Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios (FCBS) has defended its proposals to demolish three historic bank buildings in Bristol and replace them with new-build office blocks.

Joe Jack Williams, an associate and environmental researcher at the studio, said “there’s very little you can do” to change the internal layouts of the 1960s brutalist landmarks from their intended purpose as banks.

The city centre scheme, which won planning in December, would provide 30,000sq m of office space in blocks rising to nine storeys in height. It would be built next to the grade II-listed ruins of St Mary le Port church on the site currently occupied by Bank of England House, Bank House and Norwich Union.

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