NCP multi-storey car park dubbed a ‘classic’ by group campaigning to save it

Modern building conservationists are trying to save a multi storey car park by asking for it to be Listed - dubbing it a ‘classic’. The 20th Century Society want to permanently protect the 1950s Rupert Street car park in Bristol city centre.

They say the ‘revolutionary’ car park, which has 498 spaces and two ground floor retail units, should be preserved - as it was the first in Britain to have a continuous, sloped spiral parking ramp. The group want it to be made into a giant electric car parking facility - in a bid to save the site from plans to turn it into a new block of flats.

Developers have been drawing up plans to demolish the site and replace it with student and key worker housing, which will be submitted in spring. Luxembourg-based PBSA Group Holdings S.a.r.l and joint applicant CP Co 3 Ltd sayit would hold 250 co-living rooms for young people and key workers and 320 student rooms as well as providing 412 car parking spaces. It would be 21 storeys high, making it the second highest building in the city centre after Castle View Park.

The current car park was built between December 1959 and October 1960. The 20th Century Society, a preservation group for architectural heritage, says that the site is an ‘iconic’ example of brutalist architecture.

A spokesperson for the society told the BBC: “A clear opportunity now presents itself to adapt this innovative 20th century structure to provide a green and exciting solution to a very 21st century problem”.