Oliver Wainwright (Eye of the freeholder, G2, 16 January) implies that it was wrong to demolish Pimlico comprehensive school, mentioning those who campaigned to save it on grounds of its architectural merit. Those of us who taught there were not impressed by the awards won by the building. Its extensive windows resulted in very high summer temperatures. In the long hot summer of 1976, I was then the NUT rep and I had to press the health and safety executive to visit and try to persuade senior management to ameliorate the problem of temperatures of over 35 degrees. The design of the building also meant that at lesson changes nearly 2,000 students converged on one concourse, often with predictable consequences on behaviour.
I often wondered whether those who decided on the awards or believed the building should survive ever bothered talking to the users?
Ian Wilson
Thames Ditton, Surrey
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