A garish Lego brick style house, a tower block nicknamed The Fag Butt and an uninspiring train station are competing for the title of Britain’s worst-looking structure.
The three are among six shortlisted to win The Carbuncle Cup 2017, an annual architecture prize, given by the magazine Building Design to ‘the ugliest building in the United Kingdom completed in the last 12 months’.
The projects nominated range from a new entrance to a rail station in Preston, Lancashire, to a student halls of residence in Portsmouth, Hampshire, and the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station in London.
Nominated: This extension to a Victorian property in Worcestershire (above) is among six nominated for this year’s Carbuncle Cup. The annual prize is awarded to Britain’s ugliest buildings and its title was inspired by Prince Charles who denounced plans to extend London’s National Gallery as a ‘monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend’
The annual event was launched in 2006, with the first winner being Drake Circus Shopping Centre in Plymouth by Chapman Taylor.
The word carbuncle is used to describe a severe abscess or multiple boil in the skin, typically infected with staphylococcus bacteria.
The name of the award was inspired by a comment from Prince Charles, a critic of modern architecture, who denounced plans to extend London’s National Gallery as a ‘monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend’.
This year’s shortlist, based on nominations from the public, has been studied by a panel of judges who will announce the winner on Wednesday.
Somers Road, Malvern
One of the structures which got tongues wagging was an extension to a period property In Worcestershire. It contracted complaints for its Lego style brickwork.
It has been added to a four storey Victorian villa – which has a pitched tiled roof, decorative stone facades and light cream steps. From certain angles to be a picturesque, historic property.
But neighbours recoiled in horror when the owners erected a huge extension – which locals say resembles a light industrial unit – in July this year.
The vast rectangular box was put together using engineered stone tiles in a stack bond arrangement, and contains a living area and kitchen.
One of the structures which got tongues wagging was an extension to a period property In Worcestershire. It contracted complaints for its Lego style brickwork
Pretty on the inside: The extension on the Victorian property has raised eyebrows with neighbours complaining its an ‘eyesore’
In the planning application, it was stated that the stone clad extension would be ‘subservient and understated with a crisp modern aesthetic distinct from the historic house’.
The house on Somers Road is owned by Edward Elgar – a direct descendant of the famous composer of the same name who made Malvern his home.
Mr Elgar, 49, and his wife Charlotte, bought the house for £1 million in October 2014.
The extension was designed and built to be used as a kitchen/dining area.
Mrs Elgar’s father James Waits, 77, of Worcester, said: ‘Edward is a descendant of Sir Edward Elgar. I am not entirely sure what the link is, I believe he is a great nephew or something similar but he is certainly related.
‘I absolutely love the building. I think someone who nominated it for this award is suffering from jealously. It is a marvellous piece of architecture.’
Mr Elgar refused to comment on his link to the famous composer.
In the planning application, it was stated that the stone clad extension would be ‘subservient and understated with a crisp modern aesthetic distinct from the historic house’
The house on Somers Road is owned by Edward Elgar – a direct descendant of the famous composer of the same name who made Malvern his home. Pictured above, the kitchen area
It is not the first time the couple have upset their neighbours with dramatic changes to their home.
In July 2015 the couple sparked anger from residents living nearby when they lodged a planning application to fell 30 trees on their land.
They applied to cut down 27 sycamores, one holly, one hazel and one cypress and were granted permission by Malvern Hills District Council.
One neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: ‘It is pretty sad that a relative of Malvern’s most famous sons is creating such a blot on the town.
‘I hate to say a cliché but I’ve heard it said that Sir Edward would be spinning in his grave if he knew how his relative was treating his beloved town.’
The building is one of six to be nominated for this year’s Carbuncle Cup – an architecture industry ‘prize’ given out by magazine Building Design to the ugliest building to be completed in the past year.
Robert Smith, who nominated the house in Malvern, Worcestershire, said: ‘The property is situated in a lovely, tree-lined street dominated by Victorian architecture, in a conservation area.
‘The house itself is believed to have been constructed during the late 1800’s, principally of brick, under a pitched tiled roof with part stone decorative facades.
The building is one of six to be nominated for this year’s Carbuncle Cup – an architecture industry ‘prize’ given out by magazine Building Design to the ugliest building to be completed in the past year
Robert Smith, who nominated the house in Malvern, Worcestershire, said: ‘The extension of the property through the addition of what can only be described as a Lego brick that is so offensive to the eye’
He said: ‘While the owners are in many ways to be congratulated in taking on such a large restoration project, it is the extension of the property through the addition of what can only be described as a Lego brick that is so offensive to the eye.
‘To make matters worse, what cannot be seen from the photo is the fact that there was a Victorian single story building that was demolished to make way for the new monstrosity.
‘I am aware that planning guidelines today are to keep a clear boundary between new and old structures, but the architect has made no attempt to unify the house and now most people assume this family home to be a medical centre.’
On social media, a host of users have hit out at the design. Debbie Jones said: ‘Some mixes of traditional and modern are amazing. But this, is awful (sorry to the owners). It is looks like a factory next to a beautiful house. I like an industrial look but this is not complementary.’
Sian Condor said: ‘When I think of the hard time we’ve been given over some of our planning applications in Malvern and they then allow something like this, it leaves me somewhat speechless!!!!’
Julie Bedington added: ‘Having walked past it a few times the white extension is awful. Also the white windows on the original part are shocking.
‘This is just my opinion but looks so out of place in the lovely town I live in.’
A spokesperson from Vivid Architects was unable to give comment.
Nova Victoria
Built in the 1960s after the Second World War, Nova Victoria seemed a icon of modern times. But 50 years on, the area has being extensively redeveloped but sadly it isn’t to everyone’s taste. BD Online reports: ‘The latest offering is Nova Victoria, a 897,000 square foot mixed-use development occupying a whole city block. The architect, PLP has attempted to break up the monolithic nature of these scheme by expressing it as a pair of sliced and chamfered towers and jazzing it up with several bright red prows presumably to give it that ‘landmark’ quality. Instead several readers questioned how it got planning.
Nova Victoria: They blocked off streets and caused traffic problems when PLP Architecture carried out renovations to Nova Victoria in London, but was it all worth it? Apparently not, as the building has been nominated for this year’s Carbuncle Cup
Preston Railway Station Butler Street Entrance
The new side entrance in front of Preston Station attracted attention for all the wrong reasons in June, after it was unveiled following months of work by Virgin Trains. Residents took to social media in their droves to denounce the grey structure. One described it as a ‘carbuncle’ with another wondering ‘how the hell did that get planning permission for that?’
Operator Virgin Trains said it was a ‘contrasting structure to create a more modern and passenger friendly environment’. The residents of Preston clearly preferred the former entrance variously describing the new building as an ‘eyesore’, ‘hideous’, ‘a joke’ and ‘planning gone mad’.
Nominator Steve Webberley described it to BD Online as a ‘deadening cake tin slapped on its side’. He said: ‘This fractured geometric lean-to would seem out of date 10 years ago. It isn’t even that well-planned inside. The relationship with the window line of the brick station is laughable. We’ve come a long way from Brunel. A very long way.’
‘It’s a cake tin slapped on the side!’: Virgin Trains may have spent thousands adding a new entrance to Preston’s railway station but locals weren’t pleased as they described it as ‘an eyesore’
Greetham Street Student Halls, Portsmouth
Nicknamed ‘fag butt’, locals were unimpressed by the tan and beige tower block unveiled earlier this year. Greetham Street Student Halls features a two tone cladding and a jjumble of multi-coloured rectilinear blocks at the base. The nominator, Kieran Clarke told BD Online: ‘It seems that the building’s architects were either colour blind when choosing the external cladding or wanted to blind others with the bright yellow cube at the top of their tower.’
This student block of flats appears to be the butt of many jokes in Portsmouth after locals likened its beige top to that of the remains of a used cigarette
Park Plaza London Waterloo
This dowdy beige 1950s government building to hotel conversion has been jazzed up presumably to draw in the punters. The lower lower storeys are swathed in tiles whose pattern would cause havoc on a TV screen, and whose colours manage to be both gaudy and drab at the same time. To draw attention to the entrance, the architects lifted the cornice at one corner and wrapped a weird screen around it. It looks like the skin has been peeled from someone’s torso, exposing a spaghetti of blood vessels and veins beneath.
From government building to almost-luxury hotel, the outside of this structure in London’s Waterloo has been jazzed up with a pattern in a bid to move away from its 1950s past
Circus West, Battersea Power Station, London
Part of the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station, this scheme by London studio Simpson Haugh was nominated in part for its scale. ‘Circus West pulls off the feat of making Europe’s largest brick building look small and was a very popular nomination with the BD readership,’ said Lane.
‘Unfortunately, this scale of overdevelopment has been forced on the power station because of a series of bad deals made by a series of owners needing to recoup their investments.’
Overpowering: This gigantic development based in Battersea, London, has managed to make Europe’s largest brick building look small