Black box deconstruction started

Black box deconstruction started

The official start of the deconstruction of the black box has started today (5 June). A giant crane will spend ten hours lifting machinery onto the roof to enable the contactors to deconstruct the building floor by floor from the top. They will also remove all the plant and telephone masts from the roof today and bring it down to ground level.

It will take until the end of October, but effectively today marks the start of the end of an era.

The building was built in 1978 and was used to bring local authority workers together in the administrative centre of the new Rochdale borough following local government reorganisation in 1974.

Along with the old bus station, which was built in the same year and which was linked to the black box by a walkway, it was seen as a state-of-the-art construction. It was not originally built as a council building. The whole complex was built as one project by GMTPE (Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive) and the council later occupied the offices in the building.

Once voted one of the top six eyesores in the North West

There was once a pub inside the building, known as the Travellers’ Rest. There was also a dry cleaners and a clothes shop.

The final staff left the building in April 2013 and moved over to the council’s new HQ, Number One Riverside which also houses the customer service centre and Rochdale library.