Brutal

When I first saw this on my computer screen this evening, it put me in mind of the images coming out of Ukraine over the last year. Black, burnt-out shells of buildings with all their windows blown out and surrounded by rubble.

This style of architecture is called 'Brutalism' and the building is in fact a working multi-storey car-park. However, it is greatly under-used, particularly with the decline in town-centre trade and costs the local council far more in upkeep than it brings in in revenue.  They now have plans to demolish it and re-develop the site.  I walked through the lowest two floors this Easter Saturday afternoon and one level was entirely empty and there was just one car on the other level.

The foreground is the cleared site of the former municipal swimming pool.  That was demolished in 2018 and has remained un-developed since then.