, after Historic England said the building fell “just short” of meeting the criteria for post-1945 buildings. The authority says Shirehall would require renovations in excess of £24 million in order to make it fit for purpose.

However the civic society says the building has “untapped potential for future uses and adaptation” and has written to the council asking for its intentions. It also says it will write to councillors individually asking them to make their position clear on the future of the building.

“What’s going to happen is this architecture which some people regard as awful like [now demolished] Telephone House was, or sometimes how the Market Hall is referred to, is just going to be sliced out and there’ll be no record of what’s gone on and it seems wrong to do that,” added Mr Beedles.

“If the council really want to do something for the 21st century they would sell the building with a condition that it could not be demolished.

“The [modernist architecture campaign group] Twentieth Century Society regard this as one of the top ten buildings at risk, so it is important. I do accept that not everybody likes the building but I think it’s an opportunity that could be lost and once you’ve got rid of it, then that’s it and it’s not coming back.”