The nearly 30-year-old building has sat empty for nearly a decade and is due to be flattened as part of the redevelopment of the Adelphi Village area, a scheme backed by the University of Salford, Salford City Council and the English City Fund (ECF), as the AJ revealed late last year.The team made a prior approval application in November, effectively notifying the local authority of its intention to demolish the office scheme under permitted development rules.Despite efforts from environmental campaigners and a failed attempt by heritage group the Twentieth Century Society to get the landmark listed, the council signed off the university and ECFs request just before Christmas.AdvertisementThe Hodder block was completed in 1995 and was described as a dynamic, modern and sophisticated exercise in steel, glass and concrete when it won the first RIBA Stirling Prize the following year. It was originally designed to be the School of Electrical Engineering before a change of use, during construction, to the Faculty of Art and Design Technology.In 2018, plans were unveiled to convert the building into a primary school. This was under wider proposals by 5plus Architects for the universitys existing campus and surrounding area, which included the delivery of a significant amount of new housing.But the school scheme was ditched and the development team has been looking at explored multiple options for the long-vacant four-storey block. Demolition could start as early as March.The Twentieth Century Societys request to have the building listed was backed by a trio of campaign groups committed to highlighting the up-front carbon impact of demolition and rebuild: Architects Declare, Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN), and Dont Waste Buildings..In a statement Historic England said: While the Centenary Building has some design interest, winning the RIBA Stirling Prize in 1996, when considered against the criteria for listing buildings of a recent date, it lacks the special interest to merit listing in a national context.AdvertisementThe official report (see attached) adds: 'Although undoubtedly of some design interest, the Centenary Building was not technically innovative and has not been shown to be influential elsewhere, as was hoped when it was awarded the Stirling Prize.'A spokesperson for the project backers told the AJ in November that, while careful consideration had been given to the building history, it no longer met modern standards and requirements and had now been vacant for a third of its built life.They added: Future proposals will seek to incorporate sustainable building design practices and materials, ensuring support for Salfords sustainability goals.Speaking to the AJ when plans to demolish the block first emerged last November, Hodder Associates founder Stephen Hodder said he had received the news with great dismay.He told the AJ: This is not borne out of nostalgia, it being the inaugural RIBA Stirling Prize winner, or indeed the importance of the building to the development of our practice, but as an original signatory to Architects Declare and past chair of the Construction Industry Councils Climate Change Committee, I simply cannot support the demolition of a building that is only 30 years old.Hodder added: [Were] not aware that there has been an exhaustive effort to repurpose the building.For a university that promotes its sustainability credentials, the intention to demolish surely undermines the credibility of its policy.See the Centenary Building in the AJ Buildings Library