The Twentieth Century Society is currently running the first iteration of what it intends to become an annual campaign highlighting exceptional buildings which are turning thirty years old. Buildings typically become eligible for protection through listing at this age, and the Sociery argues that early listing is a good thing, because building approaching this age are typically also approaching their first major refurbishment, during which ‘heritage’ features may need protection.

I was struck by two buildings on the list: I was astonished that the Waterloo Eurostar terminal and the station from Blackpool’s Pepsi Max Big One are the same age. The Big One featured in my childhood: I don’t know when I first rode it, but it can’t have been too long after it opened. The Eurostar featured only in my adulthood: I’ve only ever taken it from St Pancras, so my first trip can only have been after 2007.

This also sent me down a bit of a Big One rabbit hole. I never realised that the station was such an architectural achievement. I couldn’t even call it to mind, but perhaps I had other things on my mind when queueing. Anyway, it stores the trains in a vertical stack because of the constrained space on the site, and accomdates two other rides running beneath it: quite the achievement.

I also learned that fully 20% of the cost of building the rollercoaster came from protecting it against erosion. I’d never considered how vulnerable a steel rollercoaster which is just across from the beach could be to erosion, but of course it is.

What a remarkable bit of engineering the whole thing is!