The top picture is a sketch provided to councillors and members of the Development Control (North) Committee in November 2004 as part of the planning application for Redland Green School.
The committee, desperate to dish out yet another public subsidy to the assorted snobs and wealthy academics of Redland, therefore had no hesitation in allowing a four storey, bright orange monstrosity to be built within a conservation area on playing fields and allotments.
The claim at the time was that the school was “cleverly designed” and that residents “would hardly know that it was there”. The Evening Post joined in the fun with a headline on February 13, 2004 – “Spot the school” – and reported that the planners had submitted a scheme “so clever” that it would be “hidden from view”.
The second picture is the result. Really fucking clever isn’t it?