Due to financial cutbacks in local government and relocation of staff, Blackburn with Darwen Council now finds itself with a 14 storey office block surplus to requirements.
It begs the question of what should be done with our town centre tower block. This has led to various debates including demolition, turning it into residential accommodation, perhaps a hotel, or simply finding some other use for our former town hall.
Perhaps a most obvious use for this building would be to try and get an influx of office workers using it for what it was originally built for. But Blackburn, like most other towns and cities everywhere, seems to be losing jobs in this field. New Artificial Intelligence technology and a growing use of home working will certainly not help this situation.
One industry whose need for accommodation always seems to be boundless is an ever growing demand for more prisons. A unique suggestion has been put forward regarding turning Blackburn’s tower block into a kind of civil prison rehabilitation centre. This would entail civil prisoners, who are not actually criminals, being housed in this building and rehabilitated by being given white collar tasks to do in an office environment, which already exists with this building.
Instead of sewing mailbags, they could be given the task of filling them with junk mail. They could also be given recycling duties, such as salvaging paper clips and plastic pockets for further office usage. Many people who have worked in offices will know how much waste of stationary takes place. It would be nice to also be able to provide not only this, but an office equipment recycling service, including staff who have had problems with their lives.
These inmates of our tower block would also be kitted out in a new style uniform, rather than standard prison apparel. Theirs would be collars and ties, shirts, blouses and suits. This is because governors of this institution do not expect anyone housed in Blackburn’s tower block to have any intention of trying to abscond from such a healthy and welcoming environment. In fact the only time you would ever catch sight of these new inmates would be during fire and bomb drills.
Blackburn’s former town hall tower block has over the years become one of our most recognisable buildings. Sadly it is now starting to be given derogatory names, such as the ‘Big Empty’ and ‘Mothballed Monolith’. But compared to how it looked some years ago, before being reclad in today’s design, it still impresses many visitors to our town. Wouldn’t it be great if Blackburn’s ‘Big Empty’ could become full again.
