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A View To A Kill building gains listed status

BennyBenny In the shadowsAdministrator, Moderator
edited September 2013 in Bond Movies Posts: 14,862
A factory in Swindon has been given grade 2 listed status. The former Renault factory that featured in Roger Moores swangsong as OO7 is one of several to be listed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-24163811
BBC website wrote:
A yellow-roofed warehouse in Swindon that featured in a James Bond film has been given Grade II*-listed status.

The Spectrum building, Renault's former distribution centre, was designed by Lord Norman Foster and opened in 1982.

Featuring yellow steel "umbrella masts", the futuristic single-storey glass-walled building was also used as a backdrop in A View To A Kill in 1984.

Roger Bowdler, from English Heritage, said it was "one of the very finest examples of a hi-tech building".

Famous for his steel and glass designs, Lord Foster created the Gherkin and Millennium Bridge in London, rebuilt Berlin's Reichstag and also Hong Kong Airport.

The headquarters he designed for Renault cars in Swindon has now been given Grade II*-listed status by English Heritage in a move to "protect post-war architecture".

Mr Bowdler said that normally buildings were only eligible for protected status once they were 30 years old.

Roger Moore scenes

However, he added: "On the face of it, a distribution centre in Swindon is not the most obvious candidate but it has high national interest."

The building saw the last of the car manufacturer's workers move out when Renault closed its operations there in 2001.

Since then, the 25,000 sq m building has housed a car seat manufacturer, a soft indoor play centre and a firm that produces DVDs.

It was also chosen by the Bond films production team to shoot several scenes with Roger Moore in his final outing in the role.

English Heritage has also listed a civil defence bunker in Gravesend, Kent, an electricity substation in Moore Street, Sheffield, and Capel Manor House near Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

Almost 700 post-war buildings have been listed in the past 25 years.

Comments

  • TokolosheTokoloshe Under your bed
    Posts: 2,667
    I had to a fair bit of Googling to work out where these impressive yellow umbrella structures appear in AVTAK. My conclusion is that they don't!

    Don't we only ever see the inside of Zorin's warehouse? It's made to look as if it's part of the French chateau location IIRC.

    So why use an impressive building but then only shoot scenes inside it which could have been filmed anywhere?
  • boldfingerboldfinger
    Posts: 5,767
    As good a reason as any to give AVTAK yet another watch :-).
  • MayDayDiVicenzoMayDayDiVicenzo Here and there
    Posts: 5,080
    I don't recall seeing this in one of my favourite Bond's. I think I'm loosing my touch...
  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    MayDayDiVicenzo wrote:
    I don't recall seeing this in one of my favourite Bond's. I think I'm loosing my touch...

    It's the interior.
  • MayDayDiVicenzoMayDayDiVicenzo Here and there
    Posts: 5,080
    RC7 wrote:
    MayDayDiVicenzo wrote:
    I don't recall seeing this in one of my favourite Bond's. I think I'm loosing my touch...

    It's the interior.

    Ah. Begs the question why they just used the interior and not the exterior. They could have used any old warehouse.
  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    MayDayDiVicenzo wrote:
    RC7 wrote:
    MayDayDiVicenzo wrote:
    I don't recall seeing this in one of my favourite Bond's. I think I'm loosing my touch...

    It's the interior.

    Ah. Begs the question why they just used the interior and not the exterior. They could have used any old warehouse.

    There's always a reason why. Logistics, aesthetics, budget etc.
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