Coming of Age

Campaigning for outstanding buildings

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Waterloo International Terminal, Lambeth – Nicholas Grimshaw Architects, 1988-94
Image © Grimshaw

‘The next station, is Paris Gare-du-Nord’: 30 years ago today (14 November 1994), the first Eurostar service pulled out of London’s Waterloo Station, and the continent was suddenly on the doorstep. The opening of the Channel Tunnel was the culmination of the 20th century’s biggest single civil engineering and political project. Physically connecting Britain and mainland Europe for the first time in their histories, newspapers at the time declaring: ‘No longer an Island’.

Now, C20 Society is calling for the historic former Waterloo International Terminal to be nationally listed, as part of our new Coming of Age campaign – an annual hit-parade that celebrates the best buildings across the country turning 30 years old, and so becoming eligible for listing.

International Terminal Waterloo team visit the full-size roof mock-up at the steelworks in Wetherby, Yorkshire.
Image © Grimshaw

Standing the test of time

The selection criteria for listing buildings are set by the government Department for Culture, Media and Sport, with Historic England providing detailed guidance and carrying our research on each specific case. Along with the primary considerations of ‘special architectural and historic interest’, the principles state that buildings under 30 years of age are not usually considered eligible because ‘they have yet to stand the test of time.’ However, when a building reaches this key age threshold, there’s currently no mechanism to proactively review or assess its heritage value, until it comes under threat of demolition or harmful alteration. (NB. In exceptional circumstances, buildings may be listed when they are under 30, but only if they are both of exceptional quality and at risk of demolition).

The Coming of Age campaign addresses this directly, by identifying 10 outstanding buildings across the country that opened in 1994, and recommending they be added to the National Heritage List. This hit-parade of heritage from the recent past celebrates the richness and diversity in our built environment, set within the social, political and cultural contexts of the day. The initiative it set to become an annual fixture, with the Society’s 2025 Coming of Age list highlighting the best buildings of 1995, and so on.

Given that around 30 years after construction is often the point at which buildings (however well constructed in the first place) are likely to require their first major refurbishment, any listing designation at this point would provide a timely opportunity to ensure that such works recognise and respond to what makes a building significant. Encouraging retrofit with the long-term, sustainable future as a key objective.

Approaching 30 years old is also often the moment in a building’s lifespan when it is most likely to be at the nadir of its popularity and fashionability, and therefore potentially at its most vulnerable. Why wait until the bulldozers are poised, to intervene and try to protect an outstanding building, when it is possible to make an objective judgement far earlier?