Current outline application proposes to demolish key buildings at University of Wolverhampton’s Walsall campus, says Twentieth Century Society
The former teacher training college at Walsall (now part of the University of Wolverhampton) has submitted an outline application to develop the site on Gorway Road. The application goes to the planning committee this Wednesday, 20 November.
The campus was designed by the leading practice Sheppard, Robson and Partners and was built between 1961-64. On tiny budgets, this practice produced numerous education buildings of genuine power and conviction. Pevsner comments that the former teacher training college is the practice’s ‘finest building in the county’ (Buildings of England: Staffordshire, 1974). However, it appears that the campus’s significance has not been recognised by the university and it is proposed that integral buildings be demolished, including the u-planned buildings surrounding the central teaching tower, and possibly the tower itself, which would be replaced by car-parking provision.
The society considers the former teacher training college to be a strong candidate for listing and will be submitting an application to DCMS. We have also written to Walsall Borough Council urging them not to decide this application at their committee on Wednesday. We feel that to make such a decision before the full merits of these buildings have been assessed would be wholly irresponsible.
The Twentieth Century Society is a membership organisation which campaigns for the conservation of the best C20th architecture. It was founded in 1976 as the Thirties Society and is now recognised by government and has a statutory role in the planning process. For more details, see our website, www.c20society.org.uk.