Milburngate House, Framwelgate Waterside, Durham (OASIS ID: wessexar1-229857)

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by IMB Management, on behalf of Carillion (Maple Oak) Ltd., to create a historic building record of Milburngate House, Durham. Milburngate House was constructed between 1965-69 and designed by T.F. Winterburn with input from associate architects Gollins, Melvin, Ward and Partners. The building was commissioned by the Savings Certificates Division of the Post Office and comprised multiple blocks and towers representative of the Brutalist movement in architecture. The building was not listed but was within the Durham Conservation Area and had been identified as being of architectural interest. The building recording included documentary, cartographic, photographic and digital survey and was undertaken over two phases of work. The start of the Second World War in 1939 led to many offices leaving London for fear of bomb damage. This included the Certificate Office that was based in North London. Several departments of the Certificate Office relocated to Morecambe, Lancashire, however, the main certificate work remained in London throughout the war. After the war, many staff returned to North London. However, the whole of the Savings Certificates Division was relocated to Milburngate House, Durham, in 1970. The relocation to Durham coincided with the division of the Post Office Savings Bank from the Post Office in 1969 and transferral to the Treasury, changing its name to National Savings in the process. Between 1965 and 1969, the Stage 1 building was constructed first with Stage 2 constructed shortly after. Built to a concrete and steel frame, with pre-cast concrete wall panels and features, the building was typical of post-war office development. It was built, in part, in fulfilment of Thomas Sharp's 1944 Master Plan for the re-development of Durham City and originally built as a comprehensive development of 360,000 square feet of office space within one large building including integrated car parking.