Scottish Housing Expo 2010 Inverness

 The planned but so far not executed 'garden' of one of Malcolm Fraser Architects designs for the 2010 Scottish Housing Expo, Inverness. 'Minimalist'? Certainly is! Doesn't so far exist... although the accompanying houses do. Not all houses at the Expo are completed or even as yet built. Plots 22 and 27, which, while not perfect,  are at least amongst those which could actually sensibly be lived in by real people, and be attractive to 'volume' developers,  although without the architectural pretension of some.  The unfinished garden is a victim of, and possibly a metaphor for, the Expo problems.  Click pics to enlarge... a second click will enlarge even further, but use the 'back' button to get back to the page or you will lose the post.

Details:
http://www.scotlandshousingexpo.com/index.php

Pictures:
http://www.scotlandshousingexpo.com/plot_updates.php


http://ht.ly/2vUNc


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=198911&id=164636957634&l=973ac1125e

This week, I visited the Scottish Housing Expo, aka the Highland Housing Expo, Inverness.  It was a bizarre experience. I have no doubt in years to come it all will be Listed by Historic Scotland, and visited as Portmerion is as something slightly surreal. Certainly it is a very unsettlingly strange place indeed. What is worrying is that some think it all a great success, and are considering repeating this all over Scotland. It's no way to plan for the future...




I would love to take a number of the architects involved through their buildings, and point out exactly what would make them difficult/impossible/improbable/greenwashery /unsustainable to live in. If I really had to, there is only a handful of houses I would be willing move into. Maybe I will blog more when it isn't so raw and immediate and actually, upsetting. Next week possibly...  I might be a little more coherent about it then. And by then some architects might have realised that a house where a scaffold tower is needed to change a lightbulb isn't really very practical. One 'grand gesture' house, with its upstairs all-in-one kitchen/dining/living area, too small to sensibly accommodate the number of people a four bedroomed house will require, appeared to have nowhere to put a washing machine. There were kitchens without enough workspace to sensibly prepare a meal and some which would have been dangerous to work in. From the macro to the micro level, so much could have been better.

I so wanted to find this a positive experience. I didn't. I do appreciate all the problems, the delays caused by the market downturn, the terrible winter, and all the rest.  How I wish I could get a group of non-architect folk to sit with  some of the architects and developers and discuss what makes a home for normal families which isn't 'wanky wilful shapemaking' to paraphrase one involved, what is a decent amount of space in which to live, and what makes for an affordable, sustainable future. I would love to talk to the  Scottish Housing Minister  and do likewise. I do appreciate that architects had a brief to which to work, and that all have constraints. But hey, couldn't we all learn from this?

I'd also love to be able to write about it all in the architectural press, but alas I doubt anyone will ask me.  So far very little attention has been paid, apart from Building Design, and of that, well, it's been a little banal and focused not really on the diverse and important issues this has raised. 

A few architects, from the renowned to the 'local', showed they had some idea. However, from the possibly internationally known to the emerging and thrusting, and the small and established but not nationally known, too few understood what makes a home, as opposed to an architectural gesture, and what is really sensibly, affordably sustainable.

And then there were the Rabbit Hutches...  it seems the less well off don't deserve decent living space. An atrium and a mezzanine may give the illusion of space, but don't compensate for tiny rooms, especially bedrooms.

Parker-Morris, we need you now.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker_Morris_Committee

Large areas of glass, too, featured in rooms which were overlooked... as one visitor remarked,  "Some of these architects must have shares in a curtain factory!"

Anyhow, the Expo ends at the end of August. Wish I had taken two days to visit as there wasn't enough time in one. The cake in the marquee was wonderful. The Portaloos were clean and more than adequate.

But it's Scotland, so really, in the wider world, no-one gives a fuck. The architectural press is all off at the Venice Biennale, and that's much more exciting and important than global warming and the future of housing, isn't it? Had this taken place in the south of England, so much would have been written about it, but it was Inverness, and beyond Nottingham Contemporary all is a barren waste, it seems, where none dare to venture.

Meanwhile, some views on youtube of the exteriors of some, and very odd bunch they are, lumped together, but let's face it: we mostly live in interiors. And there lies much of the problem.

The first tranche of houses for sale prices:

http://www.scotlandshousingexpo.com/houses.php

For private sale plots: 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27 contact


Rettie & Co on tel: 0845 220 6565 or email: scotlandshousingexpo@rettie.co.uk

or visit www.highlandhousingalliance.com/expo

Plot 7 – Guide Price £ 300,000


Plot 9.2 – Guide Price £ 220,000


Plot 17 – Offers Over £ 300,000


Plot 18 – Offers Over £ 350,000


Plot 26.1 – Guide Price £ 230,000

 I leave the reader to work out how affordable this is to many, and if this Expo served the needs of the public and a sustainable future, or was more about the architects and developers.  It's certainly going to be a 'mixed' community, when and if the houses and flats are eventually fully occupied; it remains to be seen if it ever becomes a genuine community.


(movies by Abbozzo Architects)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz1H5E0tuW8



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFyrzFwcjMA&feature=related


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdhK6DazFA4&feature=related


Nem

A Vision of Harmony...

I've been a tad remiss in blogging of late, and in the interim I note Blogger has been updating features and thankfully has restored a spellcheck.

However, back now, and  I hope readers of the Republic will enjoy this:



Real Estate from Jonathan Weston on Vimeo.


http://vimeo.com/12690053

As it says on the tin:

This animation sardonically shows what happens when real life infects the imagery of a glossy property advert. Exploiting the familiar style of architectural visualisation, the film tracks the advert’s increasingly reactionary responses to escalating urban events.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia

As Wiki says:

Utopia (pronounced /juːˈtoʊpiə/) is a name for an ideal community or society, which is taken from Of the Best State of a Republic...

...Utopia is largely based on Plato's Republic. It is a perfect version of Republic wherein the beauties of society reign (eg: equality and a general pacifist attitude), although its citizens are all ready to fight if need be.

 A bird's eye view of a (Utopian) community in New Harmony, Indiana, United States, as proposed by Robert Owen. Engraving by F. Bate, London 1838.

Inscribed at bottom of plate: A Bird's Eye View of a Community, as proposed by Robert Owen Esq.re is respectfully dedicated to the following classes of society: To the Landowners, as being the only means whereby their Estates can be rendered permanently productive, and their Rents secure. To the Capitalists, as offering the safest speculation, and most gratifying ways of investing their surplus Capital, without risk of failure. To the Clergy, and Instructors of Mankind, as the only and speedy means of bringing about that great desideratum they have so much at heart, namely, the suppression of Vice & Error, by the removal of the causes of Crime (Ignorance & Poverty), the dissemination of Truth, & the establishment of Virtue. To the industrious Wealth Producers, as affording the only arrangements, whereby they can secure their true and rightful position in Society, and the just & honest participation in the Wealth created by their talents and industry. And lastly, to the Government of the British Empire, shewing the arrangements, whereby the duties of Government may be rendered safe, easy, and delightful, instead of as heretofore, being one of danger, difficulty, error, confusion and disatisfaction. N.B. for further details consult the Works of Owen, Thompson, Combe, Morgan &c. Sold with a woodengraving of the same scene.


Date London 1838.


Source Drawn and engraved by F. Bate. Published by "The Association of all Classes of all Nations", at their institution, 69, Great Queen Street. Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, 1838.

More of Harmony and New Harmony here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Harmony,_Indiana

and for those with an interest in architecture (which is why you are reading this, right?)

http://www.library.cornell.edu/Reps/DOCS/whitwell.htm

Extract

DESCRIPTION OF AN ARCHITECTURAL MODEL....


Stedman Whitwell

Description of an Architectural Model From a Design by Stedman Whitwell, Esq. for a Community Upon a Principle of United Interests, as Advocated by Robert Owen, Esq. (London: Hurst Chance & Co.: 1830).


Thomas Stedman Whitwell (1784-1840), born in Coventry, England, moved to London as early as 1806 when he exhibited his work at the Royal Academy. Five years later he evidently worked in the Architect's Office at the London Docks. Sometime after this he returned to Coventry where there and in Birmingham he drew the plans for several public buildings. Whitwell apparently did not enjoy a thriving practice, and his reputation received a blow when one of his buildings, the Brunswick Theatre in London's Whitechapel district collapsed just a few days after it had been completed. In 1819 Whitwell designed one large-scale project near Leamington Spa that was never undertaken.


Whether he volunteered to prepare the plan illustrating Robert Owen's concept of a communitarian town or was recruited for this purpose by Owen is not known. Whitwell accompanied Owen to America on his second trip in 1825, bringing with him a six-foot square model of the town as described in the document below. Owen succeeded in gaining permission from President John Quincy Adams to display the model in the White House. Whitwell lived for a short time in New Harmony, Indiana, the Rappite community that Owen purchased as the site for his model society. Not long after his arrival he began to criticize some of the leaders of the venture and to spread gossip about them. His only contribution, if it can be called that, was a system of naming places by converting degrees, and minutes of latitude and longitude to letters of the alphabet. Thus, a near-by off-shoot of the New Harmony community that Whitwell joined received the name Feiba Peveli. In this system, New York (40 degrees, 43 minutes N and 73 degrees 59 minutes W) becomes Otke Notive!


In addition to the small illustration and its key reproduced in this pamphlet of 1830, the perspective of his design was separately published on a much larger scale. Doubtless this was issued in 1825 and may have been distributed at the time the model was displayed. By the time the document below was published in 1830 the New Harmony experiment had disintegrated as residents left or split into factions. Nevertheless, Owen may have felt that another effort should be made to put his plan into effect in England, or perhaps Whitwell remained a faithful believer in the concept and independently issued his pamphlet. Owen himself would still be advocating his village plan in 1841 in a publication proposing the development of "self-supporting Home Colonies" in England.

And this vision of a Utopian community included the following:

Extent and Position.

The area of ground occupied by the Buildings, Promenades, and Gardens of the Establishment would be about thirty-three acres; that of the enclosed quadrangle twenty-two acres, nearly three times as large as Russell Square.

It is proposed that one of the diagonal lines of the square should be so placed as to coincide with a meridian, and, if possible, to range with some remarkable points or objects of the distant country. This would ensure an equal distribution of light and darkness, sun and shadow among the occupants of every part of the edifice; and be convenient for astronomical and geographical reference.

It is desirable in most cases that the scite of land selected for this purpose, should be in the vicinity of a stream, ample enough to supply the domestic purposes of the establishment, to secure its drainage, and furnish power sufficient for the mills and other manufactories necessary or convenient for the accommodation and prosperity of the inhabitants.

General Arrangements.

The Building to be disposed in a quadrangle measuring one thousand feet on each side; divided

Externally, into

Dwelling houses,

Central public buildings,

Angle ditto

Internally are disposed the

Baths,

Public Refectories,

Kitchens, Breweries, &c.

Stores, Offices, &c.

Botanic Gardens.

Gymnasiums.
surrounded by a Cloister or covered Arcade for general communication.

Arrangements of the Dwelling Houses.
The dwelling houses are situated on the extended lines, between the central and angle buildings, upon each side of the quadrangle; and occupy the ground and the first floor stories, they are divided into two sets of a Sitting room, Chamber, and Water closet each. They have ready and convenient access to the offices, by means of Covered ways, at a lower level than the general entrance from the Esplanade; these form also the separate and private entrances to the Cloister or Arcade surrounding the whole interior of the quadrangle; and by means of Bridges of communication, over the Covered ways before-named, connect the staircase of each house with the Terrace over the cloister, forming a general access from every house to every part of the establishment.

The Dormitories.
The ranges of apartments over the dwelling houses, are proposed to be occupied as Dormitories or Sleeping rooms, for unmarried persons and children; having no connection with the dwelling or private houses below them. They are approached from the great staircases in the central and angle buildings. This story is so contrived that the whole, or any part of it may, at any time be thrown into vast apartments, or be subdivided into chambers of the most minute dimensions.


Temperature of the Interior----Ventilation----Light----Supply of Water----Drainage----Basement
The whole of the Interior, but most particularly the Dwelling houses, to be warmed and ventilated upon the most improved principle, and the temperature maintained at an agreeable degree of heat in the coldest and most variable seasons, by means of Air-warmers; the whole of which, with the arrangements for the service of hot and cold water to each apartment, at all hours, the lighting with gas, and other scientific means of reducing domestic labour, to be constructed in the general basement, which extends under the entire range and over the whole extent of the Buildings; Access to which is obtained from the central and angle buildings, so that it may have no connection with the dwelling houses.

Central and Angle Buildings----Staircases.
The central buildings are occupied on the ground or terrace floor, by the grand entrances to the quadrangle, and in these and the angle buildings, are the great staircases communicating on each side with the dormitories, over the private apartments, and the Public rooms contained in these Buildings.


Public Rooms in the Centres and Angles.
In these buildings are contained the Libraries, Museums of Natural History, &c. Theatre for Lectures, Exhibitions, Ball and Concert Room, Reading Rooms, Conversation Rooms, Rooms of Management, &c. &c.


Central Public Buildings inside Quadrangle----Offices, &c.----Public Refectories.
Passing through each of the grand Entrances, a raised Platform, with which the Cloisters are connected, leads to the central public buildings within the quadrangle. the Hall or Vestibule of which is approached by flights of stone steps of large extent. On each side the Vestibule are disposed the Dining Apartments for infants and children; the Vestibule itself leading to the great Hall or Public Refectory, a noble and extensive Saloon, open to the roof, lighted by seven lofty windows on each side, and in which every means of reducing the labour of service is proposed to be adopted: particularly the service of the dinner, &c. from the public Kitchens under the Refectory, this is proposed to be performed by mechanical means, in a rapid, quiet, and cleanly manner; the different utensils removed by the same process; and the apparatus to present, in the Refectories, the appearance of handsome sideboards in recesses.

The most perfect System of Ventilation, so important in Apartments of this description, is proposed to be introduced.

In the rear of the refectory, and opening to it, are rooms for the glass, table linen, spices, and other condiments, &c. &c.

Basement----Sub­way to Basement.
The Basement is approached by inclined planes, leading under the principal carriage entrance to the public Kitchens, and Store Departments. This entrance or approach is sufficiently capacious for the admission of carts, &c. to supply the various kitchens, stores, breweries, gas works, &c. &c. all of which are concentrated near these four central points, from them branch off railways, meeting each other, and forming one complete circuit of communication throughout the whole establishment, on which carriages will convey the supply of fuel, provisions, &c. to the different depôts, without interference with the dressed grounds, Esplanade, or with the dwelling part of the establishment, and by the same Routes all refuse material is removed.

In the Basement of the Inner Central Buildings, under the great hall and refectories, are the public Kitchens, Sculleries, Larders, Offices for the distribution of stores, &c. &c. and around the bases of the towers are disposed the Breweries, Gas-works, Wash-houses, Laundries, Steam works, for the supply of the kitchen, &c. and other apparatus for carrying away all smoke, and vapour, the whole of which is collected at these points, and carried upwards through the great shafts of the towers; means of access to any part of which for necessary repairs, cleansing, &c. can at all times be had, and spacious accommodation for those so employed.

The vaults for the stowage of malt liquors, fuel, and other heavy stores, are of extensive and spacious dimensions, and situated in the vicinity of those places where their service is most immediately required.

Towers----Illuminated Dials----Distribution of Light from the Towers.
The towers which rise from the four internal central buildings, are intended. (in addition to their uses as stated above,) to form observatories, and for that purpose a commodious spiral staircase surrounds each of them, springing from the roof of the rear building, which is designed as their base. About midway upon each shaft, are placed dials, illuminated at night by gas, visible at all hours in all parts of the internal area and buildings. The gallery which forms the observatory upon each tower, immediately surmounts the parapet of the same, which parapet is pierced with a series of arched openings, at the back of each of which powerful reflectors are places; gas burners being introduced here, the light is distributed downwards, in all directions, and the space between the corbels supporting the parapet is left open for the same purpose. by these means, independent of any other light, that from the towers will be sufficient to illuminate the whole Quadrangle and the rooms which look into it, and these four points will be from their elevation, (about two hundred feet,) so many beacons to the surrounding country, marking distinctly the position of the building to a very great distance.

Cloister or Arcade, and its Terrace.
This runs round the whole internal area, and forms the boundary of the gardens; on the ground it will be a kind of continued alcove, surmounted by a terrace of the same extent, both furnished with seats, and serving as delightful places, either for retirement from bad weather, or for social purposes. From the arcade and terrace a direct communication is made to every part, particularly to the baths, gymnasiums, and gardens. It will be observed, that by means of the cloisters surrounding the inner quadrangle, the most perfect communication can be maintained with every part of the establishment in bad weather, without exposure; while the terrace over it affords equal access, and a delightful promenade, under more favourable circumstances.

Gymnasiums.
The angles of the inner area of the quadrangle are occupied by the gymnasiums for the Infants, Children and Youth of the community, and for the Convalescents of the Infirmary; these are accessible by covered ways, from the cloisters and alcoves at the angles of the building.

Baths.
To each of the four main divisions of the general buildings are annexed warm and cold baths, for the separate accommodation of the male and female members of the community. These distinct buildings are placed on each side the central internal public buildings, and are approached by the covered ways from the cloisters, and the terrace over them. These baths will contain accommodations of a novel and peculiar character, uniting the privacy of retirement with the exercise of extensive general baths.

Pleasure Gardens----Conservatory.
The quadrangle is intended to be laid out in shrubberies, flower gardens, and pleasure grounds, scientifically arranged, that the gratifications of the garden may be combined with new accessions of information, and the means of inculcating precepts of order at every step. The walks to be so disposed that each shall form a vista, terminating with some object of part of the building, of a varied and pleasing character; the centre of the grounds to be occupied by a Conservatory, of about one hundred feet in diameter, for the reception and cultivation of exotics, to be warmed and fitted up upon an improved and novel plan.

The Esplanade and Approaches.
The Esplanade surrounding the general edifice to be one hundred feet wide, and laid out in lawns, and other pleasure grounds, with a Promenade, defended by a parapet, and overlooking the surrounding scenery of the Establishment and country. This Esplanade it is proposed to elevate above the level of the adjoining land, and to connect it, by means of a wide and gently ascending road, forming an Approach for carriages, &c. proceeding to the establishment. Steps of communication will present themselves at every angle, and at other convenient points of the Esplanade. The four fronts of the whole structure to be furnished with fruit trees, trained upon trellis, and the tract of land upon which the establishment is place to be cultivated for agricultural purposes, for the supply of the community; regard being had to preserve a picturesque effect, as far as the interests of the establishment will permit.

Not a successful venture.  Nuff said. But without ideals and idealism, where would the world be?

Owen's earlier New Lanark, Scotland, however, is now a World Heritage Site.  Possibly not Utopia, though an interesting place to visit. But that's for another blog, and picture gallery.

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/lanark/newlanark/history1.html


Nem

Scottish Ballet HQ wins Scottish Design Awards

Scottish Ballet HQ, Southside, Glasgow, Malcolm Fraser Architects

Yes I did consider as a heading 'bally good show' and stuff about 'grands jetes for joy' or some such, but of course ghastly puns of that sort are not really what this blog is about... she lied.

However, after the pleasure of the nomination but disappointment of no award for Malcolm Fraser Architects' Scottish Ballet HQ in Glasgow (although MFA's Infirmary Street Baths in Edinburgh won a RIBA Regional Award, as reported on the post about the building

http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2010/03/making-splash.html

- how is Scotland a Region I wonder?)

I am delighted to report that not only did Scottish Ballet HQ win the Best Public Building category in the Scottish Design Awards, but also the overall 'big' award, best of the best, the Architecture Grand Prix. Considering the strength of the entries, not limited to buildings in Scotland, this is an outstanding achievement, particularly so given the major expertise of the judging panel, who could clearly see beyond the fact this isn't silly shapemaking, or 'iconic' tower, but something totally original, thoughtful, clever and a building which above all works and is loved by those who commissioned it and use it.

Why am I so delighted? Well, regular readers will appreciate I have been singing its praises in several blogs, so it's good to have my own obviously exquisite architectural taste backed up by others who clearly know a bit about buildings. 

A small sample of past posts about this:

http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2010/01/on-being-industrious.html

....The other dates from 2009, one century later, and on the outside is frankly quite industrial looking, albeit fittingly and elegantly so, in the context, a modern interpretation of ‘wrinkly tin’, and factory style saw toothed roof, an addition to an existing re-use of a historic tramshed in Glasgow...

and:

http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2010/03/pointe-of-interest.html

from which there are a number of links to sources of information, pictures etc.

Also:

http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2009/12/joyeux-noel.html


Here's Malcolm Fraser Architects' own site:

http://www.malcolmfraser.co.uk/projects/?contentid=268&parentid=248

and many pictures and info here:

http://www.glasgowarchitecture.co.uk/scottish_ballet.php

As reported in Building Design today:

The annual awards, presented in Glasgow last Friday, were judged by an architecture panel chaired by Roger Zogolovitch.

Judges included Simon Allford, Renato Benedetti, Professor David Dunster and directors from Adams Kara Taylor, Eric Parry, Tony Fretton, Pascall & Watson, Hopkins and Feilden Clegg Bradley.

Graeme Massie was awarded Architect of the Year and the awards for place making and public realm, while Tom Elder and Dick Cannon of Elder & Cannon were given a lifetime achievement award.

Groves-Raines architects were awarded the Chairman’s Award for Architecture for a £22,000 composting shed.

Full list of nominations and awards here:

http://www.thedrum.co.uk/events/70-scottish-design-awards-2010/categories/

On the architecture side, the Grand Prix went to Malcolm Fraser Architects for Scottish Ballet at the Tramway. Judge Gerry O’Brien from Adams Kara Taylor said this was a worthy winner as “The circulation is good; it’s grappling with many complexities. It’s one of the most pleasant spaces you could find, all the people in there loved it to death despite a difficult urban locale.“

BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/10184742.stm

Pic of new Scottish Ballet HQ, Glasgow, courtesy of here: http://www.scottishballet.co.uk/whats-on/current-productions/doors-open-days/doors-open-days.htm


Scottish Ballet:

http://www.scottishballet.co.uk/news/current-news/scottish-design-awards.htm

Scottish Ballet is delighted that its new national headquarters, designed by Malcolm Fraser Architects, has received two prizes at the prestigious Scottish Design Awards: BestPublicBuilding and the Architecture Grand Prix.

Speaking at the Scottish Design Awards ceremony on Friday 28th May, one of the judging panel, Gerry O’Brien from Adams Kara Taylor, said “It’s one of the most pleasant spaces you could find. All the people in there loved it.”

Scottish Ballet’s Chief Executive, Cindy Sughrue, added: “I’m thrilled that Malcolm Fraser Architects have received the recognition they deserve for designing a truly wonderful building. It has completely transformed how we work.”

Review from Architecture Today:

http://www.architecturetoday.co.uk/?p=693

A century ago, also in Glasgow, Charles Rennie Mackintosh adopted JD Sedding’s motto, ‘There is hope in honest error, none in the icy perfections of the mere stylist’. Malcolm Fraser Architects’ achievement at the Scottish Ballet has been to discover an underlying order in a complex programme and to express this in a simple, but appropriate language. There is no artifice, just honest attention to the client’s needs transformed by sound architectural judgement.

A blast from the past, an article from 2007;  possibly Malcolm  Fraser, currently Geddes Honorary Professorial Fellow at Edinburgh Uni School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, can now be seen to be a 'leading' architect full stop, and not simply  'one of Scotland's leading architects', good though that is?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3662218/A-dance-to-the-music-of-light.html

"I was a late starter, but maybe there's a virtue in taking your time about these things. It took time to discover my confidence. But now I see that the wonderful thing about being an architect is knowing that wherever you are, there are people in your buildings, enjoying them. That's the joy."

Indeed. I spent some time in one of Malcolm Fraser's most loved buildings, the Scottish Poetry Library, last weekend, with a group of other very appreciative people;  it was indeed a joy.

Nem

Angry men: Crap housing, our cash, VAT, communities, rubbish architecture, urban renewal and all that jazz.

Diddy boxes



Of, if only things had improved since Pete Seeger sang that, so many years ago!

It's been an interesting weekend in the press, architecturally speaking.

First, we have the magnificently eloquent Scottish architect and writer  Malcolm Fraser (Republic passim, including the very recent post on the Madelvic Factory demolition

http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2010/04/dont-destroy-madelvic-factory.html )

on gobons and government payouts for crappy housing, VAT iniquities, empty homes and stuff in the Herald, expanding what he said recently in Building Design, as reported on Archibollocks,

http://archibollocks.blogspot.com/2010/04/gobbing-on.html

and I hope he'll not make a fuss if I repeat it all here :

http://www.heraldscotland.com/business/markets-economy/scotland-should-aim-higher-than-clusters-of-urban-lumps-complete-with-useless-gob-ons-1.1027961

Scotland should aim higher than clusters of urban lumps, complete with useless ‘gob ons’

Malcolm Fraser

May 16th

Little fanfare greeted the recent announcement that Scotland’s beleaguered volume housebuilders were to receive a £130 million boost from the Scottish Government’s new “National Housing Trust”.

Given the transformative potential of the scheme, this lack of attention is baffling.

The move follows plans in England to boost the housing sector through the “Kickstart” programme, and First Minister Alex Salmond’s own promises to business leaders to fund “shovel-ready” development in Scotland.

These are the same housebuilders that mass-produce homes that are, according to architecture writer Jonathan Glancey “… a blight on the landscape, a stain on our collective soul, a national disgrace”.

Even Gordon Brown, in the final election debate, admitted that volume housebuilders “… have really not served us well in this country”.

In that final leaders’ debate Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg uttered the unfashionable words: “council houses”. From sub-prime to credit-bubble, the banking and housebuilding industries were intertwined, and went down the pan together. The Brown Government borrowed hugely to bail out the banks without requiring them to improve their service. Skating over their own part in encouraging the hubris that led to massive failure the Government simply begged the banks to take our money and go back to business-as-usual.

The Scottish Government appears to be following Westminster, in doing a similar back-to-business-as-usual, no-strings-attached bailout for our housebuilding industry.

It is worth pondering what, exactly is the state of the house-building industry that is to be bailed out – and what sort of development will the volume housebuilders be expected to have “shovel-ready”?

Their new homes tend to fall into one of two categories: suburban diddy-boxes, car-dependent and decorated by the sort of pediments, half-timbering and carriage lamps that the industry itself, revealing their contempt for the public, refers to as “gob-ons”.

Their other type is always branded “stylish urban living”, meaning lumpen flats with bolted-on, sticky-out “Juliet” balconies jutting into our bitter winds and car fumes.

Alex Neil, the Scottish Government’s housing minister, responded to my concerns over quality, published in the architectural press, by assuring doubters that, to qualify for a bail-out, the Government “…are likely to require that all proposed homes meet, at the very least, the 2007 Scottish Building Regulations”

Big deal! So the only requirement for those diddy boxes and urban lumps is that they are “likely” to meet the bare, lowest minimum technical standard. The bar could hardly be lower, and my heart sinks at the dismal poverty of our aspirations.

As if this wasn’t bad enough, while the housing minister’s civil servants channel our money to such unworthy recipients, whole other armies of civil servants – in the Planning Directorate, the Architecture & Place Policy Unit and our built environment design quango, Architecture + Design Scotland – have no powers to do more than look on aghast. Established and paid for out of the public purse to raise the woeful quality of new housing in Scotland, this bailout bypasses them.

In their own initiatives they have, however, aimed very low. The planning regime in Scotland follows the “New Urbanist” orthodoxy that starts as a laudable concern for the values of traditional urban settlements. But I fear that under this banner the Scottish Government merely collaborates with housebuilders to devise better “gob-ons”, and make the roads through housing estates a bit more wiggly.

What might we better achieve with all this public mone

Well, in that final leaders’ debate Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg uttered the unfashionable words: “council houses”. Perhaps if we set-aside our prejudiced stereotyped idea of grimy estates, decent quality council houses are exactly what we should be spending public money on.

Clegg also raised the issue of VAT. Newbuild is zero-rated, but repair and renewal attracts the full 17.5%. This hugely tips the balance towards greenfield building sites, and away from refurbishing our existing stock. There are hundreds of thousands of empty properties lying vacant in our towns and cities

Readjusting VAT to encourage the repair of these would deliver more homes for every pound invested, fortify existing communities, reduce car-dependency, and create more jobs (repair being more labour-intensive).

And when we do build new homes we should be talking about what actually creates communities – not pediments and wiggly streets, but awareness of sunshine, south-facing living rooms that open into gardens, public places for our kids to play and places to meet, and engage with, our neighbours.

Why is it that we can’t we build communities based on these simple, humane priorities?

Malcolm Fraser is founder of Edinburgh’s Malcolm Fraser Architects http://www.malcolmfraser.co.uk/and a former deputy chairman of Architecture + Design Scotlandand

Then yesterday a terrific Jonathan Glancey article in the Guardian on the late and greatly lamented Ian Nairn, and good that he mentioned the writers who are behind:

Bad British Architecture @Ghostof Nairn

http://badbritisharchitecture.blogspot.com/

and @tragedyhatherle of Urban Trawl in Building Design  and Zero Books various (including Militant Modernism) amongst other writing:

http://nastybrutalistandshort.blogspot.com/


Here it is:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/may/15/architecture-ian-nairn

Ian Nairn's voice of outrage...

His attacks on the banality of Britain's postwar buildings made Ian Nairn an inspiration for a generation of architectural critics. Jonathan Glancey celebrates the scourge of 'subtopia'...

look forward to the video articles mentioned....

and Gavin Stamp, Private Eye's Piloti

a review of his Britain's Lost Cities by Nicholas Lezard:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/may/15/britain-lost-cities-gavin-stamp


It may be a truism that this country lost more buildings to town planners than to the Luftwaffe, but it is still worth mentioning. Here are 180 pages, each illustrated with one or more photographs, which document what can only be a fraction of the buildings and vistas we have lost.

Stamp quotes a recent conclusion, regarding Hull, but it applies everywhere:

 "What has gone are the accents of the cityscape, the varied shapes, textures and materials, the undoubted wealth of craftsmanship, the unexpected or bizarre incident; items that there is now no way of matching, for neither money nor skills are forthcoming."


This is, in short, a very depressing book – but one that is wholly necessary...

Which ,basically, brings me back to Malcolm Fraser:

Leith, Edinburgh, Western Harbour Development

and of course the splendid Blogger Dave Thompson, @auchterness:

I'm deeply privileged today to write a review of one of Scotland's greatest success stories of visionary planning and property development. It's a veritable dripping roast of invention and superlatives, truly the eastern equivalent of Glasgow Harbour in every way. The team that did the astonishing breakthrough thinking on this one are Forth Ports (who kindly donated the land), Turkey Associates and RMJM, they of the recent heroic failure at Custom House Quay in Glasgow. One word - wow!

You know, it's sometimes hard to take in the sheer comprehensive brilliance of some projects - the diamond sharp intellectual endeavour, the world class parametric design work not to mention the streetwise nous that can turn a derelict area into a thriving community of beautiful houses, shops and parks all wrapped up into one of the finest urban development frameworks you will see around Edinburgh since Wester Hailes was but a twinkle in a planner's eye. Recently a member of the Prince's Foundation described it as being, 'as good as Sierra Leone'. That's praise indeed coming from a world traveller and member of the Royal Family - a total pat on the back for Forth Ports and for Turkey Associates, a real feather in their cap....

Read on:

http://auchterness.blogspot.com/2009/10/granton-and-leith-docks-epicentre-of.html

Oh yes, Brave New World:

http://www.gregorshore.co.uk/platinumpoint/flash.htm

Watch the movie and weep. 

Nem (angry but female).

Live or Let Die! Buildings at Risk 2010

Yes folks it's that time of year again, and this has pinged into my inbox, so please all get your orders in NOW!

http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/buildings_at_risk/

http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/buildings_at_risk/catalogue.php

Order form: http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/docs/articles/BaR2010orderform_updated.pdf

PRESS RELEASE May 2010

Live or Let Die

BUILDINGS AT RISK 2010 – 2011

Northwold Manor, Northwold, Norfolk

Foreword by Marcus Binney

Publication Date: 1 June 2010

Price: £15 Full colour

Every year SAVE sets out on a treasure hunt to find a selection of ‘sleeping beauties’ across England and Wales. Any building type can qualify, so long as it is curious, interesting, unloved and crying out for a new owner or new use. Many of the featured buildings cannot always be found on the books of estate agents and come from local authorities or local contacts who are keen to help towards a solution. Persistence, resourcefulness and diplomacy will be required in order to get hold of these properties but, over two decades, SAVE has seen an impressive number of successful rescues.

Mill House, Gedney, Lincolnshire

This year’s report, Live or Let Die, lifts the veil on over a hundred alluring properties. Remote farmhouses and grand crumbling country mansions vie for attention with Georgian townhouses, mills, redundant churches, town halls, schools, libraries and even post offices in what is a surprisingly diverse selection. Some of the featured buildings have been empty for years others whilst others are newly abandoned as the result of the recession.

Church Street, Isleham, Cambridgeshire

Live or Let Die is more than just an illustrated list, it also features reports on successful restorations; scandalous demolitions; pubs at risk and sections looking at individual towns such as Doncaster and Reading. For the first time, this year’s report looks at examples of buildings at risk in Scotland and London - areas not covered in the full list.

St Cuthbert’s Chapel, Worcester

The register continues to perform vital work as the only national source of information on Grade II listed and unlisted buildings at risk from all around England and Wales. Access to the online register (featuring over 1,000 properties) costs £25 for a year’s subscription. To become a Friend of SAVE or to order Live or Let Die contact the SAVE office directly.

A selection of five buildings at risk from Live or Let Die can be viewed in advance on the website from 25 May.

For further information please contact Rhiannon Tracy on 020 7253 3500 or email her at SAVE


NOTES TO EDITORS
SAVE Britain’s Heritage has been campaigning for historic buildings since its formation in 1975 by a group of architects, journalists and planners. It is a strong, independent voice in conservation, free to respond rapidly to emergencies and to speak out loud for the historic built environment. It has published a Buildings at Risk Register for England and Wales since 1989.

Rhiannon Tracy
Buildings at Risk Officer
SAVE Britain's Heritage
70 Cowcross Street
London
EC1M 6EJ
T: 0207 2533500
F: 0207 2533400


rhiannon dot tracy at savebritainsheritage dot org

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


New Publications Available from SAVE Britain's Heritage:

Triumph, Disaster & Decay: The SAVE Survey of Liverpool's Heritage - £12.50

Brighton Churches: The Need for Action Now - £20



New Publications Available from SAVE Europe's Heritage:

Silesia: The Land of Dying Country Houses - £15

Moscow Heritage at Crisis Point - 2nd Edition - £18

See website for further details: http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/

Don't destroy the Madelvic factory!

                                      The Madelvic electric car


UPDATE May 7th

Short article (slightly garbled) in Building Design:

Fraser slams Maldevic (sic) demolition

6 May, 2010

By David Rogers

Architect Malcolm Fraser has spoken out against plans by Edinburgh Council to demolish the listed Maldevic electric car factory in the Granton area of the city to make way for new houses.

                                                                     Malcolm Fraser

Council-owned developer EDI has (had?) linked up with the Burrell Company to convert the factory, which opened in 1898, into apartments and commercial space. The developers will retain its office block but demolish the main factory building.

Fraser said it should not be demolished and added: “Is it the case that, in a recession, any listed building can be sent for landfill?”

 Read more: http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=426&storycode=3163001&channel=426&c=1#ixzz0nESuvUEN

UPDATE 30th April

Madelvic in the Guardian, excellent piece by Tom Allan

http://www.guardian.co.uk/edinburgh/2010/apr/30/madelvic-factory-demolition-malcolm-fraser-edinburgh


 A request has been made (by me) to have the factory placed on the Scottish Buildings at Risk Register:

http://www.buildingsatrisk.org.uk/BAR/

(Also of course there is the sad loss of most of the historic interest of this piece of motoring heritage in Glasgow.

http://www.botanicgardensgarage.org/ )

It's a worry, is Scotland, and failure to really protect listed buildings.  Cynical of me I know, but it does seem that it's so easy to override national policy...

Original post

The Madelvic Factory production block at Granton, Edinburgh, is under threat of demolition.  This is the oldest remaining purpose-built car factory in the UK; it may be the oldest in Europe. It dates from c1898. Alongside the small office block (not currently under direct threat) this is an important piece of historic industrial architecture.

Listed building description: 

http://hsewsf.sedsh.gov.uk/hslive/hsstart?P_HBNUM=45654

Requests for the permission to demolish by City of Edinburgh Council to be called in by the Scottish Government (Historic Scotland objected to the demolition, the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland and SAVE Britain's Heritage all sought a call-in, arguing that not all avenues for retention and re-use have been explored and it is believed that  national policy has not been fully followed or taken into account) have been refused. This is a worrying situation, and this really should have been fully explored at an inquiry.

Urban Realm has taken up the story, and published yesterday and today two articles, one with the background, the other multi-award-winning Edinburgh architect Malcolm Fraser making a passionate plea for retention and re-use, if not with the scheme his practice has already designed then for another scheme.

I agree; landfill should not be an option, and the building should be properly mothballed and secured until such time as the market picks up again and viabilty of a re-use scheme can be looked at further.

Listed buildings should not be so lightly disposed of. Sadly, Edinburgh Council seems to see them not as an asset but a nuisance which get in the way of development.

And so our shared history and national heritage is wiped out, historic landmarks razed, because it's more convenient than imaginative re-use, and of course the profit motive is more important to some than those wider issues. No it's not a 'pretty' building, that's not always the point;  it is certainly of historic importance.

Urban Realm reports:

http://www.urbanrealm.co.uk/news/2336/Demolition_of_B_listed_Madelvic_factory_wont_be_called_in.html


http://www.urbanrealm.co.uk/news/2338/Fraser_mounts_impassioned_Madelvic_plea.html

and as Malcolm Fraser says:

“But the buildings are not dropped yet! And if there is any specialist developer out there who is interested, come and see me, and we can approach the site’s owner together.”


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9fQdYYB3vk



The Granton History Group has an excellent website detailing the interesting history of the Madelvic car and factory:

http://www.grantonhistory.org/industry/madelvic.htm

 Secret Scotland:

http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/index.php/Secrets/MadelvicCarriageCo


Nem

St John & St James: more Liverpool at Risk

UPDATE May 7th

The church has, sadly, now been demolished; see SAVE link for pictures:

http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/news/article.php?id=135

More Pathfinder madness as landmark Liverpool church is flattened.

Liverpool has just lost another important landmark building. St John and St James, a finely detailed and pleasingly quirky Edwardian church by James Francis Doyle, was demolished at the end of April, the victim of a deal struck between the Diocese of Liverpool and a property developer. The site, which is part of a Pathfinder 'regeneration' area, is to be developed as 16 dwellings.

The furnishings and fittings of the church were stripped out in advance of a listing inspection with many items sold at auction. The church, distinguished by its octagonal bell tower and good Gothic detailing, was a building of real quality in an area which has all but lost its identity and community. Even the leader of Liverpool Council recently conceded that the Pathfinder clearances had 'ripped the heart out of local communities'. Yet, his penitential words have come too late to prevent the tragic loss of St John and St James.

Further information can be seen on this dedicated website:

Save Bootle's Heritage; St John and St James Church http://www.monfaroad.info/

Original post:

I have been asked to give this campaign some publicity. So here it is.

A website and Facebook campaign have been set up in a last ditch attempt to save an historic Bootle church from demolition.

http://www.monfaroad.info/ (warning - the site has music, so if that's a problem, press the mute button)
Pictures, Youtube videos and a great deal of further history on the website.

The Church of St John and St James in Monfa Road, Orrell, was dedicated to two brothers, Sir John and Mr James Wilcox, who were proprietors and editors of the Daily Post and Echo.

Built in 1910 to the designs of Liverpool architect James Francis Doyle, the church also has a link to the famous Liver Buildings, whose designer was a pupil of Doyle. He worked with the celebrated Richard Norman Shaw on the White Star Line HQ on James Street, where news of the Titanic's sinking was first announced to a shocked world, and built the gold-domed Royal Insurance building on North John Street. 

Now the building has been stripped of its features and is facing the bulldozers, with planning permission granted by Sefton Council for 16 houses.

Conservation experts have criticised church authorities for abandoning heritage buildings to pursue land sell offs, and questioned English Heritage's decision not to grant emergency listing status by suggesting the Liverpool designer is 'not of national interest'.

Planning specialist Jonathan Brown from Merseyside Civic Society said:

"This church was the work of a man associated with some of Liverpool's finest mercantile buildings, and dedicated to the owner and editors of our great city newspapers, the Post and Echo. If English Heritage accept James Doyle is 'regionally important', from what is after all  World city, why isn't that of 'national interest', the criteria for listing? Would the same be true if the connection was with famous buildings and newspapers in London? Of course not - these are simply double-standards. It's one rule for Bootle and another for Bromley."

The website's designer Jonathan Wild, whose partner lived in the adjacent Klondyke terraced streets until recently moved out under the New Heartlands (Pathfinder) demolition scheme said:

"This is another case of a church losing its congregation to  a misguided clearance programme while the Diocese washes its hands of the building. As with the listed St. Cyprian's on Edge Lane and St.John's in Fairfield, church authorities have stood by while so called regeneration evicts families, draining community facilities of their life-blood. The result is loss of character and civic pride."

National campaign group SAVE Britain's Heritage have also expressed their alarm at the state of some churches in Liverpool's clearance areas. Secretary Will Palin said:

Bishop James Jones's chairmanship of the Stop the Rot campaign has given real focus to the city's historic environment, so it is very disappointing to see his Diocese still overseeing church closures that lead to demolition of well-loved local landmarks like this, and failing to speak out over the wasteful return to sixties style housing clearance."

For further information, contact SAVE http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/

Merseyside Civic Society has an excellent website:

http://www.liv.ac.uk/mcs/mcshome.html

The campaign:

http://www.monfaroad.info/

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=321731792630

Forum discussion:

http://www.bootlehistory.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11115

As regular readers of this blog will know, SAVE has been concerned about destruction in Liverpool for many years. Last year it staged an acclaimed exhibition to highlight the neglect and destruction.

The review from the Indie is below.  This picture is of a small section of the exhibition at the milkand sugar gallery, Liverpool RIBA (click to enlarge):

The book which accompanied the exhibition is still available from SAVE:

Triumph, Disaster and Decay: The SAVE survey of Liverpool's Heritage

as is the SAVE Pathfinder report, which also features Liverpool, and which has of course been highlighted in this blog a number of times, especially with the campaign to save her home from the bulldozers by Elizabeth Pascoe.

see Publications

http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/

A comprehensive Flickr set, Lost Liverpool:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44435674@N00/sets/72157623086033785/


Nem


Triumph, Disaster and Decay, milkandsugar, Liverpool

Reviewed by Anthony Quinn

Tuesday, 24 February 2009

No city, with the possible exception of Jericho, has suffered such a dramatic collapse as Liverpool. Within 100 years, it has gone from being one of the wealthiest in the world to one of the poorest in Europe. The Second World War, the decline of its port trade and the rise of containerisation all figured in its economic perdition, to say nothing of its wildcat politicians and other wilful saboteurs – even in 1935, the Communist Party were calling the place “an organiser’s graveyard”.

Yet Liverpool’s agony has also been an internal one, witnessed by residents and visitors alike, in the unceasing destruction of its architectural heritage. A bomb-site necropolis long after the Luftwaffe had visited, the city began an extraordinary programme of self-mutilation, starting with the demolition of John Foster’s magnificent Customs House in 1947, despite the fact that its war damage was quite reparable. This story of a disappearing city, which continues to the present day, is chronicled in a superb exhibition of photographs, Triumph, Disaster and Decay, at the milkandsugar gallery.

Liverpool Customs House, demolished post-war a 'job creation' scheme

Laid out in two sections – the first an account of lost Liverpool, the second a report on those buildings under threat – its cumulative effect is at once heartbreaking and deeply shaming. That whole swaths of late-Georgian and early Victorian terraced houses still survived in suburbs such as Toxteth and Everton into the 1960s is almost as startling as the mass clearances that would soon condemn them. The city’s population crashed by half in the next 30 years. Jonathan Brown, in his catalogue essay “Liverpool Betrayed”, interestingly argues that the accepted history – people left because the docks closed – got it the wrong way round. The economy stalled because working people were cast out and marooned in distant housing estates.

Individual records of philistinism and neglect unfold across the gallery walls. Of the 19 churches in Everton described by Nikolaus Pevsner in 1969, only six remain. A photograph of Abercromby Square shows Foster’s church St Catherine’s, demolished in 1966 to make way for the university’s Senate House. More heartbreaking still is the fragment of wrought ironwork from a gallery inside the Old Sailors’ Home, a beautiful neo-Jacobean marvel senselessly destroyed in the 1970s.

The Old Sailors' Home

Canning Place, where it stood, itself no longer exists, swallowed up by the huge (and controversial) Paradise Street shopping centre, Liverpool One. It echoes another outrageous scarring, of elegant old Clayton Square, flattened to make way for another mall in 1986. By whose decree? The answer isn’t always clear, but a combination of rapacious property developers and incompetent councillors have usually done for it.

That legacy of near-criminal negligence seems to have been handed down through the DNA of Liverpool City Council. One might leave this exhibition feeling indignant and deeply depressed, for the disasters of the 1960s are returning, in the shape of the Government-sponsored Pathfinder schemes. Hearteningly, campaigns are being fought against further depredations. Elizabeth Pascoe still battles a road-widening scheme that would destroy 400 perfectly good family houses in and around Edge Lane.
(Alas, a battle now lost http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2010/02/elizabeth-pascoe-is-finally-evicted.html) Florence Gersten also continues a valiant rearguard against municipal vandalism, having helped to save the Lyceum building in Bold Street back in the 1980s. Save Britain’s Heritage itself deserves immense credit for supporting the fightback, and for mounting this exhibition, splendidly curated by Robert Hradsky.

Why does it matter? Because when you obliterate familiar buildings and street patterns, you cut people off from a sense of belonging. The writer Iain Sinclair recently described landscape as a “refracted autobiography”. If we keep losing that landscape, we lose our sense of self. It’s a bitter lesson that Liverpool, even after the infamy it has endured, still seems reluctant to learn.