Tollgate House was a nineteen floor office building in the city of

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, England. It was located at the southern end of the M32 motorway leading into the city centre.

History

The building was completed in 1975 and was the second tallest building in the city at the time of completion, with a height of . It cost about £3.5 million to build and contained some of the most modern features in British civil architecture, including full air-conditioning. By the 21st century, it was regarded by some as outdated and unfashionable; the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

(RIBA)'s president, George Ferguson, called Tollgate House one of the ugliest buildings in Britain. In 2003, the site was compulsory purchased for redevelopment by Bristol City Council. In December 2005, the council announced that Tollgate House would be demolished as part of a £500 million revamp of the Broadmead retail area. It was replaced by the car-park for the

Cabot Circus Cabot Circus is a covered shopping centre in Bristol, England. It is adjacent to Broadmead, a shopping district in Bristol city centre. The Cabot Circus development area contains shops, offices, a cinema, hotel and 250 apartments. It covers a tot ...

retail development. The building could not be demolished by explosives owing to nearby properties, so was dismantled floor by floor. The work took several months to complete and was finished by May 2006, at a total cost of £3.5 million (the same amount to construct it in the first place). The development received a

BREEAM BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method), first published by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) in 1990, is the world's longest established method of assessing, rating, and certifying the sustainability of ...

rating of "excellent", in part for recycling 90% of the waste generated during demolition on the site. The project was part of a greater redevelopment of

Bristol city centre Bristol City Centre is the commercial, cultural and business centre of Bristol, England. It is the area north of the New Cut of the River Avon, bounded by Clifton Wood and Clifton to the north-west, Kingsdown and Cotham to the north, and ...

. In 2009, the council was ordered to pay £4.5 million to Ridgeland Properties Ltd, former owners of Tollgate House, after the

compulsory purchase Compulsion may refer to: * Compulsive behavior, a psychological condition in which a person does a behavior compulsively, having an overwhelming feeling that they must do so. * Obsessive–compulsive disorder, a mental disorder characterized by ...

price was determined to be too low.

References

External links

Emporis.com
{{coord, 51.4596, -2.58379, display=title Former buildings and structures in Bristol