Willis Faber Building, Ipswich

Designed by Norman Foster in the early 1970s (before he became a Sir) and opened in 1975. It has the distinction of being the youngest building in the country to have been awarded a Grade 1 listed building status.

The Willis Faber Dumas Headquarters (as it was when it opened) has a concrete frame and is clad from top to toe with bronzed glass. It has three stories, with the complete interior still decked with the architect's original colour and lighting scheme. The first and second floors house offices for up to 1300 staff of the insurance company. The ground floor contains the heating and ventilation plant - and a swimming pool for the occupants! Above the staff restaurant on the third floor is a grassed roof garden with a hedge edging.

It stands out in Ipswich, the centre of which is still has it's fair share of Regency era and timber-framed buildings which have been sensitively augmented with some modern shopping centres, which somehow squeeze between the history, and in my mind don't blot it out.

Shame I only had my phone camera, as this building really deserves a better quality photo!