Architecture Update: Messy tenants

THE GOVERNMENT could be sued over the condition in which it has left Alexander Fleming House, the former headquarters of the Department of Health and Social Security, at Elephant and Castle, south London.

'It's as if a bunch of animals have come out of it,' says Brien Martin, a director of Imry Holdings, which owns the building. 'The Government has left a lot of rubbish in here - it's a health hazard and a fire risk.'

The Government has responsibility for the building for the next five years, and it is being asked to return it to a condition in which it can be relet.

Imry, which once sought permission to demolish the Sixties Brutalist landmark, designed by Erno Goldfinger, now says it plans to restore the building - a move that has delighted the building's admirers, who tried unsuccessfully to have it listed.

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