Nationwide moved out of the building under the Lady Godiva clock in Broadgate earlier this year to pave the way for the demolition. The former bank is set to be knocked down later this month – opening up a long-lost vista of the city centre.

The work will re-open the link between Hertford Street and Broadgate, a view which was lost when the archway was bricked up in the 1960s.

The demolition is the start of a £2million project to re-open a ‘dead end’ in the area underneath Broadgate House.

The plans were first unveiled in 2015, but the process has been a complex one with Coventry City Council needing to seek permission to remove the 1970s building and return the Grade II Listed Broadgate House building to its original design. Broadgate House was one of the first buildings to be completed after the war and was part of the master-plan created by the then city architect Donald Gibson. It is described as the best surviving building in the city of Gibson’s original plan and one of the few Festival of Britain-style buildings remaining nationally.

The Hertford Street-facing side of Broadgate House features sculptures of Coventry heroes, which have been largely obstructed from public view by the addition of the Nationwide building, but the new scheme aims to make these figures a prominent feature once again.

It comes as the city centre is going through some major changes, and was announced when plans for regenerating the Burges moved forward.

Article courtesy of www.coventrytelegraph.net