Southern Ventilation Shaft to the Blackwall Tunnel Southbound

This is a ventilation tower built between 1964 and 1967, serving the southbound section of the Blackwall Tunnel in Greenwich. Designed in 1961-2 by the London County Council's Architect's Department Special Works Division, later that of the Greater London Council, the design team included group leader Eric Hayes and job architect Terry Farrell, with engineering input from Flint and Neill. The structure employs a sprayed concrete (gunite) shell supported by stressed cables from a reinforced concrete slab, set upon perimeter walls of blue brick and glass. The roof shell is also supported from the slab, which houses measuring instruments for air pollution monitoring. A concrete grillage within the tower incorporates a spiral staircase and a crawl-way ducting system for electrical cabling and access to the tunnel below, including an airlock. The gunite shells, coated with bitumen and cement paint to prevent corrosion, represented an early use of gunite as a structural material rather than a repair medium. The tower’s curved form was inspired by the architecture of Oscar Niemeyer’s work in Brasilia. Terry Farrell, who contributed significantly to the design during his brief employment with the LCC, has noted a contrast between the towers’ forms and the nearby Reuters Building and Robin Hood Gardens. The tower is included on the list due to its remarkable architectural quality and stands apart from Farrell’s later work, which shifted towards American influences, particularly those of Louis Kahn. The listing covers the ventilation tower only, not the Blackwall Tunnel or the Millennium Dome.