Westgate House, Newcastle upon Tyne

Westgate House was a 46 metre (150 ft) office block that was situated on Westgate Road opposite Newcastle Central Station in the Grainger Town of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The 12 storey Brutalist building, was completed in 1972.

It was demolished in the latter half of 2006 and January 2007 [" [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/4400905.stm City approves eyesore demolition] " - BBC News, 1 April, 2005 (Accessed March 4 2007)] by its owners, development agency OneNorthEast, along with its neighbour Norwich Union House. Demolition started off slowly at first as a result of the unique construction method used on the 11th floor, which was a plant room, and the 12th floor which was stronger than other floors because of the roof slab [ [http://www.thompsonsofprudhoe.com/newsitem.php?nid=13 Thompsons of Prudhoe: Westgate House] ] . Demolition was completed upon the removal of the 'stilts' at the base of the building.

It was planned for the building to be reclad and to convert the building into a 140 bedroom, 4 star hotel. If approved, it would have cost an estimated £5 million, however, the development did not get proposed [ [http://www.isarchitects.co.uk/page.php?id=22 Ian Springford Architects: Westgate House, Newcastle] ] .

It was featured on the Channel 4 television series, Demolition where it was voted as one of twelve buildings to be demolished. However, in BBC News Magazine, it was nominated as an 'unsung landmark' [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5255294.stm Britain's unsung landmarks] - BBC News Magazine, 8 August 2006 (Accessed March 4 2007)] .

References

External links

* [http://www.skyscrapernews.com/buildings.php?id=780 Skyscrapernews.com]
* [http://www.channel4.com/life/microsites/D/demolition/worst2.html Channel 4: Demolition Dirty Dozen]
* [http://www.onenortheast.co.uk/page/news/article.cfm?articleId=2021 OneNorthEast news]