A talk by JOHN PUTTICK and CHRISTINA MALATHOUNI
live streamed by zoom
Preston Bus Station represents an important moment in the development of Modernist architecture in Britain. Designed by BDP to bring ‘some of the glamour of air travel’ to a bus station, and opened in 1969, the Bus Station is a fine example of Brutalist architecture and transport planning of the period.

It remains the UK’s largest building of its kind and the second biggest bus station in Europe. Threatened with demolition on a number of occasions when the public spaces fell into disrepair, the building’s future was secured following a 15-year campaign to save it, which led, through a  successful listing application written by Dr Malathouni, to an official heritage listing in 2013.

This was followed by an international competition in 2015 to design and implement the restoration: won by John Puttick Associates.

This talk will describe key aspects of the restoration and design approach, including the reoriention of the building, prioritising pedestrians over vehicles, consolidating the bus apron to the east and creating a major public space to the west and the care taken in updating key infrastructure and honouring the form, materials, and design intent of the original building.  The talk will also describe the long history of its listing and explain how the building has become a landmark case in post-war concrete architectural heritage that has provided heritage activists and professionals nationally and internationally with a new exemplar of collaborative working and retention.

John Puttick Associates is a London-based architectural studio, founded in 2014.

Christina Malathouni is based at the Liverpool School of Architecture, but first became involved with the Bus Station whilst working as a caseworker for the Twentieth Century Society, when she was able to reveal the original pioneering use of Glass Reinforced Polyester (GRP) in the design and construction of the building in conjunction with concrete. At present, she is writing a book on Public Mental Health Facilities in Post-War England, 1948-1973 (Routledge).