Landmark 1960s building in Wolverhampton spared wrecking ball

A landmark Brutalist building in Wolverhampton has been spared the wrecking ball after it was listed.

The University of Wolverhampton School of Art building, also known as the MK Building, was granted grade II listed status by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on the advice of Historic England last week.

The 1960s building was set to be torn down as part of the university’s plans for a ‘radical’ overhaul of its estate earlier this year.

The university said it wanted to demolish the building as part of plans to “streamline” its estates.

But thousands of people signed a petition set up in the wake of the plan and the building, completed in 1969, was handed listed status last week.

It was designed by Diamond Redfern and Partners in collaboration with the borough architect with construction beginning in 1966.

The eight-storey building, close to the Molineux home of Wolverhampton Wanderers, was described by Historic England as a “striking emblem on the skyline of the city”.

The government’s heritage adviser added: “[It] has an exo-skeleton of pre-cast modular panels hung from a concrete frame, creating a facade with a striking, sculptural pattern. The concrete panels and the repeated pattern demonstrate the influence that the Pop Art movement, made famous by artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, was having on architecture at the time.”