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Recording the end of an era

IT’S A SAD sight for many and a joyous one for others, but the destruction of Gateshead’s multi-storey car park – made famous by the cult classic gangster movie Get Carter – has been made less painful thanks to the handy work of one photographer.

Before the car park and shopping centre closed for good, Gateshead Council and Spenhill commissioned Gateshead-based architectural photographer Sally Ann Norman to record images of Trinity Square Shopping Centre and its multi-storey car park for posterity.

Now, her images are receiving their first public showing as part of an audio slide show which can be viewed around the world on the Gateshead Council website.

Councillor Linda Green, cabinet member for Culture, said: “The car park has dominated Gateshead’s skyline for over 30 years and has been a constant talking a point for the different opinions of those who either love or hate it.

“There was much interest in the structure’s architecture that we wanted to make sure it was sympathetically recorded before being demolished. Sally Ann Norman has done a wonderful job and her work paints an intriguing – and accurate – impression of the former Trinity Square Shopping Centre.”

The car park shot to fame thanks to Michael Caine’s starring role in the 1970s gangster movie Get Carter, but British film notoriety was not enough to save this slice of UK cultural heritage.

Strong protests from local residents and plans for one of the largest regeneration schemes to take place in Gateshead’s history signaled the end for one of the region’s most talked about examples of 1960s architectural brutalism.

Spenhill, the regeneration subsidiary of Tesco, has now submitted a planning application for the comprehensive regeneration of the 3.5 hectare site formerly occupied by the Trinity Square shopping centre and multi-storey car park.

Situated in the heart of Gateshead’s town centre, the scheme could bring millions of pounds worth of investment into the area, reinforcing its position as being firmly at the centre of the North East’s regeneration.

The £150m proposals include a new town square, 45 retail units, offices, a student village with over 900 beds, town centre parking and a Tesco store as well as the potential for a hotel.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .