Comment

The New Museums Site Development Framework Supplementary Planning Document (SPD)

Representation ID: 30706

Received: 05/09/2015

Respondent: Dr Ian Patterson

Representation Summary:

The Mond and Cavendish buildings are both of too great an historical significance to be partly destroyed.

Full text:

The present proposals, whether misguided, ill-informed or wilfull, do not take sufficient account of the historical significance of the Mond Building, and the Cavendish Laboratory, both of which ought to be more fully preserved than the plans allow for. For a full statement of the case, see the article by Boris Jardine in the Guardian for the 1st of September (http://www.theguardian.com/science/the-h-word/2015/sep/01/britains-most-important-historic-laboratory-is-under-threat). The plan to demolish part of the Mond Building and completely demolish its annexe is disastrous: the building is one of major significance in the history of modernist architecture and needs to be kept in something as close as possible to its original state. Similarly, the reduce the Cavendish to a walkway is to destroy half its historical significance. I would recommend very strongly that the planners consult (again?) with experts in this field, including Dr Jardine, before making such an unfortunate and irrevocable decision to destroy the university's (and the country's) scientific heritage.