FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: 2ND October 2006
A building that has been unoccupied since it was completed over a year ago and has been described as a mish mash has won the Suffolk Preservation Societys first Worst of the East competition as the ugliest building in the county.
The Belvedere Road Retail Park in Lowestoft is owned by Asda and comprises a number of different units made out of a mixture of materials, heights and waterside features. It drew the support of 750 of the 2084 votes cast in the online poll run by both the Society and BBC Radio Suffolk representing 36% of the total.
However, it was a close run thing as the Cineworld complex in Bury St. Edmunds received another 688 votes (33%). Ipswich Borough Councils new offices finished third with 417 backers.
Richard Ward, Director of the Suffolk Preservation Society welcomed the high level of interest generated by the competition. “This is a clear wake-up call to architects, planners and the owners of such buildings. Local people really do care what their environment looks like and they are not going to be easily impressed by some of the below par buildings inflicted upon them in recent years”.
“The Society believes that the standards for large public buildings in the county needs to improve and improve quickly before Suffolk is truly blighted by such poor designs. Its time for everyone involved to raise their game”.
The Suffolk Preservation Society now plans to present an appropriate award to the designers of the Belvedere Road Retail Park.
“However, we dont think they will be displaying the Worst of the East trophy on their display cabinet” concluded Richard Ward. ENDS
Backstory
The Suffolk Preservation Society launched the Worst of the East Campaign in May 2006, receiving dozens of nominations for the ugliest building in the county.
Selecting the five most suggested, from September 11th to September 28th 2006, it ran an online poll in conjunction with BBC Radio Suffolk.
The full results were as follows:
Belvedere Road Retail Park, Lowestoft
 |
 |
750 votes (36%) | ||
| Cineworld, Parkway, Bury St. Edmunds |  |
688 votes (33%) | ||
| New Ipswich Borough Council offices, Ipswich |  |
417 votes (20%) | ||
| KFC, Newton Road, Sudbury |  |
146 votes (7%) | ||
| New Retail building adjoining Woolworths, Thoroughfare, Woodbridge |  |
83 votes (4%) |