What's the newest listed building

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A.� The Express Lift Tower in Northampton, which was opened by The Queen in November, 1982. It was only 17 years old when ministers used special powers to list it as a building of unusual interest. < xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

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Q.� What's a lift tower and is it still used

A.� This 417ft tower was designed for the Express Lift Company to simulate and correct any fault that developed in a customer's lift. But it is no longer used - it became redundant when Express was taken over by the American elevator firm Otis in the mid-90s.

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The tower was listed in 1997 as a unique structure - the only lift-testing tower in Britain. Inside there are two shafts where lifts can be tested simultaneously. One, for high-speed lifts, runs the full height, and a second, divided into three sections, accommodated hydraulic and medium-speed equipment.

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Q.� And what's it doing now

A.� The lift factory was bought by Wilcon Homes, which was granted planning permission for a housing estate on the site, preserving the tower as a landmark. Roads were laid out concentrically around the tower. But there's a snag.

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Q.� What

A.� The housing developers have applied for consent to demolish it, saying it has 'concrete cancer'.

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Q.� What's that

A.� The alkaline in the cement reacts with silicon in the aggregate, causing the concrete to crack open, usually in a star formation. Water can then penetrate the concrete to a deeper level and in winter that can freeze, causing even worse problems.

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However, engineers working for the local council and English Heritage say they have found little evidence of surface cracking.

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Q.� But surely it won't be demolished

A.� No chance. Wilcon, however, said that it would serve a purchase notice requiring the council to buy the tower as a structure without any possible use. It might cost up to �100,000 for repairs. And English Heritage has just included the lift tower in its list of 21 sites to mark international World Monuments Day.�

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Q.� What are the others

• Brooklands Motor Racing Circuit, Elmbridge, Surrey, built in 1907�
• Marsh Court, Hampshire, 1901-4, by Edwin Lutyens�
• Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, 1902-79, by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott�
• Liverpool Pier Head: The Cunard Building, 1913-16, the Royal Liver Building, 1908-10, and the Mersey Docks and Harbour Offices, 1907�
• Letchworth Garden City, Herts, begun 1903, by Ebenezer Howard�
• Coliseum, London, 1904, by Frank Matcham�
• Boots Factory, Beeston, Notts, 1930-32, by Owen Williams�
• Royal Artillery Memorial, Hyde Park Corner, London, 1921-25, by Charles Sargent Jagger
• Sissinghurst Castle Garden, Kent, begun 1930, by Harold Nicholson and Vita Sackville-West
• De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill, East Sussex, 1935, by Eric Mendelsohn and Serge Chermayeff
• Impington Village College, Cambs, 1938-39, by Walter Gropius and Maxwell Fry�
• Coventry Cathedral, 1956-62, by Sir Basil Spence
• Barbara Hepworth's sculpture garden, St Ives, Cornwall, 1951-75
• Alton Housing Estate, Roehampton, Surrey, 1950-60, by London County Council architects
• Jodrell Bank Telescope, 1952-7, by Charles Husband for Bernard Lovell, astronomer royal
• St Catherine's College, Oxford, 1960-8, by Arne Jacobsen
• Leicester University Engineering Building, 1960-3, by Sir James Stirling
• University of East Anglia, 1963-8, by Sir Denys Lasdun
• Barbican, London, 1963-82, by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon
• Willis Faber Dumas, Ipswich, 1972-5, by Foster and Partners
• Byker Estate, Newcastle, 1970-81, by Ralph Erskine

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Steve Cunningham

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