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Brutalist concrete facade with deep shadow reveals and raw aggregate texture
Brutalist stairwell with repeating geometric concrete forms
Underside soffit of a concrete civic building showing structural grid
Brutalist housing estate with recessed balconies and raw concrete panels
Close-up of bush-hammered concrete wall surface with exposed aggregate
Brutalist library exterior with cantilevered upper floor and blank concrete walls

MONOLITH

Brutalist Preservation Consultancy

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Macro photograph of bush-hammered concrete surface showing raw aggregate and texture

Béton Brut — Bush-Hammered Aggregate

c. 1967 — Still Standing

The surface remembers
every hand that formed it.

01 / 05
Archival photograph of brutalist housing estate walkway with residents going about daily life

Trellis Walk Estate, SE17 — Photographer unknown, 1974

02 / 05 — Context

These buildings were not built
to be admired from a distance.
They were built to be lived in.

Laundry on the balcony. Children on the walkway. A 1967 civic library that held 60,000 books and three generations of local memory. Before we discuss demolition, we discuss what was here — and what would be lost.

Monolith works with heritage trusts, architecture schools, and planning officers to build the evidentiary record before the demolition order arrives.

03 / 05
VOID

London Borough of Southwark — Planning Department

Notice of Proposed Demolition — Ref: SWK/2024/0841

Notice of
Intended
Demolition

The Council hereby gives notice, pursuant to Section 80 of the Building Act 1984, of its intention to demolish the structure known as Trellis Walk Civic Library and Community Centre, constructed 1966–1968, architect T. H. Mander.

Demolition is proposed to commence no earlier than 14 March 2025. Objections must be submitted in writing within 28 days of this notice.

Date of Issue

14 February 2025

Response Deadline

14 March 2025

28 days to make the case.
We have made it in 7.

04 / 05 — The Argument

Planning Policy Statement

The Case
for the
Concrete
Giants

NPPF Para. 195

Heritage harm — substantial

Historic England

Post-war listing criteria met

Structural survey

Serviceable life: 80+ years

Community use

4,200 visits / month, 2023

Monolith Preservation Brief — February 2025

The Trellis Walk Civic Library was designed by T. H. Mander and completed in 1968. Its board-marked béton brut elevations, expressed structural frame, and cantilevered reading room represent a considered application of the New Brutalist programme to a civic brief — not the careless repetition that critics cite when condemning the entire movement to rubble.

Under paragraph 195 of the National Planning Policy Framework, demolition of a non-designated heritage asset requires the applicant to demonstrate that the public benefits outweigh the harm. The Council's viability assessment of February 2024 fails this test on two counts: it undervalues the community use evidence by a factor of three, and it does not consider adaptive reuse scenarios modelled in the 2022 structural survey by Arup, which identified a serviceable life of at least 80 further years at a remediation cost of £2.3 million — against a new-build cost of £14.7 million for equivalent floor area.

A Georgian terrace is not preserved because it is old. It is preserved because it is irreplaceable. So is this.

Monolith submitted a counter-representation to the Planning Inspectorate on 6 March 2025. The appeal is ongoing. This is what we do: we build the evidentiary record, cite the planning law, commission the structural data, and stand in the room when the decision is made.

Read the Case Files
Brutalist civic building shot at dusk with deep violet sky behind the concrete roofline
05 / 05 — Presence

Still
Standing.

Listing Applications

Grade II and II*

Heritage Statements

For planning submissions

Appeal Representations

Planning Inspectorate

Documentation

Architecture schools & trusts

Read the Case Files
Commission a Listing Report →
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