Britain's carbuncles: ugly buildings we love to hate

British architecture ugly buildings in the UK PA

Britain is bursting at the seams with eyesores, and more seem to be springing up all the time. We've put together a gallery of some of your nominations for Britain's ugliest building. Take your pick from the blemishes below and tell us if we've missed any out!

Can you beat these for British eyesores?

Drake Circus, Plymouth
 There’s no denying the jaunty playfulness of this shopping centre, one of the South West’s biggest. However, The Times newspaper derided Drake Circus as a ‘monocultural lump’, and Channel 4 promptly nominated it for nukedom in its Demolition series. At least the shopping centre wiped the floor at the National Loo Awards, winning the prestigious Attendant of the Year award.
The Millennium Dome, London
 Despite the £789 million it cost to build, and its starring role in a Bond film, in 2002 Forbes placed the Millennium Dome top of a list of the world’s most hideous buildings. Now snappily titled the O2 and restyled as an entertainment venue, it is still rightly celebrated among the world’s naffest.
The ArcelorMittal Orbit sculpture and observation tower, London
 Commissioned for the 2012 Olympic Park, designed by Anish Kapoor, caused controversy. Some called it an eyesore, others a thing of beauty. Th mother of all helter-skelters, Britain's largest public sculpture was branded a "jumbled mess" and a "drunken party animal of a building" by The Guardian.
Stokes Croft, Bristol
 This sore-eye institution dominates Bristol’s inner city, an area also known as The People’s Republic of Stoke’s Croft on account of its alternative spirit. Renowned for its graffiti and street art, this building has been derelict for more than thirty years, during which six people have died in it.
Old Trafford Stadium, Manchester
 This may be known as The Theatre of Dreams, but we reckon this stadium is an architectural nightmare. Seen from a distance, it looks like a giant warehouse, anonymous and surrounded by imposing steel structures that are most unpleasing to the eye.
Orion Building, Birmingham
 Brum. A city with a proud tradition in architectural anomalies. This 90-metre tower, completed in 2006, is the latest off the West Midlands conveyer belt. On top of its 28 storeys is Birmingham’s first penthouse suite, which set its owner back £1.65m.
The SIS Building in Vauxhall, London
 The MI6 building which features in Skyfall. Designed by Terry Farrell, the building opened in 1994 and has been slammed for its ugliness...
Park Hill Estate, Sheffield
 Inspired by the ideas of a French architectural legend called Le Corbusier, Park Hill was conceived as ‘streets in the sky’ but went on to be described by a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) as ‘one of Britain’s most vile buildings’ and voted Europe’s ugliest in a poll. The jury is still out on this 50s vision of utopia, but it’s a Grade II-listed building, so somebody must like it.
Royal Lancaster Hotel, London
 OK, so the views from this huge four-star hotel are simply stunning from the inside - many rooms overlook Hyde Park and the city of London - but from the outside we think it's an eyesore and a half. Built in the 1960s, even various overhauls haven't managed to hide the fact that it's plain ugly-pugly.
Scottish Parliament Building, Edinburgh
 "A tour de force in arts and crafts and quality without parallel in the last 100 years of British architecture" is how one critic describes this award-winning structure in Edinburgh’s UNESCO World Heritage city centre. Its roofline is intended to evoke the crags of the Scottish landscape, but, hey, let’s be honest, it looks like weird cows grazing in a field – at a cost of over £400m (original budget, £40m).
The Metropolitan Cathedral Church of Christ the King, Liverpool
 Cathedrals normally conjure up heavenly thoughts, but the opposite is true of this Merseyside building, designed by architect Frederick Gibberd in the 1960s. It was voted seventh in CNN's Top Ten Ugliest Buildings in the World in 2012. The unfriendly spikes and space-age fortress look do nothing for its appeal for congregants.
Tower Hotel, London
 Finished in 1973, the Tower Hotel is widely despised, thanks to its hideous burnt-toast façade and an unfortunate proximity to some of London’s more charming efforts, such as the Tower of London and Tower Bridge.
St George Wharf, London
 Producing ferocious attacks of biliousness in architects all over the land, St George Wharf is a recent addition to London’s pantheon of eyesores. The design brief for the Wharf was to "create a thriving Thames riverside community worthy of its place amongst some of Europe's most spectacular landmarks". Hmm.
The Synedd Building, Cardiff
 Wales's National Assembly building, designed by Richard Rogers  was opened in March 2006 at a total cost of £70million. Designed to be sustainable, the building was norminated for the Stirling prize by the Royal Institute of British Architects. But some claim it deserves nothing but a booby prize....
Jubilee Campus expansion, Nottingham University
 This little gem was singled out in a recent annual Carbuncle Cup contest run by Building Design magazine to find the ugliest building in the UK. Judges called it a "horribly misconceived idea of the avant-garde."
Titanic Museum, Belfast
 Another building singled out for the Carbuncle Cup 2012.
Colliers Wood Tower, south London
 Also known as the Brown and Root Tower, this 19-storey blot on the Sarf London landscape is covered in netting to prevent falling debris taking out passers-by. Over 80 per cent of locals cite it as the worst thing about living in the area. In November 2011, the Satirical website S*** London, which documents "urban decay at its finest", crowned this the ugliest building in the capital. The website describes the vacant 17-storey building as: "A grim black edifice that looms over this corner of London like a brutalist twist on Tolkien... Rumours that this actually sucks in light and feeds off the joy and vigour of local residents are unsubstantiated."