The BT Tower, a well-known landmark in London, has been sold for £275m and will be transformed into a hotel, following a trend of historic buildings across England being converted into new ventures. Similarly, Battersea Power Station underwent a decade-long revamp, which included the dismantling and rebuilding of its iconic chimneys due to corrosion of their steel structures. Additionally, The Piece Hall, a Georgian cloth hall in Halifax, has become a popular venue for global artists, after being refurbished and reopened to the public in 2017. The hall was originally built in 1779 for the trading of cloth, and has become one of West Yorkshire’s leading tourist attractions.
HMP Oxford, which operated as a prison from 1888 until 1996, has been transformed into the luxury boutique hotel, Malmaison Oxford. The prison was rebuilt after the English Civil War on the site of Oxford Castle, which dates back to the 11th century. Furthermore, the Baltic Flour Mill in Gateshead has been converted into the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, since undergoing a £33.4m renovation. The 138ft (42m) high building was designed in 1950 by Hull-based architects Gelder and Kitchen, and is now a leading hub for contemporary art exhibitions.
Finally, The Rotunda in Birmingham, a 20-storey circular skyscraper, was initially designed as an office block in the 1960s, but few of its offices were ever let. It sat empty until 2005 when restoration work began to turn it into a space for apartments, serviced apartments, and shops. The building became a symbol of unnecessary redevelopment, but survived a suspected IRA bombing in 1974 and the threat of demolition in 1993. English Heritage saved the building in 2000 by granting it a Grade-II listed building status. Today, it has become an iconic feature of Birmingham’s skyline, with 234 apartments made up of studios, one and two-bedroom apartments, duplexes, and penthouses
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