After 35 years of refusals, the Brutalist Southbank Centre has finally been listed. Historic England advised the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to Grade II list the centre's Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, Hayward Gallery, and terraced walkways and stairs. The Twentieth Century Society, which had been campaigning for heritage protection, hailed the decision as a 'victory over those who derided so-called 'concrete monstrosities'. The reinforced concrete complex is described as a 'post-war architectural masterpiece'. When it opened in 1967, the Daily Mail readers voted it 'Britain's ugliest building'. It was the only post-war building on London's South Bank to remain unlisted, with successive culture secretaries rejecting Historic England's recommendations six times since 1991. The DCMS explained their refusal in 2018, stating that the building's architecture was not unique or groundbreaking and was poorly resolved in terms of its relationship to the site, coherence, and accessibility. However, following a two-year refurbishment, the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, and Hayward Gallery reopened in 2018, and the Southbank Centre was eventually listed due to its architectural interest, historic significance, and group value.
