A Look at the Former Orchard County School (Latterly the West Wing Centre, Recently the New Arbour Park Stadium)

 

 

 

The Orchard County Secondary School building, latterly the West Wing centre (completed 1952, demolished 2016)

 

Originally built as the Orchard County Secondary School, what was more recently known as the West Wing centre was designed by the County Architect’s Department and completed in 1952; it was also included in Slough’s entry in Pevsner’s guide to Buckinghamshire. Past tense for this one: the building has been recently demolished to make way for a new football stadium. Constructed from a steel frame with brick panels, the functional 50s Modernism is typical of postwar school design: always the geometrically-precise arrangement of windows, always the flat roof, always the preponderance of rectangles. What distinguishes this design is the squat observation tower (complete with an antenna that was added in the 80s) which adds elevation and draws the eye; many a pupil’s first thought upon seeing it must have been “I wanna go up the tower!!”. The wall clock is a stylish addition, but had been neglected for many years (as is sadly the case with most public clocks these days) before the building’s demolition a few months ago.

 

As mentioned, the site is now home to a new football stadium that will be a home ground for Slough Town FC (aka the Rebels), who despite their modest history still enjoy the deep support of local fans, and have been a part of Slough culture since 1890. The club was previously based at Wexham Park stadium, off Wexham Road, (which has now been converted into a functions venue called ‘The Park’, yet another attempt to be pseudo-chic by referring to yourself as an unspecified common noun, see ‘The Curve’, ‘The Foyer’, ‘The Urban Building’ etc etc) but after disagreements with the landowners left the stadium and spent a number of years squatting uncomfortably on other teams' venues.

 

 

So the team definitely need a home, but whether this exact spot was the best place for it is debatable. Is it really ideal for a football stadium to be directly across the road from a crematorium and cemetery? Isn’t the traffic up Stoke Road already crazy enough? Wouldn’t a prime spot like that be better suited for wholly residential purposes? The Rebels could definitely do with a home ground, but football stadiums don’t necessarily need to be completely ensconced within towns; a similar plot up the Wexham Road, or one off the more robust Uxbridge Road may have been better. No curmudgeonly grouchiness intended: it is simply that the days when Slough could cheerfully fit cricket grounds and greyhound tracks easily within her borders are long gone, meaning every inch of developable space must be keenly scrutinised. But on the plus side, community sport returns to the town, hopefully in a way that will evoke the memories of the old Dolphin Stadium off the Uxbridge Road that so many misty-eyed old-timers recall.

 

 

 

ICI office building (now AkzoNobel), Wexham Road (built 1956-7)

Designed by T.P. Bennett & Sons and built over 1956 and 57, this distinctive office complex was built for the ICI paint company, which had already been resident at the site for some years. It is designed as a tri-radial star, with three prongs stretching out with green garden in between the northern wings and parking space to the sides of the southern wing. This unusual plan coupled with its modest height (only four storeys) places it at odds with the kind of office buildings being built today– generic glass and steel cubes extending ever higher and with a cynical view of character and design, dismissive of the aesthetic considerations of the passer-by.

 

Here its moderate late fifties modernism (a style that would very quickly become mundane itself) still retains a little elegance, warmth from the use of light brick and informality from the curved line where the wings intersect and the differing angles of the wings to each other (the building’s wings do not span a rigid equilateral triangle but more of an elongated Y shape). The unassuming entrance can just about be seen on the left of the picture by the garden area. If the building has a downfall, it is the sheer area around it dedicated purely to funneling in, checking and parking cars; even a good picture needs a decent frame.

 

 

A Look at the old TVU Towers

 

 

Derelict tower on the former campus of Thames Valley University, Slough.

 

One of the former towers of Thames Valley University’s Slough campus gradually falling into dereliction. The campus was built around 1957 and was designed by F. Pooley, the Buckinghamshire County architect who also designed the magnificent Slough Library; we can only assume he was having a bit of an off day while designing the above.

 

Although designed as a college, the building bears some of the hallmarks of the grim office-structures of the period: cuboid shape, grid system of windows and dull panels, dull predictability masquerading as symmetry, and an general overall forgettable-ness that defines much of Slough’s mediocre facility buildings. And yet this ugly style proved to be a particularly fecund one: these towers’ DNA continues to be propagated forwards in the modern generation of office buildings– the graph-paper face of gridded windows and monochrome panels lives on in modern buildings such as the Urban Building on Windsor Rd.

 

The buildings have been abandoned for some time now, and are not long for this world, earmarked as they are for demolition as part of Slough’s ‘regeneration’ project. For once, whatever follows won’t have much of an act to follow.

 

 

Derelict former college tower, Slough (built 1957).

 

Another shot of one of the decaying, monolithic former Thames Valley University towers, which appears to have become a Travelodge for pigeons telling by the number of them perched on the ledges. Once, in its 60s heyday, it would have no doubt impressed the commissioning powers with its aura of technical progress and trendy Modernist references; now it’s a pigeon-pooed eyesore awaiting the demolition derby. A cautionary tale for today’s planners…