Andy Carter asks why the RAC buildings at Bristol and Walsall harbour a nautical theme (Letters, 13 August, page 28).

As part of the RAC’s property team at the time the Walsall building was commissioned, I can divulge that the brief to the architects was to show the inner workings of a 24-hour control centre on what was then (and maybe still is) Europe’s busiest motorway junction. Thus, the motorway-facing elevation was a multistorey facade and the rear a single storey.

The aim was to reassure and impress the motorist; ironic then, that the effect is that of a sinking Titanic!

Kevin Schofield, via email

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