He was the a Bridgnorth Councillor and even a Bridgnorth Mayor, but he was also the Structural Engineer when the Wolverhampton Univerisity School of Art & Design was built. We ask Brian Jones what he thinks of the building now and should it stay or go?
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00:00Mark Andrews for the Express and Star. We're here on a very cold day outside the Wolverhampton
00:09School of Art, which Wolverhampton University is proposing to demolish as part of a redevelopment
00:17scheme. I'm joined here by Brian Jones and your chief engineer, the developer, Lovett
00:28Swilson. Wilson Lovett when it was built. I was here from 1967 to 1968. What your involvement
00:38in the project was then? I was supervising all the engineering side of it, that's the
00:43concrete, the construction of it basically, that was my job. I counted every single, it
00:48was cubic yards of concrete in those days, and also every single reinforcing bar in the
00:55building, there's a lot of them I can tell you, that was my job. And what was the project
01:01like, was it a major, how big a project was it at the time? A major project in Wolverhampton
01:06at the time, yeah. And you said it was one of the first million pound projects? Yes it was.
01:15Yeah, which was a rare thing in those days because you didn't have
01:19jobs that large. It was obviously quite a long project if you're working on it for that
01:24many years, it didn't start until 1970. That's right, yeah. It was, I say the structure was finished in 1968
01:35when I moved up, moved up down to Bordowsie to another job, so I was there to supervise the
01:41actual construction. What were your first thoughts when you learned of the plans to demolish the building?
01:47Absolute horror to be honest with you. When they first talked about demolishing the building over
01:52the road, the other one, which is where I studied when it was a college of technology. Was that the
01:57tall building? Yes, the new one over there. I thought they meant this building, I thought never, never,
02:03and it wasn't this building as it turned out. So what do you think the building means to
02:11the people of Wolverhampton? To me it's an iconic structure, you know, when it was built
02:19it was Wolverhampton College of Art, that's what it was called because it wasn't part of
02:25the university in those days. So when it was built, I'm not sure if it was built for Wolverhampton
02:34town council as it was then, the education department, I can't remember who the architects
02:41were. I've given you who designed the structure which is Troscon, that's in the notes.
02:47And what do you think, you know, when you go through Wolverhampton, what does it mean to you
02:51when you see it? It means a lot to me every time I go past it because it reminds me of
02:58here for sort of virtually 18 months, you know, and it doesn't mean a lot to me.
03:05Are you aware that the 20th Century Society has applied to have the building listed?
03:12I knew it, I didn't know who had asked for it to be listed, but yes, and of course the fact
03:18it's a modern reinforced concrete structure. As I said to you before, the Albury Wells School
03:25in Bridgnorth is also reinforced concrete and that is now Grade 2 listed. So it doesn't have
03:31to be an old building to be listed. Yeah, I'm very pleased to be honest with you, I think it's great.
03:36Now so far 6,000 people have signed a petition calling for it to be saved,
03:44does that surprise you? It surprises me and pleases me to be honest with you,
03:50I thought it was only me, I'm just very interested in keeping it. But yeah, yeah, it's good news.
03:59I'll sign it myself, it'll be online I suppose. Yeah it is, yeah. And in terms of like the
04:05building itself, I mean what, presumably the University doesn't think it's viable,
04:08what do you think about that? I disagree, I mean they know better than me what the requirements are,
04:18but you can't just disguise it, the Vice-Chancellor's obviously an academic, you know,
04:24doesn't know anything about building and civil engineering by the look of it,
04:28and you can't just wave a magic wand and say, oh yes, we'll just knock that down.
04:32Do they realise how long it will take and what it will cost? They obviously don't,
04:39it will cost a fortune, I can tell you. Do you know how much it will cost?
04:44You're talking of millions, plural millions. You know Grenfell Tower in London,
04:51well they've just said the same thing, it's a city centre site as this is, won't be able to do any
04:56blasting, it'll have to be just knocked down bit by bit, you know, that's why it'll take so long,
05:02and they've recommended the same for Grenfell Tower, you know. Was this a good quality building
05:08when it was built? Yes, yes, well that was part of my job, I made sure of it, so yes it was,
05:14yes, well I was, you know, I was, you're a professional, you make sure you do your best
05:21for whatever client you've got really. And do you believe it could be economically adapted for
05:26different uses necessarily? Oh certainly, yes. So Brian, what would you say makes this building
05:33interesting to you, what makes it stand out from other buildings? I mean, I suppose the design,
05:39the structure itself, I think it's quite an iconic building, not just the fact I worked on it, but
05:48at the time and centre of Wolverhampton, there was nothing quite like it. So what is the message
05:52you'd like to give to the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Ibrahim Adia,
05:58what would you like to say to him? I think sit down, think again, go back to the drawing board
06:09and come up with another idea, because I don't think you know exactly what you're dealing with
06:15and what it will cost, you know. I don't think the University is that flush with cash that
06:21I can afford to spend that amount of money demolishing this place. Obviously to me,
06:28it's part of my life, you know, I've spent over a year here, so
06:34happy days. Brian Jones, thank you very much. My pleasure.