Page 268 - Beyond Decommissioning

Experience and lessons learned 249

restaurant and bar chain gave new life to the tower interiors, while maintaining much
of its external profile. The new use includes also arcade games, karaoke, and bowling
(Stuff, 2017).
To the best of the author’s knowledge, the Stapleton control tower is the only
converted building of this type that can be called tall. There have been conversions
of old air control towers, for example, in the UK, but those buildings were relatively
small and comparable to other industrial buildings. Following WWII, RAF Little Wal-
den fell into disuse. Eventually auctioned off, the airport was converted into a memo-
rial park, while the idle control tower was reused as a residential home. The converted
tower, now Grade II listed, retains few of its external features, but has nevertheless a
historic meaning. Not every conversion of an old control tower has become a residen-
tial space. At Hatfield, in Hertfordshire, the old control tower was turned into a hotel
inclusive of a large health and fitness center. More of these conversion projects are
illustrated in Urban Ghosts Media (2016)

6.6.7 Roofs

There is one type of space that has as yet limited consideration in redevelopment
terms: rooftops. Although developed mostly for urban contexts, the reuse concepts
mentioned below could be readily adapted to nonurban areas, such as those encoun-
tered typically in nuclear and other industrial sites (Fig. 6.40).
Except for rooftop patios with great views or rooftop hotel pools, roofs remain
mostly confined to utilitarian possession, for example, for chimneys, air ducts, and
satellite dishes.

Fig. 6.40 Vandellos NPP Spain, Reactor Building Terrace.
Photo by M. Laraia, December 2005.