Bracknell’s landscape is in a state of metamorphosis – and soon it will lose the feature that has defined its panorama for almost fifty years.
Winchester House (or as the locals have always, and will always remember it, the “3M Building”) is being demolished. Demolition works began on December 1st 2014 and will continue for around eight weeks.
I stopped by last week to capture some of its last moments (at the same time giving a début to my new 50mm lens). Seeing the building without an eighth of its original size made me feel more than a tinge of sadness. In a clichéd kind of way, it felt like a part of my childhood was being ripped down along with that stairwell. And without the shadow of the 3M logo peering over Bracknell I began to fear for the sake of the town’s industrial heritage.
Whether you knew the 3M Building as “Bracknell’s biggest eyesore” or as Bracknell Town Centre’s most iconic building, one thing is certain – Bracknell has lost its motif. The black, white and yellow of Winchester House will be a hard trademark to replace.
Join me again soon when I will be writing a short piece on the history of Winchester House.
Bracknell Blogger – A Blog About Bracknell, Berkshire 
Is that a tree on top of the building on the last image?
I agree Winchester House is much of an eyesore, but there is much more behind its demolition other than its appearance. It’s all about money, and someone has found a better way to use the space and earn from it. And since how long the 3M house has been useless? Almost 10 years.. With only the market trading there, which was somehow wrong in my opinion, I kept wondering why it took them so long to relocate it to High Street and make better use of the space.
Sorry if that hurts your nostalgic feelings but that’s the reality today.
Cheers,
Scotty
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The demolishion seem to have come to a halt recently. About half way through and the machinery is sitting idle.
What’s the plan now? It was only supposed to take eight weeks IIRC.
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I read the building going up in its place is even taller. I hope they aren’t just replacing one eyesore with another! I abseiled off that once, bloody good fun.
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I certainly hope they have a very good project in mind otherwise it would be a tremendous loss demolishing the 3M. Someone asked and that indeed looks like a tree on top of the building. If it has been left unattended to fall to dismay, then maybe it makes sense to replace with with something else.
I haven’t quite checked around just yet though, but is there a concrete (or greener) plan what’s going to replace it?
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