Building Design articles from October 2006

Building Design archives from October 2006

`F' for green schools.
October 6, 2006... New study reveals `exemplar' schools use five times as much electricity as intended Ellen Bennett Exemplary sustainable schools are using up to five times as much electricity as their architects intended, leading to "significantly"...

Sustainable Stirling.(Stirling Prize)(Brief article)
October 6, 2006... Next year's Stirling Prize shortlist could look very different if the RIBA presses ahead with plans to make sustainability a criterion in all its awards. Cabe is following suit with hopes of incorporating sustainability information into...

Herzog & de Meuron win Gold Medal.(Herzog and de Meuron Architects)(Brief article)
October 6, 2006... Herzog & de Meuron has been awarded the 2006 Royal Gold Medal, it was announced this week. Denise Scott Brown, who had been touted as a possible winner together with husband Robert Venturi, received an international fellowship. Venturi received...

Street life.(Walter Menteth Architects)(Brief article)
October 6, 2006... Walter Menteth Architects has designed a six-storey, mixed-use scheme on the site of a former school in Deptford, south-east London. The scheme, which recently received planning permission, contains 23 high- specification residential units,...

IN BRIEF: Firts phase of 15-year project.
October 6, 2006... Stock Woolstencroft, working with Bellway Homes, is designing the first residential scheme on Meridian Delta's Greenwich Peninsula development, London's single largest regeneration project. The 229 riverside apartments will form the first phase...

IN BRIEF: Scala annual awards.(Brief article)
October 6, 2006... Scala, the organisation for public-sector architects, has made its annual awards for the Civic Buildings of the Year. Dundee City Architect's Baxter Park Centre won the small project category; while the major project category was shared by His...

IN BRIEF: Southwark Council.
October 6, 2006... Some of the largest companies in Europe, including Alcatel, EDF, Hewlett-Packard and Laing O'Rourke, are in talks with Southwark council about joining its Multi-Utility Services Company to provide locally generated heat and electricity to the...

IN BRIEF: Disrepair will take #50 million to put right.
October 6, 2006... Canterbury Cathedral is in such disrepair that it will take an initial #50 million to put right neglect to the 900-year-old Gothic building. Currently, the church only receives a budget of #1 million per year towards conservation. ...

Shared surfaces are `death traps' for blind.
October 6, 2006... James Rose Shared surface schemes which remove boundaries between pedestrians and vehicles have been attacked in a report by the charity Guide Dogs for the Blind, which describes them as "death traps". Shared Surface Street Design...

IN BRIEF: Argent appointment.
October 6, 2006... David Partridge has been promoted to joint chief executive of Argent, the developer behind King's Cross, sharing the role with Roger Madelin. Partridge, who was previously deputy chief executive, is a qualified architect. Copyright: CMP...

IN BRIEF: Green industrial revolution.(Brief article)
October 6, 2006... Peter Ainsworth, shadow environment secretary, has stressed the need for Britain to lead a "green industrial revolution" while simultaneously slamming the Labour Party at this week's Conservative party conference. "It's no good banging on...

IN BRIEF: Infrastructure investment required.
October 6, 2006... The South East England Regional Assembly has published a guide to where it says up to #47 billion of infrastructure investment is required over the next 20 years to support housing growth. Copyright: CMP Information Ltd.

IN BRIEF: Victorian Society call.
October 6, 2006... The Victorian Society has called on culture secretary Tessa Jowell to call in Feilden & Mawson's proposals for the redevelopment of Middlesex Guildhall into the UK's first supreme court. Copyright: CMP Information Ltd.

Industrial designers.(DLG Architects)(Brief article)
October 6, 2006... DLG Architects received planning permission last week from Kirklees Council for the #175 million Waterfront Quarter development in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. DLG's regeneration scheme for Ramsden & Colne Developments will include more...

Bishop promises to ensure transparency.(Peter Bishop appointed as mayor)(Brief article)
October 6, 2006... London's new design director, Peter Bishop, has pledged to use "transparent and open" appointment processes for architects working with Design for London, the new body incorporating the Mayor of London's Architecture & Urbanism Unit and the...

Underground sets out new agenda for design.
October 6, 2006... Managing director pledges to look back to Pick era for inspiration Ellen Bennett London Underground will return to the glory days of Frank Pick, with stations as "distinctive as churches", its managing director Tim O'Toole has pledged....

McCloud discussions with green developer.
October 6, 2006... Television presenter Kevin McCloud is in talks with environmental developer BioRegional Quintain about a possible collaboration in his bid to build a flagship housing development. McCloud, who earlier this year was voted by BD readers the...

Hadid branches out.(Zaha Hadid Architects)(Brief article)
October 6, 2006... This is the Pierres Vives building which has been designed for the administration of France's Herault sub-region by Zaha Hadid Architects. It is to start on site in Montpellier at the end of this year. The building combines three civic...

IN BRIEF: Ingenious spirits.
October 6, 2006... RIBA East celebrates the winners of this year's Spirit of Ingenuity Architectural Awards 2006 at its awards ceremony today. Winners include Francis Weal & Partners, Freeland Rees Roberts Architects, Snell David Architects and Modece Architects....

IN BRIEF: Raised in red.
October 6, 2006... The building industry has raised #5,500 for Crash, the construction and property industry charity for the homeless. In a day dubbed "Red Friday", staff from construction companies wore red clothes to raise money for the homeless. Red Friday...

IN BRIEF: Cure for Coldeast.
October 6, 2006... English Partnerships has appointed Miller Homes to develop the Coldeast hospital site in Hampshire. Planning consent has been granted for 150 new homes, 25% of which will be affordable, on 9.7ha of the 46ha site. The developer has yet to...

Gehry Hove scheme gets more `wiggle'.
October 6, 2006... Marguerite Lazell Frank Gehry has redesigned his controversial King Alfred scheme in Hove to have "more of a wiggle factor". The fate of the new designs, which include taller towers but smaller buildings around the edge of the...

Farmhouse HQ for River Cottage.
October 6, 2006... Satellite Architects is behind these designs for celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's new River Cottage HQ at Park Farm, Devon. The practice will transform the existing, derelict grade II listed 17th century farmhouse that stands...

Birmingham skyscraper could signal high-rise era.(Brief article)
October 6, 2006... Tall buildings in Birmingham are set to reach new heights following a landmark planning decision last week. While jitters have emerged over skyscrapers in London (News September 29), Birmingham's design adviser Philip Singleton believes...

IN BRIEF: Hospital corners.
October 6, 2006... English Partnerships and English Heritage have appointed Linden Homes as preferred developer for the Fair Mile Hospital site in Cholsey, south Oxfordshire, into housing. The grade II listed hospital buildings will be retained. The project is...

IN BRIEF: Bridging the gap.
October 6, 2006... Tesco has submitted plans for a former MoD site next to Tolworth station in south-west London, to Kingston upon Thames council. The Bridge includes a Tesco store, 662 homes community facilities and a landmark green bridge. The development team...

IN BRIEF: Belfast masterplan.
October 6, 2006... Llewelyn Davies Yeang has been appointed by the Carvill Group to masterplan a high-density, housing-led mixed-use development at the former Sirocco Engineering factory site in central Belfast, across the river from the Waterfront Hall. The...

Private view.(commercial construction contracts)(Brief article)
October 6, 2006... The Avenue, designed by Sheppard Robson creative director Tim Evans, has become the latest building to win planning consent at Allied London's Spinningfields development in Manchester. The 3,700sq m building comprises a gallery, restaurant,...

Chartered scheme postponed.
October 6, 2006... RIBA defers launch by six months Ellen Bennett The RIBA has delayed the introduction of its hugely controversial chartered practice scheme by six months. The chartered practice scheme was due to replace the current registered...

PRP to join Piano at St Giles.(PRP Architects)(Brief article)
October 6, 2006... Housing specialist PRP has been drafted in to work with star architect Renzo Piano on a landmark development in central London. PRP is designing the private and affordable housing on St Giles Court for Stanhope and Legal & General. The...

IN BRIEF: Wight prizes.
October 6, 2006... The Isle of Wight has launched its first bi-annual Design Awards, to improve the island's built environment. It will feature six categories including Restoration of a Historic Building, and Best IoW Home. Nominations must be in by the end of...

IN BRIEF: College timetable.(expansion of colleges)(Brief article)
October 6, 2006... Pick Everard is to design an #8 million expansion of Wyggeston & Queen Elizabeth I College in Leicester. It will feature a new 2,700sq m arts and business building and refurbishment of the existing 1930s building's science wing. Work is set to...

IN BRIEF: Steel prize.
October 6, 2006... Living Steel is to hold a second International Architecture Competition for Sustainable Housing. Architects are invited to submit new concepts for residential buildings in Brazil, China and the UK by January 12. Each location has a prize of...

Cabe knocks fail to dent Cube.
October 6, 2006... Marguerite Lazell Ken Shuttleworth's landmark Birmingham development, Cube at the Mailbox, received planning despite mixed comments from a Cabe design review, it emerged this week. The city council consulted Cabe about plans for the...

Over the border.(CF M+ller Architects to design skyscraper)(Brief article)
October 6, 2006... Danish architects may be hampered by a restrictive high-rise policy in Copenhagen, but on the other side of the 16km long >resund Bridge in Malmo, Sweden, CF M+ller Architects has won a competition to design the town's second skyscraper. ...

Polish body complains to Arb about accreditation.(Polish Chamber of Architects )(Brief article)
October 6, 2006... The Polish Chamber of Architects has written to Arb to complain about its treatment of part-qualified Polish architects in the UK. Tomasz Taczewski, president of the organisation, which regulates architects in Poland, told the Arb its...

North-east: Switched on.(Xsite Architecture designs for four-storey office building)(Brief article)
October 6, 2006... Newcastle-based Xsite Architecture has designed a 2,800sq m, four- storey office building as centrepiece of Middlesbrough's DigitalCity development. A detailed planning application is yet to be submitted for the #7.5 million Digital Enterprise...

North-east: On the right path.(Xsite Architecture to construct housing market)(Brief article)
October 6, 2006... Xsite Architecture's Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder project in Newcastle Gateshead will go on site at the end of October. The first phase of the Walker Riverside scheme will cost #500,000 and will provide four single-storey dwellings and...

North-east: Ready for curtain-up.
October 6, 2006... The first phase of refurbishment for the Theatre Royal in Newcastle upon Tyne is nearing completion. Napper Architects' design for the #5.5 million project involved adapting, extending and remodelling the grade I listed building. The theatre...

North-east: Back to school.
October 6, 2006... Development of the Bridgewater Primary School in Newcastle, designed by Napper Architects, has been completed as part of a regeneration scheme of the Scotswood area, which is to host Newcastle's housing Expo in 2010. The #2.4 million "early...

North-east: Working at home.(Jane Darbyshire & David Kendall Architects )(Brief article)
October 6, 2006... Jane Darbyshire & David Kendall Architects is working on a scheme that allows residents of a grade II listed building the chance to build their own homes. The architects are working in collaboration with Lumsden & Carroll civil engineering...

North-east: Mine host.
October 6, 2006... RMJM Architects has completed work on a listed colliery site in Ashington, Northumberland. The #16 million redevelopment of the Woodhorn building will open in late October and will act as visitor attraction with a museum section. ...

North-east: Regs talk.
October 6, 2006... An RIBA seminar on building regulations and approved documents will discuss changes to and enforcement of building regulations. Joe Campion, technical manager for BYL Training, will speak at the event at The New Lounge, Durham County Cricket...

New twist in saga of Stonehenge visitor centre.(Denton Corker Marshall to build d vistor centre for Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England)(Brief article)
October 6, 2006... James Rose English Heritage's tortuous struggle for a new visitor centre at Stonehenge descended into farce last week when it withdrew its approved planning application for a #65 million scheme by Denton Corker Marshall. The...

Founder members sought for Green Building Council.(Brief article)
October 6, 2006... The UK's Green Building Council is about to be formally launched - and founder members are being sought. David Strong, the BRE's managing director (environment), issued a rallying cry to the industry at last week's Resource 06 conference,...

ANALYSIS: A new face for London.(Peter Bishop wants to engage public debate)
October 6, 2006... As London's first design director, Peter Bishop wants to engage public debate over the way the city looks and works. EllenBennett reports "In five years time, I would like to see a really great debate happening across the city - not just...

LETTER: Suburban or urban - it's one debate.(Letter to the editor)
October 6, 2006... Matt Bell,director of campaigns and education, Cabe As everyone piles into the great suburban debate (News September 29), it's worth a quick reality check. The prosaic challenge of suburban development is that it's usually piecemeal...

LETTER: Cut the crap.(Letter to the editor)
October 6, 2006... Sean Griffiths, Fat Why does everyone get their knickers in a twist whenever the suggestion emerges that suburbs might work as environments for people to live in? (News September 29). Yes, most suburban developments are "crap", but so, in...

LETTER: It's unsustainable.(Letter to the editor)
October 6, 2006... Graham Towers, Brighton Jon Rouse (News September 29) is wide of the mark in his comments in praise of suburbia: Suburbia may well have been the dominant aspiration for much of the last century, but that is no reason to build more -...

LETTER: Scrap the scheme.(Letter to the editor)
October 6, 2006... Tom Jestico, London The RIBA has postponed its chartered practice scheme by six months to allow practices more time to prepare for its requirements. It has pledged that the scheme's cost will not fall on the membership but will be...

LETTER: Keeping a distance.(Letter to the editor)
October 6, 2006... Suki Jhheent, Reading We have the first ethnic minority president of the RIBA and he has rejected the idea of becoming a role model for others of his ethnic background (News September 22). Has Prasad taken leave of his senses? Does he...

LETTER: Misplaced blame.(Letter to the editor)
October 6, 2006... Chris Darling, Darling Associates In my letter published in BD September 22, I expressed concerns I have since discovered to be entirely untrue, concerning the selection of an architect for a project that our practice was keen to secure....

LETTER: A lot of hot air?(Letter to the editor)
October 6, 2006... Michael Badu, Norwich It would be useful to know from people like Nicky Gavron (Soapbox September 15) who are in the position of instituting policy with regards to carbon emissions, whether or not they have any idea if their proposals will...

LETTER: Making a splash.(Letter to the editor)
October 6, 2006... Gerry Harrison, London I write as a former councillor in the London Borough of Camden, about a local building, Kentish Town Baths. This beautiful grade II building, designed by Thomas Aldwinckle and opened in 1901, has been under various...

Editorial: Amanda Baillieu - Carbon allowances are a fair solution.(Editorial)
October 6, 2006... It is not only the Conservatives who are facing difficulties reconciling a green agenda with cheap airfares. While the party faithful rejected the motion that cheap flights were "a false economy", the RIBA is doing its own soul-searching....

Soapbox: George Ferguson - What we must learn from Copenhagen.
October 6, 2006... Copenhagen has its share of yobs, drugs and drinking culture but is blessed with being a gentler and more tolerant city than many of its European counterparts - and much more so than some of our own metropolitan centres and "uburbs". It has the...

FOCUS: A place for Maputo's children.
October 6, 2006... Architects for Aid has been dispatching architects to some of the world's most embattled places to assist with disaster relief and reconstruction. Zoae Blackler travelled to Mozambique to report on a project to build a brighter future for the...

How Architects for Aid is helping.
October 6, 2006... Architects for Aid was set up 18 months ago by architect and broadcaster Maxwell Hutchinson, after a close shave during the Asian tsunami. Convinced that architects had much to offer during disaster relief and reconstruction, he founded the...

WORKS: Return of the Bloomsbury set.(Brunswick Centre remodelling contract)
October 6, 2006... Now that the Brunswick Centre's winter gardens, concrete walkways and shops have been remodelled by the original architect, Patrick Hodgkinson, with Levitt Bernstein, this modernist icon is ready to face a new era, says James R Payne The...

WORKS - Centre stages: the Brunswick story.(Calendar)
October 6, 2006... 1960 Foundling Project developed by architect Patrick Hodgkinson. 1964 Designs presented. The client is Marchmont Properties, with Robert McAlpine's building firm as financier. 1965 Camden signs 99-year lease on the...

SOLUTIONS: How we cracked it.
October 6, 2006... The challenge: To create a naturally lit, quiet courtroom despite frequent low-flying aircraft The solution: Installing vertical secondary glazing to the rooflight with a 500mm air gap Client: Defence Estates Architect: Hemingway...

`Try converting your loft'.
October 6, 2006... Mark Elton, associate director, ECD Architects Converting the loft is actually one of the best ways of making a Victorian house energy efficient, and it increases the value of the house. We recently converted the loft on our two-storey...

CULTURE: Zaha at the RIBA.
October 6, 2006... Winner of the Jencks Award 2006 for contribution to theory and practice in architecture, Zaha Hadid discusses her work in an event chaired by Charles Jencks. October 10, 6.30pm, at the RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London. Tel: 020 7580 5533. ...

CULTURE: Egashira exhibition.
October 6, 2006... Ten years of summer workshops held in Japan by AA unit master Shin Egashira are portrayed in the exhibition Before Object, after Image, 1996-2006 Kawanishi Landscape, October 9-November 1, AA Gallery, 36 Bedford Square, London. Tel: 020 7887...

CULTURE: London on screen.
October 6, 2006... Four short films on London by Nigel Coates, Tom Dixon, Naomi Cleaver and Jefferson Hack are being screened in the Architecture Foundation exhibition Nokia Perspectives of London, until October 21, Yard Gallery, 49 Old Street, London. Tel: 020...

CULTURE: There's something in the woods.
October 6, 2006... A new book shows how conservative New Canaan became a showcase of modernism, writes Neil Jackson Let me start by saying what I don't like about the new book The Harvard Five in New Canaan. The title is disingenuous; this book is not about...

Culture vulture: Alan Pert.(Interview)
October 6, 2006... How would you spend the day indulging in cultural pursuits? My day would require Glasgow Central Station and Alexanderplatz to share the same rail line. It would start with my weekend trip to the Barras market in Glasgow, which I would...

Worlds turned upside down.(Richard Wilson's architectural work exhibitions)
October 6, 2006... Richard Wilson disrupts all he touches, says Pamela Buxton Probably best-known for filling a gallery full of sump oil back in 1987 and often compared with Gordon Matta-Clark, Richard Wilson is one of the more architecturally oriented of...

Cabe chief wins 19% pay rise.
October 13, 2006... Documents released by the cabinet office reveal that Cabe's chief executive Richard Simmons received a 19% pay increase -more than seven times the rate of inflation - to earn in excess of #132,000 in salary, bonus and pension contributions in...

Parks face funding threat.(funding for the construction of new parks)
October 13, 2006... Report warning over upkeep of green space as council drops phase two of Northala Fields Will Hurst One of the UK's biggest new parks is set to degenerate into a "haven for undesirables," critics claimed this week when the local...

Five young architects shortlisted for 2006 YAYA.
October 13, 2006... The five practices shortlisted for the 2006 Young Architect of the Year Award were announced last Thursday. Featherstone Associates, IJP Corporation, Mangera Yvars Architects, Nord and Urban Salon are competing for the prestigious award,...

IN BRIEF: Masterplan for Brent Cross.(Allies & Morrison to design for Brent Cross)(Brief article)
October 13, 2006... Allies & Morrison has been appointed to design a massive 101ha masterplan for Brent Cross, to include 7,500 new homes. The development for the Brent Cross Cricklewood Development Partners, will also include a new Brent Cross shopping centre,...

IN BRIEF: Refurbishment of tower in Broad Street.(Fletcher Priest Architects)(Brief article)
October 13, 2006... Fletcher Priest has won planning permission for the refurbishment of a 15-storey tower in Broad Street, for Land Securities. Three storeys will be added to the building and it will be reclad in glass. Work is due to start on site early next...

IN BRIEF: Science Center bookies favourite to win Stirling Prize.
October 13, 2006... Zaha Hadid's Phaeno Science Center in Germany was the bookie's favourite to win the Stirling Prize. At the time of going to press, William Hill was giving odds of 6-4 on architecture's first lady scooping the #20,000 award. Copyright: CMP...

IN BRIEF: Thames Gateway scheme refused planning permission.
October 13, 2006... George Wimpey has lost a planning appeal for a Thames Gateway scheme featuring designs by Ian Ritchie Architects and Barton Willmore. Communities secretary Ruth Kelly refused planning permission for the scheme at Cory's Wharf in Thurrock,...

Hopkins favourite for Chiswick House work.(Hopkins Architects )(Brief article)
October 13, 2006... Marguerite Lazell English Heritage interviewed Hopkins Architects and five other shortlisted contenders for the hugely controversial extension and regeneration of Chiswick House and Gardens last week. Allies & Morrison has dropped out...

BRE backs Rouse on suburban expansion.
October 13, 2006... The Building Research Establishment this week added its voice to growing calls for a government rethink on suburbs and the inner city. Principal consultant David Butler raised "major" concerns over the technical performance of new housing...

IN BRIEF: New chair of Northern Architecture.(Tom Macartney appointed as chairperson)(Brief article)
October 13, 2006... Tom Macartney has been appointed as the new chair of Northern Architecture, the architecture centre for the North-east. The chief executive of Sunderland Arc replaces outgoing chair Tim Bailey, of Xsite Architecture. Macartney kicked his tenure...

IN BRIEF: RIBA conference in Venice.
October 13, 2006... Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, Stefan Behnisch and Massimiliano Fuksas have all been signed up to speak at the RIBA conference in Venice at the end of the month. Some tickets are still available, priced at #399 plus VAT. See www.architecture.com...

IN BRIEF: Construction and Women report.
October 13, 2006... The construction profession should learn how to attract women from medicine, accountancy and the media, according to research being undertaken by Salford University. The Construction and Women report, which focuses on the North-west, will look...

It's all academic.(Brief article)
October 13, 2006... Conservative leader David Cameron pledged his support to prime minister Tony Blair's city academy scheme this week as he opened the latest school by Foster & Partners, the London Academy in Edgware. Cameron said the academies programme,...

Liverpool's status in danger.
October 13, 2006... Unesco to consider whether city retains World Heritage status, following concern over new developments James Rose Liverpool could be stripped of its World Heritage status just 14 months before it is due to become Europe's Capital of...

HOK team is favourite for Olympic stadium.
October 13, 2006... HOK with Robert McAlpine and Buro Happold were tipped as the hot favourites to land the prestigious contract for the Olympic stadium this week, with insiders claiming the consortium was the only serious contender. The consortium, which...

Play it again, Frank.(Frank Gehry gets approval for his designs)(Brief article)
October 13, 2006... Brighton & Hove Council's Policy & Resources Committee gave the go- ahead to Frank Gehry's controversial King Alfred scheme last week. The architect reworked his designs in response to comments from Cabe and English Heritage, increasing the...