Independent on Sunday, Sunday Review
‘Shock of the Used’ article, 1.10.00
Extract from article by Hester Lacey

‘Todays’ architects tend to scorn old materials. Yet a commitment to innovative design is quite compatible with salvaging the best of the past - as Hester Lacy learns in this saga of demolition, detective work and several lorry loads of slate.

‘Zipping around the city of London on his scooter, Adam Hills was looking around for telltale hoardings and cranes when he spotted a site that always makes him screech to a halt; a building being knocked down. When the demolition men come in, Retrouvius have to move quickly if they are to salvage anything of value… This particular find was a rich one. “It was a 1960s H-plan office building, seven storeys high, entirely clad in Westmoreland green slate, a particularly lovely stone…”

‘“It is, they say, frightening how much craftsmanship is splintered as buildings are raised, people regard heritage and conservation as such big, main stream principles, but we’re amazed by how much demolition is still going on… Our motivating factor is ecological reuse… we have saved tonnes of material.”’