Andy Preston makes his new business venture seem positively vampiric in character. At the February launch of what has been formally referred to as a “stunning digital skyscraper” he said, “we are going to suck some of your business out of your cities to us.”
Preston’s plan is an unusual as he is. Pledged as the tallest cohort of buildings between Leeds and Glasgow, the new Silicon Valley hopes to shake things up, seen in Preston’s promise: “we are going to terrify you” he declared, “This is about us saying we are here to be taken seriously now.”
BCEGI has been selected to develop the new office tower, known now as Boho X. According to The Guardian, the “tower looks like something from a cut-price Gotham City.”
Yet it seems the proposal has terrified people not quite in the way Preston expected. Increasingly vocal critics of the project have said the endeavour is nothing more than a white elephant, which will leave “a blot on the skyline for decades to come.”
James Perry, a Middlesbrough born and bred architect is one such critic, who states: “The only ambition this project has is to grab headlines,” he continues: “It feels like a building from a different era – when to be aspirational, you needed to build tall. The town will have to live with the legacy of a development like this, and Middlesbrough deserves much better.”
Preston defends his vision in the face of criticisms such as these. He notes: “I’ve totally ignored the development frameworks and masterplans,” concluding: “When it comes to places like Middlesbrough, with decades of masterplans, they’ve all got one thing in common – they never happen.”
