Preston to get £8m glass and aluminium hedgehog building

Preston is to get a new £8 million office building constructed mainly of aluminium and glass, subject to todays planning permission attempt being successful.

The hedgehog design will include huge aluminium spines protruding from the building, which will be capable of holding up to 350 office staff.

The spines will change colour with the light and ripple in the wind giving the building a unique look and feel.

Parker and Company scheme agent Roger Parker explained just how big an impact the building would have on Preston.

"On the inside it will be a conventional office building but the exterior will be simply awesome, the likes of which Preston has never seen before," he said.

"The owners want to create a building of international importance, a destination which people will come from across the country to see and what they have got is exactly that."

The huge glass building would also provide 600 parking spaces to help ease parking problems in the Fulwood area.

The Moxon Architects design was chosen over a number of ambitious ideas submitted to the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Aluminium and glass are both useful building materials in that they are sturdy and can be easily recycled.