17 10 310 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/891b18c59342473a2dcbd04431910aad.pdf 84992e22ad46e3462389e103469792d5 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Professional Issues Description An account of the resource A cohort of NAM members became engaged with the professional registration body, standing as elected councillors on the Architects Registration Council and its various committees. Hitherto entirely dominated by the RIBA bloc, the Council began to yield to a new dynamic through NAM's involvement, enabling fresh perspectives on such issues as mandatory fee scales, greater lay representation on the body, ethically-based standards of professional conduct, etc. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Hand written response listing future procedures incl that ARCUK is not a NAM group and members are elected to serve 2 terms only Description An account of the resource Re : Naw /Wrnaltasta bepresotalovec on ARCUK. hje ave as carcemad aloout hig aS you ate and hast had nwbrous odintusi eS a VE Cubyect . / ane y )Hat Some The Ploviaus aren fhOM daletySiegSee 127)Eee ‘ Donkejee i ite! “Gis Fula ana) telafineshep bolweem te tatasextalosesof UnattahANaCdE. oe MamandaayPratce~ spokeYoYouabeutthy okay atcue Mas te my te froaulale a commer Space, uct, wth Jan Yodoubt you unt{have hadtac’reactionabssad MawLipmanaolFebHalle.have headytbledCEM te views expressed Ann. We hove net yt had a sebby to Q Cradfetn.fer kinThorpeov lanTeal. 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Alar Dolan Phubbs (ut AAA rmstey Gated. te hare eae Jour St-conehy, Gehe Mlan tana foes Tom bella Seen, too tht Het dy wo Ketel eof Luotred, Wl et “Cardiffao 124 great pily (Eat dire have net hao mot, Pertoucty Bore 15 Some pralelin. ertucl wot should Nee Hrg Howivey ase hace not lecht NAM 0 tunalteched Mp? ‘Sulomurelen Ma ee > e (nner Group Hecho bunbriteetThagWan)bo®&havaou Covell)pnpioale ( Wlahashiypof Mat to te ARCLIL MpSali From: ul lam,AnneDelomey Town rete ; boay Wennan , z ,TorManey, DawidPebuele., 25 Yoly 7B Re Nata/Unattached Mprecntalortoom#RCUK, Thats fyyourletey+ | erleng Kewletianthy hla RGR GEhermace EN Baan, oe Mandndesy Prat eb Spoke10 You abeut thy ay May,andct ae le oe He a obadt ttn hen.Tempe v pout,wthSanModoubtYouvnt{haveOsi ce alii wheanty flied vodiridiv eS oe eae lanTet.Seneca ocantWy ots) wteue MAs fe ty te (feonulale a conmar spate, Mlationstip of tha polcvp pbs. to Nand Re ame 0S cancemed about this aS you ate and have had Mw AincussypSonUecubpect.fouane anand fri pan ple that some of the Ploiaus Yyeays eck eet a a ac Nhs dec GrowpS, fa Groups should nawmalt Candiclalea. whoarenoteae ifanoyfting Viduimetid '. Theae should de fr otha, beable. Untretunalely , gue ts lack LidsSel(lallaahheniles ergale ps notproveperouble. J ne eaten Coy vows of tha rlbatinshh of Whe We Agcuic Scloust VD etGrea jntleunytentPOSov em havea Cudley Clackale fea. VX, enismeleay bitehSecsgpoticlintGANAe mareAbcn,daroewnalni,to i aoe SataSeefv2Ceatlea f tae =a Yo ytay,” Jn fim oft. es BAcoum tact ygay. Veaanibiave! de)olaceughy ai anmesayee awalter, pd ey eleelo Ut,Bea Ger cel eae Prrcdele ‘str portant . kolydhasy4es)weeseres Chckjnwnrf1&onturtd AAOuvRLer,4¢HatsenceNAicbMasedan Ubman, EA de Mlaw Dolosn Phuéps witluo viene Curt Med “ (eS aif ; u Eg foIL .y c : Deeo — think, Het leGroupFoun prope tx ioral nets ol Oy b ie are ete fo greatpaly(kot We have nethal mitt, Ann Hore5 Some ertwitcshokwtld whe, line bie welcome fov rung of Mey <pontnnt ifsie anes! wey se bare net NAM comptes —tha tote ae wmattachesl ee Ages icerasea Heea0taseeeear (een ae tnRber Grom) ech ean 7 ; buapTirgihantdabonKRthavaouyCovoll) pompeoabe ~ thebabinas fpof MRA to Ke MRevie eps lun an pullyan firraiieleerfrre U2next,Co-guss (eee Mla ee Tee Tom bicolley - Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource John Murray Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Murray Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 04/04/1978 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/508efbdd7948ae2e322616fdba4b3b60.pdf d61a52c560d42596917a96f50a1e2f99 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource A National Design Service Doc 1 Subject The topic of the resource Paper presented by John Murray to the first NAM Congress at Harrogate 21-23 November 1975 as requested by Brian Anson Description An account of the resource 1.0 Introduction A NATIONAL DESIGN SERVICE Paper No 2. May 1976 At the Harrogate Conference last November we called for a National Design Service which would meet the right of everyone to exercise control over the buildings which surround them and in which they live and work. This is a right denied in part or in total to most people in this country. We saw that the present system of patronage is such that 80% of the population have no real control over what is built, where it is built, and who uses it. They must adapt to an environment which is imposed upon them, at best through a system of spurious choices, and usually not even that. Architectsworking arrangements are similarly affected. Larger and thus fewer practices are required to handle the big jobs. At present 36% of medium and large private practices carry out 81% of the work. These same offices employ 82% of increasingly frustrated salaried architects. The bigger the jobs, the greater the profit, so it is not surprising that the principal dominated RIBA, while commisera- ting on the ‘crisis’ in architecture, looks everywhere for the answer except towards the real cause - a system of public and private patronage, inwhichinitial access and subsequent control is severely limited. The remedy for this will not be architectural. It will only be achieved when society's values change. Within the present economic system it appears to us that it is only through the state that the majority of people can gainetheir. right= ful access to the resources necessary to have control over their environment. In our opinion therefore, the existing service provided by local government offices, provides, albeit in a very limited and unsatis- factory manner, the basis of a national design service. We recog- nise that to achieve our aim, the present power structures must be radically changed. Nevertheless we shall press for a freely avail- able national design service in the form of decentralised local government offices, coupled to local accountability and control. The patrons, a minority of rich and powerful organisations and indi- viduals effectively control the direction of architecture. The design and type of buildings reflect their structure and values. The tendency for these organisations to grow larger by incorporating smaller and weaker ones, results in fewer and fewer patrons commi= ssioning bigger and bigger buildings. The purpose of this paper is to examine the present processes at work in each case of current architectural patronage and to try to draw out factors which will help to clarify both the kind of service which would be désirable and the means by which that might be achieved. 2.0 SYMPTOMS AND CAUSES 2.1 Curing symptoms From school of architecture onwards architects are conditioned to accept the context in which they work, and to look for the solu-. tions to the problems of architecture in the symptons of the malaise. After all, anything more searching would involve questioning the status quo. So the architectural establishment, the schools, the RIBA and the magazines have elevated physical form to the position where it is widely accepted that bad design is at the root of all architecture problems. The contention is, of course, that universal good design would solve everything. This preoccupation with form has led us to view in their time, structural expression, modular coordination, prefabrication, rationalised traditional and so on, as the panacea for all ills. Now energy conservation is being dressed up for this exacting role. To all of these we are.told, must be added the ingredient of creati- vity. Improving the ideas of others is not accepted as valid in this concept -— even though we know that the various elements jn the Parthenon had been around for centuries before the architect put them together ina particular way. He wasn't asked to invent them. Creation has come to mean innovation — and in a substantial way and from scratch. But to innovate is to experiment with the people who will use our buildings. As we do not know who these people are, there is a tendency for the large buildings created for their use to be anonymous also. This is where innovation comes in, where we use a variety of devices to add visual interest. The result is always false and frequently foolish as well. In this respect schemes like Park- hill in Sheffield are at least a more honourable expression of the brief than those produced by people like Darbourne and Darke who, to the delight of the magazines, attempt to conceal the monolithic -nature of the brief by the use of complicated and arbitary forms. The latest "answer" as per participation in Bykker, looks suspi- ciously like yet another attempt to fool the working class. Without the demand and feedback from the users, all designs are carried out in a vacuum, and it is naive to look for a new archi- 3.0 LAND tecture in the means of construction and form, while ignoring the basic issue of patronage. ‘The designs which we create reflect precisely the values and aspira- tions of the patron and John Berger has described how this has been true - with one or two exceptions —- of art throughout history. We believe that there will only be a new architecture when the patronage base is radically extended to enable the majority of people to control the design of their environment. 2.2 Examining the Causes Money and land are necessary prerequisites of architectural patron- age, but the ability to raise and control finance is the key aspect and the basis of all patronage, for it enables the patron to gain control over land. Clearly in our society, only the state and a minority of private organisations and individuals can hope to be in this position, and the distribution is 40% by value private and 60% by value public architectural patronage. We should have a clear understanding of the present system, if we are to discover where advances can be made towards‘a more equitable distribution of patronage in the short term, and a complete redis-— tribution in the long term. The next three sections discuss briefly the role of land ownership, the link between control of resources and control of architecture, and the resulting effect on design, architectural practice and the relationships between user and architect. The last official comprehensive register of all land holdings in this’country was produced in 1874. Today there is no official register of private land holdings and all attempts to create one have been systematically blocked in Parliament. From this we can perhaps deduce that the majority of land is in private ownership. While we do not know-the average division of land between private and public ownership, we do know that in working class communities the proportion of publicly owned land is very high; as high as 80% for example, in-parts of the East End of London. Although the ownership of land is a necessary prerequisite of archi- tectural patronage clearly the converse is not true, as most owner occupiers have no direct contact or control over architects services. Land takes its value not only from its present use but also from its potential use, and it is at its most expensive under the pressure of competing useS5 as in city centres. The use to which the land is put is dictated by the profitability of the use; hence prime sites are taken by those activities which yield the highest profits. Although the free market in land is tempered somewhat nowadays by the local planning authority, this intervention in itself results in changes in land values. Because private profit is the motive underlying the free market in land, working people cannot penetrate this market far less control it, except through the medium of the state. But the inadequacies of public finance quite often results in cheap and unsuitable sites being bought for public use, and the need to optimise even this, leads to gross over:use. High densities are therefore accepted as the norm for public housing, giving rise to balcony access and other manifestations virtually unknown in the private sector. Under the present system of land ownership this is unlikely.to change. 4.0 PRIVATE PATRONAGE The building sector financed by private patronage falls into three broad sectors — Industrial, Commercial and private housing. This work accounts for around 63% by value of all commissions undertaken by private practice. h.|) The Patrons The major patrons are those companies and individuals who control these sectors. Financial institutions now own controlling. share- holdings in British companies and through their executives and directors dictate the patterns of investment throughout the economy. These are the main private patrons of architecture, and although private individuals exercise patronage, the value is minute in comparison. 4.2 Reasons for Patronage 4.3 Affect on Architecture The architecture will reflect the directness of the relationship between profit and the building. So if the activity yields the profit, as in industry say, then the building is required merely to house the activity, and little in the way of cosmetics are applied beyond that which is necessary to satisfy the Health and Safety at Work Act and the Planning Officer. 4.4 User Control of Design? Capital in any company is accumulated by profit. On the basis of its profitability, shares in it are also bought through the money market, which together finance further development with a view to creating further profit. The money market determines into which sectors resources should flow to gain the greatest return. On the other hand, speculative housing and office development, are in themselves the means of achieving profit. Sufficient money wil] therefore be directed into the appearance, commensurate always with the market for which it is aimed. Where it is more profitable, the patrons will elect to build their own offices, which will fulfil the dual function of housing their activities and presenting the required public image. The Commer-— cial Union Building is therefore designed to create an aura of prestige, restrained good taste, wealth and stability, while con- cealing the rather squalid nature of its source of wealth. It ful- fils this function admirably. Real user control over the design is achieved when the architect is designing private villas for the directors. In other instances those same directors and executives wi 1] certainly control the design process of a new office or factory but they will almost invariably be absentee clients. Where they are not they will be well insulated from reality in the penthouse, surrounded by solar reflecting glass and Barcelona.chairs. Money will therefore only be put into buildings in the first place if that is, or will lead to, the most profitable way of using the money. The type of development, whether industrial, commercial or private housing will be chosen according to the same logic. The workers on the shop floor or in the offices, on the other hand, are still unable to control the design of their environment, (although it is in the interests of the more enlightened manage- ments to indulge in participation) even although that design, as in the case of open plan offices, is a direct function of decisions to change working methods to increase productivity. There is no element of user control in speculative housing either. 62% of this market is designed by private practice but architects and users never meet. Although people who are able to buy into this market gain a certain amount of control through choice, the choice is initially limited by income and location, and further limited in terms of accommodation and design. . These have more to do with the developer's profit margins than the buyer's real needs. But the relationship between house prices and earnings is so organ- ised as to exclude half the population and in some working class areas, over three quarters. Ina free market house prices wil] always be out of reach of the majority of the working class. Any- one who doubts this should consider what £60 per week buys in the London housing market and remember that many people earn a lot less than this. 4.5 Public Accountability? The executives who control the building design are responsible only to their shareholders. Their job is to ensure maximum return on investment. The public good does not feature in this equation - nor can it. The people affected by private buildings have no control over the developer's actions other than indirectly through Planning Control. Even where the Planning Officers. do profess to have some regard for the ethic of public service, they will be in conflict with, and wil] often be overridden by the local political requirement for rate income. The argument is that the interests of the public as a whole takes precedence over the interests of a few local people, no matter how disastrous the effect on their lives may be.. Planning Control has failed too often in these situations in the past for us to have any confidence in its ability to safeguard the public interest. Private practice in turn is not accountable to the community affected by its designs. Not only is the partners' liability to the client, but the practice is also dependent on the client finan- cially. Not surprisingly therefore, private practice rarely opposes the client's demands. 4.6 Conclusion. Control over design cannot be separated from control over resources. In the private sector these resources are controlled by a minority - formerly rich individuals, now the representatives of giant instit— utions. The Private patron of architecture adopts this role solely to create more wealth, and is not accountable in any meaningful way to the people affected by his buildings. -Simi larly, Private prac- tice is in business to service these interests. Under a system of private patronage the needs of working people will be in conflict with the dictates of the client. Profit sharing and cooperative working arrangements may increase the material well being of the salaried architect but they will not altar this basic fact. 5.0 PUBLIC PATRONAGE: Public patronage of architecture comes through the central state, the nationalised industries, but in the main through local authori- ties. Jt accounts for all the work produced by public sector architects, and 37% of work by value of private practice. In total the state is responsible for 60% of the Building industry's annual turnover. 5.1 Reasons for State Patronage. It has often been argued before that the state fulfils two basic functions. The first is to try to promote or maintain the condi- tions in which economic growth is both possible and profitable for ‘the private sector. Secondly the state trys to maintain and pro- mote the conditions for social harmony, and make the existing social order seem acceptable. Both factors are at work when the state finances building. On the one hand, the state must intervene in the arena previously described, to provide enough housing, hospitals and schools to prevent the population from becoming restless. On the other hand, a well housed, healthy and reasonably educated working class are necessary if economic growth is to be achieved and sustained. The main, organ of this system of control is the local Authority. 5.2 Local Authority Finance: The largest part of local Authority finance is in the form of central government grants. A much smaller proportion comes from rates. The services provided from these funds, constitutes the return we. get on taxes and rates paid by us the public. Pressure to hold down rates and taxes results in a short fall of finance, and local authorities are forced to resort to the private money market to make up the difference. This is a very lucrative business for the private money lenders, to the extent that 1/3 of the housing expenditures of an Inner London Borough goes into paying back interest to the finance companies. 5.3 Control over Resources The directness of the flow of resources to the state is in inverse proportion to the extent to which the public are able to control, or even understand the mechanism for producing what we have paid for, local authorities are the local arm of the central state, and are obliged by law to carry out central policies, whether or not local politicians believe that these are in the interests of their constituents. All public resources are therefore controlled from the centre through grants, approvals and regulating machinery such as cost allowances and Housing Yardsticks. 5.4 User Control of Design? Control of architectural patronage at local authority level is exercised by the relevant spending committee, a large part of that power being wielded by the committee Chairman. The committee Chairmen are serviced by their departmental chief officer whose advice is backed up by arguments prepared bya large team of specialists. In the face of this formidable array it is little wonder that the full council can do little more than rubber stamp committee decisions, and that even ward councillors are unable to play an active role in controlling services to the people they represent, let alone the users themselves. Except, for example, where a head teacher is involved in the design of a replacement school, there are few other opportunities for the user to gain control over the design. It is a system in which a certain product is demanded of individual architects in return for continued employ ment. The product is imposed or "sold" to local groups by a poli- tical leadership which has no doubt as to where "participation" begins and ends. Whatever the source, the public pays it eventually, either through increased taxes, rates and charges, or by the reduction in services for which we thought we had already paid — witness the present expenditure cuts. 5.5 Design We are only too familiar with the effect which scarce, minimum re- sources and the lack of user control has on the buildings. Whi le there is just not enough money, the design decisions which have to be made by the architect in the absence of user instructions, un=- doubtedly.mean that what money there is will often be allocated wrongly. 5.6 Public Accountability of the Architect? The local authority departments - education, housing, social services, architecture etc. are concerned with the provision of city wide services and by and large they treat the city as a whole. Sectional interests, whether of wards or of classes of people are generally subordinated to those of the. general population. 5.7 Conclusion. . Centralised offices follow naturally from this city wide view, the departmental chief officers are accountable to the Counci| via the Chairman of the relevant committee, and a hierarchal pyramidal structure must follow. The individual job architect who actually produces the work is responsible to the Chief Officer through a series of steps in the hierachy. The chain of accountability of job architect to user is through: group architect, principal architect, Chief architect, spending department chief officer, committee chairman, committee, ward councillor, User. Seven steps between architect and user. Those steps are so immovable and con= cerned with prestige,screening and face saving operations that in practice the local authority jobs architect is not accountable to the user at all. The changes which are necessary to convert this monolithic structure into a freely available and locally controlled National Design Service are substantial indeed. However, in setting out the ills and authoritarian practice of government structures it is important not to lose sight of the more fundamental fact that these structures directly or. through grants supply the resources, and buy the land necessary to meet basic — social requirements. It is not possible for people to demand control over the design of buildings if there are no resources to build them. The relevance of public resources to the question of control is seen most clearly in housing. In old working class communities up and down the country there are millions of people living in clearance areas in which badly built spec housing of the last century has rotted for decades. Housing which needs redeve=~ lopment not rehabilitation. The long-term cuts in public spending in order to make good the lack of private investment in the economy mean that people in these areas are faced with the fact that re= sources for new homes is not to be made available. These areas have become marginal, peripheral and in the end expendable. Patched up rehab. is what people will be offered alongside increasingly under maintained existing counci|] developments. 6.0 ALTERNATIVES The third area of patronage is interesting in terms of the poten- tial for raising expectations of what can be possible in the way of alternative practice. 6.1 Source of Finance: In the private sector it includes grants from developers like Wates to Assist or the Ealing project andtrust funds of one kind or another to enable the provision of special buildings and services. Such sources of finance usually ultimately rest upon less than respectable activities and hence the importance of philanthropic gestures to buy an honest and respectable image. This is not an argument against pursuing such funds; merely a reminder that such grants are only renewable insofar as they fulfil this hidden motive. They usually dry up when they fail to do so. 6.2 Control of Finance: The source of finance is provided throughadiverse range of public and private grants which to varying degrees cover land, design and development costs. Grants from public sources include H.A.A.'s, GIA's, Housing Associations via the Housing Corporation and possibly Urban Aid in resourcing community design services. But once secured they often create considerable discretionary power over handling such resources, within the overall terms of the grant. This power is expressed in the growth of resident=controleld housing associations which employ technical services on their own terms. This is by no means general. Local Authority controlled H.A.A.'s usually strictly limit the role of residents and on the other hand many Housing. Associations are merely private practices masquerading in disguise. Control of their activities by local residents. is not on their agenda either. Lfwebelievethatcompetenceandqualityareintegrallytied-up with who controls the process, then it should also give rise to designs which are welcomed and liked. 6.3 User Control and Local Accountability: But because of the facility for innovation there is scope for change in the traditional pattern of patronage. It is possible for the resident organisation which controls and manages the resources to be both client and user.. In employing the services of an architect there is no ambiguity about accountability. Where resources are controlled via the 'professionals' a serious attempt to place such structures in aposition of accountability to a locally controlled Management Committee can be innovatory. However a major drawback is the same as that which arises when work is done on a voluntary basis. Real power rests on being able to change your designer if you don't like them. Limited access to alternative source of such skills distorts the relationship on either side. 6.4 Practice Structures: The further by-product which ‘alternative projects' can create is in the office structure. Hierarchal power structures normal to private and public offices can be replaced by collective authority:| and cooperative working relationships. A further choice is to work for a reasonable salary turning the excess fees over to the public interest, rather than merely extending the sharing of excess profits. C ONC LUS |ONS This summary of the three ways in which architectural patronage is exercised provides the foundation for a more realistic discussion of what strategies can be employed to begin to lay the basis for a national design service within the real control of ordinary working people. — Local Authority Services Local] Authorities are clearly, centrally important as the main structure through which people can exert demands and gain the necessary access to land and resources created by taxation and rates, They are also equally important structures of authoritarian social control which cannot afford and have no intention of giving © away power to the grassroots. In principle, local authorities are structures which cannot be radically changed in our present society —- of that we should have no illusions. However, as the lowest tier of government they are not only necessary from above but are also susceptible to the threats of vigorous pressure from below. In our view we must campaign to support the demands of those local groups, who represent the interests of future users, and who cal] for a direct relationship of control over local authority architects delegated to design peoples future homes etc. - control which “extends to rejection of unsatisfactory proposals. Such a demand will inevitably be strongly opposed and in NAM we need a strategy which can help sympathetic architects to organise inside local authorities, to demand direct accountability to users and the creation of small locally based offices. To protect individuals, we need to secure the support of public service unions and UCCAT for the principle of this demand. Alternative Initiatives: No-one who has worked in a local authority can listen to talk of changing Local Authorities without asinking heart! This leads on to the second conclusion, which is that one of the best ways to raise expectations of what people's real rights over design are, is to increase the number and range of alternative short-term initia- tives. Where they are successful in winning public support they can be used as practical examples to pressurize local: councils into incorpora- -ting changes. More widely, we must never ignore the basic fact that small scale alternatives are based on the limited sponsorship of private or public sources of finance which can usually only meet the demands of a small number of specific groups of people. But they can offer the means to work and demonstrate how local groups and neighbourhoods can effectively extend control over decisions and resources effecting peoples lives. Local design centres which place themselves in a formal relationship of accountability to the community have a contribution to make in this process. We need a strategy for pursuing sponsorship of such initiatives. These two major conclusions and the way they should be carried forward are suggested as the basis of discussion. What does this imply in terms of a national design service? Local Authorities already control.a national structure of public sector architects. Do we wish to or change this existing structure or provide a parallel service? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource John Murray Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Murray Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Nov 1975 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/ba391f8919d0a15ac4a7eec125c88376.pdf 0b9668d8db15913b91de7eceb545aa68 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource NDS Group Subject The topic of the resource Names and Addresses of NDS Group (plus others) Description An account of the resource Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource John Murray Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Murray Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource December 1977 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/285e9ac1768e57ff6fab557d6157b33c.pdf c81de158ad0d65bd0d288822b559e41b Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Background Subject The topic of the resource Following the Hull Congress in 1977, it was considered that a more concentrated programme of research and action was required and an enlarged NDS Group evolved into the Public Design Group mandated to present their developed proposals at a conference next year Description An account of the resource Batkground At i ts Hul l Congress in November 1977, the New Archi tecture Movement decided to develop further i ts pol icies relating to the publ ic sector. NAM I s interest in this field had already been establ i shed at our fi rst Congress in Harrogate in 1975 when the idea of a National Design Service was put forward. The National Design Service (NDS) proposals, based on a cri tique of architectural patronage, argued for a local ly based design service di rectly accountable to tenants and users. I t was suggested that Local Authority departments of archi tecture could provide the basis for such a service. Discussions on the NDS were continued i n i t ia l l y under the auspices of the former North London Group of NAM, and a smal I i ssue group evolved. Further NDS papers stressed the view that any long term advance in architectural service to the publ ic could only come through the publ ic sector. By late 1977, i t was cons idered that a more concentrated programme of research and action was requi red and fol lowing the Hul l Congress an enlarged N.D. S. Group were mandated to carry out the work and to arrange this conference. Since November, the NDS Group evolved ihto the Publ ic Design Service (PDS) Group. The Group, in addi tion to refining i ts critique of patronage and Local Authority working arrangements, has been studying the origins and present role of Local Authori ty departments of archi tecture and thei r relationship to the profession and private practice. Work has al so been done on the party pol i t ica l context and on an analysis of Housing Associations. The resul ts of this prel iminary study are presented here as draft papers, interim proposals, and suggested areas of future work. For further informat ion contact PDS Group NAM 9 Poland Street LONDON. . Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource John Murray Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Murray Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 30 November 1997 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/c0d7439a4065b3b8c678b27cca345642.pdf 2fd047e20c83401dd9e59cf0de86b11c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Attendance List PDS Conference Subject The topic of the resource 34 Names and addresses of attendees at PDS Conference in Birmingham Description An account of the resource Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource John Murray Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Murray Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 06 May 1978 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/739ed751b8192b860b33c05918f782fa.pdf 74078630bd6cd0edd2fc32a719723e5c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource NDS Group Subject The topic of the resource Minutes of meeting of NDS Group on 2.6. 77 Description An account of the resource NGI ALCINTE= TURE MevEMEDT i ~dWbPapareAiagymnnshoui~gveelpellicle, LAS| SotmheaeasorlecloneafAA 197%.YadbocmfoetTonle.J, 25 IM sumpocted might bo exrvttotule % dp suns af 3-4 Arclultet> bypartmenk fordoutactuel fast 2rheng teebisiby a] tobeArclubicte Tenant, Could Car be queled talkerihrernbying OM anontasS, IM Choe LIZAT ofSone 2ypay cago-dnbicleLyMales. YU, Tiere fate WT. Le Wo bavitrttornr RIBAS FETIOA) A larg part of He mecong vias then 4p tn dicusstug and Arelling a tb an tmvtfatton Chatter M “atu fo dicuce suth dain agocts4 Conunumity trebiclure ene) toprrtiapale dn a Wotleg Group constlote-g The (918 RIBA Coufoatvet wAthasuibrjoelofetucl. tllbeComretsaulfucbulteture, (M has ontgiat ofRUA (ole.at prevent), hedecided to ryluce, The Maca aye qr bn ouv nly Ye Chatles Kia 2. cop PR, of whut. wll be cent & Me Lunor Grp UDS hep! Wbom,2une(917, Monudes J Meng bold af 5MiltonAvenue Present: doleMilton»Dawid,Lasletrcte,YoonHerneed Meleyes : MovitleMongar 2:0 Ola bugmecs | 2 D2 npeled an Musiq Cherries .He colJaepzn aoufrag ceed i PP. 22 JA reported on WEA tHe coll alto profane a ont ogy Site man. VA - 23 IM rf orled mn. onfaa bien poten on Miteonal Asercahe~ of (euits Eedaakas cual Arsiatiar of Murweupal Aulboulior ,de “tll ny 0 mela well. ths forte fat etext MOS muliig wt a ven) “9 | ved, 3-0HeepHeeli-4{ Mavadend23dime197at7:30ponaf25StGungesMenus 4-0 Dishibufion: — There paecont Neville. Megan, Mary Scott, lean Group). Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource John Murray Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Allan Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2.6.77 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/0fd4f708a523a76014aebb676e5f4a04.pdf d54b369243f9ed0ca6d29a6338363891 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Haringey Experiment in Public Design Subject The topic of the resource Development of NAM PDS Group proposals Description An account of the resource HARINGEY EXPERIMENT IN PUBLIC DESIGN NAM PUBLIC DESIGN SERVICE Between 1979–1985, Haringey Council Architects Department implemented a number of pioneering features from the New Architecture Movement (NAM) proposals for a Public Design Service, many of which went on to become adopted more widely. See NAM Report ‘Community Architecture – A Public Design Service?’1 to the Minister of Housing. Summary in 1978 Building 2 Design article . A key feature was accountability to users based on the idea that the excesses of slum clearance and high-rise housing promoted by Conservative central government but implemented by local government architects would not have been so readily achieved if tenants and building users had had a say in what was being produced for them. (eg, the Broadwater Farm Estate where a planning brief based on the seemingly spurious argument about high water table resulted in the prohibition of dwellings at ground level and access by walkways at first floor level). The main NAM PDS proposals adopted by Haringey are summarised below: 1. Area based teams rather than function based teams to ensure accountability to users. 2. Multi disciplinary teams to ensure accountability to projects rather than to professions. (Pioneered by Building Design Partnership and Arup Associates in the private sector but unknown in the public sector at this time). 3. Project Architects to be responsible to Committee for their projects. 4. Team Leaders to be responsible to their teams. 5. Service Head to be elected from team leaders. Election to be ratified by Council. The purpose of these proposals was to ensure that architects were properly identifiable and accountable to both tenants and users as well as to committees. This system worked well. Subsequently, accountability to users was incorporated as a standard procedure by Central Government. (eg DOE Estate Action bids). It was also adopted by the RIBA’s Community Architecture group, which eventually spawned firms such as Hunt Thompson. Area based teams and multi disciplinary working also became the norm for other London LA architects departments such as Camden, Islington and Southwark. WHY HARINGEY? These proposals for a public design service accountable to tenants and users, coincided with a number of other factors which lead to the ideas being developed in Haringey: 1. Under the then Housing Chair, George Meehan, Haringey Council had pioneered the involvement of tenants in the design of a new housing cooperative at Pelham Court in Tottenham. Bert Dinnage of the Borough Architects Service designed the scheme. The first phase was completed in 1980. 2. John Murray, one of the founders of the New Architecture Movement and a Haringey resident, approached Bert Dinnage to discuss how a new form of public design service could develop incorporating his experience at Pelham Court and the ideas of NAM. 1 “Community Architecture – A Public Design Service?” Report to Minister of Housing, author John Murray, NAM Public Design Group, written in response to an RIBA proposal that community architecture should be provided by private architects 2 Building Design Magazine 13 October 1978 1 HARINGEY EXPERIMENT IN PUBLIC DESIGN 3. The NAM proposals were debated and agreed by staff at meetings of their NALGO trade union. 4. The then Borough Architect Alan Weitzel was sympathetic to the new ideas. 5. New radical Labour councillors such as Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Grant supported the proposals. They themselves had campaigned for neighbourhood committees which included tenants’ representatives as well as councillors. 6. In 1979 the first restructuring took place with the creation of Area Design Teams carrying out all the work in their area. They superseded specialist design teams such as Education or Housing. John Murray was appointed as one of the eight new Team Leaders. (The councillors appointment panel was chaired by Jeremy Corbyn, chair of the Planning Committee). John Murray lead the Wood Green Team whose main work was the rehabilitation of the historic Noel Park Estate. He continued to work with colleagues and to develop the proposals. 7. John Murray was then asked by the Chief Executive Roy Limb to act as the liaison officer between the Borough Architects Service and the trade unions and officers of the Direct Labour Organisation (DLO) to prepare for the Conservative Government’s Planning and Land Act which was the forerunner of compulsory tendering for local government services in the 1980s. This lead to constructive discussions with the DLO Trade Unions convenor Dennis McCracken and the UCATT convener Hughie Dagens and also with Bernie Grant, the Chair of the Public Works Committee responsible for the DLO. To achieve fair tendering, a system was developed by the Contracts Compliance Working Party, an interdepartmental team chaired by John Murray, which measured the performance of firms against key performance indicators, so that only high scoring contractors were invited to tender through the approved list. In 1982 John Murray was seconded by the Chief Executive on the recommendation of UCATT shop stewards to manage PELAW (Partnership Experiment in Local Authority Works), a pioneering workers cooperative Direct Labour Design and Build organisation which required support in meeting its programme and financial targets. By 1985, the Borough Architects Service had developed into the new Haringey Building Design Service (BDS) comprised of eight multi-disciplinary, area-based design teams accountable to area committees. The Management Board of Team Leaders became the head of service. The Coordinator of the Management Board was to be elected, the decision to be ratified by a Council Committee. John Murray became the elected head of the new service in 1985. This system worked successfully with the support of Councillors and Committee Chairs. People were attracted to work in such an innovative organisation and in a Council which encouraged equal opportunities, so the service never had trouble getting good staff; more women and people from ethnic minority communities were appointed (a considerable number of whom were in senior positions), so that the service composition became one of the first to be more reflective of the community it served. By 1990, over 60% of the staff were black and ethnic minority and 30% were women. This compares to 22% and 14% respectively in 1985. As an example of community involvement, local people were involved in the selection of the Broadwater Farm BDS Team established after the riots in 1985. The team implemented a 10-year £80m estate action programme, ensuring the use of local labour and encouraging BWF Youth Association Coop to carry out work on the estate. The award–winning Broadwater Farm workshops were designed by the Broadwater Farm Team and built by the BWF Coop. 2 HARINGEY EXPERIMENT IN PUBLIC DESIGN Architectural Trainees As part of a policy to encourage local young people to become involved in architecture, each of the eight teams appointed two local young people as trainee architects. The majority were young black and ethnic minority men and women who were sponsored through college. Wider Impact In terms of the wider impact of these changes, Graham Towers in his book Building Democracy: Community Architecture in the Inner Cities, records that, “The events in Haringey sent ripples through technical departments in neighbouring Boroughs. Many staff disillusioned by being typecast into specialist roles, were attracted to the new way of working...In Camden, an alliance of staff and councillors succeeded in introducing area working. A similar alliance developed in Islington Architects Department and ...eventually bore fruit. Subsequently, the new approach was adopted in some other authorities. Area team working brought a new structure to public service, giving a more accessible and accountable approach to public capital projects”. (Building Democracy: Community Architecture in the Inner Cities, pp 142,143, Graham Towers). Award-winning Designs Quality of work was recognised in Dept of Environment and Civic Trust design awards plus awards for energy conservation work. The Wood Green Team carried out the rehabilitation of the historic 19th century Noel Park housing estate, built by the Artisans and Labourers Dwelling Co, including phasing of design and construction work to ensure annual delivery of 100 completed renovations. Tenants were involved in developing the design and there was a show house for each Phase. Tenants’ satisfaction surveys were carried out at the end of each phase by architectural students. Palace Gates Sheltered Housing Scheme, designed in the Wood Green Team following briefing by future tenants and built by the Council’s Direct Labour Organisation, won a Civic Trust award. Public Sector Consultancy To supplement the service income in the light of a declining capital programme, in 1988, the Council approved the proposal from Haringey Building Design Service to establish a public sector consultancy to obtain work from other councils and from housing associations. Eventually by 1994, the consultancy provided 15% of service income. Based on work with Broadwater Farm community, BDS collaborated with the University of Cambridge to provide advice to Bratislava City Council in Slovakia on the renovation of a large concrete panel estate. UK Govt. ‘Know How Fund’ funded this project. In 1991, as part of a consortium, Haringey’s design service won in competition a project in Moscow to create a small business support agency. This project, supported by both the UK and Russian governments, was funded by the UK Govt. ‘Know How Fund’. This project proved very successful and the consortium and their Russian colleagues sought to have a similar project in 23 other Russian cities. John Murray was invited to join the new project funded by the EU, and decided he should leave Haringey to do so. As team leader of a subsequent DFID funded social housing renovation project in Yekaterinburg in the Russian Ural region, John Murray developed low cost, tenant-driven renovation model for the 5 storey “Khrushchev flats” which house some 40m Russians. A key feature of the project was to encourage residents to become involved in the proposals for their flats and to encourage the city administration to ensure that residents were able to participate in decisions affecting their homes. So NAM ideas spread to Russia as well. JM/26/03/14 3 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource John Murray Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Murray Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1979-1991 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/a66104a58388f32cfdaa4f8c38a834a1.pdf e5f5e7f46f8d4b5e1903ea22bc6e074f Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Service - A Personal History Subject The topic of the resource A personal history from the first NAM Congress in November 1975 to 2006 describing the development of NAM ideas in Haringey and subsequently in Russia and Slovakia. Description An account of the resource A PUBLIC DESIGN SERVICE A PERSONAL HISTORY At the first NAM conference in November 1975, at the request of Brian Anson of ARC, I presented a paper on a National Design Service. Subsequently, along with people from a variety of locations, including Adam Purser, a former Brian Anson student we developed the ideas from the initial paper, which proposed involving tenants and users in the design process and collective responsibility on the part of the design teams. Although we in NAM’s Public Design Service Group didn’t manage to achieve this nationally, we did more or less achieve it in Haringey. In Haringey we developed area based multi- disciplinary design teams, so that people in teams owed allegiance to their teams rather than to their professions and, through their teams, to the community they served. Team Leaders were also accountable to their teams and the Service Coordinator was elected from amongst the Team Leaders. At the same time as we in NAM were developing our ideas, young Labour councillors who had emerged from tenants’ struggles like Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Grant in Haringey were beginning to be elected. They were fully supportive of our ideas. Jeremy Corbyn was the Chair of the Planning Cttee, which at that time oversaw the Architects Service. Jeremy and his committee approved the NAM proposals for 8 multi-disciplinary area teams. He chaired the panel, which selected the team leaders including myself. We then worked closely with him defending public services like the DLO against Tory government attacks. I was appointed as the team leader of the Wood Green Team in 1979. Our main work was the rehabilitation of the 19C Noel Park Estate, designed by Rowland Plumb for the Artisans and Labourers Dwellings Company for workers on the new railway line out of London. The Council took it over in 1966. It’s a marvellous estate, set out on a gridiron plan with very small houses which had baths in the kitchens and outside WCs. We put in new bathrooms and kitchens. With the tenants and housing officers we worked out an efficient system which enabled us to renovate 100 houses a year on time and on cost. We also completed a new award-winning sheltered housing scheme. By 1985 the new arrangements were fully approved. I was elected as the Coordinator. As part of a policy to encourage local young people to become involved in architecture, each team appointed two local young people as trainee architects. We were asked to establish a team at Broadwater Farm after the 1985 riots. A few years later George Meehan the Chair of Housing complained to me that the team had gone native. I suggested that this was a mark of their success and took his complaint as a compliment. Eventually during a restructuring in 1990, the Personnel Service brought us more into line with other Council Services and I became the Borough Architect. The restructuring removed some of our autonomy though and we became part of a Directorate. To supplement the service income in the light of a declining capital programme, in 1988 we established Haringey BDS public sector consultancy and obtained work from housing associations and from other councils, such as Newham and Tower Hamlets in London and from Leicester and Nottingham. Eventually the consultancy provided 15% of service income. As part of a consortium, we won in competition a project in Moscow to create a small business support agency. The UK Govt. Know How Fund funded the project. Based on our work with Broadwater Farm, we collaborated with the University of Cambridge to provide advice to Bratislava City Council in A PUBLIC DESIGN SERVICE A PERSONAL HISTORY Slovakia on renovation of a large concrete panel estate. This project also funded by UK Govt. Know How Fund. Our project in Moscow was deemed a success and was eventually opened by the Minister. At the end of the project our team and the Russians began to look for ‘life after death’. Using the Russians’ Komsomol contacts we travelled all over Russia giving seminars. Eventually we won an EU TACIS bid to provide small business support agencies in 23 Russian cities. My colleagues asked me to join them in the new project so I decided to leave Haringey in 1994 to work with my former colleagues in Russia. After the first project was complete in 1996, in conjunction with Russian SMEs and Housing Associations we won an EU TACIS funded project to develop economic sustainable housing in Chelyabinsk, a large industrial city in the Urals. I worked in collaboration with Jon Broome of Architype who provided the house design. Subsequently built in Liverpool but alas not in Russia as the 1998 Russian financial crash put a stop to the implementation of our project. In 1998 two colleagues and I established SEEDS (Social, Economic, Educational Development), a not for profit organisation which aimed to inform policies, influence practice and to generate projects which help to implement a set of social objectives. Through SEEDS we won a DFID funded social housing renovation project in Ekaterinburg, the capital city of the Russian Ural region, to develop a low cost, tenant-driven renovation model for the 5 storey so-called Khrushchev flats which house some 40m Russians, mostly poor. A key feature of the project was to encourage residents to become involved in the proposals for their flats and to persuade the city administration to involve residents in decisions affecting their homes. I was the leader of the project and involved some of my old Broadwater Farm colleagues in the team. We designed a project with DFID to implement our findings and in 2001 were in the middle of tendering for it when the Government decided to divert money away from Russia to Africa. Perhaps they were right but we and our Russian colleagues were very disappointed. We tried unsuccessfully for EU TACIS funding before finally accepting defeat. In 1999 I was asked by my old NAM and Haringey colleague Andy Brown to apply for an Interim Manager’s job with Southwark Building Design Service. I did so and then worked intermittently at Southwark until 2007 when my assignment to procure sub consultancies to supplement the work of in-house staff ended. Unfortunately Southwark Building Design Service which was the last Borough Architects Service in London was closed down a short while later. Since 2006 I have been working as the volunteer coordinator for the North London Group of Different Strokes, a charity which supports working age stroke survivors. John Murray 15 October 2015 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource John Murray Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Murray Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 15 October 2015 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/28ee234a48887a10208fb63211406745.pdf ea9aa7ad598513dbddbc77ed5185b005 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Development of NAM - PDS Group Subject The topic of the resource Talk to Bartlett Masters Students about development of NAM ideas Description An account of the resource NAM TALK 07 MARCH 2014 TO DAVID ROBERTS’ MASTERS DEGREE STUDENTS, BARTLETT, UCL I’ll talk briefly about NAM largely using the agenda suggested by David Roberts  Background to NAM How I and others got involved How NAM ideas and ideals were discussed and disseminated (for example in SLATE) How all this related to my Masters study here at the Bartlett How this related to my work in Haringey Current practice and John McAslan’s initiative      1. Motivations for forming NAM Edgewick Primary School in Coventry 1968 I was briefed by the City Education Client Officer. When I asked him how I should accommodate suggestions from the Head Teacher about the design of her new school, he just said “Ignore her”. But I decided instead to ignore him and went on to work closely with the Head teacher, staff and pupils in developing the design of what turned out to be a successful and well-regarded Primary School in one of the poorest areas of Coventry. For me this was confirmation that the users of a building must be fully involved if the design is to be successful. It was a very important lesson and my respect for the committed Head stayed with me ever since. Other ideas came from working with tenants. 2. Working with Tenants The next stage in the process: In the early 1970s many architects, including myself while working in offices during the day were also providing free design advice to Tenants’ and Residents’ groups. This taught both sides the benefits of having a design service accountable to the people who use buildings. I was working for tenants in Newham while during the day I worked for BDP, incidentally a very good firm whose idealistic founding partner Grenfell-Baines stated it should be multi-disciplinary and fully involve and reward its staff – and so it was. (3Rs, Responsibility, Recognition and Reward) These ideas subsequently influenced the Public Design Group. (See Guardian obituary) My wife Ursula was working at that time in a Community Development Project in Canning Town. Through her I became involved with West Ham tenants. 3. ARC and First NAM Congress 4. How      While working in BDP, at lunchtimes we used to occasionally visit the AA in nearby Bedford Square. There was also an AA Studio in Percy Street near the BDP office. There I met Brian Anson the tutor and his students. I talked to Brian about my interest in a public design service. ARC Architects Revolutionary Council. Brian Anson and students Proposal for New Architecture Movement. Trying to encourage sympathetic architects. Brian asked me to make a presentation on a National Design Service at a conference. In November 1975 an advert appeared in the architectural press inviting participants to attend the inaugural Congress of the New Architecture Movement in the unlikely setting of Harrogate. The congress brought together a considerable number of like-minded salaried architects and students. NAM was born NAM’s ideas and ideals were discussed and disseminated ARC proposed that NAM’s structure should be an elected Leader and committee. Animated debate resulted. The women at the congress persuaded men to structure NAM like women’s movement, ie, groups of people interested in particular issues who would come together as necessary, not at the diktat of a higher body. NAM was structured as local groups. There was also to be a liaison group whose role was to coordinate the different groups, deal with correspondence and arrange the next annual congress. I was involved in the London liaison group and we got a grant from the Rowntree Foundation for an office in 9 Poland Street. See articles about history recommending radical historians from my thesis. (See SLATE)     1 NAM TALK 07 MARCH 2014 TO DAVID ROBERTS’ MASTERS DEGREE STUDENTS, BARTLETT, UCL 5. Groups  Accountability to Users Alternative Practice Education Feminist Group Professional Issues (A number of us were elected to ARCUK to represent ‘unattached’ architects) Public Design Group Trade Unions and Architecture SLATE        groups, which were largely autonomous, worked across local groups to develop These their ideas. They arranged their own conferences and reported through SLATE and annually to the NAM Congress. Although I was involved in the liaison group and some other groups, my main interest was in developing the ideas for a National Design Service. This eventually became the Public Design Group. It included Adam Purser, one of Brian Anson’s mature students and architects and students from Sheffield and Nottingham. So we did a lot of travelling. 6.  Public Design Group Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. In May 1978 we organised PDS Conference in Birmingham with the help of UCATT. Presented papers including on the Origins, Evolution and Structure of LA Departments of Architecture, which demonstrated that the existence of Council departments of architecture was almost solely dependent on the provision of   schools and council housing based on Elizabeth Layton’s 1961 study Building by 1   Our Interim proposals paper suggested six steps which could readily be adopted: 1. Local area control over resources 2. Design teams to be area based 3. Area design teams to be multi disciplinary 4. Project architects to report directly to committee 5. Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect 6. Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations Also in 1978, these interim proposals were included in our Report Community Architecture - A Public Design Service? to Reg Freeson, Minister of Housing. This report which was widely publicised, argued that community architecture should be based on the public sector rather than on the private sector as promoted by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), claiming that the RIBA’s newfound interest in the community stemmed from a growing shortage of work in the private sector. Incidentally, the proportion of registered architects working in local government rose from about 20% in 1952 to about one third in 1977. (ARCUK votes) Local Authorities. The growth of these departments followed closely on government legislation making schools and housing a statutory provision. Their subsequent identity as separate departments depended on whether the local authority built mainly schools or mainly housing. 1 Building by Local Authorities, Elizabeth Layton, Royal Institute of Public Administration, Allen & Unwin, 1961. 2 NAM TALK 07 MARCH 2014 TO DAVID ROBERTS’ MASTERS DEGREE STUDENTS, BARTLETT, UCL 4. How it related to your Masters studies 2. Evaluation of Design     While all this was going on, in 1976 I decided to leave BDP to do further study. I particularly wanted to learn more about the evaluation of housing design so I applied to join the Bartlett Masters course. The course was run by Bill Hillier and two other tutors, one of whom also taught at the North London Polytechnic and was very good. I enjoyed the course and learned a lot. It was good to study full-time again. My Thesis was called: Cultural Reproduction and the Form of Council Housing. I developed the theory that housing design is evaluated primarily in relation to the extent to which the form of tenure reproduces the ideas of the dominant culture. The historical appendix to my Thesis showed that not only did the quantity of council housing fluctuate in relation to the government in power, but also the design. Starting in the 19C, the Conservatives, who were concerned about the growing working class poor living in rookeries, promoted slum clearance and multi-storey blocks which culminated in the contractor-designed tower blocks of the ‘50s and ’60s. "The rookeries of central London were considered to be hot-beds of the "dangerous classes", the foci of cholera, crime and Chartism". (Stedman Jones) (Attempts to improve working class housing and to alleviate the danger of rookeries took four main forms in the period from 1840 to 1870. These were; street clearance, model dwellings, sanitary regulations and the Octavia Hill schemes). And that Conservative view continued throughout the 20 C and certainly appears to be alive and well today. On the other hand Labour Governments favoured cottage-style estates. The successive Conservative Governments’ policy of slum clearance and high flats was challenged in 1968 by the Deeplish Study instigated by Harold Wilson’s Labour Government. The Deeplish Study (Deeplish in Rochdale) demonstrated conclusively that it was more economical to rehabilitate existing houses than to demolish and build new. And it also ensured that communities stayed together. That became Labour’s policy and it was extended to Councils buying houses for sale, which became Council houses and we renovated them.  5. Haringey BDS The most comprehensive design service reorganisation along the lines proposed by NAM took place in Haringey where I live. Tenant Involvement in Haringey Haringey Council had developed an early commitment to user participation. In 1976 the Council had initiated cooperative housing projects, in which the future tenants were invited to take part in the design process. The architect for the new build scheme was Bert Dinnage who was not only radically minded but a very good architect. The Council and staff in the architects’ service were therefore familiar with and committed to ideas of tenant and user involvement in design. I met Bert Dinnage to see if he thought NAM ideas could be implemented in Haringey. After I completed my MA at the Bartlett, I got a job in Haringey’s Central Area Team in 1978. The NAM ideas were adopted in Haringey Architect’s Service in two stages in 1979 and 1985. (See article in Going Local 1987) At the same time as we in NAM were developing our ideas, young Labour councillors who had emerged from tenants’ struggles like Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Grant in Haringey were beginning to be elected. They were fully supportive of our ideas, as were many officers in other departments. I then worked with Bert Dinnage and other like-minded people to get the service changed. This was done through union meetings. The then Borough Architect, Alan Weitzel was also supportive. The first change came in 1979 when area design teams were agreed and I was appointed by a panel chaired by Jeremy Corbyn, the then Chair of the Planning Committee, 3 NAM TALK 07 MARCH 2014 TO DAVID ROBERTS’ MASTERS DEGREE STUDENTS, BARTLETT, UCL as the Team Leader of the Wood Green Team, the first multi-disciplinary team in the service. Jeremy Corbyn continued to be very supportive of our proposals. The Wood Green Team carried out the rehabilitation of the historic 19th century Noel Park housing estate, built by the Artisans and Labourers Dwelling Co, including phasing of design and construction work to ensure annual delivery of 100 completed renovations. Tenants were involved in developing the design and there was a show house for each Phase. Tenants’ satisfaction surveys were carried out at the end of each Phase by architectural students. Our team won a DOE and Civic Trust Award for Palace Gates Sheltered Housing Scheme, designed in conjunction with the resident representatives and built by PELAW. Involvement with the DLO: Following the 1980 Conservative Government Planning and Land Act, I was asked by the Chief Executive to work with the DLO and local building workers unions (UCATT) to ensure fair tendering in the procurement of housing and other building work. Subsequently seconded on recommendation of UCATT shop stewards to manage PELAW, a pioneering design and build housing rehabilitation Direct Labour organisation which required support in meeting its programme and financial targets. During this period, negotiations to develop the Architect Service reorganisation continued. The second stage took place in 1985 by which time the Council had fully adopted these ideas including the proposal to have a Management Board of Team Leaders who would manage the new Building Design Service (BDS) of eight fully multi-disciplinary area teams. The Coordinator was to be elected annually by the Management Board, this decision being subject to ratification by committee. I was elected coordinator each year until about 1990 when I was appointed Borough Architect. This system worked successfully with the support of Councillors and Committee Chairs. People were attracted to work in such an innovative organisation and in a Council which encouraged equal opportunities, so we never had trouble getting good staff; more women and people from ethnic minority communities were appointed (a considerable number of whom were in senior positions), so that the service composition became one of the first to be more reflective of the community it served. By 1990, over 60% of the staff were black and ethnic minority and 30% were women. This compares to 22% and 14% respectively in 1985. 3% of staff had disabilities. Design Teams were now located in their areas and soon became closely associated with their local communities and local councillors. As an example of community involvement, local people were involved in the selection of the Broadwater Farm Team established after the riots in 1985. The team implemented a 10-year £80m estate action programme, ensuring the use of local labour and encouraging BWF Youth Association Coop to carry out work on the estate. The award–winning Broadwater Farm workshops were designed by our Broadwater Farm Team and built by the BWF Coop. Architectural Trainees As part of a policy to encourage local young people to become involved in architecture, each of the eight teams appointed two local young people as trainees. The majority were young black and ethnic minority men and women who were sponsored through college. 6. Wider Impact The traditional way for architects and engineers to work was in separate teams accountable to a chief. But as Grenfell Baines had figured out that means staff are primarily accountable to a chief, whereas on a project which is necessarily multi disciplinary they should all be accountable to the client or as NAM would say the client including the user. So we went around proselytising giving talks to other LA architects departments. What we were doing was also being reported in SLATE, BD and the AJ. 4 NAM TALK 07 MARCH 2014 TO DAVID ROBERTS’ MASTERS DEGREE STUDENTS, BARTLETT, UCL In terms of the wider impact of these changes, Graham Towers in his book Building Democracy: Community Architecture in the Inner Cities, records that, “The events in Haringey sent ripples through technical departments in neighbouring Boroughs. Many staff disillusioned by being typecast into specialist roles, were attracted to the new way of working...In Camden, an alliance of staff and councillors succeeded in introducing area working. A similar alliance developed in Islington Architects Department and ...eventually bore fruit. Subsequently, the new approach was adopted in some other authorities. Area team working brought a new structure to public service, giving a more accessible and accountable approach to public capital projects”. (Building Democracy: Community Architecture in the Inner Cities, pp 142,143, Graham Towers). Award-winning Designs Quality of work was recognised in Dept of Environment and Civic Trust design awards plus awards for energy conservation work. Public Sector Consultancy To supplement the service income in the light of a declining capital programme, in 1988, the Council approved the proposal from Haringey Building Design Service to establish a public sector consultancy to obtain work from other councils and from housing associations. Eventually by 1994, the consultancy provided 15% of service income. In 1991, as part of a consortium, Haringey’s design service won in competition a project in Moscow to create a small business support agency. This project, supported by both the UK and Russian governments, was funded by the UK Govt. ‘Know How Fund’. Based on work with Broadwater Farm community, we collaborated with the University of Cambridge to provide advice to Bratislava City Council in Slovakia on the renovation of a large concrete panel estate. UK Govt. ‘Know How Fund’ also funded this project. 7. Current Practice Privatisation When the 1980 Planning and Land Act sought to privatise the work done by Council DLOs, I assumed that would just be the start and the rest of Council services would follow, including architects and engineers and so on. And so it has proved although at the time people thought I was exaggerating. Many architects preferred working with private builders because the DLO could challenge their authority through Councillors and the Union. So many were happy with the 1980 Act, not realising they would be next.... Then sheltered housing ... then housing... then social care.... And now the unbelievable is happening... The NHS is being secretly privatised - already 70%. As far as architects are concerned, my 1978 Paper Origins, Evolution and Structure of LA Departments of Architecture, demonstrated that Council departments of architecture were almost solely dependent on the provision of schools and council housing. Now there are no more Council Houses being built and PFI ensured that private contractors chose their own architects to build schools and hospitals. (I did a review of this for SCALA newsletter and also on PFI). So now nobody remembers there were LA architects departments... new Haringey Councillors don’t know what we did or how radical we were. 5 NAM TALK 07 MARCH 2014 TO DAVID ROBERTS’ MASTERS DEGREE STUDENTS, BARTLETT, UCL Letter to Guardian 04 January 2014 Subject: Hidden from History? Date: Sunday, January 4, 2014 13:56 From: John Murray <johnmurray@btinternet.com> To: The Guardian letters@guardian.co.uk John McLaslan’s initiatives to open a studio and train local young people as architects from Tottenham (Haringey) and also to rectify the absence of black and minority architects in the makeup of the architectural profession, are to be very much welcomed (After Haiti, Tottenham architect opens studio in riot scarred borough 4 Jan 2014). However, it is equally a timely reminder of the hidden history of the role of local authority architects services, which disappeared in the 1990s in the steady march of privatisation. The Haringey Building Design Service was especially pioneering. At its peak it employed around 200 staff, 60% of whom were black and ethnic minority, reflecting the Borough’s very diverse population. It had 8 multi disciplinary teams serving different areas of the Borough. As part of a policy to encourage local young people to become involved in architecture, each of the eight teams appointed two local young people as trainee architects. ie 16 in total. The majority were young black and ethnic minority men and women who were sponsored through college. What currently seems pioneering was then a core part of a public service shaped by the two strands of social change which fortuitously came together in Haringey in the 1980s. Firstly, a radical local Labour Council committed to equal opportunities and secondly, the impact of the New Architectural Movement (NAM). The latter was a social movement committed to extending accountability and user involvement in design services and Haringey local authority architects (including myself) were among some of the most actively involved. As neo liberalism has advanced over thirty years and the social state is dismantled, it is important that we do not forget this radical legacy and the sense of agency to bring about social change from this era. And as the housing crisis deepens, what was once deemed possible as a part of the social state may well need to be reinvented. John Murray (former NAM PDS Group) 07 March 2014 6 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource John Murray Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Murray Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 07 March 2014 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/01be8ce4a29aa316794499ecba0eba52.pdf 537c91f8b207778b60ce82f68588769c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Local Authority Architectural Services Subject The topic of the resource Article in SCALA Newsletter October 2003 re John Murray SCALA survey about decline in public architecture services Description An account of the resource LOCAL AUTHORITY ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES INTRODUCTION In her seminal report, Building by Local Authorities,1 Elizabeth Layton showed how the origin of local authority departments of architecture was almost wholly dependent on the provision of local authority schools and council housing. The growth of these departments followed closely on government legislation making schools and housing a statutory provision. Their subsequent identity as separate departments depended on whether the local authority built mainly schools or mainly housing. The provision of state housing and schools goes back to 1919 and 1902 respectively and it is the extension of this responsibility for the greater part of post-war housing, and schools under the 1944 Education Act, that accounts for the expansion of architectural work and to a larger degree of the architectural staff in local authorities in the last century. PRESENT POSITION 2 In 1978, local authority departments employed nearly one-third of all registered architects . Since then circumstances have been significantly altered. Successive government policy changes, beginning during the 18 year period of Conservative Governments from 1979-1997, affected the provision of both council housing and schools and has resulted in the main workload of departments being removed. The majority of new social housing is now provided by Housing Associations. Schools are generally financed through the Private Finance Initiative (PFI)3 Both of these changes tend to exclude local authority architects. Housing Associations generally commission private practices to design their new housing schemes, until recently as part of a design/build team where the contractor takes the lead, although in recent years the Housing Corporation has been promoting Partnering as a more advantageous form of contract. The PFI developers also involve private practices as part of their project teams. These changes suggest that there will have been a substantial reduction in the number of local authority departments of architecture and in the proportion of architects employed in the public sector compared to 1978. While evidence ‘on the ground’ tends to confirm this, there appears to be no published data readily available, and further information is required to analyse the present position. SCALA SURVEY 2003 A survey designed to discover basic information was carried out for SCALA in 2003. Authorities were invited to respond to a brief questionnaire included in the SCALA May newsletter. 48 completed questionnaires were returned, which, although only a ‘snapshot’, tended to confirm 1 Building by Local Authorities, Elizabeth Layton, Royal Institute of Public Administration, Allen & Unwin, 1961. 2 “Origins, Evolution and Structure of Local authority Departments of Architecture”, draft paper presented by John Murray to a Public Design Service Conference, Birmingham May 1978. 3 From Society Guardian 1/10/02 The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) PFI is now the government's favourite way of funding major new public building projects such as schools, hospitals, prisons and roads. It was introduced under the Conservative government in 1992 and extended under the new Labour government of 1997. How does it work? Private consortiums, usually involving large construction firms, are contracted to both design and build a new project, and also to manage it. The contracts typically last for 30 years. The building is not publicly owned but leased by a public authority, such as a council or health trust, from the private consortium. How is it paid for? The private consortium raises the cash to build the project. It is then paid back with interest by the government through regular payments over the period of the contract. The amount paid depends on the performance of the consortium, so if the building project is delayed or if it is badly managed the consortium gets less money. In theory therefore the risk of the project going wrong lies with the private sector. 1 LOCAL AUTHORITY ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES the expected reduction in the number, size and status of local authority departments of architecture. The 48 responding councils employed a total of 1,032 architects and building surveyors and 2,128 design related staff in total. Just under half did not distinguish between architects and building surveyors, presumably reflecting the fact that planned maintenance and looking after existing buildings now comprise a substantial part of their design workload. The biggest design departments were in county councils and metropolitan city councils. The largest number of total design staff (250) supervising the biggest annual turnover (£120m) was in a large county council. This council also had the most senior level head of service (second tier). On the other hand, another large county council with an annual turnover of just under £94m, did not employ any design staff whatsoever. All design work has been privatised in this authority, with a single consultant providing the service previously carried out by the County Architects’ Department. In terms of status of the departments, there were no chief officer City Architect or County Architect posts. Most heads of building design departments are third tier posts located in a variety of directorates, ranging from professional services to client directorates such as Housing or Property. Only 2 of the 33 London Boroughs responded, perhaps reflecting that the loss of building design departments in the Capital has been particularly marked, with few building design departments remaining. FURTHER STUDY 4 There are 468 local authorities in the UK as a whole . The 48 respondents represent a sample of just under12% of the 410 local Authorities in England and Wales. A further study is now necessary to establish a more comprehensive understanding of the current position. Two further types of investigation are proposed: 1. Seek support from IDeA, possibly in collaboration with an architectural magazine, to carry out a comprehensive survey of all local authorities. 2. Interview a sample of departments to identify the main issues affecting them. THE FUTURE It may be speculated that the contraction of local authority departments of architecture will continue. Twenty-five years ago there were 203 separate departments of architecture in the 454 English and Welsh local authorities,5 employing nearly one-third of all registered architects. What will be the position at the end of the next twenty-five years? And is there anything SCALA could or should be doing in the face of continuing decline? JM/02/10/03 4 Guardian Local Authority Directory 2003 5 Metropolitan Year Book 1978 cited in Footnote 2 above (Origins, Evolution and Structure of Local authority Departments of Architecture”, John Murray 1978) 2 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource John Murray Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Murray Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 02 October 2003