"Not withstanding the damage...."

..... that followed, the 1963 Development Plan at least recognized that Grainger's town plan deserved protection as a coherent area" McCombe, Newcastle and Gateshead (Pevsners Architectural Guides). That will be the development plan of T. Dan Smith and Wilfred Burns, and the crusade to rebuild Tyneside as the 'Brasilia of the North'. Many of the iconic Brasilia buildings have been demolished in the last 10 years: the old City Library, Westgate House, Bridge Tower, the Get Carter car park. The Bank of England at bottom of Pilgrim Street is only just clinging on having failed to be listed, the "leap of faith" along its ledges still skated. Check out skaters, BMXers and free runners videos. It is the Brasilia architecture which dominates, plus the edgelands of car parks, backsides of shops, odd stairways and forgotten corners. You can't shred Dobson and Grainger. The photo is of Gateshead's shopping precinct (demolished, 2011) from Grace McCombie's guide: every line, surface, ledge, step, roof made to jump and ollie.