Carlisle Civic Centre

Carlisle Civic Centre in the floodwater, December 2015

The civic centre was commissioned to replacing the aging Town Hall in the Market Place.[1] The new building, which was designed by Charles B. Pearson and Partners in the Modernist style and built by John Laing & Son at a cost of £820,000, was completed in March 1964.[2] The design involved a tower, 44 metres (144 ft) high,[3] as well as a separate two-storey octagonal building to accommodate the council chamber.[4] In 1965, a huge back-lit mural depicting local scenes, which had been painted by Trewin Copplestone, was hung in the council chamber.[5] The octagonal building, sometimes referred to as "the rotunda" was commended in the 1966 national Civic Trust Awards.[6]

Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, visited Carlisle Civic Centre in March 1978.[7]

George Ferguson, a former President of the Royal Institute of British Architects, caused controversy when he referred to the civic centre as a "soulless office block" in an article in the Sunday Times in October 2004.[8] The council undertook a consultation on options for developing the site in 2014; th consultation generated a strong response including a petition which demonstrated that there was considerable local opposition to any proposals which involved demolition of the building.[8] The civic centre was damaged when it was completely surrounded by water during the local flooding which badly affected Carlisle ad its surrounding areas in December 2015.[9]

In May 2020, the council approved a scheme of works, to be undertaken by local contractor Story cation, to refurbish the main building at a cost of £3.6 million; the scheme chosen also involved the demolition of the octagonal building which accommodated the council chamber.[10][11] The works additionally involved the re-configuration of the ground floor of the main building to create a more versatile council chamber, a new customer contact centre and additional meeting space.[12]

In January 2021 The Guardian listed the Civic Centre as one of Britain's Brutalist buildings most at risk of demolition and development. It was included in Brutal North: Post-War Modernist Architecture in the North of England, Simon Phipps's photographic study of Brutalist architecture.[13]