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52°37′16.5″N 1°7′26.4″W / 52.621250°N 1.124000°W / 52.621250; -1.124000

The Attenborough Building is the tallest building on the campus of the University of Leicester, and houses arts and humanities departments.^[1]

The building comprises three distinct elements: an 18-storey tower block containing 270 offices and tutorial rooms; a low-rise building, known within the University as the 'Attenborough Seminar Block', containing seminar rooms and computing facilities; and an underground area housing two large lecture theatres and the University Film Theatre.^{[citation needed]}

It was designed by Arup Associates^[2] and constructed between 1968 and 1970, with Ove Arup as the chief engineers.^{[citation needed]} The university's development plan at the time called for two other similar towers, but these were never built.^[3]

The building was named after Frederick Attenborough,^[2] who was principal of the then University College from 1932 until 1951, and father of Richard and David Attenborough.^[4]^[3] By the time of the opening ceremony Frederick was elderly and frail, so the building was opened on his behalf by his youngest son John.^{[citation needed]}

The tower reaches a height of 52 metres, making it one of the tallest buildings in the city.^{[citation needed]} It is constructed with a concrete frame, which was cast in situ, and clad with pre-cast concrete panels.^{[citation needed]} Each floor consists of three leaves of space containing the offices.^{[citation needed]} These are separated by the central lobby and service area, which contains a staircase and a lift. It was built with a paternoster lift, but this was closed in December 2017 as maintenance had become too expensive.^[5]^[6]

The University's hilltop location makes the top floor of the tower one of the best vantage points in the city, to the extent that the University have fixed a notice at the base of the tower warning tourists that it is not open for the public "to view the city from a height".^{[citation needed]} The top floor currently houses offices for the research students of the School of Archaeology and Ancient History, and formerly contained music practice rooms, including a full-size grand piano, until it was moved out on 29 March 2007.^{[citation needed]}

The seminar block includes the main entrance to the building.^{[citation needed]} It is connected to the second floor of the tower by a covered bridge.^{[citation needed]} It contains small teaching rooms on four levels, including one basement level.^{[citation needed]} The block underwent significant refurbishment during the summer of 2005, including work to install a lift to make the building conform to the Disability Discrimination Act – previously, access to the different levels of the seminar block was by staircase only.^{[citation needed]} While the base of the tower uses yellow-brown brick seen in other buildings on campus, the seminar block features a concrete finish that more closely matches Denys Lasdun's adjacent brutalist Charles Wilson Building.^{[citation needed]}

In front of the main entrance is a raised piazza, beneath which are the subterranean lecture theatres.^{[citation needed]} There are two lecture theatres, seating 204 and 96 people respectively.^{[citation needed]} The third room was previously a proscenium theatre, and was used by the Leicester University Theatre (LUT) society for their performances.^{[citation needed]} In 2003, the theatre was converted into the 144-seat University Film Theatre, featuring a projection screen and surround sound system, in preparation of the launch of a new Film Studies degree.^{[citation needed]}

The building should not be confused with the Attenborough Arts Centre, which is located on the opposite side of University Road, adjacent to the University's Medical Sciences Building.^{[citation needed]}

Thoughts on the building

Due to its unusual design, it has been compared by Leicester residents to a giant "cheese grater".^[7]

...eighteen monotonous storeys, prickly with window units angled out from top to bottom of the pre-cast concrete panels, a feature more successful inside than out.
— Nikolaus Pevsner^[8]