A TALK about the iconic Tecton enclosures at Dudley Zoo and efforts to preserve them will be taking place this evening (Monday August 10).

The Twentieth Century Society will be hosting a Zoom talk ‘Saving Dudley Zoo’ about the distinctive concrete structures at the Castle Hill attraction, their history and efforts taking place to save them.

Anyone interested in tuning in to the talk, which will be presented by Jon Wright and Larry Priest, of Purcell architects and heritage consultants, is asked to log on at 6.15pm for a 6.30pm start. Click here to find out how to join.

Dudley Zoo and Castle contains the world’s largest single collection of grade II listed Tecton buildings, which were granted World Monument Status in 2009.

The Tecton Group, led by Russian-born architect Berthold Lubetkin, pioneered bringing Modernist architecture to the UK and between 1935 to 1937 designed and built many of the zoo’s enclosures using a specialist system of reinforced concrete.

Dudley Zoo and Castle has recently been awarded £120,000 from the Getty Foundation’s Keeping It Modern initiative to pay for repairs to be carried out to four of its Tecton buildings - the Discovery Centre, Queen Mary Restaurant, Tropical Birdhouse and Elephant House.

The event is free but donations towards the charity’s campaigning efforts would be welcome.