87948

 

II  

Interim Protection  

 

 

Brambell Laboratory, Bangor University  

 

Gwynedd  

Bangor  

Bangor  

 

257710  

371894  

 

On sloping site on west side of Deiniol Road, southwest of the Memorial Building.  

Education  

Modern  

Zoology teaching and laboratory building begun 1969 and officially opened by Lord Zuckerman, Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Government, on 9 November 1971. Designed by the Percy Thomas Partnership, the partner in charge was William Marsden, with Malcolm Lovibond and Keith Maplestone and the cost was £450,000 excluding laboratory equipment. The science departments of the University College of North Wales were the last to vacate the College’s first home in the Penrhyn Arms Hotel in the mid-1920s, moving to a cheaply constructed set of mostly single storey buildings on Deiniol Road, down the hill from the lavish but unfinished top college where arts and humanities subjects were taught. In 1962 Sir Percy Thomas and Son unveiled an outline plan for what the Daily Post described as a “space-age university college” with the whole science campus rebuilt in Modernist style orthogonal blocks five to ten storeys in height. Detailed planning for the new Zoology building began in 1966. Francis WR Brambell (1901-1970) was born in Dublin and obtained the first PhD awarded by Trinity College Dublin in 1924. In 1930 he was appointed head of the Zoology Department in Bangor. In a distinguished career his main discoveries concerned how immunity to disease is passed from mothers to children in embryo. In 1965 the first Harold Wilson government appointed Brambell to lead an inquiry into the welfare of livestock animals following a public outcry about factory farming methods. The subsequent Brambell Report established ‘five freedoms’ still in widespread use as a basis for ethical animal husbandry. Brambell was heavily involved in the planning of the new zoology building and in arguments over its cost, he was particularly adamant about the need for it to contain a teaching museum. As he died during its construction a decision was quickly taken to name the building in his honour. At the opening ceremony Lord Zuckerman called it the best and largest Zoology department in the UK and anticipated that with the world population expected to double by the end of the century there would be new and growing demands on the biological sciences. Initially attached to an animal house to the northwest constructed earlier in the 1960s which was later demolished. The building remains in use for teaching and research in zoology, biology and related subjects. Since 2004 it has been the main location of Northwest Cancer Research’s Bangor Institute.  

Built according to the Brutalist sensibility based on clear expression of structure and materials to create a memorable image, Brambell’s successor Professor PJ White said at its opening, “The external appearance of the building arouses very different emotions in different people. Certainly there is nothing anonymous or mealy-mouthed about its style.” Six storeys including the lower ground floor on Deiniol Road side, rectangular cuboid with flat roof and longer sides to northwest and southeast. Bush hammered reinforced concrete frame with precast concrete cladding with board marked finish to lower and upper floors, with recessed red brick core to first and second floors with chamfered corners, behind a colonnade of thin rectilinear columns connecting battered lower floors to inverted ziggurat of cantilevered upper levels. Steel framed glazing forming continuous ribbons around most of the upper storeys. At roof level a sunken inner quad allows continuous glazing to a circulation corridor linking upper storey offices, with a massive ‘T’ shaped pillar and crossbeam interposed into it. Uniquely for the sciences campus the main entrance to the Brambell building is on its northwest side so that the building has its back turned to Deiniol Road. Entrance is into side of base of four storey stair tower (formerly connected to the demolished animal house) projecting from between two blind concrete towers, with three columns to left and five to right each with a middle spur connecting across to the second floorplate. Brick core blind to the left and heavily glazed to left with vertical glazed sections deep set in chamfers. Third floor horizontal windows between columns which terminate at the fourth floor with a ribbon window continuous around both corners, shaded by cantilevered roof. Short northeast side is heavily glazed and symmetrical apart from its sloping base to accommodate lower ground floor. Massive central pillar which interrupts the top-level ribbon window, with two columns to either side, middle bays fully glazed to first and second floors. Battered lead cladding over ground floor rooms continues around to southeast side. Taller Southeast elevation facing Deiniol Road has colonnade of twelve columns, the right six of which have mid-level return spurs. Continuous ribbon window to top floor, below this left seven bays behind columns recessed with continuous balcony, right four bays have clerestories. Fifth bay from left aligns with the front entrance and has deeply recessed large window at first floor level, with a projecting wedge above. The second through fourth bays from the left have deeply set vertical slit windows over the second and part of the first floor around the museum. Battered Lower ground floor with clerestory windows is partly buried at corners with rear service road dipping and rising sharply. Short Southwest side has central stair tower fully glazed from ground to fourth floor with two columns to either side. Left bay is fully glazed at first and second floor levels (as on the northeast side), right bay has another slit window to the museum.  

Built with all internal walls in smooth concrete blocks, internal change and redressing has been minimal, although lecture rooms have been refurbished. Museum in south corner is double floor height over the first and second levels with a balcony level with rough in situ concrete shelving, which continues around into the west corner student common room, which was originally the library. The slit windows to the museum are intact but boards have been placed in the way to prevent natural light damaging the exhibits. Main entrance is at base of the exterior stair tower which originally connected to the demolished old zoology building. The first second and third floors now therefore each have a ‘stairway to nowhere’, the end landings of which are used for storage. The main staircase beside this is lit by a single roof light and wraps around a hollow irregular octagon concrete core with nonorthogonal openings.  

Listed for Architectural Interest as a striking and confident expression of Brutalist principles, carefully planned and detailed in collaboration with a leading biological scientist of the period. Special Historic Interest as a building purpose built for teaching and research into biological science during the postwar expansion of the University of Wales, closely associated with Professor Francis Brambell. Group value with the Memorial Building and other Listed University buildings. This structure has been afforded Interim Protection under the Planning (Listed Building and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. It is an offence to damage this structure and you may be prosecuted. To find out more about Interim Protection, please visit the statutory notices page on the Cadw website. For further information about this structure, or to report any damage please contact Cadw.