Last week's poll: industrial heritage

What is the most appropriate fate for large industrial facilities, such as mine workings, power stations, cooling towers and chimneys, once they reach the end of their working lives?

Baltic
Tyneside's Baltic Mills, now preseved as an arts venue

An intersting spread of opinion for last week’s poll, with no clear consensus emerging from the 624 respondents, except that most wanted obsolete engineering structures preserved in some way. A third of respondents opted for the hard-hearted option of demolishing mine workings, power stations, chimneys and cooling towers, but a larger proportion, 37 per cent, wanted them redeveloped by the commercial sector. Around a quarter wanted them preserved for public use, with 13 prer cent preferring them to be local landmarks or the basis for museums, and 12 per cent opting for uses such as galleries or concert halls, such as Tate Modern or the Baltic Mills, shown above.

Chart17Mar