Architects and designers have reacted with dismay to the news that a 1960s landmark in central London will be demolished to make way for a new office development by architecture studio Make.
The City of Westminster has granted permission for French Railways House near Picadilly, which once acted as the headquarters of French national rail network SNCF, to be succeeded by an eight-storey complex designed by Make.
"What a waste"
The news, reported by Building Design magazine, prompted a host of architects, designers and critics to raise concerns around the heritage and sustainability implications of tearing down the modernist building.
"What a waste [of] embodied energy, memory, fabric and history," said the Financial Times' architecture critic Edwin Heathcote, while landscape architect and Bartlett professor Tim Waterman likened the building to a "dying loved one". "Make are replacing the absolutely delightful French Railways House opposite the RA with this pig," said designer Adam Nathaniel Furman.

Shit shit shit shit shit, MAKE are replacing the absolutely delightful French Railways House opposite the RA with this pig pic.twitter.com/nOo5rsxtVe
? Adam Nathaniel Furman (@Furmadamadam) August 9, 2021

The Twentieth Century Society, which previously tried but failed to have the French Railways House recognised as a listed building, said it "deeply regretted the demolition on environmental grounds as well as heritage ones" i...