Building Design articles from March 2009

Building Design archives from March 2009

Government should scrap PFI, says Rogers.
March 6, 2009... Spend taxpayers money directly, says architect, as Labour puts #2bn into struggling projects Anna Winston Richard Rogers has called for the government to abandon PFI and spend taxpayers' money directly on greening buildings, public...

Preferred bidder.
March 6, 2009... BDP has been named as the preferred bidder for a #430 million Southmead super-hospital in Bristol after a delay of more than six months. Meanwhile, 12 other hospital projects have been stalled, it emerged this week. Copyright: UBM...

ARCHITECTS AND PFI: THE EXPERT'S VIEW.
March 6, 2009... "Architects are adding their voice to an increasing chorus from opposition parties and commentators," says editor of PPP Bulletin, Max Rashbrooke. "While PFI isn't popular, up until now there's been no viable alternative. In the past month...

LEADER: We can't kill PFI, let's cure it.(Private Finance Initiative)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... AMANDA BAILLIEU Of course PFI is a problem, but we're stuck with it, so the point now is to make it work better Richard Rogers' decision to add his voice to those concerned about the viability of PFI projects is certainly timely. As...

LEADER: Put title protection to the vote.
March 6, 2009... Trying to summarise the views of BD's online readers on the vexed question of protection of title is like trying to precis Ulysses: sometimes the prose is difficult and no one can be blamed for not wading through the comments. And sadly, some...

IN BRIEF: Nine shortlisted for BBC phase II.
March 6, 2009... BDP, HOK and Woods Bagot are among nine practices to be shortlisted to design the interiors for the second phase of the BBC's development of Broadcasting House in London. Pringle Brandon, Gensler, DEGW, ID:SR, MCM Architects and Morey...

IN BRIEF: Fairfield Shipyard flats go ahead.
March 6, 2009... Glasgow City Council has approved a multimillion pound redevelopment of the Fairfield Shipyard building in Govan by Clydeport. ADF Architects will design 60 modern apartments for the scheme on Govan Road and Elder Street. The 1890...

IN BRIEF: DCMS seeks successor to Sorrell.(United Kingdom. Department for Culture, Media and Sport. UK Sport)(John Sorrell)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... The DCMS is looking for a new Cabe chair to succeed John Sorrell. The successful applicant will serve an initial four-year term, working eight days a week for #42,000 . The job specification asks for someone who can act as ambassador for...

IN BRIEF: Call to list reprieved Bishopsfield.(Bishopsfield housing estate recommended for grade II listing)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... The 1960s Bishopsfield housing estate in Harlow is being recommended for grade II listing after being saved from demolition by the credit crunch. The experimental, staggered set of 256 homes in the brutalist style, by Michael Neylan and Bill...

IN BRIEF: Contest to help ethnic students.(online design contest)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... The mother of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence backed a new competitionthis week to encourage disadvantaged young people from ethnic minorities to become architects. Doreen Lawrence this week launched the national online design contest,...

`Decades till City's next tall building'.
March 6, 2009... It could be 20 years before another tall tower is built in the square mile, the City of London's planning chief has predicted, in a dire assessment of the future for skyscrapers in the capital. Peter Rees, the city's planning officer,...

Heatherwick glass bridge shattered by recession.(Thomas Heatherwick)
March 6, 2009... #7.5 million price tag scuppers `jewel in the crown' of King's Cross Central Will Hurst Designs by Thomas Heatherwick for the world's first all-glass bridge at the entrance to London's #2 billion King's Cross Central have been...

MPs say DCLG failing to deliver on policies.(Department for Communities & Local Government)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... The Department for Communities & Local Government is failing to deliver some of its key policies and needs to raise its game to become a "big hitter" in Whitehall, a select committee report claims. The report, written by the CLG select...

Rogers and Hadid to cut jobs.
March 6, 2009... Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners, Zaha Hadid Architects and Gehry Partners have all revealed redundancies this week. Rogers announced plans to make 35 of his 160 staff redundant on Monday, while Frank Gehry revealed to the LA Times that he...

Gareth Hoskins makes music on Shetland.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Construction on Gareth Hoskins' #10 million music and cinema venue in Shetland is due to start next month, nine years after the project for the remote archipelago community was first conceived. The waterfront Mareel Centre in Lerwick, on...

#60k homes fall short.
March 6, 2009... Four years on, fewer than a third of planned units have been built Ruth Bloomfield A high-profile government drive to build two-bedroom homes for less than #60,000 has resulted in the construction of less a third of the planned units...

Shining example makes photo awards shortlist.
March 6, 2009... Japanese photographer Daichi Ano is one of 10 entrants to have made it onto the professional shortlist for architecture photographersin this year's Sony World Photography Awards. This picture, The Shine of Architecture, is of an unnamed...

Call to consolidate green building codes.
March 6, 2009... A code for sustainable buildings which applies to all new and existing non-domestic buildings was called for in a report launched at the Ecobuild conference this week. The UK Green Building Council report, which draws on extensive...

Memorandum of understanding.(Green Building Council)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... UKGBC and Breeam have signed a memorandum of understanding with the US Green Building Council and the Green Building Council Australia to develop common standards to measure the sustainability of new buildings. A group drawn from members of...

Bridge soars away.
March 6, 2009... Explorations Architecture has won an RIBA competition to design a foot and cycle bridge across the River Soarin Leicester. Working with Buro Happold, the practice beat Allies & Morrison, Knight Architects, Moxon Architects and McDowell &...

Recession hits Mipim attendance.
March 6, 2009... Visitor numbers slump by a third Will Henley The number of delegates heading to Mipim this year has plummeted by more than a third as architects, public bodies, agents and developers slash their representation at the world's largest...

Australian memorial held to honour Utzon.(Joern Utzon )(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Anna Winston Jorn Utzon, architect of the Sydney Opera House, is to be honoured with an Australian state memorial service this month. The service for the Pritzker Prize-winning Danish architect will be hosted by the Opera House at 11am...

SUSTAINABILITY: Plowman takes up chair at LSDC.
March 6, 2009... London mayor Boris Johnson has appointed John Plowman to chair the London Sustainable Development Commission. Plowman has worked in the civil service for 30 years, and runs a consultancy with clients including Defra. Johnson said:...

RECESSION: Help offered over redundancy.(Architects' Benevolent Society)(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... The Architects' Benevolent Society has launched a campaign to help architects who have been made redundant. ABS secretary Keith Robinson said many architects did not realise they could be eligible for help - financial gifts or interest-free...

DEVELOPMENT: Mill Hill goes for the treble.(Brief article)
March 6, 2009... Three schemes in Mill Hill, north London, have been granted planning permission by Barnet Council. Two are by Brimelow McSweeney Architects, and the third is by MLRS Architects. All will be developed by Dukelease under a section 106 agreement....

20th Century Society in talks to gain delisting role.
March 6, 2009... Will Henley The government has agreed to talks with the Twentieth Century Society about increasing the society's influence over delisting, following a controversial decision to strip Colin St John Wilson's Hereford House of its grade II...

ANALYSIS: Any doubts over Thomas?(Thomas Heatherwick)
March 6, 2009... The scrapping of Thomas Heatherwick's glass bridge is the latest in a run of setbacks for the designer, yet his stock seems as high as ever, reports Liz Bury Thomas Heatherwick's career resembles a rollercoaster ride - as one project is in...

LETTER: BSF is working.(Letter to the editor)
March 6, 2009... Your report "Cabe says half school designs aren't good enough" (February 20) claimed MPs are concerned that plans for a new minimum design standard to ensure only the best designs get off the drawing board and into construction will slow...

LETTER: Hidden powers.(Letter to the editor)
March 6, 2009... Three architectural practices are in both the "good" and "not yet good enough" columns of Cabe's school league table. This leads me to believe that something or somebody other than the architect could be responsible for the success or...

LETTER: What's in a name.(Letter to the editor)
March 6, 2009... Amanda Baillieu is absolutely right, the title "architect" can never be protected, nor should it be. Engineers do not seem to bother unduly about their title - why should we? The public does not know the difference between architect,...

LETTER: Protection, please.(Letter to the editor)
March 6, 2009... Small and medium-sized local practices are inevitably in competition with unqualified and often uninsured "architectural consultants" because of the size and nature of much of their work. With about half of all architects working in this...

LETTER: Self-defence.(Letter to the editor)
March 6, 2009... Arb and the RIBA should lobby for legislation that would require an architect to validate and endorse every planning application before it is submitted to the local authority. This would be in line with other EU countries. Not only would...

LETTER: Royal dissent.(Letter to the editor)
March 6, 2009... Although, thank goodness, not a disaster of the magnitude of the Diana Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park, illustrations of the opening ceremony of the Queen Mother memorial leave me disappointed. This was a golden opportunity to bring the...

LETTER: Standards, not title, matter.(Letter to the editor)
March 6, 2009... The debate over protection of title (Debate February 27) re-ignites every time the industry goes into recession and we architects start to feel the pinch of competition from each other and those we like to call "unqualified". Like most small...

OPINION: Australians courting the line of fire.
March 6, 2009... BILL MITCHELL The outback's deadly fires are claiming more lives as Aussies build deeper into the bush DH Lawrence was spooked by the Australian bush. In his 1923 novel, Kangaroo, he imagined its spirit as something big, aware and...

DEBATE: Can modern architecture be truly sustainable?
March 6, 2009... YES Bill Taylor Managing director, Hopkins Architects If we're going to build, then we have to do it sustainably. We don't have any alternative. However, at the same time I think it is fair to ask whether modern architecture is truly...

URBAN TRAWL: MILTON KEYNES - End of the space age.
March 6, 2009... It's the empty streets and lack of crowds that make Milton Keynes feel civilised - but attempts to bring density to the new town could spell the end for this unique quality Owen Hatherley Milton. Keynes. Surely it's partly the name...

WORKS: DAVID CHIPPERFIELD - Loss adjustor.
March 6, 2009... Ellis Woodman is gripped by David Chipperfield Architects' courageous transformation of Berlin's ruined Neues Museum A couple of weeks ago, I picked up a copy of the Guardian at Berlin's Schonefeld Airport and leafed through to the picture...

SOLUTIONS: `It's an anomaly to find this kind of architecture in Paris'.
March 6, 2009... In our series in which architects talk about the building that has inspired them the most, Brisac Gonzalez's Edgar Gonzalez revisits Oscar Niemeyer's Communist Party HQ building in Paris, a resolutely modernist exercise in the manipulation of...

CULTURE: Tilling infertile ground.
March 6, 2009... Richard Weston senses a whiff of hypocrisy in Jeremy Till's call for architects to re-engage with the everyday BOOK ARCHITECTURE DEPENDS By Jeremy Till MIT Press, 254pp, #16.95 His title may sound slightly obtuse, but...

CULTURE: There's a ghost in my house.
March 6, 2009... Denna Jones on how a BBC drama series made a star of a Bristol terrace Rendered and painted in a variety of optimistic colours, the staggered profile of terraced houses in Totterdown, south Bristol, appears almost whimsical from a...

JONATHAN GLANCEY: Architecture's fleurs du mal.
March 6, 2009... Big and loud has been the architectural mantra of the past quarter of a century. Since neoliberal economics became the structural underpinning of our global society, skylines from Sheffield to Shanghai have shot up like overbearingly fecund...

THIS WEEK: ONLY CONNECT.
March 6, 2009... The new #23 million Hepworth Wakefield art gallery by David Chipperfield Architects has been admitted to the Tate Connects programme, giving it access to the national collection of British, contemporary and modern art. Copyright: UBM...

THIS WEEK: MILITARY ON MANOEUVRES.
March 6, 2009... A British military hospital in Minorca's Mahon Harbour, built of limestone but derelict for 40 years, has been renovated by a group of Sunday volunteers led by a former chief-of-staff of the Spanish Army, General Luis Alexandre. Copyright:...

THIS WEEK: RETAIL FAIL.
March 6, 2009... The Local Government Association has warned that high streets across England and Wales are in danger as retail suffers in the downturn. It wants town halls to be given powers to occupy premises empty for over three months. Copyright: UBM...

THIS WEEK: NOT LYING DOWN.
March 6, 2009... Secretary of state Hazel Blears has refused to allow 200 homes, offices and shops to be built on the site of a former Dunlopillo mattress factory in Harrogate, where 155 staff lost their jobs in September. Copyright: UBM Information Ltd.

Boris bashed over `pocket money' for Great Spaces.(Boris Johnson)
March 13, 2009... Critics deride London mayor's `token gesture' as he pledges #200k to public realm strategy Will Hurst London mayor Boris Johnson faced ridicule this week after unveiling a public realm strategy for the capital funded with what critics...

Russian to the slopes.(Brief article)
March 13, 2009... Wilkinson Eyre unveiled a 300,000sq m ski jump and winter sports complex for the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod at Mipim on Wednesday. The scheme sits between the city's Kremlin and a monastery, and is part of the preparation for the 2014...

LEADER: Public space takes an unfair hit.
March 13, 2009... AMANDA BAILLIEU As the industry looks to public bodies for finance, the funds to improve London have been drastically cut As London mayor Boris Johnson observed this week, no one actually knows what Mipim stands for. Amid his rather...

LEADER: Do you still want protection?(Architectural Review Board)(Survey)(Brief article)
March 13, 2009... As promised and with a certain amount of trepidation, BD is launching a survey on the future of Arb. We hope it will give an accurate picture of what the profession really feels, but our anxiety stems from the fact that only 15% of you...

IN BRIEF: LDA unveils new urban agenda.(London Development Agency)(Brief article)
March 13, 2009... The London Development Agency announced its new citywide urban agenda at Mipim on Wednesday. LDA director Peter Bishop introduced the agency's New Urban Agenda Framework, which will see the organisation develop or sell all of the larger...

IN BRIEF: Library is first chapter in city PFI.
March 13, 2009... Ryder Architecture has handed over the keys of its #24 million Newcastle City Library to Newcastle Libraries in a ceremony attended by poet laureate Andrew Motion. The building is home to a 180-seat performance space, cafe, creche, meeting...

IN BRIEF: Foster's #600m scheme on hold.(Foster & Partners)(Brief article)
March 13, 2009... Foster & Partner's #600 million Croydon Gateway scheme has been placed on hold until tenants can be found for its tower blocks. Only last September the site's owners, fund manager Schroder and developer Stanhope, were celebrating after...

IN BRIEF: Pitt favoured as new body's chair.(Infrastructure Planning Commission appoints Michael Pitt)(Brief article)
March 13, 2009... Housing minster Margaret Beckett has named Michael Pitt the preferred choice for chairman of the newly created Infrastructure Planning Commission, which will be based in Bristol. Pitt is currently chairman of NHS South West. Previously he...

IN BRIEF: ODA seeking pool lift solutions.
March 13, 2009... The Olympic Delivery Authority has launched an open competition to design a swimming pool lift for the two 50m pools in Zaha Hadid's Aquatics Centre, which will improve access for disabled swimmers. The ODA is looking for an affordable...

Follett won't list Lloyd's building.(Barbara Follett)(Brief article)
March 13, 2009... Architecture minister Barbara Follett has refused to list Richard Rogers' seminal Lloyd's of London building. Follett's decision follows English Heritage's advice not to protect the 1981 building, which it admitted had "outstanding...

Arb takes three years to strike off rogue architect.
March 13, 2009... Conduct committee failed to consider High Court case from 2006 Marguerite Lazell The Arb has been slammed for taking almost three years to strike an architect from the register after a High Court judge found he had lied repeatedly, and...

AND BAD NEWS AT THE BALLOTS, TOO.(Brief article)
March 13, 2009... Senior figures at the Arb expressed dismay this week at the low turnout for the recent election for architect board members, claiming it reflected apathy towards the organisation. Last week, George Oldham, Colin Brock, Ruth Brennan, Bernard...

RIBA angry over tax-cut response.
March 13, 2009... A row has erupted between the RIBA and the Treasury over whether it should slash VAT on refurbishment projects in an attempt to stimulate the struggling construction industry. The EU this week gave the government permission to cut VAT on...

Foster plans Paris towers.(Norman Foster and Associates)(Brief article)
March 13, 2009... Norman Foster this week unveiled plans for the tallest mixed-use building in western Europe, located in the La Defense business area of Paris. Foster personally revealed plans for the Hermitage Plaza at Mipim on Wednesday. The scheme is...

Curtain up on AHMM's revamp.(Allford Hall Monaghan Morris)(Brief article)
March 13, 2009... AHMM has been selected as the winner of a design competition to refurbish Liverpool's Royal Court Theatre. Its #10 million proposal for the 71-year-old building was selected over shortlisted entries from Burrell Foley Fischer, Nord,...

Waterloo win for DSDHA.(Brief article)
March 13, 2009... DSDHA has won the competition to design a major new square on London's South Bank. The Waterloo City Square Scheme will revamp the roundabout circling the Waterloo Imax cinema and the streets around the station, concentrating on...

Developer blasts EH's move to list barracks chapel.
March 13, 2009... Anna Winston The developer behind Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners' Chelsea Barracks scheme in west London has launched an all-out attack on English Heritage's attempt to list a Victorian chapel at the centre of the site. ...

Broad-minded approach.(Aedas AHR designing architecture for a building)(Brief article)
March 13, 2009... Aedas has designed one of the first large buildings to be presented at Mipim, a #125 million mixed-use tower for Birmingham. The mixed-use building, for developer Regal Property Group, will include a hotel, retail, sky bar and residential...

Come on Eileen.(Brief article)
March 13, 2009... Allies & Morrison's 43-storey residential tower Eileen House, in Elephant & Castle, south London, has been submitted for planning. The tower, for developer Oakmayne, will form the northern point of a triangle of tall buildings that is...

Now jobless architects soar to 1,000.
March 13, 2009... Help offered for alternative careers Ruth Bloomfield A record number of architects are now on the dole, new figures have revealed. In January, 1,000 UK architects were claiming benefits, compared to just 160 the year before. This...

Compulsory orchards plan could bear fruit.
March 13, 2009... New buildings in the London Borough of Camden might be required to include space for fruit orchards and community allotments. Camden Council is also considering requiring provision of "food-growing spaces" - which could include communal...

LANCASHIRE: Pozzoni designs centre for elderly.
March 13, 2009... Architectural practice Pozzoni has won planning permission for a #20 million centre to provide housing and services for elderly people in Ormskirk. The facility will replace a care home owned by Lancashire County Council, and will create...

CARDIFF: Offices achieve excellent Breeam.(Brief article)
March 13, 2009... Scott Brownrigg's flagship office development on the Cardiff waterfront, 3 Assembly Square, has achieved a Breeam "excellent" rating six months before completion. The six-storey, 6,000sq m building is next to the National Assembly for...

RIBA dismay at planning reforms.(Brief article)
March 13, 2009... Ruth Bloomfield Plans to streamline the planning process to help small firms weather the recession have been attacked for being "too little, too late". Critics, including the RIBA, are furious that the changes announced last week by...

WAKEFIELD: Hepworth Gallery topped out.(Brief article)
March 13, 2009... David Chipperfield Architects' Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, has been topped out. The gallery, due to open late next year, will boast 2,000sq m of purpose-built gallery space, a cafe and restaurant overlooking the River...

WHAT IS PROPOSED.(Brief article)
March 13, 2009... * New guidance on what councils need to know when considering applicationsin order to reduce the "information burden". * Greater "flexibility" on how to notify the public on planning applications. * More use of planning performance...

Major Victoria schemes win planning permission.
March 13, 2009... Westminster City Council has granted planning permission for two major projects in Victoria, by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects and John McAslan & Partners, for developer Land Securities. This follows last month's approval of the neighbouring...

ANALYSIS: Mansions and mozzarella.
March 13, 2009... While the industry struggles, some surprising areas of work are defying the downturn, reports Liz Bury It's not all doom and gloom. A combination of luck, good timing and canny choices is helping some practices to pick up work on...

ANALYSIS: WHERE IS THE WORK?
March 13, 2009... Fast food: This is among the recession's winners: a new distribution facility for Domino's Pizza by Q2 Architects went on site in Milton Keynes in January. Nuclear power stations: YRM in February becamethe first UK practice to be...

LETTER: Time to educate.(Letter to the editor)
March 13, 2009... Over the past 15 years, I have delivered many seminars to the public, which often does not understand that being an "architectural designer" is not the same thing. The Ask the Architect advice stand that I run is often visited by members...

LETTER: All in the name.(Letter to the editor)
March 13, 2009... I do not support protection of function. Even in Europe, this does not apply to small projects. I also know competent designers who are not architects, but I am shocked that Rafael Waksberg (Letters March 6) feels he cannot outperform the...

LETTER: Raise your game.(Letter to the editor)
March 13, 2009... In response to Andrew Black (Letters February 27) and his apparent concern for the work being done by architectural consultants/ designers, are we to believe that only part III RIBA architects are qualified to design buildings? If he...

LETTER: Horse sense.(Letter to the editor)
March 13, 2009... Further to Jonathan's Glancey's article (February 20) regarding the expense of Mark Wallinger's White Horse at Ebbsfleet, there is a simple solution. Just build a normal-sized horse and allow people to stand a lot nearer to it. Paul Zara...

LETTER: Access denied?(Letter to the editor)
March 13, 2009... I wonder if the Quarterhouse arts venue (Works February 27) has had an access audit undertaken? From the published floor plans, I doubt if it would pass. The ground floor has a set of single gender toilets, within which an accessible WC is...

LETTER: Bridge of sighs.(Letter to the editor)
March 13, 2009... I read with extreme sadness about the setback for Thomas Heatherwick's brilliant bridge design for King's Cross (News March 6). What is #7.5 million to pay for excellence in the present climate, when a banker is rewarded for his mistakes with...

LETTER: Stop PFI cash going to banks.(Letter to the editor)
March 13, 2009... Given that Labour's craven worship of bankers has dropped us so completely in the poo, it is extraordinary that we continue with the PPP/PFI "supertanker" that puts the provision of our public buildings in bankers' hands (News March 6). ...

CORRECTION: OMA.(Correction notice)
March 13, 2009... It was OMA's TVCC building, which is part of the CCTV development in Beijing, that was severely damaged by fire last month rather than the CCTV building itself (Works March 6). Copyright: UBM Information Ltd.

OPINION: Easing the march of the Tesco towns.
March 13, 2009... CAROLYN STEEL The supermarket behemoth wona competition ruling last week that will dictate the shape of our cities to come Tesco's victory last week at the Competition Appeals Tribunal may have passed under your radar, but the ruling...