Newcastle University

Demolishing Whitehall: Leslie Martin, Harold Wilson and the Architecture of White Heat examines the design to replace Whitehall's nineteenth century palaces of state with a ziggurat-section megastructure built in concrete. It reads the plan, presented to Wilson's Labour administration of 1965, as an architectural manifestation of the 'white heat' of technology agenda.

James Dunnett, writing in The Architectural Review, describes it as a story 'that deserves to be known and is well told', 'an amazing saga'.

Ruth Lang, in Architecture Today, writes that the book follows the story of the project in 'thorough yet accessible detail, tracing it over the political assault course to which it was eventually to succumb', adding that 'what might have been a dry, academic investigation into a government planning exercise is instead imbued with wit, charm and novel insight'.

Demolishing Whitehall was published by Ashgate late in 2013 and has been shorlisted for an RIBA Presidents Award for Outstanding University-located Research.

Professor Adam Sharr is part of the Architecture Research Collaborative, a research group within the School. He also leads the Design Office, an architecture and urban design consultancy based in the School.