7 10 310 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/0900841ced01c11e55660478ce3478a0.pdf 40aa2bf5137158a78e9e3e6854af3817 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 SLATE Description An account of the resource To help promote its work and reduce dependence on the established professional press, NAM created its own newspaper SLATE. The editorial group met bi-monthly to gather together latest events, activities and ideas emerging from radical critiques and challenges to the established order of architectural practice and education. The content of each edition was collated, and cut-and-pasted into layouts of the magazine which typically ran from 16 to 28 pages. Each edition included a brilliant cartoon by Andrew Brown who emerged as a clever graphic artist synthesising NAM's radical ethics. SLATE's production ran to 17 issues in total. The SLATE Group also produced occasional annual calendars, of which three survive 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 SLATE 10/11 Subject The topic of the resource Building Users Speak Out. Describes 4th NAM Congress in Cheltenham incl PDS Group article and comments on PDS Group Report to Minister of Housing Description An account of the resource News and features of broad interest to ndustry and to the general public are ine- jtment of each representative will be to t EDITORIAL unattached the Architects’ Registration Council of the United Kingdom (ARCUK) _“Presentatives have been nominated again along with five others and itishoped to fi Help fight the RIBA Gang of Forty Oo |rae wood user , y This is the first editorial that we've written for SLATE -we thought it was time to say standards etc. are only technical problems. But to people who use the buildings its apol- Vs ‘ YZ. wy, NEW ARCHITECTURE MOVEMENT, A network of 30 representatives has been A unattached numbers supressed ? NINE NAM affiliatedcandidates toallowanopportunityforotherNAM Wy A, SY gSS SLATE ISTHENEWSLETTER OFTHE REPRESENTATIVES publishedbi-monthlyandeditedbythe setupthroughoutschoolsandlargeprac- Wa Movement’sPublicationsGroup. ticesaloverthecountry.Theonlycomm- know- xyTo A seatsupforelectionon penseGUetnelorwerFoumettine CG)aN icals concerned with the industry and the environtient WORK ON SLATE SLATE is published Group by the Publicati unattached representatives on ARCUK.(One per 500 unattached architects or part there of). In view of the much publicised drop discriminates against the unattached = . Much ground has been gained via direct lan Cooper 3 Latentone SLATEe needs more workers, more t year.Amongst (Letters should be addressed to the blu ,moWiseations Writers,moreideasandmorerepsinorderPublicationsGroup) prise. However, aclose reading of other issues raised in ARCUK theRIBAhavebeenthoseofinvestmentolicy CS, C SS old, rate; icoetc, Tenco co.) Byelaw’s definition of a member of the as amember. It appears that, if the RIBA so subscription may stil be counted asmem- bers for the purposes of determining the strength of the Institute as their removal" from membership is at thediscretion ofa special RIBA committee. This directly affects the strength of the unattached as their numbers are calculated on the basis of those left on the register when members of the RIBA and the other minor bodies recognised by the 1931 Architects’ Reg- istration Acts have been accounted for. Could it be that the RIBA is deliberately not removing architects, who fall into arr- ears, from their membership list in order to suppress the true streiigth of the unatt- ached architects? To resign from the RIBA, it appears it is not just sufficient to stop paying the membership fees as many ‘ex- members’ believe but necessary to actually send in a formal letter of resignation. The means by which the numbers of unattached architects are calculated is a subject that it is hoped the unattached representatives will pursue during their next year on the Council. The last year has seen agrowth in the influence of the unattached representatives following their first year which was largely, although not entirely, spent ‘learning the ropes’. Four representatives are standing down this year, a deliberate policy in order (South African shares) a,nd job ydiscrimin- ation against non RIBA members. These and other issues which arise will be pur- 47; the NAM affiliated candidates by vot- ing for them in the coming election and thus help fight for a profession more open © and accountable both to the public and withinARCUK. aes YD I| | 1 yee | SLATE 2 POLAND STREET LONDON Wi : ! I | of the NEW ARCHITECTUTEaT nego wilh tte Office of Fair Tradifg Eddie © Marion Roberts / MOVEMENT,9PolandSt.,LondonW.1, e Roya i chitects HeROYaeacueOonasrerucectswhichisHould|beborneearlyinthisnew Sue Jacks ~teat= © !\ & CONTACT: b is F ary. vote for Tom Woolley John Murray i ‘ haye again been nominated for the affiliated members to gain a working this February z 5 During the past year they have called “TY = Bn eae se 3 or ARCUK to allow al architects equal Although there was an increase in the i 5 « (01)-703-7775 totalnumberof4384wasnotenoughtooaofthepresentFicguitableaes,BobMaltz AS£ last year of 264 unattached architects the Opportunity for ‘corporate advertising’ ir lan Tod 5givemorethanthecurre”ntnineplacesforwh:ich-hepafas sa JohnAllan repardinelarchitectsifces Helis or Walker > = NW ONEWSNEWSNEWS\’ ARCUK UNATTACHED r ELECTIONS what we think we're doing ,so you might itical question. They realise that its their lack feellikewritingbackinlettersoranywhere_ ofcontrolovercommissioninganddesign else in SLATE. which makes those buildings itito failures, We Thisissueisaboutpeoplewhousebuildings wantedthisissuetobewrittenbynon-profess. (all of us) not people who commission them, __ionals as much as possible to make that clear, build them or manage them. Designers tend to If this is a central issue for NAM, there are think that building problems of all sorts, damp, lots of ideas and views to be discussed, and questions of safety, sound privacy, low space SLATE is where that discussion can take place. workersintheprofession,thebuilding receive5copiesofSLATEeverytwo Eeeeugeoete u luded to stimulate general debate on a wide range of issues and to bring the Movement’s months and to try to sell 4 of them, return- ing £1.00 to SLATE All this should help SLATE acheive a far wider circulation and become more truly representative of the views of rad- to produce a better, larger and cheaper Institute reveals a very loose definition of ns On (RIBA) membership this came as a sur- small rodof soft~(clean wishes,membersindefaultoftheirannualsuedvigorouslybythoseelected,sosupp-XS ~\ [ifyouwouldtks£b0e smemboefrtheNewArchitectureMovenieatfilaltheformbelaondw send? | it together with 2 chequo/postal order (payable to the New Architecture Movement) for £5.00( you're employed) or £3,00( if you're are student, claimant or OAP) to NAM at 9, Poland Street | London W,1, | SLATE may be a very slick looking paper but we need money fast! Please send us your donations now! Cheques made payable toSLATE to 9 Poland Street, W1. views and activities to the attention of the possible readership | If you would like to recelve SLATE without joining NAM fill inthé form below and sead It togeth:: withachequeo/ndpero(spatyaablletoSLATE )for£2.50SLATE\at9,PolandStrest,| newsletter. If you would like to work for _ Printed by Islington Community Press SLATE: becomea rep., join the group, send in articles or suggest topics it should cover then contact us soon. 2a St Pauls Rd., London, NI, ‘ The copy deadline for the next issue is Friday 23rd February 1979 Trade Distribution by Publications Distribution Cooperative, 27, Clerken- well Court, London, E.C.2 PROPOSALS from the Labour Party for the nationalisation of the building industry provided the topic for an evening of furious public debate when private sector mandarins and trade unionists met at London’s Conway Hall last Noyember. Partial nationalisation of the industry proposed in Labour’s pamphlet ‘Building Brtitain’s Future’ was enough to rouse cries of ‘iniquity’ from representatives of the employers’ orgariigations, while the trade unionists insistedthat total natignalisation would be the only certain answer to the ils of the construction industry The employers claimed that — Nationalisation would remove profit as an incentive to investors who would withdraw their supportand cause a slump in the industry. Because the Industry has such an important place im our economy, a slump would undermine Britain’s balance of payments and perpetuate the inflationary spiral and associated economic blight. — Nationalisation would impinge upon the intrinsic right of Man ,Free Enterprise. The trade unionists replied that — Nationalisation would benefit the worker by providing stable employment with complementary benefits — Nationalisation would aid the creation of a system of building( direct labour Organisations )which would have far greater accountability accountability Nationalisation, despite its obvious advantages over the present system, will not automatically provide an appropriate form ofaccountability whichmustbetowards formore plasterers. To put this strike in its context the re- lationship between SC and Bovis should be made clear. In 1968 Southwark building depart- ment was involved in a major financial scandal losing some £2million and called in Bovis to act as management consult- ants. It seems possible that it was on the advice of Bovis that SC was set up in 1974 to act asa private entity. At the same time it was felt by the Council that Bovis had worked so well that they should be called in to manage SC. It should be pointed out here that this situation is unique.nowhere else in the country does a Direct Labour Organisationhaveacontractwithapri- vate firm to manage it. SC has at present 3 major contracts to build new houses at Newington, Briming- ton and Consort sites. On the 3sites both direct labour and sub-contractors are em- ployed, but sub-contracting ismore exten- sive. On each site there are approximately 140 workers and I1 sub-contractors. This VAS, occupier of buildings both in terms of RIVA practice to government funding to keep themselves afloat in times of economic economics and standards of construction is streamlined, uncertainty. Economic self-interest, While the discussions about the pros and cons of nationalisation Tage on, the evening at Conway Hall was carried by the thetoric of the union speakers who Stirred the emotions of an audience mainly sympathetic tho their cause. Against this union barrage the anti-nationalisation camp, often making weak and ill-prepared statements, were reduced to the level of merely contradicting their Opponents. The private sector have, for numerous years, fpund motivation in profit and accountability to share holders Satisfactory criteriaformanagingoneofBritain’s largest and most important industries. The unions’ answer is a system ofpublic bureaucracy called ‘nationalisation’, but, if there is an iuusue to be discussed in the construction industry, it must be one of Page 4 I however, is not the only cause. Community to the user/ iig a ol. RUBBISH contractors are attacking direct labour in order to secure public sector work for themselves, so private practice architects are looking authority architecture departments and direct labour building organisations. One of the problems of this approach was highlighted in a criticism raised by CAWG ~and one that is also connected with the current debates within NAM between the PDS and Alternative Practice groups. This centres on the need for accessible, independ- ent alternatives to local authorities both before, during and after the conceived transformation of these bodies. In the short term there isan obvious need for alternatives that can help focus local Struggles and force changes upon local authorities; in the longer term such independant bodies can stil play and important role in countering abuses by or degeneration within the public sector. How this can be achieved without posing one against the other, while stil retaining STRUGGLE SUPERFICIALLY the strike at the Newington Butts’ site of Southwark Construction could be interpreted as a dispute over a small number of re- dundancies; but when the history of Southwark Construction and its ass- ociation with Bovis and Co. is re- vealed these redundancies can be seen tobe just a very small part of an attack on direct labour. The strike began on | October this year as a result of a refusal to negotiate over re- dundancy notices that had been issued to 13 carpenters and 5 plasterers on 29 Sept- ember. Although it is Transport and Gen- eral Workers Union and the Union of Con- struction and Allied Technical Trades out paying tax or insurance. Because work is done for a set sum usually it is carried out in the quickest time possible and dir- ect labour workers at the Newington Butts” site have on occasions had to rebuild walls badly constructed by sub-contracted labour. The major formal union organisation in SC is UCATT, all deductions are made at source by the management but many aren’t even aware that they belong to a union. This is coupled with a hand in glove relationship between the management and union. In June UCATT and NALGO were in- formed of the prospective redundancy of 180 direct labour workers and then in August a confidential report from SC sub- committee was leaked to trade unionists. It contained a detailed plan of reducing to zero al direct labour manual workers and running down plant by 1980. It is pres- umed that this plan was made on the ad- viceofBovis. The men on strike at the Newington Butts’ site are direct labour workers who feel that because the private company Bovis is managing SC on a fee system, therefore hiring no direct labour them- selves but sub-contracting work out, this has been one of the causes of the weak continued onp 25 the change of heart? The most obvious stimulant behind the of our proposals still reflect the professional worse workmanship and less likelihood of ideology so central to al of our educational organised trade union activity. SC have and practical backgrounds. If we ‘take this openly admitted to having a ‘hire and fire opportunity, NAM will be able to develop _ policy with regard to employment. This its growing potential for posing an proctical is contrary to usual practice in a DLO. and democratic alternative. R1IB.A.’s renewed interest in “Community Architecture” iseconomic necessity; there haslongbeenaneedforthistypeofservice to community groups, but now this need coincides with a disastrously low work load for private practice. Just as private building Due to the contract system lump labour ie. self-employed labour may be taken on. Such workers are never unionised, work the problems would be solved ifonly people could afford our professional advice. Wouldn't schools then it is to be welcomed.) it be niceif it were that easy! Other key problems relate to CAWG’s continued acceptance of the traditional ‘professional’ role of the architect; and in this context democratic accountability outside the construction process and the breaking of the artifical design/build barrier within it are of litle or no significance. These are problems to which NAM must also address itself more fully. the central importance of the public sector, policy not to accept redundancies UCATT is something which requires urgent thought ifwearetoeffectivelyinterveneingovern- ment policy. be based is architectural education. A karge number of case studies in CAWG’s report are centred on the schools, and if the R.I.B.A.’s recognition of these projects hadinthiscaseagreedtotheactionby management. TGWU and workers had ision. They also objected to the fact that while they, direct labour workers were being made redundant, sub-contractors were advertising in the Borough Job Centre meansaless restrictive policy on the It is in the similarity between the supp- osedly ‘radical’ nature of the proposals and some of our own policies that we can learn most from this report; an examination of these similarities can help us to assess which means that there is a high labour turnover, In the counter-report mentioned earlier, NAM’s Public Design Service Group argue that a fully democratic community architecture whines. BOVISINDLO.forafixedpriceandaspecificjob,with- page 5 VSONE WSNEWSNEWSNEWSNEWS NEWSWE\WONE BUILDING | Jan meintosh CIFLD not only workers in the industry but also the users of buildings. by public service or by private practice and it is unlikely to be met in the future unless radical changes are made.” These ‘radical changes’ take the form of central If the debate successfully avoided the importance, much as the confidential section remained much more to protect CAWG from charges of being out of touch with community activities than to protect the individuals concerned from charges of fee-cutting, Despite the report’s lack of substance itapparantly represents aradical departure by a section of the R.I.B.A. from its traditional, hierarchical approach to architectural practice. It “sets out the case for a Community Aid Fund to be established within the framework of the Government’s urban programme”; arguing that “there isastrong demand for professional help to community groups which isnot being met adequately, either for delivering the right goods at the right time; everyone knows that, government funding to small scale private practices based in the locality and offering advice and seryices to individuals and community groups, both for actual building projects and for the development of alternative, area-based plans. The proximity of these proposals to these traditionally beloved of the radical left begs several questions. What has produced awakened asmall, but significant number of architects, and a far wider public, to the just ask any young aspiring architectural!TM44equacies of the profession, many have fe not been informed of any pending redund: ( One area in which sucha service could be ancies and opposed the management's dec- FREESON GEi: CAWG student. Somebody, however, must have forgotten to tell the R.I.B.A.’s Community Architecture Working Group (CAWG). With much pleasure, therefore, those of Us connected with the much maligned Public sector, our counter-report on Community Architecture already produced watched CAWG’s inability to meet the deadline they themselves set for submission of their report on the same subject). I am tempted to think that thisdelay Tesulted partly from CAWG’s embarrass- ment at having so little of any merit or Originality to say on a topic of such ‘Teal’ issues of the industry’s dillemma, one speaker among the trade unionists at least was able to strike a relevant note. Though he clearly recognised thepresent predicament to be largely the result of the private sector’s mismanagement, he went on to lay some blame on the unions for failing to recognise their profound responsibility to struggle to influence and change the course of the industry. Perhaps if they did, the political dogmas of nationalisation would be Te-examined more appropriate avenues opened up. ent,wellorganisedandrenowned activistsofthelate’60’sonwardshave attempted to come to terms with these inadequacies without confronting either existing economic, social and political relations within society or the role of the professional in maintaining those relations. The proposals of CAWG must be seen asa result of the sometimes contradictory, Sometimes complementary stimulants of economic self-interest and a somewhat naive liberalism. Viewed in this light the deficiencies of the report become more obvious. It fails to identify the key problem of “community architecture”, that of access to and control Over resources (finance, land, materials, labour etc.) it gives the impression that al unattached news: generally dominates the first part of Council spectacular procedural contortions, meetings. Here the Council in exercise of it its powers granted under Section 7of the Architects Registration Act 1931 considers cases of architects who have been convicted ofa criminal offence -the penalty for which may be removal from the Register. Except in instances of “disgraceful”, as distinct from criminal, conduct -which are referred to the Discipline Committee (Section 7, (2) & (3)) -such cases are normally dealt with by the Council in ful session. On this occasion halfa dozen cases were referred, the first and most substantial of which consisted of hearing representations from Mr F.D. Williamson, an architect from South Wales, who in October 1977 had pleadedguiltytotwochargesofcorruption. The case had involved a “landscape study tour” to Finland in which officials of Swansea Corporation had participated at Mr Williamson’s invitation and partly at his expense. The Council, who had already been furnished with compendious document- -ation was told by Mr Williamson’s solicitorofhisclient’s“distinguished career” and “deep professional commit- -ment”’ as factors to be weighed in judging the severity of the conviction. After an hour of pleading, and a brief retiral of ‘defendant’ and Press during Council’s deliberations, the Chairman users -the prime concern in a case where 50 people died.” Consternation. (The RIBA who had formed squares for the main battle were beginning to break ranks.) less numerous after several discreet depart- —"Yes, Ithink that Principle One ismore Hawser’s Hansard an Inside View Court of the Star Chamber or the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party? “The Mikado” or . Impossible to say.) publication in the Sunday Times of an And so it came to pass, that the RIBA “MuchAdoAboutNothing”?Itisdifficult pronouncedthesentence-“Severe The next meeting was fixed for 14th March to decide exactly which metaphor comes Reprimand” -and agrateful Mr Williamson nearest to capturing the distinctive ambience departed. of the 187th Ordinary Meeting of the (Architect readers who have the mis- Architects Registration Council - the first -fortune to fall foul of Section 7 may care such meeting at which SLATE wasrepresented to be reminded that Section 9 provides a For the uninitiated it may be of interest right of appeal against removal to the to note that ARCUK meetings are held in High Court of Court of Session, whose the RIBA HQ at 66 Portland Place, (a symbolic detail that some have considered unfortunate), in an upper chamber bearing more than an approximate resemblance to 4magistrate’s courtroom -by no means inappropriate in view of the content of much of the proceedings. The honourary officers and Registrar are stationed impressivelyonthehighbench,the Chairman centrally enthroned onasplendid chair, which might well be emblazoned with the motto Nemo me impune lacessit, though possibly Tamm arte quam marte could be a more fitting substitution. The clerks’ table is placed in a central well, with the councillors ranged around in apparently random positions, the press being adjacent to the door to permit ready exit to the hot lines of Fleet Street or even elsewhere. As the minute hand reached two o'clock (1400 hours) andwithattendanceatalittleunder50,the chairman declared the 187th open -his gavel apparently mislaid. THE HOUR OF JUDGMENT order is final...) sent to the Unattached, when they could ITS A MAN’S WORLD Conspicous by itsabsence from a shortnoteintheRIBAJournalfor November on the UIFA* exhibition of women architects in Paris was any mention of the NAM Feminist Group's exhibit(seeSLATE9).Itismorethan ironic that the article goes on to bewail the small number of British exhibitors (the NAM Group and four individuals in all) whilst it ignores, in the NAM group, the only significant grouping of women architects in the country. Just another example of the way that women who \ organisetoexpresstheirideasand aspirations as women are ignored while those who accept patriarchal professional attitudes are lauded. Lncidentally ,of the four individual women exhibitors, two have partner-husbands, Innette Austn- Smith and Heather Hughes-Lomax. * Union Internationale des Femmes Architectes page6 important,” said Bil Allen. (A white haired man, whose name nobody knew, thought So too.) —(Sotto voce) — “Tea has been ready for three quarters of an hour”, someone wispered to the Registrar. —“Letusvoteontheammendment”,boome: Theloss,alas,isyoursgentlereader. the Chairperson, voicing the impatience of at The discussion on ARCUK secrecy, and least a two-thirds majority. freedom of information to the Press would —in favour 11. Against 35. certainly have been the most interesting —“The motion before us therefore reads...” and worthwhile part ofthe afternoon, and (The Registrar had nearly finished writing it would most probably have established the down)Thoseinfavour?48.Thoseagainst?Iproundrulesforthisandalsubsequent Beneath the delicate clink of unmatched the SLATER MARXIST POISON cups, and the muffled crunchingof soft biscuits, schemes were surely afoot, for when the meeting reconvened -noticeably be represented by any registered person, Unattached or otherwise. Ah, but only Unattached were entitled to nominate explained the Chairperson. But how were non-Unattached to Know they could stand shouldn’t everyone get nomination papers persisted the hapless Mr Critchlow (apparantly unaware that for the RIBA itsel the equivalent proposal would involve advising the entire population of the UK that they were eligible to be appointed ARCUK councillors). Registeredpersons were expected to know the regulations, repeated the Chairperson. who squandered his last drop of patience to declare that as far as the Unattached Elections were concericd no change of procedure was called for for less than two minutes, still. an impress gesture. The Registrar reported on the -ures — the Chairperson announced that Item 4 on theAgenda, (Architects Disciplinary Proceedings Regulations 1976. Press Rules and confidentiality generally) was to be deferred, and that a paper submitted by the Chairperson for Council’s consideration was withdrawn. Wewereintotheendgame. TheR (Three more hands had entered the chamber, reports. Moreover, after some spectacular tabled a list of the deceased. All stood apparantly — or perhaps the Press had voted — jublic threats of court martials, following quite unintentionally, through the initiative account of ARCUK'‘s position on of the Unattached, instructed a review of Summerland, the scratching of Item 4 J.CA.R. ~ the trans-Atlantic US /ARCUR ARCUK’s discipline procedures. (Christmas seemed all the more surprising. However. link-up. Mr Green, the D.O.L repres: doubtless more anon. (“The Ides of March made a brief statement confirming the Bit are come” ...etc.) (Embarassed chuckles Govyernment’s rejection of the EL ¢ dratt riddic: Q. Where is the longest distance between two points? A. ARCUK Council.) WhereamIanyway? It’stoohotinhere. It’s Sunday morning, and I’m at the NAM Congress. But enough of this reverie... The Chairperson had already lifted the bales and players had started for the samovar. ONE LUMP, OR TWO? panel, Finance & General Purposes, even the Unattached Councillors looked To judge from the 187th, the tea interval Professional Purposes... hungry. at ARCUK assumes a tactical significance The single point of interest occurred approaching the Final Test at Lords. Batting when an RIBA appointee — conspicuously orders are turned upside down, bowlers are silent hithertoo —asked why nomination Hawser Tranmion scratched, the whole field might be replanned _forms for Unattached Elections were only here,asChairpersondeclaresStanding Orders unsuspended.) DOWNHILL RACER directive. The Chairperson reported “no ne on the monopolies issue. and with papers already being pressed into brief cases. Ure last two itenis were carried by the distineti ARCUK affirmative grunt, which signifies that enough is cnough - if not more than From now on, the 187th proceeded briskly. The Chairperson of ARCUK’s variouscommittesrosetopresenttheir 1979—anhourearliertoallowextraiju respective reports... Admissions, Board of time and as we filed from the chambhs Architectural Education, Education Grants Tnoticed that it was dark outside. and that Keep your © sopen for this harmless looking little chap, hanging out in college bars and buying evervbody drinks: he’s after your money and, if you give him the chance, your mind too. Who is he? George Cameron, the hired recruiting hand of RIBA Headquaters, pledged to implement Gordon Graham's ‘get ‘em young and keep page7 (CIL: Trunnion, on his most challenging assignment yet, brings this report direct from the ARCUK Council meeting of 13th December, 1978. The quasi-judicial function of ARCUK GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS Anyway, after sundry other cases of removal from or reinstatement to the Register had been heard, the courtroom atmosphere gave way to something more akin to the Debating Society of the Lower Remove. Two motions had been tabled by the fearless representatives of Unattached Architects, both referring back to the case of Mr J.P. Lomas, the architect involved in the Summerland project, Isle ofMan, at which SO people died. The unattached, concerned at Council’s reluctance even to “severely reprimand” Mr Lomas, who had been cleared of “disgraceful conduct” by the Discipline Committee, were proposing 4 motion of censure on theDiscipline Committee and calling on Council publicly to reaffirm its faith in Principle 1 of the ARCUK code. Caught between the Scyllaof s theUnattached,andtheCunha apparantly condoning innocent deaths, the main body of Council lunged into i Opposition to the Unattached’smotions crystallised in the person of Mr Philip Groves (ex-ARGUK chairperson) with Nadine Beddington in shrill support. With the ink stil wet, a third ‘composite’ motion was read out “sharing the disquiet regarding Case 122/1/76 (cryptic reference toLomas) and instructing the Honourary Officers to initiate a study into whether the Council’s disciplinary procedures require revision, reporting back to Council at the next meeting.” “At the same time”, Mr Groves proffered, “this Council confirms its acceptance of Mr Justice Devlin’s definition of disgraceful conduct (cryptic reference to the Unattached motion and reaffirms (my talics) .....(!) its absolute support for al aspects of the Code”. But was this hydra-headed proposal really anammendment? Was itnot anew substantive motion? The Chairperson was inclined to think so. —Perhaps it could be introduced if the original proposers would withdraw their motions. —would they? —no they would not. —in which case was it not surely out of order, not having been submitted 24 hours prior to the meeting? —yes, itwas. The Chairperson offered to take the unprecedented step of suspending Standing Orders to allow the new motion to be considered ....(selective treatment?) ....No such accommodation had been offered at the last meeting in similar circumstances apparantly, when the Unattached had sought sought to put a motion from the floor.) —But wouldn’t a vote be necessary to suspend Standing Orders? (someone found 4copy) —yes, atwo-thirds majority was required. —better vote on the original motions first hadn’t we? ~O.K. Number One: “This Council... formally censures....” in Favour ? 8 Against? 38. Numbef Two: “This Council reaffirms its faith in Principal 1. ” In Favour? 10. Against? 35. (Funny, one person short in the second vote, though nobody had left the chamber. Apparently itisnotthepracticeofARCUK toaskfor abstentions in voting. Never mind -it’ll be tea interval soon.) —now, those in favour of suspending Standing Orders? 45. Those against? 1. (The ghost had returned.) The Registrar, who was stil endeavour- -ing to write it down, began to read out Mr Groves’ motion... —“We propose an ammendment...” (The Unattached weren’t done foryet) (deafening groans) —“We must especially emphasise our faith in Principal O;2e, being the only part of the Code giving an undertaking of an architect’s duty of care towards building ‘em policy . Cameron's tactics: infiltration and ingratiation. His purpose: getting architecture students into the RIBA. Be vigilant! Besides the obvious charms of his expense account, Cameron ofa master of disguises, turns up where and when he is least expected, first in Building Design, where he was pictured in a smart suit and nice boy’ haircut, Days later Cameron was spotted spending a suspiciously large sum of money on the bookstall at NAM’s Cheltenham Congress, sporting this time @ ‘soft Marxist’ style perm and a pair of faded demins. Questioned during the Congress, Cameron admitted that the RIBA were paying his expenses but ed that any report he might give them of the event would be purely on @ voluntary basis. He had clearly been sent to observe and get to know the enemy before being despatched into the recruiting field. (AM Intelligence say that this man ‘on is not Known to be physically erous. If you do come across him the best way to deal with him is to ignore him they say. USER SATSFACTION Those who are still convinced that architecture has nothing to do with politics should spare a thought for Mario Across 1. Force equal and opposite to N.A.M. ?(8) 5. Long for trendy furniture. (4) 9. Over 9. Over-publisize Oroglas? (5) 10. Deceptive appearances are the archi- tect's speciality. (7) 11. Register the importance of 1931 (3,2,7) 13. Inverted snob. (3,3) 14, Schools of Architecture Council isa failure if muddled about nothing (6) 17. Tedious outdated material lacking gravity. (5,3,4,) 20. Capital !.if they bear fruit (7) 21. Ruling that sounds weak (5) 22. Beneath aTory resting place (4) - Ruling that sounds weak (5) 23. Professional Purposes with no tone can produce adversary (8) Deorsala whose only connection with the recent Red Brigade trials in Italy was that he designed the courtroom. That was close enough for the Red Brigade, however, who clearly appreciated the significance of both the layout of the courtroom and the connections of its architect and shot him. Wonder if Rod Hackney or one of his ‘community architecture’ cronies at the RIBA would have made a better job of obscuring the power relations behind the legal system and designed a courtroom less prone to ‘user resistance’? SAGS IN THE MIDDLE Aficiandos of architectural cartooning cannot fail to have noticed that our very own Archi Tekt now has two rivals: Old Louis Hellman in the Architects Journal and now Murrayball’s new protege, the SAGS in Building Design. The SAGs are a pot-bellied, flat-footed, unadventuruous and unfunny breed who acquiesce in a grumbling sort of way to the terrible indignity of having to work for another architect. Inspite of the cartoon’s subtitle “a Saga of the Many who Work for the Few’, it goes without saying that, just as in real life, the Many never get to encounter the Few over any real greivances. In fact, after several weeks of boring jokes about contractors’ claims, professors who are never in college and boring the wife with Test your wits in the long winter evenings by trying this puzzle, which has been specially compilde by Hawser Trunnion with a distinct architectural bouquet. Completed entries should be sent to SLATE, 9, Poland St., London, W1, by the end of February 1979. For the author of the first correct entry to be drawn from the sporranalife subscription to SLATE. architecture, the Few have yet to put in an appearance. Among the SAGS’ few endearing characterisitics is that they are scared out of their wits by NAM, whose i headquaters a hapless bunch of the little fellows stumbled across the other week. The two NAM members in the cartoon were were portrayed as two Red Brigade Style gangsters, berrets, stubbly chins and al We print the frame in question below, and the Slater would like to say that he knows who these two people are, but that the sight of large sums of money occaisionally has the effect of blurring his memory. Cheques payable to SLATE WE ARCHITECTS HAVE A DUTY To HELP THESE... 4. Way of quarryihg slate, possibly? (6) 6. Fallow deerin official surroundings (2,1,1,1) Q1,1,) 7. Royal rate of progress is simply revolutionary (4,4) 8. Bread strike sounds like a problem in Portland Place. Ugh! (8,2,2) 12, Type of President that is always brooked (1,7) 15. It’s professional if disinterested, we're Art Supermarket Design role for Unions? quatting Workers Collective assured (7) as TRUNNION S TEASER Origin of much of 1. across (1,1,1,1) 2. Freedom without the law . almost arcane! (7) 3. One Monday it'lcome perhaps (3,9) w 19. Confuse trial to be reinstated (4) Designing for Co-ops Stephen Hayward is a post-graduate student and a Part-time lecturer in Art History. at East Anglia University's Sainsbury Centre for the Visuial Arts in one of last years most highly aclaimed buildings, at least among arch \itects. What architectural critics seem not to notice, however, beside the intriguing form and the perfect construction, is that the building houses a working community of students and teachers. For these people the architectural masterpiece is less than Satisfactory, as Stephen Hayward explains. the University of i The Sainsbury Centre for Visus b e for Visual Arts consists East Anglia ists in vlan of a simple rectangle. The exterior of the ART SUPERMARKET Perhaps the most serious inadaquacies are to be found in the offices and seminar rooms which are built entirely of grey stove-enamelled metal except for the entrance face which isglazed. Despite the assurancesofthearchitectitisimpossibletowork intheseroomswithout theassistanceofartificial lighting. Furthermore, there isno soundproofing so that one is destracted even by the most gentle conversations of your neighbours -and as for lively discussions, the flimsy sheets of the partitions literally vibrate! The ventilation and temperature control are so inadequate that the University has had to issue fans in the middle of Winter. As regards the furniture in the rooms only the chairs and the pinboards work satisfactorily: the tables rattle and vibrate when one is using a typewriter, the filing cabinets tip up when the drawer is opened and even the anglepoise lamps cannot be clamped onto the tables properly. The bookshelves were originally intended to be attached to the walls by magnets, but these proved to be too weak to prevent the shelves crashing dangerously to the ground when laden with books. The potential absoluteness ofthis building There are several more minor disabilities, but in order to remain within the limits of this short article it is necessary to examine the intentions of the architect towards the Art History Sector and to show how he has failed to meet, or just misunderstood, the basic requirements. The architect’s principal aim was to create an impression of openess which he has gloriously achieved to the detriment of two of the most important needs of any academic community — privacy and tranquility. The Sector is overlooked on one side by the Senior Common Room and on the other by a part of the gallery, which is distracting for both students trying to work in the central area and for people in the glass-fronted rooms, the secretaries who occupy the elevated podium are particularly distressed by their exposed position. As regards tranquility, the lack of soundproofing in the rooms has already been mentioned; in addition noise invades the sector from many angles, especially from the AS Senior Common Room and people going to and fro” x between the restaurant and the living area. The so- iN called white noise which issupposed to deaden A irregular sounds isnot only ineffective, but isa ZN particularly unpleasant distraction in itself. aN IGNORES USERS building is covered with oblong corrugated metal panels except for the two ends which are entirely glazed. The interior is shrouded with Venetian O blinds and their appearance is tastefully reflected in the carpet design which is composed of a grey background enlivened by parallel lines of pin stripes ofa lighter shade of grey. About three-quarters of the surface area is devoted to the gallery (officially described as the Living Area), the special exhibitions area and offices for the gallery staff. The rest of the building is occupied by a restaurant, the senior Common Room and the Arts History Sector of the School of Fine Arts and Music. The Arts History Sector is situated between the ‘living Area’ and the restaurant and it is the purpose of this article to examine how this part of the building meets the requirements of its users and, as it evidently fails B Works of art should be enjoyed as a pleasurable aesthetic experience Firstly, itisimportant to point out the simple The walls - they are neither substance nor reality, for they are so ethereal and filigree that they must surely hide endless layers of magic apparatus Page 11 >>> The Art History Sector therefore isvery nearly an unmitigated failure. To a certain degree this is undoubtedly due to lack of effective comm- sunication between the architect and the users. Itis impossible to discuss anydetails concerning the consultation proceedings as this would involve considerable embarassment. However, itis permissable to say that the discussions which took place between members of the Art History Sector and the architect were practically fruitless and the general impression was that the architect was only interested in imposing and defending his designs instead of taking heed of the views and opinionsof the prospective users. Invitations were offered to Foster Associates to take part in seminars and to talk to the students about the centres — both invitations were declined. This arrogance undoubtedly accountsfor the general incompatibility between the space and its users’ requirements, yet most of thedesign faults seem to stem simply from lack of research into the functional as opposed to the aesthetic aspectsof the designs and do not.even live up to-the mechanistic ideals of the architect. The overall result is an extremely dissastisfied group of people who resent the spaces which they are forced to occupy- to do this, to suggest some reasons for its short- comings. Nor do I want to be pointed out the odd technical failings for in England we are beset by architectural Jeremiahs who will gleefully remind you of drips, splinterings or sweatings The slide cabinets in the photography library are another extraordinary example of incompetent design: the drawers jam and the white paint scratches easily. The shelves which support the ; photograph boxes bend beneath the weight, making it difficult either to remove or to replace the boxes on the lower shelves. ; The lecturing facility situated in the living area is positively farcical. Itisinno way divided fromthe gallerywhichisopentothepublic,theslide ; projections are too faint and sound amplification has to be used because the acoustics are so bad. The Art History sector provides facilities for 12 lecturers _,7 clerical members of staff, 2 technicians 178 undergraduates and 14 postgraduates. There are 21 rooms occupied mainly by members of staff which flank either side of a spacious central area lit directly from above and from the south -the louvres creating a pleasant dappled effect. This central area accommodates the general office and the photograph libra;rtyhe former isoccupied by one secretary and consists of a small open office surrounded by white stove-enamelled panels. The photograph library issunk slighly below ground level with an elevated central podium where three secretaries work. and numerous errors of design and construction, Some of which might appear trivial but which are equally exasperating to the user. David Gee is the health and safety officer of the General and Municipal Workers Union “ The idea of citizen participation is a little like eating spinach: no one is against it in principle because it is good for you ”’. How can we devise user-participation systems that overcome the problems of communications between users and designers? Not all users are agreed and the time taken to make decisions can become excessively long. Perhaps an area where the idea of participation can be effectively broached is against the backgroud of the new Health and Safety legislation, argues David Gee, who goes on to urge control by workers over, among other things, the design and layout of the premises in which they work, This article is an abridged and anotated version of an article which first appeared in the General and Municipal Workers Union Journal for December 1978. As this year comes to an end, we will have produced about £140,00m of goods and services, but at a price of about 1,400 deaths from accidents and prescribed diseases, nearly 1 million reportable (i.e. 3 day )accidents and about 25 million minor accidents. Many other deaths, diseases and illnesses will also have been caused by work but they will have been missed by the official statistics. Health and Safety is about reducing this human price of production to as low as possible. That should be the aim of trade unions, and their safety representatives as the new year begins. But what strategy will be the most effective at getting us next year’s production atalowerhuman price? must be provided that allows us to be human without harming ourselves. Otherwise we will fine that not only is work restricted to certain groups of super-fit workers, but that the responsibility for remaining healthy and safe isput on workers. it becomes Our fault for not wearing protective equipment, or for failing to cope with risks, instead ofmanagements responsibilitytoprovideasafeand healthy workplace. We can accept that some risks will always remain, especially in the short term, but the present level of risk can be reduced significantly as the following comments from safety representatives show: “T work in a school kitchen -it was designed to cause accidents. ” “ The controls are at head height, and we fill up the fluid container here with a jug — the stuff just runs right down aur arms and gives us dermatitis. ” j “Yes — we al complain of the noise from the cab but we can't wear muffs — they should make quieter cabs. " “Our new hospital is worse than the old — slippery floors, poor ventilation and lousy waste disposal systems, "’ “Why don't they make filing cabinets that can’t tip over.” “ We've reduced the eye protection area by one thirdjustbyredesigningthemachine ” Workers and their representatives know that premises ,vehicles, machinery and equipment are often badly designed, and the cheapest and most effectivewayofeliminatingdangerisatthedesign specification, manufacturing or planning stage. Section 6 of the Health and Safety at Work Act obliges designers and manufacturers, suppliers and importers to eliminate danger as far as reasonable practicable, from their products, before employers buy them. TRADE UNIONS, THROUGH THEIR SAFETY REPRESENTATIVES WILL;HAVE/TO ENFORCE SECTION 6BECAUSE 1. designers and suppliers could recommend that workers adapt to their products, instead of the other way round; workers will have to use the products and may have a different view about the risks or discomfort that they are prepared to face; .Workers with direct knowledge of the work will forsee hazards and problems that designers and suppliers won’t know about; and employers may not exert enough pressure on their, suppliers etc., without a push from the workers who will use the products, Itis not just Section 6 that needs enforcing. Any ds functions of a safety representative. + The awareness and co- operation of radical sections of the architee- tural profession would help to extend these rights and help enable trade unionists to be deliberately included in thedesign process inthe Suture. This is where trade unions would be acting asidesign critics, and could have their own fully qualified professional designers to advise them how best to feed back their views to the original designer. If accidents and ill-health are to be reduced significantly then these risks ahve to beeliminated or reduced, THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT !APPROACH TO HEALTH AND SAFETY IS NOT TO PERSUADE WORKERS TO AVOID THE DANGERS OF WORK BY BEING SUPER— HUMAN, OR ENCASED IN PROTECTIVE CLOTHING, BUT TO MAKE THE WORKPLACE SAFE FOR ALL WORKERS. It is human to be forgetful, tired, less-than-super- -fit, female, old or very young, below average Strepeth or height, or just not average in any respect, and work Page 12 page 13 DESIGN ROLE FOR UNIONS? “employers shall make available information about plans... and proposed changes insofar as they affect health andsafety. " “ Where there has been a substantial change in the conditions of work ( whether because of the intro- duction of new machinery or otherwise ) . safety representatives . shall be entitled to carry out further inspection..." (Reg 5(2) of SRSC Regs } Good trade union organisation will be needed to use and extend theserights so that the trade unions are involved before decisions about new work are taken. Danger, that is risk of injury, ill-health and death, is built into work when decisons are taken to: — produce a certain PRODUCT or SERVICE with particular MACHINES, EQUIPMENT, PLANT, SUBSTANCES housed in particular PREMISES and made to work by workers with SKILLS, INFORMATION, TRAINING and SUPERVISION. “to investigate potential hazards "is one of the “employers shall make available . information about hazards from machinery plant equipment, processes, systems of work, substances . provided by consultants, designers, manufacturers, importers Eee (Reg4{1)(a)OftheSRSCRegs) (Reg 4(i) (Reg 7(2) and Code of Practice para 6(b) from SRSC Regs } decision about what is produced and how itis to be produced needs to be discussed and greed with the trade unions, so that risks can be eliminated at source. But how to we get involved in these decisions? z The Health and Safety at Wotk Act, the Safety Representatives and Safety Committee Regulations, and advice form the Health and Safety Commission give us a good start. For example, “What can be done to bring within the procedures for planning Health and Safety the cooperation of the workpeople themselves.”” (Advice to Employers — P16 :HSC) > we SS cis Bradshaw writes on 1 f the Slate Community Centre before setting up at Tolmers Square, where it’s been for years. There they have enough space to store paper ,and have a dark room as well as a print room and layout room Because of not paying for the building, the init- ial financial outlay was small, the collective bought paper at auctions, they did building work,repairs andsetupadarkroom forthemselves. They produce posters either with groups or by themselves which have wide relevance to inter- national issues. Because there.is no strong trad- ition in Britain for using posters for political purposes ,they have created their own distribution network. Theyarethinkingofnewwaysthat posters can be used and now want to start work- ing in other ways as well, for instance they have large Slide Library, have produced a magazine, are page 14 page 15 Collective Squattingasamovement isthemostpositive expressionofdirectactionbypeople whouse buildings. It ignores conventional economic and planning forces but is a response to peoples real needs in an immediate way. Rather than talking about living in a squat, we thought that we would look at working/squatting instead, and in particular the Poster Collective in Tolmers Square, to see what sort of things are possible by direct action. The Poster Collective has been together for Designing for Co-ops some years. It started in the Slade School of Art,usingthefacilitiesthere,thenmovedtoa aims. *workingonafilm,andwouldliketoproduce leafletsthatcouldaccompany theposters. Because they are not working with an estab- lished and accepted medium they think that it is essential that the posters should be cheap, and should remain easily available to people without much money. They don’t charge for labour -they have part-time jobs or are on the dole —so that the cost of the posters reflects only the use of materials andelectricity, etc, The fact that their overheads for the building are so small ,is absol- utely essential to being able to carry out their Finding the building also meant that they could al work together ,rather than in an isolated way in houses or using other organisation’s facil- aties.When they have to move, the date is unsure but probably in the spring ,they will undoubtedly have to pay for space. They want a larger space, where, perhaps, they could share with another politicallyorientatedgroup,andwherethey can extend their work into different areas. At the same time, to keep down the cost of their work, they will probably have to work outside the collective more, to pay rent etc. Squattingcanonlybeatemporyactivity,but a group which uses such direct action can estab- lish a solid basis from which it can continue to operate. Membersoftenantcooperativesareintheunique positionofbeingabletohaveaneffectivesayin the way that their homes are designed, built and maintained. Architect Barrie Hurrell, points out how the situation of the cooperative tenaut differs from that of say a council or housing association tenant, describes how the design worker at Solon Cooperative Housing Services. set out to incorpor- ate the individual and collective requirements of tenant cooperative members into their designs and sets down his conclusions and the Design Group’s experiance of several years of designing forco-operatives. Traditional bureaucratic wisdom has itthat tenant groups will never be sufficiently adept at manage- ment and making decisions to act as collective clients for their own housing developments. Their individual and collective needs as tenants have tended to be subordinated to the needs of allegedly more efficient local authorities and housing assoc- iationsforhousingthatisdesignedprimarilytofit the requirements of management and maintenance methods. Tenants needs are acknowledged only as statistically derived norms. Experiance in tenants and housing cooperatives show,however,thattenantsgroupsarecapableof formulating their own requirements and manage their own completed housing. The funding system for cooperatives is basically the same as for other forms of government-funded housing and this means that housing projects must stil be completed in the same economically viable period whether it’s to accomodate the brief of a small professional development team (i.e. non-user client) or of a collective and permanently changing client such as a housing coop. (i.e. user client) This means that the architect has the responsibility of evolving a decision-making procedure with coops which allows for coop’s full involvement without giving the funding body grounds to condemn these joint endeavors as inefficient because of delays in Programme. Maintaining an appropriate decision- making procedure is therefore of prime importance to the relationship between the two parties. 2.Proceduresthatarenotespeciallyimportantin thecaseofacollectiveclientsuchasacoop.If the architect suggests alternatives for the coop’s consideration there could be large numbers of future tenants involvedin the choice. But such choices are made internally within the coop .mem- bership and the decision making may require long deliberation. The architect must therefore make sure that these decisions (i.e. instructions to the architect) are received at the right time Also repurcussions of decisions should be made clear. Architects of the Design Group now issue coopswithalistofdecisionstobetakenbythe coop which is programmed to suit the design and build work sequence of architects and contractors. Laying out clear procedures for the coups is even more important where the coop is a new one with no experiance of development. Mutual confidence can be established between architect and coopif the coop has a clear grasp of the process it intends to control as client. It can be a painful experiance for an architect designing accomodation for ten people say to be told that some of them feel that they were uninformed for they were not made fully aware of the consequences of their decisions, especially when the architect considers that as much background information as possible has been given. Such situa- tions occur less frequently when the new coop learns how best to deal with such information prb- lems -some coops establish building working parties which act as intermediaries between architect and the coop membership of general decisions such as types of heating, types of accomodation etc. This means that more time can be given to more individ- ual consultations between coop members and the architect as such questions as finishes, fittings and decorations. Also the working parties provide the continuity of experiance required -there isoften a tendency for the individual members losing inter- est in the coop’s builing programmes once their individual accomodation requirements have been met. The following are typical options that are offered to coops by the design group architects(these mostly apply to rehabilitation schemes): 1. Choice of property - architect advises on feasib- The Design Group of Solon Cooperative Housing Services have been working with housing cooperatives for several years during which time certain suitable procedureshavebeenevolved.Theseprocedurescanbe 2.Choiceofaccomodation-architectsuggestsalter- be divided into two categories: 1.Procedures that al clients should be made aware of by the architect e.g. the coop is briefed on its client role and its relationship with the architect and contractor. Generally the whole range of approvals and contractual agreements must be understood by the coop. ifitisto obtain max- imum benefit from the architect’s services. Also Testraints of cost, planning and building regul- ations, and funding body requirements should be made clear. native “unit”’ arrangements e.g. a house after conversion could provide three two-person flats one household of five single people sharing amen- ities etc. Choice of type of conversion -a coop with mem- bers with some building skills may wish to see the contractors work concentrate on the structural side i.e. new exténsions, new opening to give larger rooms etc. ifcertain members of the coop wish to do some of the work themselves. Anoth- er coop may opt for minimum structural alter- Barry Hurrell is a mem- ber of the Cooperative Design Group ofSolon Cooperative Housing Services in London. ility of scheme for different properties available. Squatting Workers Y Page 16 Thesechoicesapplytoalschemes.Theparticular configurations of different rehabilitation schemes also allow for other choices e.g. would the co-op like direct staircase access from above ground to rear gardens, and if rear extensions are envisaged can terraced roofs be included. In general the co-op decides on what amenities and standards it wishes to achieve within the available cost limits. After looking at the background to the architect — co-op relationships and the attempts to make it effective, conclusions can be drawn from the experienceofbothco-opandarchitecttodate. Firstly, how satisfied are co-ops with the architect’s service? The answer to this question very much depends on the co-op’s expectations, and on just and complicated by the vastness of the range of considerations. In the Design Group’s experience it is fair to say that once the co-op membership realises the nature of the development system within which they are working, they value their sunday how many of these can reasonably be realised by thearchitect.Theco-opmembershiprightly wishes to achieve maximum results from its building building programme. The opportunity to employ architects and other professionals that results from their membership is in most cases an opportunity theycouldnototherwisehave.Oneoftheattractions buildingdevelopmentsisfraughtwithdifficulties Over 80 people including many new faces met together at the Gloucestershire College of Art amongst the homes of retired Col- onels. By 9.00pm on the Friday night the Coll- ege minibus had ferried sufficient numbers from the NAM bus stop at the station (a welcoming sign). Watches and time pieces were mentally adjusted, as in previous years, toenabletheeventstorunasscheduled for the following days. After abrief introduction and history of Cheltenham from our hosts Gerry Met- calf and John Hurley, there prevailed an air of anticipation and purpose that motivated the following days discussions. Referring to the tensions between long term aims and short term tactics, John Allan said ‘that while the former could not be achieved quickly, some of the obstacles barring the way could be removed immediately. Our predicament is not a question of millenium or Monday, but an affirmation of millenium and Monday.” saturday Saturday began with Tom Woolley dis- pelling the premise, had anyone had it, that Architects are shaping the environment, pointing out that only 29% of building is done by Architects of whom 75% are em- Ployees. The following workshop debates were noticeably less heated than those of the first two Congresses, reflecting the ack- nowledgedaimsanddirectionsoftheMove- ment, later to be spelled out in the adoption of a new constitution. The various NAM groups reported on their year’s activities; thesuccessoftheMonopoliesgroup-inthat thatthegovernmentfinallylooksasthough Two new groups were born at this Con- gress, a Professional Issues group to back up the work of NAM’s unattached councillors, and a Student group. Although very few students are members of NAM, those att- endingtheEducationworkshoppressedfor thenewlyappointedfultimeRIBAStu- an autonomous student group to ensure that dent Councillor, in attendance (camouflaged NAM’s views are adequately communicated in denim of course!). to the schools. A Sunday lunchtime tour of Cheltenham of co-op membership isthat the-architect must respond directly to the membership’s requirements. However, most members have no previous experience of what standard of accommodation can be realised within government funded schemes. Therefore some members initially expect to get more than is reasonable. relationship with the architect and feel a real Creche facilities are to be refined and pro- vided at future Congresses as requested by the Feminism group and those attending this Congress with their families. To avoid disappointment the architect should do as much as possible to ensure that the co-op has a clear idea of what the end-product will be. One co-op was disappointed with the standard of finishes. This could have been avoided if typical finished ‘units’ had been available for inspection by the co-op. Also there isoften acertain healthy wariness within the co-op of professionals. Therefore itisdoubly important that the architect makes sure that the co-op considers only those options that are reasonably attainable. This involves explaining what can be afforded within government cost limits and sometimes advising as how non-standard housing amenities could be alternatively financed, e.g. some co-ops want solar heating for which funding is scarce and therefore difficult to include in the building works. Co-ops want to know exactly why they cannot haye the things they would prefer. Some co-ops wanted to look at the possibility of * co-op members acting as suppliers to the main contractor,e.g.whereaco-opwishedtoemploy carpenters from its membership to produce high quality kitchen units, how could their work be integrated with the contractor’s programme. To datethissortofbuildingendeavourfromwithin theco-ophasnottakenplace,probablybecause involvement in the creation of their living spaces. It is the architect’s role in facilitating the membership’s exercise of power over their immediate environment which is probably the most rewarding aspect of working with co-ops. Full details of each group and al Con- gress resolutions are to be reported separ- ately. the interested members are deterred by the financial risk of a new work venture. However, building works for short-life have been done successfully by building worker co-ops from the main co-op membership. This isbecause the standard of workmanship need not be so skilled as for permanent rehabilitation, the programme constraints are not so tight and contractual arrangements less formal. To date, the labour contributions from co-ops in the permanent rehabilitation schemes has been clearing out the properties, the occasional piece of fitted furniture and decorating. NEW ARCHITECTURE MOVEMENT | Another lesson learnt by the co-ops is that the time available for architect co-op liaison once building work commences is less than in the precedingdesignstage.Contractorscanclaimfor delays on site and speedy on-site decisions are often required to be taken by the architect when unforseen situations occur. Notification rather than consultation sometimes occurs. Therefore a continued happy architect/co-op ralationship depends on the co-op having confidence in the architect's professional judgement when acting alone. Co-ops are now invited to have representatives at al site meetings. There also has to be a balance between the co-ops sometime conflicting requirements of extensive consultationandadherancetoatightprogramme. The Design Group attempts to operate somewhere between the businesslike office with streamlined standard procedures and the type of group that whilst giving maximum attention to full consult- -ation and being flexible in approach runs the risk of extensive delays. Congress Intro. friday The attempt to give full effective control over their environment to the co-op membership within the maze of restraints that nowadays apply to al The workshops on Alternative Practice and the injection of a punk band at Satur- andthePublicDesignService,seenasdiff- day’sdiscoaddedtotheexcellenthospit- erent approaches to community architecture. ality and fine food provided by ourhosts. The 4th. NAM Annual Congress held in Cheltenham over the weekend 10- 12th. November proved again the value of open debateindevelopingNAMpolicyandideas. inghamgroupinestablishingitself. Sunday’s AGM thrashed out the coming year’s policy and participants left knowing how much has been achieved in the three it will grasp the nettle after thirteen years; the successes of the Feminism group after only one year; the continuing work of the ARCUK, PDS, Leeds, London, Unionisation and Education groups; the decline of the Cardiff group as its members join various issue groups; and the difficulties of the Birm- years since the first Congress at Harrogate, andseekinggreaterachievementsplusan increase in membership during the next year. Over the past year the membership has grown by more than 30% at a time when RIBA membership was in decline,so it was no surprise to find George Cameron, highlighted the tension between the ideol- ogies of Public and Private sectors prevalent outside the Movement. While reform of both sectors is being sought, the two groups view- ed their task as an affirmation of the millen- ium and Monday principle. The PDS group argues that a community architectural ser- vice should be based on the Public sector, making use of a reformed existing structure and these views have recently been sub- mitted to Minister of Housing, Reg Freeson. Those involved in Alternative Practice stressed the need for a community aid fund. Eddie Walker reporting on the work of ARCAID stressed that they lacked time to explain their community role and they were indangerofbeingseenasacheaplabour ss BiSSrux force, acting as the pawn of Liberal Coun- cillors for Tory individuals in anti-CPO cases. The debates carried on into the even- ing session when participants wereshown work carried out by ARCAID in Leeds and Support in London. (A few may think that itisthe charitable names that are mislead- ingpeople).Furtherjointtalksaretotake place between these groups, meanwhile it was accepted by both groups that they would work in parallel. Reform of the Pub- licsectorwillnothappeneverywhereon Monday. ations and a higher standard of finishes and fittings. .Choice of fittings and finishes- architect offerrs choice of type, quantity and range of fittings e.g. bath or shower, more of one grade of kitch- en units or less of a higher grade of unit etc. The feasibility and desirability of retaining existing floor and ceiling ‘inishes eg. timber floor boards or plaster mouldings are looked into. 5).choice of heating -the coop’s main concern here is one of fuel bills. To date the architect advises on the relative merits of gas, electricity and solid fuel heating. Wherever possible existing fireplaces are retained when desired -insome instances aroom will have a working open fireplace plus a gas con- vector heater on the external wall. > u4th ANNUAL CONGRESS CHELTENHAM ‘78 er Student Group Students, for the most part, are only vaguely relevance to our and NAM’s situation. These (if at all) aware of the existence of the New issues were aired in part immediately after- Architecture Movement, and are thus ignor- wards, and consolidated further later in the ant of the importance and relevance of its day resulting in an evening Workshop which P.1.Group began to hum before disbanding for the Al- theory and practice. |would suggest this is ternative Practice Slide Show! struck by mass indecision due to surprise incidence of overlapping categories. Plenary session turns nasty and calls for heads of organisers! ” .Fortunately it did not aims, policies, and successes in terms of primarily due to NAM’s political stance, which in turn is strongly related to ‘real To summarise perhaps too naively, we felt NAM to be reluctantly conscious of, but notgearedto,recognitionofavastnumber world’issuesrequiringchange. Two problems immediately arise as a re- of people who, quite simply, are potentially sult of this -the ‘real world’ more often than tomorrow’s Architects -and that ishow the nothaslittletodowitharchitecturaleduc- StudentGrouphascometobeformed.Still we quote below: acheived and quite adequate.” Thankstoeverybodywhofilledonein and we hope that they will keep up the dialogue in the bunch of letters that we anticipate for the next issue. The Group also presented the financial problems affecting SLATE: about 95% of each print run needs to be sold if the issue attended by about 20people. Inevitably theinitialdiscussionwasaboutARCUK what is it for, what is it, what does it do how does it work, who runs it, what should it do, what could it do, and why the hell are we involved anyway? For a quick. crude answer, its a public interest body set up ation (despite what the Schools of Archi- tecture would profess to the contrary), and the content of architectural courses them- selves is fundamentally apolitical, one of the reasons being to “liberate the mind to fac- ilitate good design” (whatever that is), pol- iticsbeingviewedasaninsuperableandcom- isgood,bad,orindifferent-andwhy; “General impression: I’m sure it’s all very good stuff and going in the right direction. However, it doesn't actually grab me as a magazine I want to read in detail, probably because it doesn't talk to people in precisely my situation, i.e. in straight private practice andveryfrustratedwithit.However,it istobreakeven—difficulttoachieve, keepingalistosarchitects(1know, Big plex barrier which mitigates against creat- ivity 2)Asaresultof1),todrafta‘manifesto’ which will have as its base an education representing student needs and aspirations inrelationtowhattheyfeelanArchitect should be; geesSate mefofindmoreideologically evenforanestablishedpublication.Cash Deal!):ithasaCouncilmadeup cceptable employment . Ifyou were seen returns from the salespersons network h almost entirely of architects( It takes one to be more relevant to gay, feminist, libertarianbeen incomplete al ere naa Ma x to spot one! )mainly nominated by the Symbolic of this, only avery small num- ber of students attended the Cheltenham Conference, despite advertising in the arch- itectural press (which students hardly look at); most attended through an interest in andawarenessofNAM itself-othersthrough theviewtoimplementingthepracticeof Marxist(butnotLeninist)Quakers,Iwould Jind the paper facinating. SERIOUSLY THOUGH, I think it should be broader rather than narrower. Minorities within minoritieswithinminoritiesareusedtobeing out on a limb. “T welcome the development of SLATE towards a wider market (leaflets in Roof, PDC outlets, etc.) — it should therefore become more of a wider magazine without introverted architectural in-talk. It should include more regular features on topics such ashousing,community, constructionof 1000 words and some larger features and theoretical articles. Far more illustrations 8S thePublicationsDistributionCanaa RIBA;itcouldtakeastrongpublic a ‘friend of a friend’! Naturally, the Education Workshop on the Saturday afternoon seemed a ‘must’; were to al intents and purposes excluded from NAM’s view of Education, due to a seeming muddled intellectualism which ser- vedtoignoreissueswefelttobeofdirect the contents of the ‘manifesto’. Ishould immediately addthatall who are interested in this field, besides students, are debate will no doubt range over a yast num- ber of topics implicit in the word “Educ- ation’ -so much the better. Personally, I believetheGroupshouldnottreadatent- We'd also like to hear from the numerous salespersons who have neglected to return cash or their unsold copies. There’s suspicious of ‘professionalism’ and of page 18 very much in its infancy, our basic aims are: 1) To stimulate real thought ( with conse- quent questioning) by students, in all Schools of Architecture, as to what their architectural education is teaching them to become, and whether that education by parliament to protect the public by 3) To lobby all bodies responsible for the structure of architectural education with werealways about six monthsbehind publication date. Both of theed factors meant that, in ea NAM had hsidisedtheeae byaaan amount since its inception. But should SLATE aim for financial independence? We’d like to hear your views on this question. protection role but is dominated by ‘professional’ interests (ic., principals in private practice ). We are involved to callitsbluff. The words Monoploies Commission Discipline Committee, Conduct - disgraceful and code of, Advertising Jnattatched, Public Interest, Accountability Salaried Architects and Education were al heard. Whilst NAM has been justifiably Slate Group The SLATE Group had felt for some time are still needed, It should include more that they were distanced from the NAM Specific useful information as in the back membership and other readers. They therefore Of Roof... SLATE cannot be effective took the opportunity presented by the recent 4 the newsletter on NAM (which should NAM Congress to sample the views of those be done through a Liaison Group duplicated took place at al. * Cheltenham Congress attending. A questionnaire was circulated sheet every month). The editorial workers asking for a reader’s-eye view of SLATE: The will need to go out to NAM Groups to responses ranged from stunning one-liners such 8¢¢ ‘hem to write things and not expect as “Bloody good considering ...” and “I like stuff to arrive automatically and orientate itasitis.honest”,toextendedprogrammes “Heirmaterialtobereadbynon-architect happen,andtheworkshopsdid,atleast and suggested new directions, some of which readers. Bi-monthly is as frequent as can be a ‘Professional Issues workshop emerged over £100 outstanding! professional institutions, involvement inARCUK hashighlightedaseriesofissues (eg., fee scales, advertising, incompetence, 4 With workshops on Alternative Practice Professional Issues and Public Design service scheduled to take place simul- taneously it was surprising any of them Page 19 ative path steeped in diplomacy -that would engender anon-starter; instead, Iwould ad- vocate strength in thought and action, hope- fully without becoming doctrinaire! Current action iscentred around making our existence known -hence the idea of a poster to pin up in al Schools, the estab- lishment of contacts within each of the Schools, the instigation of debate through the circulation of papers which discuss architectural education from personal stand- points, and through all this the arrangement of discussion groups at venues yet to be decided. supposedly aforum for discussion and action, ¢xpected to contribute! Ithink we are aware we were disappointed to realise that students of the immense task these three points entail; SO: PAY UP OR SUFFER THE NEXT SLATE HANDWRITTEN ON THE SLEEVES OF OLD BEATLES RECORDS! 1andtraining)whichconcernthe tral worker's relationship with and at work. These issues remain en without the mystification encouraged >concept of professionalism. In battleground. Consensus was that women It was felt that the objectives of the the following werewillingtoanalysetheessentialfemale newworkinggroupshouldbecomplementary 1! Toactasaforumtodiscussthe espond. ARCUK 1d to take positions NAM's ims but with councillors have with consideration little formal discussion with other NAM members. In thisresponsewastobeinCouncil ikely that careful consideration issue would have called for broader their own fees,raised problems, but it was felt that they were not insurmountable and that such groups could be financially viable as a -community service. ion with ARCUK as just one aspect. Thu »workshop proposed that. ifNAM was smain involved with these issues, then clear family. We went on to discuss the Feminist Group’s attempt to set up a co-operative design and build practice. This has been stimulated by a commission for Clapham The workshop concluded by asking the London-based Feminist Group to try and set up some meetings outside London and Other problems were associated with roup should be formed to do so. twas done. Some filthy swine to strengthen its links with Women in Con- Struction, Alternative Practice Group The workshop was well attended and the discussion identified which issues the Alternative Practice working group should be concerned with. the search for appropriate models of formal organisation and with indemnity insurance. BDS/TASS, ICOM and people already involved in Alternative Practice are at present working to define the difficulties and the possibilities. But theirbriefis very specific and should be complemented by abroader view to be taken by the NAM Group. Interpretation of ‘community architecture’ varies considerably and the workshop that this should be examined and clarified For instance, the RIBA’s attempts to use ‘community architecture’ as a meansof increasing the supply of work toitsmembers andofjustifying financial assistance from the Government should be the subject of critical analysis in a similar way to other issues taken up and exposed by NAM. To summarise, it was felt that the new NAM Group should concentrate on nat it should be c id me that pigs in entle, fun-loy it. clean vzenic creatures but that the unsiutable conditions. Maybe Page 20 such a bad nanic | iwith the conditions o workers and the users o! i. and sp. roast swine, hog, collog.) flesh irty, sultry, obstinate or perse ele PD.S.Group Feminism qualities and not dismiss differences as ir- ationality. The workshop endorsed the proposals that had been drawn up by the London sem- These experiences could be generalised to inar relating to the percentage of women in provide useful feedback for long term architectural practices, stereotyping in the proposals. architectural press, flexible facilities for wo- Alternative groups already practicing men and men who have to care for their chil- discussed the obstacles which they faced. drenandsupportandequalityforalwork- Helpingclientstofindrescourcesforal ersinarchitecturalpractice.Surveysofwo- aspectsofabuildingproject,including men in the profession are currently taking place. ideological basis of alternative practice, and how that relates to its practice 2. To examine the relationship between these ideas and the objectives of the PDS Group .To act asa pressure group to monitor and report on Government and Local Authority interest in “community architecture’andrecentRIBA Intervention. Education Group Influences on Education All those who had any experience of the matter agreed that, contrary to accepted opinion, the RIBA does not directly control architectural education, but rather operates through tacit agreement with the heads of schools. If anything, the University Grants Commmittee could be said to exert more control. to the ideas set out by the Public Design Service Group (PDS Group), enabling ideas and methods to be tested in the short term John Murray and John Mitchell introduced the Workshop by placing the PDS Group in the context of NAM’s overall policy The workshop was attended by most of the women at the conference and four men. the desire to promote effective control by the general public over the physical environment, and by architectural workers over their own working arrange- ments. The core of the NAM Feminist Group reported on the Beauborg exhibition.They felt that doing the display had beena val- uable experience and good publicity, bring- ing them together as 4 working group for the first time. Their’s was the only feminist contribution and was almost not displayed -for being too political! The other work on show reflected women working in a man’s world. Although projects expressed a hum- ane quality they did not appear to explore the underlying social structure ¢.g. the nu- Some of those attending were repres- entatives of the ‘alternative practice* approach — architects already working with clients who would not usually be able to obtain architectrual help. Whilst Local Authorities seemed only interested in their own bureaucratic criteria, these architects had found a way to identily and respond to people's needs On the other hand, they agreed that ‘community architects’ are dependant on outside finance, often derived from Central Government. This factor had always limited their scope, yet is totally beyond their control. The importance of the PDS proposals for reform of Public Service architecture could then be grasped, in that Local Authorities administer the major channel for the redistribution of wealth in this country. Despite agreement about the need fora more accountable Public Service, there was some scepticism from those who had learnt to expect very little from Local Authorities. The PDS Group members justified their optimism by describing those few Local Authorities where direct accountability has become a reality, and concluded that the only obstacle to further improvements Is a lack of political will. Women’s Aid to convert five shortlife houses into a refuge. Some fifteen women are in- volved, 4 or 5 of whom are working on the Clapham project. The group israpidly mov- ing towaras the position where it must commit itself to some women working ful time. We discussed whether the service being offered by the Feminist Practice was any different to that of a traditional ‘male” privateoffice; those initfelt that itwas, although how much of this is inherent in its ‘co-operative’ structure rather than its “feminist” structure was not explored. The question then arose as to whether male de- sign was “thrusting, sharp andaggressive” and if so was it due to social or biological conditioning. The view was expressed that rather than concentrate on male/female differences it was the social/political/educ- ational conditioning that was the main Page 22 it policy persued is still the lted from the Oxford tac\led as an isolated issue. Despite this general uncertainty about entry to schools result ourses haracterised by elitism and isolation from immediate problems asa point of dep- arture. — Industrial and trade union pension funds as major sources of developement capital. — Commercial developement, would have found the phrase ‘Community Architecture’ a contradiction in terms. To them architects were the employees of their political enemies, ial devel and local Not only were they instrumental in the process of destructionofmanyneighbourhoodsbutalso in designing the frequently ugly and inhuman build- ings that took their place. eal we orld Aspirations The meeting aspired towards making an tionayailabletoevery ne currey lentsfromcompleting tackledbyotherNAM groups,butwith 1 different form rve the san election ualifications actuallygrown cutofan tion which was developed erested in the |services to well as in obtaining en found very difficult to awake 1NAM among students. It was at this stems form the sorts of t NAM pursues being beyond the of experience of most students. At the same time, it was hard to see in respect to their implications for the way in which architects are trained. During the coming year the NAM Education group should produce a reader for distribution to the Issue Groups, which would analyse the background to architectural education in this country, and thenattempt tosetupjoint discussion meetings. unity Land Act. — The role of the architect in theprocesscfdevelopement. — Speculation in land and the seperation of the home and work. — Developers as clients of the building industry. We would like to hear from anyone who hasaparticular interest in these issues andwhowouldliketowrite Simultaneouswiththegrowthincurrencyofthe notion of ‘Community Architecture’ has been a depoliticisation of the defineition of the role which the architect is to play in the ‘community’. This, argues the PDS Group, is partially the work of the RIBA, whose Community Architecture Working Group (CAWG) has also submitted a report to Freeson. The CAWG’s concept ."‘is one in which the socially-responsibleprofessionalattendstotheneeds of the individual poor, rather in the way that a doctorhelpsasickpatient...”,saythePDSGroup and go on to argue that the problems faced by tenants and residents in urban areas are not problems ofindividualdeprivation,butoflackofpolitical control oyer rescources and their distribution at a social level. This the community action movement acknowledged and among itssuccesses has been the signs of its influence in Government policy on the gradual approach to renewing the housing stock and who, unlike the Minister, islooking to the report — education could be ie a DON’T DELAY — ORDER YOUR COPY NOWZOponly? Letters, articles, ideas and helpers for the issve will also be welcome: contact SLATE at 9 Poland St, London W1. SLATE may bea very slick looking paper but we need money fast! Please send us your donations now! Cheques made payable to SLATE to 9 Poland Street, W1. on tenants’ control of housing through tenants’ cooperatives. Times have changed, however, and through the professional sucess of one or two of the architects involved in community action, the phrase ‘Community Architecture” has been absorbed into the jargon of the profession and the notion that architects can and should serve the ‘community” howeverdefined,hasgainedsuchcurrencythat Reg Freeson, the Housing Minister, recently called for ideas from architects on how they might” be enabled to serve the ‘community’ better. One of the submissions he received was from NAM’s Public Design Service (PDS) Group called ‘Community Architecture — A Public Design Service?’ Havingopted,andrightlyso,forthesocial/political 4pproach rather than the individ Wth Pp < one wheredoesthatleavetheP.D.S.groupwhenitcomes to answering Freeson’s question? The way to enable for more general ideas about architects and the ‘community’ and who any authors of this sort of publicly available report ignore at their peril, to lump the efforts of radical architects working outside local authorities in, for instance, preparing alternative proposals with neighbourhood groups, into the same bracket as those who support and practice the ‘individualistic’ approach. In the last analysis these peopleworkingintheso-calledvoluntarysectorare private practitioners and the PDS Group isrightly wary of supporting the idea of state grants to the voluntary sector if this is to mean a growth, dillution of energy, bureaucratisation and lack of accountability characterised by one of the other state-supported voluntary groups theHousing Acsociati But thisinterp oS the PDS Group’s position comesfrom reading There al entry and10 Time course 1eage admitted without any Thestudentsproposedtosetupa Students Education Group, with the backing of NAM, and a motion to this effect was put for SLATE. Other suggested Proposals Itwas proposed that the NAM Education Groupshouldnotnecessarilyexistinitsown urbanplanningandtheComm- right, as a separate, introverted group, but should examine the same issues that are Six detailed proposals are put forward in con- clusion, al of which relate strictly to the function- ingofLocalAuthorityarchitectsandallieddepart- ments,aimed at breaking down the ‘boundaries’ inherent in Local Authority management which inhibit fruitful liaison between council workers and the ‘consumers’ of their services in the community. puttotheAGM. topicsforarticlesarewelcome. SLATE 12 will be about comm- ercial deyelopers, the way that they operate and the effect that the commercial develop- ment of land has on the city A review of “Comunity Architecture— a Public Design Service?” Just a few years ago no one had heard of Community Architecture. Indeed many of the people, architects among them, who were at that timeinvolvedinthestrugglesofvarious neighb hood groups against redevelopment or road schemes architects to serve the community better is through the reform of their relationship between local authority architects and the tenants, workers and others who use the buildings they design, cutting away ineffective layers of bureaucracy and opening h Is of direct bility to the ity. Architects who work in the private sector are not wellplacedtoservethecommunitybecause,says the PDS Group, ‘Control of land and finance is . the primary issue’ and for most people the only meaningful means of such control is through lective d icpi inlocalandcentral government and not through private ownership. The strength of ‘Community Architecture — a Public Design Service?’ however, lies not in the questionofthemeritsofitsproposalsbutinits arguements against the myth that what the “commun- ity’needsistheservicesofindependentprofessionals to solye the architectural problems of its individ- ual members, this isthe view promulgated by the RIBAwhenitarguesforagovernment-financed fund which would pay architects fees for poor people who could not otherwise afford them. The report’s weakness, on the other hand, isthat itseems, at least from the point of view of the general reader reviewed for SLATE by Giles Pebody. as a whole. In particular we ¢nierence:strirntrequirementsfor formagroup.andtotaketheir hopetoexamine thatentailedwholesaledemolitionoftheirareas the way forward, the students wished to b the lines of °C: A : 22pp:£L.00 from NAM, 9, Poland St. London, WI. NAM PDS Group: “Ce CaO Design Service?” page 23 NEXT ISSUE prgate practice on ‘aie public purse ? It would have come over more clearly had they spelt it out. TM The strikers are calling for a mass picket in the New Year to close the site, clean the place up and get their jobs back. They appeal to al trade unionists and building workers for support and feel that the out- comeofthisstrikeiscrucialforthefuture of DLOs al over the country. They need money and active support. private sector as well as improvingtheir TheNAMPublicDesignService tatteredpublicrelationsimage.Sowhy consider the relationship of local authoritiestocentralgovernment,their structure and their financing. Although it is understandable why they did not publish a critique of the role of local government in their report, it would seem that sucha critique could have informed their interim proposals, both in theirextentandtheirtermsofreference. For, whilst there is no doubt that the allocation of and use of public capital should come under more democratic anddetailedcontrolbytheworking class and that this is vitally important; nevertheless, the struggle between public and private capital is stil going on. This struggle effects local authority architects in particular as local authority building programmes are closely controlled by central government, as the CIS report, Cutting the Welfare State, who Profits? reveals: “ The capital spending of Local Authorities on building and other major projects is controlled by the centre. Although the Local Authority raises its own loans, the project must first be approved by government. As central government funds, themselvesar,e a product of a clash between the IMF, the City, and the government in the form of public sector borrowing requirement, these resources are the product of the struggle between public and private capital.” Group report “ Community Architecture — a Public Design Service ?” has caused some controversy within the New Architecture Movement. Here Marion Roberts and Mark Gimson bothwithexperiencein‘“Comunity Architecture ”, put their personal views on the report. Mark Gimson The PDS document ‘Community Architecture -A Public Design Service?’ is a welcome contribution to the debate, and the general aims of the PDS group are to be supported. The reform of Local Authority architects departments is long overdue -many Local Authority arch- -tectural workers will enthuse about any- thing which will improve their working context and relieve their immediate frustrations. Also, because of widespread public disenchantment with architects in both private and public sectors, such reforms are attractive to politicians at the moment. bring them into the section entitled ‘Community architecture - a definition’? In the second edition the demolition of the RIBA’s Community Architecture Group (a comparitively easy task) should be confined to the final section. The report of the NAM Public Design Srrvive (PDS) Group to the Minister of housing and Construction, Reg Freeson, But, as pointed out by Cynthia Cockbum necessarily lead to the progressive funda- -mental changes which the PDS group seck. The danger isthat proposals such as these will be adapted by the establishment to make managerial adjustments without changing real power realtionships at al; for example decentralisation of some public sector offices is already going on. It is crucial therefore that the PDS group concentrate on developing the alliances which architectural workers can make - with the users of buildings (e.g. through thetenants’movement),withother construction workers (e.g. in the fight to defend and devélop Direct Labour Organisations),andwithotherLocal Authority workers (e.g. in Housing, Planning and Social Services.) This is because support from the working class and other progressive sectors will be essential ‘if any really radical reforms are to be achieved. The PDS document gives too much space to the RIBA and is too defensive towardsthem. TheRIBA,astheyrightly point out, are just trying to jump onto the bandwagon and create jobs for the One of the most far reaching suggestions that the report makes is for the introduction) working class, but, as Cynthia Cockburn “points out, between the local authority anditslocalworkingclass. Thus a radical local authority architect is inevitable placed ina difficult position, On the one hand s/he is concerned with the sensitive distribution of local authority resources |,on the other s/he would presumable be in solidarity with the tenants’ and residents’ groups who are Campaigning to get a larger share of the Tesources. Solidarity with these groups wouldmeanthatalocalauthority architect would be placed in direct confrontation with her/his employer. Withoutvigorouscampaigningoutside the local authority and strong union Organisation inside it, any opposition on the part of any individuals to the local authority would be dangerous. One example of this kind of confront- ation isover defects inrecently built council houses. As resources for council housing are scarce, local authorities are extremelyunwillingtorectifydefects on these estates. It would be very difficult each have been held and one day about 60 workers on Moss’ site near Newington Butts shutdown andjoinedthepicket. Drivers for Readymix and Pioneer, suppliers of concrete, London Brick, Blue Circle and Tunnel Cement, Romriver Steel, British Gypsum Plaster and Evertidy Cabinets from Wolverhampton are refusing to drive through the picket line -this has obviously Page 24 Theyshouldalsobemorespecificabout on“Communityarchitecture”isawell what Local Authorities and the present Labour Government could do. Given the politicalandprofessionalcontextademand thinkingandactivity.However,the for a number of Local Authority pilot report does have two serious deficiences fruit. If which can possibly be atributed to the this happened such experimental schemes _ fragmentary nature of NAM itself and schemes to be set up might bear would vary, but the more radical ones could undermine some of the established power relations in their particular localities. Even one or two examples like this would be real progress and would achieve much more than minor general reforms. through the wish of the PDS Group to be a local authority group. People who work in Support andsome other architectural agencies do so, not because they want to attack the public sector, but because the potentials for making alliances with progressive sectors of publically paid and therefore publically society seem to be greater outside than inside Local Government. It must be admitted, though, that being in the private sector of architecture leads to some _ capital which can finance the land and »ther problems. The PDS group accept that buildings necessary. Consequently it would seem that whilst the struggle between public and private capital continues, (and also after it when such alternative groups have helped to The report makes criticisms of stimulate proposals such as theirs. Similarly, existing local authority architects the internal reform of architects departments Support, for example, has to keep closely departments, in particular of their ofaccountability. This sort of thing has representatives from the trade unions, ilready happened with Housing Associations. tenants and residents organisations and the NAM is the obvious forum in which neighbourhood’s conncillors. The rest of adicals in the public and private sectors can the interim proposals that the report have access to expert advice as a right. It should be noted here that these pick- How this could be set up should hopefully ets have had threats on their lives, been beamatterofdebatewithintheMovement toldtheywillneverworkinLondonagain An independantly administered state fund thus implying the existence of some kind could be set up to which tenants’ and of blacklist among employers, had messages residents’groupscouldaplytopayexperst senttothembytheNationalFront,had fees. Alternatively we could campaign for can get together to coordinate their activities.Thisprocessstartedatthe Cheltenham Congress -we should take it further and undermine attempts to devideandruleus. Z makes are reliant on the provision of this thirdtierandencompassthesettingupof of area multi-disciplinary design teams with members directly accountable to theneighbourhoodcouncil,alevelling of the hierarchy, and direct links with the Direct Labour Organisations. This model for a public design service is extremely potent, and the arguement for it is carried through positively and logically. The pervading ideology behind the arguement, however, is that their is no conflict between State provision and theneedsoftheworkingclass. The PDS Group kept strictly to their briefin the report and did not the funding of architectural workers to work in law and housing aid centres alongside other voluntary sector workers. This latter suggestion could also set up a useful liaison between local authority architects departments and the community groups outside. their car smashed up bya lorry from the site, and been attacked with an axe by a lump labour lorry driver. produced and presented document. As such it is a substantial advance in NAM’s The report was written as an Community Architecture Working Group (CAWG) ‘antidote’ to the RIBA’s and contains a critique of that Report. The main thrust of the PDS Group report is to argue that, for architects to service the needs of the community (ie., the working class )they need to be accountable, that is, local authority architects. Local authorities also have contro| of acertain amount of public at the NAM meeting on November 20th, mentsalongthelinessuggestedwillnot intouchwithwhatishappeninginthe remotenessfromtenantsandusers’groups. notbetweentheStockExchangeandthe isaneedforavoluntarysector.BythisI wark.Twomasspicketsof150people public sector because there is a real danger of being used by reactionaries as a stick tobeatLocalAuthoritieswith.AsPDS point out there isthe danger of diverting grass roots pressure and demands to the private sector and voluntary agencies, which would let Local Authorities off the hook and would consists of neighbourhood councils and would diminish the already low level based on each locality, made up with It also critiscises the non-productive administrative layers contained within thelocalauthorityhierarchy. : mean a sector serving not the interests of private capital, which includes private architecturalpractice,butasectorwhich serves the needs of the working class in seeking to extend the provisions of the State. This sector already exists in the form of law centres, housing aid centres, welfare rights and housing rights projects. As socialist architects,I feel that we in NAM should be pressing for State funding, so that started to disrupt work and will hopefully that groups within the working class may act as an agent to start negotiations. of a new tier of local government. This tier OLPLINION NEWS) continued trade union organisation on the site. It is partlyduetothisweaknessthatSChas been able to adopt a “hire and fire’policy and envisage and start to carry out redund- ancies on their own direct labour workers. It seems that Southwark’s DLO is, with the consent of councillors ,gradually being eroded from within. The6strikersaredemandingreinstate- ment not reemployment, proper trade union organisation on al sites, safety stew- ards in accordance with the Health and SafetyatWorkAct,Bovismanagementto end, no sub-contracted work and a proper DLO to start functioning. They believe DLOs to function better as building units than private contractors because they offer more likelihood of job security, trade union representation, essential and adequate health and safety precautions and paid sick- ness and holidays after 6 months employ- ment. The pickets have received support from Southwark Trades Council and the Direct Labour Collective who have set up an act- lon committee with stewards to stop the running down of SC and to question the role of Bovis. They will be publishing a broadsheet on the situation in the New Year, available from Southwark Trades Council. The strikers have received money and Support from rank and file workers on both public and private sector sites in Lon- The interface of this struggle is, however, looking at the USSR and China!) that there don and social workers on strike in South- DIFFERENCE OF Marion Roberts for a local authority architect to support a tenants’ campaign on this issue by, say, appearing a&an expert witness in court. ’ Which leads on to the other weakness in the PDS Group’s report. Itisassumed that the neighbourhood council would be acatch-all for pressure groups within alocality. However, itislikely that the area based teams would be introduced, as has happened in two boroughs already, but without the neighbourhood council. Thus the area teams would be faced with the problem of making alliances with community groups within the locality. This is aserious problem which merits farther discussion. Thus Ifeel that the PDS Group’s report does not inclide this important area of concern. This perhaps should be an issue for further discussion and liaison between the PDS Group and the newly constitued NAM Alternative Practice Group, in order to make some progressive proposals about what to do about community architecture in the local state of today. However, this is not to be overtly chary the PDS proposals are to be heartily applauded, and we hope put into practice; and NAM should campaign vigoruosly for this to happen. Empirical historiography, or the Whig interpretationasitusedtobecalled,evol- yed from the liberal approach to history which emerged in the 19th century. Its main characteristics were described as: a belief in the primacy of observable facts implicit theories containing assumptions about the goals of society; the individual- isationofhistoryandtheisolationofthe area being studied from other contemp- orary and historical events except by way of cause and effect. Despite the influence of historians like Tawney, and more recently Hobsbawm and Stedman Jones, al of whom have rej- ected fact accumulation ,moralising and liberal variants of the idea of progress, the main stream of British historiography (typified by ‘The Victorian City’ — edited by Dyos and Wolff) has remained stead- fastly empirical. FINAL PART identification of problems in history there- fore acts as a defence of the present society by reinforcing its values. It is a statement not only about the past, but about the present and the future. Certainly,EPThompson (2)haspoin- ted out that the majority of present day academic historians transfer their sensibil- ities and goals to the society which they are studying. These goals change as the society changes. The current goal is social justice. ‘The belief in the possibility of social reform by conscious effort is the dominant currentof the European mind: ithas superseded the belief in liberty as the one panacea.” (3) Social justice involves the idea of allocat- ing burdens and benefits in an equitable way.Itattemptstolaydownethical S s Inthis,thelastessayinthisseries,Lampard’s principleswiththefulforceofmorallaw. Cynthia Cockburn was the speaker at one of NAM’s best attended and liveliest London Group meetings in November at the Architectural Association. Author of ‘The Local State ’(reviewed inSLATE 6 ),she opened by describing how workers in Local Authorities and communities can unwittingly extend and validate the oppresive aspects of the modern state, help to ameliorate the harsher realities of Capitalism and serve to support it by nurturingtheworkingpopulation.She advisedradicalsintheseareastocreate what she termed their *oppositional space ’and suggested that, faced with inadequate resourcesth,estateworker can ‘refuse to manage( with the resources )’ and highlight the cut backs that force them to implement the lowering of the quality of state support. Applied to architects this could take the form of active resistance to the cuts in budgets for housing, schools and other local amenities and the moves made by Tory boroughs towards the privatisation of housing. She argued that, although the form taken by the local state( for instance area based, function based or a combination of the two ) was asignificant area of campaign, workers inside and outside Local Authorities could, at the same time, establish direct links with user groups and support their efforts to fight inadequate state provision. She suggested that by reachingouttomassgroupingsoftenants and to trade unions, *oppositional space °can be reinforced and empowered ‘As well as alliance with Council building departments she saw it necessary to identify with the industrial action of other groups of Local Authority workers such as the social workers currently on strike in several London boroughs. NAM’s PDS Group, representatives of which were at the meeting replied to Ms Cockbum’s paper and the discussion was taken up by the audience, many of whom were newcomers to NAM events. Although the gathering was expectant with sectarian mutterings the showdown didn’t, in the event materialise, despite some prodding. Ms Cockburn deftly side-stepped one f flashpoint in the evening by opening up the discussion to the NAM Feminist Group, amember ofwhichdescribedtheirsetting upofawomen’sdesigncooperativenow designing a women’s aid hostel in Clapham. Some people said that after reading *The LocalState”theywereleftfeeling confused as to what was *the right thing to do ’and how to apply Ms Cockburn’s analysis. The dilemma was not totally resolved by the meeting, and rightly so. Ms Coburn pointed out at the start that she would proceed as il addressing 2 socialist audience, and one felt that the key to confusion during the evening was NAM’s elevation over. that level of political identity. statement that ‘the attention (of empirical urban history) has been focussed on the problemsratherthantheprocessofsocial change’ (1), will be examined briefly and it will be suggested that this is one of the ways in which empirical history controls the meaning of the past for the benefit of the present social arrangements. PROBLEMS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE: The identification of social phenomena as ‘problems’ carries with it certain implications. Problems are implied to be aberrations in an otherwise satisfactory arrangement. They appear as disfunctions. Their rectification or eradication, it may be assumed, will result in the system con- tinuingtoexistasitdidbeforetheprob- lem put in an appearance. In that case the identification of problems suggests that not only are their social norms, but that the identifier has a goal in the path of which the problem appears as an obstacle. Events will thus be classified in relation to the extent to which they support the ex- isting arrangements and its goals. The These principles, like the moral values of the 19th century historians, once estab- lished,canbeusedtoevaluateeventsand activities in history. It can be seen, that where the distribution of resources in the urban past is not in accordance with present ideas of social justice this will constitute a problem for the historian. Social justice then isanormative concept. Itlooks for‘what ought to be’ rather than ‘what is’. The gap between what ought to be and what actually is, will appear as a problem. ‘Problems’ are therefore inherent in a historical approach based on implicit goals. ‘The Victorian City’ is replete with examples. Inithistory isregarded asa series of static events, not as a dynamic process. PROCESSES: To describe historical change as a process implies that there is a relationship and a continuity between historical events. They are not random and discrete but part of a pattern.. If this is the case there is the further implication that there exists a ‘mechanism’ which generates this process, page 26 a mechanism furthermore, which is inyisi- ble. That is, we can see and recork visible evidence but not the generator. If we are to accept that a process is at work, and if we are to understand history ,the facts of history become secondary to the generat- ing structure. They are merely the out- ward appearances of it. But the generat- ing structure itself can only be discovered by hypotheses or theories. This is the method employed by al scientific enter- prise. As far as problems are concerned, it follows that if a visible social phenomen- onwere tobedefinedasa‘problem’by adherents of a theoretical approach to history, the origin of the problem would be sought within the structure of society. In a theoretical approach to history there- fore, the structure of society is not immune from searching investigation. The empirical approachontheotherhand,investigates and records only the visible facts; as was described in the previous essay. Some of these necessarily appear as problems in relation to an implicit goal. From the foregoing it seems clear that history would be advised to direct its attention towards an examination of social processes. In this respect EP Thompson has stated categorically that, ‘The central concern of history as a relevant humane study (is) to genera- lise and integrate and to obtain a comprehensionofthefullsocialand culturalprocess’.(4) If that is the case, and the empirical app- roach does not give an adequate account ofhistory,itmaybewonderedwhyitis so prevalent or indeed why it is employed at al. History however hands down tradition, and tradition means the carrying on of the past into the future. History transmits social knowledge which includes society's perception of itself. Itisthe contention of these essays that only the empirical approach can convey society’s image of itself unaltered. Since it is necessary for any society at any stage of its develop- ment tobelieve initsown stability and continuity, its institutions and ideology will tend to further the existing arrange- ments and inhibit opposing expressions. In which case it will be difficult if not impossibleforacapitalistsocietytoaccept the Marxist approach to history, in part- icular, it will find it unpalatable to re- concile itself to the Marxist belief in historical progress; namely that our pres- ent arrangement is one stage in the histor- ical development of production, the mode of production being the hidden ‘generator’. It proposes therefore that capitalist soc- ietyistemporary. Thereisthefurther argument that the society itself engenders this change through the resolution of a continuing series of internal contradictions. (These are likely to be regarded as problems by the empiricists). Marxist theory also poses another and particularly acute problem for a society based, as ours is, on the requirement of minority ownership relying for its wealth and existence on the surplus generated by the majority. For within this society there exists a body of theory which postulates that the present arrangement prepares the ground for the transfer of ownership to the majority. “(It) engenders the material conditions and the social forms necessary for a reconstruction of society.” (Marx) Marxism, as a scientific historical theory, therefore,cannot be divorced from Marxism asapoliticaltheory,whichattacksthe basis of the society. The tmpirical interpretation however, preserves capitalist society’s mirage of itself intact.Whenhistoryisapproachedwithan unconscious implicit theory, the facts which -are selected will tend to confirm the received wisdom. There is an inherent _ circularity in the method. “The ideological assumptions of an age slide into historiography...... not generally as strident assertions of ‘partipris’ (those who contest the dominant ideology are accused by its defenders of this) but in certain selectivities and abstentions...... two of these absentees (from empirical history) are captalism and class conflict.” (5) CONCLUSION Thus the empirical approach to history acts as a powerful defence of present day Society. By its very nature it controls the meaning of history in a way that reinforces our society’s perception of itself. But because the empirical historians simplicitly transfer their own sensibilities and goals to the society which they are studying, their histories become outdated as society progresses and adopts new goals and defines new problems. That is why history is Tewritten. REFERENCES (1) E. Lampard “Urbanisation and social change" from “The Historian and theCity" Eds. Handlin& Burchard p. 226 (2)EP.Thompson “ResponsestoReality” New Sociéty 4th October 1973 (3) E.H, Carr “What is History?” (4) E.P. Thompson op.cit. (5) E.P. Thompson ibid. and highly readable would be : E.H. Carr “What isHistory?” o Pelican 60p of Capitalism” RKP paperback £2.75 2 LONDON GROUP OPEN MEETING = y 4 Reading Urban History At the end of the first of these essays inSLATE 7anumberofsuggested histories and authors were listed as helpful starters. An even shorter list, definitely recommended The previous two issue in this series sugg- ested that the dominant and most influent- ial approach to Urban History and indeed to history in general in this country is the empirical approach, based on knowledge derived from observation. It was contrast- ed with the theoretical approach which is based on knowledge obtained by the con- scious application of explicit theories. The most important and well developed of the second isto be found in Marxist histories. Maurice Dobb “Studies in theDevelopment - * Recent research carried out by the Economist Intelligenc . .. * *ero Unit has shown that this judge isactually out of the country at the moment, the organisers apologise for the bias confered on the panel by virtue of this persons absence. page 28 S$ dye-caste, hand-tooled 1:500 model of shhh-you-know-who’s helicopter. hew!, I’m glad to be o Actual Project. mn at least 5 phs and shou ntry requirements and programmes are availa any branch of MAR LEYPILKREDLAND Ltd's retail outlets; ‘‘Do-it-yourself we're buggered if we are” at £600.00 (including vat) (easy payment scheme availab from MARLEYPILKREDLAND FINANCE COMPAN ém‘s memoirs- face” ined from rtland Place — ‘| SLATE COMPETITION! — ———e commission. l SSSSee == = ~The Competition willbe judged by: — __-Roddy-_Llewelyn:_night-club owner = | : Vincent“ten wilt fiver’ Marleypilkredland (no ar | | Vitruvius: registered architect* ; | The Slater: architectural critic of SEATE the sponsoring company wha he Economist Intelligence Unit Sponsored by MAR LEYPILKREDLAND Ltd, (adivision The sponsers offer the following suggestions for the of United Dog Foods Inc.) Entries are invited for the different ways of rehabilitating the decaying premises of a faded London club at 66, Portland Place, W.1. The entries should be hgaded by one of the following key-words.: “InnerCity”,“small”,“sensitive”,‘“‘infill’’,“revitalising”, re-use of the property: -advertising agency -Chilean restaurant ‘ te! e (BMsee egcornce ideo of 2 weeks in the Seychelles paid for yants, Cabin, to be announced. e money owed by the Arts Council to the Natio “nice”, “community: "or"! Dp”. -temporary headquarters for the chinese trade NOTE: This competition is closed to all (male : unity Architecture Workii Ifo Mc APH. Creeohsed_ WI)Li nalrlel~}| ofF Ai = Zi e” eZ ks|<]A}CO]OBS wlvy}>}-}ut} SSBe <fe Zz <i |J]X]av}Ye)—}EJA]oft O <i <a pO]itt)WE S|Ola} x eSee a a By — 4 & ef|S]wySf=} st]a}wz] 5 JN-9rQY ot]Z||uw]Oo]+] S|<x]w] la y==° Ly -[2]<« a eS?]|SiS] 2 zie z ie Zi a. 9° < W ofa Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource NAM SLATE Group Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Murray & John Allan Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 10 November 1978 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/141ac8f3955ce7b7b2a6f6f950d54f4d.pdf 6513d262bfd0949b3f0d0a93b76137e1 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 SLATE Description An account of the resource To help promote its work and reduce dependence on the established professional press, NAM created its own newspaper SLATE. The editorial group met bi-monthly to gather together latest events, activities and ideas emerging from radical critiques and challenges to the established order of architectural practice and education. The content of each edition was collated, and cut-and-pasted into layouts of the magazine which typically ran from 16 to 28 pages. Each edition included a brilliant cartoon by Andrew Brown who emerged as a clever graphic artist synthesising NAM's radical ethics. SLATE's production ran to 17 issues in total. The SLATE Group also produced occasional annual calendars, of which three survive 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 SLATE 9 Subject The topic of the resource Direct Labour Description An account of the resource wil bes m C atpine TarmAc. Bovis | wll meey U he ie THE FIGHT FOR CONTROL OFTHE BUILDING INDUSTRY SLATE IS THE NEWSLETTER OF THE NEW ARCHITECTURE MOVEMENT, published bi-monthly and edited by the Movement’s Publications Group. News and features of broad interest to workers in the profession, the building industry and to the general public are inc- luded to stimulate general debate on a wide range of issues and to bring the Movements views and activities to the attention ofthe largest possible readership REPRESENTATIVES 4 network of 30 representatives has been set up throughout schools and large prac- al over the country. The only comm- it of each representative will be to receive ) copies of SLATE every two months and to try to sell 4 of them, return- ng €1.00 to SLATE Al this should help SLATE acheive a tar wider circulation and become more truly representative of the views of rad- icals concerned with the industry and the environment WORK ON SLATE SLATE needs more workers, more ' Camden comes down on Hunt- ley street AT 6 AM. ON WEDNESDAY 16th August between 250 and 650(reports vary) police, mostly Special Patrol Group, with riot shields, bulldozers, pickaxes and bailiffs evicted 160 men, women and children from flats in Huntley Street, London WC1. It was the biggest ever eviction of squatters in Britain and, more signi- ficantly, the first mass eviction since the introduction of the Criminal Tresspass Law in December last year. Thirteen people were arrested and later charged under the Act although theoretic- ally al 160 people could have been charged U.S. Cu ion indu reacts to uet a writers more ideas and more reps in order simply for building barricades. A court NAM’S FEMINISM AND Archit- ecture group haye been asked by the Policy Studies Institute to submit information on job opportunities for women and their general posit- ion in the architectural profession to the Equal Opportunities Commi- ssion at a meeting scheduled for mid October. A survey was carried out ten years ago on women in higher management and professional positions and a report was eventually published entitled “Sex, Career and the Family ”. Specific reports were then issued on certain of the professions surveyed but one was ot published on women architects. THE UNITED STATES HAS TAKEN a major step forward for sex equality |in its construction industry by prom- oting legislation which obliges emply- ers to take “affirmative actions” in taking on women. These regulations, drawn up by the Department of Lab- our, have already become effective and require a goal for the industry to ensure that 3.1% of it’s labour force force are women by the end of 1978 compared with the current 1.2%. It is intended that the goal will rise to 5% in 1979 and 6.9% in 1980. These prop- osals having not been welcomed by Assoc- iated General Contractors (US's equivalent of our National Federation of Building Trades Employers) who are quoted as saying that the goals are “unrealistic” and would occupy eyery place in their Bureau of Apprenticeship Training schares. Lea Wests C£ aS by An occasional publication produced by Students and staff at the Architectural Association aimed at giving a wider cir- culation to political economic approach- es to urban problems and policies. Issue no 1 contains a paper by James Anderson entitled “Engels’ Manchester: Industrialisation, Workers Housing and Urban Ideologies”. Issue 2 - “Building Capital and Labour” contains a paper by Chris Cripps on the historic devel- opment of British construction capital- ism and unions, a paper by John Rogers on current tendencies in the U.K. con- Struction industry, as well as the full version of Malcolm Bezant’s paper on P.E.L.A.W. summarised in this issue of SLATE. Both issues are available from Plan- ning Publications, Architectural Assoc- iation, 36, Bedford Square, W.C.1. at 75p each plus 15p P+P to produce a better, larger and cheaper newsletter. If you would like to work for SLATE: become arep.,jointhe group, send in articles or suggest topics it should cover then contact us soon SLATE ispublishedbythePublications Group of the NEW ARCHITECTURE MOVEMENT, 9 Poland St., London W.1. (Letters should be addressed to the Publications Group) Printed by Islington Community Press, 2a St Pauls Rd., London, N1. Trade Distribution by Publications Distribution Cooperative, 27, Clerken- well Court, London, E.C.2 Ste’, n., m., & vt. 1, Minds of grey, Diuish-purple rock easily eplit « smooth plates; plece of cuch ¢d ns roofing-material; pleco of it med in wood used for writing on vencit or small rod of soft~ (clean id oresclf of or renounce oblign- lack, -blue, -grey, modifications sua8cohccurin~;J~-<club, benefit society with small weekly contributions; -~-colour(ed), (of) dark Mulsh or greenish grey; hence slit’x? a, ou}. (Made) of ~. 3, ¥.t. Cover with~s .» (ME clate, fem. of esclat suatt) . hearing was held on the 21st September and has been adjourned until the 4th December. Coinciding with the first court hearing, Dutch squatters demonstrated in support of the Huntley Street squatters by attempting to board up the British Embassy in the Neth- erlands. Fifty seven demonstrators were arrested,heldinjailforfourdaysandthen released without being charged. fight for rehousing. Despite the arrests the Huntley Street squatters were not totally unsuccessful in their fight for rehousing. Camden Council has housed al families in permanent acc- ommodation and single people have been promised alternative shortlife housing. Unfortunately fifty people are stil waiting in a temporary crash pad squat in Fitzroy Square because the typists strike at Camden has dly held up di ingfrom the flats allocated to the squatters. Camden Council has also been prompted to recon- sider its policies for housing single people and promises a new policy shortly. Above al the squat has demonstrated that squatting can continue despite the Criminal Tresspass Law. As the slogans printedonthecorrugatedironafterthe Elgin Avenue eviction in 1975 said: ‘It’s not what THEY say but what WE do that counts.” ). Criticize acverely revicws), scold, rates ©. Propose for oifico etc, Hence 7 WITH A GUN IN ONE HAN D. Xl) n. (app. f. pree.} NEWSAYVAMANEWSKY staff association lacking ‘bite’ A FEELING OF POWERLESSNESS oyer the six recent redundancies at Sir William Halcrow and Partners’ architectural section has caused many of the 700-strongstaff association to question its effectiveness and ability to go beyond liaison on ‘safe’ issues. Halcrows is a large multi-professional practice of engineers and architects number- ing over 2500 persons.The six were selected, so HSA were told, on the basis of their low ‘performance rating’ (an ongoing subject- ive evaluation by the management). This criteria was used to trim Halcrows sails to the slim pickings blowing in from the middle east these days: Arab investment capital has been increasingly diverted to the advanced nations from their native countries and Halcrows commissions have declined in consequence. The staff have also been informed that their productiyity is below par although it was not made clear how exactly this had been measured. Complaints have also been madebyHSAthatsomemajorjobshave been farmed out to outside practices: they have been told that this isbecause these are‘non-profit’ jobs. The motives of the practices in question must indeed be high ! The 6 were al unqualified lower/middle grades salaried staff -a characteristically vulnerable section of the architectural labour force. Many have already left of their own accord and the round of goodbye parties has apparently began to take its tol, on the Halcrovians (ed- perhaps this adds a novel nuance to ‘natural wastage’). The upper levels of architectural staff are naturally subdued in their criticism of the redundancies owing to the fear of their own security -a serious consideration for the older staff. HSA has set up a working group to review it’s relationship to management and they are eager to take a more positive role in the practices’ future. Recruitment to HSA has been fairly slow (25% at present) amongst employees and UKAPE have also a 15% membership. Both feel hampered by their size- without a significant proportion of the staff neither is likely to acheive recog- nition and without recognition their appeal is limited. NAM ®group meets E.O.C. womens gq tas hesWg re Archie meets the SAI unattached news Monopolies Issue A delegation of representatives of unatt- ached architects met with the Minister of State for Prices and Consumer Protection, John Fraser on July 26th to discuss the implementation of the proposals in Way Ahead’. Also attending the meeting were government legal advisers and the Office of Fair Trading. The proposed fee system was discussed in some detail and it was explain- ed to the Minister that by abandoning the ‘ad valorem’ system and replacing it with the unattacheds’ proposals, a system of standardised elements of service and rec- ommended ranges of cost afforded a safe- guard to the public against unreasonable price increases and a check to the profess- ion against unhealthy price cutting. By combining the widespread overseas prac- tice of charging on the basis of the cost of the service with the familiar UK procedure of secret tendering, ‘Way Ahead’ offered | London W.1. | NAME ADDRESS. London W.1,| the best solution to the Minister's criteria of benefiting the public interest whilst be- ing non-injurious to the profession. The unattached stated that they accepted the recommendations of the Monopolies Comm- ission and that the Minister should now re- quire ARCUK, the statutory body, to am- end its rules forthwith so as to permit un- attached architects to freely quote their own fees. The unattached left the meeting confident that the Minister would no longer permit the Monopolists to persist in con- straining those who had no wish to perpet- uate the monopoly. Corporate Advertising Corporate advertising by the RIBA is to be strenuously opposed as itdiscriminates against unattached architects. Either re- gional directories should be published by ARCUK covering all architects whether employers or employees or if the RIBA goes italone the unattached representatives will recommend to their constituents to advertise individually. Limited Liability Unattached representatives are in favour of architectural practices being Limited Companies believing that the interests of the public and of employees are better pro- tected. Employees can gain statistical know ledge of the practice yia the Companies Act and the client would no longer be mis- lead into believing that practices liability is at present unlimited whereas it is limited by the level of professional indemnity. Education The unattached representatives are to press for representation on the BAE visiting boards and as part 3 examiners from which they have previously been excluded. AP) to NAM at 9, Poland Street | Discrimination inEmployment Opportunities Following representations made to the Registrar and an informal approach made to the Department of the Environment, the Local Authorities Conditions of Ser- vice Advisory Board with the NJC have issued a directive to al Chief Executives that membership of the RIBA confers no additional qualification and that advert- isements should only refer to ‘architects’, The unattached are now trying to ensure that similar advice isgiven to other public bodies and private practices and that firm- er action is taken by ARCUK itself. Since the RIBA ‘closed shop’ discriminates against the other associations in ARCUK the Councils of the AA, FAS, IAAS and STAMP are being approached requesting their support on ARCUK. Rule 2.5 and Spare Time Employment The unattached are trying to get ARCUK to issue guidelines to employers to the effect that they are breaking rule 2.5 ifthey attempt to prevent their employees from practising on their own account in their Spare time or entering architectural com- petitions. 1979 Unattached Election Persons interested in standing for the 1979 election to ARCUK should contact the un- attached representatives, c/o 25, St. Georges Avenue, London N7, as soon as possible. You must be a ‘registered person’ and ‘un- attached’ (i.e. not a member of any of the associations listed in Schedule 1 of the Architects’ Registration Act 1931) The present representatives have determined that their tenure should be restricted and that one third of the unattached councillors should decline nomination each year. DIRECT LABOUR below and send it together SLATEat 9,PolandStreet,| | | | | 2POLAND STREET LONDON WI [itvouWouldikeiboe memberoftheNewArchitectureMoveniearfilstheformbelowand ond? | it together with » cheque/postal order (payable to the New Architecture Movement) for £5.00 ( if | SLATE may be a very slick looking paper but we need money fast! Please send us your donations now! Cheques made payable to SLATE to 9 Poland Street, W1. you're employed) or £2.00 (ifyou're are student, claimant or O, | If you would like to receive SLATE without joining NAM fill in ths form |withacheque/ordpero(spatyaablletoSLATE )for£2.00to LIFTING THE ROOF OFF CABIN. TWO VIEWS OF PELAW. INTERVIEWS: COUNCILLOR TRADE UNIONIST, WORKER taking the roof off CABIN In the publication Building Britain ’s Future the Lab- resents a ready source of public finance which achedarchitect,NAMmem-ourPartyoutlinedtheirproposalsforextendingpublicbuildingemployerswouldliketoturnintoprivate MPshavelodgedobjectionsintheHouseofCommonsproposalsdonotgofarenough.Toomuchempha- berandNALGOdepart- controlovertheconstructionindustry.Buildingem- profitandinvestment.Operationally,theattackwas Suggestingthattheircampaigncontraveneselection Sisisplacedonmakingdirectlabour,andtheprop- Andy Brown is an unatt- Although CABIN claim no political allegiances, their links with the Tory Party, who fully back their campaign, are thinly veiled. A number of Labour Many unionists feel, however, that Labours’ mental representative who ployers became panic-stricken. They launched the works for the London Campaign Against Building IndustryNationalisation spearheaded by the NFBTE and the FCEC. £4m was spent before itbegan to flag last Spring. osed National Building Corporation, competitive with the private sector and not enough on the qualitative and organisational benefits that could tesultfromextendingpubliccontrolovertheind- TheirnextstepwastofocusontheMaylocal withwhichtocampaigninsupportoftheirownfin- electionsand,onceagain,DLOsweresingled-out BoroughofLambethArch- (CABIN)andprovideditwithanunlimitedbudget itects’ Department. ancial interests. CABIN was set up by the construct- ion industry’s two main employer organisations, namely, the National Federation of Building Trades Employers (NFBTE) and the Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors (FCEC). Their stated aim is to ensure that the proposals never get into Lab- our’s general election manifesto. for particular attack. Most of their efforts were dir- ected at London where 5 out of 14 boroughs select- ed for intensive campaigning were gained by the Tory’s from Labour. This was to be, in the words of Sir Maurice Laing, a ‘practice run’ for a Tory victory at the next general election. TheseatsonCABIN’sdirectingcommitteeare1976[eWIMPRYeeTa) procurementagencyfordirectingallgovernment ais filled exclusively by big-shots from the construction industry’sprivatesector.Full-timechairmanisnone 1976|WOODROW _f2In contracts, which now total 60% of the country’s buildingwork. Another proposal, to take architectural education out of their assumed control and place it in the hands of the Qonstruction Industry Training Board must also be vexing the RIBA. At present, they are conducting a study of local authority architectural practice. It cannot be long before the RIBA are provoked into taking a pro- CABIN stance. other than Sir Maurice Laing, who is also chairman of the building contractor John Laing& Co. Other members include Peter Marley, ex-president of the NFBTE, Clifford Chetwood from Wimpey, Frank Gibb from Taylor-Woodrow, Bil Lindsell from Mowlem and, last but not least, John Armitt who has been ‘loaned’ by John Laing & Co. as permanent director. Six full-time staff have been engaged to work under John Armitt Building Britain's Future sets out a number of proposals aimed at improving the performance, stability and standards of the construction industry. They include the establishment ofa National Con- struction Corporation based initially on the take- over of one or more major contractors, a Building Materials Corporation to be formed by taking over certain manufacturers of basic building materials including fletton bricks, glass and plaster, all of which are currently monopoly controlled, a register of em- ployers and employees to be held by the Construct- ion Industry Manpower Board in order to help pro- mote better working conditions, safety standards and trade union organisation within theindustry, and the expansion of local authority direct labour organisations (DLO’s) with the introduction of in- dustrial democracy in their management structure. CABIN's initial response was to concentrate an attack on DLOs. This isnot surprising. Ever since substantial direct labour departments were set up, over 50 years ago, they have been subject to height- ened attack during the periodic slumps in the con- struction industry. Work carried out by DLOs Tep- 1972 1976 1972 {In 1976[LAING isa] PROFITS BEFORE TAX 1972 & 1976 £s millions Ee toe Festa 1972 [ttm] EE] CABIN have now decided to concentrate on 80 marginal constituencies. They have shifted the emphasis of their campaign to an all-out attack on Labour’s nationalisation proposals. Advertising space | has been reserved in local and national newspapers. Both campaigns against DLOs and nationalisation, although presented separately, are clearly two parts of an overall strategy by private sector employers to extend control over public sector work. 1949, any expenditure which is designed to promote one candidate over another is outlawed. Predictably, CABIN claim that they are not campaigning on a constituency basis but, rather, on a regional basis, although it is interesting to note that a bulletin issued by the FCEC to their members in June describes the ‘marginal campaign’ and stresses that it was going to be ‘very political in nature’. More recently, CABIN have given themselves a face-lift. They have brought in Sue Lewis-Smith, a Wimpey employee who contested Nuneaton for the Tories in 1970, to improve their public image. Sim- ilarly, they have re-titled their ‘marginal’ campaign, the ‘local area’ campaign. TheunionsarehitingbackatCABIN.Thetwo big construction unions, UCATT and TGWU, have both published pamphlets replying to their campaign and supporting, in principle, the Labour Party's proposals. UCATT have made it their policy, through a resolution passed at their annual congress, to cam- paign for nationalisation. They have produced 500, 500,000 leaflets entitled Building Britain’s Future: the UCATT View for mass circulation. Of course, CABIN might quite simply haye given a large donation to Conservative Central Office, but — even with allies in the shadow cabinet like Sir Keith Joseph, former director of his family firm Bovis Hold- ings(building contractor) and overseer ofTory policy — they could not be sure that their money would be spent in their direct interest. Moreover, a0 overtly party political stance would probably cost them the support of those building contractors WhO, - whilst agreeing with CABIN’s overall philosophy, prefer not to bite the hand thatfeeds them —that - ofthe Labour Government. insteadsthey are spending considerable sums of money on publicity gimmicks and glamourous post- ers, stickers, polythene bags and balloons carrying _ i slogans like ‘Say NOto Building Nationalisation’ and “Keep Britain’s Builders FREE’. A public opinion poll has been undertaken. which boasts, ‘if we take away the don’t knows’, that 85% of the public, 877% of construction industry workers and 74% of Labour’: omists. In it they analyse the industry and present Own supporters are against nationalisation. Details of how the poll was conducted do not seem to be available. The right-wing Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) have prepared an ‘independent’ report for CABIN which attacks public ownership by saying that the Labour proposals will not work and are too costly to implement. It has been reported that an anticipated £1m is available to CABIN for when a general election is called. Jaw. Under the Representation of the Peoples Act «tt fete t £ arguments and detailed factual information supp- orting the expansion of direct labour and transfor- mation of the industry to the advantage of work- ers and tenants. The main thrust of their criticism of the industry is directed at the contracting sys- tem. Casual employment, high levels of unemploy- ment, limited training opportunities, unsafe work- ing conditions, high profits, monopolistic price rings poor quality and expensive buildings are all cited as ils haunting the construction industry as a res- ult of the contracting system. In contrast, many large contractors are shown to have made record profits in recent years (see chart). ustry. Meanwhile back at Portland Place, architectural employers at the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) are sitting on the fence even though, with the slump in the private sector, they must be as greedy for public sector commissions as their building employer counterparts are for contracts. They must be particularly worried by the proposal in Building Britains Future to establish a public The Direct Labour Collective, a rank-and-file inter- union group, have published a 100-page pam- phlet entitled Building with Direct Labour prepar- jed for them by the Conference of Socialist Econ- Q. What have Ronan Point and CABIN in common ? Michael Ball isan economist who has been doing research on the construction industry fora number of years. He is also a member of the Direct Labour Collective. 1. WHAT PELAW IS AND HOW IT WORKS PELAW is an experimental Design/Build unit, part of the London Borough of Haringey’s DLO. Like any other direct labour organisation, it can only work for it’s parent authority. Form- ally it is part of Haringey’s Building Works Divi- sion but in practice functions as an independant unit working largely in Housing Action Areas. PELAW began operations in 1975 with a des- igner- manager a foreman-manager and fonr or five manual workers and a single contract. Today it has a capacity for about 12 concurrent projects and an annual turnover of around £600,000. At present the total workforce is about 60 including 10 staff and about SO tradespersons and labourers. Specialist work is subcontracted. Many problems have been experianced with subcontractors, and PELAW hopes to have it’s own electricians in the near future. Contracts are allocated to PELAW by the hous- ing department. Intheory this should be in accor- dance with the annual programme drawn up by the unit, but PELAW has encountered some diff- iculties arising from variations in the flow of work. A steady supply of work facilitates programming and allows more efficient use of laboubry reduc- ing the ‘bunching’ of trades in particular contracts About a third of PELAW’s work has to be tender ed in order to prove it’s competitiveness with private builders. Most of the jobs are conversions of individual large terraced houses into two or three self-con- tained units. The conversion cost for a single property would probably be around £20,000 to £25,000, and the time for completion generally around 6 months. Overall responsibility for PELAW rests with its manager who is responsible, through the Building Manager, to the Borough Engineer. The Borough Engineer forms the link with the elected members’ -the councillors who make up the Highways and Works panel which is a sub comm ittee of the powerful Planning and Development Committee which also controls the Architects Department. ; Internally PELAW isdivided into two functional units and a plumbing unit, each of these having its own foreman. Other supervisory posts are those of general foreman, who oversees the whole manual workforce, and working charge-hands who number more or less one per site. This structure closely resembles that of any other building enter- prise with the four foremen being members of staff along with the designers, surveyor and man- ager. Running parallel to this structure is the ‘partic- ipation ° element in the scheme. There is a month- ly meeting of the PELAW team -the staff (10) plus 6 elected representatives of the manual work- ers (3 from each unit) following by a meeting of each unit. 2. DIRECT LABOUR IN HARINGEY The London Borough of Haringey was formed in the reorganisation of London Boroughs in 1964. Haringey began life with a Labour administration and a considerable direct labour force inherited from the merging authorities - 400 maintenance workers and 220 engaged in capital works. In 1966 a scandal erupted over alleged mis- appropriation of funds on a major capital works project which led to an enquiry and the dismissal of senior council officers. The Tories gained con- trol and seized the opportunity to close down all capital works. When labour regained control agkin in 1971 a small group of councillors, along with the Borough Engineer, felt that direct labour was a more satisfactory method for producing council housing. In the preceding years there had beenashift in housing policy nationally towards upgrading the existing housing stock. Rehabilitation implied a smaller scale of building operation which was emminently suitable for a small direct labour unit. However, the discontinuous nature of rehabilit- ation work makes normal incentive schemes diff- icult to operate and calls for a high level of super- vision. Th e profit-sharing participation scheme devised was seen as a means of increasing incentives reducing demarkation between trades and reducing Supervision. : _ After nearly four‘years, the scheme got off the CABIN SMOKE / SCREEN Jimmy McAlpine inrelaxed mood, Of the attempts by Local Authorities to reform and improve their Direct Labour Depart- ments the PELAW experiment at Haringey is possibly the most advanced. With PELAW Haringey have attempted to introduce the principles of industrial cooperatives into the or- ganisation of a part of their DLO. This approach has its benefits and its drawbacks and here, after a description of PELAW’s organisation and methods, Mal Bezant and Robin Suttcliffe exchange views over the prospect of the more widespread adoption of PELAW’s model. Picture; Associated Newspapers. ground with an experimental unit restricted to a |workforce of twenty. While the more idealistic amongst its supporters saw it as an experiment in workers self management, others accepted it as an experiment in cost-effectiveness and applauded the extension of the profit motive into direct labour. 3. PAY AND CONDITIONS PELAW has no independant source of capital. All its finaances are controlled by the local authrity in much the same way as any other direct labour organisation. Wages and slaries are paid by the Council and all employees are subject to the same conditions of service as their equivalents in other At the heart of CABIN’s campaign to discredit Direct Labour and vilify the idea of the nationalisation of the building industry is a report prepared for them by the Economist Intelligence Unit. This report commissioned to add academic respectability to CABIN’s ideas is ridden with inaccuracies, assumptions and bias writes Michael Ball. ; Co-operative Direct Labour? The Labour Party last year published Building Britain’s Future. Amongst other,well-publicised po- icies, nationalisation of a few of the big building con- tractorswasproposed. Thisfrightenedthecontrac- tors, so the two big employers organisations (NFBTE and FCEC) set up CABIN -Campaign Against Buil- ding Industry Nationalisation -with an initial £4m budget. stil, it does not explain the real nature ofbuilding jobs. Most workers are hired to doa particular task on site for as long as they are needed. The job could lastforoverayearbut,atitsend,workersgenerally have to find a new job. This is casual employment, as can be seen from the low level of redundancy pay- ments in the industry. Even the EIU has to admit that that few workers get redundancy pay. i Contractors have always been generous supportérs of the Tory Party and right-wing groups such as AIMS CABIN has now earmarked most of its money for 80 marginal constituencies to aid the Tories in the forth- coming General Election. CABIN has lobbied MPs and local councillors, and conducted a mass public- ity exercise throughout the country, and also hired the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), well-known €conomic consultants, to produce a 280 Page report for CABIN. In it Labour’s plans for nationalisation come in for attack, as do the proposals for decasual- isation and planning state construction programmes. TheEIUclaimsthatLabour’sproposalswillcost : Suchdifferencesareneverexplained. £1870m to £2745m with additional annual running costs of £395m to £522m. The EIU’s objections to Building Britain’s Future basically have nothing to do with facts andfigures. Even though it paid for the study, CABIN claims not to have influenced the conclusions reached. Asa Subsidiary of the night-wing Economist newspaper however, the EIU was hardly expected to support. Labour’s proposals. Building Britain’s Future att- empted to highlight the crucial problems facing the They rest instead on the claim that building is a com- petitive industry and that competition is necessary for efficiency. Public ownership, it says, will not be competitive, so it will not be efficient. Meanwhile it ignores the increasing evidence of price fixing and Corruption in the industry. construction industry, and it Suggested remedies for overcoming them. It did this by examining certain key features such as casual employment, slumps in output, building monopolies and subcontracting. To an extent, its analysis is limited because it didnot consider the fundamental causesof these problems. This is reflected in the limited nature of its policies. It did, nonetheless, attempt to show that theprob- lems of the industry are not isolated but interlinked In the EIU report no overall picture of the industry Most features of the industry, including employ- ment and working conditions, are the result of eco- nomic forces operating within building. They exist because of the contractors’ need to make aprofit, isigiven. Instead it tries to show that no real prob- lems exist, apart from government intervention. It tries to prove that the factual statements in Building others have to pay the cost. Incompatible conflicts of interest exist, the outcome of which depends on the ownership and control of the industry. The EIU try to show that a state owned building firm-will make huge losses. The only way they do this is to Say that working conditions will improve; costing £147m 4 year if the top ten firms are taken over. This sum isnotbased on evidence about conditions and their costs. It isjust dreamt up to create a loss. In any case, nationalisation does not necessarily result in better conditions. These come through trade un- Britain's Future are wrong. It claims thatworking conditions are good, that health and safety is not al satbad, that employment is not casual, etc. It tries eeSe eeowned,theindustryisthe uaa as al workers in nationalised industries The whole nature of the building process is the. FTheEIU’sdescriptionofthefactsishighlyslanted TealiSsue,atpresent,thecontractorsdominateand Numbers are produced to show that most workers stay with the same firm for more than one year. This 1s supposed to prove that most construction work is not casual. These numbers completely ignore the Lump and most subcontractors’ workers. But, worse determine al of it. Public Ownership can confront these issues. Unfortunately for the building employ- ers, the smokescreen of the EIU report cannot hide The EIU’s explanation of high levels of unemploy- ment iseven more incredible. Unemployment ishigh as many of the unemployed, it suggests, cannot keep ajob down becauseof their temperament, lack of ability or other personal failings! Forgotten is the fact that more construction jobs have been lost in the past four years (over 300,000) than there are build- ing workers registered unemployed. Elsewhere, numbers appear to be invented. When trying to play down the importance of the Lump, the report claims there are only 70,000 -90,000 Lump workers. Yet elsewhere, it claims that there are 200,000 Lumpers! the holes in their arguments, nor the need for change in the construction industry. article istaken. Robin Sutcliffe is director of PELAW. He was previ- ously involved in the estab- is simply the difference between the estimated value of the work done and the final cost. Association indivduals concerned would be transferred to the e appropriate Council departments. So, in the case of manual workers, ending of their secondment would mean transfer to Building Works ‘proper’. In PELAW, inter-trade cooperation means the lowering of demarcation lines. While in general tradesmen would expect to stick to their own type of work, thay might be expected to do some work normally carried out by other tradesmen,¢.g., a carpenter may have to do some plastering or painting. In addition, craftsmen are expected to do some of their own labouring while labourers carry out some of the skilled work. economy. PELAW does not challenge Capitalist norms, it consolidates them more firmly in the sphere of direct labour. council departments. All PELAW ‘staff’ (i.e. al non-manual workers) receive the appropriate salary for their grade. Manual workers have a guaranteed bonus of 50% of the nationally agreed local authority basic rate, and labourers receive the same pay as tradespers- ons. This gives al PELAW workers a broadly similar guaranteed wage of around £90 a week before tax. of DLOs, PELAW’s advocates would argue that it strengthens the case by proving the profitability of Direct Labour. However, many aprofitable DLO has fallen to the Tories’ axe (Wandsworth for instance, featured elsewhere in this SLATE )and incidentally many others have been chopped by Labour too. Far from being a counter attack on Direct Labour’s qssailants of the CABIN variety, PELAW has conceded the major points of their critiscisms. It accepts the need for DLOs tobe judged ona ‘profit or loss’ basis and further concedes that the way toincreased profitability is through the increased efforts of building workers. Most of the ‘progressive’ building industry trades unionists with whom Ihave worked have been struggling to get rid of al incentive schemes.,as the best way of safeguarding their own health and safety, while also producing good quality housing for their fellow workers. While Iwould not think that even the more idealistic supporters of PELAW believe they are building socialism in one DLO, they do, nevertheless believe that Capitalism can be dismantled brick by brick. Unfortunately, reformist approaches to the housing problem and the construction industry In addition to the guaranteed wage or salary, al PELAW members share in the ‘profits’ made on any particular contract. 20% of the profit is retained by theCounciltooffsetlosseswhichmightoccur.The GA remainder isdistributedto al the PELAW members who worked on that particular contract. The ‘profit’ shares are calculated according to the number of hours contributed to the job by each individual and paid at the same hourly rate for manual workers and Mal Bezant is a sociologist with experience of the Building Industry. While at the AA Graduate School last year he wrote an exten- sivepaperonPELAWfrom staffalike.Thetotal‘profit’and‘loss’onanycontract which the first part of this porters as a radical experiment by a progressive Labour council. They rest their casejof\the supposed benefits for its manual workers through its ‘profit-sharing’ and ‘participation’ schemes. |Despite the Left-wing pretensionsofmanyofPELAW’sadvocates,itcame into existence as a political compromise with the assistanceoflocal politicians ofalcolours. All PELAW members are employed on ‘secondment’ from the appropriate department. Although nearly al employees are recruited externally, they are, in fact ‘on loan’ from other ‘departments, so that The argument for PELAW’s inception was essentially a managerial one — that conventional incentive schemes are difficult to operate in rehabilitation work. ‘Profit sharing’ and ‘participation’ wereseenasamoreeffectivewayofboostingproduc- cannotsolvethecontradictionsofthemarket tivity, reducing supervision costs and encouraging inter- trade cooperation. How have these benefitted! PELAW’s manual workers? lishmentofSolonHousing secondmentcouldbeterminatedatanytimeandthe PELAW’s workers receive a better guaranteed weekly wage thafi most DLO building workers and the ‘profits’ after long delays, have begun to be distributed. Profits are paid out on an individual basis according to the hours put in on a particular contract and hence may be asdevisive asany bonus system. Unlike abonus scheme, where rewards are at least roughly calcualbe in advance, and received in the pay-packet two weeks later, the amount of profit to be shared, if any, is indeterminate until thejfinal accountforia job isdrawnjup some months’ Robin Sutcliffe Imust begin by making it clear that the views ex- pressed in this article are my personal views and not those of the London Borough of Haringey. In al industrially developed countries (both East and West) there has been an increase in central management and planning of economies and industry. One problem which has resulted has been the diffi- culty of creating an economy and industry capable of responding to the needs of both consumers and oroducers. PELAW is an experiment which attempts to resolve he conflict resulting from increased efficiency of scale reducing the sensitivity ofan organisation to the leeds of its workers. The mechanism of participation allows PELAW members agreater degree ofcontrol of their work experience and environment. It also attempts to respond to the needs of it’s consumers throughaclose relationship with client departments, which is possible for a direct labour organisation within a local authority. This isparticularly so within” Housing Action Areas. In PELAW the mechanism of profit sharing en- sures that any profit resulting from increased effort isshared equally between al members who contri- buted to it’s production; thus avoiding any possibility of exploitation whilst encouraging productivity. Designers have been brought into PELAW to red- uce the line of communication giving the designer and producer the opportunity of direct dialogue. Whilst this has created some interesting tensions, it has also increased standardisation and reduceddelays. One of the fundamental principles established in setting up PELAW and essential to it’s success has been an insistance on 100% Trade Union membership. In a co-operative structure the role of the shop stew- ard issometimes ambiguous. He isoften called upon to act.as the spokesman for the workers on site, and the views that he has to express are sometimes con- trary to the views he would be expressing in the trad- itional role of shop steward. It is therefore, essential that they are speaking from a position of strength. I Personally do not believe that this dilemma weakens the Trade Union movement, but that it’s resolution is essential if trade unions are to contribute to the control of production. In setting up PELAW there have inevitably been many disappointments, and many questions remain to be answered. One of the most bitter disappoint- ments has been the extent to which external influ- encies and controls have prevented members from being able to control both their own work experience and environment. We have also been disappointed that, whilst progress with rationalisation has been made, it has been slow and limited. Two questions are often raised in relation to PELAW. The first is to ask whether this type of re- form withina capitalist economy delays fundamental change? Idoubt ifrevolutionis just around the corner and therefore feel that PELAW represents as funda- mental achange asiscurrently possible. The second is to question the fairness of requiring DLOs to compete with the private sector in view of the commitments expected of local authorities as em- ployers. This requirement could result in weak DLOs being wound up on the basis of inefficiency. Ithink that ifPELAW or any other DLO isdemonstrably successful financially then the arguments in favour of direct labour become irresistable. It is because of this possibility that private enterprise has become so hysterical over possible legislation extending the areas in which DLOs might work. If they cannot be demon- strated to be financially successful in competition with private enterprise then society must know what the cost of building in safe conditions, with decent facil- ities, training schemes and so forth really is. Finally, however limited the degree of control afforded to the members of PELAW, however great the unresolved dilemmas facing trade unions, Ibe- lieve that PELAW does represent areal improvernent in the work experience of it’s members and the end product for it’s consumers and this applies here and now, not as a possible result of some future society. later, Hence some of the insecurity of the contracting system istransferred toPELAW’s workforce. Inaddition PELAW isdevided into two main functional units thus enabling managementito encourage(competition between units in much the same wayithat conventionalseparation into‘gangs’mightbeexploited. is The main sources of conflict in PELAW have been the recruitmentoflatourandthedegreeof participation. PELAW’s manager, RobinSuttliffe, holds the ___ traditional right to hire and fire ?He has been keen to hand pick the ‘guinea pigs’ for his experimtnt while some of PELAW’s workers have pushed, unsuccessfully for recruitment through trade union branches. PELAW isvariously described asa “cooperative” ‘partnership’ or ‘participation’ experiment. By differing degrees it may be al of these, but what it does not have isworkers’ control. Nor does ithave the independence usually associated with cooperatives. Executive authority rests internally with the manager and externally with Haringey’s councillors. Some PELAW workers disputed this point and ended up on the receiving end of ‘management prerogative’ when their shop steward was sacked and their unit closed down. Nevertheless, despite its many ‘imperfections’, Robin Sutcliffe would claim it as a step in the right (?) direction. In his view PELAW would form part of a strategy of creeping socialism which goes as far as one might expect in the present circum- stances, while, at the same time, being in a positign— to defend itself from attack by an incoming Tory council should therejbe a change at the next election. Inthecontextoftheoveralldeobverathtefeuture and is a strong supporter of DLO’s. Mr David Krause, Director of Construction Services at Lambeth also attended the interview to advise on tech- nicalquestions, industry has been unable to meet the requirements of the country as awhole, particularly as far as the provision of housing is concerned. We can no longer build for profit only. It is a question of building for social need and that requires the ability to turn res- ources when necessary to homes as opposed to off- ices or hotels or whatever else private industry may looktowardsforproWefexipertie.ncedaverybad situation in the early 1970's when we were unable to get private contractors to build public housing at all. We are still suffering from that, so I look forward to nationalisation taking place. SLATE: . Have you any reservations about the Labour Party’s proposals for the nationalisation of the construction industry? TED KNIGHT accountablteo the public, to district and in¢ernal aud- itors to make sure that rate-payers money is safe- guarded. No private building organisation isever sub- ject to the amount of investigation that we are. Ido not beleive that the accountibility issue is one which private enterprise can defend SLATE: How can the nationalisation of the 10 largest building firms be correlated with an extension of direct labour organisations? TED KNIGHT: Ithinkthatthereisaneedforanationalisedindustry centrally to work with local authority direct labour organisations, and there will have to be an integration between them. Isee no great difficulty in that. What it will enable us to do is to a planned programme of building between the national corporation and the local authorities. One of the difficulties at the present ontractors. There is a problem of relating trading ecounts within a framework of municipal account- bility. Here in Lambeth we do produce an annual eport describing our financial position in relation to the works which we carried out. We would hope to ring about eventually a trading account as recomm- nded by SIPFA and by District Auditors. What we re opposed to is rates which are decided by outside ‘ontractors which we are bound to. What we are in lavour of is an accounting system which will indicate hether we are carrying out works efficiently and onomically. XN ye A es some changes in the format of nationalised industries with much more consumer and worker control. We are looking for a more accountable and democratic form of nationalisation than we have at the present moment. SLATE: How would you answer CABIN’s accusation that nationalisation will lead to inefficiency and lack of accountability to the consumer? TED KNIGHT : Idon’t beleive that to be so. The nationalised ind- ustry isaccountable through parliament and through the pressure that consumers bring to bear. As to private enterprise being accountable, they are only accountable to the share-holders. Their priorities are determi>ed not on social requirements but on what is profitable at any particular time. We have found in our local government experience|that private ent- erprise is prepared to take risks which endanger the ation would work out aplanned programme which would enable the DLO to take its place in local work as well as the corporation. There would be overall control because presumably the national corporation would be as subject as we are to internal audit. We would also be able to expand the DLOs when there is a coordination and integration of work with another building organisation which is not liable to go out of business at any time. SLATE: What are the adyantages to a local authority of having its own direct labour organisation? eas such as preventative maintenance for our uilding people to be in at the design stage to give the nefit of their experiance. It is no good architects lesigning without the feedback that the builder is exp- Tiencing on the practical side. In addition, in most of ur major areas of rehab work the project team has gular meetings with residents associations in’ that irea. AVID KRAUSE: itisextremely important that the architect has Sufficient time to deal with design requirements. [think that the most importat role for an architect isin that area. Ithink that sometimes this overrun into! administration and fine detail is thwarting the arch- tect and he isdoing work that he needn’t necessar- not viable when compared with private firms. We have to tender for al our jobs and as I've said we showed a surplus in the years 1976-1977 ofa net saving at tender stage of £4million. That’s of course only one factor, there are other benefits which DLOs can bring and these have been pointed out to the council by the union, I'l say more about those later. No its Tory party policy, they're against the decasualisation of the building industry. DLOs are an obstacle to this and also an obstacle to the’ Ted Knight, Leader of Lambeth Council. A Labour Councillor’s View In the face of national pressure to wind down Direct Labour, Lambeth council has recently declared its intention to expand its DLO. In this interview Ted Knight, Leader of Lambeth Council since last May, explains why his council has taken this decision and why he is per- sonally of the opinion that all council building should be done by Direct Labour. rs. The standards of work that we get from our DLO re certainly not inferior to private contractors and e would say are much better. In fact quality control xercised by our own DLO ismuch greater. farepLet SLATE: continuation of building operations. We are contin- SLATE: Couldyoudescribebrieflythesituationin Wandsworth? Councillor Ted Knight is leaderofLambethCouncil WhatisyourgeneralviewoftheLabour uallyhereinLambeth,forexample,balingoutprivate contractors because they have stretched their resour- ces beyond their capabilities. No-one has been aware of this because there is no accountability We are often in competition with people who are just attem- and prospective labour parl- iamentary candidate for Hornsey. He was formerly chairperson of Construct- tonServicesatLambeth Ithinkit’sanecessarystep.Theprivatebuilding ptingtobuywork.Wedonotdothatbecauseweare ide,capitalworkstenderincompetitionwithoutside Forthepastsevenyearswehavehadalabour Party’s proposals to nationalise at leastpart of the construction and materials industry? AVID KRAUSE: LOs operate as a service department on mainten- The DLO in Wandsworth started in 1897 and is the oldest building works department in England. TED KNIGHT nce work with stringent controls by audit, the other council and in May this year the Tory council took over. Prior to the seven year period of labour control the Tories had run the DLO down to 200 and sold off equipment such as tower cranes, dumpers etc. at less than half their value. During the period of lab- our control the department was built up to a good viable unit of approximately 1000 which had shown asurplusintheyears1976-1977. When theTories took control in May they stated that their policy will be to completely disband the construction division and run down the maintenance division from 450 to approximately 150. The Tories have Stated that this time they will make aproper job of running down the department completely instead of leaving a basis for the next labour council to SLATE: What are the Tories’ reasons for closing down the DLO at Wandsworth? isationinthecurrentsense.Iamnotinfavourof manyinstancestothedisadvantageoftheDLO’s. idalessartificialdivisionbetweenourbuildingside STAN BUSH: merely a bureaucratic change of ownership but want We would hope that a nationalised building corpor- idour architects. We are looking in anumber of Its purely Tory policy, its certainly not that we're D KNIGHT: awhole. Idonotmyselflookforwardtonational- momentisthattheopentenderingsituationworksin elookforwardtoagreaterdegreeofcooperation Ihave no strong reservations about the proposals as TED KNIGHT: Ifavour DLOs because froma local authority point of view because they are accountable to the elected members and to the ratepayers. We are able to have a flexibility in our building programme by using DLOs hot only with elected members but with residents and we are not subject to outside market forces. We have suffered extensively in this borough over the last ten years due to the failure of private contract- AAVID KRAUSE: LATE: ‘ould you prefer DLOs to be organised as o5 any of us would like to see the eventual kingofcouncilarchitectsandworksdepart- builditupagain. ents into design and build teams. Would ‘ou be in favour of such a development? lydo. The building side should provide the practical Service. The architect should perhaps spend more time Onthe first part of what he has to do in consultation associations sc that design standards more and more meet the requirements of the people. ct at Wandsworth ab Stan Bush, Wandsworth DLO shop Steward. he local authority has the immediate facility of a ge labour force to meet any emergency that might ise. They are*able to give a 24-hour emergency rvice. We have something like 50,000 works orders year going through and you could never get a priv- Extracts from an interview with Stan Bush heating fitter and full time conyenor for UCATT, Wandsworth Borough Council DLO in which he describes the Tory Councils efforts to disband the DLO at Wandsworth and discusses the implications of this type ite contractor to meet that situation. of action in the context of CABIN’s cam- , paign. .Service departments (e.g. architects who charge the council the cost of the service) ir as .trading departments (who operate profit and loss like a contractor) Pee a CORPORATION 1139 SLATE: What action are you taking to fight the Tory council’s policies? STAN BUSH Nine weeks-ago we shut down the George Wimpey site in Battersea which employed approximately 80 men. We had definite evidence that they were em- ploying lump labour. There were only two lads there who were directly employed by Wimpeys al the rest were subcontractors using lump labour. We'd lost that tender by 5%. Its only by using lump labour that private contractors could have got the tender. We know for a fact that by working under the same conditionsasDLOsprivatecontractorswouldhave to raise their prices by some 30%. : Eight weeks ago we shut down aJ L Eve Construction job in Garrett Lane, Tooting. This was exactly the same principle again, we lost the tender by some 14% and then we find out they're using lump labour, the bricklayers and groundworkers were lump labour. We've shut down these sites by DLO mass pickets using 200-300 workers on the gate until they remove the subcontractor and abide by the working rule agreement. We're fighting for our own jobs with our own labour and at the same time not stopping any of our own jobs. To stop our own jobs would be playing into the hands of the Tory council. SLATE: Are you getting support from any of the public sector unions? STAN BUSH: The GMW pledged support they’ve got some 3000 manual workers on the council. NUPE haven’t been in contact. NALGO had a ballot for strike action by al the white collar workers employed in the building works, but it turned down strike action. However, they have offered support in other areas such as not supplying work to the private contractors and with- holding payment for work done. We also get support from workers on private sites. At the Wimpey job in Battersea on the first morning of the picket there were some 20 lads from a local Fairweathers site who are 100% against the use of subcontractors lump labour on any site. SLATE: What further action will you be taking in the future? STAN BUSH: Afortnightagoatafulcouncilmeetingwegavethe WhataretheUnionsdoingtocampaign namesofthreecontractorstotheleaderofthecouncil forthesurvivaloftheDLOs? We've given him 14 days to remove these contractors off the tender list. We had written and signed state ments that one contractor approached directly em- ployed workers from the council asking them to go sick and work for them on a cash in hand basis, evi- dence that one was actually using council labour by this method and that the other was using lump labour: |there has been the growth of what we call rank and Rank and file building workers have responded to the threat to the DLOs by enhancing \their organisation to campaign for a growing awareness of the importance of Direct Labour: to their fellowworkers. CLAWS (Confederation of Local Authority Works Stewards) was set up just over a year ago to do just this. Here SLATE interviews the Chairman of CLAWS Peter Carter. file organisation. Especially since the growth of CABIN we’ve had to develope acampaign of explaining to workers within the local authorities, the difference between working within DLOs and working for Wimpeys, Bryants, Laings or any other of the major contractors. So we've had to develope the process of consciousness raising. And we've arranged lots of meeting al over! Britain| we've formed an organisation called CLAWS, which isa national organisation set up to defend the Direct Works departments. It was set up two years ago. CLAWSpublishesitsownpaper‘DirectWords’; seniorUCATTshopsteward For All SLATE Why do trade unionists in thebuilding industry support DLOs? PETER Well, the first thing to say is that it offers a far more secure employment for our members than employment within the private enterprise system. Trade unionists have long fought for nationalisation of the constructio industry, and the Direct Works is, inprinciple, the beginnings of that process. The Direct Works departments work for the community and trade unionists are very interested in their members using their labours in a socially useful way for the servicing of the community, by doing maintainance work and building houses for people, and not for profit. Certainly from a trade unionist point of view we're very pleased that local authority direct works departments aren’t involved in the construction of office blocks or environmentally harmvul projects. the point is that with the direct works, we, ts Ihave said, haye got public ownership inembryo, very successfully in may parts of the country and for trades unionists within them not only do we have decent pay and conditions, but, also, ifyou wotk for Direct Labour you stand a better chance of living a lot longer because the accident rate is far lower than that in private enterprise. Direct works train the vast majority of apprentices for the industry and, in additio) take their quota of physically handicapped people. So| there! you see you've not only just got ajob bu you've got ajob where you can use your labour in a useful way, along with acommitment to the community. Within that commitment, of course, the direct works departments are sympathetic towards the trade union movement and trade unions can therefore grow and develope. Their consciousness can be directed over a whole range of social issues because of the continuity of employment that is associated with working in these departments, whereas, under private enterprise, as is well known, continuity is a very rare occurence. My name is Peter Carter. I am a bricklayer by trade, a member of UCATT Midland Regional Committee, and a SLATE the other hand we have to build these hospitals and pay al sorts of things for care, asa direct result in the first place of the money not being invested in a proper type of enviroment for people to live in. So, in my view you can’t have housing for profitability.if you are going into the profit market, and you're taking on housing, then you're creating slums of the future, and you're turning people into animals as we see can happen with the type of architecture and buildings that have beenbuiltinordertohousethepeople.So,Ithinkit shouldbeasocialserviceandnotbeontheprofit PETER Well, first of al, we realised from bitter experience, that if the leadership of the unions are left to their own devices they produce the opposite effect to what their members desire. So, over a period of years, Direct Works isthat itaffords every opportunity for the workforce, Labour councils, architects,” planners, tennants, the community in general, to be able to form their organisation within the framework of it in order to decide such issues aS high rise flats; to decide to {insulate buildings with 4 inches instead of 2 inches of has joined with tenants, MPs, councillors, environ- -mental groups and so on in a campaign to combat the attacks being made on Direct Works departments The third point is that we are really getting into action now. For instancei,n the authority where I work, Sandwell, the Tories have come back into power and have given away 200 modernisations. They took these modernisations of the Direct Works, put them out to tender and only last night we were told that Wimpeys have got the 200 modernisations. They have never done any modernisationbefore..TheirMImanagersaregoingto community? the the Direct Works lads on the job and asking them how at Sandwell DC public works division. it operates and so son. On topof that they put in a tender figure of £7200 for modernising whereas the Direct Works were doing them for £6300. So, you sec, these are the sort of things we are bringing together. We are having ajoint demonstration with tenantsagainsttheCouncilaroundthetheme*Hands large,justtodispelanydoubtsaboutDirectWorks, of the Directs’ This is telling the Tories, of course, ‘Hand back the modernisations’, ‘no contractors in the borough’ and ‘end the sale of Council houses’. These are the four demands and the Labour Party, the workers and the tenantsare jointly inyolved in this demonstration. And we do hope, of course, eventually our national leaders will get up off their arses and call, as many branches have asked them to for a national demonstration and lobby of Parliament as soon as it reassembles. Those are the sort of th that we are doing. Its not an easy task because the local authority workers have been the least active in terms of struggle in the building industry, as in the 1972 strike, when the local authority workers never came out. This has been the regular pattern over the years. The struggle has always been from the workers employed by private enterprise. That isnow beginning to cahnge. This is an important change because we are having to develope much more of a political struggle. Its not just a question of wages and conditions.Whenyouarefightingyourlocalauthority you'refighfortainenwgwayoflife.Youtrefighting fortheindustrytobepublicallyowned.Therefore raising the workers’ consciousness is our prime task, which cannot be done’jover night. SLATE What do you see as the future potential for DLOs? What principles should they be based on? their tenders are far cheaper and of a far better standard of workmanship than private enterprise SLATE: you anything to say on the point that at the moment they compete with private con- Have tractors on the same kind of profit basis; do you feel that’s the right way to approach it; or should they be seen more as a service to the Yes, well there are two points here. On question of modemisation and maintenance, there is very little open tendering with the private con- tractor. The tendering for work is mainly done on the new building, e.g. houses, schools and so on. There is no tendering for maintenance and by and The second point is,like the health service,hospitals, education and so on, housing should be a social service. The built enviroment should be a right of thepeople. After al, the works of William Morris, ‘useful toil versus useless labour’ is a classic example of how the built enviroment is so fundamental and crucial to people. Their daily habitat in relation to the way they develop. On the one hand you allow the system to build these cronic houses for cheapness, and yet on market. thatthebeautyof The other point is, of course, DLOs: Benefits private sector obtaining more work, particularly when work isshort. The work they envisage the small maintenance force of around 150 doing is likely to be work that aprivate contractor would turn down, awkward non-profitable work or emer- gency work, that sort of thing. Well, Ithink, the future issue facing the DLOs isone as the springboard for Nationalisation of the industry. At the moment the are 575 local authorities throughout Britain that are organised or have their own Direct Works departments employing up to 25% of the total workforce in the construction industry, something like 220000 operatives. Now the beauty about this isthat itisnationalisation, or public o' hip, in a very decentralised way. its not over centralised like the Gas Board and the Electricity Board. Here you have public ownership that is locally controlled through democratically elected councillors, apublic ownership that is accountable to the public at large. Direct Works, at the timeof local elections, usually becomes abattleground between Labour and Tories interms of the rates and al that sort of theing. So yo have a public forum as wal around the Direct Works. They are publically accountable. The books are there for people to see and they are answerable to the community. This is the type of nationalisation that Ithink we should be developing.| That is, locally based, ‘small isbeuatiful’ asthe saying goes, rather than the big, over centraliesd type of nationalisation that we have got at the moment. Claudene Eccleston, aplum ber, is one of four women tradespersons working for Camden DLO. skilled, having a craft, having tools brings men much nearer to nature. The relationship with nature is so important. That gives them, in the proper conditions, the ability to learn the appreciation and the relation- ship between al the beauties that this system has destroyed which we should be working to bring back. And Ithink that with Direct Works there isno limit to what you can begin to develop. Camden D.L.O. A Plumber’s View SLATE How many women work for Camden Direct Labour Department, and how much contact do you haye with them? C LAUDENE There are four of us; two carpenters, a labourer and myself. We work at different depots. Some of us haye met because we are friends, but not through any genorosity of Camden Council. Although the convenor’s steward has been making quite a lot of effort recently to try to organise a meeting of the four of us. Idon’t know what response he’s had from the Management. But, Ihave been told by Management time and time again, that they don’t want trainees, and that Iwas forced upon them by the Union. The union are keen to employ more women in the building department. SLATE: What do you think the main differences are between working for Direct Labour and pri- vate enterprise? CLAUDENE: Iworked for a private firm as a painter and decor- ator. Iwasn’t treated any differently by the men on site. Igot into the job alot easier than Idid into this one. The only differences were the working condit- ions — safety-wise it was rediculous. You were ex- pected to work on very dangerous scaffolding. There was no union, itjust wasn’t tolerated. There were little perks like long tea breaks, turkey’s at Christ- mas, that kept people anti-union. Although the money was excellent. In terms of efficiency, Direct Labour is much like any other firm. There is proportionally more manage- ment and there is so much administration and bur- eaucracy for ordering materials for example. But that is not necessarily the inefficiency of the foreman or whoever,it’s just acombination of things. SLATE: Are there any advantages, as a woman, to working for Direct Labour rather than a pri- vate firm? Review of ‘Building with Direct Labour’ by the Direct Labour Collective. “The profit and loss fallacy is not indulged in at Battersea. Igather that it was quite understood in Battersea that good materials, good and expeditious workmanship and proper conditions of labour were the points to be aimed at, and whether the eventual cost came out above or below estimate the comm- unity benefited thereby in the end.’ So wrote Mr. Williams, an architect, in 1898. Times have changed in Battersea, now Wandsworth, and for the first time in almost a hundred years the future of the Wands- worth Direct Labour Department is in doubt. Local building contractors, among whose number is the Leader of the Council himself, have found a willing ally in a new Tory administration pledged to dis- mantle the Wandsworth DLO. In the late nineteenth century, recall the Direct Labour Collective(DLC), authors of “Building with Direct Labour’, the question of how local authority building was to be carried out was a key political question. Little changes. Faced with widespread corruption and inefficiency among private contrac- tors, the young councils were then as now, charged with the responsibility of fairly administering the vast proportion of building carried out with public money. The unpopularity among private contractors of the answer of the ‘Progressive’-controlled councils in setting up their own building organisations, is readily understoodye,t Battersea, for example, carried out al its building by Direct Labour for many years. Recent propaganda attacks on Direct Labour Organisations by the building trade employers fed- erations are no more than an updating of a struggle which is as old as local authorities themselves. The sharp decline in private sector orders for building is the underlying reason for the employers’ present campaigns argues the Direct Labour Collective, be- cause ‘in simple economic terms, they want more work’, and that means local authority work. The demise of the DLOs would bring twofold benefit to the private sector: they would get the moderate paign against Building Industry Nationalisation) and its forerunners that DLOs are less efficient and more expensive than private contractors are squarely rebutted with extensive empirical evidence no less particular than that used by CABIN. The contrac- tors argue that competitive tendering is the best way to ensure efficiency and value for money in building To the contrary argue the DLC the principle effects of the contracting system, discontinuity of work and the pricing of tenders according to the market for work and not the cost of production results in a steadily decreasing quality of building and reliabil- ity of programme and a worsening of conditions for building workers. CABIN’s campaign against the concept of any form of public ownership in the construction indus- try has raised the question of the comparability of the two sectors. Many of the defenders of Direct Labour have responded by accepting the contractors’ definition of accountability, through the market, the tender sum and the administration of the building contract, and urge the transformation of DLOs into council-owned contractors, so making it straight- forward to prove their competitiveness and value for money. Such achange would, however, destroy many of the potential and actual advantages of a Direct Works Department allocated work directly and charging for it at cost. Submitting the DLOs to similar sorts of conditions as exist in the private sector would result in the same low standards of workmanship and conditions of employment as persists in the world of the contrac- tors. But, however,reassuring the principles of Dir- ect Labour, the problems of organising work where the profit motive is supplanted by concepts of qual- ity and service are immense, witness the occasional scandal that emerges from the Direct Works Depart- ments. This question is too large for even an exten- sive and well conceived book such as ‘Building with Direct Labour’ to tackle, but aquestion that must be high on the agenda of workers throughout the construction industry. The Direct Labour Coll- ective is a group of people working on Direct Labour and the building industry because of the current importance of this pol- itical issue for the labour movement. The Direct Labour Coll- ective :Building with Direct Labour :published by the Housing Workshop of the Conference of Soc- falist Economists (CSE): 116pp, illustrated price £1.75(incl p+p) from CSE, 55 Mount Pleasant, London WC] or 65p for orders through Trade Unions ete. Claudene Eccleston, Camden DLO plumber. the ones who decide whether or not they like you. They assume that the men won’t like you. I’m more of a threat to the Management than to the workers. Most of the men welcome women in thebuilding trade, as long as it’s not their wives or girlfriends. In the intensifying propaganda battle now raging over the future of the DLOs the DLC’s new book provides insight into the way that the Construction Industry is organised and its current crisis as well as a multitude of potent arguments useful for support- ers of Direct Labour. The claim of CABIN (Cam- insulation, contributing to energy saving: to decide SLATE: REVIEW: thetypeofopenspace,tres,necessityofwater,nurse-Yn 4+made you decide towork forCamden ries and so on. The many things that go up to making Direct Labour? the enviroment. The other point which is even more important to me CLAUDENE: isthequestionofthebuildingindustrybeingrelatively J)4socialist,andcertainlybelieveinDirectLabour. labour intensive and stil retaining its craft skills. You If Thadn't have got ajob with Camden Iwould have knowyoucanlookatanyotherindustryinBritainand appliedforajobwithanotherDirectWorksdepart the skill has gone. Its been taken over by machine. But ment. When Itook up plumbing Irealised Ipreferred in the building industry, less than it was thirty years ago maintenance work, you know. I really had in mind thereisstilanelementofcraftandart/andskilllandlits hospitals,schoolsorthecouncil.Thereweren’tan that we need to build on. We need to retain that, to im- incredible number of vacancies when Ileft my TOPS 9 prove that, because the contribution one makes towards training course. Ithink Imust have applied for fourty thebuiltenviromentisverymuchdependentonones jobs,altofirmswithvacancies.Theyalturnedme counter. | C LAUDENE: At the moment, the Council have a scheme whereby if you have worked for two years continuously you are entitled to four weeks maternity leave, and your job is kept open for you. It’s obviously different for women working as typists thanif your on a building site until your eight months pregnant. So, obviously maternity benefits are worth less to women builders in the long run. None of the private firms Iapplied to offered this. But, then, they had never employed women. percentage of Local Authority new and much larger women most of them. The men on site accept me, andarevery friendly. They are protective — in certain ways over protect- ive, but at least that is positive. The Management are information proportion of maintenance work handled by the DLOs, and ,more important, they would be free of the checks on their tender prices that the DLOs’ costs offer. own dability|and skills to make that contribution. Being down, including Camdert initially. Idon’t know why. Claudene Eccleston, aplum ber, is one of four women tradespersons working for Camden DLO. SLATE How many women work for Camden Direct Labour Department, and how much contact do you have with them? C LAUDENE There are four of us; two carpenters, a labourer and myself. We work at different depots. Some of us have met because we are friends, but not through any genorosity of Camden Council. Although the convenor’s steward has been making quite alot of ator. Iwasn’t treated any differently by the men on site. Igot into the job a lot easier than Idid into this one. The only differences were the working condit- ions — safety-wise it was rediculous. You were ex- pected to work on very dangerous scaffolding. There was no union, itjust wasn’t tolerated. There were little perks like long tea breaks, turkey’s at Christ- mas, that kept people anti-union. Although the money was excellent. In terms of efficiency, Direct Labour is much like any other firm. There isproportionally more manage- ment and there isso much administration and bur- eaucracy for ordering materials for example. But that is not necessarily the inefficiency of the foreman or whoever,it’s just acombination of things. SLATE: Are there any advantages, as a woman, to working for Direct Labour rather than a pri- vate firm? C LAUDENE: At the moment, the Council have a scheme whereby if you have worked for two years continuously you are entitled to four weeks maternity leave, and your job is kept open for you. It’s obviously different for women working astypists than ifyour on abuilding site until your eight months pregnant. So, obviously maternitybenefitsareworthlesstowomen builders in the long run. None of the private firms Iapplied to offered this. But, then, they had never employed women women most of them. The men on site accept me, andare very friendly. They are protective — in certain ways over protect- ive, but at least that is positive. The Management are the ones who decide whether or not they like you. They assume that the men won't like you. I’m more of a threat to the Management than to the workers. Most of the men welcome women in thebuilding trade, as long as it’s not their wives orgirlfriends. Claudene Eccleston, Camden DLO plumber. REVIEW: isthequestionofthebuildingindustrybeingrelatively I'masocialist,andcertainlybelieveinDirectLabour. insulation, contributing to energy saving: to decide the type of open space, trees, necessity of water, nurse- What panda you decide to work for Camden ries and so on. The many things that go up to making the enviroment. Direct Labour? The other point which iseven more important tome (7atpENR: counter-_ labour intensive and stil retaining its craft skills. You the built enviroment is very much dependent on ones own ability|and skills to make that contribution. Being skilled, having a craft, having tools brings men much nearer to nature. The relationship with nature is so important. That gives them, in the proper conditions, the ability to learn the appreciation and the relation- ship between al the beauties that this system has destroyed which we should be working to bring back. And Ithink that with Direct Works there isno limit to what you can begin to develop. If Ihadn’t have got ajob with Camden Iwould have jobs, al to firms with vacancies. They al turned me down, including Camdert initially. 1don’t know why. 7 But, Ihave been told by Management time and time again, that they don’t want trainees, and that Iwas forced upon them by the Union. The union are keen to employ more women in the building department. information SLATE: eee Ee Whatdoyouthinkthemaindifferencesare Review of ‘Building with Direct Labour’ by the Direct Labour Collective. “The profit and loss fallacy is not indulged in at Battersea. Igather that itwas quite understood in Battersea that good materials, good and expeditious workmanship and proper conditions of labour were the points to be aimedat, and whether the eventual cost came out above or below estimate the comm- unity benefited thereby in the end.” So wrote Mr. Williams, an architect, in 1898. Times have changed in Battersea, now Wandsworth, and for the first time in almost a hundred years the future of the Wands- worth Direct Labour Department isindoubt. Local building contractors, among whose number isthe Leader of the Council himself, have founda willing ally in a new Tory administration pledged to dis- mantle the Wandsworth DLO. In the late nineteenth century, recall the Direct Labour Collective(DLC), authors of “Building with Direct Labour’, the question of how local authority building was to be carried out was a key political question. Little changes. Faced with widespread corruption and inefficiency among private contrac- tors, the young councils were then as now, charged with the responsibility of fairly administering the vast proportion of building carried out with public money. The unpopularity among private contractors of the answer of the ‘Progressive’-controlled councils in setting up their own building organisations, is readily understoodye,t Battersea, for example, carried out al its building by Direct Labour for many years. Recent propaganda attacks on Direct Labour Organisations by the building trade employers fed- erations are no more than an updating of a struggle which is as old as local authorities themselves. The sharp decline in private sector orders for building is the underlying reason for the employers’ present campaigns argues the Direct Labour Collective, be- cause ‘in simple economic terms, they want more work’, and that means local authority work. The demiseoftheDLOswouldbringtwofoldbenefit to the private sector: they would get the moderate percentage of Local Authority new and much larger proportion of maintenance work handled by the DLOs, and ,more important, they would be free of the checks on their tender prices that the DLOs’ costs offer. In the intensifying propaganda battle now raging over the future of the DLOs the DLC’s new book provides insight into the way that the Construction Industry is organised and its current crisis as well as 4 multitude of potent arguments useful for support- ers of Direct Labour. The claim of CABIN (Cam- paign against Building Industry Nationalisation) and its forerunners that DLOs are less efficient and more expensive than private contractors are squarely rebutted with extensive empirical evidence no less particular than that used by CABIN. The contrac- tors argue that competitive tendering is the best way to ensure efficiency and value for money in building To the contrary argue the DLC the principle effects of the contracting system, discontinuity of work and the pricing of tenders according to the market for work and not the cost of production results in a steadily decreasing quality of building and reliabil- ity of programme and aworsening of conditions for building workers. CABIN’s campaign against the concept of any form of public ownership in the construction indus- try has raised the question of the comparability of the two sectors. Many of the defenders of Direct Labour have responded by accepting the contractors” definition of accountability, through the market, the tender sum and the administration of the building contract, and urge the transformation of DLOs into council-owned contractors, so making it straight- forward to prove their competitiveness and value for money. Such achange would, however, destroy many of the potential and actual advantages of a Direct Works Department allocated work directly and charging for itat cost. Submitting the DLOs to similar sorts of conditions as exist in the private sector would result in the same low standards of workmanship and conditions of employment as persists in the world of the contrac- tors. But, however,reassuring the principles of Dir- ect Labour, the problems of organising work where the profit motive is supplanted by concepts of qual- ity and service are immense, witness the occasional scandal that emerges from the Direct Works Depart- ments. This question istoo large for even an exten- sive and well conceived book such as ‘Building with DirectLabour’totackle,butaquestionthatmust be high on the agenda of workers throughout the construction industry. The Direct Labour Coll- ective is a group of people working on Direct Labour and the building industry because of the current importance of this pol- itical issue for the labour movement. The Direct Labour Coll- ective :Building with Direct Labour :published by the Housing Workshop of the Conferencoef Soc- jalist Economists (CSE): 116pp, illustrated : price £1. 75(incl p+p) from CSE, 55 Mount Pleasant, London WCI or 65p for orders through Camden D.L.O. between working for Direct Labour and pri- vate enterprise? A Plumber’s View CLAUDENE: Iworked for a private firm as a painter and decor- effort recently to try to organise a meeting of the four of us. Idon’t know what response he’s had from the Management. LATE: know you can look at any other industry in Britain and applied for ajob with another Direct Works depart= the skill has gone. Its been taken over by machine. But ment. When Itook up plumbing Irealised Ipreferred in the building industry, les than it was thirty years 480 snaintenance work, you know. Ireally had in mind j there is stil an element of craft and artland skilllandlits hospitals, schools or the council. There weren't an that we need to build on. We need to retain that, toim- ;--redible number of vacancies when Ileft my TOPS prove that, because the contribution one makes towards training course. Ithink Imust have applied for fourty feminism & architecture THE FEMINISM and Architecture Group has had a fantastic response from women aloverthecountry.Todatewehavea contact list of over 90 people, mostly women Several women in the group got togeth- er to produce a panel for the exhibition put on by the International Union of Wo- men Architects in Paris at the Centre Pom- pidou. The panel caused a stir on the op- ening day as it was virtually the only one of its kind at the exhibition. Many people expressed enthusiasm and hoped that more panels like ours might appear in future ex- hibitions. Atageneralmeetingofthegroupon the 31st. August it was decided to set up issue groups on the feminist approach to design, the design and build cooperative, education, and psychology and spatial perception. The aim is for each group to haveitsownsmallermeetingsandtopro- duce discussion papers to be presented at open meetings The education group isproducing a video to show to schools, and they will also be discussing al aspects of education from junior schools to technical colleges and schools of architecture and action that may be taken to destroy stereotyping of male and female roles The design and build cooperative is well and truly off the ground having received its first commission from Clapham Women’s Aid, to convert five houses into a women’s refuge for sixteen families and a playhouse which will provide creche and playgroup facilities not only for the refuge’s families but for families in the immediate neigh- borhood. The group will not just be dis- cussingthecurrentCWAjob butwillalso meet to discuss the future structure of the cooperative, the problems of unlimited liability, and the obstacles to setting up a truly cooperative design and build practice. A general meeting of the Feminism and Architecture Group was held on October 2nd. at which the constitution of the co- operative was discussed. The discussion was by no means final and further meetings on the subject are to be arranged. If any people are interested in joining in these discussions would they contact: Sue Jackson: 703 0911 18 Ph 5SINANTEVEN public design service group: latest moves ‘athe SLATER| | z 5 = S derstand that the RIBA are also submitting their own proposals. A full review of the PDS Group’s report ‘Community Architect- ure -A Public Design Service?’ will be prin- ted in the next issue. Unionisation and the Consultants’ Offices Rejecting criticism that they ignore issues in the private sector, PDS Group members inHaringeyhavegainedthesupportofthe local Trades Council in a bid to add a clause to Haringey Council’s criteria for the app- ointment of private consuitants. This clause would require consultants on the approved listtosignadeclarationthattheyallow their staff complete freedom to be members of trade unions. This, they suggest, will en- able architectural workers in the consult- ancies to appeal to both the Council and to the local Branch of NALGO in the event of victimisation for union activities. A progress report will be covered in the next issue. Reorganisation in Haringey Spare a thought for architectural workers in Haringey Borough Architect’s Service. Proposals produced by the Chief Executive for the reorganisation of the Department were voted out by the staff. At a series of departmental meetings the staff produced their own proposals for the reorganisation of their own department. These are curr- ently being considered by other Council Departments. Reorganisation in Lambeth The liaison group held an open meeting on the Sunday morning. It was a brief : chief aims is to make the Council’s services ‘more accessible and responsive to the needs of local people’. Local people, Councillors and Council staff have al been invited to contribute to the investigation. PDS Group members and NALGO staff re- presentatiyes in the Department of Archi- tecture haye submitted a report which pro- poses a Council design service in line with the ‘Interim Proposals’ put forward at the PDS conference held last May. With Ted Knight as Leader of the Council itmaybethattheproposalswillreceivea warm reception. The findings of the Special Review Commi- ttee are not expected to be announced until next summer. ae example of the new French Architecture Sociale, all the rage on the Cote D’Azur this year and funded by an experimental programme under the EEC’s Common Agricultural Policy to channel investment into retirement homes for sheep. Says architect J-L. Demagogue, pictured in front of his hill-top, post modemism- -style masterpiece: “ Designing for sheep is a challenging and rewarding new field for the, social architect. Their natural social instincts make them appreciative ofthecommunal andsemi-communal zones I like to design, and their docile and undemanding natures mean that I can experiment with advanced construction techniques for the benefit of progress in the building industry.” M. De gue waspreviouslyinvolvedinthedesignof system-built high rise flats in the Ville Ennuieuse district just outside Paris Footnote: French police are currently investigating an increasingly widespread form of fraud, poignantly dubbed La Moutonisme ( sheepishness )as homeless families roam the streets of larger French cities in flocks, on al fours, wearing sheep skin coats turned inside out. Pernod-sur-Mer, France BCaMb a CPE i oI | iBhi ke le\O ~ ey eh TNS leeds group forum The topic of the Saturday session was the NAM constitution. Everybody felt that they wanted to get something sorted out so that the annual congress would not be- come embroiled again in the anarchic, des- tructive kind of discussion that has taken place in previous years. Ten people attended the Leeds Group Fo- rum-asmallernumberthanhadbeenex- pected, but nevertheless enough to provide a range of opinion. The Forum was held in the Red Ladder Theatre Building in the outskirts of Leeds. The building used to be a derelict church hall; it has been taste- fully conyerted with a great deal of care for use as a rehearsal space for the Red Ladder Theatre Group. Some of the Leeds NAM Group worked on this project in a ful time capacity, and it gave a good feel- ing to be meeting in a building which em- bodies some of NAM’s ideals of collective design/work. Ittookussixhourstothrashoutaflex- ible minimal constitution. This, we agreed, would be changed as little as possible; we also devised a set of ground rules which could be revised as the Movement develops. We were exhausted by the end of the meet- ing, and could hardly stagger to a nearby | restaurant; however, we felt pleased that we had managed to produce a document. forum, but a productive and an enjoyable one. It would be good to see the move- ment hold more meetings like this. Lambeth Council have set up a Special Re- view Committee whose task is to examine THE PDS GROUP have submitted areport and make proposals for the overall reorganis- THE SLATER ON HOLIDAY to Reg Freeson, in reply to his request for ation and running of the Council Director- ideasoncommunityarchitecture.Weun- ateandCommitteesystems.Oneoftheir Ourillustrationshowsamostimpressive vo SULTS| ITY IN THE ENV CO bds.tass = newearchitecture movement $th coneress cheltennany & e - feminists & alternative practice education details: 9 poland st londonwt building industry nationalisation novnp Z,7A Ap. == cit > (1%n 00[AA 2 u : we aa?.,,> —- The PDS groun have continued to develop the concept of a Public Design Service, maintaining that local authority practice, if suitably devolved,contains the potential to initiate a publicly accountable form of practice, and held a major conference in April, in Birmingham. 'Community Architecture - A Public Design Service?', a report recently submitted to the Minister of Housing, providing a detailed critique of the RIBA stance, will shortly be available. Congress commences on Friday evening with introductions which set a context for the weekend's discussions, placing NAM into perspective in the profession and industry. Should light relief be needed, you can always escape into the wide tree-lined streets, promenades and parks of Cheltenham, and enjoy its Regency architecture. Developed primarily as a spa town, taking the waters did not agree with everyone, however, as a tombstone in St. Mary's churchyard attests:- "Here lie I and my two daughters Who died from drinking Cheltenham waters. We wouldn't be lying in these damp vaults." If we had stuck to epsom See you in Cheltenham. Book as early as possible please. salts Slate continues to grow in strength, providing an invaluable service to the movement, and a means of communication for all radicals in archiyecture and the building industry. On Saturday the various issue group reports provide introductions to the workshops taking place during the morning and afternoon. After the plenary sessions the evening will be left free for informal meetings and get-togethers; an open Constitution meeting is already planned, and meetings for feminists and Trade Union members have also been suggested. Sunday morning will commence with reports from the Liaison, Slate and Constitution sroups, followed by a debate on the structure of NAM, no doubt centering on the constitution. The Congress will be concluded on Sunday afternoon by the Annual General Meeting. Workshop discussions are loosely organised under the headings of Education and Ideology, and Alternative Practice and the Profession, issues which have been under discussion in NAM for some time, directly or indirectly. The question of Building Industry Nationalisation will also be raised, Speakers from outside NAM will be invited. Thus the workshops are intended both to advance the level of discussion and information to date on NAM issues, and to examine future areas of work which may be undertaken within a NAM perspective, and links which may be forged with other groups. A constitution for NAM will provide the central internal matter for discussion. Draft proposals and papers have already been circulated and have been the subject of the recent Leeds forum. A standing Constitution group will be formed during the congress, which will present a final draft to Congress at Sunday's debate on NAM structure. This year's Congress is to be held in Cheltenham, at the School of Architecture, Gloucestershire College of Art and Design, Pittville, Cheltenham, over the weekend 11th,11th, 12th November, a southern location being thought appropriate after previous years in Harrogate, Blackpool and Hull. The conference fee will be £6.00, £4.00 for students and claimants. This fee covers conference documents, a free copy of the newly published Handbook, and meals on Saturday and Sunday. Bar facilities and snacks will be available in or adjacent to the conference hall, throughout the congress. Accomodation arrangements have been left more to the individual than in previous years. An information sheet piving prices and locations of cheap local hotels will be included in the conference briefing, enabling you to book in advance, or on arrival. Alternative sleeping bag accomodation will again be available at a nominal charge, but please book well in advance for this. As the college is somr distance from the centre of Cheltenham, transport will be provided from the station on Friday evening and Saturday morning, and for the return on Sunday afternoon. The Conference Papers will include papers for discussion and reports by the various issue groups on their past year's activities. In addition the 1978/9 NAM Handbook provides a concise introduction to NAM, and a survey of work undertaken by all issue and certain local groups. Congress is central to NAM's democratic structure, the means by which the work of issue groups is endorsed and tasks for the coming year determined. It serves to bring the membership together, to discuss and develop existing areas of activity, to introduce new issues and attract new members, and take care of internal matters by means of the Annual General Meeting. Significant developments have taken place in several areas of NAM activity over the past year. The ARCUK group have strengthened their representation on Council, and have produced suggestions for a new fee system, and changes in the Code of Conduct, in ‘Way Ahead', in addition to their report to the IMononolies Commission, 'Do Not Pass Go'. Both documents contain analyses of the implications that the Monopolies report and allied developments could have for the future of all salaried staff. The Feminism group has developed rapidly, with regular well-attended London meetings, and the probability that a co-operative practice will emerge from this group. NEW ARCHITECTURE MOVEMENT 4thANNUAL CONGRESS CHELTENHAM 78 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource NAM SLATE Group 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 Undated https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/13360b0d75e5f5322205a5394c5c9a1c.pdf 7d271c29e4df2c39beaabd8722149845 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 SLATE Description An account of the resource To help promote its work and reduce dependence on the established professional press, NAM created its own newspaper SLATE. The editorial group met bi-monthly to gather together latest events, activities and ideas emerging from radical critiques and challenges to the established order of architectural practice and education. The content of each edition was collated, and cut-and-pasted into layouts of the magazine which typically ran from 16 to 28 pages. Each edition included a brilliant cartoon by Andrew Brown who emerged as a clever graphic artist synthesising NAM's radical ethics. SLATE's production ran to 17 issues in total. The SLATE Group also produced occasional annual calendars, of which three survive 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 SLATE 8 Subject The topic of the resource Building a Future for Women in Architecture Description An account of the resource A Feminism & Architecture Special Issue: BUILDING A FUTURE FOR WOMEN IN ARCHITECTURE THE RADICAL PAPER ON ARCHITECTURE AND THE BUILDING INDUSTRY july/aug ISSUE § slite’, n., a, & vit. 1, Winds of grey, or bluish-parple rock easily split at smooth plates; picce of such ofinstinct. Themeetingwasattendedbypeople ©usednsroofing-material;plecoofIt ed In wood used for writing on neilorsmallrodofso~f(ctlean SAG,theRIBACouncilfactionthat sets out to represent the interests of salaried architect members of the Institute, has made substantial gains this year. They took five of the nine- -teen RIBA Council seats up for election bringing the strength to eight. All nineteen seats were contested by SAG who mounted a concerted campaign in the run up to the election culminating in the publication of an exhaustive 25 point manifesto. SAG also announced just just before the poll that if is to organise an exhibition of projects designed by salaried architects, on behalf of their employees in public and private sector offices. SAG's success has only gone a small way, however, towards redressing the in- -balanceofrepresentation on the RIBA Council. At least 70% of the Institute’s membership is salaried, yet out of the 67 councillors only eight set out to speak specifically for the interests of this majority. The only SAG candidate to head the poll inhis/herdivisionwasthewidelyknown chairman of the Group, Bob Giles, who was elected in the London Region. establishment view SAG's manifesto comes down firmly on the side of the established view of professionalism in Architecture. In some respects the Group’s opinions are more conservative that those of the RIBA Council itself. The manifesto, published albeit, before the most recent developments between the Institute and the Government, condemns the findings of the Monopolies Commission and declares that “there is no caseforrelaxingtheCodeofConduct...” although ...“‘the fee scale needs to be radically restructured...” (no specific proposals. Onthequestionofthepositionofthe salaried architect the manifesto isstrongest. “All partner practices” are to be encouraged and al architects should “share the risks responsibilities and rewards”, but in the meanwhile the job architect should be named in the building contract on the site signboard and in anypublicity. SAG also sets out ways to defuse the growing disenchantment with the prof- -essionshownbythemanyarchitectswho are resigning from the RIBA, adopting the approach to Trades Unionism to problems at work or arguing for radical changes in the architect’s role and relations with society through NAM. According to the 2 orcecif of or renounce oblign- ‘ ¢, -ercy,modifications Ssuch ns ocurin~; j]-~-club, mutual benefit society with small weekly and other building design staff, is the gradual introduction of new computertechnology. the discussion was therefore able to concentrate on concrete issues, as well asthepossibilitiesofcomputeraided design. The work done by trades unionists, especially from AUEW-TASS, in analysing the implications of this new technology has been of great importance In rejecting the ‘Luddite’ approach to computers. It would be wrong to go aroung smashing computers as they do have the potential to free us from boring jobs. At the moment, this results in workers being made redundant, but computers do provide a real possibility to shorten the working week for large sections of workers today. Fred Leplat. Fees- NAM report shows way ahead THEMONOPOLIES ISSUEHAS moved away from the ‘technical’ arena of the Office of Fair trading negotiations into oneof straight political lobbying. Although it is now certain that an Order in Parliament compelling architects to quote fees in competition will not be made for this session, the RIBA has no grounds for complacency. Its claim to serve the public interest and its manipulation of ARCUK are matters now squarely on the agenda of at least two government ministries. The question is no longer ‘will the status quocontinue?’ Itis‘WilltheRIBAsucceed in projecting upon it the illusion of real change?” contributio: i ~-colour(ed), (of) dark h groy; hence slat’x? a, ~. 3. y.t. Cover with~s hence slat/er' n, (ME Dear Editors, From the letter on possible PDS conflict inSLATE7it appears that our stand- point needs reiterating, though this time I'l try another angle. In our view, both Cynthia Cockburn’s book, and Douglas Smith’s article in SLATE 4 are excellent as far as they go, but they are both only half argu- ments, Both point out very well how the local state works ,but neither even starts to consider how it could work or how to change its workings. Their conclusions are merely implied and their arguments can thereby be taken as either standing for the A debate on the topic of computer aided design ok place at a meeting organised by ‘he London Building fom. of esclatstat*) (colloq.). Criticize ecrerely tn reviews), scold, rates ©, propose for office ete. Wenco + (2). fanp. t pree.} SLATE IS THE NEWSLETTER OF THE NEW ARCHITECTURE MOVEMENT, published bi-monthly and edited by the Movement’s Publications Group. Committee, introduced the discussion with slides showing the possibilities of computer aided design. News and features of broad interest to workers in the profession, the building industry and to the general public are ine- luded to stimulate general debate on a wide range of issues and to bring the Movement’s | revolution (as the only answer ) or for attractive ideology Some commentators ascribe the rise of SAG's (sic) to the same urge for partici- -pation in decision making over questions affecting the process and product of thier work that has lead other architectural workers to take up Trades Unionism or join NAM. To some snmall extent this istrue, but the void that seperates SAG from the other tendencies is that the Group makes no attempt to analyse the relationship between the problems facing the salaried architect and the social and economic context within which the profession works. The profession isseen asanisolatedphenomenonfreetoarrange itsown affairs no matter what demands are made of it by society in the form of Government, the people who pay its fee accounts or who live and work in its products. This spurious ideology is clearly attractive to many salaried architects and SAG's manifesto exploits just this attraction, but would the Group’s policies stand the test of being put into practice? Or to daw out one specific contradiction, when SAG calls for the inclusion of salaried architects on entry lists for limited competitions, how would it respond to the competitions’ sponsors demandsthatthewinnersactuallysetup their own practices and carry out the work? “The problems with computers, said Cooley, is the way in which they are currently designed to intereact with humans. In theory the fast reliable uncreativeness of the computer is the perfect compliment to the slow unreliable but crzativehuman being. But, as anyone who has worked on, say, computer drafting will tel you, something between two or three hours in the symbiosis isthe maximum anybody can take. Instead of the computer being paced by the human. the human ispaced by the computer.” Computers have been able to take over some dehumanisingiandalienatjionbsg, but this has been done by the ad: ption and eventualeliminationoftheskillsinvolved. Computers and computerised robotic devices replace labour intensive production processes by capital intensive ones, shifting sections of workers to less skilled jobs, or simply to the dole queues. However, the consequences of computers do not stop here. As they are very expensive pieces of equipment, employers want to see such machines used round the clock to get the quickest returns on their investment. This iswhy, seven years ago, design staff at Rolls Royce struck against a move by management to introduce shift work on a new computer. liberation? All new technological inovations have views and activities to the attention ofthe largest possible readership. REPRESENTATIVES A network of 30 representatives has been set up throughout schools and large prac- tices all over the country. The only comm- itmentofeachrepresentativewillbeto receive 5copies of SLATE every two months and to try to sel 4 of them, return- ing £1.00 to SLATE Al this should help SLATE acheive a far wider circulation and become more truly representative of the views of rad- icals concerned with the industry and the environment WORK ON SLATE SLATE needs more workers, more writers ,more ideas and more reps in order to produce a better, larger and cheaper newsletter. If you would like to work for SLATE: becomea rep., join the group, send in articles or suggest topics it should cover then contact us soon. The copy date for the next issue will be Friday 4th August 1978 SLATE ispublished by the Publications Group of the NEW ARCHITECTURE MOVEMENT, 9 Poland St., London W.1. (Letters should be addressed to the Publications Group) Trade Distribution by Publications Distribution Cooperative, 27, Clerken- wel Court, London, E.C.2 SLATE 8PAGE 2 hopeless apathy which plays into the hands of those who now wish to see the role of the local state drastically reduced for ideological reasons directly in conflict with both authors, The local state issurely atwo-edged sword, and both its edges need exposing thenwecanseenotonlyhowitacts,but also how itcould act. To do this we need thought and research (which the PDS group iscurrently undertaking) coupled with a clear idea of how and why the local state should function. That idea for us isparticipatory democracy and although we cannot realise al its implications until itisputintoforce,itsmeaning isclear, Yours faithfully Charles McKean the potential of liberating us from dehumanising and alienating work. This shouldbepossibleiftheuseofcomputers ArchitectsonARCUKhavepresentedtheir | iskept to amodest scale, but when they are introduced solely on the grounds of business efficiency, this is unlikely. For designers to work on computers they can pace, it is necessary to destroy the myth that supposes that it you have al the data to hand in the computer, then you can design quickly and efficiently. Cooleypointsoutthatagooddesigner is good because s/he has a vast store of apparently ‘redundant and unclassifed knowledge in his/her head. This report “WAY AHEAD” to Roy Hattersley and John Fraser in the Department of Prices and Consumer Protection, Albert Booth in the Department of Employment and to Peter Shore at the D.O.E., and meetings are being arranged with these departments. A handbill summarizing the background and main thrust of “WAY AHEAD is inserted inthisissueofSLATE. “WAYAHEAD” itself — a major new NAM Report —is available from NAM, 9 Poland Street, London London W.1. Price £1.50. SLATE 8PAGE 3 manifesto, the way forward is to reconcile “the fundamental conflict between salaried Statusandthearchitect'sroleasanindepend- saysCooley -ant authority...” within the structure of the RIBA, The RIBA isrequired to intervenetosortoutthegreivancesof AMONG theyariouspointsof salariedarchitectswhocomplainthat concerntoarchitecturalworkers whowereworkingoncomputers,and their employer-architects are in breach of point 2.5 of the Code of Professional Conduct which lays down guidelines for the employment of one architect by another, and as far as the public goes, accountability to them will only be achieved by “identifying the actual building designer.” of the Lucas Shop Stewards Combine The manifesto makes no acknowledgement or mention of the problems of women workers in the face of the prevalent sexist attitudes in the profession. Beware CAD comes not from the computer memory but from wandering round the office library,talkingtopeopleordownon the job trying out ‘lashups’ on the basis VSM NAM Representatives of Unattached JVINEWSWIEWONE Dear Slate, Daye Green, for NAM PDS group With reference to my letter published in your last edition, Iwithdraw the comm- ents Imade concerning Tom Woolley. I misinterpreted adifference ofopinion, The SLATE Editorial group add their apologies to Tom for thepublication of the offending letter in the last SLATE, Printed by Islington Community Press, 2a St Pauls Rd., London, NI. S NEWS\\ Manifesto brings poll gains for SAG Typesetting by the Publications G and Maggie Stack. a Opinions expressed in SLATE are not necessarily the policy of the New Archi- tecture Movement unless stated to be so. NEWSNEWSNIEWSSURVEY Conference calls for L.A. reform PERILOUS ASAONGCU)s REALLYwo ritTee esnt ARCA? TeacHGinis SHOULOBEGiVENN (63aSG:Wooow®)RK directly by tenants and reporting directly to committee. Forty or so participants came to the Conference from all over the Country and most sectors of the architectural profession. to hear the proposals and arguments worked out by the PDS group over the last six months. An enlarged group will now take up an ambitious programme of further investigation formulation and publicity, Adressing the Conference, UCATT shop steward Peter Carter reminded the architects present of the role, and, possibly, the existence of building workers in the industry. One of the prerequisites of progress, he said, was thecooperationofbuildingconstruction and building design workers and in Local Authorities that meant between architects and workers in Direct Labour Organisations (DLOs). He outlined how, inspite of the benefits that DLOs bring to the people in whose areas they work and to the workers within them, they were currently being defamed by private sector interests. joint action principle perpetuates existing power structures and that oppressed groups such as women will only become liberated by policiesof‘positive discrimination’. In housing this meant housing run by and for women. More infromation of the Conference from: The Secretary, Seagull Housing Co-op, “Flat 4, 13, Colville Houses, London, W11. ttempts by a Brighton Housing Co-op to convert a house to accomodate ‘young singles’ and couples who want to live communally have been foiled by the town’s Planning Committee. Planning permission was refusedtotheTwoPiersHousingCo-op on the grounds that the cooking arrangements proposed were not acceptable. Communal kitchens are favoured by the co-op’s members but the Council insisted that it could not sanction shared cooking facilities in multi- occupied accomodation. The case turns on the definition of the term ‘household’ .The twelve prospective tenants did not, in the Council’s view constitute one, as there were too many of them. The Council prefers using its planning powers to foster nuclear families. At the same time the circular nature of the relationship between building and society means that attempts to demonstrate thepossibilitiesofanarchitecturewhere women are actively involved can be influential. It is therefore crucial that as.a Architect Tom Bulley (see SLATE7) took up this theme and described how he and his colleagues at Hackney Council were campaigning alongside the DLO fora planned workload forall the Council’s construction services. Earlier in the day John Murray gave a fascinating paper on the history of Local Authority architects department in an attempt to formulateacriticalanalysisoftherole of the departments in our society. This was complemented by a talk from Howard Smith on contemporary attitudes to Local Authority services among the political parties. Discussiononthefloorwasregretably curtailed by the busy day’s programme but there was time to hear views and experiences from several local authority workers and to SLATE 8PAGE 4 things about the first six months of the group's work. What we must realise is that women are in the strange position of living in a built environment which isdesigned and built primarily by men. To suggest that were it designed and built by women it would be different is not enough. The fact is that it reflects accurately the male structured Society,atpresentwomenwhohavebeen successful in the architectural world have been so by taking up the values and modes of identification of that society and have therefore largely succeeded only in continu- -ing men’s work. People who look for a buildingdesignedbyawoman:toprove how different is the female approach, and find in the lack of such buildings proof of their convictions that women have nothing to contribute to architecture, have totally work ,we are now specifically interested in using our architectural and building skills with and for women. who are look- -ing for a different approach to designing and building. (Contact names below) In our discussidns we have been looking at the following issues, and itisthese which the various articles discuss in depth. 1, Women in education. This is particul- -arly the seperation between design and technicaleducation;women findit difficult und usually impossible to gain experience on site, a grave disadvantage in giving confidence in technical know- -ledge. In schools there is little encourage- -ment for women to take architecture up orcoursesrelatedtobuilding.Condition- -ing of girls away from technical fields of knowledge starts in early childhood. However, perhaps positive discrimination in schools might change this bias. _ debate the perenial question as to whether localauthoritiesareindependentfromor integrated into the State apparatus. If they are integrated then would our efforts be better directed at central government or are local authorities an embrionic manifaestation of real local democracy. Happily this debate did’ not devide the conference so that it was impossible to form a consensus behind the preliminary proposalsofthePDSgroupwhichwere almost unanimously supported at the MECCANO end of the day. Theday’spapershavebeenpublished Socialist Planners publish papers 3 NEWS FROM THE CONFERENCE of Socialist Planners shows that the movement is growing steadily and taking lon'the task of analysing and disseminating the principles of socialism within planning and other related activities, Groups have been formed in places as far apant as Scotland and Hampshire, LondonandMerseyside.ANational Liason Committee consisting of delegates from the Regional Workshops is respons- -ible for coordinating activities and a news- -letter is now being published shortly, The Merseyside Regional Workshop have prepared papers on the issue of small firms and worker cooperatives. The paper on small firms looks at their role in the history and development of the capitalist economy and the reason why both the State and private capital are now promoting them Itwasthefirsttimethatsuchameeting had been held and it was set up in response to, among other things, the isolation felt bywomen inthemale-dominatedwotld of the co-ops. The call for women’s Co-ops is in opposition to the so-called First Co-operative Principle that states that co-operative ventures should be open to participationbyal.Womenatthe TerRific HAVING WOMEN AS @PREMITECTS »THEY KNOSoWM)H ABOUT Ki TCHENS Fh4 by NAM at £1 00+15p post and packing from NAM, 9, Poland St., London,W1. More information about PDS Group Tegular meetings from NAM-PDS, c/o JohnMurray,5,MiltonAvenue,London,N6., TBvriGAL_OLDHARRiDANTM | FESS VE FEMINIST1 2. Women at work. We feel that this is one of the most important areas of discussion because it involves the inter- -action with the real world, By compar- -ing different women’s experiences and discussing the way in which things could be organised differently. So far we have looked at the discrimination against women withintheeconomicsystemand the hierarchical organisations within architectural practices, 3, A Feminist approach to design, This covers a wide range of ideas, Susan Walker the relationship between housing and women’s role in Classical Greece; Denise Arnold looks at matriarchy and the importance of women taking the initiative for social change and Chris Knight demonstrates the importance of the communal role of women in early societies, which are al explorations in different directions, We hope this issue will encourage those women who feel isolated working in architecture to join us, for it is time women began to find their own identity in the built environment as they have begun to do so in other fields, hetragedyliesinhowweimpoverish ourselves as a s@ciety by not allowing women the opportunity to understand and control their environment. Who can tel how much of the barfeness of our built environment isdue to this fundamental lackofbalance. Webelievethatwomen have a crucial place in the contemporary worldof architecture and we have to see them take itup, SLATE 8PAGE S$ ee conclusion of a recent conference on Women and Housing Co-operatives. Called by the Seagull Housing Co-op the conference exposed many of the ways in which the existing structure of the Co-ops and the housing co-op movement fails to meet women's housing needs. DECENTRALISING Local Authority architects departments would be a major step towards the true accountability of building designers to the needs of local people concluded a national Conference called by NAM’s Public Design Service (PDS) group in Birmingham in early May.Such area design teams should be small and involve surveyors, architectsandengineersworking alongsideeachother,briefedSEeeConferenceargued,however,thatthisEsBUILDINGSITE2ANASS0CTATEBYSCREWINGCAN?TSTAND"THESE y or the first time the Government has been advised by one of its own bodies bodies to ban ceritin asbestos-based materials.TheAdvisoryCommitteeon Asbestos has recommended that it should be an offence to undertake work on another's premises involvong handling the materials, Materials to be affected by the proposed banarespayed asb and asb based thermal and accoustic insulation. Copies of the first report of the Advisory Committee on Asbestos are available form HMSO, price SOp. How AbSUROTS THe "THATGiRL2HAVE ANY ATA AL ABALiT STEVERSEEAWNBMARIONTA) This issue of SLATE marks the beginning of a conscious movement to recongnise and explore the potential of women in architecture, to acknowledge the prejudice which exists in the building world against the involvement of women and to seek out a true expression of their own identity. At the ’77 Congress NAM became tentativelyawareofagapinitsradical approach to architecture; that the ideas and experience of the women’s movement are as fundamental to the achieving of NAM’s group” we explore the alternatives both in aims as are those of the socialist movement, practice and in theory. The beginning of the and that they are intri ly bound togeth -the th icaldi ion is published here. What no one forsaw was that there would be While one result of the London Seminar so many people who would respond instantly (report in News from NAM) on Feminism with conviction to a feminism and and Architecture was to make us state architecture group. The bringing together of positively our commitment to practical these people has been one of the exciting 7 NuUNA ee | |Toioric 70 ALLOW WOMEN “To Stuly ARCHITECTURE,THEYREOWL LOOKING FOR A HUSBAND GQOURSESHEONLYGor7GE THe 6055 failed to understand that itisonly by work- -ing within the women’s movement and the Socialist movement as a whole to change the existing structure of society that such architecture can be possible. Pomen should be free to establish al- women housing co-operatives was one as One answer to the economic and unemploy- -ment problems of the declining inner cities and regions. The practical dilemmas which arise for socialists when groups of workers Propose coops in opposition to closures by private capital is the subject of the other Paper. Itargues that caution isneeded where State and other political interests are intervening to establish coops with the implicit intention of healing wounds and reducing conflict in the Capitalist system. Other topics which are being studied by the Regional Workshops include ‘The Role of Inner City Partnerships’ and ‘Planning and the Local State’, abrief analysis of the context in which most planners opfrate. |Further details from Box CSP, c/o 100 Whitechapel, Liverpool LI 6EN FEMINISM& ARCHITECTURE between the sexes in the practice of archit- ecture, a fact of which Iam personnally proud” and that “...the RIBA does not keep discriminatory records of the work of women architects”. This explains the scarcity of statistics, but those which do exist speak for themselves about the current position of women in architecture, 5% of currently registered architects in the UK are women. This is a bare 19% above the 1957 level, and the proportion has actually DECREASED by 0.8% since 1973, Is the situation changing? In 1977, women formed, 7% of al new ARCUK registrations: Of al student newly entering architectural courses in 1977/78, almost 16% were women, Compare this with UCCA statistics for ALL ful time students at undergraduate level (1975/76 figures) where, in the Arts, the proportion of women is 48%, and in Science, 24%. Tam not using these statistics to imply that women are discriminatied against in selectionforcoursesinarchitecture. It would be very difficult to demonstrate this even ifitwere true, and on the whole Idon’t believe itistrue. Women are discriminated againstlongbeforethis. WeARRIVEat the point of selection unequal, the product of 18 years or more ofa sodal condition- ing that does not encourage us to put a high enough value on the “career” part of our lives to warrant spending 7 years qualifying in order to fil in the gap between leaving school and haying kids. Any dis- criminationwhichmightbeappliedatthe pointofentry to the profession would in any case be pale in comparision to what has gone before, but would nevertheless, be particularly cruel for the women who happens to get that far. Imyself was the victim/benificiary of POSITIVE discrimination. At my inter- view, Iwas told (albeit charmingly), “Yes Ithink we'll have you. We need more womeninoursherryparties”, Which ties in with the second point Imade earlier, wherethAJfeounditnecessarytopoint out that women students in 1939 were hang- ing up “their own” work. Being accepted as an archi 1student is only the first step; The next isto be accepted as a SERIOUS architectural student. Now there As women, we face very particular obstacles to acheiving success in architect- ure, It is important that we get together to examine these obstacles and to make them visible to other women architects, to educators, to employers, and to the public generally. It is also important that we get together to examine what we mean by “success in architecture”. Nadine Beddington in her AD article, points out that “. there have been to date four women elected to (RIBA) Council . (and) two women vice would be raped in Mozanbique, fan Tod and Alan Lipman would probably be bayonneted in their backs in Botswana, and the rest would probably be quietly fed to the crododiles in Zambia, or would they prefere a gory sensational Uganda type death?:” Iget raped while the men get saved for the crocodiles. Sexism cannot be tackled in isolation, but only as part of a wider bigotry. It’s a man’s world... Even when qualified, of course, the problems are not over. Some would say they are just beginning. Straight from a school ing a letter from a group of us objecting to ofarchitecture astudent isyoung and inexperienced.If she isalso awoman, her problems increase exponentially. The part- ner, the teaboy, the contractor, will all be eagerly anticipating her first mistake. When it comes, as come it must, she will get some version of “what can you expect from a woman”, and youth and inexperience will not enter the equation. As one local arch- itect put it recently, we've had quite a num- ber of women working in our offices. Cer- tainly they tend to drop earrings down man- holes and that sort of thing on site”(Mr L. Mosely, PhD. B.Arch. FRIBA, Partner in H.M.R. Burgess and Partners, Cardiff speaking in a radio phone-in programme on architecture, June 1978.) Anne Delaney, a member of NAM and TASS and an ARCUK councillor writes about the problems women face in and after leavinga school of architecture. At present she is employed as a tutorial assistant in the Welsh School, where she did a Ph.d on “Professionalism in Architecture”. When the Architects Registration Bill was being discussed in parliament in 1931, one Labour MP had this to say: It is their great moment, for one day their schemes may find fulfilment in brick or concrete. Sex equality may give them thechancetheir arch- itect fathers have been waiting for, and a smash hit in the next compet- ition may bring them wealth and fameinanight. Sostiltheystrive, adding to the experience that will several points emerge. Firstly, what is this talk (in 1939) of “sex equality’? Secondly, why was it found necessary to point out that the work being hung by the “female alimni” was their own” (presumably it was not that of their “architect fathers”!), ARCUK investments in South Africa, the RIBAJ recieved the following reply from R.E. Cooper, Bulawayo, Rhodesia: but let it be remembered that the membership of the Royal Institute of British Architects numbers somewhere about 7000 architects, so that, by this Clause, complete power is given into the hands of that organised body of 7000, not merely of examination, but of moulding the carriculum and raising the standard of education so that no lad of my class will have any opport- unitywhateverofenteringtheprofession”. opportunitiestotraininthearchitectural Hansard. 17.4.31. Suchat accurate prediction of RIBA control over education, and such well- field. Aided ideologically by war p pagand to believe thay must “do their bit for the war effort”, and helped in practical terms But eight years later the country needed us all; the working class and even women were important to the war effort. The AJ makes its contribution to sex equality: “Meanwhile girl students play their part in the drive whilst training for those academic honours that will one day put aseal to their careers. At the Welsh School of Architecture T-square glamour looms large and the looms of near-graduate industry hum as never before. The female alumni have been hanging their own drawings for the exibition of the year. in the door of Portland Place. Forty years on without that ideological and pract- ical backup, how many women manage to Squeeze through? be their wavelength to sucess” AJ. 19th January 1939. Cut through the Pathe News prose and “T invite Ian Tod and his coterie to come out to Southern Africa, and see for themselves before getting involved in the politics of South Africa: and Idon’t mean the ‘whistle stop’ tour of two to three days. Although Ann Delaney When phrases like “sex equality” were being bandied about in 1939 it was true that a few women were being offered placed concern about the class composition by the sortof childcare and communal cater- may well be women whose sole purpose of architects should not go unremarked: ing facilities it sudenly and miraculous! neither should the assumption that concern became possible to provide at that time, a need only be expressed for the “lads” of the few women squeezed through asmall crack working class. in entering a schooolf archi is to look for a husband; there may well be women whose career ambitions stop at designing loft conversions from home dur- ing the children’s school hours; theremay well be women fired by the belief that their contribution to humanity will lie in designing the perfect kitchen. I haven't met any of those women myself, but they may well exist. The problem is,how can the rest of us begin to get taken seriously? «ust women who haye been througn a schoolofarchitecturewilknowwhatit feels like to have a scheme that would ben- efit from good constructive criticism, and to to get nothing but a pat on the head anda “very nice, dear”. In the 1975 degree Any statistics I give are going to be sketchy since women have until very recently been invisible in RIBA statistics, “Women in Architecture” has been a non-problem for the RIBA, as Nadine Beddington (RIBA councillor and one of four women on the 67 member ARCUK Council) iskeen to point out. In the “Women inArchitecture” issue of AD (August 1975) Ms, Beddington Stressed that “‘....the RIBA as anInstitute } 4 has never found it necessary to differentiate eee resultsforuniversityschoolsofarchitecture, SLATE 8PAGE 6 SLATE 8PAGE 7 in UK university departments of “engineering, presidents”. Is this what we mean by technology, architecture, and other profes- sucess? sional and vocational subjects” (GC 1975) Iam not seeking to increase simply the show that 100% of professors, 99% of readers NUMBER of women architects. Iam seek- and senior lecturers, 97% of lecturers and assistant lecturers, and 88% of “other” aremen. A quick scan of the staffs of university schools of architecture in the UK (Commonwealth Universities Yearbook 1977/78 reveals agrand total of8women (2%oftotalstaff). Ofthese,threearearch- servicewhichshouldbeavailableto itects. ing to increase the number of women architects who, in NAM’s words, “ are committed to radical change in the relation- ship of the profession to the public, and within the profession itself” and who consider that “architecture isapublic all sectors of s6ciety.” But even the life ofa “radical” woman architect is no bed of roses. After publish~ the proportion of men and women students in most degree catagories is very similar - except for the First Class Honourscategory, which contains almost 5% of men students (28 out of 603) and less than 1% of women students(ONEoutof110). Itseemsthat to be a good woman architect you need to be very good indeed. This tendency is not made any better by almost total absence of women in a position to affect teaching in a school of architect- ure, Figures for teaching and research staff [LFEMINISM &ARCHITECTURE ,e that makes us human —is actually the product of a social revolution which, w) itwaslargelycompleted 40,000 yearsag bears some remarkable structural similar. ities to the new process of technological and social revolution engulfing us all to. day, It puts paid to the theorythat ‘no revolution can change human nature’ by showing that everything human about our ‘nature’ was precisely the product of that immense social revolution in which our species was born. A form of ‘pop-anthropology’ (the boo! of Robert Ardrey, Lionel Tiger and Robin Fox are good examples) asserts that early humans must have organised themselves insomethinglikethemannerofbaboons, Yet when we examine the social lives of baboons and macaques, it appears that the very traits which primitive cultural ‘taboos’ above all rule out in social behaviour, these creatures indulge in to the full. Whereas human kinship systems strictly forbid a male from becoming the sexual rival of his father or mating with his mother or sister, young baboons quite regularly come into direct and open sexual conflict with their ‘fathers’ and often end up displacing them as the sexual partners of their ‘mothers’ and/or ‘sisters’. Among baboons and macaques, sexual relations are set up on a kind of ‘private property’ basis. The strongestmales,onthebasisofamoreor less violent free-for-all, end up with al the females (the biological ‘instruments of production’)belong,withtheiroffspring, to a few dominant males. All primitive kinshipsystems,ontheotherhand,func- tioncentrallytoruleoutsuchasexual A MARXIST-~STRUCTURALIST VIEW OF THE GENESIS OF CULTURE ins of Woman ir kinswomen's their Chris Knight isaresearch student working on human origins in the Anthropology Department, University College, London. He has also been collaborating in research into the social logic of spatial organisation under Bill Hillier at the Unit for Architectural for ‘when the chimpanzee with the desired Studies, Bartlet School of Architecture and tems bisected in this way are known as aye Grameen ual systems aie usually matri- Planning. food sees this request he runs off with the prizedpossession’(Fouts1975:380). Each animal is simply too egotistical - too wrapped up in its own private wants and desires-foralinguisticsystemtobeable to ‘work’. This individualism precludes the possibilityofanything cultural emerg- Kinship-rights are meal/meat-sharing rights. Men do have such rights on their own side. They do not have them on the other side. They havenosex-rightsontheirownside. They have sexual rights on the other side. biologicaloranatomicalaspectsofhuman evolution have been cleared up, the more puzzling have the social and cultural aspects seemed. Some of us in the Anthrop- ology Department at University College, London, now believe we may have made a be done. The same applies to kinship taboos’arealabout.Theyexpressthefact that people ‘belong’ to one another in an ultimately collective, social way ~ not as the private possessions of egotist- ical, dominant individuals (usually male). Finally, whilst baboons and macaques rival each other in a competitive free-for- al for food, al primitive kinship systems eliminate competition and enforce food- sharing and exchange, Far from being the same,baboon-likesystemsofdominance and primitive kinship systems bear an inverse relationship toeach other. The an- thropologistsMarshallD.Sahlins(1960) and Elman R. Service (1966) have long beeninsistingonthisfact. Nothingbringsoutthiscontrastmore clearly than a comparison of relations be- usbands whith to negate mate sexual dominance in general. Thesource of the womens breakthrough in the attempt to ‘crack’ this problem ~in principle, at least. It was really the origins of womankind on which the transition ‘from ape to man’ was based. GROUP oF ee PERIPHERAL traced until the limited number of possi ble Structural INVERSIONS fas been calculated and described. J{ (Left); lormal male-female It has long been recognised that the emer- genceonthisplanetofthefirsthuman iveagreementthatnoteventherudiments life-patterns represented a genuine social of culture are to be found among monkeys 9 fone| thatParonelittlecompetitionforspaceorfear MEAT gor of predators) approximate closely @this. Bé or apes. And this in turn was revolutionofsomekind(Sahlins1960; likehominidancestors whyourape- i 2 ee arem system. NEGATIVE: sexes gt intoallechivepolar-oppositegroups lominance Hockett and Ascher 1964; Holloway 1969). Despite the fact that human brains are little more than magnified versions of those of chimpanzees, the things which humans are capableofagreeinguponandcollectively constructing (dwellings, living arrangements, kinship-systems, linguistic structures and SO on) seem to havea life of their own of which there are no traces whatsoeveramong monkeys or apes. Despite their considerable ‘intelligence’,chimpanzeesarealmostin- capable of joint action or stable agreements between themselves (Reynolds 1976: 67 197). Even when they are to use American Sign Language which individual chimpan- zees can very well use in communicating with human beings — the use of language collapses when the apes are left to inter- SLATE 8PAGE 8 social revolution had to undergo a are going anywhere Levi- Strauss himself) consider themselves to be Marxist in one way or another. Acc- ording to Marxist theory, social conditions determine social consciousness. After arey- olutionary transformation of our social con- ditionsonaworldscale,wehumanbeings will not only act, but think and feelin a totally new way. The chief value of the study of human origins is that it helps us under stand this power of a revolution transforming the very depths of human consciousness. It shows that Consciousness itself ~ language, reason and everything ANIMAL alpha males. Many ‘baboons (grouna-livi caelomety, PathetogetherseekingSafetyinnumbers,so Se SLATE 8PAGE 9 act with each other. Should one chimpan- zee say, for example, ‘GIMME JAM’, its partner (who possesses the jam) understands perfectly well what is being said. But this abstract ‘understanding’ is not sufficient lineal For ‘total exchange’ (i.e. complete sexual and economic interdependénce) to prevail, the rules have to be: ; The problem of explaining the ‘origins of man’~ the evolutionary emer- genceoflanguage,tool-making,kinship systems and culture generally — has seemed insolubleeversinceCharlesDarwinbegan ingamongmonkeysor posingtheissueinscientifictermsovera apes.Alllinguistic hundredyearsago.Themorethephysical,structuresarestructuresofwhattheprimat-free-for-all,Thisiswhatso-called‘incest meal-sharingrights,alwaysbackuptheseee ologistVernonReynolds(1976:xy)calls ‘action’ ~ by which he means behaviour which is motivated socially and guided by Teference to collectively- shared under- standings as to what should or should not disputeswith ezspRusberidsorpoorhunters.lti this counter posing of en as brothers against men Structures, architectural structures and al other structures of that realm of “the art- ificial’ (Hillier and Leaman 1973) which human lifeinitsdistinctive wer is the Sexual solidarity expressedin Chet control of the circulation of thens labour- produce. Primate and human social origins cannot be features is, It is because ofan incapacity for collect- MALES. MOBILE AND AIT] A e structure ts POSITIVE tn that the before human culture Nearly al anthropologists nowadays who thatinternalcore ionaay emnereae)ERouiie examples. ¢NEGATIONOFNEGATION: could emerge. (rightuptoClaude tweenthesexes.Baboonsocialsystems (and, to a lesser extent, those of chimpan- Zees) are extremely male-dominated. This Human society emerged only when Sroupsoffemalessucceededinane in erms, seeking the favours of the al ha male Potala But’when (in hominid levolution) HUNTING became necessary, therefore unthinkableS”o the froup haa to split into two a3 the sons” istrue of many human cultures, too, but in the early hunter-cultures very powerful mai rilineal and egalitarian principles were acti andamuchcloserapproximationtosexual reciprocity seems to have prevailed. The idea that women once held political sway isa myth, but it isa myth which contains an important element of truth. The import Point isthat women could say ‘no’. rom them whenever anew hunting ex- dition was required. Once this power ad been gained, prostitution (xe. com- were not passive, ever-yielding, They immobilized bytheir fearof losing their slow- movin arems, would have always-aV- tobefoughtoverby rival males. They had their own solidarity the alpha males, ailable sexual objects ofa sexual kind. Men who wanted sex ed sexual ma parity producing the idual system” (es above But“these are conditional on men’s maki gifts’(above al, game-animals) bptheirwives, omen share bitsmeat ee eir proehetes ¢ against’ men (who, nevertheless veer: Tsasmuchttheyloseashusbands), Mén,being dependentontheirmothers/sistersfor & ( P. 78 Jevesare united. Gibbons (wbho live in trees, so “HAREM?OFFEMALESWITHOFFSPRING,The ales compete with one another in sexual etitiveSpyeat favour-seeking) .dbee: Bolished. ‘hene er, the females s$aid No to the hunters in this way, their own mnale offspring helpede: orce this ban. onal. . Sex wi each (matrilineal) thing tooffer. Thseept: would have had tounite with the hunter-males: SEX AND MEAT FOR ALL. re Z imbira village (Brazil:Gé pilansy.Thessimplmestplest CeConceivable ‘and obably the most archaic nship tructure is-one in which es hfere) the entireCay, 1sdividedintotwo toe and vice versa. lt is the men who are excha between the two Brow PS 2 rging halves. Here the the Fast dndery the ‘people of women; lencriss-crossfrom Castto West fest fo East, morni. Bena thegame animals Becnef}Btheir wives Puls, but havi kirtship rights and ileal aring rights wi inswomen Bac on their ow St circle. Hore they may eat meat which by CHRIS KNIGHT. with the male hunting bands whils retaining the power to eSevuail n el Ih ine huSsbands have killed. a he PYTh Gp could not get it by rape or intimidation, nor content as well -rules aimed at the preven- bysettingthefemalesoffagainsteachother tionofsexualprostitution.Humanculture inthe‘no’alreadydiscussed.Neitheris byofferingfavourstosomewhilediscrimin- cameintobeingonlywhengroupsoffem- thereanyneedforaseparatetheoryofthe | Cae swellequippe roofis + ating against others. The female community as a whole had to be satisfied, or else there was no sex. In hunter-cultures throughout the world, a collective hunting expedition is preceded by a ban on sex lasting one or more: days, which it is the prime respons- ales had won the power, collectively, to indicate ‘no’ in sexual matters to groups of males. Then, when meat was short, the women could threaten a ban on sex. If necessary they could deny themselves alto- gether to the men until the desired result origins of language, or of economic exch or of cultural kinship. These things would already already have been contained wi the capacity for refusal discussion. Once could be expressed in the context described this would itself have been the first appear- ance of language, of economic exchange, o kinship and so on. The evidence is that the most universal and ancient symbol of ‘no’ and hence the symbol of al human life its- elf-was menstrual blood, but that isano story. The crucial point is that culture was born ina ‘red’ revolution. Both sexes were involved in it, but it was upon the solidarity of the materially reproductive sex (the liy- ing ‘instruments of production’ ) that the trangition to humanity was based. The par- allels with today’s revolution should be cle: as you" 4 yFe ibility of the women to enforce. One of the was obtained. Sooner or later, the men most interesting recent reports in this connection is that of Janet Siskind(1973: 233), who describes how the women in one South American Indian tribe combat hunt- ing-laziness among their menfolk: ‘The special hunt is started by the women. Early in the evening, all the young women go from house to house singing to every man. Each woman chooses aman to hunt for her, a man who is not her husband nor of her kin group... The men leave the foll- owing day and are met on their return by a line-up of all the women of the village, painted and beaded and wearing their best dresses. Even the older men will not face this line without game...” would have had to get off their haunches and hunt. The very situation would have produced a fierce solidarity amongst the women. Any individual woman trying to ignore the ban would quickly have been reminded that her body was not hers alone to give. It belonged to her sex-group coll- ectively. Her sisters -once a ‘no’ had been decided on -would jealously have prevented her from seeking her own pleasure and breaking ranks. Her sexual value was theirs, not hers alone. All sexual morality began here. Male baboons cannot agree amongst them selves on anything. They are almost always fighting or threatening each other in some Inmostcases,thebanonsexwasliftedonly way,andatthebottomoftheirquarrels Lin, Wipeep, References ifthewomencollectivelyweresatisfiedthat lies,usually,competitionoversexualaccess Fouts,R.S.1975 thehunthadbeensuccessful.Rape,forthetofemales.Aslongashominidfemaleswere“CapacitiesforLanguageinGreatApes.’In TPS=Gatlin,‘Sh men, was out of the question: it was the women themselves who decided ‘yes’ or ‘no’. This seems to have been the most fund- amental of al the sexual rules of the ancient hunter-cultures of humanity. The women, collectively, had the power to say ‘no’. Part of the explanation for this power of refusal was a spatial one -in each commun- ity, the hearths and dwellings were arranged only a few yards apart or in compact clust- ers. The womenfolk were not isolated sex- ually from each other but formed a real community of their own, sharing the tasks of child-care, food-gathering, fire-tending, food-distribution and so on. Wherever hunt- ing was a highly-organised, collective, acti- vity this seems to have been the pattern. One archaeologist (Movius 1966: 321) has excavated the floor of what seems to have been a‘long-house’ 20,000 years old near the village of Les Eyzies in France. Many otherUpperPalaeolithic‘long-house’settle- ments have been excavated, including some of mammoth-hunters in the Ukraine (Klein 1973). In each ‘long-house’, the women folk-sisters,mothersanddaughters-would have had far more power than do women who are forced to live separately (which tends to be the case where male dominance is extreme), Female apes and monkeys lack the power or the solidarity to say ‘no’. Solly Zucker- man (1932; 233, 239, 285-6) noted long organised along similar lines, allowing them- selves to be used as passive sexual objects to be fought over by rival males, no enduring agreements between the males could have been reached. Solidarity between males de- pends upon either (a) their complete separ- ation from females or (b) the presence of females who have their own solidarity and who are, therefore, not going to allow them- selyes to be fought over individually as sex- ual ‘prizes’ for rival males. Among baboons some males -the ‘outcasts’ or ‘peripheral’ ones who have failed in the fight to obtain females -meet the first condition. These are the mobile males, and among our ances tors it would have been the counterparts of these who alone would have been in a pos- ition to begin hunting big game (the dom- inant males would have been placed at a dis- _Montagu,Ashley 1965 advantage when hunting became necessary, sincetheywouldhavebeenimmobilised precisely by their power -by their anxiety to guard their ‘harems’ of slow-moving fe- malesandoffspring).ButforaslongasthecnacianHorizonsattheAbriPataud,LesBaad co-operative male hunting bands were per- (Dordogne), and their Possible Significance,’ manentlyseparatedfromthefemalesex,the gern Anthropologist,vol.68(n.s.),pp.296- transition to human culture was ruled out. fh¢ The attitude of male peers at college was no more sympathetic, the women on the course being considered on the whole as mere decoration put there for the male students’ benefit. Such things as model- The ‘leap’ to culture took place only when the separation of males from females could be imposed, not by the dominance of a few ‘overlord’ males, but by the solidarity of the Reynolds, V, 1976 ‘The Biology sof Human Action.’ W.H. Freeman, Reading and San Francisco, : ; Working Women Susan Jackson, who is a registered architect working for the London Borough of Southwark discusses the difficulties of beingawomanarchitectina‘man’s world’. She previously worked in private practice for five years as an Associate. SheisalsoamemberoftheNAMFeminist Architecture Group and isBranch Secretary of the London Branch of BDS TASS. Sahlins, M.D. 1960 agotheparallelsbetweentheirsexualatti- femalesthemselves.Forthefemalesneeded ‘TheOrigofiSonciety’,Scientific Ameri Mostsecondaryschoolsdonot,intheir makingetc.weredeemedbeyondthecap- ‘careers’ advice service, include architecture abilities of the female students, and many as a possibility where girls are concerned. solicitous offerings of help were given. The Thestandardreactiontotheexpressedde- chanceforthefemalestudentstoworkas tudesandthoseofhuman‘prostitution’. notonlytoseparatefromthemales(whenSeptember,1960% Oe ‘protectors’. Theresultisthatsexualityis alternatingbetweenasexual‘yes’andasex- ‘TropicalForestHuntersandtheEconomy’. In Although female baboons are grouped to- forcing them to hunt ), but to unite with t gether spatially to form ‘harems’ under the them ( in order to obtain the sexual access Service, E.R, 1966 dominanceof‘overlord’males,thefemales andmeatrequired).Whenthefemalescould‘TheHunters’,PrenticeHall,NewJersey tend to compete with each other in sexual- ity, trying to gain favours from their male act in concert, periodically and collectively Siskind, J. 1973 sire ofa woman to be an architect is that the course is very long and that it’s a ‘man’s world’,Thecourseisnaturallyaslongfor a man as for a woman, but women are not expected to have career ambitions and collegeshouldmerelybeviewedasameans a group to produce a feminine approach to design was never given, and in fact the women tendedtoadoptthestanceofthe male student in being aggressive and ‘non- co-operative’ in order to be accepted at al bytheirmalepeers.Thefirstfeelingsof isolation arose then when the females sparred against each other, imitating the masculineattitudetotheirequalsthatpre- dominates in working life. SLATE 8PAGE 11 rules are sexual rules, and at the basis of alsexualrulesareruleswithaneconomic SLATE 8PAGE 10 for a separate theory of the origins of the incest-rule,foritcaneasilybeshownthat such a rule would have been contained with- Abst. Ream 1% since 1957. One is prompted to ask the question‘why?’ Personalexperiencehas shown that architecture is not considered yailed in many girls’ grammar schools in thelate50sandearly60s(andstildoesin many secondary schools today), when girls ual ‘no’, forcing the males to hunt for them and their offspring by placing a real social value on sex, the entire structure of human Gross, D.R. (ed). ‘people and Cultures of Native South America,’ Doubleday /The Natural History Press, New York, Compared with other professionals such as solicitors and doctors, the proportion of women in architecture issurprisingly low. 6%ofalarchitectsintheUKarewomen and the percentage has only increased by of finding a husband. This attitude pre- *cheapened’. The females make no collect- ive attempt to raise the ‘value’ of their owns sexuality. The earliest establishment of human culturedepended upon thereversal of this process. At the basis of al cultural come into being. There is no longer any need ‘The Social Life of Monkeys and "Ke culturalexchangewouldquitesuddenlyhave eas S1932 Paul, Trench, Trubner, London Tuttle, R.H. (ed.), Socioecology and Psychology of Primates, Mouton, The Hague, Paris, 1975, were encouraged to opt for teaching, nur- sing or university courses in the arts which more often than not resulted in them tea- ching on grad To opt for a ‘career’, rather than astop gap before marriage, was considered extremely unusual and was in many cases actively discouraged. Even ifthis first hurdle was jumped successfully the discriminatory attitude towards women as architects continued through college, ca with in my own experiencea tutor refusing to assess mine and another woman's work as he considered our presence on the course irrelevant. Hillier, Bill and Leaman, A. 1973 ‘Structure, System, Transformation: Sciences of Organisation and Sciences of the Artificial.’ Transactions of the Bartlett Society, vol. 9, PP. 36-77, Hockett, CF. and Ascher,R. 1964 “The Human Revolution.’ Current Anthropology, vol. 5, pp. 135-167. Holloway, R.L. 1969 ‘Culture: A Human Domain.’ az Current Anthropology, vol. 10, pp. 395-407. Klein, R.G, 1973 ‘Tce-Age Hunters of the Ukraine’ Ty oN A i University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London. "The Human Revolution’ WorldPublishingCo.,ClevelandandNewYork. N a profession women should embark on without expecting to make exceptional sacrifices in femininity and the stereotyped female ‘ambitions’ such as marriage and ‘family life’. Movius, H.L. 1966 ‘The Hearthe of the Upper Perigordian and Aurig- i ) hae . a: if CE APermabit 60 ct gaa At work it has’ been found that discrim- ination against women in the first two or threeyearsaftergraduation isconsiderably less than when the woman has been work- ing for some years and is attempting to increase her responsibility and realise the ultimate goal for many of a principal in Practice. In fact, many practices feel that newly graduated architects, whether male or female, are capable only of design work, butthisparticularprecepttendstoremain fixed in many men’s minds for the remain- der of the female architect’s working life. Women, being women, are expected to be totally incompetent as far as amassing and using technical knowledge. To some extent this is possibly the fault of the colleges in not concentrating on and giving students the opportunity to take practical steps to learn technical skills i.e. by working on building sites, with Clerks of Works, Engi- neers or Building Contractors. There is the feeling amongst women architects that they are in a position to com bat the istic ion of archi to builders and vice versa because of their less aggressive attitude and the fact that they refuse to accept that they are on opp- SLATE 8PAGE 12 osite sides of the fence. Coupled with this is the idea that a much closer relationship between designing and building must be instituted early on i.e. at college level by theprovisionofjointandexchangecourses. pointblank,thathewouldnotworkwith The opportunity for the student to work on a building site for a contractor and for thecontractortoworkinanarchitect’s office would go some way towards building an understanding on each others part, of the way the other members of the building team operate, This opportunity is very rarely realised and misunderstanding and conflict ensue. Aingusta : therefore superior to her, thus preserving their egotistic attitude of being the better architect; or the converse and act exactly as the men do by being aggressive and ‘mas- culine’,thusbeingacceptedasoneofthe “boys’ and by inference not a ‘real’ woman. Both these reactions take the direct comp- etitiveelementoutofthesituationand diffuse any overt male chauvinistic react- ions, but result in the men stil viewing the women, albeit subversively, as inferior. Immediately the woman architect openly asserts herself as an equal, particularly to her male peers, she elicits overt criticism of her capabilities both as a female and as anarchitect.Againtheattitudethatwas put forward at school rears its head, that a woman who wishes to pursue a male-dom- inated career issomehow unfemale -not a whole woman. It is interesting to relate here my own experience in a private firm of architects where yearly interviews were conducted by the partnership, with the members of staff, ostensibly to assess how each individual ‘fitted’ within the office structure. The men were asked whether they were satisfied with the work they were doing and what their ambitions were with- in the firm. Iwas asked whether Iwas ‘courting’ and ifso whether Iwas contem- plating getting married within the next year or two! My ambitions to further my career were not even discussed. happily be reduced and the work-load stil coped with. But this then touches on the whole dichotomy of reduction in the work- ing week equalling a reduction in the work ing wage, which a subject that should be covered more fully another time. A subject which is brought up frequent- ly at union meetings etc. now, is the pro- vision of nursery and creche facilities at places of work. This does, however, tend to be part and parcel of the same attitude thatwomen arethetendersofchildren, and the facilities would be there primarily for the working married woman who wishes to have a full-time job and stil look after thechildren.Thewholequestionofjob- sharing in child-rearing has not been touch- ed and should be discussed further. The prevalentviewisstilthatthemanisthe bread-winner and the woman works merely tosupplement hisincome. This isaview that must be changed completely in order for women to be accepted, particularly after they are married and have children, as equal to men. One way of overcoming the problems of ‘family’lifeisbywomenworkingcollect- ively. There have been instances of al wo- men practices where the child-care has been shared by the architects. The one reason why that particular form of practice seemed to fail was because the women were notin a position to ‘solicit’ clients to get more work. Men have the advantage, in the pre- sent architecural structure, of having their ‘club-land’ circuit to provide them with contacts that will afford them new projects. Women are denied access to these inroads to clientele and have therefore anuphill struggle to obtain work ofany appreciable size. In the present male-dominated busi- ness world women are at a distinct disad- vantage. Until there are equal numbers of women clients and until the whole business venient brackets to suit the present socie- tal structure. Many women today feel tot- ally isolated from their female peers and as a result feel intimidated by them, pro- ducing a competitive element into their social framework. As Chris Knight has said, Women worked together for the com- munity, they were the backbone and driv ing force of the communal village life, and for women to regain their consciousness as whole women and as equal members of society they must once more work togeth- er.Womenarchitectsareinapositionto begin making moves towards this end by questioning the precepts by Which the co- mmunity’s buildings are designed and in particularhousing. Theseparationoffam- ilies into individual units isolates the wo- man and prevents her from taking a ful partin‘community’life.Thelinesofthis defined space need to be smudged. Some- thing along these lines has been attempted in the provision of ‘semi-communal’ hou- sing for the elderly, but this has tended to be for supervisory convenience rather than the desire to provide more socially accep- table living space in the community. Theroleofwomen asbuildingusers must be looked at more closely than just whether the housewife can supervise the children at play while she incessantly washes up. Each time awoman architect designs living accommodation she must ask the question ‘why must al housing be geared towards the man who works and the woman who keeps house?’ Until the whole concept of housing and community struc- ture ischanged women are still going to be considered a secondary workforce and a mere servicing agency for the male popu- lace. It is perhaps questionable whether women architects as a group can initiate the revolution that can bring this about but they can at least make some ripples on the lake of male complacency. SLATE 8PAGE 13 Many female architects start their prac- ticallifeatadisadvantageinthatmostmay tea-makingetc.especiallyifthesecretary never have been on site before graduation, unlike male student architects who freque- ntly work on building sites in theirholidays during the college course, and have learned a certain amount about the way sites are run and the hierarchy that operates there. A woman’s initial visit to a building site as a job architect presents several obstructions that may take a long time to overcome. In al cases a lot di ds on the p iti involved. The woman architect has important letters to type; and being _ constantly teased about her femininity and her attitudes to sexist calendars etc, pinned around the office. On the surface many men can appear to accept the woman arch- itect as their equal but this veneer eventu- ally cracks to show the in-built prejudice that prevails within the profession. This attitude, of course, not only applies to credibility rating has a low as far as site staff and op- the hi profession butotherareasof eratives are concerned, particularly if she work that have hitherto been considered male preserves. is panied by her (invariably male) boss. She is frequently assumed to be his secretary and gets the statutory wolf wijs- tles and ribald chauvinist remarks thatare Many women architects who have been put into this position react in one of two ways. They either use their ‘femininity’ to the extreme by acting dumb, weak and sigely so that men feel ‘protective’ and levelled at any woman who ventures near a building site. There have been instances, albeit rare, when the contracts manager has stated, a woman architect, but on each occasion decided otherwise on being shown that a femalearchitectisjustascapableasamale. But a much more wearing situation exists for the majority of female architects, who have to bear the brunt of insidious chauy- inism, that manifests itself in constant sup- ervision by a male superior no matter how competent she is; being gradually shoulder- ed with ‘housekeeping’ operations such as ey os ae _ We The attitude of many partnerships, and indeed most places of work, to women get ting married brings up the topic of part-time working, both for men and women. In todays patriarchal society, unfortunately, the onusof bringing up children falls squa- rely on the shoulders of the women, work ing ornot. The instant reaction of many bosses to a woman contemplating marriage is one of ‘oh, she will soon get pregnant and leave to look after the children’ and is thenceforth discounted as a viable working force within the office. of ‘job-getting’ is radically changed, women architects will find it much more difficult to obtain their own clients than will men. The idea of setting up a women’s coll- ective design and build team has been dis- cussed at the NAM Feminist Group meet- ings, as there are now emerging special groups of women who require a particular empathy from the architect should they need one, which men will find difficult to provide. From these small beginnings wo- men architects will be able to put forward their own particular ideas and philosophies on the provision of buildings for women and through their efforts become accepted not as female counterparts to the existing male architectural profession, but as a sep- arate force presenting radical solutions to problems that have heretofore not been considered except from the male point of view. Strong feelings have been put forward by women architects that the whole atti- tude of the architect towards providing design solutions to certain problems has become stereotyped and that the ultimate There are very few offices that offer the opportunity for women or men to do part- time work, and those that do tend to regard the part-timers as less than efficient archi- tects. There is a strong case for salaried architects to push for part-time working for everyone should they wish. It has been Suggestedthattheworksituationbeingwhat usersofthebuildingsareslottedintocon- it is at present, the working week could Archie Tekt Women inAntiquity evidence from prehistory is wholly depend- eee FIG 3 Coloritow “HOUSE conn Lex M. values varied. Literary circles in fifth- century Athens paid close attention to the physical and moral distinction between men and‘women, Plato, Timaeus, V, J, speaks of the thorax as divided into two parts of greater and lesser value, as houses are divided into men’s and women’s quarters. If moral weight was attached to opinions like this, we should expect to see some physical expression of it in house design. Security was also a problem in a crowded city that attracted many foreigners. Xenophon’s strictures on the provision of a strongly guarded door at the entrance to quarters occupied by female servants Occonomicus, IX, 5 are directed at a wealthy urban householder witha large number of servants. But in smaller settle- -ments such as Priende, Olynthus and Delos, these considerations were not so important and it is hard to see them consistently reflected in the architecture. Susan Walker isaprofessional archaeologist whose interest in architecture and social Organisations stems from three years spent in Greece researching on Roman buildings concerned with urban water supply. She is currently working on a museum exhibition of daily life in classical antiquity with responsibility for cases dealing with women agriculture and country life, and industry and transport. It is very difficult to make a useful correlation between the design of domestic houses in antiquity and the role of women in societies of widely differing structure of which we havea far from perfect knowledge. Part of the problem is the lack of hard evidence: archaeologists searching for patronage have tended to concentrate their energies on the excavation of spec- -tacular ceremonial and civic centres at the expense of unprepossessing domestic quarters. When domestic housing has been excavated, it has usually proved difficult to determine the exact function of rooms we are dealing with societies that used, for the most part, portable furniture. How can we reconcile this evidence with the knowledge of the social position of women that emerges from the literature and from inscriptions? Because we have to contend with so many different social formations, with problemat- -atic gaps in our knowledge, it seems best to attack the problem within strict histor- -ical confines. Ihave chosen to discuss classical Greece here because there is sufficient evidence from a number of sources -ent on the data and interpretations of modern archaeologists. And they, for the most part male, have not addressed them- -selyes to the question of the role of women in the societies whose remains they so carefully examinec If no one asks the questions, the answers will not come of their own volition out of the earth. Once excavated, the site is lost. From classical societies we have a few references to the way in which women spent their lives, and more accounts of how men wished these lives to be spent, and we eRe JeE pee FIGS season and used as decorative insulation Where did they do al this? Xenophon tells us how Isomachus showed his house to his bride. “ the rooms were built simply with a view to their being the most advantageous receptacles for the things that would be in them..... The bedroom, being in an interior part of the house, invites the most valuable bedcovers and implements; the dry parts of the house, the grain; the cool places, the wine; and thewelllightedplaces,theworksand implements that need light .” The excavators of houses at Olynthus inter- -preted some large rooms as places set aside for household work: an alcove close | SLATE 8PAGE 15 —! | \ have figurative illustrations that support the verbal picture. These are valuable aids to the interpretation of remains on the ground. But their are further pitfalls. Most of the surviving evidence informs us of the livesofrelativelyrichcity-dwellers. In rural areas, women worked the fields as they have done throughout history. Representations of these’ are rare: one of awoman sowing appears on ablack- figure cup of sixth-centuary date and some terra-cotta models show agricultural scenes —this isamedium that was considered appropriate for genre scenes from everyday life. There, is too, a gap between the origins of our evidence. Literary, pictorial and epigraphic infornfation comes from fifth-centuary Athens: the best archaeological evidence comes from fourth-century Olynthus in “orthern Greece, Colophon and Priene in \sia Minor, and from the island of Delos. \ny arguments that are carried from one -ield to the other are weakened by chrono- -logical, climatic and social variations. The discussion must be based on the evidence for the role that women were expected to fulfil, and on other considerations that influenced house design. Paramount among these was the seperation of domestic and public life. While men went about their business freely, most upper- class women remained within the confines of their homes. There was a strong concern for security, not only of property but also of the moral well being of the female members of the household, both free-born and slaves. This concern isportrayed in classical literature and reflected in house design, Naturally, the strength of these J tobuildupareasonablyclearpictureof bsAtHiEmanufactureofclothandthepreparation the serious constraints on their liberty: it might be more encouraging, from a of food. They produced clothing for their feminist point of view, to study prehistoric societies in which women appear to have enjoyed a more active role, but the SLATE 8PAGE 14 do c 40 2e Feng) vi 3om. Fig 2, ROOMS WITH SQUARE *ANDRON OR MENS DINING ROOM. families and the hangings and tapestries that played an important part in the furnishings of a classical house, since they could by easily stored during the hot With due consideration for these values, and for the conditions of climate and street environment, ancient houses (like many more modern Mediterranean counterparts) tended to look in on themselves. (Fig. 2) They had few windows giving onto hot, quality that is often symbolised by a basket noisyanddustystreets.Entrancesoccupied onclassicalvases)someofthismayhave asmall proportion of the facade. Rooms were generally disposed around an interior courtyard that often contained the house cistern or well, Most courtyards were lined by a verandah on at least one side that offered a sheltered area for work or relaxation. In some houses, especially those in the country- -side, a tower was incorporated in the structure as an additional security measure. Household servants sometimes lived in these towers. Demosthenes, XLVII, 56 Against Evergos, tells us of an aristocratic Athenian woman lunching with her children in the courtyard of her house. She is surprised by an intruder who makes off with most of her furniture, which is her property. But the female servants manage to save some of the goods by barricading themselves with items of furniture into the tower room where they lived. (Fig. 3) Within the house, upper-class women were expected to supervise the servants, perform and/or supervise tasks associated with the during the winter. Xenophon, Oeconimicus 7-10, advises an active role in weaving at the vertical loom, in folding blankets, and in kneading dough for the mistress of the house who isinclined to ill-health through leading a sedentary life. (Fig. 4) The ideal wife was also supposed to see to the orderly organisation of furniture and property (a been their own. They were, besides, Supposed to superintend the upbringing of their children, who probably had more cpntact with the household servants. FIG 4 a o io mn o ~° wo ° B. AVENUE AVENUE to the kitchen (Fig. 5) could have held a vertical loom of the type that is sometimes illustrated on vases. Loom-weights, however, appear in nearly every room of nearly every house. Mortars were found in the kitchens, in the courtyards, and in the work-rooms. Grain-mills were set up with similar disregard for the appropriation of particular rooms for specific functions. Lysias, I, 9, suggests that women lived in seperate quarters on the upper storey. While there is some clear evidence for this from earlier Aegean cultures (e.g. the Minoan palace at Zakro in Crete, the Mycenean palace at Pylos in the south-west Peloponnese), litle eydencyofsuchaic hasoe a recovered from clasical sites. Itwou! however, have been easyy to segregate such quarters if they were only built over ‘it the rear of the courtyard: this might have beenthecaseatVariorOlynthus. (Fig.5) If there is no clear evidence for the seclusion of women in a defined area within the house literary accounts reveal that they were excluded from the men’s dining room or andron, a room that is easily recognisable in the field from its relatively generous proportions and rich appointements. (Fig.2) Spartaeesanextraorduiary statewhose HES i FigS saidthattheirstrengthwasthecauseof view with some rather loose interpretation. For the genoral backgroundse,e R. Austin and P. Vidal-Nagyet, An economic and socibl history of Classical Greece. 1977 — translated sources with ajudiciously sceptical commentary. W.K. Lacy, The Family in Classical Greece 1968 — useful, but beware of the term ‘family’ in the modern sense of nuclear family. On houses sce Jones, Graham andSackett, An Attic Country House (Thames and Hudson) offprinted from the Annual of the British School at Athens, especially p. 430-8 and D.M. Robinson and J. Walter Graham, Olynthus VIII: The Hellenic House (Baltimore, 1938). For useful lists of various paintings that show women performing household tasks, sce T.B.L. Webster Potter and Patron inClassical Athens 1973. Some unexplained examples illustrate features on the women’s moyement in modern Greece in the current issue ofSpareRib(No,71)Youcansetheminthe flesh in the vase rooms in the British Museum; these are currently being refurbished, but look in the galleries downstairs for a few examples, There are also grave reliefs from Attica that demonstrate the close relationship many women had with their personal maids and the nurses of their children. Women in modern Greece have not fared much better than their classical pre- -cdecessors, expecially in rural districts. See John Campbell, Honour, Family and Patronage, and Juliet DuBoulay, Portrait of a Greek Mountain Village 1975. Fig, 1 Worm sowing. Froma sixth-century blackfigurecup. Fig.2Olynthus.Bloocfkhousseswithinthe citystreetplan. Fig3 Qolophon, W. Turkey, House complex with tower Fig.4Blackfigurelekythosbythe“‘Amusis construct or understand. Spatial morphology defines and restricts social patterns as well as being defined by social processes. The social cohesion of the Sioux Indians was broken when their sacred circles of tents were replaced with rectangular houses in straight lines in the same way as the tight-knit communities of of the East End of London. The social consequences on the mount- ain people of Colin Turnbull when they were removed from their usual environment were disastrous. So, far, the womens liberation move- ment has tended to concentrate on womens role in the world of production. ‘Western womensliberationhasbecome associated with the right to work. = This has produced a home, work dichotomy and splits male and female to opposite sides of the economic spectrum: men have become associated with production, and women as managers ofa consumer support system. Women even in the profession have found it difficult to compete with men. They are stil regarded as managers of the domestic support system, and womens work there is seen as invisible and unpaid. Women have not had wives. This split of home and work away from exchange value labour is characteristic of industrial society. _Itisnot primordial An african women stil manages a large part of the economy of the entire society athome. You would not ask her to ‘go out to work: She participates in the handicrafts,agriculture,commandsthe transformatory processes, turning the energiesweredirectedtowardsthe maintenance of a crack military force Children of both sexes submitted to vigorous athletic training; effeminancy in either sex was strongly discouraged. Spartanwomenwerenotedfortheirstrength totheirisolationfrommenasagroup, and good health; they were highly esteemed _ rather than (as in the case of Athenian asnursesbecausetheygavechildrena women)withintheconfinesoftheextended natural, unpampered upbringing. (Plutach, _ family. published periodicals and articles and held workshops and given talks on their work. She is an Architect and last worked for Solon Housing Association. Iwould like to continue what Chris Knight has written about the role of women in human communities past and present to suggest questions we may ask to define pointsofreferenceforadiscussionofa ‘matricentric’ viewof architecture. Ido not meantocontrastmatriarchywithpatriarchy. rawintothecooked,jierbsintomedicine than their Athenian sisters, and were not obliged to spend their days in sedentary household tasks. Some ancient writers held that they dominated men; Aristotle and Rome, Toronto 1977 — This is a collection of ancient sources in translation, with minimal interpretation. Sarah B. Pomeroy, Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves: women in Classical Antiquity — awider Of the country house at Vari. Ishould like to thank Ian Jenkins for his helpful criticisms of this article, the comparison must be between rule and anarchy, between the presence and absence of domination”, as Bookchin has said. A criticism of patriarchy and its world view must of course embody the class struggle but it will seek to go beyond defining the world in terms that are western, bourgeois and rooted in a capitalist mode of prod- action. Capitalism and the ‘society of spectacle’ are late stages of the wider problem of patriarchy. Certainly, the town has become ....‘transformed into an SLATE 8PAGE 16 Sparta’sultimatedownfallasamajor power. As women concerned with house design and social organisation, we may legitimately ask ourselves whether the strength of Spartan women was not related Denise Arnold is exploring cultures, religions and settlement patterns with matrilineal social organisation to see their implications, past and present. Belonging to the NAM FeministGroupsheisalsoamemberof ‘MatriarchyStudyGroup’whichhas - todefinewhatmaybemissing. Lycurgus14 Theylivedapartfrom their SUGGESTIONS FORFURTHER READING husbands, who visited them secretly by night.Theyclearlyenjoyedmorerights Lefkowitz,M.F.andFant,M.WomeninGreece Fig.6Reconspltanranudcsectieonadcal “the very essence of the matricentric world isthatitvitiatesruleassuch......polarities ter Painter” Athens, ct. S60B.C ing. Thevaseisinthe Museum, New York. ing wool jitan Todayweliveinapredominantly patriarchal world. The lines of descent by bloodandpropertyandinculturalpropo- -gation are patrilineal, i.e. they pass through cannot be found between patriarchy and themaleline.Weusuallytakeourhusband'smatriarchyastwodifferingformsofrule, names at marriage and pass his name on to our children — our world is defined by his. Residence rules in our society are blurred but the husband stil tends to own the household property, and women are isolated from each other, and rear their children away from their mother’s, sister's and brothers, with one man in a nuclear family. A potentially unstable sexual pairing becomes reinforced by ideology and economic dependence of the women as the basis for the upbringing of children. Fig.5PlanofhousESesH4,atOlynthus A Matricentric View from the domestic realm. Our planning laws, housing acts, building regulations, mortgage arrangments and architectural education reinforce these cultural and patriarchalvalues.Itisdifficulttobegin raw materials into clothes, baskets and pots, andisalsoinvolvedinmarketing: Briffault has assembled numerous examples ofwomen’sroleasarchitectsandengineers, ‘The huts of the Australian, of the Andaman islanders, of the Patagonians, of the Botocudos the rough shelters of the Seri, the skin lodges and wigwams of the American Indian, the blackicamel-hair tent of the Bedouin, the “yurta of the nomads of Central Asia, are al the exclusive work and special care of the women.......the earth lodges of the Omahas . The “pueblos” of New Mexico and Arizona . are built exclusively by the women? Amongst the Pueblos ......‘when first a man was set by the good padres to build- ing a wall, the poor embarrassed wretch was surrounded by ajeering crowd of women and children, who mocked and laughed, and thought it the most ludicrous thing that they had seen that a man should be engaged in building a house’. The activity of housebuilding has become efficient instrument of production and industrialised and removed completely from consumption, (Choay) . “a great consumer the world of women, into the hands of market, a vast workshop, an arena for experts who may break up the last remain- ambitions in Haussman’s works, but the -ing kinship systems without realising that they are doing so. “These would-be male separatists have extended the sphere of themen’shutsthroughmonopolyo,f theperpetuationofaclasssocietydespite Inasociety,however,wheretheJomes- priestly, scribal, administrative, political and weapon-bearing roles,” (1) Our settlement patterns therefore give preeminence to the realm of the men’s huts, whether the office, the factory, club or pub, at the expense of the world ofwomen’shuts,andalpower,production, andthemechanicsofpatriarchaloppression decision making, and ‘ritesof life’, birth, learning and initiation, healing caring, sickness and dying have now been excluded dynamics of patriarchy are more far-reach -ing than the mode of production and this does not seem to the instrumental factor in major social upheavals, nor in the examples of a patriarchal takeover. tic mode of production is the dominant mode, where society isorganised around reproduction as much as production, and respects the ‘reproductive factor’ glossed over by Marx and other economists, then the nature of houses and settlement patterns wouldbeverydifferent. In the primitive economy, Sahlins has shown that the household represents the determinate mode of production with an SLATE 8PAGE 17 The totalitarian aspects of Haussmann’s work in Paris are well known but the implic- ations of architecture in restricting the form- ation of kinship systems, in social organisation are less well known. Women in mass-prod- uced housing schemes live in jspaces and environments which they did not conceive, appropriate technology and division of labour. Itsowninnerrelationsarethe principle relations of production in that society. How labour is to be expended, the terms and products of its activity are in the main domestic decisions. These decisions are taken primarily with a view towards domestic contentment. It is the ‘affluent society’, not of over- production, like ours but of underprod- uction and of desiring little. human organisation with division of labour andcollectiveeffortandparticipationin work and ritual, awareness of the human life cycle, body cycles and seasonal rythms. The womans menstrual cycle seems to have been a major factor in understanding and articulating these rhythms for survival, for understanding when to seek game in hunts and plant seeds with early forms of agricul~ ture, and for regulating human sexuality, lunar and solar calendars were integrated into the built form for primative time- keeping, together with manipulation of the surrounding landscape in the later megalithic culture to define the most important modes of the seasonal year.(8) It seems that our word ‘civilisation’ derives from ‘moon-experience’ because the settlement as well as into its social and religious institutions, The alignment of the town or house reconciles it with the axes of the universe. ‘The rehearsal of the foundation cosmogeny in regularly recurrent festivals defines the pattern of the seasonal year and its commemorative embodiment in the monuments of the settlement: (Il). how women lost the west? REVIEW OF FROM TIPI TO SKYSCRAPER This book, published in 1973, discusse women in architecture in the United States and is of interest and importance to anyone concerned with the subject in this country. eeTT eee ee REVIEW Doris Cole: From Tipi to Skyscraper: iPress Inc: 1973: paperback; about £2 75: obtainable from Compendium Bookshop, Camden High St., \London, NWI. The domestic mode of production has a technology of similar dimensions ....‘the basic apparatus can usually be handled by household groups; much of it can be weilded autonomously by individuals. Implements are homespun, thus simple enough to be widely available. Productive processes are unitary rather than decomposed by an el- of its inti lationship with hrough union invol ,pressing for body.(9) The collective of omen would define their own emotional and spatial needs. Menstrual huts were set apart from the main residential areas so that women at their ‘sabbath’ could rest and look inwards. The libertarian world view has always emphasised the idea of the autonomous household and the ideas of self sufficiency and asimple technology. The womens movement isbeginning todebate these issues in the context of the ‘ecological’ movement (ecology means di of the house) andof a critique of ‘Marxist economics closer integration ofinternal processes which ignores the question of reproduction with external environment. The evolu- (economic means the law of the house.) See also para. (5) and (6). As women have been removed from the part-time working or for creches at work or collective child care at home, but we must be clear about the positive aspects of the matricentric world ifwe are to see which are are genuinely ‘re-volutionary’ in Hannah Ahrendt’s terms and which are merely fo correcting and improving the situation upper class women found a chance to apply by attracting more women to the profession. their knowledge to the plight of the Doris Cole starts with an account of disadvantaged. However, these social services women’s roles within the frontier traditions were still considered ‘women’s work’, still emphasising the sexual divisions and it was only in the utopian communes outside conventional society that men and women were able to attempt to work and live together as equals, structures alike, to make the profession more responsive to both its own constituents and the diverse client groups in society. Historically, the American woman is conditioned for this role......" This book is invaluable as it attempts to place the involve- -ment of women in architecture within a social context, although it could have benefited with being linked to the fight for the female suffrage and included an account of how these more privileged women regarded the struggles of, for instance, the women in the garment industry. The main thesisof the book isthat from pioneer days women have been responsible for the well being of their family in the first instance, and thus ulimately the nation, which is something to be proud of. It neglects the question of women’s respons- -ibilities to themselves and their own develop- -ment in that sense. Of course, 1would not argue that these things are seperate but if oneif looking for astudy of how women operate in this profession, this book fals aborate division of labour so that the same interested party can carry through the whole procedure from the extraction of the raw material to the fabrication of the finished good. which existed up until the end of the C19th as part of the westward expansion of the settlers from the Atlantic coast. The nomadic and rural life was shared by both pioneers and Indians until the spreading urbanisation destroyed them. She argues that in both cultures women were active contributors as the conditions of existence were too marginal to support any idle group. receive a formal architectural training, ‘productive’ processes of life, so men have been removed from the realities and emotions death, and so on would be reintegrated of the ‘reproductive’ processes, of birth and into the domestic realm. Would they also Vol. 1p. 443-45 (4) Sahlins, Marshall. 1972 “Age Economics" of women through the collectivisation of alienatedlabour’.(7) If we attempt to define a matricentric view of architecture we must take al these things into account. Chris Knight has written about the importance of the collec- tive of women in early human societies. Recent archaeological work has shown that from a very early period in the Palaeolothic thereisevidenceofstabilityofsettlements, far more highly developed among the SLATE 8 PAGE 18 Matrilineal households tend to be larger and require higher ‘space standards’ than patrilineal societies (10), there iscommunal cookingandablurringofboundariesbetween References between inside and outside, public and privatespheres. Theretendstobegreater I ledge of natural ph ja and (1) Paton, Keith, 1978 “Which Way Home” PaperstotheWorldCouncilofChurches (2)Reuther, Rosemary. 1976 Talk given to the SCM Conference inManchester 1976 (3) Briffault, Robert, 1972 The Mothers, ‘London Hardly any women entered the field of professional architecture, partly because of the restricted opportunities for them to tion of culture may require the external- isation of internal processes but does it form a sane society? With a matricentric view, the rites of passage of life, birth, London, George Allen & Unwin 3 volt, She maintains that the Indian women were the architects of their communities, often designing and constructing dwelling units, as well as designing and producing related objects such as blankets which determined their wealth. Women also designed, fabricated, erected and owned the tipis which were remarkably adapted to the lives of the Indian communities. cultural preservers The role of women in architecture was which were mainly due to ingrained social prejudices. Itwas not until 1916 that a school of architecture for women was started, almost inadvertedly by Henry Atherston Frost, a young instructor at the Harvard School of Architecture. Ihave said ‘not until’, but in comparision with the situation in Britain it was really remarkably early. The history of the Cambridge school forms a very intriguing part of the book with a description of Frost's short of expectations. It makes references approach to design and constructiont,he be reintegrated into the built form? The earliest cities often acted as total mnemonic symbols. (memory systems) London Tavistock Publication Ltd. 1974 (5) Delphy, Christine. 1970 “The Main Enemy, @ materialist analysis of Women's Oppression” childhood. Present alternatives such as Marxism, far from liberating women, has abandoned the female realm altogether in favour of the male realm of alienated labour. The citizen througha number of bodily (6) Conference of Socialist Economists pamphlet In Ruether’s words itis-‘the emancipation 2»,ercises such as procession, seasonal festival: No, 2. on the “Political Economy of and sacrifices identifies with the sense of Women” 1977 placeofthetown,withitspastandpresent. (7)Reuther,R.ibid. integration of land design, isi Indiansthanamongthepioneers,although policy,andthewayinwhichaveryhigh to on the suitability of the su studyofdomesticarchitecture,ofa‘feminine taste’ and refers to ‘this female attitude’, also quoting Frost as saying “ women seem to be as yet not as creative in their design work as men are”, but does not discuss the value of such statements. It could be inter- -preted as implying that these statements are true hecause of women’s conditioning. It would be interesting to see a study of how theworkandapproachofwomenstudents in schools today differ from that of male studentsandjudgeiftheirisanyvalidity in Erikson’s theories of Inner Space. However, that might be for the future, for the present, “From Tipi to Skyscraper is a fine and stimulating study which should prod us (and specifically NAM’s Women’s Group) into a good deal of solid discussion and research. SLATE 8 PAGE 19 It is a process both concilitory and integrative. Rykwert’s conclusions from his examination of early Greek and Roman towns reinforce these ideas. The acting out of the foundation (10) Ember, Melvin, 1972 An “‘Anrchaelogical of any settlement (or temple maybe, even a mere house) becomes the dramatic represent- ation of the creation of the world or the Indicator of Matrtlocal versus Patrilocal Residence, U.S.A. American Antiquity, Vol. 38 Nos.2 1973 humanbirth.Thisdramaisintegratedinto (11)Rykwert,Joseph1970“Theideaofa Town" London Faber and Faber 1976 As we seek to end alienation at work and to and to ity in our work- ing domestic lives we may look to anthro- pology or to the distant past for examples Civil War, women from the Northern States set up the US Sanitary Commission (1861) went to the front line to inspect and super- -vise the choice of sites and to enforce healthy conditions within the camps. Those women’s experiences in the war gave them confidence in their abilities in that larger domain which many of them longed “Both women and men architects are confronted today with this choice: they can continue to support, by becoming part of, the office pyramids until the architectural profession is so weakened in purpose that it looses its value to society. (And this has already begun to happen ), or they can attempt the difficult alternative of restruct- of alternative possibilities before us. may explore new kinship groupings or be forced like the battered wives to rediscover the benefits and trials of collective living. There will be a variety of paths to our goals, The study first documents the historic contributions of women in American architecture, secondly, analyses the under- -lying social and economic reasons for the present situation; and thirdly proposes ways for. In the industrial regions, middle and -uring the profession, schools and office ~ expedient or reformist solutions. London Women's Research and Resources Centre. 1978. Originally published in France in 1970 (8) see Dames, Michael. 1978 The Avebury Cycle. London, Thames & Hudson. 1978 (9) Shuttle, P. and Redgrove, P. 1978 “The pioneer women were also trying toprovide more confortable and healthy houses and communities. However, as the frontier closed their ‘proper social role’ became confined to the home and church, and they were given the role of ‘cultural preservers’ by men, They turned their mindsto‘domesticscience’which included “architectural style, good taste, economy, physical and mental health, supervision of workers, structure, site selection, heating and ventilation, plumbing furniture design and fabrication; and of course, efficient plan arrangements.” These women were grappling with the current technological and social innovations while the men were discussing styles of architecture. At the same time, that women like Catherine Beecher were dedicating them- -selves to transforming domestic duties into the profession of domestic science, others like Harriet Stowe went beyond their own homes. Many women found that they had to go out to work for the money and chose teaching, social science and nursing. Seeing the havoc of the proportion of graduates managed to combine marriage and professional work. an unfulfilled dream In 1942, Harvard’s Graduate School of Design opened its doors to women and the Cambridge School was closed. Doris Cole conclued this section of the book with “Theideaofaschoolofarchitecturesolely for women is perhaps out of date, nor was itthefinalaimoftheCambridge School; but the School’s aim of encouraging women in architecture is stil an issue and a dream that has not been fulfilled.” The most relevant part of the discussion takes part in the final chapter of the book which examines the role of women architects today and the way in which women have moved outwards from domestic architecture to handling building projects of al types. However, the actual carer prospectsfor women have not improved; indeed, women are more disadvantaged compared to men than they were 30 years ago. Doris Cole discusses the current re-evaluation of the proper concerns of architecture and the office structures and hierarchies in which most architects work. Wise Wound” London Gollancz 1978 Reading Urban History Progress emerged, in response to those fears, several discrete specialisms, Urban, econ- omic, industrial, social, army and navy histories took their place alongside polit- ical history as distinct subjects in their own right. [11] : Furthermore, historians themselves had to face a profound conflict, The idea of progress which had underpinned the validity of their moral judgements no longer appeared satisfying or respectable, Ithad become tainted with historicism. (the beleif that social and cultural phen- omena are determined by history). Oh the other hand, without any alternative, there was a danger that history would be vulnerable to an invasion by sociology orMarxism orboth. In 1944, Butterfield pleaded for a return to the old methods “Those, who perhaps in the misguided austerity of youth wish to drive out the Whig interpretation are sweeping Facts According to EH Carr, “history is a record of what one age finds worthy of note in another” [1]The facts of history are thus simply those facts which historians have selected for scrutiny. The process of selection itself is dependent on the goals of the historian and his society. Few nineteenth century historians considered that there might be a dichotomy between facts and interpret -ations. The role of history was to establish the facts. The collection of historical facts was assumed to be a similar venture to the accumulation and classi- -fication of physical and biological data undertaken by scientists of the same period. Historical facts were believed to be analogous to the facts of natural science. That is to say, they were verifiable empirical realities. Historians therefore undertook the enormous task of assembling facts in the belief that when their work was complete a definitive history would be the result. The historians’ approach also coincided with the positivist methodology of the natural sciences which maintained that hypotheses would rise automatically from a study of facts .Scientific explanations consisted of a collection of chainsofcauseandeffect.[2] has pointed out to the editor of IBP Bulletin (not Peter Murray) itis amusing, if not frightening, to see how the reporting in the journalists’ in-house sheetis just as one sided as the stuff they tum out for public consumption. And what happened to the event in the other papers? It may not have been as exciting as the latest press release from the RIBA or some Government department but then how often are the informers and formersofprofessional Opinion subject to scrutiny and discussion in public? Once is obviously too often as far as the architectural magazines are concerned. “The historians interpretation of the past, his selection of the significant and the relevant, evolves with the prog- ressive emergence of new goals, Whilst the goal appeared to be constitutional liberties and political rights, the hist- orian interpreted the past in constit- utional and political terms. When economic and social ends begin to replace constitutional and political ends,historiansturntoeconomicand progress,themainstreamofBritishhist- bypartsofthepaperwhichsaid.well, fromthisyear’sRIBAConference In short, it was the empirical approach which refused to recognise that a theory must be implicitly assumed in order that certain facts should be selected instead of others: SSE social interpretations of the past” [9] By the second half of the nineteenth century the continuing growth of popul- ationin uready crowded cities and the fear of a breakdown inmorality health and of the social order itself, led intell- ectuals to become preoccupied with the working class as a social problem. This in turn led to three main approaches, The first was a reaffirmation of the values of individualism, stressing the role of self- help, philanthropy and education. The second approach, that favoured by the Fabians and social imperialists, attacked laissez-faire capitalism because of its inefficiency and waste. Itargued for greater state involvement, comprehensive and disinterested central government, and greater colonial exploitation. The third approach, the “new liberalism” as Stedman Jones calls it, combined both approaches and advocated a form of welfare state linked to compulsory self-help. All three approaches shared the common trait of linking social theory to detailed propo- Sals for social reform [10] Up to the first world war, however, it was stil difficult for a British historian to conceive of historical change except as change for the better. But after 1918 Britain moved into a period in which change was associated with a fear for the future, * Where previously there had been one monolithic political history there now ory according to Stedman Jones[13] has remained steadfastly empirical. The new goal, it will be suggested, is social justice. In the next essay it will be argued that this is a necessary defence of the existing socialorder. © REFERENCES: 1, E) H., Carr - “What is History” 2. E: Hobsbawm -“Karl Marx’s contribution to histiography” in “Ideology in Social Science” ed R. Blackbum p.266 3. G. Stedman Jones -“The Poverty of Historicism” from R: Blackbum p.113 4. H.J.Dyas (ed) -“The Study of Urban History” p 364 5. ditto ibid p.365 6. G. Stedman Jones op cit p. 97 7. ditto ibid p98 8. ditto ibid citing Charles Kinsley in 1861 they were about the close liaison between the editorial and advertising departments of the architectural papers. Phil’s analysis was obviously not far wide of the mark if the apoplexy it induced in several of the journalists present is anything to go by. Needless to say the meeting got no coverage in any of the papers that were referred to during its course, inspite of the little cohort of architectural hacks that marched up from the bar in the wake of the great editor, for al the world like a White House press corps that hadn't hada story for six weeks. But it did get coverage safely out of the public’s eye in a little journal called IBP Bulletin which circulates exclusively among the hacks themselves. This paper isthe organ of the little known International Association of Building Press to which they al belong and whose chairman isno other than Peter Murray. The article on the NAM meeting written by none other than Jan Vulture, a name for misogynists to conjure with, is only remarkable for its extended references to the Great Editor/Chairman himself at the expense, of course, of the prospectus intended to give a true fortaste of the event? Most likely. POOR ARCHITECTS? Another nail in the coffin of professioanl independence a few weeks ago when the RIBA accepted a£10,000 handout from the building materials producers. Seven big firms put up the money to float a special Trust Fund to “foster greater co-operation and mutual understanding in the world of building”. Half of the Trust Committee's members are nominated by the sponsoring firms, and for their trouble they are also getting free space at this year’s RIBA Conference to show their wares. Not bad going for the materials producers, who are, incidentally, economically the most powerful and monopolised sector of the building industry: not only do they get reasonably-priced advertising but they also have a say in how the money they have paid for itisspent. Itshouldn't be too muchof a surprise then that half of the Trust Fund has been allocated to help 50 ‘poor architects’ (the AJ's phrase) to attend this year’s RIBA Conferencewheretheywillsee,among other things, the displays of the seven philanthropic companies. Well. SLATE 8PAGE 21 “Those who tried to create theory out of the facts never understood that it was only theory that could constitute them as facts in the first place . Events are only meaningful in terms of the structure which will establish them as such.” [3] It may be noted that this nineteenth century resistance to explicit theories was still evident at a conference of British Urban Historians held in the 1960s. Many of the participants felt that hypotheses were synonymous with prejudices and argued that ,,“‘we are trying to empty out our preconceptions”[.4] Kellett for example insisted On the primacy of the facts: “Whatever we do must be founded upon an adequate block of promising’ source material . and this is what every historian must start from, no matter what instructions or thoughts may have been put in his head” [5] Judgement and Individualism ‘thehistorian,havingascertainedand marshalled the facts, could then proceed to evaluate the evidence. The values under- SLATE 8PAGE 20 -pinning the interpretations were those of the historian’s own society. Moral judgement was substituted for theories, which were regarded as dangerously speculative[.6] Closely associated with this was the belief in the free will and moral responsibility of the agent. EH Carr has suggested that since, in the early stages of Capitalism, production and distribution were largely in the hands of single individuals, the ideology of the new social order emphasised individual initiative: “History thus concentrated on the deeds of great men and the institutions which they created, modified or resisisted[”7’] Neither the subject of histary nor the historian were recognised as being products of their own societies. History became the study of great men subjected to the moral judgements of other great men, Charles Kingsley in his inaugural lecture as Professor of History at Cambridge in 1861 stated: “To tum to:the mob for your theory of humanity is about as wise as to ignore the Appollo and the Theseus, andtodeterminetheproportionof the human figure from a crowd of dwarfs and cripples” [8] ' The first essay in this series suggested that the dominant and most influential approach to Urban History in Britain is empirical, that is to say, it is based on knowledge derived from observation. It was contrasted with the ‘theoretical approach which is based on knowledge obtained by the conscious application explicit theories, The most important and well developed of the second is to be found in Marxist histories: The characteristics of empirical historiography were described as follows: a belief in the primecy of observable facts; implicit theories containing assumptions about the goals of Society; the individualisation of history and the isolation of the area being studied from other contemporary and historical events except by way of cause and effect. Empirical urban histiography itself evolved from the‘liberal’ approach to history which emerged in the nineteenth century. EE THE LIBERAL APPROACH Added to this was a sense of history as progess. Progress, that is, not only in the transmission of acquired knowledge and skills from one generation to the next, but as a part of ajourney towardsa finite destination, E-H. Carr suggests that this optimistic view which originated in the Jewish-Christian tradition was adopted and secularised by the rationalists of the Enlightenment. History then became progress towards the goal of the perfection ofman’s state on earth. It'will be seen that this has largely remained the view of many modern historians. Only the defin- ition of the goal is disputed. In 19th century England the goal was liberty and the rights of the individual (Kingsley at least did not equate these with equality) MURRAY BALLS AND ITS DERIVATIVES a room which cannot fong remain empty. They are opening the doors for seven devils, which, precisely bec- ause they are newcomers, are bound to be worse than the first. Whig hist- ory was one of our assets - it had a wonderful effect on English politics” Butterfield need not have worried, ~ Peter Murray, editor of Building Design stretched his critical faculties to the ful when he described a paper written for the SLATE committee by Phil Windsor as a “load of balls” at a NAM meeting recently, and then proceeded to threaten legal action against anyone who repeated the “allegations” he alleged that it contained. This petulant yet touching display of modern sensitivity, and moral contradiction, was prompted Despite the influence of the conservative Namier and the socialist Tawney, both of whom rejected fact accumulation, moral- izing and liberal variants of the idea of Ts this unfortunate little drawing of a room full of faceless architects taken 9.E.HCarropcitpps110-111andp.124 more positiveaspectsoftheevening's 10. G. Stedman Jones op cit p. 103 11, EH.Carr op cit p. 138 12. G. Stedman Jones op cit p. 106 citing ~ Professor H, Butterfield in “The Eng- lishmanandhisHistory”1944 13, ditto ibid p. 110-111 conversation. (see elsewhere in SLATE). Ms Vulture’s concluding platitude about how useful the meeting had been for the journalists there typically ignores thefactthatoverhalfthosepresentwere lay people who made, between them, the most trenchant points, but then, perhaps, she did not notice. As Phil Windsor SLUTWAC NEWS FROM of insisting on exclusive coverage of buildings they illustrate or describe. Fascinating though they were.the FEMINIST DESIGN AND BUILD GROUP PROPOSED PDS GROUP LOOKS FORWARD After the May 1978 PDS Conference and the publication of “Democratic Design” the enlarged PDS Group isnow trying to undertake further research. Most of the ideas developed over the last six months need examples and case studies to back themuporchangethem.Abroadquest- ionnaire iscurrently being drawn up. The areas we need input 'tolare:- a. office hierarchies and office democracy b. job architects working directly with users c,thierelationshipofjobarchitectsto departmental and committee structures d, the action of L.A. architects over finan- cial constraints and standards 2, the history (formation and growth) of departments .thepotentialforgreateraccountibility fyou could help us with information in iny of these areas or wish to help us in any way please contact through PDS Group, c/o 5, Milton Ave London N.6, post part one (year out) architecture student required to work in small inner city community practice in Birmingham. Starting salary:£2500pa. apply in writing to: B.U.D.A, Lozells Social Development Centre, 173, Lozells Rd., Birmingham B19 1HS tel. 021-554 3278 | special C) otier! A free copy of the NAM Handbook to al new NAM members. if you’ve decided not to join NAM. ORDER FORM toNAM9,PolandStreet,London,W.1. PleasesendmeacopyoftheNAM Handbook to Name . Ienclose S0p; —_—__ SLATE 8PAGE 22 [iytouwouldTiketboeamemberoftheNewArchitectureMovementflIntheformbeloawndmad} ittogether with acheque/postal order (payable to the New Architecture Movement) for £5.00(if | you're employed) or £2.00 (if you're are student, claimant or OAP) to NAM at 9, Poland Street | London W.1. | |NAME. | SOp THE PRESS COMES TOA LONDON MEETING Threats of libel action were uttered at the NAM London Group’s third open meeting held in May on the subject of architectural journalism. They came duringa lively debatefollowingthepresentationtothe meeting of paper by the Slate Committee critiscising the dependence of the trade journals should be taking up. The Slate Committee expressed its preoccupation with the process of development design andconstruction,arguingthatdesign workers should become awareof the economic process of which they are part and the nature of work in the whole process of building production, especially on the site. This emphasis was countered by the critiscism that Slate neglected the critiscismofbuildingsassuchandthatit ignored the importance of the completed building in the lives of the tenants or workers who used it. Slate should redress this imbalance, and in so doing may well help promote a more relevent form of archietctural cristiscism involving more non-architects. The meeting was held at the Architectural Association and attracted an audience of about 45 people. It is hoped to publish a modified version of the paper in a forthcoming issue of Slate. 1978 CONFERENCE Cheltenham is to be the venue for the 1978 NAM Annual Congress, booked for the weekend of the 10th-12th November. Suggestions for topics, speakers, and workshops for this the Movement’s fourth annul congress should be sent to the Liaison Group, NAM, 9, PolandSt.,London,W1, Moredetailstofollow. E1979 The open meeting was set up to look at the position of women architects at work, because the group felt that this subject has been, and stil is, totally ign- ored by the profession as a whole. Thegrouppresentedapaperwhich covered the following subjects: 1. Women in education 2. Feminist approach to design 3. An historical study of sex roles 4. Women at work 5. Women in the building trades Duringthediscussionwhichfollowed it became clear that definite action should be taken to try and change the present situation, not only of women at work, but in the attitudes taken towards women in architecture and construction, 7.00 p.m: Wide interest was expressed in setting THE NAM press on advertising revenue, Presented by Phil Windsor the paper Future meetings of the group will be held fortnightly and will be advertised in the architectural press and Time Out etc. Contact: Frenas Bradshaw,14,DuncanTerrace, London, Ni 01-278 5215 Julia Wilson Jones, 48, Sutherland Sq., London SE17 01-702 7775 Sue Francis, 9. St. George’s Ave., London, N7 !01-609 2976 HANDBOOK ...contains information on al NAM’s activities. argued forcefully that because all the trade papers rely almost exclusively on advertising revenue they had to adopt conservative editorial policies and to support the myths of professionalism. Not so retorted an equally forceful Peter Murray, editor of Building Design, and proceeded to defend what he saw as the progressive editorial policies of his paper. Of the four other invited guests Crispin Aubrey, news editor of Time Out agreed wholeheartedly with the paper, describing how his magazine had recently increased its sports coverage precisely because it would attract increased advertising revenue. Martin Spring of Building and Patrick Hannay of the Architects Journal were more circumspect agreeing with the substance of some of the critiscisms made of the magazines but not the analysis underlying them. John Mc Kean, in a carefully considered reply asserted that much more room was left for manoeuyre by the editors before they actually offended advertisers beyond sufferance and wondered why the Opportunity wasnottakentopursue more progressiveeditorialattitudesof the sort Phil had mentioned. After the five invited guests had offered their opinions on the paper the detate was dominated for a while by the dozen Or so journalists in the audience who had come along either out of curiosity or solidarity with their colleagues as they fended off some penetrating questions from others on the floor about various aspects of their work. A favourite topic was the process by which an architect gets his buildings published, which lead freelancer Sutherland Lyall to denounce Poland Street, London W.1. |=wane the practice of some of the magazines allegations, denials and gossip exchanged between the journalists and, to alesser degree, regretfully, the rest of the audience, ' There was an excellent turnout for the did seem for a while to lead the evening into a blind alley. Fortunately few people lostsightofthepurposeofthemeeting and the closing half hour or so was spent in constructive discussion of the issues that 2. Perception of Space 3. History of women in construction 4, Feminist approach todesign 5. Education 6. Legislation The setting-up of the groups will be dis- cussedfurtheratthenextopenmeeting of the Feminism and Architecture group , to be held on monday 3rd July at the Architectural Association Starting at NAM Feminism and Architecture open meeting. About 60 people came to the meeting,mostlywomen architects. upafeministDesignandBuildgroupto take on projects specifically for women’s groups. |ADDRESS. | I | If you would like to receive SLATE without joining NAM fill in the form below and send it together with acheque/postal order (payable to the New Architecture Movement ) for £2.00 to NAM at 9, J SLATE 8PAGE 23 It is hoped to set up a series of study groups to research certain topics. Among the ideas discussed were: 1,Women & the press nn ae Anybody with ideas for the 1979 NAM Calendar, or who wants to help with layout, design production or distribution of the Calendar, please contact the Liaison Group, NAM, 9, Poland St., London, W1, Ane | their say GOVERNMENT policy on housing came under attack recently from North London tenants. At a public meeting called by four Islington co-operatives about eighty tenants got together to express their opposition to the system and levels of cost limits imposed on rehabilitation projects. Most important of the objections to the system was that it tended to force down standards. Insufficient capital was available for most projects and this resulted in the production of undersized flats with inadequate services, More important, some contended, was that essential repairs to the houses were neglected in order to save money. This caused serious inconvenience to the tenants when defects recurred and was also counter- productive economically as piecemeal repairs in occupied flats are expensive. All in al the co-op members felt that their future was insecure, Replying to the criticisms, David Smith of the Department of the Environment (DoE) made several unpopular assertions He claimed that the cost limits were not too low as‘only 15% of the schemes subject to them were actually referred to the DoE as being in excess of them. People expected ‘rehab’ housing to achieve Parker Morris standards but this could not be done. Besides, he said, the evidence that 80% of people wanted to be Owner-occupiers SLATE 8PAGE 24 ! and that space standards were 30% lower in the private sector, confirmed that Parker Morris standards were too high. The Government's aim was to spread the money “thinner and further’, Several tenants took up the question of the referral of projects over the limits and argued that the reason that the referral rate is so low is that Housing Associations are genarally more concerned with speeding up the devlopment process than they are with standards. They cut spzce, services and repair standards before submitting schemes for approval in order to avoid bureaucratic delays. That was why cost limits appeared adequate. Cost limits in rehabilitation are the subject of a campaign being mounted by the North Islington Co-ops. The public meeting was the second event of the campaign which was launched by a demonstration and mass lobby of Parliament late last year. Other questions raised by the tenants were connected with the way in which the limits tend to favour small units, why standards vary from borough to borough and even street to street and why access from flats to shared gardens is often impossible to arrange within the limits. Representatives from the Housing Corporation, the Greater London Council and Islington Council also attended the meeting. INSUE Co-op meeting called ARCHITECTURAL practices run as worker cooperatives are to be the topic of a special one day workshop planned for the autumn, Sponsoring the workshop are the Industrial Common Ownership Movement (ICOM), the London Building Design Staff Branch of the union TASS and certain of the unattatched councillors on ARCUK. ICOM would like to hear now from workers in any practices that are already run as worker cooperatives or which have ambitions to become cooperatives. Contact Dave Marshall, ICOM, 31, Hare St., London, SE18. NENT Private sector interests in the building industry are mounting a massive campaign to vitiate the idea of the nationalisation of the building industry. SLATE 9 examines the activities of The Campaign Against Nationalisation in the Building Industry (CABIN) and asks the question what would nationalisation really mean to the workers in the industry and the consumers of their products. Housing policy~ tenants have Also in SLATE 9, PartIII of John Murray’s series on Urban History. SLATE may be a very slick looking paper but we need money fast! Please send us your donations now! Cheques made payable to SLATE to 9 Poland Street, W1. SS Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource NAM SLATE Group 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 July/ August 1978 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/f5ec814d03a6b2a0a972d668f6f20e96.pdf 59eafb57d83a5958c1510366392fcd28 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 SLATE Description An account of the resource To help promote its work and reduce dependence on the established professional press, NAM created its own newspaper SLATE. The editorial group met bi-monthly to gather together latest events, activities and ideas emerging from radical critiques and challenges to the established order of architectural practice and education. The content of each edition was collated, and cut-and-pasted into layouts of the magazine which typically ran from 16 to 28 pages. Each edition included a brilliant cartoon by Andrew Brown who emerged as a clever graphic artist synthesising NAM's radical ethics. SLATE's production ran to 17 issues in total. The SLATE Group also produced occasional annual calendars, of which three survive 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 SLATE 7 Subject The topic of the resource Building for Whom ? Includes John Murray article ( first of 5) on Reading Urban History Description An account of the resource INAPROPRIATE POLICIES Local Govt. Officer: Here is the arm I have been asked to give you Working Man: But, Jneed aleg Local Govt. Officer: Yes, but it is more than my job’s worth to give you one of them, JIDNYOo 249 1AFO green, foto fat plate used ns roofing-material; plece of It usu. framed In wood used for writing on SAC conference fails to convince THE ‘MAKING of the Architect’ Conference at York in March, given the build-up of the biggest_ happening in architectural educa- tion since Oxford, fizzled out almost entirely, overburdened by the vastness of the task and the weight of paper that went with it. There were, however, one or two high points amongst the plethora of academic outpourings, apart from ARC’s interven- tion (see elsewhere in SLATE). The first pf these was a report by the Schools of Architecture Council working group on RIBA/ARCUK relations that came before the S.A.C. AGM preceding the conference proper. This proposed that the Visiting Board’s role should be advisory rather than dictatorial, applied only to Part I and Part III of the course, and that the validating body should be ARCUK and not the RIBA. The report went on to stress the need for a democratic reconsti- tution of ARCUK along the lines proposed by NAM. This brought howls of outrage from the RIBA ‘observers’ and even members of ARCUK council! However,amotionofnoconfidencein Professor Gosling, the leader of the working party, received no support. Gosling’s paper was unfortunately not discussed fully at the seminars, perhaps because it was reported that the RIBA had asked for it not to be brought up in the discussion groups. Other worthwhile papers were those by Jim Johnson and Colin Ward. Johnson proposed that schools should be involved in, and accountable to, the local commu- nity, with shorter but less rigid courses, a wider intake, and final examinations jointly by teachers and community representatives. Colin Ward discussed environmental education insecondary schools and questioned the need for Typesetting by the Publications Group and Maggie Stack. Opinions expressed in SLATE are not necessarily the policy of the New Archi- tecture Movement unless stated to be so. architects at al. Yet discussion around these papers achieved little. Dominated by academics and principals from prac- tice, the subjects were discussed in an abstract fasion divorced from the wider contexts of the social, political and economic frameworkof society and a radical role for architects within it, and thus became meaningless. The lack of any conclusive outcome from the conference or of any worth- while discussion within it, justifies NAM’s position of silence on the issue. But it was made clear that recommendations will be made after the next six months of ‘wide-ranging debate’, and already the S.A.C. regions have announced that they intend to hold more discussions soon that will make recommendations. The failure of York has made the educators and the RIBA even more determined to ‘get results’. NALGO blacks GLC housing transfers NALGO BRANCHES arehitting back at the plans of the Tory- controlled GLC to disperse housing functions -including design -to the London Boroughs. A recent circular to al NALGO branches from the Secretary of the GLC NALGO branch advised branch secretaries to tel their members “not to deal with work arising from housing estates transferred to your authority from the GLC until absolute guaranteesof job security and job salary protection are given to GLC employees affected”. As detailed in SLATE 6the Tories want a rapid rundown of the GLC housing departments. The circular advises that with over 200,000 properties affected *the process of the transfer of estates is likely to be a gradual one and branches will have to remain vigilant for a number of years”. GLC estates are found throughout the country, not just in London -for example its seaside retirement homes. BUILDING FOR WHOM? RESPOND TO PEOPLE’S NEEDS Estranged from the ublic and cradled by the ‘local state’, architects in the publilic sector face massive cuts in public spending. As a primer to the NAM PDS Grou s conference - ‘Democrati: Design’ -SLATE has brought togeth er five articles. Each examines a key aspect of the debate around the role played by the ‘other’ direct labour department -local authority architects. A PHOENIX FROM THE COUNCIL ASHES? -purple tock casily split oth plates; pleco of such mall rod of soft~ (clean or renounce oblign= ifcations hor greealsh grey; hence (Made) of~. 3. y.t. Cover with~s - .eS roofing; hence slat’en' n. (MB SLATE IS THE NEWSLETTER OF THE NEW ARCHITECTURE MOVEMENT, published bi-monthly and edited by the Moyement’s Publications Group. News and features of broad interest to workers in the profession, the building industry and to the general public are inc- luded to stimulate general debate on a wide range of issues and to bring the Movement’s views and activities to the attention of the largest possible readership. REPRESENTATIVES A network of 30 representatives has been set up throughout schools and large prac- tices al over the country. The only comm- itment of each representative will be to receive S copies of SLATE every two months and to try to sell 4 of them, return- ing £1.00 to SLATE All this should help SLATE acheive a far wider circulation and become more truly representative of the views of rad- icals concerned with the industry and the environment WORK ON SLATE SLATE needs more workers, more writers ,more ideas and more reps in order to produce a better, larger and cheaper newsletter. If you would like to work for SLATE; become a rep., join the group, send in articles or suggest topics it should cover then contact us soon. The copy deadline for the next issue is Friday 26th May. 1978 SLATE ispublished by the Publications Group of the NEW ARCHITECTURE MOVEMENT, 9 Poland St., London W.1. (Letters should be addressed to the Publications Group) Printed by Islington Community Press, 2a St Pauls Rd., London, N1. Trade Distribution by Publications Distribution Cooperative, 27, Clerken- well Court, London, E.C.2 SLATE 7PAGE 2 A GLC architect describes how the decline of the GLC’s once-mighty department ischanging thinking among those affected about local governmentstructure. Tory crusade The architects department of the Greater London Council (GLC), once not only the largest but the most prestigeous local authority office in the country, is reaching apoint where itscontinued existence is in doubt. Two years of continued public controversy have so depleted resources and morale that, with the recent resignation of departmental chief Sir Roger Walters, there is inevitably speculation that it may go the way of Hillingdon, York and Oxford. The immediate cause of this crisis stems from the May 1977 elections which gave control of the GLC to anew Conservative administration. The GLC’s housing programme, which provided the largest part of the architects’ workload, was drastically revised in accordance with the new inistration’si P ation of its electoral mandate: “We regard it as a primary objective for the Council to direct resources into the inner areas where housing stress and dereliction are largely concentrated. To this end it is necessary for the Council to divest itself of committees at variance with its strategic role and which dissipate its resources in areas where other agencies are available to meet housing requirements.” In spite of the reference to currently fashionable ‘inner city’ theme theheartofthisnewpolicy quickly provedtobeelsewhere.Staffunions saw it above al reflecting the new Tory ideological crusade for owner- occupation, self help and private enterprise, as well as the traditional entrenched resistance of the outer London boroughs to the building of public housing for those migrating from the inner areas. Severe cuts The effect on GLC architects was severe. Firstly, an enormous cut in the quantity of work: from an annual programme approaching 6000 homes to one of 2000. Secondly there was a major shift in the type of work with an immediate stop on al work in the outer London boroughs (approximately 50% of the old workload). 500 of the remaining progr were al d to the Thamesmead development leaving a target of 1500 inthe inner city itself, which represents a cut of 50% even here. The balance in this reduced work- load has shifted heavily towards more small, more difficult and often polluted sites, and this has coincided with renewed accusations about the department’s productivity. It is an awkward,ifso farunacknowledged contradiction, however, for Consery- ative ideology that the Department has been able to demonstrate conyin- cingly an enormous fee saving over consultants for the past 15 years. The staffing cuts that have come with this cut in workload represent 15% ofthe total establishment. That figure however conceals the large effect on architects posts as a large number of the department's posts consist of building control and district surveyors’ staffs. The reduction in professional and technical staff in the new housing divisionsisinfact73%.Oneparticularly damaging effect of the new administration’s approach to staffing has been the imposition of traditional across-the-board cuts in al departments quite unrelated to workload and justified only by a conviction that any teduction is beneficial. For a department with both statutory (building control) and contractual duties like the Architects this seems utterly unacceptable. That it has been allowed to happen is seen bystaff as an indictment not just of the council, but also of chief officers. Similar feelings are prompted by the use of the voluntary redundancy provisions of the Employment Protection Act to shed ‘surplus’ staff faster than falloff in existing workload. The pessimism about the Department’s continuing viability isbased on the SLATE 7PAGE 5 NEWSNEWSNIEWS ATE SLATESLATESLATESLATE MAKING PUBLIC BUILDING Tom Bulley of Hackney Council Workers’JointTrade UnionCuts Committeedescribesactiontaken by NALGO and the building unions to protect and expand the work taken on by Hackney’s direct labour organisation. SLATE 7 PAGE 6 Union action Theunions’initiativesinresponseto potential reductions in the council’s operated with the building workers’ unions to prepare joint representatives to put to the council. On hearing of this initiative the Officers’ Management Team(iechiefexecutiveanddirectors) Tequestedameetingwiththeunions prior to the unions meeting with the council. The unions agreed, and it became clear to management that unions were aware of real problems and were putting forward constructive prop- osals. The joint union representations were put to the council unaltered on 31 May. Council members expressed their whole- stems from the May 1977 elections which gave control of the GLC to a new Conservative administration. The GLC’s housing programme, which provided the largest part of the architects’ workload, wasdrasticallyrevisedinaccordance withthenew administration’sinterpret- ation of its electoral mandate: “We regard it as a primary objective for the Council to direct resources into the inner areas where housing stress and dereliction are largely concentrated. To this end it is necessary for the Council to divest itself of committees at variance with its strategic role and which dissipate its resources in areas where other homes to one of 2000. Secondly there was a major shift in the type of work with an immediate stop on al work in the outer London boroughs (approximately 50% of the old workload).500oftheremaining only by a conviction that any reduction is beneficial. For a department with both statutory (building control) and contractual duties like the Architects thisseemsutterlyunacceptable.That ithasbeenallowedtohappenis seen by staff as an indictment not just of the council, but also of chief Officers. Similar feelings are prompted by the use of the voluntary redundancy provisions of the Employment Protection Act to shed ‘surplus’ staff faster than falloff in existing workload. The pessimism about the Department's continuing viability is based on the SLATE 7 PAGE 5 exercised by architects. It was the period when the criticism of some forms of public housing had reached levels that made councillors and housing managers into much less benevolent clients and serious critics of housing design. More fundamantally there was a perceptible move in housing policy away from the purely physical solutions to the housing programme that characterised the post-war era of slum clearance and reconstruction. Full analysis of the reasons for all these changes isbeyond the scope of this article. But it can be sensed that there were many complex political, ideological and economic trends being felt -some genuinely progressive, but others rooted in the developing economic crisis, particularly as it manifested itself in the crisis of public expenditure, in the land market, and in the building industry. New roles What is of immediate relevance is to analyse the responses of architects to these developments and to articulate new roles and new alignments. In the profession generally there is a pronounced and unattractive tendency to self-pity, to blame externals.. LOBBYING COUNCILS FROM THE INSIDE It seems necessary that while local ~ authority architects must be far more realistic about the limitations imposed by the context in which they find themselves, they must also realise the potential for development even now within the local authority structure. At the technical level there exist largely unrealised possibilities for exploring design and build, and inter-disciplinary integration with direct labour organisations and other consultants. The scope-for reforming the organisational structures isalso great. The existing hierarchical and narrowly specialist framework seems to be increasingly unsuitable, generating apathy and frustration. More open and democratic models are required which would increase contact between officers and councillors; and between officers and a wider range of popular representation. Local authority architects must take amuch more consistent interest in policy questions and particularly take up the defence of space and con- struction standards currently under attack, and above all the underuse of resources in the building industry. All these changes will have to be fought for: through unions, professional bodies, political parties, and within the structure of local government itself. SINE sure that the council is aware of the potential effects that changes in the building programme may have on the employment of building workers and staff in the Building and Architecture and Planning Divisions. This joint activity has helped to avert the immediate possibility of a major rundown of the building work, but there is stil much to be done to make sure that Hackney has a properly organised overall building programme in the years to come. SLATE SLATE SLATE SLATE SLATE level of building are beginning results. to achieve progr were al dtothe Thamesmead development leaving a target of 1500 in the inner city itself, which represents a cut of 50% even here. For the past year the building workers’ unions (UCATT, TGWU, EEPTU) and NALGO have worked together to exchange information about the building programme and to make The balance in this reduced work- load has shifted heavily towards more small, more difficult and often polluted sites, and this has coincided with renewed accusations about the BUILDING FOR WHOM? RESPOND TO PEOPLE’S NEEDS Estranged from the ublic and cradled by the ‘local state’, architectcs in thepubli lic sector face massive cuts in public spending. As a primer to the NAM PDS Group’s conference -‘Democratic Design’ - SLATE has brought together five articles. Each examines akey aspect of the debate around the role played by the ‘other’ direct labour department -local authority architects. A PHOENIX FROM THE COUNCIL ASHES? A GLC architect describes how the decline of the GLC’s once-mi department is changing thinking among those affected about local government structure. Tory crusade The architects department of the Greater London Council (GLC), once not only the largest but the most prestigeous local authority office in the country, is reaching a point where its continued existence is in doubt. Two years of continued public controversy have so depleted resources and morale that, with the recent resignation of departmental chief Sir Roger Walters, there is inevitably speculation that it may go the way of Hillingdon, York and Oxford. agencices are available to meet housing requirements.” In spite of the reference to currently fashionable ‘inner city’ theme the heartofthis new policy quickly provedtobeelsewhere.Staffunions. saw it above al reflecting the new Tory ideological crusade for owner- occupation, self help and private enterprise, as well as the traditional entrenched resistance of the outer London boroughs to the building of public housing for those migrating from the inner areas. Severe cuts The effect on GLC architects was severe. Firstly, an enormous cut in the quantity of work: from an department’s productivity. It is an awkward, if so far unacknowledged contradiction, however, for Consery- ative ideology that the Department has been able to demonstrate conyin- cinglyanenormous feesavingover consultants for the past 15 years. The staffing cuts that have come with this cut in workload represent 15% ofthe total establishment. That figure however conceals the large effect on architects posts as a large number of the department's posts consist of building control and district surveyors’ staffs. The reduction in professional and technical staff in the new housing divisionsisinfact73%.Oneparticularly damaging effect of the new administration’s approach to staffing has been the imposition of traditional across-the-board cuts in al departments In view of the serious threat that existedinMarch1977,NALGOco- Theimmediatecauseofthiscrisis annualprogrammeapproaching6000 quiteunrelatedtoworkloadandjustified growing realisation that theCouncil's commitment toretainaconstructional role, whether newbuild or rehab, through its own architects is at best lukewarm. Already amajor shortage of new briefs has developed. Having stopped al the outer London schemes | regardless of abortive cost, the Council has also stopped many inner schemes as well. So the fate of the GLC Architects Department isclearly linked in a special way to local political factors, including the role of the Council itself. Neither is it the only department affected or even the most severely so, assuming that the intended transfer of housing management goes through. Yet the relative ease with which this only recently respected department has been carved up, together with the pattern being established in other authorities already referred to, Suggests other les parochial factors at work. Even under the previous Labour administration, which was committed to an expanded housing programme, the Department became involved in bitter disputes of which the most important was responsibility for building defects. During this period, too, a major shift in inter-departmental influence began with the Housing Department taking on more and more of the programming and project management roles formerly MAKING PUBLIC BUILDING Tom Bulley of Hackney Council Workers’JointTrade UnionCuts Committee describes action taken by NALGO and the building unions to protect and expand the work taken on by Hackney’s direct labour organisation. SLATE 7PAGE 6 Union action The unions’ initiatives in response to potential reductions in the council’s level of building are beginning to achieve results. For the past year the building workers’ unions (UCATT, TGWU, EEPTU) and NALGO have worked together to exchange information about the building programme and to make a Se ee exercised by architects. Itwas the period when the criticism of some forms of public housing had reached levels that made councillors and housing managers into much less benevolent clients and serious critics of housing design. More fundamantally there was a perceptible move in housing policy away from the purely physical solutions to the housing programme that characterised the post-war era of slum clearance and reconstruction. Full analysis of the reasons for al these changes is beyond the scope of this article. But it can be sensed that there were many complex political, ideological and economic trends being felt -some genuinely progressive, but others rooted in the developing economic crisis, particularly as it manifested itself in the crisis of public expenditure, in the land market, and in the building industry. New roles What is of immediate relevance is to analyse the responses of architects to these developments and to articulate new roles and new alignments. In the profession generally there is a pronounced and unattractive tendency to self-pity, to blame externals.. LOBBYING COUNCILS FROM THE INSIDE ca = Itseems necessary that while local ~ authority architects must be far more realistic about the limitations imposed by the context in which they find themselves, they must also realise the potential for development even now within the local authority structure. At the technical level there exist largely unrealised possibilities for exploring design and build, and inter-disciplinary integration with direct labour organisations and other consultants. The scope-for reforming the organisational structures is also great. The existing hierarchical and narrowly specialist framework seems to be increasingly unsuitable, generating apathy and frustration. More open and democratic models are required which would increase contact between officers and councillors; and between officers and a wider range of popular representation. Local authority architects must take a much more consistent interest in policy questions and particularly take up the defence of space and con- struction standards currently under attack, and above all the underuse of resources in the building industry. All these changes will have to be fought for: through unions, professional bodies, political parties, and within the structure of local government itself. SANE sure that the council is aware of the potential effects that changes in the building programme may have on the employment of building workers and staff in the Building and Architecture and Planning Divisions. This joint activity has helped to avert the immediate possibility ofa major rundown of the building work, but thereisstilmuchtobedonetomake sure that Hackney has a properly organised overall building programme in the years to come. In view of the serious threat that existed in March 1977, NALGO co- operated with the building workers’ unions to prepare joint representatives to put to the council. On hearing of this initiative the Officers’ Management Team(iechiefexecutiveanddirectors) requested a meeting with the unions prior to the unions meeting with the council. The unions agreed, and it became clear to management that unions were aware of real problems and were putting forward constructive prop- osals. The joint union representations were put to the council unaltered on 31 May- Council members expressed their whole- hearted commitment to direct labour and the DLO, but saw that there were difficulties and agreed to follow through the unions’ suggestions for remedies to overcome the decline of the housing redevelopment programme (with the exception of one proposal which would involve the political difficulties with sregard to Hackney’s opposition to the Conservative Greater London Council), Work flow The building trades’ operatives’ main point was that the work of the architects’ department should be planned so that it could make available to the direct labour organisation a planned flow of work, taking into consideration the need to provide continuity of employment for the labour force. The unions agreed that there were difficulties and suggested that there might be a need for additonal staff. The point was made that advance design work on potential building projects could help overcome unavoidable fluc- tuations of input to the committed building programme. questions to answer, particularly with regard to the overall building management. At this meeting with council management referred to the Housing Investment Programme, which central government had introduced to allow greater central control over local authorities’ overall capital spending, whilst at the same time allowing local councils greater flexibility within the overall limit. Inasmuch as they were asking for the council to prepare a programme, the government were making the same demand centrally as the unions were locally. As they had responded to the authority of management Hackney’s management were thus able to assure the council that a programme was in pre- paration, but were not able to give details at that meeting. Now that the Housing Investment Programme bid has been submitted to central government, it is clear that the unions were right to be concerned about council building and the related employment. During the current year and over the next few years the HIP shows a massive shift of emphasis away from new building towards rehabilitation. It also shows a drop of about £4million in overall building work between 1977-78 and 1978-79. The inter-war estate rehabilitation programme will not nearly compensate for the rundown of development, and the council will need to step up its property acquisition policy very rapidly. The unions do not wish to spread wild rumours, but are aware that the effects of the newly-proposed HIP need to be worked out without delay. Working party The building workers at their joint works meeting with the council therefore suggested that a Joint Working Party ofcouncillors and trade union delegates (with Staff Side NALGO members from Building and Architecture & Planning invited) should be formed to investigate the building programme and to report its. implications to council ,particularly on employment. The first joint Working Party meeting was held in December 1977. It was seen that the council's political commit- ment to the DLO needs to be supported by an accurate knowledge of what is programmed and of what is actually happening, and of the implications for its workers (and all residents of the borough) of changes in its building programme. The Joint Working Party has a big job te do. The building workers’ unions initiative -the Joint Working Party -is a means of co-operating with the council to ensure the continuation of a building programme that will benefit Hackney with its products and services and will allow continuity of employment to its workers. The unions are pooling their knowledge through the Joint Unions Cuts Committee, which has set up a Building Sub-Committee to meet regularly and to exchange detailed knowledge of problems. These resources are being brought to Joint Working Party discussions from the union side. Councillors have shown committment to the DLO by setting up the Joint Working Party and working on it. “ ‘Fhe unions also put forward specific Suggestions of possible ways of bringing in work to compensate for the severe drop in the newbuild housing programme. These included ways that the council might be able to build advance factory units for leasing to small industrial firms, and suggestions that the council should draw up an adequate programme of property acquisition for rehabilitation and conversion in preference to encouraging large-scale housing association activity. At the joint building works meeting with the council on 13 September it became clear that although action had been taken on some of the specific requests, management stil had many LOBBYING COUNCILS FROMTHEOUTSIDE Extracts from an interview with Irene Brennan of Brent Federation ofTenantsAssociationsinwhich she describes the attempts made to involve the clients in the design of sdhemes produced by the London Borough of Brent. SLATE: How did you first approach the local authority ? “* We wanted to have an opportunity to seetheplansandmakecomments.Now, we have a negotiating procedure with the council which is a sub-committee of the housing committee which is called the Tenants Consultative Committee and so we raised it with them. The councillors themselves were fairly unsympathetic saying “you wouldn’t understand -there’s so many things to be taken into account” and they're al experts you know....but we pressed away. SLATE 7 PAGE 7 growing realisation that theCouncil’s commitment to retain aconstructional role, whether newbuild or rehab, through itsown architects isatbest lukewarm. Already amajor shortage of new briefs has developed. Having stopped al the outer London schemes regardless of abortive cost, the Council has also stopped many inner schemes as well. So the fate of the GLC Architects Department isclearly linked in a special way to localpolitical ; factors, including the role of the Council itself. Neither is it the only department affected or even the most severely so, assuming that the intended transfer of housing management goes through. Yet the relative ease with which this only recently respected department has been carved up, together with the pattern being established in other authorities already referred to, suggests other less parochial factors at work. Even under the previous Labour administration, which was committed to an expanded housing programme, the Department became involved in bitter disputes of which the most important was responsibility for building defects. During this period, too, a major shift in inter-departmental influence began with the Housing Department taking on more and more of the programming and project management roles formerly And then they said “OK we'll give you a training session and then we'll take it from there”..,.. eventually we al trudged up there and there were these matchstick models of al the developments that they weredoingintheborough.....whatitworked TheFederationgottheplansofFryant outaswasmoreofapublicrelationsexercise Wayandafterbeingsuperficiallyimpressed ment we wanted to see and then we wanted to see the plans before they went to housing committee so that we could comment and get our comments incorporated before it went to housing.And the officers were bas- ically saying “Well our staff won't stand for from the architects -it was ridiculous, six it and they'd leave -all this interference - sets of plans and 24 hours to comment on they won't tolerate it’. We thought we were them. Lucky for us we knew, between us, going to get nowhere! but then... every one of the developments and so we accumulation, In recent years it has stimulated At that point the Director of Housing inter- could comment. vened and because of some personal friction between Director of Development and him- self, decided to support the Federation in their claim to ‘say’ at these two stages. The plans come to housing committee for approval as, sort of, the client and they get seen about 10°30 at night after along meet- ingandthey’reuponthewall-itsopento the public but the public rarely go and any- way its on the floor of the council chamber and the public gallery is so far away. You couldn’t really get a good look at it..... the councillors would just walk up and have a participation, democratisation in some activities and financed community work and’ ‘radical’ professional agencies such as law centres. It is not inconceivable that changes in the provision of arch- itectural services will take place because own independent ‘expert? advice. of the widespread disatisfaction with the Many end up going to a liberal existing local authority and governmental socially conscious, or just straight architecture. forward commercial * community SLATE 7PAGE 8 SLATE 7PAGE 9 SLATE: Did you find different resp. onses at a lower level in the Architects Department? When we were talking to the people that were actually doing the designs we found that they were really nice people...,.the people on the drawing-board so to speak were really trying to help us......but it’s al the ‘dead wood’ above them that needs to be cleared away ! We had an architect in the federation and that was really valuable, if we didn’t have him they would just have said “for tech- nical reasons” or what have you..... having somebody who was aprofessional helping us to do what we wanted to do..... we were then able to draw up our alternatives which we A number of things need to happen if ord- were basically a street layout with improved look and that’s it, they had to decide from just a look whether they think its good or bad, and invariably they say yes -it looks very pleasant lots of trees, gardens -yes we'll have that! al of these very nice models and grand plans that were stuck up on the wall. Any- way after that whole exercise it got left and we were pushing and pushing and meeting the officers ourselves. Then what happened is, we have a law centre in Brent and so we asked the law centre to actually find out what were the planning procedures that were followed in the borough so that we could intervene and find out what would be the best time to put in our and so they worked on that and then something else happened which helped in the whole process of setting things up..... She then described how, by supporting the council in a contentious local open-space issue that eventually culminated in a pub- lic enquiry the federation were able to com- promise the council into putting forward Fryant Way, a small mixed development, as a first trial for the new consultative pro- cedure. “When we got the stuff from the law centre “we were in quite a good position to go back to them and we started then seeing the Director of Development and Chief Arch- itects and they were absolutely!.....you wouldn’t believe the comments they were making -“We have enough trouble with the councillors -they interfere quite enough”, “the timing of al this, we can’t afford any delays”, that was their main thing, delays - interference, they were the professionals we couldn’t possibly offer anything that the professionals didn’t know already... we explained what we wanted was to be able to come in at two stages: one was when the brief came out of housing and we want- ed to be able to say what kind of develop: and comment on it. Then the architects subcontractors and the quality of work is reproducing the conditions of capitalist of the architect’s department causes them with the carefully drawn plans they looked more closely and found major orientation and sunlight mistakes, ‘hankerchief’ sized gardens, no enclosed play areas, no shops with group car parking in front of the old peoples flats Based on his experience at Support, Tom Woolley ies the case for setting up alternative agencies runningin parallel with the radicalisation of the public sector. Alternative services orientation and enclosed play areas, a shop and a community centre. We felt that the community centre would draw people together. We then confronted the counc- illors with our suggestions..... but their whole motivation, because they’re from a different class perhaps -they just don’t think or feel the same way as people they’re designing for.....‘people must adjust”’..... well Ithought design was al about making something fit for the purpose your going to use it for.,....and what they were saying was everybody’s got to fit into our design. which isjust bad design to me ! After a minor concession of one shop the federation began to lose hope and they decide to approach the councillors directly in order to ‘equip’ them with their sugges- tions inary people are going to have a say in the environment. Fora start the officers have to show willing, willingness to listen, we should be able to sit round a table and talk about it. It would be much better to have street meetings and bring along the alter- natives -that’s another thing !people don’t know the alternatives, they ask for public fully this would also provide a precedent politicisation, changing the actual nature be followed by a more formal So what we've got now is a new procedure whereby Director of housing aquires some land and says “yes, we'll have that” and then draws up hisbrief and we see the brief council generally employ ? debatable !, we want a much larger direct works department SLATE: Why do you think that the Direct Works dept. would give you a better deal ? More control, Subcontractors often use lump labour and we're opposed to lump labour for a start, At least when you have the unions in you have a decent standard of work, doing agood job not just rushing in and out again, We haven't got that much muscle as tenan' but we have got avast of experi and a lot of ‘people-power' and we ought togettogetherwiththetradeunionists, like Isay we're trade unionists when we go to work but we're tenants when we come home. We ought to be concerned with one another because our inter- ests are really the same. Local State changes “with grants, self-help labour job creation or their own limited funds, the list is endless. do a set of plans that they wouldn’t norm- ally draw, and these would come to the federation and we'd send them back with our comments to the housing comm- ittee. When we eventually got the plans back’ to look for independent advice. Such organisations would no doubt support demands for changes in the provision of local authority architectural services but they cannot afford to wait. They can have more immediate success in finding resources to pay for their SLATE: How do you think thesystem of involvement could be imp- royed ? The system as its set up isn't working. The officers themselves don’t want it to work, ‘While I would support a long term campaign for the democratisation of ‘public’ architectural services I feel that it is important that we should realise that alternative architectural agencies can be set up right away. Such agencies opinion but people don’t know the altern- atives, They should bring along alittle diagram and little models (laughter) and get people to feed in ideas and say well “what do you like about this street ?””.... sit round the table and shove the models around and I'm sure that they’d come up with some- thing ‘architecturally feasible’, SLATE: What sort of builders do the for those calling for reform in local government. The two things should go in parallel, but both have obvious pit falls. Operating inevitably in the ‘private sector, the new architectural ‘agency could easily become a ‘com _ munity architecture’ practice in the ‘RIBA style, whilst those working for change in the public sector, involved in defence action against the cuts may see limited reforms as progress. of the professional role and winning changes in the role of the local state AS A RESULT OF PRESSURE FROM ORDINARY PEOPLE The demand for a new kind of architectural service already exists. Tenants struggling against defective council housing, other tenants criti- cising or campaigning for involvement in design, user organisations wanting to participate in or control the production or rehabilitation of facilities, orgavisations We have been trying for some time now to get the direct works department brought up to scratch, its understaffed. They do use Nearly al have some degree of can provide a model for the way the ideas of a ‘public design service’ might work in practice. By functioning success holds much greater potential for of practice as a loose association to organisation, that can be controlled by the organisations which use its services The services are charged for on the basis of time, how much it costs to run the agency and the incomes of its members. With the removal of the fee scale there will be no barrier to this. The only problem remains the appropriate legal alternative to partnership so that the client/user organisations can own and control the agency. Precedents for this in the Law Centre field do exist. As the agency developes it can publish its experiences and describe its techniques as they differ from the conventional professional approach, work that will help other groups. Demands made on local authorities by community organisations to pay the agency's fees will not always be successful but will lead to a questioning of the adequacy of the local state’s own provisions. Trade unions will also have to justify using non-unionised firms of consultants. Setting up such an agency would be hard work, ofcourse, with little job security or certain income and attract the dislike of professional colleagues. It is easy to see why many prefer the tedium and frustration of working through local government and trade union channels, passing resolutions land so on. But even here there are possibilities for more direct action. A small group of 5 or 6 local authority architects, if they stuck together when say, faced with redundancies, could start offering a service directly to the public from their office, If they won support from local working class organisations then their position would be a strong one. In fact the local state is continually changing and developing appropriate forms involvement with the local state and in ‘of institution to carry out its role of most cases their experience or opinion Such reforms imposed from above are architect’. As yet there is a complete unlikely to result in any shift of control lack of agencies which provide a of the process of the production of buildings to working class people or a ‘Greater understanding of the oppressive ideologies of profe i They will make the local state more effective however.Inmyview,(havingworkedfor Settingupagencies four years in local authorities and been an active NALGO member) this is the likely Qutcome of attempts to change local authorities. Setting up independent agencies right now on the other hand The experience of the members of Support is that it is possible to set up such an agency. A year of preparatory discussions, a further year continuing service backed by political committment to social cliange and are openly critical of the professional establishment. NEW CHANNELS FORUSER CONTROL SLATE: How sympathetic were the Councillors ? Well we were arguing that they didn.t have enough opportunity to study the plans and we'd be able to help them: They took this as an insult.....we weren't saying that they weren't looking at them carefiully we were saying that the whole system isn’t set up to allow them to do a proper job. And then they said “OK we'll give youa training session and then we'll take it from there”’,.... eventually we al trudged up there and there were these matchstick models of al the developments that they were doing in the borough.....what it worked out as was more ofa public relations exercise al of these very nice models and grand plans that were stuck up on the wall. Any- way after that whole exercise it got left and we were pushing and pushing and meeting the officers ourselves. Then what happened is, we have a law centre in Brent and so we asked the law centre to actually find out what were the planning procedures that were followed in the borough so that we could intervene and find out what would be the best time to put in our and so they worked on that and then something else happened which helped in the whole process of setting things up..... She then described how, by supporting the council in a contentious local open-space issue that eventually culminated inapub- lic enquiry the federation were able to com- promise the council into putting forward Fryant Way, a small mixed development, as a first trial for the new consultative pro- cedure “When we got the stuff from the law centre “we were in quite a good position to go back to them and we started then seeing the Director of Development and Chief Arch- itects and they were absolutely!.....you wouldn’t believe the comments they were making - “We have enough trouble with the councillors -they interfere quite enough”, “the timing of all this, we can’t afford any delays”, that was their main thing, delays - interference, they were the professionals we couldn’t possibly offer anything that the professionals didn’t know already..... we explained what we wanted was to be able to come in at two stages: one was when the brief came out of housing and we want- ed to be able to say what kind of develop- ment we wanted to see and then we wanted to see the plans before they went to housing committee so that we could comment and get our comments incorporated before it with our comments to the housing comm- ittee. When we eventually got the plans back” from the architects -it was ridiculous, six sets of plans and 24 hours to comment on SLATE: Did you find different resp. onses at a lower level in the Architects Department ? When we were talking to the people that were actually doing the designs we found that they were really nice people.....the people on the drawing-board so to speak were really trying to help us......but it’s al the ‘dead wood’ above them that needs to be cleared away ! SLATE: How do you think the system of involvement could be imp- roved ? The system as its set up isn’t working. The officers themselves don’t want it to work. A number of things need to happen if ord- inary people are going to havea say in the environment. Fora start the officers have to show willing, willingness to listen, we should be able to sit round a table and talk about it. It would be much better to have street meetings and bring along the alter- natives -that’s another thing !people don’t know the alternatives, they ask for public opinion but people don’t know the altern- atives. They should bring alongalittle diagram and little models (laughter) and get people to feed in ideas and say well “what do you like about this street ?”.....sit round the table and shove the models around and I’m sure that they’d come up with some- thing ‘architecturally feasible’. SLATE: What sort of builders do the council generally employ ? We have been trying for some time now to get the direct works department brought up to scratch, its understaffed. They do use subcontractors and the quality of work is debatable !,.we want a much larger direct works department SLATE: Why do you think that the Direct Works dept. would give you a better deal ? More control, Subcontractors often use lump labour and we're opposed to lump labour for a start, At least when you have the unions in you have a decent standard of work, doing a’good job not just rushing in and out again. We haven't got that much muscle as tenants but we have got a vast amount of experience and a lot of ‘people-power’ and we ought to get together with the trade unionists, like Isay we're trade unionists when we go to work but we're tenants when we come home. We ought to be concerned with one another because our inter- ests are really the same. NEW CHANNELS FORUSER CONTROL went to housing.And the officers were bas- ically saying “Well our staff won't stand for it and they'd leave -al this interference - they won't tolerate it”. We thought we were them. Lucky for us we knew, between us, Such organisations would no doubt support demands for changes in the provision of local authority architectural unions will also have to justify using services but they cannot afford to wait. They can have more immediate success in finding resources to pay for their own independent ‘expert? advice. going to get nowhere! but then..... At that point the Director of Housing inter- vened and because of somepersonal friction between Director of Development and him- self, decided to support the Federation in their claim to ‘say’ at these two stages, The plans come to housing committee for approval as, sort of, the client and they get seen about 10:30 at night after along meet- ing and they’re up on the wall -its open to the public but the public rarely go and any- way its on the floor of the council chamber and the public gallery isso far away. You couldn’t really get agood look atit..... the councillors would just walk up and have a every one of the developments and so we could comment. Many end up going to a liberal socially conscious, or just straight job security or certain income and attract the dislike of professional colleagues, It is easy to see why many prefer the tedium and frustration of working through local government and trade union channels, passing resolutions land so on. But even here there are possibilities for more direct action. A small group of 5 or 6 local authority architects, if they stuck together when_ say, faced with redundancies, could start offering a service directly to the public from their office. If they won support from local working class organisations then their position would be a strong one. SLATE 7PAGE 8 SLATE 7PAGE 9 After a minor concession of one shop the federation began to lose hope and they decide to approach the councillors directly in order to ‘equip’ them with their sugges- tions The demand for a new kind of architectural service already exists. Tenants struggling against defective council housing, other tenants criti- cising or campaigning for involvement in design, user organisations wanting to participate in or control the production or rehabilitation of facilities, organisations in the Law Centre field do exist. So what we've got now is a new procedure whereby Director of housing aquires some land and says “yes, we'll have that” and then draws up his brief and we see the brief and comment on it. Then the architects “with grants, self-help labour job ~creation or their own limited funds, the list is endless. As the agency developes it can publish its experiences and describe its techniques as they differ from the conventional professional approach, work that will help other groups. Demands made on local authorities by community do a set of plans that they wouldn’t norm- ally draw, and these would come to the federation and we'd send them back Nearly al have some degree of involvement with the local state and in most cases their experience or opinion of the architect’s department causes them organisations to pay the agency's fees to look for independent advice. Based on his experience at Support, Tom Woolley argues the case for setting up alternative agencies running in parallel with the radicalbsatt> n of the public sector. Alternative services ‘While I would support a long term campaign for the democratisation of ‘public’ architectural services I feel that it is important that we should realise that alternative architectural agencies can be set up right away. Such agencies can provide a model for the way the ideas of a ‘public design service’ might work in practice. By functioning success fully this would also provide a precedent for those calling for reform in local government. The two things should go in parallel, but both have obvious pit falls. Operating inevitably in the private sector, the new architectural agency could easily become a ‘com _ ‘Mmunity architecture’ practice in the RIBA style, whilst those working for change in the public sector, involved in defence action against the cuts may see limited reforms as progress. Local State changes In fact the local state is continually changing and developing appropriate forms ‘of institution to carry out its role of reproducing the conditions of capitalist accumulation. In recent years it has stimulated participation, democratisation in some activities and financed community work and’ ‘radical’ professional agencies such as law centres. It is not inconceivable that changes in the provision of arch- itectural services will take place because of the widespread disatisfaction with the existing local authority and governmental forward commercial * community architecture. architect’. As yet there is a complete Such reforms imposed from above are lack of agencies which provide a unlikely to result in any shift of control of the process of the production of buildings to working class people or a ‘greater understanding of the oppressive ideologies of professionalism. They will make the local state more effective however. In my view,(having worked for four years in local authorities and been an active NALGO member) this is the likely Qutcome of attempts to change local authorities. Setting up independent agencies right now on the other hand continuing service backed by political committment to social cliange and are openly critical of the professional establishment. Setting up agencies The experience of the members of Support is that it is possible to set up such an agency. A year of preparatory discussions, a further year holds much greater potential for politicisation, changing the actual nature of the professional role and winning changes in the role of the local state AS A RESULT OF PRESSURE FROM ORDINARY PEOPLE of practice as a loose association to be followed by a more formal organisation, that can be controlled by the organisations which use its services The services are charged for on the basis of time, how much it costs to run the agency and the incomes of its members. With the removal of the fee scale there will be no barrier to this. The only problem remains the appropriate legal alternative to partnership so that the client/user organisations can own and control the agency. Precedents for this will not always be successful but will lead to a questioning of the adequacy of the local state’s own provisions. Trade non-unionised firms of consultants. Setting up such an agency would be hard work, ofcourse, with little look and that’s it, they had to decide from just a look whether they think its good or bad, and invariably they say yes- itlooks very pleasant lots of trees, gardens -yes we'll have that! The Federation got the plans of Fryant Way and after being superficially impressed with the carefully drawn plans they looked more closely and found major orientation and sunlight mistakes, ‘hankerchief’ sized gardens, no enclosed play areas, no shops with group car parking in front of the old peoples flats We had an architect in the federation and that was really valuable, if we didn’t have him they would just have said “for tech- nical reasons” or what have you..... having body who was aprofessional helping us to do what we wanted to do..... we were then able to draw up our alternatives which we were basically astreet layout with improved orientation and enclosed play areas, a shop and a community centre. We felt that the community centre would draw people together. We then confronted the counc- illors with our suggestions..... but their whole motivation, because they're from a different class perhaps -they just don’t think or feel the same way as people they’re designing for.....‘people must adjust”’..... well Ithought design was al about making something fit for the purpose your going to use it for.....and what they were saying was everybody’s got to fit into our design. whichis just bad design to me ! SLATE: How sympathetic were the Councillors ? Well we were arguing that they didn.t have enough opportunity to study the plans and we'd be able to help them: They took this as an insult.....we weren't saying that they weren't looking at them carefully we were saying that the whole system isn’t set up to allow them to do a proper job. oeae ==) ee fh The effective splitting of the public sec- tor housing effort has also had the effect of diffusingpopularcriticismofhousingpolicy. illustratedbytheinstanceof Workers in private sector building design and construction engaged in producing Government financed housing are finding that an increasing amount of their work is for housing associations. Giles Pebody charts the rise of the so-called voluntary sector in Honea and examines the motives of the makers of housing policy in encouraging this trend. Policies of consecutive governments, both Labour and Conservative, have now ensured the housing associations a promin- ent position among the housing providers in the 1970's. The contemporary signifi- cance of their activities may be illustrated by some simple statistics: in 1975-76 app- rovals for housing association developments were for a total of 45,000 new dwellings, representing over 30% of the national Local yened to encourage their undertaking work that local authorities were reluctant or un- able to do at the time. Intervention came in the form of special subsidies for ‘repair and conversion’ projects, at more fayour- able rates than the ‘discretionary grant’ then available to private householders and landlords for house improvement work. It was on the strength of this arrangement that many of the major urban housing ass- ociations were floated and began to grow. As the provision of low cost rented housing isunprofitable only old-established and well-endowed housing associations could undertake limited unsubsidised deve- lopment funded by capital accumulated from rents from old estates and from char- itable sources. For growth in the sector to occur on any scale, direct government sub- sidies were a necessity. Up til the 1972 Housing Finance Act the only way that housing associations, other than a small num- ber of ‘cost-rent’ and ‘co-ownership’ socie- by their intrinsically better landlords than local authorities, which have far more active tenants’ groups. The policy of the removal of housing ass- ociation activity from the sphere of political control was specifically furthered by the 1974 Housing Act which concluded an era during which formal relationships between housing associations and the local authori- ties in whose areas they work were progre- ssively severed by subsequent Acts. Local authority nomination rights, mandatory for association projects funded by them under previous legislation, are now determined in- formally for Housing Corporation schemes funded under the 1974 Act. The Corporation does, in practice, ensure that association h pond with local housing pol- icies, but again, only on an informal basis under its discretionary powers. essentially inadequate to satisfy tenant needs in terms of accommodation, finishes and imaintainance standards. a Authority programme of 155,000 new dwellings .This comparison, however, does not describe the rapid growth of housing ties, could receive development capital from to create a subsidy system tailored more The distancing of one whole sector of state-financed housing activity association housing stocks, which far out- strips that of local authority stocks. The latter increased by one new dwelling for every forty of the existing stocks during 1976 while, in the same period, the rate for housing associations was, on average, one per eight . Third Force grows The rapid growth in both the number and size of housing associations may be the government was through Local Author- ities, who were empowered to make 100% loans, passing on any subsidies they them- selves were entitled to. This chain of fund- ing clearly hampered the development of housing associations as a ‘third force’ in housing independent of local authorities. The 1972 Act extended the powers of the Housing Corporation to enable it to make loans to al classes of housing associations and provisions were made for the payment of subsidies directly by the Department of the Environment(DOE). The Housing Cor- directly to its needs. These proposals were incorporated al but wholesale into the Labour 1974 Housing Act, which is stil in force. The generous provisions of this act ensured the subsequent rapid growth of housing associations by embodying the principle that a once and for al grant would be paid by the government to make up the difference between a loan which could be raised on and payed off from rental income, minus expenses, and total capital cost on a project by project basis. This subsidy, known as the Housing Association Grant (HAG) was to be supplemented by a Reve- — mediate position between private develop- ment on the one hand and Local Authority public sector housing on the other. In one sense this description iscorrect and that is in the sense that housing associations com- bine public sector finance with private sec- tor management methods. It has clearly been in the interests of consecutive govern- ments to foster the private sector ideology and practices of the associations, as a way of depoliticising the question of housing provision. Although they use public funds, the popular image of housing associations intervention at the national, and especially the local, level isone of the principal characteristics of the housing association movement. The Housing Corporation isan executive arm of the Department of the Environment, and the management committees of housing associations rarely have tenant members and even more rarely are tenant representatives elected to them. The implication of this extended bureaucracy isthat itserves prefer- entially the interests of the providers of housing to those of its users or consumers, as it offers no means in fact, to meet the state’s housing needs as well as those of their tenants. These two will not always be in harmony. HOUSING PANACEA — poration in an executive capacity .The Cor- poration also controls applications for HAG for individual projects financed from its fundsandinterpretsbothcostlimitsfor HAGslaiddownbythegovernmentand -TheStatehasslowedthegrowthofgrass- standardsinhousingassociation design and improvement standards for new ciations were concerned, however, was the subsidy system which it set up. This treated housing association and local authority housing alike, and incorporated the ‘free- market’ assumption that low-cost housing could be provided by the market without the need for subsidy. It was held that rents for government-financed housing would rise sufficiently to cover costs after ten years and so the annual subsidy set up by the Act would be progressively phased out over that period. Few housing associations were prepared to undertake large scale dev- elopment against such an insecure back- ground. Subsidies By late 1973 the Conservative Govern- ment had been made aware of the damage that the 1972 Act had done to the ‘third force’ and had drafted proposed legislation stil increasing costs has been to traced directly to government endeavours toestablishandendowa ‘thirdforce’in poration,acentralgovernmentagency,had nueDeficitGrant(RDG)toprotecthousing isasprivatecharitiesorjustbenignprivate throughwhichusersneedscanbe housing which would represent a coalition of public and private sector interests. The mid-60'ssawtheassociationssingledout for special treatment for the first time. The early work of housing associations concen- trating in run down urban areas had shown them to be amenable to then progressive ideas in housing and the government inter- SLATE 7PAGE 10 been set up in 1964 specifically to foster the growth of cost-rent and co-ownership societies.Thechoiceofagovernmentage- ncy to fund housing associations ensured direct government control of their activi- ties. The almost disastrous shortcoming of the Tory 1972 Act, as far as housing asso- association accounts from the fact that both their income and their expenditure are largelydeterminedbyfactorsoutsidetheir control. Housing Corporation Parallel with the development of the landlords, and their direct relationship with the State through the Housing Corporation permits and them to develop corporatemanagement structuressimilarto those in private enterprise with no demo- cratic interference. As long as the associations continue to deliver the goods, and they re- ceive disproportionate assistance in this task, defenders of capital can point them articulated and accomodated This, coupled with the almost total depend of housing iati onstatefinance,haspushedtheminto the position of executors of government housing policy above al. Deliberately or not, and pure considerations of the accountability of public expenditure apart, the state has acquired the means of SATE SLATE SLATE 7PAGE 1 housing jations has been a expansion and growth in authority of the out as that the private sector has a major role to play in the provision of hous- ing. Such an assertion is, of course, contra- dictory but it does serve to obscure the ac- tual crisis of the adequacy of the State’s housing policies, and of the accountability of its makers. Criticism regulating a growing sector of public financed housing with litle or no democratic interference at any intermediate level, and hence the potential of managing it directly in the interests of capital. The mounting criticisms of housing associations in terms of the housing they provide, the tenant groups that their work favours and their management practices may be analysed in terms of their role in the state’s housing policy. This argument iswell Housing Corporation. The Corporation, whose powers had been increased in 1972 , was further strengthened in 1974 and char- ged with registering housing associations. Only registered associations are eligible for HAG and are required to satisfy certain re- quirements laid down by the Housing Cor- and rehabilitation projects. The Housing Corporation itself has grown into a substan- tial bureaucracy with a network of regional offices. It is accountable directly to central government by way of the DOE and enjoys extensive discretion in the way it orders its affairs and carries out its work. From its origins in nineteenth century philanthropy, the Voluntary Housing Move- ment has developed into amajor agency for the provision of housing financed by gover- nment funds to the extent that the descri- ption ‘voluntary” has al but lost its meaning The generous and specific provisions of the 1974 Housing Act have had the effect of making housing associations almost totally dependent on government funds and have created a new way for the direction of State subsidies and investment into housing, par- allel to and substantially independent of the local authorities. Since the 1974 Act there is evidence of some transfer of funds from local authority housing into housing association work, witness the fact that in 1970 of a total government capital invest- ment in housing of £2025m, £74m went to housing associations whereas it is pred- icted that in 1977 they will take up £484m of the £1925m available for i (constant prices) . rehabilitation work. The HAG limits for rehab projects were first established in connection with a technical brief from the Corporation, but have now remained constant in the face Governments have claimed that housing associations offer the best of both worlds, public and private, coining the phrase ‘third arm’ to describe what is seen as their inter- from democratic contro] or political The 1974 Housing Act was hailed (by the DoE itself) as a ‘new charter’ for housing associations, who would then be able to play ‘an extremely useful partin meeting housin, needs’ (9). A more searching analysis of the ‘part’ now played by housing associations must ask whose housing _ needs are being met, Part of their job is roots tenants’ action among highly organised local authority tenants’ groups by ‘hiving off quite a high proportion of its new ten- ants into the new form of tenanthood. Organisation among housing association ten- ants is notoriously weak, witness the fact that of the associations active in London only one tenth have any form of tenants’ association. This weakness has been explained revised technical brief incorporating by the geographical dispersal of housing ass- lower standards in mid-1977. The ociation properties and the newness of the majority of their developments ,rather than produce, in many cases, housing of at least two years’of rapid building cost inflation. Rather than raise the HAG limits the Corporation issued a effect of lowering the standards and erence ee ASSOCIATIONS- THE HOLLOW (as i neeTYPSNM Notes 2 1,2: derived from figures in Mary Smith’s ‘Guide to housing’, Housing Centre Trust, 1977. 3: Housing Subsidies Act 1967 s12. 4!Housing Finance Act 1972. 5: Housing Act 1974 s13. Critena issued by Housing Corp, Jan 75. 6: ‘Guide to housing’, p214. 7:Derived from figures in ‘Guide to housing’. 8: Dudley Savill, National Tenants Organisation, atarecent National Federation of Housing Associations conference. 9: DoE circular 170/74. —eee RED CITY Review of Red Bologna So little new building interrupts the lines of the arcaded streets that form the historic centre of Bologna that visitors might imagine themselves to be in a charmed city, somehow spared the attentions of the profit-hungry developer. Yet Bologna is the capital of one of Italy’s most presperous regions but also it is a city which for more than thirty consecutive years has had a communist majority The renowned success of policies towards the city’s historic centre is only one aspect of the the story told by the authors of “Red Bologna”, which catalogues the achievements of Bologna’s left-wing administrators. The book enthusiastically (perhaps excessively so) tells how each of the problems identified in the city is analysed in terms of the “class struggle” through an intricate procedure of research and neighbourhood debate, expert advice and consultation. The policies which result are typically simple to understand but difficult to implement as they are often in uncompromising conflict with big business interests and the central government in Rome, which has been dominated by the right since the fall of Mussolini. Bologna’s town planning policy is based on the principle of equal access for al of the city’s population to its facilities. The council sets out to encourage uniform development throughout the city in opposition to the centralising effect of the land market and profit-onientated development. This process of decentralisation is enforced by the adoption of low planning densities in the city centre and a “positive system” for listing building. Only listed buildings may be demolished -all of which, unsurprisingly, are modern ones. Even if it is dealt with first in this book, the building fabric of a city isonly one part of the factors that condition its social life. Equally -radical initiatives have been taken in health care, education, traffic planning and welfare of al kinds. The Bolognese communists come out of the book’s analysis well, due in some part to the sympathies of its authors, but also to the humanity and sound social reasoning that forms the basis of their attempts to redress the excesses of Italian capitalism. Italy is not a developed welfare state in the sense that we understand it in this country. Most of the business of securing a healthy and well-educated population is in the hands of the church, private charities and insurance schemes. On the one hand this means that the Bolognese receive little encouragement from the central government, but on the other it leaves them free to determine their own local approach to policy and the control of services in a way which acentralised welfare state rarely tolerates. Yet, although Bologna’s situation is contradictory and unique, the attempts and successes of its council to apply progressive ideas in a practical context are refreshing and a potent example. Max Jaggi, Roger Muller and Sil Schmid: Red Bologna: Readers and writers Publishing Cooperative: 207pp, illustrates: £1 95 NEW ‘PROFESSION’ Review of Urban Design Forum This year’s new paper on the left specialising in architecture and town planning is a potential heavyweight called Urban Design Forum which sets out in the words of its editors, to “create links between the scattered Organisations and individuals active in this undefinable arena of interests”. The arena is Urban Design, a term conjured by academics to describe the post graduate courses they are running for architects and the like. Besides an inevitable bevy of articles setting out to define that undefinable arena of interests the journal also features more valuable pieces on the interpretation of the urban environment and on the contemporary fragmented approach to the analysis of the city and an article by Bologna’s city architect (yes—they stil have onel ) Urban Design Forum is published by a bunch of students and lecturers at the joint centre for Urban Design at Oxford Polytechnic. It is worth a read. Beware those attempts to define the undefinable and note how most of the authors describe themselves as ‘urban designers’ and one throwaway line in the editorial reads “ As yet there is no urban design profession and there are few positions for urban designers” It al adds up to make this journal look like an attempt to establish the bona fides of yet another ‘profession’ complete with al the paraphenalia of the ‘undefinable’ in train to enhance the mystique essential to any professional group. Urban Design Forum: published occasionally from the Joint Centre for Urban Design Oxford Polytechnic Nol February 1978 64pp. £2 .00 + 20p postage poration in an executive capacity .The Cor- poration also controls applications for HAG for individual projects financed from its funds and interprets both cost limits for HAGs laid down by the government and design and improvement standards for new and rehabilitation projects. The Housing Corporation itself has grown into a substan- tial bureaucracy with a network of regional offices. It is accountable directly to central government by way of the DOE and enjoys extensive discretion in the way it orders its affairs and carries out its work. major role to play in the provision of hous- ing. Such an assertion is, of course, contra- dictory but it does serve to obscure the ac- tual crisis of the adequacy of the State’s housing policies, and of the accountability of its makers. Criticism The effective splitting of the public sec- tor housing effort has also had the effect of diffusing popular criticism of housing policy. The State has slowed the growth of grass- roots tenants’ action among highly organised local authority tenants’ groups by ‘hiving off quite a high proportion of its new ten- ants into the new form of tenanthood. Organisation among housing association ten- ants is notoriously weak, witness the fact that of the associations active in London only one tenth have any form of tenants’ association. This weakness has been explaine by the geographical dispersal of housing ass- financed housing with little or no democratic interference at any intermediate level, and hence the potential of managing it directly in the interests of capital. The mounting criticisms of housing associations in terms of the housing they provide, the tenant groups that their work favours and their management practices may be analysed in terms of their role in the state’s housing policy. This argument is well illustrated by the instance of standards in housing association rehabilitation work. The HAG limits for rehab projects were first established in connection with a technical brief from the Corporation, but have now remained constant in the face of at least two years’ of rapid building cost inflation. Rather than raise the HAG limits the Corporation issued a [ivtouwouldTikefboeamemberoftheNewArchitectureMovementfilintheformbeloawndsend} Notes 1,2:derived from figuresinMary to housing’. 8:Dudley Savill, National Tenants ofHousingAssociations’ it together with a cheque/postal order (payable to the New Architecture Movement) for £5.00( if you'reemployed)or£2.00(ifyou'rearestudent,claimantorOAP)toNAMat9,PolandStreet | London W.1. | NAME. | ADDRE | {| 1 representatives elected to them. ‘The implication of this extended bureaucracy isthat itserves prefer- entially the interests of the providers of housing to those of its users or consumers, as it offers no means through which users needs can be articulated and accomodated This,coupledwiththealmosttotal s If you would like to receive SLATE without joining NAM fil in the form below and send it together | withacheque/postalorder(payabletotheNew ArchitectureMovement )for£2.00toNAM at9, Poland Street, London W.1. | NAME |ADDRESS. ments to foster the private sector ideology and practices of the associations, as a way of depoliticising the question of housing provision. Although they use public funds, the popular image of housing associations isas private charities or just benign private landlords, and their direct relationship with theStatethroughtheHousingCorporation permits and them to develop those in private enterprise with no demo- cratic interference. As long as the associations all. Deliberately or not, and pure The generous and specific provisions of the 1974 Housing Act have had the effect of making housing associations almost totally dependent on government funds and have control was specifically furthered by the created a new way for the direction of State subsidies and investment into housing, par- allel to and substantially independent of the local authorities. Since the 1974 Act there is evidence of some transfer of funds from local authority housing into housing association work, witness the fact that in 1970 of a total government capital invest- ment in housing of £2025m, £74m went to housing associations whereas it is pred- icted that in 1977 they will take up £484m of the £1925m available for investment (constant prices) . 1974 Housing Act which concluded an era during which formal relationships between housing associations and the local authori- ties in whose areas they work were progre- ssively severed by subsequent Acts. Local authority nomination rights, mandatory for association projects funded by them under previous legislation, are now determined in- formally for Housing Corporation schemes funded under the 1974 Act. The Corporation does, in practice, ensure that association schemes correspond with local housing pol- icies, but again, only on an informal basis under its discretionary powers. The distancing of one whole sector of state-financed housing activity from democratic control or political intervention at the national, and especially the local, level isone of the principal characteristics of the housing association movement. The Housing Corporation isan executive arm of the Department of the Environment, and themanagement committeesofhousing The 1974 Housing Act was hailed (by the DoE itself) as a ‘new charter’ for housing associations, who would thenbe able to play ‘an extremely useful partin Governments have claimed that housing associations offer the best of both worlds, public and private, coining the phrase ‘third arm’ to describe what is seen as their inter- mediate position between private develop- ment on the one hand and Local Authority public sector housing on the other. In one sense this description iscorrect and that is in the sense that housing associations com- binepublicsectorfinancewithprivatesec- tor management methods. It has clearly associations rarely have tenant members beenintheinterestsofconsecutivegovern- andevenmorerarelyaretenant meeting housing needs’ (9). A more searching analysis of the “part” now played by housing associations must ask whose housing _ needs are being met. Part of their jo! is, depend of housing iati | corporate management structures similar to ‘on state finance, has pushed them into conference. 9: DoE circular continue to deliver the goods, and they re- ceive disproportionate assistance in this task, defenders of capital can point them considerations of the accountability of public expenditure apart, the state has acquired the means of outasevidencethattheprivatesectorhasa regulatingagrowingsectorofpublic From its origins in nineteenth century philanthropy, the Voluntary Housing Move- ment has developed into a major agency for ociation properties and the newness of the effect of lowering the standards and stil increasing costs has been to majority of their developments , rather than produce, in many cases, housing the provision of housing financed by gover- nment funds to the extent that the descri- ption ‘voluntary’ has al but lost its meaning local authorities, which have far more active tenant needs in terms of accommodation. by their intrinsically better landlords than essentially inadequate to satisfy tenants’ groups. The policy of the removal of housing ass- finishes and imaintainance standards. ociation activity from the sphere of political the position of executors of 170/74. SLATE SLATE SLATE 7PAGE 1 government housing policy above q. revised technical brief incorporating lower standards in mid-1977. The in fact, to meet the state’s housingneeds as well as those of their tenants. These two will not always be in harmony. REVIEWS housing associations has been aconsiderable expansion and growth in authority of the Housing Corporation. The Corporation, whose powers had been increased in 1972, was further strengthened in 1974 and char- ged with registering housing associations. Only registered associations are eligible for HAG and are required to satisfy certain re- quirements laid down by the Housing Cor- Smith’s ‘Guide to housing’, Housing tre Trust, 1977. SHae Subsidies Act 1967 s12. 4 Housing Finance Act 1972. _ 5! Housing Act 1974 s13. Criteria issued by Housing Corp, Jan Tas 6: ‘Guide to housing’, p214. _ 7Derived from figures in ‘Guide Organisation, atarecentNational Federati REVIEW This process of decentralisation is NEW ‘PROFESSION’ Review of Urban Design Forum This years new paper on the left specialising in architecture and town planning is a potential heavyweight called Urban Design Forum which sets out in the words of its editors, to “create links between the scattered organisations and individuals active in this undefinable arena of interests”. The arenaisUrbanDesign,atermconjuredby academics to describe the post grad courses they are running for architects and the like. Besides an inevitable bevy of articles setting out to define that undefinable arena of interests the journal also features more valuable pieces on the interpretation of the urban environment and on the contemporary fragmented approach to the analysis of the city and an article by Bologna’s city architect (yes—they stil have onel ) Urban Design Forum is published by a bunch of students and lecturers at the joint centre for Urban Design at Oxford the meeting as a whole seemed to agree that DLO’s are a y pl to local authority architecture depart ments and are therefore an essential part of the PDS argument. On the running of the conference, the view was expressed by one wit that you can eat halfa packet of biscuits but you can’t eat a whole wheatfield! The conference will need to be very crisp as theareacoveredissolarge.Itishoped that the conference will spawn many different groups to work on the different aspects of the argument to develop the whole idea much further. With that aim in mind, we hope to see many of you at the conference -May 6th 10.30a.m.attheUCATT hall,GoughSt., Birmingh The agenda includ John Murray on the role of architects’ departments, Tom Bulley on his experience in Hackney, Pete Carter on DLO’s and Howard Smith on the views of the main political parties. PDS Group April 1978 CLOSE ENCOUNTERS COF THE WORST KIND) ‘tH RED CITY enforced by the adoption of low planning densities in the city centre and a “positive system’ for listing building. Only listed buildings may be demolished -all of which, unsurprisingly, are modern ones. Even if it is dealt with first in this book, the building fabricofa city is only one part of the factors that condition its social life. Equally -radical initiatives have been taken in health care, education, traffic planning andwelfareofalkinds.TheBolognese communists come out of the book’s analysis well, due in some part to the sympathies of its authors, but also to the humanity and sound social reasoning that forms the basisof their attempts to redress the excesses of Italian capitalism. Italy is not a developed welfare state in the sense that we understand it in this country. Most of the business of securing a healthy and well-educated population is in the hands of the church, private charities and insurance schemes. Review of Red Bologna So little new building interrupts the lines of the arcaded streets that form the historic centre of Bologna that visitors might imagine themselves to be ina charmed city, somehow spared the attentions of the profit-hungry developer Yet Bologna is the capital of one of Italy’s most presperous regions but also it is a city which for more than thirty consecutiveyearshashadacommunist majority The renowned success of policies towards the city’s historic centre is only one aspect of the the story told by the authors of “Red Bologna’, which catalogues the achievements of Bologna’s left-wing administrators. The book enthusiastically (perhaps excessively so) tells how each of the problems identified in the city is analysed in terms of the “class struggle” through an intricate procedure of research and neighbourhood debate, expert THIS LOOKS LIKE A GooD health and education requirements”, adviceandconsultation.Thepolicies Ontheonehandthismeansthatthe Polytechnic.Itiswortharead.Beware andalsothat“thefightfor(local Your Orne.seesAND whichresultaretypicallysimpleto Bolognesereceivelittleencouragement thoseattemptstodefinetheundefinable understandbutdifficulttoimplement fromthecentralgovernment,buton andnotehowmostoftheauthors abovealademocraticfight”. Reg) 7?ve sa, By i as they are often in uncompromising conflict with big business interests and the central government in Rome, which has been dominated by the right since the fall of Mussolini. Bologna’s town planning policy is based on the principle of equal ac SS for al of the city’s population to its facilities. The council sets out to encourage uniform development throughout the city in opposition to the centralising effect of the land market and profit-orientated development. the other it leaves them free to determine their own local approach to policy and the control of services in a way which acentralised welfare state rarely tolerates. Yet, although Bologna’s situation is contradictory and unique, theattemptsandsuccessesofits council to apply progressive ideas in a practical context are refreshing and a potent example. MaxJaggi,RogerMullerandSilSchmid: Red Bologna: Readers and writers Publishing Cooperative: 207pp, illustrates: £1 95 describe themselves as ‘urban designers’ and one throwaway line in the editorial reads “ As yet there is no urban design profession and there are few positions for urban designers” It all adds up to make this journal look like an attempt to establish the bona fides of yet another‘profession’ completewithal the paraphenalia of the ‘undefinable’ in train to enhance the mystique essential to any professional group. Urban Design Forum: published occasionally from the Joint Centre for Urban Design Oxford Polytechnic Nol February 1978 64pp. £2 .00 + 20p postage If Cynthia Coburn’s conclusions come dangerously close to “the rev- olution isthe only answer”, then Dave Green’s account of the PDS’s work smacks of an unthinking adoption of a ready-made ideology. The danger is thatunlessthePDSConferencecan convince the many who have experienced the unquestionable ineptitude and occasional brutality of local authority management that they are, in fact, a valid and potentially fruitful subject for discrete action by NAM, then it will fail and do much damage to NAM in the process. The danger isperhaps best avoided by promoting an understanding of the localauthority’sroleinastatewhich promotes the interests of Capital ahead of those of the majority of the population (as Douglas Smith attempted to show in SLATE 4) and then collectively deter- mining which of its functions are worth preserving and which need to be eliminated or drastically changed. In short, more thought, and less politicking about words like “democratic” until we know what they mean. Giles Pebody c/o Levitt Bernstein Associates 30 Oval Rd London NWI T SLATE 7PAGE 12 SLATE 7PAGE 15 SS [itu would Tikefboe amemberof theNew Architecture Movement filintheformbelow andsend | AT LEAST it together with a cheque/postal order (payable to the New Architecture Movement) for £5.00 ( if | you'reemployed)or£2.00(ifyou'rearestudent,claimantorOAP)toNAM at9,PolandStreet | London W.1. | | NAME | \A | |IfyouwouldliketoreceiveSLATEwithoutjoiningNAM filintheformbelowandsendittogether| with a cheque/postal onder (payable to the New Architecture Movement )for £2.00 to NAM at 9, Poland Street, London W.1. | NAME. le through which the majority of people can exert demands and gain access to. resourcesnecessaryfortheirhousing, PLANTOEBUTILD Zs) authority) architecture departments is 17 PLACE, SiR! | <)} MEANWHILE NAM H.@. HAS PICKEDUPTHEDANGERSIGNALS.|gy70)YouR TI|1| Houses every- |Ne=THE | \ |RIBATS HAVE|_$E-0 Arrived! > eile \oorOFYOuR | HANDS — IWE HAVE | [GREAT | IKNONLEDAE.) 5 oS TYRANNY D | EVIL I) attEE | | | | | | L | | | | te ¥, : THE GREEN Ban Action Committee has made a full planning application to Birmingham City Council for the conversion of the Victoria Square Post Office to a sports and leisure centre (see also SLATE 4). Birmingham's Victoria Square Post Office has been under the threat of demolition, although listed by the DoE as a building »farchitectural and historic merit. Yet a plan has been approved by the Council which would allow developers to knock it down and build in its place a massive ymplexofhigh-riseofficeblockswhen 2millionsquarefeetofofficespaceare already unlet in the City Centre G.B.A.C.’s proposals to convert the Post Office complex to a leisure centre would do much more than simply meet eisure needs (where Birmingham fails surprisingly badly). It would bring life the heart of the city in the evenings indatweekends. Buildingworkershave been forced onto the dole by cuts in public spending that have brough the construction industry almost to a stand- stil. The Post Office scheme would pro- vide some of them with labour-intensive work, requiring far more skill than work Work on the conversion could involve young people leaving school and unable to find jobs. Funded by the Manpower Services Commission, they could be given training in many building crafts and in addition would be creating something of direct benefit to themselves as future users. The organisers of the campaign are not simply another conservation group, but aim to encourage working people to have a say in the kind of jobs they do, because these have a direct effect on the commu- nity and the environment. A Green Ban AT n most new building SLATE 7PAGE 16 is the action taken by groups of workers who refuse to work on socially or environ- mentallyharmfulprojects.TheCommittee massivepee suppOrEand believesthatonlybycreatingabroad alliance involving ordinary working people as well as dedicated conservationists, can effective action be taken to protect and improve the environment. The Committee’s proposals (with tech- interest SLATE8willbedevotedto the subject of women and architecture. The issue will discuss how the male stranglehold over architecture can be broken, with a resulting architecture which ismore responsive and responsible. DON’T DELAY — ORDER YOUR COPY NOW. 25p only! Letters, articles, ideas and helpers for the issye will also be welcome: contact SLATE at 9 Poland St, London W1. In the next SLATE -SLATE 8 WOMEN AND ARCHITECTURE The NAM women’s group organised a meeting in London in April. Thirty- five women, mostly previously unknown to the Movement, attended. As a result of this evidence of SLATE may bea very slick looking paper but we need money fast! Please send us your donations now! Cheques made payable to SLATE to 9 Poland Street, W1. 5 GBAC sends PO plans to Council Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource NAM SLATE Group 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 May/June 1978 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/589798156f4f0c19ff244db33dd23b42.pdf d7780dcdebd717c5538e20d97fa34d0f 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 SLATE Description An account of the resource To help promote its work and reduce dependence on the established professional press, NAM created its own newspaper SLATE. The editorial group met bi-monthly to gather together latest events, activities and ideas emerging from radical critiques and challenges to the established order of architectural practice and education. The content of each edition was collated, and cut-and-pasted into layouts of the magazine which typically ran from 16 to 28 pages. Each edition included a brilliant cartoon by Andrew Brown who emerged as a clever graphic artist synthesising NAM's radical ethics. SLATE's production ran to 17 issues in total. The SLATE Group also produced occasional annual calendars, of which three survive 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 SLATE 6 Subject The topic of the resource Education Special Description An account of the resource fk 31a A’S os ALE "62" THERADICALPAPERONARCHITECTUREANDTHEBUILDINGINDUSTRYD5 '78) theadventuresof 3yNeioa iss DOUGLAS ¢thetwofresherseosceeccee DOUGLAS WILL CATCH IT 1B PROF, MARKUS SEES NIM READING THAT SLATE, W. C. . BUYOnE le,V STILL|WISHIHAD ENOVEN CASH TO —~{ =_v= UsHALL! spe rh ae AND LOTS MORE WHoops'twe }cROmas! my WIND HAS SLATE'S FLOWN, WAFTEO ITMY TRUTN FULLY SAY { MAVEN'T GOT OHO!WHATSALLTINTS WAYBLESSMySouk/THISAO A FORBIODEN RADICAL RAG ABO? 11k CONFISCATE IT. ARCHITECTURE MMOEMENT MAS SOME VEAY @00O /OFAS AFTER ALL! { MWST SET A SUBSCAIPTION FOR [THE L/GRARY AND MYSELF I! al i for writing on dofsoft~(clean henco S fe, fern. of (1) n. {anp. ft, pree.} SLATE ISTHE NEWSLETTER OF THE NEW ARCHITECTURE MOVEMENT, published bi-monthly and edited by the Movement’s Publications Group. News and features of broad interest to workers in the profession, the building industryandtothegeneralpublicareinc- luded to stimulate general debate on a wide rar e of issues and to bring the Movement’s views and activities to the attention of the largest possible readership REPRESENTATIVES A network of 30 representatives has been tup throughout schools and large prac- al over the country. The only comm- itment of each representative will be to receive 5 copiesof SLATE every two months and to try to sell 4 of them, return- ing £1.00 to SLATE Al this should help SLATE acheive a far wider circulation and become more truly representative of the views of rad- icals concerned with the industry and the environment WORK ON SLATE SLATE needs more workers, more 57 members of the staff have already confirmed their interest in voluntary redundancy, and there has been “natural wastage”. But another 40 architects, 37 QSs and some engineers are expected to be out ofa job by the summer. Atthesame timetheToriesaretrying to reduce the GLC’s housebuilding pro- gramme by about half, to 2000a year. And all of these will be in inner London areas of existing stress, especially in housing. Gone isthe policy of trying to spread the housing problem between the deprived inner areas and the prosperous outer London suburbs. But according to architects within the department it seems unlikely that theTorieswillachievethescaleofrun- down at the rate they want. For the depleted workforce isalready having problems in meeting existing commitments. Working Party secretary Charles McKean to theArchitectsJournalinwhichheaccused 1200thisyear.Evenschemesatthetender NAM SWEEPS BOARD IN ARCUK POLL Those who fear that the NAM members writers , more ideas and more reps in order toproduceabetter,largerandcheaper ==————S=S==S=a_=_=_=_=== newsletter. If you would like to work for SLATE; become a rep., join the group, send in articles or suggest topics it should cbver then contact us soon Signed by the Society’s Honorary concernwillincludevirtuallyno ofanaggressivelycompetitivefirm = SecretaryHughKrallithasbeensentto The copy deadline for the next issue is Friday 24th March 1978 SLATE ispublished by the Publications Group of the NEW ARCHITECTURE MOVEMENT, 9 Poland St., London W.1. (Letters should be addressed to the Publications Group) Printed by Islington Community Press, 2a St Pauls Rd., London, N1. Trade Distribution by Publications Distribution Cooperative, 27, Clerken- well Court, London, E.C.2 Tories’ knife poised over GLC architects speakers who are personally and actually involved in the inner city crisis and will be punctuated by slide shows glorifying recent formalist architectural triumphs. SLATE has acquired the early committee papers, which show that once again the conference isbeing planned virtually exclusively by architects for architects- the blind leading the blind. And far from being about the inner cities it will end up being about architects, too. The conference isplanned for agood image-building grass-roots venue, Liverpool. But the only local speaker yet proposed is the city’s bishop - no sign of even a trades-unionist, social worker or local industrialist, let alone a local resident. And between sanctimonious breast- beating sessions planned on such subjects marketing unnecessarily decorative furniture. Onasecond day devoted to housing the light relief- or reminder of what the organiser’s( and probably the delegates) persist in believing is the real business of architecture -isprovided by snaps of World’s End and Marquis Road, Self-help or co-operative housing, although on the agenda and rather more relevant to the conference’s nominal subject matter - tend not to be as pleasing to the eye. Editors of twoarchitectural journals, Monica Pidgeon and Peter Murray, have been involved withthe conference plans, presumably to ensure that even ifthe conference doesn’t convince the outside world of the architect’s social conscience it will at least sel the RIBA’s to the profession, But there’s another journal that won't be taken in -this one- al RIBA Council members. It represents, says Mr Krall, the conclusions of the Society’s Executive Committee on “the relative roles of the RIBA and ARCUK”. Other conclusions of this surprisingly radical paper are: “that responsibility for conduct, edu- cation, conditions of engagement, building contracts and scales of fees should be transferred to ARCUK; “that the RIBA should revert to its proper function asa learned society; “that the subscription rate should be altered accordingly, say £100 pa for ARCUK and £3 pa for the RIBA; “that any necessary legislation should be sought to this end.” In effect, the Society is agreeing with the first stage of reforms suggested by NAM for reconstituting the structure of the SLATE 6PAGE 2 SLATE 6PAGE 3 NEWSNEWSNIEW THE RIBA is ina state of confusion about how it should deal with the proposal thatlistsoflocalarchitects should be made ayailable at Citizens’ Advice Bureaux. This confusion came to light in a statement from RIBA Community Architecture Alan Lipman John Mu, Tore sep) 498 NAM of delaying the resolution of whether such a list would contravene the architects’ Code of Conduct. As members of the Architects Registration CounciloftheK (ARCUK ),someNAM members would have a say in the debate, but can hardly be accused of delaying tactics. when the ARCUK sub committee due to discuss the implications of the ‘lists’ was postponed by its chairman, himself an RIBA member. The meeting, due to be held on March 2nd, was postponed, according to the committee’s chairman, because “there was not enough business on the agenda”. The Slater writes: Either the RIBA’s lefthand,ifithasone,doesn’tknow what its right hand is doing or Mr McKean isbeing plain mischeyious. Which isthe more likely Iwould hestitate to guess, Stage are having to be suspended, due to a combination of changes in policy and problems with staffing. And things could get worse. Briefs are currentlyavailableforonly400houses for 1981, which should by now be at the drawing board if they are to stand a chance ofbeingcompletedontime. Staff at the department are very worried about their future and thatofthe department. But militant action has been more prominent among the housing managers who are also affected -by the Tories’ new policy of transferring management responsibility to the London Boroughs. They are operating an overtime ban and refusing to cover for unfilledvacanciesinprotest. But staff action is having little effect. The Tories have refused or ignored representations with the staff. They have, however,justacceptedthatthe fundamental four-division structure of the department must remain if confusion isnot to deteriorate into chaos. The irony of the whole situation is that the Tories have recently appointed Sir Frank Marshall to prepare a review of what the proper functions of the GLC should be. But they seem to have decided for him what sortof housing responsibil- 402 397 371 areanxioustoensurethatnewNAMrep- resentatives are returned at the next election and that the Movement as a whole should have a greater say in the selection procedure. W London RIBA slams RIBA! “ARCUK, not the RIBA, should be the mouthpiece of the architectural profession.” This view comes. astonishingly, in a paper not from NAM but from the West London Architectural Society, itselfa branch of the London Region of the RIBA. And because of al the disruptions, the Bop ,, lley Robi, Mipy 490 464 V4 level of housing starts could plummet to Not elected JohnAllen Mike Purdy David Robson ities itshould have. ° Typesetting by the Publications Group and Maggie Stack. Opinions expressed in SLATE are not ; necessarily the policy of the New Archi- tecture Movement unless stated to be so. NAM CANDIDATES haveswept the poll in the elections for the unattached seats on the ARCUK Council. Out of the nine available seats, eight were taken by NAM-affiliated candidates. Only one NAM candidate failed to be elected and, significantly, only he omitted to de- clare his involvement in NAM on the polling sheet. With votes cast up by 35%, this is a mass- iveaffirmationofsupportbyunattached architects in NAM policies. NAM can truly claim to represent the views of unattached architects on ARCUK. The only non-NAM candidate to be elected, Robin Phillips, has seven years standingontheARCUKcommittee,andis therefore thought to have been able to count on considerable personal support. Votescastwereasfollows: Elected areformingacartelonARCUK similarto that of the existing bodies may be pleased to learh that many of the NAM members RIBA innercity as-accordingtothecommitteepapers- the ‘Imageofthe City’ and ‘Working conference sop planned THE RIBA isplanningitsannual conference for 1978 on the theme of regenerating the inner cities, but this conspicuous display of public Communities’, there will be slide shows of buildings famed for their contribution to the inner city crisis as Foster’s Willis Faber, Piano and Rogers’ Centre Pompidou, and Farrell and Grimshaw’s Hermann Miller Factory, The only contribution these buildings have made to the inner city crisis is to helpperpetuateby,respectively,glorifying the imageof a firm of insurance brokers, by mystifying and formalising ‘Parisian’ culture, and by prettying up a factory 568 eran y 524 ne :aid RoebTM tanTod Ken Thorpe ck 522% 507 518 |scoop! NEYSNEWSNEWSNEWS) 2) NAM notguilty on RIBA-CABx charge (CIL: THE NEW TORY administration | in the Greater London Council isproceeding apace with itsplans to dismember the GLC Architects Department, and with it the GLC house-building programme. This time last year the Department employedastaff of 2855. But the Tories want to see this reduced to 2507 by this March. profession. Itundoubtedly accepts one tenet of NAM policy; that the RIBA remains, quite without justification, the power behind the ARCUK throne. NAM should beware, however, of deriving too much comfort from this apparent-if unlikely -source of support. For the motives of the West London Architectural Society do not appear entirely altruistic. “We see this as the only solution to the present anomaly as a result of which the profession isdefecting from member- ship of the RIBA while retaining membership of ARCUK and by so doing obtaining the benefits of the Architects’ Registration Act without paying the true cost,”’ they say of their proposals. In other words, members of the Society resent their hefty RIBA subscriptions being used to pay for services from which unattached members are deriving the benefit without payment. Looks like a touch of the old enlightened self- interest from our friends in the RIBA. RIBA insecond SAC conference volte-face The January Council meeting of the RIBA reversed its earlier decision and voted to send an official RIBA delegation to the Schools of Architecture Conference after al, inthelatestinstallmentofthiswillthey/ won't they cliffhanger. By the time Slate 5S had gone to press the rapidly changing situation concerning the RIBA/SAC Conference on education had altered in that the RIBA withdrew its off- icial report, but yet again the RIBA’s pen- dulum swung the other way. The background to this turn-around was that SAC(or at least its chairman Tom Markus) expressed the view that the RIBA had lost faith in SAC and was cold should- ering the Conference, because of its with- drawal. Inasurprisingly liberally-toned statement to Council, Gordon Graham explained that the RIBA had withdrawn because of misgivings about the organisa- tion of the conference, and that he would like to have seen a wider representation of views, even to the extreme of inviting NAM(shock, horror), adding that their withdrawal from the conference was in no way a condemnation of it. One would SLATE 6PAGE 4 ARCUK’s callousness aroused shock reactions among architects, who wrote in their scores registering their disapp roval. Eventually ARCUK Registrar Kenneth Forder said that the offending shares had been sold because they showed a good quick profit on the Stock Exchange. Yet the surrounding events make such a cosy account of the reasons for sale somewhat improbable. For just before Forder’s announcement the RIBA President Gordon Graham revealed that the Institute had sold its shares in South Africa. The RIBA does not appear to have evenattemptedtocoveritsactions with a smokescreen of philanthropy - and even if it had done no-one would } have believed it. For on what seems ! to have been the same day as the i Institute said it would sel its South African shares and examine its invest- ment portfolio, the Nigerian Gove ment announced that it would take a dim view of construction interests with political involvements with which it does not approve. Nigeria is of course to be the location of the next Arab-type construction boom, and al self-respecting speculating interests -including, itwould appear, the RIBA -got the message long ago that it was likely to generate more construction royalties than South Africa in the foreseeable future. Henceforth, the Nigerian Government has made it plain, it is calling the tunes for European construction interests to dance to. It does not appear unlikely that ARCUK as well as the RIBA (and thanks, maybe, to a tip-off?) got the message that, far from investments in South Africa being goodfinancialsense,theycouldturn out to be just the opposite. But where as the decision to buy shares appears to need ARCUK Council approval, the decision to sel can, apparently, be made by the Registrar. Constitutional? There is no doubt that a large number of architects were surprised to find ARCUK buying shares at al, let alone in South Africa. Why, they asked them selves, should a registration body specu late on the Stock Exchange with their money? And a large question mark looms over the involvement of the new Registrar Kenneth Forder in the whole affair. As if having been a magistrate in Rhodesia does not sufficiently discredit his credentials for the ARCUK job in the first place -not to mention suggest a personal disposition towards the South Africa affair - he seems to have been caught with his trousers down in the political climate in Southern Africa and Vorster’s continuing relentless handling of internal political dissent. Indeed, so well are South African shares doing that it is said that, rather than selling, stockbrokers Hill Samuel actually advised the RIBA to invest more in South Africa only a matter of a week before the Nigerian Government put paid to al that. The Financial Times Wee JUSTRIALS—Continued It fed Dt! eres “| Xe ARCUK and s. Africa the unanswered questions Whilst it appears that Mr Forder has attempted to gloss over this remark in private, he does not appear to have attempted to redress it in public. Which rather implies that he stil agrees with it. One savage irony of the affair is that, by and large, South African investments are indeed showing well on the Stock Exchange, due to the improvement 140 17,0] 29] 69 | 37 460 2 42/77 |% 6 3.8)13.7] 19] 43 | 30 3 3,614.0] 20] 36 | 2% a3 O.8)1 85/144 | 68 220 35{18) 24] S72] 33 Oe Va DEMOCRATIC DESIGN A New Role for the Local Authority Architect? CONFERENCE Birmingham May 6th 1978 ane ARCUK may havesolditscon- troversial shares in South Africa, but several consequential issues remain unresolved. The story so far: at the last meeting of ARCUK the unattached representa- tives were horrified to find, in the financial small print, the proposal that the Council should buy £158.10p worth of shares in Consolidated Gold Fields, a firm celebrated for bringing the prac- tice of ‘separate development’ to unfor- seen depths. The unattached group sought to Oppose the proposal on moral grounds, but were astonished to find their motion defeated by 26 to 7, with 13 abstentions. ARCUK Council members made it plain in debate that they con- sidered sound business sense beyond moral considerations.(See Slate 5 for a fuller report. - How can the local authority architectural worker influence office policy? -Is the present pervasive sense of remote- ness and powerlessness inevitable? -Are local authority architects’ departments second-rate versions of private practice? -Are building work departments similarly pale counterparts of the private sector? -Where do these ideas come from and why do they presist? What is the evidence? -Are local authorities apotentially radical structure through which architects can work for the public interest? - What personal experience of directly working to briefs prepared by local organisations can public architects share? -What new structures and methods of work should be considered? These are some of the questions which we will be consideringat the first NAM Public Design Service conference in Vay. For further information and application forms write to: s. | 53 - il SOUTHAFRICANS Ba 105 = | 47} 30, 370 1.3) 46] s9%| se? 107 t162.805|64 203 10. S| 47 |2 50 22/140) 3.2145 [iC “a 3.4) 67] 44] 62 SD I. 14145] 49/171 109 72 187 TEXTILES [12 1st Scene of SLATE'S first experience of censorship — NAM'’s stand at last November's Interbuild exhibition picture, John Allan \AlliedTextile| 67 28|2341201 © *rhine Per 7 VSNIEWS The Secretary PDS Group NAM 9 Poland St London W1 SLATE 6PAGE 5 NEWSNEWSNEWSNEWS] SNEWS ONE have thought that any Schools of Archi- tecture Council that valued independence would have jumped at this chance todis- cuss education freely, but the SAC-primed council members and RIBA education hardliners moved that the RIBA send an official delegation and only the two student members voted against. So the slim chance of a wide-ranging and uninhibited discussion at this important conference disappeared. In fact, judging by by SAC’s attitude to the issue from the outset, it was never there at al. Over remarks in a trade press interview before he even took office. Mr Forder said he thought the un- attached architects ‘misguided’ in their attempt to attack the decision to buy. Regardless of the rights and wrongs of his comment (on which further comment isunnecessary) and his credentials at the time to judge the issue at al, the question was quickly picked up as to precisely what right he had to pass opinion on the matter in his profess— ional capacity whatever, After al Mr Forder is paid to serve the wishes of the Council. His job will prove rather difficult - or he will find it rather difficult to do his job - if he intends to enter into controversies within the profession. Sez The RIBA The RIBA’s education policy is formulated by its Education and Practice Committee (EPEC). This committee of seventeen people, which includes five heads of schools and two students, receives reports, papers and representations from individuals, special conferences (such as Oxford in 1958) and from theteneducationalcommittees responsible to EPEC. These committees cover the Visiting Board, the pattern of courses, practical training and Part 3, European Affairs and Research Steering. There is also an EPEC Steering Committee which (presumably) decides thegeneraldirectionof EPEC’s policy. This is made up of six people; Wells-Thorpe (Chairman of EPEC), Kenneth Campbell, Andrew Derbyshire (of advertising and monopolies fame), Bob Maguire (well-known architect and headofOxford Polyschool),Tom Markus (Chairman of SAC and head of Strathclyde school), Ken Martin (head of Liverpool Poly school). Recommendations from EPEC go to Council where, if agreed, become policy, and are put into effect by EPEC and its committees. The visiting board and the pattern of courses are the most important of the EPEC committees. The latter advises on the changes and addition to existing courses or totally new courses and decides if the RIBA is to recognise these. It is made up of the EPEC steering committee plus two members of ARCUK’s Board of Education (also RIBA members). The visiting board is a pool of twenty or so RIBA members, six of whom visiteachschooleveryfive years (and, increasingly, every two years after for a ‘checkup’). One of the six is from the region in which SLATE 6PAGE 6 the school issituated, one represents ARCUK and a school can request a student member too. At the school theyinspectwork,talktothehead, staff and students and snoop around generally. The end result is a corporate view of the board in the form of aconfidential report to the head of school, which makes recommendations on standards and conditions, and a recommendation to theRIBAonwhetherrecognition should be continued or not. The visiting board holds the same power over existing courses as the pattern of courses holds over new. or altered ones. Apart from recommendations, their weapon is the refusal to recognise a course. RIBA recognitionmeansthatacoursegives exemption from the RiBA’s Part I and Part Il examinations which have to be passed in order to take Part Il and become an ARCUK-registered architect. As an unrecognised course isprettyuselessintermsof‘entry into the profession’, by withdrawing recognition from a school or threatening to do this the RIBA can force the school to alter its course or face closure, although some schools (Hull, for instance) have resisted this pressure and survived to be returned to the f6ld. Limits to control The RIBA’s control is, however, strictly limited to some extent by the strength of the educational institutions. For instance, if the RIBA were to withdraw recognition from, or recommend a reduction of intake to, a university course it would be jumped on by the University Grants Council and university authorities, as any reduction innumberswouldreducethemoney going into the university and cause redundancies among the staff. The RIBA has been known to capitulate under such circumstances. But outside these restrictions by large institutions, the RIBA thas fairly comprehensive control. It argues thatinfactitsstandardsareeasily reached by the schools, and that outside the standards issue the school has a free hand. The point is, however, that the RIBA’s standards, due to its restricted view of the architects’ profession, are not necessarily those which are to the good of the profession orthecommunity asawhole. Further, upholding the RIBA’s standards can infer changes of anything from intake policy, to course content, to final examinations. It is, however, worth noting that because theRIBA’sreportisconfidentialitis easy for a school to blame the RIBA for restricting courses when it is in fact due to the school’s (or its head’s) lack of commitment. The RIBA policy Among present RIBA concerns the ‘size of the profession’ study is probably of most import and concern to radicals and educators. This study was written by Kenneth Campbell and Suggests various ways of reducing the size of the profession by reducing the numbers in education. These include ‘culling’ (ie booting out) after Part Iby imposing stricter standards for entry to Part I. This would leave students with a useless first degree, but was supported by RIBA regions and, although initially rejected by the RIBA, is rumoured soon to be put into effect by some schools. Tougher standards to be introduced by visiting boards and closer control of education by the RIBA were also proposed and supported by the Regions. The effect ofthisoneducationinprogressive courses in particluar is obvious, and althoughtheRIBAhasnotactedonthis as yet, stil stands as a proposal. The one proposal suggested by the RIBA and already put into effect by the Strathclyde school (Tom Markus) is to reduce the numbers entering schools from the sixth form. Without going into any detail, any reduction in numbers has seriousimplicationsforeducation.Itwill mean the sacking of staff and reduction of resources available to schools, probably the withdrawal of recognition from and closure of the more radical and interesting schools, and give the RIBA greater control over the content of courses. The overall effect will be to limit the rangeandchoiceof educati ilabl to students, and an even more select elite actually becoming architects. This demonstrates the RIBA’s blinkered approach to education, in that rather than attempt to expand the roleofthearchitectintomoresocially us¢ful areas, it merely seeks to reduce numbers, ostensibly to protect the salaried architect, but in tact to preserve the status and position of the principal. ARCUK and SAC The Architects’ Registration Council of the UK and the Schoolosf Architecture Conference are the other two bodies concerned with architectural education. SAC isabody set up seven years ago to offer a corporate view of the schools of architecture regarding educational policy. Itismade upofone representative of the students, one of the staff and the head of each of the thirty-eight schools, with an executive of seven members of each group (staff, students, heads). Itholdsannualconferencesand regional meetings. SACpridesitselfonitsdemocratic nature, theoretically representing staff, students and heads equally. In practice it does not quite work out like that, as there isatendency for staff to vote with their head of school (job security before principles!), for students to be disorganised and somewhat inarticulate, andfortheheadsofschooltohave somewhat greater influence within the RIBA due to their presence on EPEC and council. SAC has had a stormy relationship with the RIBA despite the heads’ influence. At the 1976 conference the students proposed that SAC should b a i ber ofARCUK and commit itself to returning control of education to that body. This was narrowly defeated, but it was agreed to set up a working party to investigate the education implications of the RIBA/ ARCUK setup. Unfortunately, the students have become noticeably less radical since then and the issue has dribbled away. A severe dent to the SAC’s credibilty came when despite the student body’s rejectionof the RIBA’s offer of representation on the visiting board, none of the SAC members said a word when the RIBA decided to find its own students by Screening and interviews. ARCUK, in the form of its Board of Education, ismerely arubber stamp for _the RIBA’s education policy. The situation is so farcical that the visiting board's pool of RIBA members “also includes members of ARCUK”(quote from EPEC document). So members who represented the RIBA on one visiting board can, as necessary, represent ARCUK on the next. To quote fror’ the SAC working party report previously mentioned (by John Frazer) “it isclear that the delegation of responsibility for architectural education from ARCUK to the RIBA was in defiance of the Architects’ Registration Acts. Itiscertainly oh andpossiblyinbreachofthelaw. jaw”. Action forNAM and individuals Ona political level, NAM’s strategy of seeking to achieve control of the profession by a democratic ARCUK obviously encompasses education. But asyetNAM hasnoalternativeeducation policy to offer as a co-ordinator of opposition to existing forms of education. This has been exposed by frantic efforts to organise some response to the forthcoming SAC conference, which has shown thata rational policy can only be achicved by research into the motivesandreasonsbehindourpresent system, resulting in a coherent programme and plan of action. This must be considered the first priority of the education group. For individuals, it is worth rememberingthatyoucanfindout your SAC reps are and let them know your opinions, If there is no SAC rep, and no established from of electing one. organise representation through any school society that exists or, at worst, call yourself the SAC rep and let the EDUCATING ARCHIE CONTACTS NAM Education Group: Hugo Hinsley 01 251 0274 RIBA Student reps: Judi Loach, 25A Bolton Gdns, London SWS 01 373 2763 Dave Breakell, c/o 173 Lozells Rd, B'ham B19 1HS SAC (general): c/o Dept Architecture & Bldg Science, Strathclyde Univ, 131 Rottenrow, Glasgow G4 ONE 041 552 4400 x3001 SAC (students): Alastair Metcalfe, c/o Scholl of Environmental Studies, University College, London WC1 SLATE 6PAGE 7 EDUCATION SPECIAL The RIBA’s control over architectural education has become increasingly important since the late fifties because entry to the profession is almost exclusively through schools of architecture, enabling the RIBA to monitor intake, standards and the content of courses. At the Hull Congress the NAM education workshop expressed concern that there is ignorance amongst students and some staff as to the means by which the RIBA controls education, how itarrives at educational policy, other bodies involved in architectural education and how grass roots opinion can be voiced. This brief guide isby DAVE BREAKELL, student representative on the RIBA Council. (HOW THE RIBACONTROLS EDUCATION The RIBA has no explicit education policy as such. Its policy is made upof al the papers, etc, that have been set over the years, plus educational aspects of the RIBA’s general position, such as maintenance of the traditional concept of professionalism, of the hierarchical profession and continuing thepolicyof high academic qualifications for entry. Elizabeth Layton, head of the RIBA’s Education Department and advisor to EPEC, has the most comprehensive knowledge of RIBA education policy. This fact, allied to her intelligence and articulate debating ability, explains her considerable influence over EPEC in this area. The problems ofarchitectural education are often seen as either of ‘controlo’r ‘content’, an approach which results in attempts to reform one or other aspect The current squabble between the Schools of Architecture Council and the RIBA over the ‘Making of an Architect’ conference, which was outlined by Dave Breakell in Slate 5 (p.10), is important in that it serves to raise yet again the ‘education debate’ which is given a periodic airing at times of crisis or re- direction but is otherwise left to the internal ministrations of the RIBA, operation or boycott ifthere is support, or of asking the right questions and raising issues. The result of not organising is usually dead silence or the board delivering acomplete corporate lecture. It might be advisable to contact NAM or the RIBA student reps (who are sympathetic to NAM) to discuss issues. of the system. Here Hugo Hinsley, AA lecturer and member of Support argues that an analysis of every aspect of education is an essential starting point for any progress. of the present machinery of educational conditioning, It is the machinery we should examine, not the bickering. Structure The issue of education is inextricably linked with the beginnings and growth of the profession. It is vital to anew profession, in establishing credibility in society, and thus a privileged position for its members, to control entry into the profession and to set up an academic respectability for its field of activity. holding examinations (if it so chooses) or of recognising other examinations it thinks fit. In spite of a long struggle before the 1931 Registration Act, the RIBA did not succeed in persuading parliament that it should be the regist- ration body or that the practice of arch- itecture should be protected - the Act only protected the title ‘registered arch- itect’, later broadened to ‘architect’. However, the RIBA successfully circum— vented this failing by dominating the structure of ARCUK, to the extent that ‘unattached’ representatives on ARCUK, is the balance being redressed. It is interesting that there is now a ‘trong lobby in the RIBA for handing back the administration of education to ARCUK, as it costs around £40,000 a year. This shows partly how confident some in the RIBA are of being able to manipulate ARCUK, and partly how vulnerable RIBA feels to complaints from the mem— bership about ‘exemption fees’. These are paid by those joining RIBA and go towards its education budget. Those who register with ARCUK but ignore RIBA, as many younger architects are doing, pay only the registration fee One of ARCUK’s great weaknesses has always been that, though it is the stat— utory body, it has generated no finance to fulfill its obligations, preferring to leave them to RIBA. If ARCUK is to take on its responsibilities it will have to change, and NAM must keep up the pressure to make it an accountable and representative body. It is perhaps too cynical to say that ‘the RIBA is not interested in education and its activities in the field of education are a quest for status, both economic and academic status’ — but it is clear that the RIBA’s interest has not been impartial and has had a stultifying effect. The proposed York Conference into an elitist profession and to build up its model of a standardised, techno— cratic and stratified training process. By the time of the Cambridge Con- ference in 1970 the RIBA was confident enough to demand a ‘concentration of courses’ and the rationalisation of teaching into a few ‘large multi-discip- linary centres’ — and to flex its muscles over the ‘recognition’ of schools. Though having no statutory powers, the RIBA could effectively close a school by withdrawing ‘recognition’ of its exam- inations and so remove its sources of financial support. Between 1962 and 1970 the number of schools offering courses in architecture fel from 64 to 44, and most of the part-time courses were crushed. In the summer of 1971 the RIBA attempted, not entirely successfully, to close 5 more ‘unrecog— nised’ schools. York conference The ideas being floated for the York Conference this year, the 20th anniver- sary of Oxford, may continue the erosion of diversity, freedom and relevance to architectural education. There will be strong emphasis on the need for technology and scientific method, and a powerful lobby to remove the vocational first-degree course in preference for a general academic course, ollowed by a post-graduate course with a ocational and professional bias. “This rrangement would suit both major parties. twould give the schools the academic free- BCIAL kers even further and to continue the de- skilling of architectural production. Oxford established the sub-species of technicians or assistants -those who did not clear the hurdle of A level entry -and set up the architect as ‘team leader’ figure, though without consulting the other skills in the team. Now there are those who would like to see a master race of PhD architects se- lected (one wonders by whom) after Part 1, leaving a middle area of generalised “Bach- elors of the Environment’ who will, no doubt, make ideal bureaucracy fodder. This is a grotesquely limiting view of ed- ucation and of the role of those with archi- tectural skills in our society, but it is a natural step in the entrenchment of the profession. Even this brief synopsis of the ‘education debate’ shows that education isnot aperipheral issue but has avery central position. It is of fundamental con- cern to NAM, being the starting point of the present system for the production of architectural workers and for the definition of their status. We need to question not just the furm, content and administration of education, but also the assumed role of the profession. Neither education nor the structure of the profession nor the design and product- ion of buildings can be seen in abstract; they are al effected by the social, political and economic framework of our society, and a part of education is to consider and question this framework. Education is not just the imparting of skills and techniques in a supposedly neu- tral form. Whether or not there is a con- scious intention, education is also about Although the preconceptions exposed by this squabble should be looked at in detail and challenged by al people con— cerned about the production of architects The young RIBA first introduced an exam- many architects, let alone thegeneral dom and status they seek and provide the RIBA with a way of limiting entry to the _ forming and testing values and ideas. This in our society, this must not be allowed ination in 1882%‘ according to a standard to divert our attention and energies from to be fixed from time to time by the a more fundamental debate. The bickering Council” It is ARCUK, established in we are seeing is between administrators 1931, that has the statutory duty of public, have assumed that RIBA is a professional qualification rather than a gentleman's club. Only recently, through the efforts of NAM members as NEXT DAY AT THE RIBA srofession by restricting entry to the post- yraduate courses.’ The effect of such pro- yosals will be to stratify architectural wor- can be an attempt at social conditioning or it can aim to develop the tools for quest- ioning and change that are relevant to a ARCHIE TEKT|\ Everything okniger| LATER... so uniting EADLC ; How To PINKO (DGALIST RuppisH. (Give FLEECE BY a.TeKT): can be seen as the next step in controlling the education machine and thus the profession. A major break- through for RIBA was the Oxford Conference of 1958 which established the two A-level minimum standard for students, the dominance of full-time university courses and the run-down of part-time vocational courses. The RIBA sought to use education as a hurdle for 1978 EDUCATION school know (and therefore raise objections). SAC exists to represent grass roots opinion. If a visiting board is visiting your school, it will hold a meeting between itself and students alone. It is essential for students to prepare a strategy in advance, either one of non co- WHAT THE EDUCATION DEBATE’S ABOUT .togetherness... close commercial built with domestic social Gor iT T .\ LECTURE created a homes romaine TODAY SLATE 6PAGES SLATE 6PAGE 9 , ee wider analysis of the society we live and work in. It is not surprising that a profess- ional institution which has managed to attain effective control over education will have a strong bias towards the former of these two approaches. However, there are examples of schools, or parts of schools, which see their respon- sibilities as not just training for profession- al status but as providing education in its broadest sense. They have developed con- tacts with the world outside their doors and attempted to locate their work and their learning in a real-life context, and some have achieved alevel of socially responsible and accountable work. In Hurley and Metcalfe’s article “Appropriate social architecture as a radical alternative to normal professional practice are concern- ed at the RIBA’s swift move to en capsul- ate the field, anda critical analysis of the ‘community architecture’ bandwagon by Tom Woolley was featured in SLATE 2. A meeting of teachers and students at Glouc- ester to share experiences of new ways of working (reported in SLATE 5 page 5) has sent astatement to the RIBA Community Architecture Working Group resisting any attempt to ‘impose or even suggest a uni- tary approach to this, or any other, aspect of architectural education.........so called Community Architecture should not just become another subject in the curriculum. This would be to misunderstand the nature of the radical commitment required’. WHY ALTERNATIVES CAN'T COME FROM THE SCHOOLS Slater now worse than Scorpio! Dear Sir, Since inaccuracy, or at least blind bias, isthestuffofpolemics,Idonotexpect stories in The Slater to be correct, neither I suspect, do your readers. However, for the record, Iwould be glad ifyou would allow me to comment on your story “Tassgirl”’ (Slate 5) concern- ing Building Design’s refusal to carry an advertising brochure from BDS TASS. The BD advertising manager did not “String” BDS TASS along, nor did he say “no”, Thetruestory isasfollows: Itisa rigidly held po icy of mine that no advert- 6th March PUBLIC SECTOR ARCHITECTS FACE REDUNDANCIES -Members of the GLC Architects Department talk about the attempts by the new Tory Administration to devolve their responsibilities to the p private sector and to other local authorities in the GLC area. The demantling of the housing, architects and direct labour departments of the GLC may be the pattern other Tory authorities will follow after the May elections. 6.30 at 36, Bedford Square, London W1 One way for ‘progressi’n Architectural education which has been widely mooted is the inclusion of ‘community architectureo’n the curriculum. In this article Jim Lowe, who has experience of community projects in schools, outlines the problems of such departures from a political and an organisational point of view. | have without defining the term munity Architecture” attempted to look at the problems involved in engaging in any form of radical alternative within architecturaleducation. Thereisageneral confusion as to what is implied by Community Architecture’? — everyone has their own definition. I am certainly confusedastoexactlywhatismeantby the term, as this article may reflect. The article by Metcalf and Hurley(1) gives the only review of the current situation within architectural education. Certainly it illuminates the scale and diversity of involvement It is generally assumed that in any discussion centred around radical alternatives that the schools of architecture are actually suited to attempt this. But, Isuggest, it is important that we start by first questioning this basic assumption. Most documented projects appear to be concerned with helping the working class — the inhabitants of threatened inner urban areas, the housing poor, those denied help through lack of finance. Macdonald (2) Ifeel rightly questions whether the schools of architecture wich are middle-class SLATE 6PAGE 10 participate in the past may question why bother doing itnow. This general dissat- isfaction with modern architecture and participatory exercises is never going to be expressed in a call for changes in our institutions — changes come from within. Istipulated that if the offending leaflet was overprinted with an explanation we would send itout. However, TASS were All day, Birmingham. Detail from the Secretary, PDS Group, NAM, 9 Poland Street, London WI 8th May NAM London Group Meeting: THE ARCHITECTURAL PRESS 6.30 at 36, Bedford Square, London WI All events open to anyone to attend, unless otherwise indicated. UNPUBLISHED ARTICLES The following articles have been received by the editors but have not been included for lack of space. The editors appologise to the authors of the various pieces: ARTICLE ON THE ARCHITECTURAL PROFESSION AND EDUCATION IN HOLLAND ARCTICLE ON NAM HULL GROUP FIRST ARTICLE IN THE SERIES ON URBAN HISTORY ‘SLATE 6 PAGE 11 institutions, certainly in terms of intake and will continue to be so, are at at all able or equipped to form any lasting relationship with the working-class. He continuesbyadvocatingthatcoursesin timeandnothavingbeenexpectedto 6th May NAM PUBLIC DESIGN SERVICE CONFERENCE: A MAJOR CONFERENCE TOWARDS A NEW ROLE FOR LOCAL AUTHORITY craft subjects and environmental education based in the inner city schools may perhaps be more likely to produce radical alternatives. I would also suggest the Workers Educational Association, which is sadly neglected, as another organisation that could provide the basis for community work. This would bye-pass the middle-class institutions. Therefore, for most students who do wish to involve themselves in radical alternatives Isee no reason why they must be carried out ina School of Architecture. The act of committment to the client is the proof offaithinaradicalalternative-not looking to see how it can be manipulated into is the educational value, in every way the you are dealing with. They won't be sympathetic and won't be prepared to read anything, they want to glance at drawings. It is not good getting angry about this. The system is there and you have to present work to it.” (3) Students who seek radical alternatives will have to draw up their own guidelines and establish the level of their i and commitment to their ‘clients’. Visit other groups involved in attempting radical alternatives in architecture — changes are possible, The following points were agreed bythe“Community Architecture”in Sthools of Architecture meeting held in Gloucester December 1977. 1.Community Architectureisaterm which increasingly signifies for many the institutionalisation of radical activity in architectural practice. . The RIBA should not impose or even suggest a unitary approach to this, or any other, aspect of architectural education. Diversity and flexibility for each school to respond in its won own situation is imperative. So oalled community architecture should not just become another subject in the curriculum. This would be to misunderstand the nature of the radical commitment required. continued on p15 unable to comply in the time So there!. Peter Murray. ditor. : Building Design. READING URBAN HISTORY availabl into the architectural course programme. Even though the academic institutions seemideallyplacedtoofferaserviceto community groups their timescale does not respect the needs of those groups — residents meetings, planning meetings still have to be attended despite long academic vacations. Involvement cannot end with the arrival of the end of the academic year. When the students move off, the ‘clients’ are always left to carry on. This continuity is perhaps the major difficulty facing the schools providing such a service to community groups. ‘live situation’ is a more valid and rewarding way of learning. If then, schools are to provideaservice,andIamstilluncertain in my own mind whether or not they should, let us look at the schools. The greatest obstacle to students wishing to carry out community projects are the schools of architecture themselves and the attitudes taken by a majority of the staff towards any form of radical alternative Most schools are so bureaucratic and courses so tightly structured as to make it impossible for students to engage in any community project work. Students generally have little SLATE 7 sees the start of an important new series of articles by John Murray on Urban History, which traces the evolution of theories of urban development since the early nineteenth century. This essentially teoretical series, which takes the form of a comentary on the work of various authors, will be accompanied by a book list, so that readers can follow the development of the ideas and arguments in the original texts. Architects along with the planners, public OF no say in their education. They have no health officers and engineers have been knocked off their pedestal, they have failed to provide the City beautiful and good. The dissatisfaction with modern architecture has led to the call for greater participation. Yet it should be remembered that people do not expect to be consulted and feel choice in selecting projects — when they undertake certain types of projects, the nature of those projects and their duration. Therefore, the structure and programming of courses within schools must be questioned. Flexibility and diversity is important in order that the educational programme can respond to the needs of the inadequate when faced with professionalism. Most people are unfamiliar with the idea of questioning planning decisions. They, like studentsar,e participating for the first there are problems. This is reflected in Tom Wooley’s advice to his student present- -ing his work for assessment within the relative freedom of the AA’s ‘units’ system. “..... in addition the work you do will often have to be re-presented for your AA portfolio. Other people who assess it will oftenbemoreignorantthanthelaypeople ratherthanaE DesignStaff. ARCHITECTS’ So far Ihave questioned the role of the institution and it may appear that I do not favour the involvement of the schools. If some schools are to encourage students to provide a service to community groups and there is a genuine involvement in radical alternatives then those schools will have to changetoallowthis.WhatIdonotquestion student at any time. Students must have a greater freedom in directing their own education. It is too casy to lay the blame on CNAA or university regulations for not allowing change. Itherefore would argue that for those students, and it is usually only a few, who wish to become involved in radical alternatives, then it is the schools that must allow them the opportunity to do so. This work must be seen and treated as a legitimate part of an architectural course. Further pressure is put on, particularly final year students, by the staff to undertake the ‘traditional’ complex design project asking where is the ‘architectural’ or ‘design content’ in community projects. The entrepencurial nature of architecture is rejected by many students who seek radical alternatives, and yet this right is denied them by the staff. There is too oftenafailuretostafftounderstandthe aspirations of students and to motivate them. Those who seek radical alternatives are too often penalised. This work must first be encouraged by the staff and schools and treated by RIBA visiting boards and external examiners as a legitimate basis for individual projects. If we consider that 80% of the built environment isresidential how many courses in architecture respond to the needs of that statistic or to the needs ofthecommunities? NAM London Group Meeting: Even where the school is structured to allow involvement in community projects} ising matter should appear in the paper MONTHLY MEETING 6.30 at 9 Poland Street, London WI 14th March AUEW/TASS London Building Design Staff Branch Meeting. PROFESSIONALISM? - A talk by guest speaker Anne Delaney 6.30 at PCLSU, 108 Bolsover Street, London WI 10th April NAM London Group Meeting: THE MONOPOLIES COMMISSION REPORT - AN END TO ARCHITECTURE AS WE NOW KNOW IT? 6.30 at 36, Bedford Square, London WI which the reader might confuse as editor- ial, and it was Iwho insisted that we should not mail the particular leaflet that BDS TASS had produced because of the way itwas designed. Since our names are similar, the circular looked as though it came from Building Design newspaper 7th March ~==NAM Feminist and Architecture Group. EDUCATION SPECIAL Education’ they quote their survey which revealed that 5 of the 38 schools operated some form of ‘community design’ live pro- ject work. One of their conclusions is that ‘to sustain the practice of social architect- ure and achieve appropriate confidence, education must include projects which are real, live and socially committed’. The RIBA has picked up some sense of these develop- ments and has adopted the term *commun- ity architecture’ to cover such activities in schools and in practice. Recognising a growth area, the RIBA has been eager to explore and define ‘communityarchitect- ure’ and to see it as an option among any architect’s polychrome skills. Those in the schools and in practice who are developing Organisers wishing to advertise their events in SLATE please note that due to printing and distribution schedule, events should be notified to the editorial committee three months inadvance ifpossible. \ WRITE TO SLATE‘, 9,POLAND ST, LONDON, W1. a Ss) 1 Councd regret that, ow: a areadanag Cockburn, published by Pluto Press paperback£2.95 royed’ bureacracy and the community, it is employedbytheStatetoreinforcethe particular social fabric that underpins moderncapitalism.Sheshowsinthefollow- ing extract how the widespread notion that ‘small isgood’ weakens the potential of community action for structural change: vate “There isin the idea of Community Action the idea of smallness up against big- ness. We are asked to think of the David of the small council estate taking on the Goliath of the town hall. ‘Small is beaut- iful’.Itisanimage which totallyrulesout the reality of class struggle in which huge and powerful forces are ranged against each other, not momentarily, but over centuries"” This book has arrived at a timely moment: We see a resurgence of interest in local democracy. Perhaps this has been precip- itated by an awareness that the local state has, in urban areas, failed in it’s allotted task of providing the essential facilities of housing, health, child-care etc. and how this failure has been compounded by a silent acceptance of cuts in government spending. Ifever you saw your local auth- ority as a model for the decentralised soc- ialist state that we're al working for then ‘The Local State’ is an eye-opener. It poses 2 questions that SLATE readers will need to confront: 1. Is the local authority Architects Department theembryo ofanation- alised or socialised design industry oris it the unwitting servant of the State ? eS ‘THELOCALSTATE’byCynthiafrombridgingthegulfbetweenthe‘newimp- London BDS branch of TASS got to hear about the project and their immediate reaction to the proposition was to ask whether the workers in the design con- sultancies concerned are unionised. No replies yet, but suspicions are that they are not. Will the Labour movement set aside its traditions of solidarity and dip its hand in its pocket to buy bricks, and pay the fees associated with them to non- unionised firms? The London BDS branch of TASS hopes not and would like to hear from any other trade unionists who feel as they do. WEALTHY Ifeel sorry for RIBA president Gordon Graham -he doesn’t get paid for his four-days-a-week stint at Portland Place. But Isuppose there issome consolation for him in that he can stil afford a chauffeur-driven Mercedes for that tedious drive back to his Leicestershire- based practice. Judging by the amounts of gin and tonic he gets through, he needs it. PRICEY Andreas Papadakis, entrepreneur-peddlar of architectural gobbledigook, has just launched the architectural glossy to end all glossies. Architectural Monographs, it’s called. Readers who are about to reach for their cheque books to sign away twenty- four pounds to Mr Papadakis for a four- issues subscription, might spare a thought for the fact that that little fortune would get them copies of SLATE delivered to -heir breakfast tables for the next TWELVE YEARS! Cheques payable to ‘SLATE’ please. | SS eaetie re a Rupertissingle,black,38yearsold.Hehas Hl 4 just successfully concluded aone-man picket outside Lambeth’s Rates Office. The Borough had refused to recognise Rupert’s living situation -ahouse shared with other single people, and had continually sent the rates demands for the whole house in his name. Holding aplacard saying““THE COUNCIL ISRUN BY FASCISTS’ and after 6 cold days of being gazed at by bemused passers-by and various officials they agreed to his demands (though not to his analysis of the political leanings of council officials), and sent separate rates bills. Rupert had realised that after letters and representations through very friendly councillors, that direct action was the only language that was understood. He had ques- tioned the inaccessibility of the modern local authority. Cynthia Cockburn’s ‘THE LOCAL STATE?’ looks past the baroque portals of Lambeth Town Hall and precisely enquires as to the nature and origin of that inaccess’- ibility. She concentrates on two movements that have transformed local authorities since the late sixties; Corporate Management and Community Development. Lambeth adopted new management techniques dur- in a spell under the tories and began to streamline it’s hitherto fragmented organ- isation. It started to measure its ‘effective- ness’by the the same means as would a large corporate business. The number of committees was reduced from 17 to 11 and they were interwoven into a tight unitary form that would be capable of integrated ‘intelligent’ behaviour. The author con- tends that these changes were promoted by central government committees ex- pressly in order to bind local authorities to the implementation of centralised policy. She then turns her attention to Commun- ity Development’ and describes how, far the offices of power: local or central ? Building design professionals in the public sector have emerged from the same educa- tional and class background as have the planning officials, corporate managers and public clients they deal with in their pro- London’s sunny Walworth Road- see the equally tasteful architect’s perspective above. Apart from the architectural merit of the project, on which this column would not presume ajudgement, one or two other questions spring to mind, the first of which is the siting of this monu- . By initiating or participating in community-based projects on the lines descibed in SLATE 2 are we merely helping to mould society into a form that is easily controlled and manipulated by central govern- ment; Do we thereby make the impl- ementation of state policy smoother by employing our professional status to‘legitimise’thesepolicies? OFFICIALDOM SACRILEGE | fessional life. Although they may squabble over planning apllications, regulations etc. Readers of the Association of Official Architects’ newsletter ‘Public Eye’ were treated to no-holds-barred attack on journalist Anne Karpf as they flicked through the pages of the paper’s December issue. Ms Karpf’s offence? She had the THE INCORRUPTIBLE— The RIBA bookshop seems to have a closed door to certain publications. Asked recently if the New Architecture Calendar was for sale, bookshop supremo Ron McKie said ‘no, but I’ve got a copy that Hellman sent me personally, it’s very funny.’ When pressed that as it was funny shouldn’t the bookshop stock it, he replied with ‘why should the RIBA support a subversive organisation that seeks to overthrow it?’ Obviously the calendar didn’t subvert him. On another occasion one of the suave assistants, standing near the ‘radical’ section, was asked for a copy of Nick Wates’ The Battle for Tolmers Square, ‘I don’t think we've got it’, Well, were they going to get it? ‘No’ said the ass- istant, looking through shelves stacked with Charles(RIBA) McKean’s Fight Blight and the odd copy of Colin Ward’s Tenants Take Over, ‘there’s not much demand for that sort of thing.’ “Any practitioner interested in | there is little doubt that they share the temerity to write an article for the AJ on ment to the power of labour. Why is it to receiving an invitation, and anyone |NAME, |ADDRESS. theiralignmentintheprivatesector. Steel,SecretarySAC...” | If you would like to receive SLATE without joining NAM fil in the form below and send it together | Unfortunately, perhaps, for the SAC some NAM members took this at face value and wrote away. The result? - nothing. Absolute silence. Whilst the Slater appreciates that thiscoynesscouldhavebeencausedby the chaos into which the organisation oftheconferenceappearstohavedis- i d I :your please. SLATE 6PAGE 13 | NAME. |ADDRE SLATE 6PAGE 12 a | | predominant interests of this social democ- racyofours.This‘oneness’isparalleledby Pressure groups in Architecture in which shedevoted1100wordstoNAM and only 250 words to the poor old, unpro- nouncable AOA. Gross injustice, screams Public Eye, we have 700 members where- as that bunch of upstarts only number 100. For those who, in spite of Ms Karpf’s Stirling efforts on its behalf, have never heardoftheAOA,itisa(very)small trade union for a small number of local authorityarchitectswho considerthat NALGOistooleftwingforthem,and which lodges at the RIBA headquarters be in Walworth, easily two miles from the motherofparliaments?Doesthismean,as many people already suspect, that the Party is quite happy to let Westminster and Whitehall get on with the job of governing without any democratic inter- ference? Well, at least land down there is cheap, which isas well because part of the fundsfortheParty’schangeofstatusfrom lodger at Transport House to owner-occu- pierinWalworthisbeingraisedby appealingtolocallabour isationsto buy bricks. It was in this way that the wanting more information about the conferencepleasecontactGordon in Portland Place. And why was it so un- fairly neglected in the offending article? Probably because it is a particularly un- original and reactionary body, feeding on individualistic architects’ unthinking fear of trade unionism and looking suspiciously like a branch of the RIBA set up to counter the growth of any idea or action which might prove embarassing to the Institute’s establishment. In fact the only positive thing that the AOA appears to stand for ithas borrowed from the Salaried Architects’ Group in the RIBA (see elsewhere in Ms Karpf’s article), the idea that the employed architects should enjoy ful professional status. No doubt the little bit of NAM-bashing in Public Eye was inspired from elsewhere too. Full marks then to the AOA for boredom and to Anne Karpf and her editors for recognising it. OWNER OCCUPATION AL AP AY lla Architects Russell Diplock Associates Local Labour Party and Trade Union branches have recently been circulated with a brochure about the proposed new Party Headquarters to be tastefully carved fromadecayingRegencyTerraceon FootnotetotheSACaffair:whilethewill we/won’t we RIBA/SAC tie-up cliffhanger for the York conference is well detailed in this and the preceding isuue of SLATE, one interesting addendum follows from the press release announcing the conference which carried this footnote: REVIEW tocat autHority? nN mans with acheque/postal order (payable to the New Architecture Movement )for £2.00 to NAM at9, Poland Street, London W.1. We must ask ourselves whether it is necess- ary tostep down from our traditional bourgeois Stratum and identify more closely with the struggles that this stratum has, up to now, ignored. [it you would Tikefobe amember oftheNew Architecture Movement filintheTormbelowandsend? | it together with a cheque/postal order (payable to the New Architecture Movement) for £5.00( if | you're employed) or £2.00( if you're are student, claimant or OAP) to NAM at 9, Poland Street | London W.1. —-| SUBSCRIBE __NEWS FROM might be. As far as the review body w: concerned it was regarded as essential that it should represent consumer- as well as producer-interest. The draft proposals for the new fee arrange- ments centred on the principle that archit- ects should be remunerated on the basis of the amount of work they did ona project, rather than on the contract sum. Some members felt that the overall applic- action oftime-based charges to architects work implied that creativity is quantifiable, whereas, in fact, itisnot. The majority at Cardiff, however, agreed that a system that enabled the consumer to evaluate the amount of time spent on a job would be instrumental in dispelling some of the myths that clouded the production of designs and would improve the bargaining position of staff. An analogy was drawn between the proposed system and tendering procudures for building contracts: firms would quote for work on alabour, or democracy would not be enough. The The forum showed itself to be a very FIRST NAM QUARTERLY FORUM MEETS IN CARDIFF The highlights of the day were certainly the discussions on education and NAM’s eps in its involvement with the ies Commission The unattached architect-councillors on the Architects Registration Council of the UK (ARCUK) the great majority of whom are NAM mem- a response merely in terms of its legitimacy A stimulating debate on a mixed bag of topics resulted when NAM members met together in the Movement’s first quarterly overheads and profit basis. The ratios of forum at the end of last month. Held in Cardiff, the meeting attracted about thirty Tnembers from al over the country bers, had been successful in gaining an in- dependent voice in the forthcoming hear- ings with the Commission and had been called on to submit their suggestions for the body to be set up to review the pro- fessions fee arrangements and their pro- posals for what such new arrangements PDS GROUP DEFENDS LOCAL AUTHORITIES As the Hull Congress noted, Local Authority architecture departments and direct labour organisations (DLOs) have come under attack from the National Federation of Building Trades Employers (NFBTE) and the Tory Party. This may ave been the least popular resol- 1atHullasLocalAuthoritieshave been severely critiscised by NAM members las Tory Party members, albeit with itriol (notably Douglas Smith’s article in SLATE4) The Public Design Service group of tee that Local Authorities are idea that NAM’s best tactic at the present is to boycott the Conference met with general assent but some regrets, but the spectre of both the Conference and the RIBA’s persistent dabbling in “Community Architecture” had catalised the formation of a loose group of radicals in architectural therefore be not whether Local Authorities are desirable or not. but, what their potential is for change, and exactly how we would like them to be changed. The anti-Local Authority reaction is well known: Local Authorities are large bureaucratic institutions, interwoven with many similar institutions that abound in this country. However, history has shown that, as the lowest tier of government Local Authorities are susceptible to vigorous pressure from below, and are, indeed, more easily influenced than private industry and private professional practice (except by trade unionism). However much NAM members may at present differ on that point hopefully the form that an altered Local Authority system useful memium for the interchange of ideas, but most of al as an opportunity for members to come together on a Nation- al basis and reinforce the essential idea of the Movement as a whole. Attendance at the next Forum is stronly recommended to all, and is not restricted to members. and architects, the disbanding of architecture departments and DLO’s makes the objectives of accountability and control even further away. The fight for the architecture departments and DLO’s isabove alademocratic fight. It is a fight that is far from dormant, and it will certainly intensify at the time of the Local Authority elections in May. The PDS group therefore believes that NAM cannot sit back and just note the attacks,itmusttrytocounterthem. It Cannot just express support for the demo- cratic fight for the DLO’s. It’s support must be an active one. The first major step the NDS group is taking is the organisation of a conference (as mandated by Congress) in Birmingham on May 6th, to try and develop at least the potential for a joint action counter attack nature to become identified in Leeds with us. Four people in the group had initially met through their involyement in the renovation of the head quarters for the Red Ladder Theatre Company based in Leeds. (To be screened on BBC t.v.’s ‘Arena Theatre’ on 29th. March) , A third group has now formed as the LeedsbranchofTASS-BDS. After considerable effort in publicising the initial meeting, which included pushing leaflets around many private practices and even having leaflets inserted in the RIBA Yorkshire region monthly, there was a disappointing turnout which we feel was the result of only one of us actually working as an employee in a private practice (and that isin Hudders- field). Nevertheless Leeds now knows of BDS-TASS and our efforts may bear fruit in the future. * like *no politics here’ and *couldn’t you find something useful to do’. In most cases it was impossible to get to the staff without going through a principal or receptionist. these elements in the charge would indicate where good value lied. The sexism in architecture group has broadened considerably in interest and membershipsinceitsinitialmeeting. There TimeOutandAJ. isacollective feeling that the problems we should be looking at are more fundamental In debating education the meeting was clearly overshadowed by the forthcoming Schools of Architecture Conference (see elsewhere in this issue). Doubts were expressed over NAM’s capability to respond attempts are underway to reorganise. The tothiseventconstructively. TheConfer- Nottinghamgroupispresentlyveryactive encewastobeabouteducationpolicyand inarrangingtheforthcomingPublicDesign Future meetings will be advertised in ‘ ts of social control. But the grouphasalwaysheldthatLocalAuthorities shouldtakeislesscontentious. MostNAM amonglocalauthorityarchitecturalworkers, Now that we have two groups dealing with specific issues within the scope of NAM, the question arises, what is the role of the NAM local group? Do we publiciseNAMnationissues?Dowe create aforum fordebate on local issues or do we just continue in those with whichwearecurrentlypre-occupied? articlesonNAMactivities,bothnational intheArchitectsJournal19thOctober1977 are the main ,and often the only.structure through which the majority of people can exert demands and gain access to land financeandotherrescourcesnecessary Thedetailsofwhathasbeentermedthe totryandgiveformtotheconference, for their housing, health and education requirements. Indeed Douglas Smith pointed out that owner-occupation can only be made available to 50% of the population. The important thing to remember is that Local Authorities are not an arguable alternative in architecture but a necessity. The poini of contention must SLATE 6PAGE 14 National Design Service need a lot of working out of course, but it’s essential held-amongst NAM members. whilst in no way imposing a final outcome onit. At the same time it is hoped that sufficient numbers of local authority architectural workers will attend, to enable several more PDS groups to work jointly One initiative taken by the group to try and spread awareness of NAM’s existance was for each member to pur- chase and distribute two copies of SLATE. A further task undertaken was to visit many architectural offices in Leeds to try and obtain signatures for the petition against ARCUK investment in South Africa. This turned out to be arather fruitless task (apart from the and local. The problem stil remains, how- ever, of our lack of communication with the average conventional private practice. Further information for people in Leeds or anywhere in the North East can be ob- tained from: Norman Arnold 9 Midland Road Leeds 6 West Yorkshire p. 761-767 (2) R. MacDonald “Meaningful relationships with the Working Class” paper presented at ‘Community Architecturei”n Schools of Architecture Meeting Gloucester 10th December 1977 (3) T.Wooley “'Live Project Guidance Notes for Students” in paper presented at “Community : Architecture”inSchoolsofArchitectureMeeting Gloucester 10th December 1977 SLATE 6PAGE 15 members would think of, concepts such as accountability and user control, of ideas such as neighbourhood based design offices. tenants federations, appropriate trade unions and DLO’s. The group is discussing and investigating the issues as deeply as possible (1) G. Metcalf and Hurley “Appropriate Education” The reason that the PDS onded to the attacks on Local Authority architecture departments and DLO!s is that these attacks are in direct opposition totheseessentialprinciples. Thehiring education who are now meeting on a regular basis. The Meetingwelcomed the formation of this group, many of whose members are also in NAM and felt that NAM policy on‘education should be based on a thorough critiscism of the role of education in both the material and ideological aspects of the profession and should be worked out in cooperation with this new group. Oneof the other debates during the afternoon centred on the topic of union- The Leeds NAM group has been loosely in existance for about a year. It consists at present of seven members, although there are no formal membership requirements. Attendance at meetings tends to fluctuate and meeting dates have been erratic but we now try to get together on the first Tuesday of every month. Members of the group have avaried back- ground in private practice, employment on construction sites, involvement in ‘Women in Manual Trades’ ( formally ‘Women in Construction’), ARCUK Council, NAM Liason Group, design and construction work for theatre ity centres and ahousing co-op, landscape work and schools of architecture. * Some of these activities come under the umbrella of another informal organisation glibly labelled ARCAID. This group was reallythefore-runnertotheLeedsNAM group and consists mainly of NAM people. ARCAID helps grant aided organisations to finance, design and construct or refurbish accommodation for their use. Many of the projects evolved before ARCAID formed but subsequent adopt- being shown the door with comments ion of the name enables work of a similar than merely overt sexual descrimination in the profession, Rather they involve cruc-_ ially the relationship between architecture/ design and feminisma;n awareness that is not for women simply to slot into a male established profession, but rather to play their part critically, and with an under standing of themselves. Our first aim is to gather articles for a Slate 8 issue concentrating on Feminism and Architecture. So far, we have been considering the following aspects:- 1) women in education, conditioning and discrimination from school to college. 2) A feminist approach to design, an exploration of potential with reference to other and differently structured societies. 3) A historic understanding of the relationship between sex roles and building, in particular housing. 4) Women at work, discrimination in practice and the pressures of working in a male-dominated situation. Of the local groups, representatives came from Leeds, Birmingham, Nottingham, Cardiff and from London, where strictly speaking,a local group scarcely exists but group has resp- after the conference. The support of and imput from other NAM members as usual will be essential. Dave Green, PDSGroup. February 1978. local authority offices), several of us Contact: Frances Bradshaw, 14 Duncan Terrace, London, N.1. Tel no. 278 5215. continued from| p11 On the subject of local issues, we feel that manyof us are already very active by actually working with grant-aided groups. Areas in which we will possibly become involvedcoversuchissuesaslocalhousing policies, local planning policies, the finance and organisation of building co- operatives, community facilities and tenants groups. Some work in the latter has already been done and we are in the process of drawing upa contact list of people on the remainder. Atpresentthegrouphasnoformal structure and no set policies. We appear to be of the collective opinion that import- ant issues will make themselves apparent given time and that we should not chase around ferreting out more than we could handle at this stage. We are at the same time systematically publicising NAM’s existence and policies on national issues. Leedsisfortunateinhavinganalternative fortnightly newspaper with awide circu- lation and it is intended to submit some 4. Those people who wish to engage in such activity must have the opport- -unity to do so. The development ofthisworkcanbeencouragedif Visiting Boards and External Examiners Examiners treat it both as a legitimate part of an architecture course and as REFERENCES a legitimate basis for individual projects. Local brances of the RIBA can support the work of schools, or at least not raise objections to schools offering servicestothecommunity. isation when some members critiscised NAM’s apparent policy to encourage the setting up ofspecialist Building DesignStaff(BDS) branchesinTASS. Theyregardedthis method as only a half-way-house to trade unionism, which they saw as an alliance of al workers, epitomised by the general branch. Other members, from the BDS branch in London, argued that themajor point of action for trades unionists was at the workplace and that this form of action was best sponsored by specialist branches. In the morning the Forum heard reports from various issue-based and local groups. a principles are clear and virtually unanimously out of local authority work to private builders THERE IS A SOOTHING POULTICE spreading over the south London squatting hot-spots of Villa Road (Brixton) and St Agnes Place (Kenn- ington). With the approach of local council elections Lambeth Council have decided to steer a safe course, avoiding adirect conflict with these vociferous groups, and are arrang- ing short-life license agreements. question of Local Authorities and their role in the provision of building and architectural services. Should Local Authority Architects’ and Building Departments be expanded? What services should they provide, and how? What is the scope for ensuring real user control over building design and development through Local Authority departments? Also in SLATE7, the first article ina major new series on Urban History. SLATE 6PAGE 16 NEXT ISSUE SLATE7 takesasitsthemethe LAMBETH BUYS OFF ACTIVISTS publicity. They have hitherto refused to accept any responsibility for the rehousing of single squatters: Their current offer is seen as a major victory although it is clear that the principle motive behind the appa- rent concession is the decanting of the south side in preparation for demolition License agreements are a less immed- iate prospect for St Agnes Place. After an attempt last year by council workmen to demolish these houses, halted by an injunc- Over 30 people are to be rehoused in other parts of the borough, from the south side of Villa Road with management hana- led by Lambeth Self-Help Housing Assoc- In the long term Lambeth are suggest- ing that these two squatting groups amal- gamate with Lambeth Self-Help and form a housing cooperative: head-aches over these activists would finally end and Lambeth’s squatting groups will take their first steps on the rocky road to the self- SLATE may bea very slick looking paper but we need money fast! Please send us your donations now! Cheques made payable to SLATE to lation. This offer came after 4 years of negociation, attempted evictions and wide management of permanent properties 9 Poland Street, W1. tion, the Housing Department are insisting that Lambeth Self-Help are registered as a conventional housing association before being allowed to carry out rehabilitation work Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource NAM SLATE Group 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 March/April 1978 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/6471f7bb98c441629a3341eb13fa2923.pdf 205c204fe1ab443f15a3e703a0389549 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 SLATE Description An account of the resource To help promote its work and reduce dependence on the established professional press, NAM created its own newspaper SLATE. The editorial group met bi-monthly to gather together latest events, activities and ideas emerging from radical critiques and challenges to the established order of architectural practice and education. The content of each edition was collated, and cut-and-pasted into layouts of the magazine which typically ran from 16 to 28 pages. Each edition included a brilliant cartoon by Andrew Brown who emerged as a clever graphic artist synthesising NAM's radical ethics. SLATE's production ran to 17 issues in total. The SLATE Group also produced occasional annual calendars, of which three survive 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 SLATE 2 Description An account of the resource ISSUE NO2 NEWSLETTER OF THE NEW ARCHITECTURE MOVEMENT UNIONISE THE DRIVE ISON NOW NEW JOBS JOIN TASS! That was the message which emerged from behind closed doors in London on May 14th when a New Architecture Moyement- sponsored conference of building design employmees decided to launch a long-awaited Trade Union Organising drive in the unorganised private sector. TASS, the 160,000 member, autonomous Technical Administrative and Supervisory Section of the AUEW, Britain’s second largest union, was selected in a secret ballot, clearly ahead of ASTMS. STAMP and TGWU. Launching the Branch Rapidly following up a resolution ‘urging al people employed in private sector offices where no union is recognised to organise within TASS? a ten person committee set up by the Conference met on Monday evening, May 16th with Harry Smith, TASS National Organiser, to begin planning the campaign. On Thursday, May 19th, the TASS | Executive Council approved the establishment of a new Building Design Staffs branch in London for employees special branche jiimilar to.the London one will be set up. M ile, aNational Advisory Committee ank-and-f TASS members employed in the CONTRACTS of employment for architectural workers are being re-written unilaterally by principles in several private practices. New contracts, tantamount, in many cases, to a “new jub’, invariably mean worse conditions for employees. One large London firm has abolished paid overtime and now insists that its mployees seek permission before aking On “private job itside the office enter architectural competitions Another practice, with three offices nationally, has halved the rate of pay for overtime work, cancelled the workers’ entitlement to private health insurance, and reducec ithe period of full pay during sickness to thirteen weeks Similar events are reported from the RIBA itself where Portland Place staff are faced with a wide ranging and secret management ‘review’ of staff responsib- -ilities and salaries, aptly named “GRASP” What can be done? According to one trades union official such unils ral ammendements ofcontractsofemploy- -ment are illegal under the Contracts of Employment Act of 1972 and more recent legislation. Correct procedure, he maintained, in cases like these, is for employees to be laid of, with full redundancy pay, and then offered re- employment on a new contract and at a new salary negotiated accordingly. At the RIBA, members of staff who are ASTMS imembers (see SLATE no. 1)are opposed to regrading under GRASP plan and accuse the RIBA management of ‘minimal formal consultation’ with the staff. The well organised ASTMS group hope for success in their recruitment campaign so that union recognition can continued on page 3 in architecture, quantity surveying, structural and building services engineering, town planning, etc. An open meeting to launch the branch will be held on Tuesday evening, May 31st at 6.30 p.m. at the New Ambassadors Hotel, Upper Woburn Place, Euston, WCl. Employees outside London can join the general TASS branch in their locality and as TASS strength in the building professions grows in other urban centres, THE COMMUNITY CLIENT -4 revolutionary professicnalism or just more work for private architects BUILDING COOPS- taking control | “RADICAL ARCHITECTS’ - at work in the Colne Valley We ‘professions will co-ordinate the drive nationally and articulate the particular concerns of their ‘constituency continued on page 3 LW ARCHI E\(TURE of the building process A ‘COMMUNITY DESIGN SERVICE’ - its rise and fall in Cardiff. 6 7 ganising FOR OLD &., & vit, 1, Kinds of grey, © bluish: purple rock easily eplit smooth plates; plece of such plate used as roofing-material; piece of It ‘usu. framed {n wood used for writing on with ~-pencil or small rod of soft ~ (clean rid oneself of or renounce oblign= tions);~-black, -blue, -grey, modifications ofthes©tints:such‘asoccurin~; |l~-cltb, snutualbenefitsocietywithsmallweekly contributions; i RECOGNITION for their Union has has recently been gained by workers in an international civil and environmental engineering consultancy. It came after they had achieved 90% membership of the Technical, Admini- -strativeandSupervisory(TASS)section of the AUEW in their department of W S Atkins and Partners’ Middlesborough office. They are now in the process of negotiating aprocedural agreement with the management. into ! to, propose for office etc. Henco NGI) n. {app f. pree.] idc7e Se “oeEthe SLATER Surveys, surveys... first the RIBA earnings survey, coming soon their ‘Structure of the Profession Survey’, and, just launched our own AJ’s survey There’s a crisis on, we’re told, so something must be done about it. Itmustbesurveyedjustlikeasite. After alwe must know the ground More open ended discussion in the afternoon session centred around priorities for union action. While the increasing threat of redundancies was clearly the primary concern of many present, the continuing decline of real income among architectural employees and the increasingly unfavourable relation of private sector salaries and conditions to those in the public sector were also singled out. SLATE IS THE NEWSLETTER OFTHENEW ARCHITECTURE Success came in the sixth month fight for recognition after the Union had invoked section 1 of the recent Employment Protection Act under which theUnionmayapplytotheAdvisory Conciliation and ArbitrationService fora dation that er prepared for Conf partici by of understaffing, excessive overtime (often should be granted. A spokesman at TASS head office said that he regretted that the Union had to resort to ACAS p d ‘We would rather use the more traditional industrial muscle to force recognition’, he said. rises then the choice is open for SLATE awiderangeofissuesandtobringthe tobecomelargerorforthesubscription This second agreement reached by TASS in aprivate engineering practice While so far the NAM initiative for a unionisation drive has come mainly from salaried architects, TASS, with its strong Moyement’s views and activities to the attention of the widest readership. .help build SLATE’s readership .helptobuildNAM .subscribeto SLATE . show it to your friends . become a local rep to distribute SLATE in your office, school or town . ask for SLATE in your local bookshop .get your school or office to subscribe. to fall, but for the moment it must not get into debt. ADVERTISING At an early meeting the committee decide not to take commercial adver-- tisements in SLATE. Advertisements from alternative groups and personal small ads are, however, welcome. A small charge would be made but the committee reserves the right to turn down any advertisement closer. While TASS only claim less than 10% membership throughout W S Atkins 6 U.K. branches employing about 2,000 staff, the achievements of workers in one small department will hopefully demonstrate the potential and benefits of organisation to their colleagues inside, and and outside buat. se TASS. amongst clerical as well asprofessional workers, is in an ideal position to help achieve the kind of multi-<disciplinary, ‘vertical unionisation’ which the (Unionisation) Organising Committee's report, ‘Working For What?’ (65p post paid from NAM, 9 Poland St., London W1) considered essential to successful organising in the building professions, which are characterised by small offices, often arbitrary status divisions, and overlapping occupational boundaries. Choosing TASS ThoughtheMay14thConference participants were overwealmingly ‘professionals’, several technicians and secretariesalsoparticipated.Architectural employees were in a clear majority, but quantity surveyors, engineers, and town- i were also present. InchoosingTASS,theConference rejected the Organising Committee's recommendation in favour of the TGWU, a minority report for ASTMS, and vociferous support for the STAMP section ofUCATT, which theCommittee had consideredunfeasiblealongwiththe EPEA (EngineersandManagers Association, formerly the EPEA, Electrical Electrical Power Engineers) and the formation of an entirely new union. But there was little opposition to the Committee's view that organising should includewithinoneunionalbuildi design staffs: professional, technical and clerical workers from al the disciplines. of agency staff and the ‘architectural lump’ on both salaries and quality of work was also stronly criticised. Discussion of organising strategy stressed stressed the need to achieve union recognition in particular firms and institute collective bargaining to demonstrate what organisation can achieve. It was felt that concentrating on recruiting only scattered individual members, without recognition in offices, could soon result in the same decline which doomed ‘craft union’ attempts like the ABT and the AOA. Beyond bread and butter There can be litle doubt about TASS's abilitytoprovideeffectivesupportto architectural and allied workers trying to organise. But in looking beyond the immediate ‘bread-and-butter issues to broaderquestionsofworkers’control, community accountability, job satisfaction, and conversion to socially useful production, building design staffs settingupa‘unionwithintheunion’ shouldmakesuretodevelopastrong ‘shop-floor’organisationabletoholdits own against the well-oiled TASS machine for which they have quite understandably opted. Itisthrough rank-and-file organisation, oftne against opposition from highly-centralised union ies,thatsuchpi ingtrade union initiatives as the Lucas Aerospace Shop Stewards proposals for fighting WORK ON SLATE SLATE needs more workers, more writers and more ideas. This issue was put together by acommittee of seven. A larger committee would meana better newsletter; so would more writers, illustrators, cartoonists and photographers, and simply more suggestions for stories and features. Ifyou would like to work for SLATE, join the committee or suggest topics it should cover, then please write in soon. Thecopydeadlineforthenextissueis Friday 24th June 1977 OUR HIGH COVER PRICE 40p is a lot to pay for a newsletter this big. The funding of SLATE is connected to the funding of NAM as awhole, and last year the Movement ran up substantial debts.Thisyear’sliaisongroupdetermined that that situation should not arise © ORGANISATION continued from page J The Long Hard Haul Over sixty people attended the May 14th Conference, called by NAM’s (Unionisation) Organising Committee. The Conference organisers considered the turn-out to be ‘the tip of the iceberg’, but have few illusions about the long, hard task of organising which has hardly begun. In a turbulent morning session, the Conference heard arguments in favour of joining unions representing building workers but opted for TASS on the strength of its record of successful organising amongst engineering design staffs, its steady progress in the difficult field of organising in professional engineering consultancies, and the excellent back-up provided by its officials and its widely-respected research, publications and legal departments. TASS wasoneofsixoptionsoutlinedina comprehensive, confidential Briefing individual capacities, the 145 member Staff Association of Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall and Partners Edinburgh office, Scotland's largest firm, sent a deligate who reported that since its inception a year ago to fight redundancies, the RMJMSA has been increasingly interested in unionisation. TASS already represents several technicians in the office. eens Priorities MOVEMENT, published bi-monthly again and fixed the subscription rate on which we stand just aswell as Despitetheprofession'sdeclining work load, several architects complained by the Movement’s Liaison Group and edited on its behalf by an adhoc committee set up in January 1Otiee News and features of broad interest to workers in the profession, and the building industry and to the wider public are included to stimulate debate on accordingly, both to the Movement and the newsletter, in the knowledge that insolvency would never help the Movement to grow, and in the conviction that NAM’s strength will lie among people who are prepared to support its activities to the full. The annual subscription to SLATE, for five issues, is £2 00.If circulation the ground on which we build. But ifthe RIBA and the AJ don’t know quite how shakey the ground is, redundant building workers and underpaid architectural workers do. They want action not surveys. Surveys are a ready substitute for DOING, and they do have the potential to show the lie of the land alittledifferentlyfromreality. Could it be that the RIBA and the AJ don’t really want to DO anything anything about the crisis at all? scrap From the world of architecture as fine art, news that the struggle continues. International projects require international Architecture so the United Nations commissioned Giancarlo de Carlo and Jim St rling to cooperate in the design of their new UNESCO headquarters in Nigeria. Afficiandos of the two Masters will realise that their styles the (Unionisation) Organising Committee, without pay), and resultant decline in the quality of service provided for clients and users. A number of speakers suggested suggested the importance of pressing demands for ‘open books’, as it was felt that in many firms, despite the partners ‘crocodile tears’, the financial resources were there to support adequate staffing levels and that productivity was rising COPYRIGHT ...ANDTHEFUTURE Anyarticleorpartofanarticleorpart areasincompatible,wehear,as For SLATE to grow asalively reflection oftheviewsofradicalArchitectural Workers and others concerned with the processes which shape our environment, accountability of editorial decisions to themembers oftheMovement isessential. This year four further issues are planned. Each one will be proceeded by an open meeting with the Editorial Committee. Come and express your views and criticismsatthesemeetingsorthrough theletterscolumnofSLATE. Next yearitissuggestedthattheadhoc committee should be disbanded to be replaced by an editorial committee elected by and directly responsible to the annual congress of the Movement. ThenextSLATEopenmeetingisin London on 13th June 1977 at the *Roebuck’ -108A Tottenham Court Road London W1 SLATE2 nave2 of an article in SLATE may be freely but accurately reproduced, providing thatSLATEiscreditedastheorigin of any material used. LASTLY... A subscription form for SLATE and a membership form for NAM are included on the last page. Please indicate also if you would like to distribute SLATE in youroffice,schoolortown.SLATE is freetoalmembersofNAM their personalities. So the project was split into two parts, the mojor andtheminor.Nowtheyare scrapping over who should design which part, each supported by his small army of trusty retainers. Itsalpolitics,butwhowasitwho said that the conditions in Architecture Architecture are feudal? salvage Yes, we're jumping on the bandwagon. Salvagecanbe progress.Hereareafewitems whichweconsiderworth adding to the AJ’s list: the jobs of tens of th ds of design and construction workers throughout a ition on SLATEispublishedbytheLIAISONGROUP theindustry;thestandardsof oftheNEWARCHITECTUREMOVEMENT, provision,constructionand continued from page J be achieved before GRASP is implemented unilaterally. They will then be able to resist the unacceptable aspects of GRASP froma position of strength. Questionedonthegeneralissueofthe re-writingofcontractsinprivateoffices amemberofthe14thMayUnionisation Committee (formerly NAM’s Unionisation Organising Committee) said, ‘legislation like the Contract of Employment Act is al very well, bu tthe individual is in a badpositiontoopposetheemployer whenredundancyisjustaroundthe corner, even when the law seems to be on his side. To police any Acts like these you need to be organised with your fellow workers.Thisistherolethattrades unions can play- they have both the expertiseandthemuscle.” 9, Poland St., London. W1. Typesetting by Julia Wilson-Jones Printed by WOMEN IN PRINT, 16a, Iliffe Yard,London,SE17. design of houses and facilities for working people. The right of icommunities to retain their integrity [rs inthefaceofdevelopment private and public, and, oh yes, a few ices andfinnialstoo. redundancies by converting to socially participantscamefromoutsidetheLondon usefulproductionhavebeenmade. SPREADS which based itsfindings on nine ears of sh, which included expl talks with a half dozen TUC affiliated — unions. base among drawing office staffsin inthe BuildingP: i g ing andits growing h fasterthansalaries.Thedepressingeffect brings the reality of Trades Union Over a quarter of the Conference London area. While nearly al came in SLATE2page3 Feature in Slate : Todaythereisextensiveliteratureonthe word community, much of itwarning of the dangers of careless use of the word. Having ignored 99% of this careful thought and experience, architects are now bandying about the word community through the notion of ‘community architecture’. This new term needs to be critically examined before we too slide into its use, adding to the confusion. Tom Woolley examines different community architecture phenomena, developing an analysis which warns that merely adding the word community to existing forms of practice should not be enough to ensure our support. ° . community action Community action was recognised during the 60s as a largely localist moyement involving working class people with support from many intellectuals who were disillusioned with the institutional left. There had, of course, been much significant social protest throughout the 20th century, outside the sphere of production (the 1915 Glasgow rent strike, squatting after the war and the St. Pancras rent strike in 1960 being famous examples). But in the "60s we can see the growth of organisations concerned with awider range of issues in the sphere of reproduction . from playgroups to food co-ops, motorway resistance, the women’s movement and countless Many groups were concerned with architectural and buildi BP blems but the invol of architects was marginal. Notable except- -ions included the work of architecture students inMASHA (Manchester and Sal ford Housing Action) and in Covent Garden. Itis important to note, however that while some lawyers, public health inspectors and other professionals established counter organisations to support this movement, architects did nothing and as a result have very little credibility among working class groups. Equally important during this period was the rapid extension of complex state measures to cope with social discontent and other social problems. Many government agencies were set up or extended to deal with race relations, housing advice and community work. The so called voluntary movement in housing was tightened up through the Housing Corporation and now retains merely a veneer of voluntary independence. Investment by the state in this network is a feature of its role in maintaining capitalism through the reproduction of a healthy labour force force and its careful regulation and control. The recent CDP pamphlet ‘Community Work or Class Politics’ is one of many documents which explains how the role of community work isone of social control . ‘the integration of the poor and discontented into existing patternsofsociety.’Thisanalysisofthe state needs greater elaboration than is possible here but is amplified by John Be ington .....‘the economic crisis which now confronts al advanced capitalist economies and the U.K. in particular has resulted in a major shift in the state’s role in the pattern of public expenditure. As multi national capital withdraws from British manufacturing industry in search of more profitable areas of investment, the state is increasinly moving in to cushion and mask the most blatent consequencies (mass redundancies, soaring unemployment, sudden decline of whole communities’)etc. Community action has developed either in protest at the nature of the State’s measures or in attempts to win resources for a particular locational or interest group. That such action often fails to politicise those involved is evidence evidence of the success of the aptly named named ‘soft cops’, community workers and the like,who act as intermediaries in the process. civil servants of the streets It is in this role that we find the first ‘community architects’. Urban problem solvers who become more sensitive to the needsofordinarypeople,abletopresent a more acceptable face at public meetings and able to abandon the old bulldozer/ high flat mentality of most public architects of the time. One of the earliest examples of architect involvement in a social control experiment is the Shelter Neighbourhood Action Project in 1970 mirrored in a less heavy handed way by the ASSIST project in Glasgow. Both set up neighbourhood offices advocating rehabilitation to hostile local authorities and suspicious local people bu twith encouragement from central government. An analysis or SNAP is particularly useful as its literature presented a classic pluralist anlysis of inner city problems including the revealing notion of professionals as ‘civil servants of the streets’ that led to Hilary Rose’s description of the SNAP report as a ‘Blueprint for bureaucrats’. Other limited experiments were to follow with much talk of ‘participation’ such as Byker and Swinbrook but were largely concemed with more effective manage- -ment of problems like rehousing. They were progressive in that they brought architects into contact with ordinary people for the first time, but with the aim ofimplementing mare smoothly, schemes which had been determined and were controlled by the authorities, not the people affected. Itwould be possible to trace the development of ‘community architecture’ in the early’70s, but it is in 1977 that the termhasachievedcommon usage particularly with the RIBA which has jumped on the community architecture bandwaggon by setting up aworking party to gather information on what is going on. To this end it called ameeting in Birmingham on February 17th attended attended by about 30 architects and academics, to discuss the subject. The main pre-occupation seemed to be with rehabilitating the public image of the architect through the increased involve- -ment of private practices in community (i.e. public sector) work. At one level, thereforetheprivatepracticionersatthe meeting were concemed with ways of winning more work from the public Sector, perhaps through supporting community action groups in struggles with councils and,if successful,picking up the commission as a result. A number of ar-hitects there claimed that they were subsidiring their community work, such as fighting a public enquiry over clearance for a residents group, from other more profitable work. They only collect fees if the residents win and the State pays Black road to Hackney Changesinthecodeofprofessional conduct are critical issues for private architects attempting to find more work. No-one knows this better than Rod Hackney, Britain’s best known ‘commun- -ity architect’, who from being reported by his local RIBA chapter has risen to become a leading light in the RIBA, chairing its Birmingham meeting, a candidate for the RIBA council and winner of a gold medal, proudly mounted on his office wall. He gives hope to aspiring young architects, who stil think they can make their fortune through private practive. From nothing, Hackney has built up a successful practive in 4 years years with 5 offices largely on the reputation of the famous Black Road THECOMMUNITY housingactiongroups. their costs. Despite suchphilanthropic motives their main concern is with getting the architects’ code of conduct relaxed so that touting for work and speculative work (i.e. not charging in the hope of gettingfeeslater)willbegiventheofficial scheme inMacclesfieldCheshire.The stamp of approval. The problem for the CLIENT Rls. is how to make contact with more cliznts of this kind. One answer has been to establish schemes with Citizen’s advice bureaux. corner shop RIBA In small towns and rural areas the C.A.B. is usually the only place to go to for help with a wide variety of problems and they normally maintain lists of professional people prepared to give (very) limited advice free of charge. Local chapters of the RIBA are now Organising rotas of architects to be available to C.A.B.s to give advice, Not only will they pick up work from people normally intimidated from approaching architects, but the RIBA will have points of contact with the extensive world of social services and voluntary organisatiosn. Organisations. RIBA spokesmen deny so frequently that this isajob getting exercise that their motives become fairly obyious. By and large the C.A.B.s are concerned with individual case work and do not make any efforts to encourage community case work or political work to tackle the causes of the problems which they are trying to solve. . one skillpool goes fishing As work is harder to find, many architects are establishing similar schemes to make contact with new clients or share work around. One such group calling itself Skillpool has been formed by architects, many of them women in London. Despite their talkof ‘serving the community’, they are primarily concerned concerned with finding work for their members and establishing aconstitutuion approved of by the professional establish- -ment, yet allowing them to advertise for work. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with trying to find useful employment, but the occasional use of the word ‘community’ is not enough evidence ofa commitment to benefit the mass of the people. myths surrounding Black Road need more thorough treatment than is possible here, but Hackney took advantage of a backward Tory Council to implement a General Improvement Area in away that isundoubtedly impressive. Costs were low, old age pensioner tenants became owner occupiers, self help techniques were used, standards relaxed and Hackney the architect worked on a day to day basis with the local residents association. It isn’t surprising that the scheme has attracted massive interest from both self help pundits and local authority officials and brought Hackney speaking ivitations by the dozen. His ability to beat the council and manipulate the complications ofimprovement grants and other finance won him further housing work in Birmingham (Saltley) and in Cumbria as well as other non housing work. But it is important to remember that however competent Hackney is,he isdoing little more than implement existing housing provisions, stimulating a few procedural changes perhaps. The successful community architect of this type makes others dependent on his control of the information and is not accountable to local residents. Hackney’s employees in his offices up and down the country are answerable to him, not the local community where they are working. They may be more acceptable to the local people but in Hackney’s second major scheme, in Saltley, his main client isalarge housing association, COPEC which which is not controlled by the residents. The radicals in the local residents group were isolated and the people split into factional interests. A promising building co-op scheme failed, but Hackney isstil there. Hackney dominated the RIBA Birmingham meeting using it as a platform for his views that the RIBA conditions of engagement are ‘not relevant to Community Service’ and that architects should have more freedom in interpret- -ing the building regulations. This paper argues that “ architecture’ is a catch-all title applied a wide range of activities many of which weshouldatleastcriticiseifnotrejectin our search for socially responsible architectural practice. These activities are largely in the public sector and fal into three main categories. 1. An attempt by more progressive sections of private practive to win work from the public sector. The growth of new kinds of technical experts who work at the interface between public authorities, housing associations etc, and the public. Both of these have led to the encouragement of non-political involve- -ment of architects and architecture students in so-called community action in the search for work or experience. 3. The activities of misguided radicals who enjoy the bright lights and publicity of ‘community’ struggles against bureaucracy but who fail to locate their work in a broader strategy for political change subscribing, instead toa pluralist analysis of society. All three forms of activity can be caracterised as reformist and are motivated motivated bya liberal social concern and the architects desire to do something practical disregarding theory or analysis. They become part ofa process which channels protest and discontent into activitieswhichmaybenefitafewinthe short term but do not contribute to longer term structural changes which benefit the many. There are alternatives to this. Iam not arguing that we should confine ourselves to purely theoretical or analytical work or reject the role of the architect. Instead we should endevour to establish new ways of working that become part of a political movement. Members of ‘Support’ which is briefly referred to below, are attempt- -ing to do this. to forced to manipulate Caught between the pressure of residents on the one hand and ahierarchy of decision making on the other, the local authority community architect will be forced to manipulate people into accepting what has already been decided by those higher up, distributing limited resources. The system will exploit the social conscience of the young radical professional letting him win the confidence of local people. While the exponents of community architecture scramble for the limited rehabilitation jobs that are available there are innumberable struggles through- out the country about housing and building where groups cannot find an architect or ot her technical experts to help them. Whilst Iwas typing this article I had two phone calls, one from a tenants association in Manchester wanting to get in touch with anyone with information on a dreaaful concrete system that creates dampness and appall- -ing living conditions. Another from a group in South East London asking for advice where the GLC wants to dump responsibility for managing their estate, on the tenants. There is litle likelihood of getting fees for such work nor is there much likelihood of the glamour of television and media coverage. To help such groups needsa political commitment which is not shared by those people hitching themselves to the community action bandwagon. Indeed the people in the best position to help such groups are architects and others within local govern- -ment departments. They know about the corruption and sloppy building that goes into public housing, they have access to documents and drawings which are kept secret from people who have to live in these disasters. SLATE2 page5 COMMUNITY ARCHITECTURE Several members of the ASSIST staff also attended the Birmingham meeting. Much of their work issimilar toHackney but they have avoided becoming aprivate Practice in the conventional sense. Their members are much more self critical and awareofthe dilemma oftheirsituation. They too are working in an area where a backward local authority was, and stil is, unable to implement rehabilitation effectively. ASSIST isdoing thejob for them and inevitably taking pressure of the local authority. There seems little doubt that many more enlightened local authorities would like to adopt their shop front office style ifthey could persuade their staff to work in them, but in ASSIST the staff can at leastclaimtobeindependentofthe local authority. The front line official cannot and can easily find himself in an imposs- -ible situation N Whether through leaks ororganisedsolidaritywiththetenants’ movement, local authority employees have a moral duty to help people they see having a rough deal. There may be risks involved but many may be made redundant tomorrow anyway. A further vital job for architects is to build up research and information about ion about respective roles whether members are being paid or not. Thirdly, to develope straightforward practical competence that is of use to others combined with agitation for political change, one cannot be an excuse for the absence of the other. There is much that needs to be done involving practical intervention in community action and NAM should be offset by the labour subsidy from the ‘Job Creation Programme’ but there remains the tensionofconstantlyworkingontheedgeof economic insolvency. The Coop’s overheads are low by the Building Industry's standards but stil account for a fifth of the grant. a conditional existence The Coop is also aware that their existence is conditional upon good relations with COMMUNITY DESIGN SERVICE IN CARDIFF In December last year the Cardiff NAM group’s application for a grant under the Job Creation Programme to set up a Community Design Service was rejected bu the Manp Services Commission. Here we publish the first part of the Group’s account of the evolution of their proposal, its development and eventual failure. Part two, in the next SLATE, deals with the problemsencounteredbytheGroupoverthe question of professional indemnity and with the vacilating response of the Commission’s officers. It also speculates on the reasons able to offer, and since we were hoping to use any responses we might get to back up our application, we asked respondents to say IF they would use such a service if it existed, and also HOW they would use it. The letter was circulated to residents’ associations, community groups, and voluntary organisations in South East Wales. Through the West Glamorgan County Council’s Community Resources Centre, and South Glamorgan Council’s Ci R Centre, and South Glamorgan Council's Community Liaison Section, we made contact with groups not known to us personally. Response was extensive and positive, from abstract encouragement to concrete requests forhelp,someofthemurgent. Itcamemainly from the run down older residential areas of Cardiff, and from the mining valleys to the north and west, through organisations like the South Wales Anti-Poverty Action Group based in Merthyr Tydfil; Ty Toronto of Aberfan, a community work and resource organisation for the valleys; the Prince of Wales Committee, aims: ‘to encourage, help, and advise The Prince of Wales Committee concluded their letter: ‘Manyof these groups would appreciate the kindof esristance which you are offering. Some needskilledhelptoimaginethepotentialforimprove -ment in their neighbourhood, Others need advice with plans for specific schemes, Almost all could nor afford to pay professional fees for specialist advice of this sort because of their own limited resources. Your scheme could be the means of providinga valuable impetus and greatly needed additional service to thore interested in improving thetr environment.’ These responses raised questions about the categories of work which should be undertaken by a design service such as the one we had proposed. Should we be helping residents’ groups to ‘provide voluntarily’ and out of their own pockets, what government resources shouldbepayingfor,ordesigning“kitchen/ toilet facilities’ for the Church in Wales? These are questions we had not even begun to discuss. Neither had we considered in any detail the ways in which the nature of the design service we would be offering would differ in essence from the sort of design service the RIBA might envisage. For example, if we were to provide encouragement to groups who need “faith in their ability’ to undertake work which would not probably be undertaken without active encouragement, would this be touting for work? And what kind of work which we might under- take for those groups who ‘could not afford to pay professional fees’ -JCP money would enable us to providea free design service (for a year) but how would they, and the RIBA, fel aboutusgettinginvolvedineffortstoraise money for carrying out projects, especially when that may mean advising residents groups building design, systems and failures that canbemade availabletoc ity involvedin gingthiWesm.ust ManpowerServicesCommission groups The study of Clorius heat meters whichledtoanationalcampaignby tenants groups disatisfied with district heating schemes is a good example ofthis. Campaigns should be organised with tenants for building regulations to be tightened up so that standards and safety are improved, particularly in public housing. We should oppose giving more freedom to people like Road Hackney to find ways around the regulations. radical rhetoric This is going to involve consistent be careful, however, to discriminate between our pursuit of socially responsible action and the bandwagon of‘community architecture.’ Tom Woolley has been involved in housing and ‘community’ action with tenants and residents groups in Scotland and London since 1968. While qualified as an architect he has worked for a period asa community worker. He currently taches part time at the AA, isa member of the executive of the Brent Federation of Tenants and Residents and isa member of the Support group. LAMBETH COOPERATIVE and the Association itself Lambeth Council have taken a ‘tolerant’ line withtheCoopsofaralthoughalnegotiations have been characterised by prolonged yet strangely superficial ‘consideration’ of the Coop's needs. The Council gets a good deal from the Coop. Each house completed costs them nothing, increases rates revenue and means a potential shortening of the housing list, Nevertheless the Council have so far only allowed two years life on any house handed over thus restricting the Coop to the minimum *MiniHAG’ grant of £800. The money isnot paid directly to the Association but to Solon who qualify for the grant because they are a registered housing association. Solon receives a management fee of about £115 for handling the grant and checking the standard of rehabilitation. Solon have experienced ‘bridging fi ance’ prob sincetheHousingCorporationhave not kept to their quarterly payment arrangement. It is unlikely that the Coop could survive for very long on the present subsidised basis and moves have bezn made towards tendering for outsidework.Solonhaveagreedinprinciple for the project’s failure, showing how, to gain acceptance, it would have been necessary to set up the project within the established structure of the RIBA and the Local Authorities. individuals and groups of people living in politicalorganisingwhich fewarchitects haye shown interest in. The radical thetoric and occasional confrontation with local authorities of groups such as ARCmayseemconvincingtooutsiders makeendsmeetasitdoesupshortlife butcanbeanembarassmenttolocal propertyinLambeth.Inadequatehousing toincludetheCooponitstenderlists. the various parts of the article were prepared by individual members of the Group and do not necessarily represent a collective view. While the Cardiff NAM group was stil in the throes ofdiscovering just what it was supposed to be about and where itwas supposed to be going, other things happened which led to the idea of a community design service. As the word spread that agroup of radical architectural workers had come together, communitygroupswerecontactingusandit quicklybecameevidentthattheywere primarily interested in us as a source of acvice andexpertise,interestedinusinour professional capacity, that is. NAM nationally had already initiated discussions about what a national design service might be, and it seemed that, at that time, we in Cardiff were in a position to initiate some such scheme. In view of the potential clientele, there developed the idea thattheprojectcouldberuninacompletely different way to traditional practices. The only thing in the way of setting it up was the small matter of money. An apparently readily available source of finance at the time was the Manpower Services Commission (MSC) who were financing certain projects under their Job Creation Programme (JCP). What we hoped to set up was a prototype community based design service which would begin to look at what terms like ‘accountability’ and a’more democratic architecture’ were really about. Theformingofsuchaservicewas,asfaras Iwas concemed, an extension of the work I had done in my final year at college, the emphasis being on ‘demystifying’ the profession, andhowthiscouldbetackled.TheJCPmight provide the money to start us up, buthopefully although we had no idea how at this stage, we would come up with some method of self financing to enable the project to continue. I also assumed, somewhat naively perhaps, that the people eventually employed by the service would share my initial concept of the project. To me, the important aspect of the scheme was that itwould be ameans of teaching US to teach others to help themselves with regard to the built environment. I feel there was a danger of the project being viewed as a cheap professional service, tiding over out of work architectural workers until something else tumed up. Community Design Service Needed In order to approach the MSC we needed todemonstratethatapotentialdemand existed for the sort of design service we were proposing. We prepared a letter outlining the range and broad type of service we would be Wales, wishing to carry out projects to improve their surroundings on avoluntary basis’; and various other community associations and resource centres. The range of work we were being asked to deal with is best illustrated by quoting from some of the responses we received. “We are trying to improve the vilage. We want someone togiveusfaithinourabilitytodothixWecould wait until the JCP gets off the ground bus the inirial enthusiasm might have disappeared by then. people. It certainly doesn’t provide a consistent approach which is going to involve more radical professionals. Brian Anson and George Mills cling to the notion of communities when they themselves admit that ity feeling has been destroyed by the plan- ners at Ealing or in the Colne Valley. Handouts from the Rowntree Trust may give them employment, but to claim that this will lead to the residents of the Colne Valley being able to dictate their own future is at best niave. a class analysis itisnecessary to reject ARC's pluralist approach and replace it with class analysis. We must understand the wayinwhichcapitalistsocietyorganises the production of buildings and how this can be changed by the working class.Indefiningourroleasprofessionals within this struggle we must work to break down the false status of professionals and replace it with mutual trust among all people with REAL skills and expertise. Support This is the basis of the work of Support which is a small group of architects and builders with a wide network of contacts which tries to find sympathetic and responsible experts to respond to the endless demands from local groups, but also tries to develope principles which will have political results. These principles include firstly working together as an identifiable group that will share experiences and publish these for the benefits of others. Secondly, it aims to establish clear agreements with client groups that are based on careful discuss- SLATE 2 page 6 grants and sparse cooperation from the Council contradict:the fact that the Coop provides useful houses and also illustrates the way that local initiative is both coopted and forced to work ‘on the cheap’. The future offers family squatting associations dealingwith‘shortlifes’twooptions:gounderfrom the stress of direct immersion in the housing crisis at street level OR to extend their control of their own housing situation. Seven months ago Lambeth Self Help Housing Association took up the second option. ‘MiniHAG’ grants were arranged through the Housing Corporation, wages for half the members came from the Manpowers Services Commission’s Job Creation Scheme’ and a building cooperative was formed. directaccess This has provided the Association with a direct access to the building process, a luxury reserved only for a tiny proportion of today’s tenants,publicorprivate.Eachunitis completed for under £800: this buys basic service installation and anything else required other than decorations. By comparison the council reckons on spending £100 per room per year of life. A seven-roomed house would qualify for £1,400, £630 more than the Coop spends. incentives The wages are low for the eight members of the Coop - U.C.A.T.T. minimum -about fifty pounds a week gross. Hence the economic motive is clearly not the prime incentive for the members as corresponding wages in the private sector would certainly be higher. But as compensation the Coop offers the freedoms and responsibilities that go with employment outside of a dominant management structure. With 17 units completed, the Coop is stil sortingoutmany problems: the‘MiniHAG’ (mini, meaning short-life, Housing Association Grant) is too small: £800 per unit was dubious in 1975 but in 1977 it is grossly inadequate. Part of the loss through inflation has been self perpetuating housing needs The Association itself started out 5 years ago by getting houses from the council and upgrading them through self-help and contributions paid by members. It currently has over 300 members al over Lambeth. In order to break out of the self-perpetuating housing need that the short-life field entails, theAssociationhasdecidedtoapplytothe Housing Corporation for ‘Housing Cooperative’ Status. This will enable them to buy houses on the open market and to rehabilitate them with a 90% grant. Two other squatting groups have done this: Lewisham Family Squatters and Islington Community Housing. urban stress Lambeth has recently been designated in a government report as an urban stress area and therefore worthy of a financial shot in the arm, althoughnoconcretestrategieshavesofar emerged. Strangely in contradiction to this honourable intention, central government subsidies for local authority rehabilitation workthroughsection105ofthe1974 * Housing Act have been cut by £3m in Lambeth. In apportioning these cuts the Housing Dept have reasoned that since housing association grants are trickling into its short life finance that it will cut council spending on short-lifes from £235,000 to £80,000 this year: H.A.G. finance in no way makes up for this cut and it has clearly been seized upon by the council as a way of avoiding its responsibilities in this area. So while the financial responsibility for Lambeth’s housing problem ricochets between local and central government the Building Coop are quietly putting on average one house a week against Lambeth’s aiting homeless figures. The breakdown of the extra cash to finance inner city building work was announced at the end of April. £5 million will go to Lambeth who will be asked to submit lists of the most desirable projects. DISCEPTION PY CHOOSING SurTAsiB JOBS. cA Y THOSE MySLIMS Realy GoToo Lambeth Self Help Housing Association member, Tony Brohn, describes how a local building cooperative struggles to Hesekearets,19me AGAIN! You mow, NOW Tast QUITE FRANKLY, Lambeth Council Housing Dept Housing Corporation TAM A MAN OF (orton) PRINCIPLES |Wie NOT BE A PARTY To BLocpsHiD— To THE BviL AMBITIONS OF PMAOCGRAISNHISM Shemees peamers Anse! TEV ree o> !-.-No!AenrEcrvRas4 CONTAMETS OF A PEACEFUL Nani, designing an extension (kitchen/totlets) (0 an church hal” are ier 7\|1WoutNever ineDUTYTeUteMoeat ON DESIGNAPRISON! (om \ J FAR WITH THER PUNISHMENTS. SLATE2 page7 ‘on the most effective way of getting local and central government resources allocated (or reallocated) to the project. The difficulties and shortcomings of the sort of service we proposed would be enormous, but Ithink itcould be said that the demand forit had been firmly established. Corridors ofPower —MSC We agreed that in order to !2am more about the mechanics of subinitting a JCP application we would need an early informal meeting with someone from MSC. Two of us made an initial approach along the corridors of power. Our first meeting was with the assistant to the MSC Cardiff area assessor. After outlining who we were and who we representedwe, tried to put across what our embryo design service was al about. We identified the need for a design input by the community groups we had contacted, and the linked need for employment in South Walesfor architectural workers. To our surpnise, response was enthusiastic. He thought the idea ofa L... possibly the design of an existing church building to be converted intoa residential youth centre for holiday use (though the building as such is srill being sought) * +... planning a housing community scheme in thit grea to show to the local authorities shar it is viable.’ “There are many Welfare Halls in che valleys that are not being fully utilised, these could be made into useful centres if the opportunity arose 10 aquire them. The possibility ofgetting such places for community use depends a great deal on the ability of people to improve the property. The kind of service you offer ‘could prove an incentive 10 this end, there are many empty buildings in the valleys that could be made use of provided they were brought up to the required standard.” *_. school groups interested in landscaping creat Seeee ncconumaaTionfortheelderlyuu.and keen to create murals on exterior walls ofvarious public buildings, including their own schools, *scone residents on large housing estateseho ae prepared to do something themselves fo relieve monotonous eppesrance..... the advice of a landscape architect or an architect would be invaluable." “Residents in the valleys often wish to tackle the problems of unnightly back lanes ‘and eyesores created by gaps in rows of houses or ends of terraces where buildings have been demolished.” COLNE VALLEY the answer? SowhatIsleft?Anageing population, no jobs for the young, dilapidated transport and communications systems, dereliction and polution on an unprecedendted scale. And the Local Authorities’ answer? Tourism, conservation and museums of industrial archeology and other cheap but negative solutions. For the people of the Valley, who are conscientious, warm hearted and proud, these ‘solutions’ are a blatant insult. Kirkleen Metropolitan Council, who are charged with responsibility for the wellbeingofthearea,ignorethe fate of local people and hope that enough commutors from Leeds, Bradford and Manchester will settleintheValley,dotherehab andspendthemoney. The Community Architecture Team Team sees the local people as the area's major res ource, along with any redundant buildings and derelict sites, empty through the neglecti,n acapitalist economy, of areaswhichlosttheirabilityto compete in world markets. In terms of its people the Valley stil has great potential, but a potential which must first be exposed and the then worked on, not with a view to profit,butwithaviewtopeople changing their own lives. autonomy Eachoftheiveprinciple vilages which make up Colne Valley retains some degree of social and cultural autonomy, something which socicties striving for a facade of ‘equalisteeya’s quaint but primitive and backward, We work on the premise that such autonomy is the basis for the future of places such as Slaithwaite and Marsden, for it is in this locality that British working men and women first organised themselvesinpursuitofabetter life. Our work attempts to weld autonomy, people, buildings and ideals into a potent social force, unbending to the perogative of management, unions or Government People may see al this as utopian. In places like the Colne Vallcy utopias have been visualised and aimed at for centuries. It is in the nature of people like those in the Valley to have their dreams and occasionally, on aparticularly strong impulse, to embark on them as if they were a clear cut reality merelyastepaway, local newspaper As part of a process of rebuilding the strength and impetus 0Sacommunity wesetupasmall localnewspaper. Itissteadily growing in circulation and with each issue moreof it iswritten by the people up and down the Valley, not by people in our office. We stil use the paper as vehicle for ideas about what to do with redundant buildings, disused sites andoutmoded planningstructures. We have no tangible proof that our work is having any effect, but we have constant hints and expressions of faith that we are being positive inthefaceofapredominantly negative society. We are stil gaining the trust of the people locally, but small groups -f activistsareformingwith theintent of rebuilding their area along THEIR lines, not those set down by Local Authorities, Capital or anyone elsc. Hopefully, once the Newspaper is established it will finance our continuing work, which must remain in its infancy until it is fertilised and fired by the imagination and desires of the people of the Valley. continued from page 7 design service for community groups was very worthwhileandanapplicationalongourlines was well worth attempting. He was ful of” ideas of how the project could be set up and along what lines it could progress, he even supplied us with the names and addresses of people and groups we should contact for letters of support. After the outline discussion we got down to talking about more detail, specifically: . Could we employ an administrator/ coordinator in advance of 5 technical staff in order to tie up al the loose ends? This was acceptable. Would the application be approved if premises were not finalised? Yes. Wouldithelpifwelinkedtheprofessional training requirements of architecture, planning etc. into the training emphasis of the JCP? Yes, this would be excellent, especiallyifyoucouldusetheRIBA trainingguidelinestostructurethetraining element in the service. The approval of the Welsh School of Architecture Practical Training Officer would be a big help in any application. ._ How flexible could our expenditure estimates be, did we have to itemise every piece of of equipment or could we put ina lumpsumtocoveralmaterials?Thereisa degree of flexibility in the scheme; money underspent in one area could be transfered to other categones. . Do we have to detail the jobs applied for or will an overall job description suffice? A generalsubscriptionwoulddo. Would asingle scale of salary for al employees be acceptable? MSC would prefer a differential between the architect andcoordinatorandthetrainees. If revenue was generated by the scheme how should it be used and what effect would it have on any MSC money? Revenue generation if acceptable as long as profits are not made and the money is used for purposes other than those financed by MSC but stil within the context of the scheme. With the answers to these questions and the attitude of this member of the staff, it appeared that our application had a very good chance indeed of being accepted by the committee (comprised of local notaries, councillors, professionals) to whom the MSC staff made their recommendations, and our design service idea seemed to take a great stride forward. The Application It was only in attempting to fulfill certain conditions which we thought, correctly or incorrectly, were required by the MSC, that some of us feel our original intentions were compromised. Although it was probably necessary to play down the possible political implications of such a project, we made the mistake of not confronting and fully discussing these implications amongst ourselves. MSC required that al JCP projects submitted to them should be sup b i Our apeteatan to JCP was for money to employ 6 workers, a total (labour costs plus 10%) of almost £15,000. For two reasons we specified that one of these workers should be a qualified architect. Firstly, it had been implied that out application would be looked at more favourably if we offered some sort of training opportunities. We approached the Practical Training Officer at the Welsh School who thought it would be possible to consider work with the scheme suitable experience for 4th year students. This required a qualified rvising architect. In retrospect, some of felt that this made us even more dependent than we needea to have been on the goodwill of the professional establishment. Secondly, we had understood that the employment ofa qualified architect would be necessary to enable us to obtain the appropriate insurances. Subsequently, we found that this is not the case. REVIEV REVIEW OF ‘TAMING THE CONCRETE JUNGLE’ Green Bans, the widely feted culmination of the actions of Australian Building Workers, are only part of the story told in this book.. Journalist Pete Thomas, writingonbehalfoftheBuilders’ Labourers Federation of Australia, tells how the union has also seized many opportunities to take imaginativedirectactiontoerode theauthorityofbuildingmanagement management over questions of site safety, scheduling of work, redundancies and working conditions conditions. A rank and file lead takeover of the union leadership by progressives in the early 60’s signalled an onrush ofNewUnionismwhichtookasits sphere of concern and action the whole state of the Australian Construction industry. Automation and industrialisation had brought about collosal increases inproductivitywhileby1972the practice of sub-contracting had reached such proportions that the ratio of wage eamers to sub- contractorswasonlythreetoone. These developments added new safety and health risks and further job instability to the building workers more traditional problems, hostile working conditions and casual hourly employment. The response of the building workers ranged from the scurillous: taking a shower on the steps of Newcastle's city hall to draw attention to inadequate sanitary facilities on site - to the revolutionary revolutionary -one site electing their own foreman, in response to police harassment, and continuing work under self-management for the remaining months of the contract. Many individual manifestations like these spread a consciousness of the workers’ own collective authority throughout the union. Approached by local residents for assistance in their attempts to save from development Kelly’s Bush, an area of open land near Sydney’s city centre, the Builders’ Labourers readily dedtheideaofworkers’ control beyond the immediate concems of the pay packet and the site. No further construction would take place on any of the developer's other sites, decreed the Builder’s Labourers, ifhe persisted in his plans for Kelly’s Bush. The Green ban was successful as were many subsequent bans in New South Wales and other states. British readers may feel remote from this swashbuckling tale of workers’ struggles in the Antipodes. Our building industry, in many ways as primitive and harsh as its Australian counterpart, is generally stil bedevilled by the remnants of continued on page 10 WORKING FORWHAT? PROJECT George Mills describes the work of the Community Architecture Team in the Colne Valley against the background of the aspirations of an isolated working community. CA was set up by the Architects Revoi iticnary Council in 1976 The Community Architecture team’s work in the Colne Valley, near Huddersfield, is still in its infancy. Setupbymembersof the Architects’ Revolutionary Council (ARC) in 1976, the project is a response to a problem whichthemajorityofplanners electtoignore,theyfecl industrial districts made so economically weak by the erosion of their markets that they can no longer support themselves in any tangible way Textile manufacture was the Colne Vall industry. At the heyday ofthe ourandahalf mile long valey’s productivity something like 50 mils flourished, each employing between 100 and 2000 workers. When an erea this size is devoted tooneindustryno aroefalife isunaffected byits industrial decline. Textile manufacture still has astrong presence in the Valey,but themilsthemselves ti sons for a.chaic achinery and production methods parts of the world THECASEFORTRADEUNIONORGANISATIONINARCHITECTURE AND THE ALLIED BUILDING PROFESSIONS REVIEW OF ‘WORKING FOR WHAT?’ Sunund Prasad, Edward Cullinan Architects, writes, Few people who wish to see a radical (democratising) change in the existing process of making and providing buildings will doubt thatifArchitecturalWorkerscombinewitheach other to further their interests and ideals, potentially a huge and necessary step would have been taken in the right direction. The thoughtful, well argued and deeply feltNAM report‘WorkingforWhat’should dispel doubts, where they do exist, about the desirability or possibility of this The challenge is where do we go from there; firstlywhetherwecanlearnfrom200yearsof often cautionary union history (builders, incidentally, were amongst the first workers to organise) and secondly whether we can persue political effectiveness while not, for one moment, losing a passion for the quality of what we build and a desire to build it. The report, though necessarily not very analytical about the history of Trade Unionism, meets well the first challenge especially in the series of questions headed ‘which union’ at the end, and in being enthusiastic about the examples set by Australian building labourers and Lucas Aerospace workers in breaking out of the ‘Sheer Economism’ of modern Trade Unionism. Iwish though that even in a report such as this the second challenge were somehow acknowledged. At one point itis stated ‘there are very few problems facing Architecture today that trade union organisation and action could not come to grips with and make a real contribution towards resolving’. Clearly this will need a radically new unionism not shy of addressing architectural issues and willing to develope critiques of recent movements and trends which are far less crude and ill-informed than the report’s brief forays into this terntory. Only recently has it become possible for reactiontomakestickachargeofphilistinism on the ‘left’. This tragic reversal must not be allowed to stand by default. One of the crucial tasks in this connection is to show that “democratic alternatives to the market system’ are as capable and more of generating quality. invention and style. Finally, as a member ofa practice of the kind referred to in the Appendix “Alternatives to Unionisation?’ Iendorse the reservations about ‘one-off progress but would like to express our conviction that itisimportant to have a dream about where you are going and not merely wait for your arrival there New Architecture Movement, (unionisation) Organising Committpe: ‘Working For Whet?- The case for Trades Union orgenisation in Architecture and the altied building profersions: ANAM report: 1977:6Sp post paid. SLATE 2 page 9 bear witr theindustry” condit incapeable dem in other eos =s w» nen ee continued from page 9 old fashioned craft unionism and dominated by old fashioned union leadership. Extending the concept of Trades Unionism beyond the confines of wage negotiation to assert the workers’ authority over the whole production process and the product itselifs an idea which isslowly gaining credence here, amongst scientific workers at Lucas Aerospace and construction workers in Birmingham in particular. Pete Thomas’ book, for al its unquestioning enthusiasm for the Builders’ Labourers cause and actions, is as good an explanation ofwhat workers’ control means as any theoretical treatment of the topic, and is exciting with it. COMPETITION CORNER Pete Thomas: ‘Taming the Concrete CENTRAL SQUARE BLOCKS1&2 &0.17 OPPOSITION «mong architectural workers is one aspect of the much publicised recent GLC ‘in-house’ competition that the Council’s public relations machine chose to ignore when it leafletted the press with pretty drawings like the one above. In a resolution proposed by the Architect’s Department Committee, NALGO’s GLC Executive Council called A CALL for clearer political perspectives was the recurrent conclusion of the New Architecture Movement’s Second London Seminar. The open seminar, held at the Polytechnic of Central London on Apmil 23rd focused on the issues of ARCUK, unionisation and education. Tom Woolley, speaking first,outlined the rise of NAM against the background of the spreading acceptance of the idea that architectural ideas and attitudes were strongly influenced by economic forces. Even the RIBA was shedding its liberalism and could no longer tolerate radical critiscism. InconclusionTomWooleysaidthat structural chance in society could only be the result of political action, and it was within this tramework that NAM should see it’s role. Rodney Mace added that NAM was the only group correctly placed to provide acoherent analysis and political directions forarchitectural professional organisation, ARCUK isapublic institution, and NAM should work to increase ARCUK’s public accountability. Questioned on their accountability to the Movement, NAM’s representatives on ARCUK agreed to meet to discuss policy through consultation with members and are considering holding a conference for al unattached architects. Unionisation The next discussion was opened by a member who described the enormous resistance of employerstotheideaofunionisation. The threat of being sacked was strong enough to prevent radical architects broaching the subject openly or putting their names to published statements. Organising architectural workers was a fundamental point in NAM’s programme, and thatTradesUnionactionbeextended beyond pay and conditions at the workplace into environmental and social issues. Itwas here that i would have to offer the Trades Union movement. This ‘New Unionism’ wasillustratedbyreferencetoLucasAerospace, where shop stewards, in the face of threatened redundancies,haddrawnupaplanfor maintaining employment by producing ‘socially useful’ goods instead of military hardwear, within the existing capabilities of the plant. Unionisation should not be seen as an easy insurance against increasing unemployment, low wages or unsatisfying work, but as part of a general political struggle. We should aim to achieve a single union for al workers, including technical, administrative and managerial staff in al offices. The meeting was wamed against RIBA or employers organising tame para-unions to defuse the issue. Against the proposition of shop-floor organisation put forward by the principal speakers, certain factions held that architectural work can only be seen in the context of the construction industry, and that the correct continued on page 12 Jungle’:New South Wales branch of the Australizn Building Construction Employees and Bulders' Labourers Federation: Sydrey :1973: £1.00 NAM _GROUP SPIANTCHEEHOME 261 Hangng Space ARCUK Group, NAM, 9, Poland St., London WI. Liaison Group The Secretary, NAM, 9, Poland St., London, W1 National Design Service: NDS, NAM, 9, Poland St., Students and tutors at Nottingham School of Architecture, who have already established an active NAM group both on and off the campus, are toholda‘counter-courseevent’over workers. the weekend of June 25-26th. All those 7a wa onitsarchitecturalmemberstoblackthe London,W1. y \ | Archi 7 4 i [acre eal (ie wane) Kingston-u-Hull Regional College of Art, Brunswick Ave., Hull Leeds: Pete Forbes, Parkview, Weeton Lane, Hoby, Leeds 17 London Group: Douglas Smith, 17, Delancey St., London, NW1 Nottingham Group: Dave Green, 44a, Bramcote Rd., Beeston, Nottingham Education Group: Edinburgh: David Somervell Hull: Jane Bryant, Hull School of Architecture. Leeds: Pete Forbes Nottingham: Dave Green NAM groups wanting to contribute information on their activities should get their copy to SLATE by 24thJune1977forinclusioninthe next issue. NEXT WEEK: 26.2Spacein‘hegaschamber REHABILITATION NEWS . Architectural workers at Richard Sheppard Robson & Partners refused to work on drawings of amultiple execution chamber for a so called rehabilitation centre in North Africa, reported London lettertotheGUARDIAN recently. SLATE 2 page 10 Fill in the form below and send it with a cheque/PO (payable to the New Architecture Movement) for £2.95 plus 10p post and packing to NAM, 9 Poland St., London WI. NAME. 2000 | Hulul: Ian Tod, Hull School of Architecture, competiton shortly after its announcement. Support was not forth- -coming however, from the parallel branch of the GLC Staff Association, when NALGO wrote suggesting joint actionovertheblacking,vitalforsuccess in the capaign. Reasons for blacking the competition were given as: - It is using work normally carried out by the Architect's Department, which could be better utilised by giving employment to one of the many architects at present on the dole, - It aims to induce our members to carry out duties outside working hours without pay. - In the present climate of cutbacks in GLC expenditure, staffing levels, livingstandards and promotion prospects, it can only be seen at best asa spoonfuolf sugar. - Staff are being encouraged to carry out this exercise even though there isa complete lack of consultation with the staff on their future and particularly on the issue of viable housing briefs, future level of housing production and staffing levels, support witheld Staff Association support was with- held on the grounds that some of its members may wish to enter the competition. Only 5 entrants put in schemes in the end -how many of these were GLCSA members is not known. Even with only 5 entrants, the competition, with prize money of £250.00 was cheap exploitation. The passive stance of the TUC affiliated Staff Association in not supporting its sister union, NALGO, comes as less of a Surprise in view of the compromised positionofstaffassociationsgenerally. (See SLATE no 1). Projects Group: David Roebuck, 25, St. George’s Ave., London, W1 Unionisation Organising Committee, NAM,9 PolandSt,London,W1 PublicationsGroup: Editorial Committee, NAM, 9, Poland St., London, W1 Cardiff Group: Anne Delaney, 196, Albany Rd., Roath, Cardiff Edinburgh: interested in obtaining further details should write to NAM Nottingham Group, 14DerbyGrove,Nottingham. SLATE isnowcontributingto invisible exports after receiving a subscription from Iceland. The Publications Group will be monitoring its performance under sub-zero temperatures in the hope of a warm response! Contrary to previous reports the New Architecture Calendar for 1977 has showna profit. The final account reveals an overall surplus of £2.06. As this seems to be a potential money spinner (in NAM’s terms anyway) would anyone willing to produce a sequel for 1978 please write to The Secretary, 9 Poland Street, London W1 Only one suggestion for a 3rd Congress venue has been received so far and others must be sent, also to the Secretary, before the summer so that the Liason Group can get on with the long task of organising the event. The Liason Group backs the decisions passed at the NAM Sponsored Unionisation Unionisation Conference held on May 14th May 14th and urges al readers working in the private sector to organise within the chosen union TASS. Finally, our condolencies to founder member Morris Williams on his recent redundancy -we urge him to join TASS withoutfurtherdelay. ARCUK CONTACTS : David Somervell, 22, Penmuir Place, Edinburgh 3 NEWS FROM NAM LIAISON Recognition of NAM's contribution to important issues concerning the building industry and related professions is steadily growing in the Schools of Architecture. Most recently three NAM members. attended a symposium held for day release d at London's Polytechnic of the South Bank where they led alively discussion on Unionisation, ARCUK and the role of professional institutes and the concept of a National Design Service. Should these and other issues currently being developed by NAM be of interest to other schools, requests for visiting speakers are welcomed. ~Jonadremndcrsaticarctalectiore- NAM’s Second National Conference, Blackpool, November, 1976. NAM SECOND LONDON SEMINAR ARCUK and the Acts were the first topics of the day's debate. HistoryshowedthatwhiletheActsclaimedto protect the public from impostors by registrationandexamination,itwasobviousto many, even at the time, that the legislation served only to maintain the power and prestige of the profession. As the statutory link between the profession and society, ARCUK is the controlling body for al architectural practice, but its statutory independence, under the Acts, was soon lost and its claimed intentions sabotaged, by the RIBA, its main protagonist, who compromised with the ‘public interest” as they argued and lobbied the acts through Parliament. The Institute remains in control of ARCUK. ‘The question was raised whether NAM, which is fundamentally opposed to the RIBA and its legitimising agent and partner ARCUK, should consider the reform of an employers’ organisation. One answer put forward was that while the RIBA isexclusively a aeAer a.PAHVFfamWAMT| A collection of cartoons by Louis Hellman | | Hellman takes a stab from the inside at the seemicr side of the buildingprofession. | |‘Feloffmy bike with laughter’... Prof. Reyner Banham | | | | | nit SQUATTERS ORGANISE continued from page 11 political perspective for unionisation and al our campaigns was solely in alliance with organised building workers. Rodney Mace spoke against patronising the unions by running to them for help in times of crisis. Unionisation would be a long hard struggle during which architectural workers would have to develop discipline and respect. Education On the subject of education it was stressed that education played a central role in the inculcation of professional myths and attitudes. The courses were competitive, nonanylitical and anti-political. Rodney Mace suggested that there had been little progress in the demands made by students in the last twenty years. Architectural education is of little effect in developing political consziousness, which was more likely to come from students’ activities outside school. Educational hegemony would only be challenged by forces outside schools, in alliance with students within. He concluded by pointing out that there was still a bias towards accepting students from public schools and against women for first year entry. Constitution for NAM? In the final session general proposals were made for an Asbestos Working Group to seek ways of advising architectural workers on how to avoid the use of asbestos in buildings. The mecting also called for consideration ofa constitution for the Movement in order to reinforce internal democracy, coherent organisation and a credible public face. Objections from the floor that this was a betrayal of NAM’s loose-knit federal structure were countered by the view that organisational clarity would benefit al NAM groups Guest speakers at the London Group's open seminar were Tom Wooley, member of the Support Group, and lecturer at the Architectural Association who has been involved in radical movements in erchitecrure since the mid 1960: and Rodney Mace, historian. lecturer at Kingston Polytechnic and member of the Communist Porty’s Built Environment Group. Report by Douglas Smith Y: fit. Sa Oe JACKSONS LANE COMMUNITY CENTRE, ARCHWAY RD.N.6. |centralised ‘Squatters’ Union’. Much of the conflict arises from past hostility between the libertarian cooperative Advisory Service for Squatters (ASS) which attempts to respond to requests from individual squatters and local groups, and the more militant Squatters’ Action Counail (SAC) which produces a weekly newsheet and believes in taking initiatives to expand squatting and expose the chronic housing crisis While the debate continues, however the passing of the Criminal Tresspass Legislation gets nearer, and the need for squatters to organise themselves against becoming homeless and/or criminals becomes more urgent Ifyyoou would like to be a member of the New Architecture Movementnt fililn the form below and send || it together with a cheque/postal order (payable to the New Architecture Movement) for £5.00( if IN THE FACE of the impending Criminal Tres pass Legislation, which will make certain types of squatting a criminal offence, attempts are being made to forma national squatters’ organisation to defend the rights of squatters and the homeless. Two open conferences have already been held in London, but so far no agreement has been reached on the type of organisation which should be formed. A third conference is planned shortly. The main debate is between those who would like to see a ‘Squatters Federation’ which would have little centralised power, but which would coordinate and assist autonomous local groups, and those who want to form a more powerful and For further information and advice contact ASS 359 8814 SAC: 701 7644 SUBSCRIBE! £ fitz £. £eeet |you're employed) or£2.00 (ifyou're arestudent, claimant orOAP) toNAM at9,Poland Street feee tay Efe SY SLATE’s next issue will feature a major article on the changes at Architectural Design, what they mean for Architec- tural journalism and how they reflect a change in spirit running night through | biggest crisis since the War. Among the pioneers of progressive Poland Street, London W.1. NAME ADDRESS architectural journalism, AD featured radigal technology, community action, |squatting and sociological and political | analysis alongside Conceptual Architecture, shining new factories and | Archigram in a mixture which raised the consciousness as well as, sometimes, the | confusion, of its readers. No more. | Professionalism :the myth and the idevlogy. eh SseRa ag268 Roaee VU ooh bEeeee £efe LELELE | | the profession as society faces its ARCUK :whorunsitandhow. J SLATE THREE | ¥ ft. |LondonW.1. ane 4\4O ca fo a ph | NAME s0cucenseosoccsccconnascosopeeepescoso04eee5e |ADDRESS. | | | TELEPHONE (‘HOME)) rccecccsccscscsaserscsettereene (WORK ). oe eeeeewnceesucess | If you would like to receive SLATE without joining NAM fil in the form below and send it together withacheque/postalorder(payabletotheNew ArchitectureMovement)for£2.00toNAM at9, The politics of registration :the background to the Acts. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource NAM SLATE Group 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 May/ June 1977 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/6bfc6a8461a3b9172cdd119aab4ad6ab.pdf 3297e5f13076d1f9600ec4cd77bd21a0 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 SLATE Description An account of the resource To help promote its work and reduce dependence on the established professional press, NAM created its own newspaper SLATE. The editorial group met bi-monthly to gather together latest events, activities and ideas emerging from radical critiques and challenges to the established order of architectural practice and education. The content of each edition was collated, and cut-and-pasted into layouts of the magazine which typically ran from 16 to 28 pages. Each edition included a brilliant cartoon by Andrew Brown who emerged as a clever graphic artist synthesising NAM's radical ethics. SLATE's production ran to 17 issues in total. The SLATE Group also produced occasional annual calendars, of which three survive 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 SLATE 1 Description An account of the resource The (Unionisation) Organising Committee of the New Architecture Movement calls a Special, One-Day Is there an answer to... ..redundancies? ..-declining standard of living? ...shoddy design and cutting of corners? ++-secretive and arbitrary management? YES! cS \ People in architecture and the ‘_... es EAPCHHUSE Bue nr \ ee| AONION FOR ?!! related building professions are becoming aware that their EMPLOYMENT SECURITY, their STANDARD OF LIVING, and the WHAT, HOW, and WHY of the work they do, not to mention the quality of the environment they share as members of the commu- nity, are as much at the mercy of the market as those of any other working people. IF you work in architecture, surveying, structural or building services engineering, quantity surveying, town planning, etc., AND you want to begin to gain control over your working life by helping to build a strong, active, democratic and unified trade union organisation among your 50,000 colleagues in "private sector" firms and departments, THEN join us to collectively decide on ONE UNION for architectural and allied workers in the private sector, to consider priorities for union action and to initiate a serious organising campaign. ONE-DAY SPECIAL CONFERENCE ON TRADE UNION ORGANISATION IN ARCHITECTURE AND THE ALLIED BUILDING PROFESSIONS Closing date for receipt of application forms for conference credentials is Wednesday, 4th May. (Unionisation) Organising Committee, The New Architecture Movement, 9 Poland St., London Wl. P.T.0. Conference on Trade Union Organisation in Architecture & the Allied Bldg. Professions LONDON Saturday, 14 MAY 1977 10am to 6pm Why a Special Conference? The Organising Committee calls this Special Conference to answer the crucial question, "WHICH UNION?" with a collective, democratic decision, as broadly-based as possible. Those who participate in the decision at the Conference will be expected to support it and join the union. The conference will also discuss priorities and policies for union organising and action as well as means for co-ordinating and strengthening trade unionism among architectural workers in both private and public sectors. Why now? In response to growing concern that the present employment crisis in architecture as well as the more profound crisis of confidence and identity in the profession requires some form of bona-fide trade union organisation, the Unionisation Working Group of Central London NAM produced its Draft Report, "Architectural Workers and Trade Unionism" after six months of research and discussion. The Draft Report was presented to NAM's 2nd National Congress in Blackpool, November 26-28, 1976, where it was enthusiastically received. The Congress set up an enlarged, national Organising Committee to (a) develop a campaign for the organisation of the nearly 50,000 people working in the almost totally unorganised private sector of the building profes- sions, and (b) co-ordinate trade union activities among architectural workers in all sectors. Since the Congress, the Organising Committee has been busy investigating all reasonable alter— natives for dealing with the difficult task of or- ganising in the private sector. These include orga- nising within ONE of the unions considered most relevant (with whose officials we have had further, more detailed exploratory talks) or starting from scratch and building a new union especially for workers in the building professions. The Draft Report emphasized that unless archi- tectural and allied workers in the private sector are organised into ONE, and only one, union, "The result will be that the inevitable organisation will proceed slowly, sporadically and hesitantly, will be unnecessarily protracted; will remain in- complete; and will never be able to contribute to the workers, professions, industry and community what an effective, coherent union could.” Costs The Revised Report The completely revised, enlarged and up-dated "second edition" of the report on trade union organ- isation, essential background for the Conference, will be available by the end of March from the Or—- ganising Committee and... ..-discusses the reasons for organising, ...-critically examines the history and current state of organisation in architecture, in both public and private sectors, ..-evaluates the feasibility of an organising drive now, ...surveys the various types of trade unionism Full Conference fee including Briefing and Revised Report is £3.50 for employed people and £2.50 for claimants, accompanied by completed appli- cation form for conference credentials. (Cost of Conference includes buffet lunch.) Revised Report only is £0.65, postpaid. (N.B.: The Organising Committee may be able to arrange limited overnight accommodation where necessary. Please enquire.) All orders, requests for further copies of prospectus or for credentials application forms, enquiries, and completed application forms (before May 4 )to (Unionisation) Organising Committee, The New Archi- tecture Movement, 9 Poland Street, London Wl, enclos-— ing check or postal order payable to The New Archi- tecture Movement. possible, and +..cOnsiders how The Report ment of a "grass-roots" alliance of trade union- ists in architecture, regardless of sector or union (of which there are at least eight which have achieved recognition in ‘the public sector) to aid organisation, encourage active trade unionism, and co-ordinate and strengthen trade union activities and policies among architectural workers. It is expected that this will also be discussed at the Conference. Conference Briefing A full Briefing package for the Conference, including results of the research into the unions considered relevant and detailed Conference par- ticulars and procedures will be available from the Organising Committee by mid-April. organisation could proceed. also proposes the establish- (3/77) Is there an answer to... ...redundancies? ...declining standard of living? ...Shoddy design and cutting of corners? ...secretive and arbitrary management? YES! quantity surveying, town planning, etc., AND you want to begin to gain control over your working life by helping to build 50,000 colleagues in "private sector” firms and departments, to initiate a serious organising campaign. LONDON Saturday, 14 MAY 1977 10am to 6pm Wednesday, 4th May. People in architecture and the related building professions are becoming aware that their EMPLOYMENT SECURITY, their STANDARD OF LIVING, and the WHAT, HOW, and WHY of the work they do, not to mention the quality of the environment they share as members of the commu- nity, are as much at the mercy of the market as those of any other working people. P.T.0. The (Unionisation) Organising Committee of the New Architecture Movement calls a Special, One-Day Conference on Trade Union Organisation in Architecture & the Allied Bldg. Professions IF you work in architecture, surveying, structural or building services engineering, a strong, active, democratic and unified trade union organisation among your THEN join us to collectively decide on ONE UNION for architectural and allied workers in the private sector, to consider priorities for union action and ONE-DAY SPECIAL CONFERENCE ON TRADE UNION ORGANISATION IN ARCHITECTURE AND THE ALLIED BUILDING PROFESSIONS Closing date for receipt of application forms for conference credentials is (Unionisation) Organising Committee, The New Architecture Movement, 9 Poland St., London Wl. Why a Special Conference? The Revised Report The conference will also discuss priorities and policies for union organising and action as well &s means for co-ordinating and strengthening trade unionism among architectural workers in both private And public sectors. Why now? In response to growing concern that the present employment crisis in architecture as well as the more profound crisis of confidence and identity in the profession requires some form of bona-fide trade union organisation, the Unionisation Working Group of Central London NAM produced its Draft Report, "Architectural Workers and Trade Unionism" after six months of research and discussion. Costs Full Conference fee tecture Movement. Conference Briefing A full Briefing package for the Conference, including results of the research into the unions considered relevant and detailed Conference par- ticulars and procedures will be available from the Organising Committee by mid-April. (3/77) The completely revised, enlarged and up-dated "second edition" of the report on trade union organ- isation, essential background for the Conference, will be available by the end of March from the Or- ganising Committee and... -.-discusses the reasons for organising, +--critically examines the history and current state of organisation in architecture, in both public and private sectors, --.€valuates the feasibility of an organising drive now, ++-Surveys the various types of trade unionism possible, and ++.considers how organisation could proceed. The Report also proposes the establish- ment of a "grass-roots" alliance of trade union- ists in architecture, regardless of sector or union (of which there are at least eight which have achieved recognition in ‘the public sector) to aid organisation, encourage active trade unionism, and co-ordinate and strengthen trade union activities and policies among’ architectural workers. It is expected that this will also be discussed at the Conference. The Organising Committee calls this Special Conference to answer the crucial question, "WHICH UNION?" with a collective, democratic decision, as broadly-based as possible. Those who participate in the decision at the Conference will be expected to Support it and join the union. The Draft Report was presented to NAM's 2nd National Congress in Blackpool, November 26-28, 1976, where it was enthusiastically received. The Congress Set up an enlarged, national Organising Committee to (a) develop a campaign for the organisation of the nearly 50,000 people working in the almost totally unorganised private sector of the building profes- sions, and (b) co-ordinate trade union activities among architectural workers in all sectors. Since the Congress, the Organising Committee has been busy investigating all reasonable alter— natives for dealing with the difficult task of or- ganising in the private sector. These include orga- nising within ONE of the unions considered most relevant (with whose officials we have had further, more detailed exploratory talks) or starting from scratch and building a new union especially for workers in the building professions. The Draft Report emphasized that unless archi- tectural and allied workers in the private sector are organised into ONE, and only one, union, "The result will be that the inevitable organisation will proceed slowly, sporadically and hesitantly; will be unnecessarily protracted; will remain in- complete; and will never be able to contribute to the workers, professions, industry and community what an effective, coherent union could." Revised Report is £3.50 for employed people and £2.50 for claimants, accompanied by completed appli- cation form for conference credentials. (Cost of Conference includes buffet lunch.) Revised Report only is £0.65, postpaid. necessary. Please enquire.) (N.B.: The Organising Committee may be able to arrange limited Overnight accommodation where including Briefing and All orders, requests for further copies of prospectus or for credentials application forms, enquiries, and completed application forms (before May 4. )to (Unionisation) Organising Committee, The New Archi- tecture Movement, 9 Poland Street, London Wi, enclos- ing check or postal order payable to The New Archi- While architectural management ner- youlsy awaits the increasinly inevitable NAM AFFILIATED ARCHITECTS effort to reduce running costs at Portland Place HAVE BEEN ELECTED to six of NEWSLETTER OF THE NEW ARCHITECTURE MOVEMENT MARCH 1977 EXCLUSIVE NAM ALMOST RULE O.K! ARCUK after 40 years in the wilderness trade union organisation among architec- tural workers, more and more staff at the tions among the army of foot soldiers so meces- London headquarters of their own Royal Institute of British Architects have been joining a union to begin collective negoti- ations with the RIBA over pay and condi- tation and no assurance was given that further tions and to prevent further redundancies redundancies would not follow. without consultation. At that point, a nucleus ofstaff joined the Organisation has been accelerated by the un- Association of Scientific, Technical and Mana- stripping’ reductions in some RIBA services in an tion and negoiating rights. (e.g. AA, IAAS, FAS, ABT). ARCUK is the body set up by WOULD YOU PUT IN AN ENTRY TO AN ARCHITECTURAL COMPETITION IN CHILE OR SOUTH AFRICA? Where DO you draw the line between career and conscience? The Iranian Government, described by Amnesty International as having the worst human rights record in the world, have recently announced a competition for the design of a 100,000M2 ‘Pahlavi National Library’ to be sited in Tehran. If realised, this will be another concrete symbol of the dictatorial power of the Pahlavi dynasty that has ruled Iran since 1925: it will be a formalist gesture in the same vein as ‘Brasilia’. ‘The Iranian dictatorship is among the most repressive and reactionary regimes in the world. The most blatant and outrageous violations of basic human right are becoming the daily practices of thisbarbanc regime. Having no popubr support in the country the Shah's dictatorship can only maintain its reactionary rule by terror and repression. There are now more than 40,000 political prisoners in the regime’s jails, the vast majority of whom have never been tried publicly, or secretly, nor even charged with any offences. These prisoners are members of political organisations opposed to the dictatorship, workers who have fought for the interests of the working class, militant stodents and artists, intellectuals and moslem clergymen who have refused to put themselves at the disposal of the regime’ . from a leaflet published by CARI (Committee against repression in Iran). Since the C.I.A. organised coup in 53 the government have tried, through a massive public relations exercise, to cover up the truth about the gross denial of human rights and the polarisation of wealth in Iran. Participation in this competition by professionals outside Iran is as much a reinforcement of the Shah’s regime as the supply of armaments and information technology by the western countries. So where do you draw the line? Parliament under the Architects Registration Acts of 1931 and 1938 to ‘regulate’ the profession, presumably in the public interest, by restricting use of the title ‘architect’ and controlling the standard of architectural education. It has since inception been totally dominated by the architectural This year will be the first time since 1941 that there will be no RIBA member representing unattached architects. Until 1941, the unattached architects representation was dominated by members of the Institute of Registered Architects, a body which avowedly represented the interests of principals in private practice and which later merged with the Faculty of Architects and Surveyors (FAS). [see col3 P.2 and thus keep the RIBA’s subscription level be- low that which might spark off full-scale deser- the seven seats on the Architects Registration Council (ARCUK) which have been allocated to ‘unattached architects’ for 1977-78. Balloting took place in sary to the archi-Generals’ public credibility. In August 1976, three members of HQ staff were made redundant. There was no prior consul- January and February among the gerial Staffs (ASTMS) and by now recruitment more than 3,000 registered architects in the U.K. who are not members of the Royal Institute of British Arhcitects rest at the Prtland Place HQ setoff by the appointment last yearof a ‘chief executive’ for the RIBA. It was feared that cuts would be made ten to wait until a majority of HQ workers are ‘constituent bodies’ of ARCUK in some departments and there would be ‘asset- union members before seeking union recogni- has reached about 30%. The organised staff in - (RIBA) or of the other, smaller employers’ association (RIBA). ° unattached architects This year, for the first time in ARCUK’s history, only truly unattached architects will be representing the unattached architects. Despite their being incumbents, the two RIBA members who were running for election by unattached architects finished last in the balloting among the eleven candidates. ORGANISING PORTLAND PLACE WHERE DO YOU DRAW THE LINE? slate’, n., n., & y.t. 1, Kinds of grey, green, or blulsh-purple rock casily eplit Jato flat smooth plates; pleco of such ‘¢used ns roofing-material; pleco of It t Ifoforrenounco oblign- ~dlue, -grey, modifications ssuch ns occur in~; l-~-clud, al benefit soclety with small weekly contributions; ~-colour(ed), (of) dark Dluish or greenish groy; hence slat’x? a, 2. adj. (Made) . 3.¥.t. Cover with~3 roofing; henco slit‘eR‘ n, (ME .OF esclate, fem. of esclat stat*) v.t. (collog.). Criticize severely or in reviews), scold, rate; Propose for office etc, Henco n.(app.ft,prec.] SLATE IS THE NEWSLETTER OF THE NEW ARCHITECTURE MOVEMENT, published bi-monthly by the Movement’s Liaison Group and edited on its behalf by an adhoc committee set up in January 1977.. News and features of broad interest to workers in the profession, and the building industry and to the wider public are included to stimulate debate on a wide range of issues and to bring the Movement’s views and activities to the attention of the widest readership. -. help build SLATE’s readership . help to build NAM . subscribe to SLATE . show it to your friends . become a local rep to distribute SLATE in your office, school or town . ask for SLATE in your local bookshop .getyourschooloroffice to subscribe. .AND THE FUTURE For SLATE to grow asalively reflection of the views of radical Architectural Workersandothersconcernedwiththe Processes which shape our environment, accountability of editorial decisions to the members of the Movement is essential. This year four further issues are planned. Each one will be proceeded by an open meeting with the Editorial Committee. Come and express your views and criticisms at these meetings or through the letters column of SLATE. Next year it is suggested that the adhoc committee should be disbanded to be replaced by an editorial committee elected by and directly responsible to the annual congress of the Movement. The first SLATE open meeting is in London on 4th April 1977. WORK ON SLATE SLATEneedsmoreworkers,more writers and more ideas. This issue was put together by a committee of seven. A largercommitteewouldmeanabetter newsletter; so would more writers, illustrators, cartoonists and photographers, and simply more Suggestions for stories and features. If you would like to work for SLATE, join the committee or suggest topics it should cover, then please write in soon. The copy deadline for the next issue is Friday 22nd April. OUR HIGH COVER PRICE 40p is a lot to pay for a newsletter this from page | The unattached architects, who make upagrowingproportion(nowaneighth) of all ‘architects’ in the U.K., are the only ones allowed to elect their own representativestoARCUK. Allthe others are appointed by the Councils of their respective ‘constituent bodies.’ While the unattached architects are required by the Architects Registration Acts to elect registered architects as their representatives, the ‘constituent bodies’ are free to appoint whomever they please. While they could, therefore nominate members of the lay public or un-registered members of the profession, they al nevertheless consistently appoint only RIBA members. Even the Architectural Association’s Council, now dominated by a ‘reform slate’ of A.A. students, has again appointed RIBA members to al four of its seats on ARCUK. All four are members to al four of its seats on seatsonARCUK. Actually,from1942 to 1949, one of its seats was occupied by Emo Goldfinger, DPLG (the French equivalent),whodidn’tjointheRIBA until 1948 and has become a well-known principal inprivate practice. salaried voice louder While the election of six NAM nominees to ARCUK may give a greater voice to grossly under-represented salaried architects, the RIBA main- tains its overall control of ARCUK Of the sixty architect members of ARCUK last year, 56 were RIBA members, The six non-architect members of ARCUK were al appoin- -ted by other ‘professional’ or em- ployees’ bodies in the construction industry. None were laymen, let alone ‘workers*. Whatisevenmorenoteworthyis that while salaried architectural workers make up at least 76% Of registered architects, they had only about 15% of the architects’ representation on ARCUK, Architectural management, hardly aquater of registered architects, had over %4’s of the representation on ARCUK, Nearly 60% of the architects on the Council were in fact bosses in private practice. A report presented to NAM’s second Congress last November called for the reform of the Architects regis- -tration Acts to make ARCUK more accountable to both those who use the SOCIALISM environmentaswellasthosewhowork in architecture. It proposed a reconsti- tuted Council with a truly ‘lay’ majority andan‘architectual’minoritydirectly from within each of the major interest groups among registered architects (workers, employers,self-employed, and salaried management ), with representation of each group to be based on its numerical strength in the profession. The report isnow available from NAM ( 30p, postpaid ). carriesonmostofits business through committees. The Board of Education’s task is to recognise architecture schools whose “examination ought to qualify persons for registration’. The admissions Committee considers the applications for registration, while the Discipli Committee considers any allegations against an architect of ‘conduct disgracefultohiminhiscapacityasan architect,” grounds for removing his name from the Register. The Professional Purposes Committee also involved in ‘discipline’, deals with the ‘Code of Professional Conduct’, now identical to that of the RIBA which in effect defines what the Council considers disgraceful. The Code establishes the principle of control ‘in the public interest’ by ARCUK over what forms of practice are permitted among architects; how architects may get work; how architects may relate to one another and totheiremployees,inbusinessand professional terms; and the architect’s responsibility to ‘those who may be expectedtouseorenjoytheproductof his work’. The ARCUK Code of Professional Conduct includes mandatory adherence to the RIBA Conditions of Engagement and Scale of Fees, now under study by the Monopolies Commission, to which NAM last year submitted evidence. The Finance and General Purposes committee ofARCUK dealswith, among other things, the amount of the ‘retention fee’ (currently £5) which architects must pay to stay on the Register. The first act of the new Council will be to elect members to al these various i for the coming year. Already RIBA and AA members have collaboratedtoputforwardjointslates consisting exclusively of RIBA members, for each committee. Only the NAM - affiliated unattached architects are offering any opposition to it. The first meeting of the 1977-78 Council, which meets quarterly, will take place on March 16. Venue: 66 Portland Place, London W1, by coincidence, HQ of the RIBA. After the meeting, the members have been invited to ‘take wine’ at ARCUK’s office around the comer in Hallam Street, in celebration of the Queen’s Jubilee. big. The funding of SLATE is connected to the funding of NAM as awhole, and last year the Movement ran up substantial debts.Thisyear’sliaisongroupdetermined ARCUK, Allfourareownersof that that situation should not arise again and fixed the subscription rate accordingly, both to the Movement and the newsletter, in the knowledge that insolvency would never help the Movement to grow, and in the conviction that NAM’s Strength will lie among people who are prepared to support its activities to the ful. The annual subscription to SLATE, for five issues, is £2 00. If circulation rises then the choice is open for SLATE to become larger or for the subscription to fal, but for the moment it must not get into debt. ADVERTISING At an carly meeting the committee decide not to take commercial adver-- tisements in SLATE. Advertisements from alternative groups and personal small ads are, however, welcome. A small charge wouldbemadebutthecommittee reserves the right to turn down any advertisement COPYRIGHT Any article or part of an article or part of an article in SLATE may be freely but accurately reproduced, providing that SLATE is credited as the origin of any material used. LASTLY... AsubscriptionformforSLATE anda membership form for NAM are included on the last page. Please indicate also if you would like to distribute SLATE in your office, school or town. SLATE is free to all members of NAM SLATE is published by the LIAISON GROUP of the NEW ARCHITECTURE MOVEMENT, 9, Poland St., London. W1. Typesetting by Julia Wilson-Jones Printed by WOMEN IN PRINT, 16a, Iliffe Yard, London, SE17. private practices. The Association of Building Technicians, recently absorbed into STAMP, the non-manual section of UCATT, is the only trade union directly represented on ARCUK, haying collaborated with the RIBA in the passage of the Architects Registration Acts. The ABT Council has also appointed RIBA members for the last 35 years. While the ABT now represents hardly 200 architects, form 1942 to 1954 it represented over 500 and thus had two PLANNERS FOR i SOME 250 PLANNERS GATHERED recently in London to set up an organisationtospreadsocialistideals Discussionsonastructureforthe committees in the planning field. This first meeting of the Conference of Socialist Planners bore out the view thatthereis,inplanning,‘avacuum which hopefully can be filled by a socialist analysis of the problems which beset our society’. Participants came from Local Government, the academic world and priyate practice. Urged on by the morning’s speakers, inclydingPeterAmbrose(co-authorof “The Property Machine”) and economist Stuart Holland who stressed the political nature of planning decisions and the need for a politicisation of the planning process the meeting settled down to the difficult task of swallowing sectarian differences and constituting an organisation which would enadle ‘a hundred flowers to bloom’. i Emphasis was laid on the need for a | broad-based organisation to combat the divisive effect on those concerned with | planning of a social and economic system in which the “totality of social relationships are truncated and depoliticised’, The Conference would Conference lead to a view of the Conference itself as an ‘umbrella’ group embracing groups working on national issuesaswellasgeographically-based regional workshops, aconcept that gave the meeting an opportunity to carve up the country with an almost unhealthy planner’s zeal. Relations would be established with fraternal groups but the idea of formal affiliation to particular political parties was rejected. Participants who waited patiently throughthemeetingforadiscussionof just the issues that the Conference was set up to treat were frustrated by the overbearing need to consolidate the vehicle through which ideas would be disseminated and campaigns mounted. Hopefully their patience will soon be rewarded as the CSP at national and regional level builds its strength and tums its attention towards the politisation politisation of the planning process. Not easy, but their first meeting was a good start. Further information about the Conference of Socialist Planners and regional workshops from + CSP, 54, Addison Gardens, London WiI4. address itself to lay people and politicians as well as planning professionals. STOP PRESS!...STOP PRESS!...STOP PRESS...STOP PRESS Souvenir from NAM's first ARCUK meeting: The letter was sent to all RIBA members on ARCUK in a blatant attempt to prevent NAM members from getting on*- page 2 € eZed =“TRESPASSER—S adopting law and order for their main the Law Commission returned to the 4. ‘trespass on embassies’ of the work they do and increasingly as I RENT, YOU BUY, WE LOSE, THEY PROFIT! A review of ‘Profits Against Houses’ If you have ever wondered why an anvanced industrial country such as Britain remains incap- able of providing adequate housing for a large pro- portionofitspopulationthislitlebookwillsup- plyatleastsomeoftheanswersasitguidesyou through the forest of myth and mystificstio that is the world of housing finance. Through the mist of estate agents’ sales talk and govern- ment propaganda the real forces that shape the housing we buy /rent or wait for are scarcely visible. Inspite of the highly political nature of the ‘housing question’ and the struggles of workers and tenants for better conditions, housing in the mixed economy is still dominated, in the public as well as in the private sector, by the search for profit and the forces of the market. Coalitions of interest between property deve- lopers house builders, solicitors, surveyors, estate agents and housing architects form a powerful lobby to resist change. Research for the book was done by workers in several of the Community Development Pro- jects set up by the Government in deprived areas throughout the country. The Home Office, the department in charge of the pro- jects, decided to close them down in mid 1976. Profit Against House. CDP Information and Intel- ligence Unit, S6pp, Sept.1976. (SOp from CDP, Mary Ward House, 5, Tavistock Place, London WCI H 955) institute. Such rules obviously limit the role that staff associations could play in the reform of the professions and an architect interested in broadening the class base of his profession would not want to be compromised in this way. Half aloaf isbetter than no worker organisation at al but the question remains as to whether staff associations will hasten or delay the emergence of real organisation among professional workers and the integration of these workers with the labour movement asawhole. theme in 1970, the Tories were - WILL BE influenced by Nixon’s successful Lord Chancellor (who was at that time guess who? -yes, Lord Hailsham again) for a rebriefing to “consider in what circumstances entering and Temaining on property (ie trespass) should constitute a criminal offence. This then is the background of the billgoingthroughparliamentatthe moment. Thefiveelementsofpart11 of the bill (the section dealing with criminal trespass) are : 1. the ‘forcible entry’ law would be repealed and anew offence - trespass on already occupied premises- would replace it. This element has been proposed as a direct response to the tiny and grossly exaggerated proportion of th recent squatting cases over the last couple of years -largely contrived by the newspapers and local authorities as a softening up campaign to artificially create a need for C.T.L. The practical import of this offence revolves around the wide open interpretation of “occupied eg. ‘occupied’ (e.g. a landlords bed could be claimed to constitute ‘occupation’. 2. it would be an offence to committ ‘violent entry’ with the exception of the displaced residential occupier. 3. to trespass with an offensive weapon “the precise nature of an offensive weapon is left sufficiently open as to provide a carte blance for the swelling fraternity of overzealous policemen. 5. it would be an ‘offence to resist a county court bailiff and bailiffs vested with the power of arrest. CA.CT.L. An attempt has been made to use the recession and the cracks in the fabric of Britainssocialdemocracy thateconomic members of the labour movement, should act jointly with fellow trade unionists students and squatters in opposing this legislation. C.A.C.T.L. has been supported by 30 trades councils, by trade union branches, 21 constituency labour parties and many community groupsandatnationallevel,byNUPE ACTS,NUS,LPYSandtheannual Trades Councils Conference of 1976 have opposed the C.T.L. campaign in 1969 and student militancy —— CRIMINALS _ in the late 60’s. In the face of PAUSEFORAMOMENT AND REFLECT upontheamountof time you spend on someone elses property -a very large proportion you'll find, even ifyou are a home owner. For the first time for 900 years there is now a bill before parliament which will advance the principle that certain acts of tresspass are criminal offences. This bill, the ‘Conspiracy and Law Reform Bill’ was given its second reading in the House of Lords on December 14 last year. Should the bill become an Act of Parliament it will affect squatting and the occupations of factories, colleges and hospitals alike. It will greatly extend the power of the police and bailiffs to carry out evictions and enable them to prosecute people who resist them. law and order Criminal Trespass Legislation started life as a twinkle in the (right) eye of the Tory Party as it put together its platform for the 1970 elections. In and top party officials decided to adopt therecommendationofQuintinHogg andmakecriminaltrespasslegislation one of the main planks in their election platform. But they baulked at a ful frontal attact and decided in the end to ask the Law Commission to ‘update’ the the statute of forcible entry. Meanwhile a group of Sierra Leone students, who had occupied their country’s embassy in protest at their government’s treatment of dissidents, had been charged by Sir Peter Rawlinson the Attorney General, with the new crime of ‘conspiracy to tresspass’ -a crime which even the legal establishment could not find on the statute books at the time lords appeal Their case was taken to appeal in the House of Lords where the conviction was upheld, principally through the judgement of Lord Hailsham (formerly . Quintin Hogg.) This put the Law Commission in a quandary :their recommendations were to have been made on the assumption that tresspass neither was, nor should be, a crime - a fatuous task once Lord Hailsham had conjured a criminal tresspass offence out of the common law of conspiracy. So stringencyhashighlighted,todivert peoples attention from the course of the bil through parliament. The attempt has not succeeded; a campaign has been set up to oppose the CONTACT ADDRESSES FOR LOCAL GROUPS proposed legislation, the Campaign |opposition from the mainstream of |} Tory legal opinion the shadow cabinet Against the Criminal Trespass Legislation (CACTL), which has found support in many areas of society. Trade unions: the T.U.C. general council yoted on 26 January to oppose the introduction of al of the offences except that of threspassing on embassy properties. Students: 30 student unions and the NUS are opposing the legislation and the National Executive of the Labour Party is likely to oppose part I of the bil. legal punch Architects must see that the individuals and groups within society who often act as their clients want greater legal punch for their claim to the exclusive right of determining the way in which their buildings will be used. Architects, as individuals, by virtue JOIN THE PROFESSIONALS TIMES ARE SLOWLY CHANGING FOR ARCHITECTS, who have traditionally remained on the fringe of the labour moyement. Architects at Sir William Halcrow and Partners, a large international engineering consultancy, are setting up a branch of the newly formed staff association for workers in their department. A similar staff association has recently been set up in the office of the Edinburgh practive of Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall and Partners. Staff Associations recruit members only from among the employees of the firm to which they are attached. The Halcrow’s Association’s constitution lays down its aims as the ‘enhancement’ of its members’ position in respect of salaries and conditions and provides a procedure for the resolution of grievances. So far the association has recruited 600 out of a total of 1800 workers throughout Halcrows. collective choice For architectural workers in the private sector who want to go beyond a staff association, the choice is between the white collar trades unions (ASTMS, TASS etc.) and industrial unions (UCATT T&GWU etc.)althoughitmay ultimately be more effective to collectively decide upon one union. The prospect of nationally organised unions becoming involved with their practice will not be welcomed by many of the employers in the profession: it is likely that the partners at Halcrows are relieved that ‘workers organisation” has come in such a palatable and ‘familiar’ form. code takes precedence Further, the staff association’s rules are written in such a way that a member may decline to take industrial action if he feels that he would, by doing so, contraven the code of his professional |USEFUL WORK versus USELESS TOIL | ;by William Morris Fascimile edition of a Hammersmith Socialist Society pamphlet originally printed by William Morris in 1893. William Morris was born on 24th March 1832, Take the day off work and celebrate William Morris Day by purchasing a copy of this limited reprint. Fill in the form below and send it together with a cheque/PO (payable to the New Architecture Movement) for 60p to NAM 9, Poland St., London, W1. NAME, ADDRESS. ,c/o 108 Bookshop, 108 Salisbury Road. LIVERPOOL: c/o 39/41 Manesty’s Lane, Liverpool 1. N.LONDON: 161 Hornsey Rd., N7. For details of contacts in other areas contact London CACTL at BRIGHTON: c/o Open Cafe, 7 Victoria Road, Brighton Sussex. Cavendish Street, Manchester 15. NOTTINGHAM: c/o 15 Scotholme Avenue, Nottingham. CANTERBURY: c/o 7 York Road, Canterbury, Kent LONDON: c/o 1 Elgin Ave., W9. MANCHESTER: c/o SCA, Students Union, Manchester Poly, OXFORD: c/o 38 Hurst Street, Oxford. c/o 6 Bowden Street, SE11 or phone (01) 289 3877. BRISTOL: c/o 6 Westfield Park, Bristol 6. S. LONDON: Union Place, 122—4 Vassall Rd., SW9. E. LONDON: Dame Colet Hse., Ben Jonson Rd., E14. SE LONDON: Deptford HAC, 171 Deptford High St., SES, SHEFFIELD: c/o 1 Portsea Road, Sheffield 6. SWANSEA: c/o 79 Brokesby Road, Bon-y-maen, Swansea. W. LONDON: | | | | Je ASPECIAL CONFERENCE to initiate a trade union organising drive among the nearly 50,000 people working in the as yet unorganised private sector of architectureandthenee building professions will be held in London on Saturday !4 May. The Conference has been called by the (Unionisation) Organisin nowastrong,militant,democratic y 8 Committee of the New Architecture Movement to make acollective EOe those workers in the building 8 NAM’s 2nd Congress late last November, emphasized that unless architectural and allied workers in the private sector are organised into one, and only one, union, Sha verultenill bethatiheinewtahle organisation will proceed slowly, sporadically and hesitantly; will be industry and community what an 1 Since Blackpool The Organising Committee pas seUne by the Congress, which declared trade union organisation a major priority of NAM, to develop an organising campaign. Since then most relevant. Opinion at the Congress was divided between those who thought that organisation in the private sector could best be achieved within one of the existing unions and those who thought architectural and allied workers should start from scratch and build their own union. It has been questioned however. es [ir youwouldliketobeamemberoftthheNew/‘ArchitectureMovement|fillin|theffoormbelow:andsend ittogetherwithacheque/postalorder(payabletotheNewArchitectureMovement)for£5.00(if you're employed) or £2.00 ( if you're are student, claimant or OAP) to NAM at 9, Poland Street | whether thelatterisarealisticalternative | given the acknowledged difficulties of ‘ >, Leese" H‘ATRHE2ARAYPERO'UBLRSESMIN HE ora | Look,man,eo u lorg enough ferlousy ARCHIE — foes est HAS ABIG Laver that management's strategy in trying to prevent effective organisation in architecture will be to encourage a proliferation of unions in the field in order to delay the emergence ofa unified organisation among al workers in architecture and the allied building professions (quantity surveying, structural andbaltalrgerateesengineering,landscape and unified trade union organisation, _ architecture, surveying, town planning, etc.). DO sentnnge (WD} “oe, (Oven |Wanted \...\Now Ive professions qo want to help build various types of trade unionism possible (opting for what might be termed a ‘workers’ control’ model), and considers how organisation could proceed. next step Also available from the Organising Committee are the prospectus for the forthcoming Special Conference and application forms for it. ( stamped, self- -addressed envelopes appreciated ). The Committeewouldliketohearfromal who are interested in unionisation with ideas, experiences, situations, comments or criticisms of its Draft Report, etc. TheSpecialC isalso exp d to discuss the problem of co-ordinating trade union activity among architectural workers in both sectors, regardless of union affiliation. Because of the split of the profession into public and private sectors (as well as the presence ofa sizable number of architectural workers in industry, commerce, education, and the ‘voluntary sector’), combined with the pattern of trade union development in Britain, there are now at least eight TUC affiliated unions with an architectural membership which have achieved recognition in the public sector. In order to aid organisation, encourage active trade unionism, and co-ordinate and strengthen trade union activities and policies among architectural workers,the Organising Committee’s Report proposesthe theestablishmentofa‘grassroots’alliance of trade unionists in architecture, regardless of sector or union. This is of asbestos received encouragement earlier this year when the most populous of the United States, California, banned the use of asbestos in construction, following mul- timilliondollarlawsuitsagainstthe giant Johns-Manville asbestos firm. Mean- while, the management of Britian’s major scompanies hayesteppedup their massive, slick and deceptive adver- tising campaign in both the trade and nat- ional presses. In its recent submission of evidence to the Government’s Advisory Committee on Asbestos, the TUC emphasized that ‘a number of large trade unions and trades councils have expressed serious concern over the inaccu- racies, misrepresentations and misleading advice concerning asbestos hazards contained in a re- cent series of full page advertisements in the national press. These have already attracted a great deal of outside criticism, including that of the Advertising Standards Authority’. In its evidence, described as ‘excellent’ by Nancy Tait, author of* Asbestos Kills’ (25p from Exchange Publications, 9 Poland Street London W1), the TUC called for a‘planned programme for the progressive compulsory sub- stitution ofalasbestos applicationsinthe UK.’ Eventheslightexposuretoasbestosdustcan cause slow and painful death not only from as- bestosis (an untreatable form of pneumocon- iosis), but also from lung cancer, mesothelioma Up against many of the same problems which face architectural workers (even if not threatened with redundancies on such a massive scale), legal workers in London have quietly begun organising a trade union. Last Novemeber they established abranchoftheTransportandGeneral The TUC also emphasized that ‘it and its affiliated unions are highly dissatisfied with the exceedingly low levels of fines imposed by magi- strates for breaches of the existing Asbestos Regu- lationsandtheFactoriesActanditsotherregu- lations. In some cases, employers have been fined £5 and less for breaches of safety laws which have endangered the lives and health of workers.’ Not quite the picture that the propaganda of the as- bestos companies’ “Asbestos Information Commit- tee’ and “Asbestosis Research Council’ would have the public believe. The TUC pointed out, further- more, that the present Asbestos Regulations are "totally inadequate to provide protection against cancer risks’ and do not even provide effective protection against the risk of development of asbestosis. Nearly 80% of the asbestos used in the UK is used in the construction industry, where ‘pra- ticable and safe’ alternatives are already available. More substitutes, such as various ceramic fibres products, are well along in the r—and—d pipe-line. Meanwhile, the Green Ban Action Committee in Birmingham is arranging a seminar in conjunc- tion with the local UCATT office on the subject of asbestos. The meeting, Saturday, Apnl16, will involve workers from the construction, heating and ventilating, and car industries; medical wor- kers; environmentalists and people from the con- sumer movement. Further details from GBAC, 77School ’ Road, Hall Green, Birmingham B28 8JQ. (tel: 021-777-5726). tor and for an increased voice for legal workers in the decisions which affect their working lives. Like architecture, the law is characterised by a needlessly hierarchical structure and agreat dis- parity between the earnings and work pace of the bosses and the workers. The ultimate goal is to break down the divisions between ‘professional’ and‘non-professional’work. strongly based on the ‘shop floor’ (ie. the office). Hence the need for solidarity from the start, beginning with a collective, rather than individual, decision as to ‘Which ‘Architectural Workers and Trade Unionism’,aDraftReportpresentedto union?’ | withacheque/postalorder(payabletotheNewArchitectureMovement)for£2.00toNAMat9, |WorkersandTradeUnionism’.The organisationwillcontinuetoclaimto ‘speakfortheprofession’,tothe detriment of architectural workers, the labour movement, and the community. The question of trade union organisation in architecture and the allied building professions will also be one of the main topics of discussion at a NAM seminar being held at the Polytechnic to Central London on Saturday 23 April, beginning at 10.00 am. In the meantime, the union will also be seek- WorkersACTS(‘white-collar’)sectionfor ingamongotherdemands,anendtounderstaf- Poland Street, London W.1. NAME ADDRESS. completely revised and expanded ‘Second |Edition’willbeavailablebytheendof | March from the (Unionisation) | Organising Committee, N.A.M. 9 Poland Street, London W1. (65p post- | paid). The Report discusses the reasons for organisation, looks into the history | and current state of organisation in I the feasibility of anorganising drive now, discusses the ‘all workers in solicitors’ firms’ (eg. ‘sec- retaries, receptionists, telephonists, gene- ral dogsbodies, articled clerks and assis- tant solicitors’) and arealready close to achieving union recognition in at least one firm. fing (and until then overtime pay for overtime worked), the right to strike without Law Society ‘professional’ reprisals, adequate work space and equipment, and ‘open books’ concerning the 0 firm’s finances and management. = al The TGWU was chosen on the experience of The union will be pressing for adoption of its ‘524 Branch’, which has grown rapidly among 2% | | I | | | autonomy and identity within one of the the same as you YSZ ou whenTasyou"AEG cee) KILLER MATERIAL BAN SPREADS Slowly but surely gathering momentum, (‘a painful, untreatable cancer of the membrane the international campaign to end the use lining of the chest or abdomen’) and other of al building materials containing any type cancers. local government salary levels in the private sec- workers in the ‘voluntary sector’, | activists. Furthermore, itmay well prove possible to achieve a sufficient degree of institute’ istotally dominated bythe London W.1 el. a veer organising among people working in the building professions and hee G meeditare Ro tannch ; considered particularly necessary in | | NAME :5 | | ADDRESS. anorganisingdriveaswelastofalback upon incaseofdisputeorofthe inevitable victimisations ofunion prcnate ey oe apaththrougha teritory’ofahalf-dozenunionsand ARCHITECTURAL WORKERS — “‘wceiinscomitsexecs | TELEPHONE (HOME )”. (WORK ). existing unions. small minority of the profession who are employers. Until the 90% of the people |IfyouwouldliketoreceiveSLATEwithoutjoiningNAM filintheformbelowand send ittogether The Organisng Committee has also een updating itsDraftReport, cite : speak clearly, and forcefully | on professional, industrial, environmental and Iissues, the empl architecture, where the typical career where the existing so-called ‘professional ingrchitectute who are workers an AS. c the Committee has been investigating al Gecisionion neprones NEniCS for organisation. The Committee unnecessarily protacted; will remain incomplete; and will never be able to reasonable alternatives. It has held a series of fruitful exploratory discussions hopes for the participation of all contribute to the workers, profession with officials of the unions considered Clericals and Clerks eeeeee CHANGING HORSES AT THE S.E.S. set of skills, they should specialise also in build- ing climatology, building practice, cost-benefit analysis, landscape design and so on. Others would develop managerial skills and learn to act as co-ordinators. The intention was that the meaning of ‘architect’ would come as broad as the common understanding of the title ‘engineer’. In short, architects would not al be trained to do the same kind of things in the future, though they would al hold a common interest in the building as the product. “The School’s answer to these aims was to establish specialists in different disciplines, and so environmental engineers, a structural engineer, building economists, a psychologist, a historian and a landscape architect were brought into the School. (Previously these subjects, iftaught at al had been taught by architects). The curriculum was changed so that more time was spent by stu- dents on these subjects, and less time on tradi- tional drawing board design work, in the recogni- tion that this would form only one among many architectural specialisms in the future. The RIBA accepted these changes, though the inia- tive for them had lain very much with the School. For students at the School, the significant dif- ference was that it was now possible to qualify for exemption from RIBA Part! by taking any, or almost any, of the courses within the School, with only a minimum amount of design work: it was accepted that a high level of competence at architectural design need not be the only possible criterion for qualification. Bringing back Architecture Astragal’s recent comments suggested that the School is moving away from this pattern. To some extent Astragal seems to be right: the amount of architectural design work expected of students has increased over the last few years, and the opportunity for students to pursue other specia- lists subjects has inevitably been reduced as a result. The School is returning closer to the con- cept of the architect as a person with a unitary set of skills in architectural design. The Profes- sor of Architecture has been heard to say that he is ‘bringing back Architecture’—but clearly he isbringing back only onekind, and isdiscard- ing the notion that there might be several sorts of architect, It is well known that the RIBA (or rather certain parts of it which have become powerful lately) favour this return to a single role for archi- tects. Eric Lyons in his President’s address in 1976 expressed this view strongly. But, is it really necessary for the schools to change be- cause of what certain parts of the RIBA think, particularly since their statements seem to re- present more of a gut reaction than any reasoned or logical view. No good evidence has been given that a multi-specialist profession has or islikely to fail, and the reaction to the educational trend of the 60s seems to be just one manifestation of the general panic response of the profession to the heavy public censure it has received. We have no proof that going back to the old days is going to help architects wriggle outof a tight corner. While itistrue that the conditions of theearly 1960s, when the image of a multi-skilled prof- €ssion was projected, are no longer the same, have things changed so much as to make the conceptinvalid? Itisstilthecasethatdemands on the architect are changing, and they are likely to go on changing in the future, and it would seem valid therefore to increase the diyersifi- cation within the profession, which the SES in common with other schools has been work- ing towards. Why isthe SES tending away froma diversi- fied, multi-disciplinary pattern of education. This is not an easy question to answer, particu- larly as the recent changes in the School have been the result of executive decisions taken without open debate, unlike the original reforms which took place after wide-ranging debate, involving al staff and often students as well. However, itisclear that the causes liewithin and outside the School. The tendency towards 4 unitary notion of the architect is not unique to the SES, but is to be found in many other schools, which are also bumping up the quantity of architectural design work they expect from theit students. That this is happening in so many different schools must be the result of at least indirect pressure from the RIBA, particularly after its threat two years ago to withdraw recog- nition from several schools. But why then should the RIBA be calling the tune? In the 1960s, as we saw, the Bartlett initiated and the RIBA followed—and presumably this could happen again if the schools chose to take an innovatory linc. In the SES’s case, that this is not happening must be due to some change of heart ‘vithin the School itself. The Safety-Net The SES has been through a number of changes in the last few years, some of which have had im- portant effects on the School’s style of education. Firstly, two years ago the School moved into Wates House (‘the last new university building’), which physically united the previously separate planning department with the rest of the School. Secondly, over the last two years the School has lost by retirement, death and emigration, six of its senior staff, al of whom had been involved in the innovatory experiments at the School. Coinci- dentally, al of those staff, with the exception of Professor LLewelyn Davies (the School’s founder andfather-figure) were non-architectural specia lists. Thirdly, the School has been hit by the cuts in university expenditure, which have meant that only one of those losses has been replaced. (Pro- fessor Smart has succeeded to the Chair of Urban Planning and Headship of the School). The loss of these professors clearly weakened the position of the specialists subjects within the department, and made it that much easier for the architectural staff to strengthen their control over the curriculum, and restore the unitary model of the architect. But why should they have wanted to do this? In fact, there had been open disagree- ment about the precise functions of the specia- list subjects within the department from long before the loss of the senior staff. Many of the architectural design teachers, themselves trained in the traditional architectural pattern, have never accepted fully that somebody could be an architect without haying a high level of compe- tence at architectural design; while the specia- lists have been reluctant to get interested in the sort of design problems relating to architecture, and have stuck to a rather traditional approach to their own subjects, which was hardly approp- riate in the context ofa school concerned with developing the role of technical specialisms as a part of the design process. Why the partner- shipfailedtoworkispartlybecauseLLewelyn Davies chose the wrong people, people who were ultimatley more interested in training special- ists of their own mould than in developing new species of architect. The result within the depart- ment was that the specialists dug into entrenched positions, and co-operation between different specialists and architectural design failed to occur beyonda certain point in the undergradu- ate course. The specialists subjects have more and more been treated as ‘service teaching’ an atti- tude for which the specialists themselves are partly responsible through their reluctance to become involved in and initiate the teaching of design from a technological, sociological or psychological point of view. Many of these sub- jects are not regarded by architectural teachers as a valid part of architectural education, but merely a ‘safety-net’ for students who find they do not want to conform to the unitary architec- tural design pattern of architecture. Dissension within the School over the propo- sal to change the name suggessthat the limited unitary view of architecture is far from unanim- ously accepted by the staff. In particular, there are many younger staff who joined the School more recently, and joined it precisely because of its multi-disciplinary potential. On the whole they are either committed to the original polciy of admitting non-archtitectural design special- isms as a legitimate part of architectural educa- tion within the terms of RIBA Partl, or they would like to see the undergraduate course ex- panded into ageneral environmental degree. In practice, the cuts on university expansion haye made the original aimof a diversity of disciplines impossible:two or three specialist lecturers in a subject like landscape design are not enough to mount a full-blown specialist course on its own, and can only act by provid- ing some specialist teaching within another disci- pline. The limitations on university expansion have prevented the appointment of more staff to overcome this problem. The second alternative of general undergrad- uate degree makes better sense given.the econo- mic constraints: itisalso an alternative which Teceived asubstantial boost when the former Bartlett School and the University College Town Planning Department merged in 1970 to form the SES. Although the planning staff did not want to teach a ful undergraduate course in planning (the M.Phil. is the only course in the SES leading to a degree in planning), some of them wanted to teach planning and related subjects within the undergraduate course, with the effect that the scope of the course was widened consider- ably. This has been a continuing trend, with more undergraduate options taught by planning staff. Unfortunately senior architecture staff have refused to accept these courses as a valid part of architectural education. The insularity of the architectural position within the School, which will be further polarised by the proposed change of name to ‘Bartlett School of Architec- ture and Planning’, seems particularly mistaken in view of the fact that planning as a discipline isbecoming increasingly inyolved with plan eva- luation and impact analysis; techniques which applied on a small scale would be of great bene- fit to architectural design. Hope yet Whatever happens, it is time to end the ‘safety- net’ approach to non-architectural specialisms. Multi-Disciplinarianism rears its head Whatever it means, the multi-disciplinary approach at the SES has been a major source of the School’s reputation, and has exercised a strong attraction on many applicants to the school. Multi-disciplinarism at the SES has been understood by many people in many different ways, and indeed part of the School’s internal difficulties must be put down to the ambiguties and contradictions contained in the idea. How- ever, out of the confusion one meaning—the one that guided the school in the early 1960s—stands out. The Bartlett School (as it then was), started to change after the appointment of Richard LLewelyn Davies as Professor of Architecture in 1960. The central idea that was developed in the School—following the line of thought of the Oxford Conference —was that the role of the architect in society was changing, It was thought that the traditional working-drawings- type skills would no longer be a necessity for alarchitects (though clearly they would con- tinue to be so for some). It was argued that in- stead of al architects needing to have the same ‘Travelling Backwards’ was how Astragal : in the AJ recently described the changes in training at the School of Environmental Studies (SES) at University College Lon- don. (UCL). Astragal was commenting on the proposal to change the School’s name to the ‘Bartlett School of Architecture and Planning’, and on the effect that the loss in rapid succession of three professors and one senior lecturer, all from non-architectural special subjects, might haye on the School. Is it true, as Astragal suggested, that these changes mark the end of the multi-disci- plinaryapproach? Ifso,doesthatalso mean that the School’s experiments in ar- chitectural education are at an end? These are interesting questions, and they are of more than parochial significance as they raise issues about the state of architectural education in the rest of the country. Are the RIBA and the architectural profession dissatisfied with the results of the RIBA Education Conference at Oxford in 1958? The conference proposals, which were for a less narrowly vocational approach to architectural education, with more sociology and technology content to courses, received their first and most com- plete testing at UCL. It may be that the profession’s apparent disillusionment with the way that architectural education has gone will be reflected in the changes at the School of Environmental Studies. If this is so, and if it is true that the profes- sor of Architecture, Professor Watson, is aiming to establish a form of education closer to the RIBA’s present views, it may be that the SES will once again find itself in the van of architectural education, though this time travelling backwards. page 8 6 eded It is an attitude which is humilating to students who have decided not to concentrate on archi- tectural design, as it implies they are failures, or have ‘fallen-off’; and itisinsulting to the staff who teach the courses, because it gives them only a second class status within the School. Besides, it seems a bad use of the School's re- sources for its specialist staff to be teaching so- called ‘drop-outs’, particularly at a time when there are many students who are interested in awide range of subjects, and who do not take the narrow view of architectural design at pre- sent being advanced in the School. Ultimately, it is an attitude which will be damaging to the architectural profession, as itwill prevent the profession from developing competence in al aspects of the building task. The profession’s panic reaction to unemployment among archi- tects has been to want to cut down entry into the profession, but a more realistic reaction would be to look for ways of making architects more employable. One reason why unemploy- ment isso high isthat the present range of skills within the profession would mean that more architects would be able to do useful work in society, and it would actually be possible for MORE peopletobecomearchitectswithout over loading the profession. The opportunity exists for the SES to deve- lop an integrated curriculum, of which architec- tural design would be an important part, but which would also concede equal importance to technology, the social sciences and economics as part of an architectural education. The RIBA Visiting Board inspected the School recently and it will be interesting to hear their comments; but let us hope that the School will not give way to demands for purely more architectural design and will square its shoulders to the RIBA, and persist with the innovatory line it took in the 1960s when it set out to broaden architectural education. NEWS FROM CRISPIN AUBREY, A JOURNALIST WITH LONDON’S ‘TIME OUT WEEKLY who has written widely and sympathetically on squatting, property speculation, planning and redevelopment, is one oftwojournalistsrecently arrested under the long-discredited Official Secrets Act. Any architectural worker involved with a Government project is doubtless familiar with this Act. The move has been widely interpreted as part of the Government’s campaign to deport without trial, under the equally discredited Immigration Act, the two American writers, CIA critic Philip Agee and ex-‘Time Out’ reporter Mark Hosenball, with whose defense Aubrey and his co-defendant, ‘Time Out’ and ‘Undercurrents’ writer Duncan Campbell, have been associated. spec connection This is perhaps not a very auspicious timetolaunchaprogressive,‘alternative’ architectural newsletter — not only in view of the attack on “Time Out’ but also Jimmy Goldsmith’s attempt to smash “Private Eye’ and Clive Jenkins’ recent ‘success’ in suing ‘The Socialist Worker’ forasum,includingcosts,ofupto £10,000. Thesuitwasforlibelfollowing satirical article and cartoon of ASTMS costa del clive cheap Spanish holidays offer made back in February 1975 while Franco was stil alive and in power. In the latter case, according to the Guardian, Mr Jenkins’ Lawyer explained that “The Socialist Worker was primarily read by shopfloor workers, men and women of variable intelligence, some of whom might not find iteasy to decide the meaning of workds’. After the trial, defendant and ex-editor of the Socialist Worker Paul Foot said, “We don’t have any money. We are asmall socialist paper selling among working people. Satirists NAM _GROUP CONTACTS : ARCUK Group, NAM, 9, Poland St., London W1. Liason Group: The Secretary, NAM, 9) Poland St., London,W1 National Design Service: NDS,NAM,9,PolandSt., London, W1. Projects Group: Daviv Roebuck, 25, St. George’s Ave,, London, WI Unionisation Organising Committee, NAM, 9, Poland St, London, WI Publications Group: Editorial Committee, NAM, 9, Poland St., London, W1 Cardiff Group: Anne Delaney, 196, Albany Rd., Roath, Cardiff Edinburgh: David Somervall, 22, Penmuir Place, Edinburgh 3 Hull: Tan Tod, Hull School of Architecture, be agood idea for members of the NAM EDUCATION GROUP to liase with one another, and contacts for each of these places are listed below. Although Membership and Newsletter SUBSCRIPTIONS are coming in steadily, itwould be greatly appreciatedif those who have not returned their forms would do so as soon as possible. Forms are available from The Secretary, NAM, 9, Poland Street, London W.1. ED AND THE PROF *.ifwewishoureducation tobemore closely related to the need of students and individual people for whom they intend to design, any changes must take into consideration the influence of the educational and professional institutions. They must losentheholdofthetraditionalteaching establishments, so that skills amy be learntfromanyoneandevryonewhohas the ability to teach and demonstrate them, and they must loosen the power of the the profession so that the relationship between users and designers is nolonger clouded in the myth of professional expertise and competence.” ( education Group, November 1976 ) The Education Group has been meeting regularly since last Autumn. At the Blackpool National Congress we presented a short paper on the situation in architectural education which ended witha serues of propo- sals for action. The proposals were necessarily in an imperfect form — some were dubious, some impractical and some downright scurillous. We want to clarify our direction and strategy and for that reason we shall PUTTING THE NAMIN NOTTINGHAM A new NAM group isnow meeting regularly in the University of Nottingham. In opposition to the policies of the establishment within the school of architecture there, the NAM Group want to break free from from the narrow, sheltered confines of campus life. A public meeting is tobeorganised off-campus inthe city to mobilise a nucleus of interested people in Nottingham and to raise pertinent issues. In cooperation with Shelter, the Group is carrying out measuring work foraNottinghamtenants’cooperative. Therearealsoplansforthesettingupof an advice, design and building team attached to a community group. A small group of Year-out students, and two or three unemployed building workers or school leavers and, possibly aqualified architect to provide continuity, would cooperate in the project which could be extended to include rehabilitation schems schemes for student housing and the provision of workshop space in the Old Lace Market. Funding would come from the Job Creation Programme. The Group is also planning a ‘counter course’, aimed at their fellow students and placing architecture in a wider social and political contaxt than the official University lectures. Kingston-u-Hull Regional College environmentalissuesforthelastfive andcartoonistseverywherewill ofArt,BrunswickAve.,Hull Aubrey has been covering anopenmectingorganisedbythenewly bejoiningintheNAMOPENSEMINAR NAMgroupswantingtocontzibuteinformationon years and has written features on Tolmers Square, Docklands, and the Hyams/Seifert property speculation/ architecture connection. He has also written a couple of stories for the old “RIBA Journal’ (tenant control of housing). defence committee A committee has been set up, to defendAubrey,Campbellandco- defendant John Berry, an ex-serviceman who has been refused bail. Contributions should be sent to ABC Defence Ctte., c/o Time Out, 374 Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1. Itisnot known whether the RIBA Journal will be supporting the Defence Committee. satirists beware ! have to draw in their horns as a result of this case.’ Good luck, Hellman. No doubt architectural workers considering whether ASTMS might be the best vehicle for an organising drive in the private sector will be impressed by the union‘s legal back-up. Some, however, may be hoping that afterwarmingupontheleftpress, ASTMS may turn now to some of the right-wing giants of Fleet Street, perhaps a better match and more fitting target ofr the 380,000 strong white-collar union. Leeds: Pete Forbes, Parkview, Weeton Lane, Hoby, Leeds 17 London Group: Douglas Smith, 17, Delancey St., London, NW1 Nottingham Group: Dave Green, 44a, Bramcote Rd., Beeston, Nottingham EducationGroup: Edinburgh: David Somervell Hull: Jane Bryant, Hull School of Architecture. Leeds: Pete Forbes Nottingham: Dave Gree London: Andrew Fekete, Flat 5, Bentley Court, 72/74, Kensington Gardens Square, London, W2 formed NOTTINGHAM NAM GROUP on 2nd March. Over 30 people were present and afterwards an introductory talk outlining the work of NAM present and after an introductory talk outlining the work of NAM, a general discussion was held and a further meeting arranged at which specific working groups are 10 be set up. Other new NAM groups are hopefully emerging in Manchester, Hull,LeedsandEdinburgh. The Green Ban Action Group is spreading its wings by taking on new live projects and as a result now callsitself the PROJECTS GROUP. Since there are NAM members in education in Nottingham, Leeds and Hull as well as London and Edinburgh it may to be held in London soon. Ther are heavy goins-on in architectural education and we must arm ourselves appropriately before we do battle with the major institutions. Will you bring your ideas and experience to the London Seminar? Until April 23rd free copies of the paper *Education and the Profession *are avialable by sending astamped addressed envelopeto:NAMEduactionGroup, 9, Poland St., London, WI CHANGE OF ADDRESS theiractivitiesshould fettheircopy toSLATE by 22nd April 1977 for inclusion in the next issuc. NAM's 2ND LONDON SEMINAR is being held on Saturday April 23rd between 10am and 6pm at the Polytechnic of Central London, Marylebone Road, Wl. (Baker St. tube) Topics to be discussed: Unionisation, ARCUK and Education. There will be buffet lunch and a party 3 with bar afterwards at a NAM Jonata dnuerabicanchtecdoe~ LIAISON The present NAM LIAISON GROUP was elected at the second congress held in Blackpool last November. In addition to the normal liaison duties of coordinating activities and answering correspondence, its six members were asked by congress to collect subscriptions, establish a newsletter, stimulate local seminars and organise a 3rd annual congress. So far Newsletter and membership subscriptions have been fixed, a separate PUBLICATIONS GROUP hasbeen co-opted to produce SLATE and alocal seminar to be held by the London Group is provisionally set for Saturday 23rd April at the Polytechnic of Central London. constitutionforNAM? Earlydiscussionsonthe3rdANNUAL CONGRESS have already taken place and any suggestions for a venue, date and agenda are welcome. One item already Suggested is the presentation and sanc- tioning of a NAM constitution. A new group is urgently needed to study the issue of whether or not it is practicable or desirable to continue as a movement without a constitution, in preparation for the next congress. Another new group is needed to produce next year’s CALENDER, and it would be a great advantage financially if at least one of its members had-free access to printing facilities. Last year’s calender cost £150 to produce 350 copies and priced at 50p/copy it has made aloss! Two Liaison Group members attended NAM's Second National Conference, Blackpool, November, 1976. NAM's new postal address is 9 POLAND ST. LONDON W1 around 8.30pm. ENVIRONMENT JOURNALIST HELD page 10 LAMBETH STOWIPS ON! social workers, and numerous front page articles in the press and finally a High Court injunction halting the demo- lition, havr forced the Council into a serious evaluation of their options. singularly homeless For London’s single homeless policy has certainly been limping behind: hardly any provision has been made by the Borough for this expanding group in society. The Housing Committee was forced by the Finance Committee in May 1976 to transform the ‘cuts * into a repressive policy towards the homeless in general, and a blanket rejection to the single homeless in particular. The latest claim by the Housing Committee to have reduced the the homeless problem isentirely er- roneous: having redefined ‘homelessness’ and turning away agreater proportion of persons from the Homeless Families Unit than before, the Committe is claiming that the problem isreceding, whereas what isreally happening isthat a larger proportion of the problem has been shelved. In the background the professionals -architects and planners -have kept a low profile, with a few exceptions: Colin Taylor and Tom Wooley of ‘Earth Resources Research Limited’ - an arm of ‘Friends of the Earth’ have produced a comprehensive report © evaluating the rehabilitation option from a resource debit/credit angle. The Council do not have a democratic consensus to their decision-making at this time: the split among the ruling labour group is a sympton of this absence. Architects and Planners have ademocratic base only in as far as their Local Authority employees secure assent from the constituency. The council isalienated from itsborough; professionals share this alienation and the rumbles of the ‘inner city’ are further muffled by the hegemony of the professionals and the language they use. House of Hollamby Edward Hollamby, head of Development Services, isapowerful individual on council committees. Although Architecture and Planning have their respective heads he has cultivated atrancendant influence over the presentation of projects to the council. He hasa large budget and even larger ideas; he has been actively in favour of the policy of deliberately letting areas of council housing decay in order to support arguments for comprehensive redevelopment. This is a typical example of the power that technocrats hold over lay decision makers. Negotiations with the Villa Road squatters over rehousing have broken down and the council is hoping that, by evicting, they will be able to offload the problem onto other London boroughs. By supporting the Criminal Tresspass Legislation, currently in the Lords, they hope to provide a bite to match the barks that are ringing out over Lambeth these days. Wwe THOUGHT LAaBOURS TO: . ‘WAS SMASHING rather than adhering to development plans, particuarly whether the councils in urban areas like Lambeth should make more use of their empty houses as short life rehabilitation projects? Secondly, do local authorities answer the housing need for thessingle homeless -a group that, in the private sector, has been victim to inflated property values and the perverse legacyofthe rent act. waiting listcon-trick More than 17,600 people are on the council’s waiting list 6 3 new tenancies are created each year. At this rate some people will be on the list for years. There have been cuts in the budget of every department and these have been accepted totally passively. There will be a small increase in central government subsidies this year but it will inno way cope with the magnitude of the local housing crisis. In St Agnes Place a scheme has been presented to the council by Lambeth Self-Help Building Cooperative for the rehabilitation, on a 5-year life basis, of 22 of the houses using money from the central government funded Housing Corporation and Manpower Services Commission’s Job Creation Scheme. It was turned down on the last occasion largely because a reversal of policy was seen as a loss of face. There has not, until recently, been a serious enquiry into the options open to the Council at St. Agnes. The arguments have been raging during planning and housing committee meetings, quite often in an unin- formed and emotive atmosphere. Now petitions from many local groups in- cluding one signed by a 100 of Lambeth’s Dave McKay THE BARRICADES ARE GOING UP ONCE AGAIN IN VILLA ROAD ROAD-timber posts and corrugated iron -a familiar scene in Lambeth and many other parts of London these days with so much land in limbo. But this time they are being erected by squatters in anticipation of an eviction attempt by bailiffs and the police. Meanwhile, a half a mile away in St Agnes Place, this Georgian terraced street displays the battle scars of the recent partial demolition by the council of ten roofs on one side of the street. As social conditions change in London planning schemes and housing policy seems to limp behind averting their gaze from the real problems; in Villa Road the land isrequired for badly-needed open space: a ‘green finger’ in the planners’ jargon, to run alongside the A23 insulating the new council housing development from the arterial road joining the commuter suburbs of Streatham, Norwood and Croydon to thecentreofLondon. InStAgnes Place the land is required to join two small parks into one large space, when the G.L.C. has declared itself in favour of small evenly dispersed open spaces. But although the planning issues are there to be questioned and evaluated, especially in the bizarre case of St Agnes, mw they are dwarfed by larger considerations TM Firstly, should the choice of planning © strategies and priorities in an economic, a recession be flexible enough to cope with . the practical problems ‘on the ground’ ONE UNION conference organisers :Unionisation Organising Committee of the New Architecture Movement,9, Poland St., London, Wi. further information and application forms ( to be returmed by lth May 1977 ) from the Committee PLEASE DISPLAY THIS HANDBILL ERY KEPog i ; SoS - RO = ae: IDOCH) |== fs GIN Doby WANT A ONION FOR ?! =N=| sol Ri A 7.é— }N- \YN x ye: Creag : ; a \ <= () Vv $ Ces t ‘ = ———__ } ; i pron Ritts LE | —, AFOO= he.byioe A SPECIAL ONE DAY CONFERENCE ON TRADE UNION ORGANISATION FOR EMPLOYEES IN ARCHI TECTURE AND ALLIED BUILDING PROFESSIONS WHO WANT TO SE EFFECTIVE UNIONISM LONDON 14th MAY 1977 10tod Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource NAM SLATE Group Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Murray & John Allan Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1977 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/c26f72f41c2c2ac22b68fb7b9d152409.pdf 42bb141b831baf78304d1da147ca712a 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 <p><span style="font-weight:400;">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. </span></p> <ul><li style="font-weight:400;"><span style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </span></li> <li style="font-weight:400;"><span style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </span></li> <li style="font-weight:400;"><span style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </span></li> <li style="font-weight:400;"><span style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</span></li> <li style="font-weight:400;"><span style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </span></li> <li style="font-weight:400;"><span style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</span></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 Building Design Article Subject The topic of the resource Opinion piece by Martin Pawley "Why community architecture is a busted flush" (2pp) Description An account of the resource 18 BUILDING DESIGN, February 24, 1989 g A FLUSH is a five-card poker hand with each card belotnotgheisanmegsuit.A bustedflushisafive-card poker hand in which four cards are of the samesuitb,ut the last is different. The ‘bust’? means the difference between success and failure, a five-card flush is a strong hand, a busted flush is worthless _Opinion communi a a a alt|PGure n Ipropose to this house Smmunty architecture is Martin Pawley lost the vote in last week’s International Building Press debate on community archi- ate nat 5to bes: Dr Rod Hackney and his in the community tecture — but made the best speech of the night, published here. ction; entrench that was equivalent to laying tment: pessimism inifesto ontaking of rural¢ ration RIBA The Knav t . {feisrbelideving Rod Hack ON EXPRESS [Enter 19 ENauiny caro On this card is written; “Our nvironment is abattleground forces which threaten and in the end ciety the inner ties bear deep ying housing »vement laid hallengeafewyearsago 44 ynemployment: lack of Marshalls Mono Limited Head Office Southowram S KEYBLOK MONOLOK RUSTIKAL RIALTA ARCADIAN KEYKERB THE MASTER'S DEGREE IN ARCHITECTURE We invite candidates with good first degrees in architecture or an equivalent qualificationtoapply to study of our new Master's Degree. This innovative, high level, part-time course, which Started in 1988, is the only one ofits kind in the UK Itisgearteodtheambitiousandabilitiesofstudents with a passion for design, curiosity about the field of theory and the energy to bring them together with intellectual rigour At the same time, students on the course develop their other professional skills in practice Please send for prospectus and application formto THE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, KINGSTON POLYTECHNIC, KNIGHTS PARK, KINGSTON UPON THAMES, SURREY KT1 2QJ. Telephone: (01) 549 6151. Fax: (01) 547 1450 ON EXPRESS Enter Q PNguinY CARD\ ‘a RIW SHEETSEAL Damp Proof Membranes Agrement ap; Sheet fo Danage inappl Small damages are May de used junction with liquid applied products © Ful technical back-up from the RIW Waterproofing . SPECIALISTS IN STRUCTURAL WATERPROOFING PRODUCTS No RIWLimitedArc House, Terrace Road South, BirSeld, Bracknell, Berks, AG12 Tel O44 861988 Telex 847990 Fax 0344 862010 Enter DO. Chane aID\ aa’| yur cards down fa pon the pe ty. Urban regener ni ui civil peaceand liberties. Andit d betting on the unseen Pi tv iftwelare'to retain our not just the cities that are in th i 1 ow. The firstis an crisis. Looking out across th Ace. It shows what Dr Hackney countryside we face the spectre It worth recalling what PSAOSIS ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN AND THEORY g of their book 1 irchitecture how people are shaping their own environment. Itis a gory rerun of that everything is “appalling” he proposes a “crusade” : inner cities. He talks of raising £30 to £100 million to finance community architecture pro jects like Black Road alloverthe ‘We do not believe that community architecture is equal to the sheer Hackney, is equal to the sheer may have solved a lot of problems for your people. Let's sce how well they do with static Property prices. We do not belicve that de- caying Britain can be put right by a combination of media boosterism, awards, ceremon- ies, celebration dinners, cxag- ated responses to supposed attacks”, verbal exhortations, fitful encouragement by royalty, “alternative” Nobel prizes or 60-minute documentaries about five houses, In other words Mr Wates and Mr Thompson, wedo not believe you have the final card you have. We u are bluffing. Despite Mr Wate unhesitating and shamefulinvocationofurban riot and murder as the only the Broadwater Farm “What had been thought of asa model council estate turned into country. He even calls for a poverty and homelessness created by cessation of large-scale council community architectur police and 20 proach in the City of I had been injured. One where he might have known policeman had been hacked to — the community spirit is 100 death. The senior police officer proof and the governor of the for the area described it as the Bank of England can tell Peter most ferocious, the most vicious Palumbo that he need have no not ever seen in the country.” The third card is, shall we say Ten. It is the card of the where, certainly not any- the contraction of social welfare and house building today bf adeveloperon hth Knaveforw 4 ‘ Ac ehavenow Tu: Not the ¢ but ¢ ly-based enterprise ecople whe ield, is ayo archi | “real tate ket monc but ma afew 1. Ch esident of the RIBA ),000 inner-city houses reliction by all-scale at will se of 1 i-playing municipaliser ci al council. For the chance t build ¢ own urth cardis a King, or rathera environment theway they want utur 3, a “fairy princ ind so create a land as safeand o cares deeply about decay prosperous as Switzerland.” ind riot and archit J not t h T onflict and Thiasqtuite acard;it putsthe ind ractal future Kingto shame. Ifor one ulm here and now put m noney Th re four cards on the the table and say; “Show i ab: dtheoth rplayersturna me.”’ If Dr Hackney, Nick Wates and John Thompson and vhiter shade of pal he their followers were f pared to list councillors are bank- pt, they cannot afford to call this one. The archit adyabouts popu war criminals hiding in the Bolivian jungle. Ift cy fight this ust as We nselves on the mercy Mail. The money men gratefully cut their losses the “spectre decay and riot’ a year or twe spectators, the tribunes of the »wn their claims, then lievable. But eirclaims be? should have their houses the we they want them? nirty families can build emselves new houses in four years? That re is a lot of moncy in home improvement? That local authority tenants are happy about the renovation of s? Th local enterprise akes good teley ision? NoUl ITI (3SOU lt All of these are credible people, what do they think? claims, but in relation to the They focus all their attentioonn scale of the problem they don't the highest c fg the fourth card, the card of add up to a hill of beans ation Community architecture has from Thris a ’ of Aces and Knaves noraks. Besidehimis infrom Maccles- as Noel Coward S a5 colour brochure Oui; This isavery special card. It uture King; he is before an always gone further much further and with much less justification than the old mc ern architects who believed that the solutiontothesame problem laynotincharityandunpaid labour, but in planning and production on the largest pos- ae << n a company Ww} fear of failure, on the very day dy on the Court of mon Council votes for his the cessation of large-scale council house building.’ architect at the Pittsburgh conference described commun- ity architecturaes “an extension of the British class system’ Finally, totally inadequate Vos of talent to sible scale. We know what they Opinion — - shows what Nick Wates and dress, like a stockbroker, Car- artesKnechvoseitotwntriteatriedaway,thefutureKingsays 25millionclaimedbyDrcheap;arisinghousingmarket scale of the £50 billion urban crisis of house price inflation and the so. Indeed you will probably industry, house price inflation and where in America, has itproved recall that an expatriate British tionary myth ofthe move- Mansion House Square project achieved, arate of productionof no objection to people “creat- funding and begging-bowl eco ment. It is the story of how a Al the players and al the new houses more than double ing” their own houses, or their nomics apart, we do not believe z architect returned from Spectators ignore the worrying the present rate, and halfofthem own cars, ortheirown electricity that “Macclesfield technology” at 1andboughtacheap insubstantialityofthisspecial subsidiseddowntorentsthat forthatmatter.Whatweobject makesefficientuseofexpensive house in Macclesfield to live in card, Deep down, they know would not buy a Tube ticket to is outrageous and misleading design expertise or scarce mat- while he c mpleted his PhD that the future King hasnotkept today claims and promises that crowd crial sources — a belief y alternative to community ar- The house was cheap because it alhispromises. One ofhismuch But we on this side of the out the proper consideration of hemently shared by the late chitecture; and despite Mr wascondemned,oneof vauntedfundsforcimmunity housedonotwishtobemis:crucialenvironmentalissuesWalterSegal,whoseworkThompson'spromisethatitisa scheduled for redevelopment enterprise, to which a fair understood. We do not oppose We do not believe that a sharp community architecture propa- certain cure for smoking, we The threat of the bulldozers number of individuals and the idea of anybody “shaping Macclesfield developer can gandists have lately taken to cli your last card will show nterruptedyoungarchibusinessescontributed,btheirownenvironment”orsucceedwherehugesumsofparasathodughiitnweregtheirthatyourhandisvalueless tect’sstudies.Hero’thesackeditsstaffandvirtuallybuildingbette professionallydirectedpublicown Theconsequenceofsittingin apa hetic ho riders and closed down. Another has community 4 investment only barely made We do not believe that you on apoker game played for very ther they a resi- hauled its staff over the coals for gandists put it headway in the past. We do not have a patent on public consul high stakes, with no cards anda t'sassociationéndobtainedmakingloanstocallgirls.Busyprofessionally“misguidedas-belicvethatcommunityarchi-taotrsiweaotenquity—bothofgodlineintalk,isthatsooner general rovement area sta- withorganicfarming,homeo sailants”ordeliberately“tedi- tecture,evenattheundoubtedly whichexistedbeforeyouand orlateryouwillhavpeutuopor tus. By doing st of the work pathic medicine, trade with ously negative critics” We have exaggerated “turnover” of £20- will exist after you. Nor ¢ shut up. And Iam in no doubt th sely ind obtaining Australia, sex lence on mortg $toconvert the houses ty, and interfering in planning believe that your method is which it will be. that whate tenancy to owner on, it is remarkable that he height re King still has time to — they gave the dabble in community archi Hlifeat tecture in the Postman Pat from pr occupa Barber houses 1 cost projected cost of redevelop ment have heard « rid. It not foo much to he Macclesfield miracle the local authority of £127,000, less than half the f the Duchy of Corn $s, thisisthe crucial ind. Without it This was a shot heard round 1 Bakker, the Reverend Jerry Falwell, faith in thefuture Kingisindestructible unted by the spectre of be left to ti yupt © mess that ecay The Knave s. that others make.” nthe echo Look at the tk Only last month in the Sunday have already been t. The Express Mrs Isabella Hageart of Ac 5that “the environment ournalist is abattleground and the land is ays secmsto council housing, the old solu- tion, has become nothing but a table. The fifth card that the backdrof the most vicious gentlemen on the other side of F men have en the house clai »have ntheir The Ten, from uy ¢ in possession must be the Mai N irth c 4 the mn Of what we might Macclesfield tech IBY the ils of urban and rura solution to al Je: They have thems« ves i boastings ime to deal the Hack when he became irethe fourcardsonthe TS.L. ThrislingtonServicesltd TheWhiteHouse Imagine Og scale of the £50 billion urban crisis of poverty and homeless- ness created by the contraction of social welfare and industry, in the UK’s number onemanufacturer Ise inthisfield Soletyourimaginetionrunwild.Calusnowon 164formoredetailsandour 22 SS BUILDING DESIGN, February 24,1989 19 ANAC 20 HighStret Brasted KentrNi6ué Thrislington Partitions ALICE’S ADVENTURES MOI)Nae AN C19; ELTBARS 1Tel1%©)WU)(GIB THE LAMINATED GLASS. again itis Banham who spotsit: “One could nothelpfeeling that this particular garden shed with its rusted bicycle wheels, a battered trumpet, and other homely junk, had been excavated after an atomic holocaust and discovered to be part of a European tradition of site plan- ning that went back to archaic Greece and beyond.” The point being that appeal to the “primitive” in 1950s architectural discourse connoted a whole complex of reservations and attitudes towards moder- engagement. Yetin one work at nism.Ontheonehand,inthe least,theSmithsonsshowedan manner of “40,000 Years’, it extraordinary prescience about keyed into a “Family of Man” anthropology of archetypal and ecumenic form that modified but Mercifully, this story has a happy ending. Apartfromafewbumpsand bruises, our heroine’ fine; thanks to the Solaglas laminateded glass she : collided with. Made from layers of glass and tough plastic, our laminated glass (0224) 034247 (0232) 61021 O51 447 6191 021-327 2095 seuny kept firmly on the outside. Built to withstand bullets from the home-ownership world of the Privatised cighties. For if the stays f (0323)646566 ’ ere Ediaburgh O37 91 security game. Sccuricor. especially young ones, must be a top priority OF course, stubborn rezfusal to fall apart makekse Light may be free to pour through laminated shop windows, the light-fingered, however, are 091-567 1776 (0792) #99217 (0847) 62028 (0904) 690830 be delighted to speak to you. - the street, the community and cluster, the topology of habita- tion, association, and identity: in short, all that was intended for that half-heroic, half-nostalgic Bethnal-Green-in-the-air of IG enthusiasm was wildly optimistic, a kind of technolatry. A future in which consumption knows no limits, in which consumer power could replace political will, ideology, and collective action, yet somehow stil be “on the left”, now looks hopelessly mistaken in a world laminated glass’: mouth(0202)524151 (0274)733400 Bakes hassHieiosil Bristol (0272)#49617 Cambeidge (0223) 247212 bery (0227) 459001 i (0222) 143781 ary (0203) 458021 Deoncamer (0902) $20211 Dandee (0382) 43260/4)268 S . Someone who apPFpreciate: s this StIetl more than anyone is a Solaglas customer with apretty good record for knowing whats what in the accident that immediately after Smithsons went straight with Eamesian collage or Corbusian Scarborough (0723) 378133 Scunthorpe (0724)844793 Seningbowrne (0795)21534 Seuthampton (0703) 331177 Seuthend (0702) 463415 StAwitell (0726)66325 Stoke-on-Trent(O7#2) #22448 Sunderland Swaneee Theree individuaallithsemcl”ai,msof becauseitisclearnowthatmuch ‘ is replicated at the ICA, was Moore, Sutherland, Piper, and than today, but David Mellor’s and the artist's work of giving described by Banham as “a Nash.andeventheFestivalof Catalogueessaysuggeststhat:“In Signsandimagestothestagesof (0253)20106 aNATO TIfl€,OurstrongestglassCan (0204) 20444 051.525 7241 take more knocks than Fort Knox. more stentorian and global key; ilk — now are decried, in one on the other— and espectally in work of 1956 at least, the Sugden thefieldofurbanism—itrevised House,theyproducedanicon the CIAM orthodoxy to the of just that sort of consumer pointofliquidation.Itwasno directionthatinfusedIGenthu- siasms. The irony, however, is their “Patio & Pavilion”, the that it showed no exciting ; intact even if it cracks Falhiek (0324) 21691 Which means, unlike some Forfar (0907)63425 And as well as frustrating Daily Mail Home Exhibition, while in November of the same year, ARK 18 appeared with their article “But Today We Collect Ads”. Coterie If the IG as a whole can be described as a coteric of creative frictions, then those contrarics were nowhere more apparent bought council house, altered (usually hideously) by the owning-proud purchaser. “What IsItThat Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing?” asked Richard Hamilton's 1956 Montage. 1989's diy alterations — that’s what! Reflection on this suburban subversion should remind us how far consumer society has come since the fifties. In many other glass, it won't splinter into shards that maim. Or possibly kil And thats why 95% of al car windscreens are laminated 041.336 BSAA Grimaby (0472) 351378 Guildford (0483) $72922 criminals, we make fires rage too. Our fire-resistant laminated glass can confounda conflagration forup to an hour. Mull it over. When you next ; specify glass, cither for a com- mercial or a domestic environment, your decision whether to choose. Solaplas laminated glass may have an awful lot resting on it. If yyou'd like to make the world Alice's real-life counterparts), please give one of our branches a call. They'd In the UK, 30,000 accidents* Lincoln (052)539131 ways the IG typified the influx of withinasinglepracticethanin provincialtalentofthattime, Liverpol 051-228 2696 involving glass occur in the home e 051-220 8171 Usedudne (0492) #523 every year; so protecting lives, Londe 01-928 $010 Londonderry (0504)43191 Malton Keynes (0908) $6477 Newcastle 91-266 6217 Newton Abbot (0626) 68919 Norshan peon (0604) 53924 (0465) 774317 Pererborough (0733) 63045 Plymouth (0752) 390123 Fecetetm.meth (e0e78n3)anSieeates the work of the Smithsons. On the one hand their “ideal home” took as its modus operandi the extrapolation of current state of-the-art techniques to the level of expendability and thrown- away aesthetics (a term of Banham’s) based on marketing stereotypes and the “nextstep”, along the lines of the fashion industry (theorized for the IG by Tony Del Renzio). But on the other there was, opposed to such nomadic “mass and bearing in mind the northern origins of many of its practitio- ners, the new brutalism might be said to have been the last expression ofadefinably North-of- England outlook in the national culture. As Denise Scott Brown puts it: “When the Beatles arrived on the scene, they too looked familiar, a second cul- tural import from the north.” The IG clementofthe existential, the realist, and the “brutal” deserves to be emphasised Mall (0482) 23432 (0483) 239439 (0475) 484ne Wight (0983) $22288 (0563) 29218 01.549 4900 aly (0592) $5311 ster (0553)734499 eos » Head over heels, in fact. Glass and Glaring Federation fgures for domestic accidents involving broken glas York GiaesmehthewovksbentservicebashedHt filledoutwiththeanarchicand matiofnsu,chavisionhasbeen Exhibitions “The Museum Without Walls” united from the start in resisting amorphous, skinned, visceral, by Andre Malraux, whom the the “yokelry” of 1940s neo- variable, flux, nebular, iri- individual inputs: “For in this IGwantedtoinvitetoopentheir romanticism—thecultofa descence,hyperspace,freefal way,thearchitects’workof 1953 exhibition “The Parallel Of national mythic landscape that Then, in the “Age of Anxiety”, Providing a context for the Life And Art”. This show, which they felt permeated the work of this was more commented upon individual to realise himself in, Supcerinclusive collection of ex- Britain. Yet they were not above this ‘imaginatioonf disaster’ that this realisation, mect ina single Was active in Britain during the act, full of those inconsistencies fifties there was arepressed ele and apparent irrelevancies of ment — the atomic futures. But every moment, but full of life.”” traordinary imagery”. It made making their own myths. Onc in @ total imagerial environment particular, that urban-primitive from a multifaceted display of cult ofa working-class existential enlarged photos and reproduc- h Corbusian dul this cultural phor islegible Richard Hamilton describes tions, drawing material from anthropos that became known, anatomy,architecatrtu,rmeic,ro half-jokinglya,s“thenewbruta- and macrostructure, movement lism”, cast a major weather-front inbrutalist workinst,he scarred the Patio as a “defensive landscape and geology, cal across the English architectural motif of the apocalyptic sub- of the human impulse toa post- graphy, anthropology andergo- nomics into a mobile scanning of cognitive and aesthetic con- nections. Banham wrote of it: “The photograph, being an _ The strain of IG primitivism artefact, applies its own laws of lime.” As Nigel Henderson said: “I is apparent enough at the ICA; artefaction to the material it it is palpable in the elemental feel happiest among discarded things, vituperative fragments filled with brash ephemera, to cast casually from life, with the other planets, a cultural space- fizz of vitality stil about them”. ship going who knows where". landscape. Primitivism atomic carth, adying world filled with rare fossils and touching memories. Whereas the cabinet of Dr Voelcker, was taking off, documents,anddiscoverssimi- orgaofn“biruts”pmigsmentin relatedtothemoreaffirmative larities and parallels between the the paintings of Magda Cordell, documentations, even where the conglomerate totems, simul- ment,theSmithsonsfromthat point began to withdraw from the Pop tendencies that led to Archigram. According to Denise Scott Brown’s thoughtful memoir, Learning From Bruta- lism, they also withdrew from Suggestive of an architect who what they called “active socio- none exists between the objects and the events recorded.” tancously prehistoric and post- nuclear, haptic and hiroshimoid, of Paolozzi, McHall and Turn- realistic social programme of the architects is less easy to see in the exhibition, though James Stirling's “bubble sculpture” for “This isTomorrow" looks bug- The second reason for refer- ‘ ringto“40,000YearsOfModern bull.Theirconnecttiootnhe hi- eyed and bowellist cnough, Art” is that it established an tech, consumer-serendipity abiding primitivism that per- meated much of the IG despite and through all ofits enthusiasms for advanced technology and nology of the future listed by urbanised life. IG Members were strain in the IG ae through the detour of the Sci-Fi — the bug- eyed monster, and the phenome- was to undergo more than one or two mutations, The connec- tion, of course, is there in the “Patio & Pavilion’, and once beauty emergent from designing Alloway: “Solar, delta, galactic, and building inastraightforward way, forcommunity lifeasitis, not for some sentimentalized version of how it should be: “Brutalism’s attempt to be objective about ‘reality’ tries to face up to a mass-production society and drag a rough poetry out of the confused and powerful forces which are at work.” Beatles 458844. Enter 1 5 ON EXPRESS ENQUIRY CARD. hedonistic gestures of an affluent individualism. When the Smith- sons described their “Patio & Pavilion” to the BBC in 1955, they invoked a like balance of collective, or rational, and appropriated by the Thatcher Government. The Independent Group: post-war Britain and the aesthetics of plenty, runs at the ICA until April evidenceofdetritusfollowingthe stockade,ashelterinaprotected releaseofhideousenergy,the garden—classicrepresentation How this saturnine mood And despite the “Ads” state- Smithsons’ collective projects — continued modernism in the Robin Hood Gardens and their Team 10 to Dubrovnik, the last CIAM. Yet this was only months after they had displayed their form, but was simply an ordinary fiftieshouse adaptedto brutalist order. In fact, it resembles “House of The Future” at the nothing so much as a tenant- Golden Lane (1952). This was Coronation Street-meets- Corbusier, perhaps the one point where a socialist framework of where the “hegemony”, or collective values was directly project of consent and legiti- plastics”, the finding of value and delight in places and things other architects found ugly, and Scott Brown regrets this withdrawal from sociological BUILDING DESIGN, February 23,1990 19 it the perfect way to safeguard a safer place (especially for property as well. For expert advice on al aspects of glas and glazing please cal our Technical Advisory Service on (0203) 20 BUILDING DESIGN, February 23, 1990 Mexx recept IT tak Mexx: view intoreception ‘Westminster schol: laboratory refurbishment. They have both obviously sorbed the influence exerted and w wdget control is a grucial (0 the success o! n’tafford n 8 fow their trollable warmth and hot water readily at hand. Whatever the size of your building, electricity canprovidecost- ctive heating. And your local Electricity business can give you al the advice you need. Because what they're ofering isateam efort. Working with you too find the best solution for your busines. maintenance costs, as well as the added economy of using _Storageheater low-costnight-rate |electricity. And whichever form of electric heating you choose, you can have a total system matched to your needs. Fil in the coupon for more information or contact the Ene: rgy Marketing Manager at your loacal to be extravagant. ySuvetural bude McAslan & Partners w 20d to note that Weston and Again,forlargerrequirementsyou can take advantage of the larger heaters, warnsagainst“over-engincer- develop ing”forthesakeoforiginality senseofresponsibilityf Engineering is only part of it, designed details and finishes worked on thi -rPateria Unitwith And so it is with modern electric spac and water heaters. Efficient, con- with savings in capital, instalation and Heroes: (Rostrum January19), then it there are no long energy-wasting Pipe runs, they are economical to. t i an ex-Hopkins man. But F ~~) Practiceprofile= _GOING INTO DET. The best teamwork in the worst conditions. The bobsleigh team A. perfect example of the efective use of energy inthecold, Fast acting quartz linear heaters, Electricity business for example, can provide heat either After al, wouldn't you like life to intermittently or in specific a as. be thar litle bit more comfortable. And where heat is ni ded over long periods, storage heaters realy comeintotheirown.Becausethey |ene make ful use of low-cost night-rate electricity to store heat and then release itgradually during the day. Compact el ctric water heaters can | be installed almost anywhere. On the wall, or under the sink. And because 12 ston JELECTRIC LET'S WORK TOGETHER - writes Clare Melhuish. } Sophistication can be quite ‘The restructureof the internal fex, alowingforofice nality through anumber of small projects for refurbishmenatnd adaptation of existing buildings. BUILDING DESIGN, February 23,1990 21 Weston Williamson have developed a distinctive modern style which has already won them three competitions, us from page 21 a Victorian prison as a graphic design studio involved the con struction of a glazed conserv toryoverlothoekcoiurntyagrds, black-stained ash with frosted glass pancls, materials used and possible conflict, into the throughout the rest of the composition intenor The double-height space Of the three recent competi tion wins, one, for Marketplace advertising agency, is another was exploited by the insertion of two mezzanines divided by refurbishment job. The existing an acoustic glass screen. Light fittings double up as sunshades for the glass roof A laboratory refurbishment for Westminster School, acom mission won on the basts of an warehouse in Bermondsey, dat- ing from 1903, impressed the architects by its “amazing re- servesof strength’’, They willbe retaining the open-plan space, supported by circular cast-iron columns, installing new services, and adding a new four-storey extension with an external lift Atroof-level, a glazed conference room will constitute a contrast- ing lightweight clement into the overall character of the building. As with past projects, the architects will also be designing the furniture provided an opport ’ plore the possibiliotfiperesfy ricallaequtipmientnangdcom ponent units off site, within a tight time-scale of cight months. The result was the subtle trans- lation of a 1930s office block into a “hi-tech” environment, a “spac © image’’, conjured entirely out of standard parts, A Birkin Haward and Richard significant element of this change MacCormac, is an interesting was the glazing of the side walls development of the previous St Augustine's church repre- church project, and one which sented a rather different chal- but with the same issue at a fight for quality of environment, achieved through effective organisation of space and light, and well-designed furniture and fittings At St Augustine's, this involved the tactful division of the existing church into two parts: a worship area and acommunity centre This project also entailed a serious consideration of the esthetic aspects of working with =—L1 the architects find particularly stimulating, being quite different from the standard commercial brief. A whole new range of criteria is involved In this case, the PCC (Paro- chial Church Council) requires an extension housing a new ance area and link between ch and enlarged church iding a church “centre” can accommodate wide ecular functiaosnwesll as worship. Thecouncil actually 1 | fai TheProfileAceptor’anexcitingnew ~ im! LT} Introducing the factory finish hanentprofilewhichtsbuiltinkeatraditionalwindowframe.andforms an exact a — Tilbury: ground-floor plan, an existing and historic building Thearchoiptetdetoccotnstsruct anew entrance porch inknappe flint and dressed stone, matching the original structure, rather than introduce any strong contrast, St John’s church, Pinner, a project Won in competition with pening. Al des (including plastering) required on completed be eliminating many risks, time delays 2 St John’s Pinner: concept sketch 22 BUILDING DESIGN, February 23, 1990 Practice profile St THE HOLE THING BEES ; A beautifully simple way Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource BD 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 24/02/1989 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/8e811e981db21d99aa428adbb673559b.pdf 1ac8bb526d8ce9a03adfe1bdf6abc91f https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/e93c8c35f2a1ed1a98e2ed61a78e24cd.pdf d7dde0af57b8d3d89fe89e765cde9025 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 <p><span style="font-weight:400;">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. </span></p> <ul><li style="font-weight:400;"><span style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </span></li> <li style="font-weight:400;"><span style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </span></li> <li style="font-weight:400;"><span style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </span></li> <li style="font-weight:400;"><span style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</span></li> <li style="font-weight:400;"><span style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </span></li> <li style="font-weight:400;"><span style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</span></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 Press Cuttings Subject The topic of the resource Various Press Cuttings about public architecture, many demonstrating the profession's hostility to local authority architect departments (3 files) Description An account of the resource ae 2 CG Auk public S2¢ev Fess Ct ane - | Aete eee Qit2" expensive than development’, has given the WCC con- sent rather than pointing out the error of its ways. One of the many curious reasons the Secretary of State gives, in his letter of consent, is that he ‘. ..is aware that the city council have no intention of rehabilitating the buildings and there is no evidence that any other agency having the necessary resources would be willing to do so’. Indeed, he feels that the ‘result of his refusing listed building consent would be the continuing decay of the listed buildings and the perpetuation of unsatisfactory conditions on the site [which] also aggravates local housing needs’. The local Amenity Association had, in its submis- sion to the inquiry, shown that the housing could be rchabilit- ated to provide housing for between 158 to 184 persons. WCC would build housing but has not yet produced a scheme. Public sector architects’ efficiency under scrutiny A major study of public sector architecture has been started by the RIBA. Sparked off by increasingly strong attacks on local authority offices, the study will look at the architects work in public authorities. It will make recommendations on ways in which the profession’s skills can be used most effectively. The RIBA has asked more than 200 local authorities, nation- alised industries, new towns and government bodies to submit evidence. The study will be carried out by a four-man steering group chaired by Gordon Graham. The other members are Thurston Williams, Bob Giles, John Wells-Thorpe and Patrick Harrison. They plan to complete the report by next summer. Launching the study last week, Gordon Graham commented that he saw the issue as being of vital concern to the whole profession. Not only does the public sector employ half of the RIBA’s UK membership, but it accounts for one-third of private architects’ workload as well. Graham repudiated what he called the “travesty of the truth put about by some people who should know better’, a refer- ence to GLC housing supremo George Tremlett at the RIBA conference in Liverpool. Instead, he claimed that the bureau- cratic features of some public offices weren’t always a very suitable environment for the creative role of designers. Awards for conservation Howell Mill at Llanddeusant, Anglesey. Maladministration in Aberdeen | ‘The people of our country are aware of their heritage and have rightly become steadily more determined that needless destruction shall be stopped and that the effects of neglect be made good,’ said Secretary of State for the Environment Peter Shore when handing over this year’s Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors’/The Times conservation award (see ‘DOE reverse on rehab’, p198). The competition, the subject of which was the restoration and reuse of industrial premises, was divided into two categories: industrial and related premises preserved for further indus- trial use, and industrial premises converted to educational or recreational use with public access permitted. A total of 50 entries were received with the Howell Mill at Llanddeusant, Anglesey, winning the first category prize and the Gladstone Pottery museum at Longton, Staffordshire, winning the second category prize. The Howell Mill is the only remaining working mill relying entirely on water power in north Wales. The architect for the work was N. Squire Johnson. The Gladstone works is the last remaining Victorian pottery factory. It was on the point of demolition when a Trust was formed to buy and convert it into a museum. The architects for the scheme were size unacceptable. However, the planning department mis- Green, Campbell Wainwright and Parmers. takenly gave the applicant—the Grampian Health Board— The second prize in the latter category was won by the Farm- the go-ahead and, to compound this error, failed to advertise ham Maltings, Farnham, Surrey, and the third prize by the the decision. Locals, who later objected to the scheme, only Worsborough Mill museum, Barnsley, Yorkshire. There were knew about the proposals when men arrived on Site to begin The Architects’ Journal 2 August 1978 199 no runners-up in the category won by the Howell Mill. The judges were Brigadier T. F. J. Collins of Essex County Council, Richard Harris of The Times and Michael Wright, editor of Country Life. Aberdeen District Council has been found guilty of maladmin- istration by the local government Ombudsman because of a ‘series of errors and omissions’ by its planning department. An office development application involving the building of an extension on to alisted building in Queens Terrace, which is in a central Aberdeen conservation area, was tumed down by the planning committee because it considered its design and “sg Sisto TRADA’s new building at High Wycombe was opened last week (AF 10.11.76 p879). As one would expect it isa largely timber building (designed by Geoffrey Hawkins in collaboration with TRADA architects). The view above shows the new building with the conference room in the centre: the site slopes steeply and the timber frame construction has adapted with a minimum of excavation. A curious feature of the building is the roof. Instead of the usual granite chippings the flat roof is covered with turf which protects the roof membrane from sunlight and insulates it. In brief Commercial development for Epsom Renton Howard Wood Levin’s scheme for a commercial development in the centre of Epsom, Surrey, has been accepted by the town council. The scheme, which covers a site of about 4-05 hectares, retains the existing frontage on the main streets bounding the site and includes a new shopping mall, car park, offices and some housing. The developers are the Dutch based firm of Brodero. Leeds at the World Congress A project by a Leeds Polytechnic architectural student— Howard Wainwright—has won its way to final judging in a competitiontobeheldduringtheWorldCongressofArchi- tects in Mexico City in October. The theme of the competition is the design of a local government complex to serve a popula- tion of up to 50 000. AONBs to be studied The Countryside Commission is to carry out a two year study into the effectiveness of designating Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty as a means of conserving and improving land- scape. Don’t monitor planning, says RTPI The RTPI strongly opposes the Government’s proposal to introduce assessors to monitor the planning system. Tony Eddison, chairman of RTPI’s External Affairs Committee, wrote to Peter Shore recently suggesting that the system is already extensively monitored. The planners’ public accounta- bility is already high, he believed: through the ombudsman, public inquiries, the press and community groups. New London region chairman The RIBA London region has elected J. Maxwell Hutchinson to be its new chairman. He has already been chairman of the North-East Thames Architectural Society and of the London Environment Group. The Harkness Fellowships Twenty fellowships are offered each year for 12 to 21 months of study and travel in the United States. They are open to UK citizens in any profession or field of study whose secondary and further education (or equivalent professional experience) has been wholly or mainly in the United Kingdom. Candidates must be between 21 and 30 years of age on 1 September 1979, unless qualified in medicine or employed in the Civil Service or the media, in which cases the upper age limit is 33. Appli- cation forms from The Harkness Fellowships (UK), Hark- ness House, 38 Upper Brook Street, London, W1Y 1PE (en- close sae for 16p). Five schemes win awards The five winning schemes for BBC Nationwide’s Pride of Place competition are: the town of Portsoy by Banff District Council; Cofferidge Close, Stony Stratford, by Milton Keynes Development Corporation; the West Bank Community Scheme, Widnes, by Halton District Council architect’s depart- ment; a land reclamation scheme at Halkyn, Clwyd, by the Halkyn Countryside Committee; and parts of Poole (old and new town), Dorset, by Poole Council architect’s department. Prizes appropriate to cach scheme will be devised later. a the hall and its 77-acre estate (all now owned by the Peter- borough Development Corporation) include spending £1 mil- lion repairing and converting the hall, stable block and gate- house into offices and buildings for recreational use, and £100 000 restoring the formal gardens and stocking the park with deer, rare animals and new trees. i IEESSSSSSSS iveniios PPceeet OCNELEAGSAFEESIT Bspeepe 200 The Architects’ Journal 2 August 1978 construction. When the council finally discovered its mistake it decided that, since a tender had already been accepted, it was too late to stop work. Although construction began over a year ago the extension has sull not been completed because the contractor has gone out of business. Hotel and clinic for grounds of historic house Plans to build an hotel, clinic and sports facilities in the grounds of the grade I listed Thorpe Hall, near Peterborough, are causing great concem among historians and local residents. The Friends of Thorpe Hall, which was built in 1645 by Peter Mills and is one of the most important surviving common- wealth houses in the country, ‘are concerned that [the devel- opment] will min the magnificent views now obtained of Thorpe Hall from Longthorpe Parkway’ and that the hotel and clinic ‘would be completely out of character with the rest of the conservation area’. The Friends also ask in their letter of objection to the city council that ‘if this sort of development is allowed within a conservation area then what isn’t permit- ted?’ As well as the city council, which is now considering the proposals put forward by the Bell Industrial Trust Ltd, the Friends have also written to the DOE demanding a public inquiry. In addition to an hotel and clinic the developer’s proposals for Decline in members could force SAAT out of existence THE Society of Architectural and Associated Technicians warned last week that it could be forced out of existence if a move is not made to boost falling membership. The Warning came from SAAT’S vice-chairman, George Lowe, at the society’s annual general meeting in Edinburgh comparable to the 20 000-odd of in parallel but different the RIBA. In the ‘theady days’* Streams.” of 1967/68 the level reached a Lowe added that the other peak of 6000 and has since fields included industry, been slowly declining. It now commercial forms, the catering stands at about 4 500. Lowe suggested that the policy Of recruiting members Lowe explained that of the 700 or so HNC students who almost entirely from private and could qualify for membership public architects’ offices and that the extension of OF SAAT cach year, only about contracting firms created *‘a @ quarter tried to join the society. His statistics were based on a survey carried out on 1973/74 “It is possible that if the massive shortfall between those taking HNC examinations and those who seck SAAT wrong place for our members, qualifications are not resolved, but it iy fairly certain that by the Society may cease to be concentrating on the more usual viable within a few years,” he and professionally ‘legitimate’ Warned field we have ignored and The society was set up in therefore failed to gain 1965, at which time its initiators advantage from those who hoped for a membership work outside the establishment Bexley tenants get a say in house design THE prospective tenants of “The idea is that we will be able seven council houss in Bexley to hear something about 1, will be allowed people's personal preferences, say in their design under although we hope they won't be a plan put forward by the frustrated if they're told what When youve seen one ofour wall clocks borough council If the scheme wins the approval of the DoE, with Which itisnow beme discussed the council’s architects will hold meetines with the people inhabitants will have some say nvolved to consider how theyy over depend on the outcome of Want to influencthee design the talks with DoE. Bexley’s The houses are all three- scheme is similar to one bedroomed and are duc to start introduced by Haringey next year. Assistant borough Council where tenants are also architectKennethMechansaidinvinodeslignvdisecusdsions Italso happens to be a splendid way of introducing you to the next big advantage. The variety. Because not just content to produce a design for every possible purpose, most of the ECS Wall Clock models are available in different versions and sizes. Thus some can be wall mounted and others fitted flush, without changing the overall look. This combination of mounting variations, overall sizes, and choice of movements together with al the different styled dials, means that ECS offer you one of the most comprehensive ranges possible. In addition to this range of wall clocks ECS can also offer Day and Date clocks, Digital clocks, Mahogany Calendar clocks, and ifyou really want to be ahead ofthe times, the unique Teleclock, which receives its accuracy from a Swiss radio beam. We also make clocks Developing ideas on Portman operations involved and the committee tended towards leniency. Nevertheless as the rules now stand an architect is theoretically in jeaopardy if he designs his own house and sells it to somebody soon alter Portman operates three companies the RIBA audience was told. One offers complete “I WOULD love to be able to design services with architects, be a developer”’ said architect services men, engineers but Keith Scott at the RIBA talk- not quantity surveyors who in on US architect/developer are as unknown in the US as John Portman on Tuesday in Europe, Another supplies Speaking after the RIBAJ furnishing and fittings and the editors had given a brief slide third is a development and and movie show of Portman’s management company. In this work — omitting an interview way he is able to do what which the noise of Portman’s British architects would like to air conditioning had ruined do — control the whole Scott was opening a discussion process of building from about architect developers. berinning tolend, though not He pointed out that the actual construction of Portman exploited a loophole buildings in the American Institute's Eric Lyons tartly pointed code Less a loophole than the out that architects were no less AITA’s stipulation that its susceptible fo corruption members can act as architect than anybody else and one ex developers providing they architect, ex-developer asked have equity in the Scott why he didn't leave the development (‘participating RIBA and 20 ahead and members” as the Americans develop anyway put it). They would thus be The question nobody effectively their own clients asked is how seven Veurs of and there was no conflict of learning how to put buildings interest together particularly fitted Developer cases brought architects to enter the complex before the RIBA disciplinary world of high finance and committee were said to be hotel and office occupancy judged on the scale of prediction “So what exactly.have you got in mind? philosophy of narrow and debilitating exclusiveness” There were other related areas where members could be recruited membership in the mainstream is limited — indeed the opposite has proved to be the case. There seems to be only one way to look, and that isoutwards.” trade, property companies and service organisations Tony Lodge, a former SAAT chairman, sugeested at the meeting that technicians cligible for membership could also be found in the computer field and the North Sea oil industry Lowe concluded; “‘It is clear News rd provide a vernacular touch to this scheme for 42 units designed by “IL is not true to suggest that For a full report, see News in Green Lloyd and Adams for the G: ess Trust, The homes are situated on the Kings Road in Chelsea not a brick’s we have been looking in the Focus, page 6. throw from Eric Lyons’ Worlds End scheme. The “chimneys” contain vent pipes, ven jon ducts ete, not fMues. they want isn’t permitted by the Building Regulations Derails of exactly what aspects of the desien the future you havent seen them al. Remember, most models in our range can be adapted to run either from the mains, from to order, incorporating company namestyles a battery, or as part of the ECS Quartz master clock system. Which at the same time means saying goodbye to any power source restrictions that may hitherto have been hindering your ideas about installation. and symbols. And so the listgoes on. You'll find al the details listed in our many specification sheets on the subject. Send to the address below. ECS Wall Clocks. They’re al time greats. ECS ENGLISH CLOCK SYSTEMS Industime House, Chase Road, Park Royal, London NW/10 6QI Telephone: 01-965 9011 Also at Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester and Gliggow For instant information tick on reader inquiry card UI |The weklynewspaperforthebuildingteam_ Pia a Why people prefer to buy new homes TTT by FEBRUARY 6, 1976 Metric madness “THE imposition of the metric system upon usby doctrinaire dictators, completely out of touch with people, is a dis- ceful, insensitive act” — trick O'Keefe launches a full-scale attack on metrica- tion. Page 12. [faaeseea Crisis City EIGHTEEN leading archi- tects have examined the spects for the furure ofDublin and their views are brought together under the title, Dub- lin: a City in Crisis Neil Steedman looks at the results. Page 10 — 1. Systems guide BD pull-out product code chart on housing systems — sce page England's Ist limited competition winner THE design (above) for a new HQ for the Avon division of the Severn-Trent Water Authority is the winner in the first limited regional design competition held in England. HN Jepson & Partners of Nuneaton was the winning ractice out of six local firms invited to submit designs. Sponsored by the Water Authority and organised by the RIBA’s West Midlands Region, the competition took six weeks from briefing to as- sessment. Freeson also revealed in*his (Gon, Melton). Ereeson, said @ Qurmide commissiforntshe By Paul Finch there were now 679 staff in th PSA increased by 30 per cent answer that a “comprehensive Directorate, 44 of whom were in the period January to Sep- A PACE-SETTING review” of the Directorate architects. There were 490 ar- tember 1975, compared with A ‘Architect's office aims at better standards PSA GETS NEW DESIGN TEA “designoffice”with- General’s responsibility for technical development work chitectsinthePSAasawhole. thesameperiodin1974. The new London City Mis- sion, rising from the ashes of the 18th century church of St John Horsleydown, in the Property Ser- vices Agency has been created as part ture work is “closely concen- are called architects and not This was to ensure that fu- Ayon division managing of moves to improve trated on clearly identifiable P&TOs. This was one of the director Alan Harker said the design standards. needs.” Better machinery has competition, which has a prize been set up for giving guidance of the commission for the Thecreationoftheoffice on Cas issued within the project, “brought out a was'"a recommendation agency, he said, and the PSA fices should not be used except could contribute to im- pofenent io ofthe Index : tremendous range of solu- from Environment Secre- Board was now considering tions.” He described the win- tary Anthony Crosland in how to “provide for evaluation ning design as “deceptively response to the Matthew/ and monitoring of design mat- simple” and fitting well on the Skillington report on ters at top management level” site. promotion of high stan- more effectively. More detailed designs Freeson said although it was as integral of design teams, and that partial com- missions should be stopped — have been half-implemented. public awareness of issues Inquiry Service 16, Dateline Freeson said action was be- ing taken to ensure close inte- should be ready within four dards of Government ar- too early to assess the work of gration of the work of drawing affecting the quality of the 17, Appointments 18 — 19. built environment.” ai cege. Today,morethaneverbefore, Wilton Works, Shepperton Rd. you lok forefficiency and unbeatable London N1 3DG. Tel: 01-226 6455. months, work should start by chitectural design. the Directorate, “I am sure that offices and design teams, but it Set up under thecontrol of the measures being taken will had proved impossible to September this year and the the Director General of Design help to foster* professional abandon partial commissions. Services, architect Dan Lacey, morale and stimulate the “Bur when work isput out to headquarters should be oc- cupied, by 300 staff currently scattered throughout the divi- the multi-disciplinary team is quality of design work in the consultants, the achievement sion, within two years. West Midlands region agency.” Replying to further ques- tions from Michael Latham Anthony Crosland last March, he said it would be a “pace- setter” in the PSA, and that its work would provide apractical basis for guidance and advice ONLY 1 per cent of those to the agency’s general design work. Ina Parliamentary reply this chairman Alan Robinson said he hoped this would be the first of many such limited competitions in England. from within the PSA. When the idea of the design designed to produce quick re- office was put forward by Pioncered in Scotland, they are sults, and to give the promoter a direct say in choosing the winner. Repair row: who choose to buy a brand new house do so because itiseasier to get a mortgage, says a mar- and that everyone wanted the council fined week, Housing and Construc- ket research report published largest living area possible. headed by another architect, Geoffrey Woodward. He and the other five senior members of the design office already recruited have all come of good design is always a major consideration in arrang- ing a commission,” he said. The survey found that the overall size of the kitchen was not as important as the layout and other specialist functions has been carried out. @ The DoE’s Environment Board has set up three groups under Sir Hugh ilson, Alfred Wood and Professor which was bombed durin; Peter Hall to “study further the Battle of Britain. Page 7. ways in which the Department tion Minister Reg Freeson said this week. Most indicated that there THE LONDON Borough of the future programme of the could never be too much stor- Lambeth had to pay out more new unit andthe staff needed Nearly 50 per cent of those age space in a house; 80 per Potter Rax Limited, Dept than £200 this week and was orderedtorepairacouncil out. because they are cheaper. Other important reasons for choosing new over old, the report says, are suitability and specity.That'swhy Raxscoretimeand Birminghars edmorethanthreebedrooms. againwithsizeablecontractsfor BraatnBascinghstokee(s4580). Carcitf house after pleading guilty in a case brought by one of its ten- ants. Nearly fifty per cent regarded central heating as essential in their first home. Ninety per centthoughtthatagaragewas andtodeliveronschedulemakes He said new titles for professional staff are being considered so that architects Matthew/Skillington recom- mendations, Others — thatdrawing of- for it are now being worked who buy new houses do so cent of those questioned want- value formoney ineverything you Telex 264354 Existing resources will be redeployed to create whatever is decided. Apart from Wood- folding shutter doors and collapsible gatesinmajorpublicworks. Our capacity to custombuild with great precision to any size, in any ‘quantity — {021-558 2211). Bath (0225-23171). (0222-24771), Manchester (061-205 2018). Glasgow (041-332 0411), Southampton Cork (04-893 2284), Belfast (0232-669552), (52358), Dubin (62139) Agentsthrowghouttheworks. design, lack of choice of an The verdict followed last ward,theotherfivemembers olderhousewithintheirprice of the design office comprise two architects, a qs, civil en- gineer and M&E engineer. essential or desirable. The report, by Research weck’s High Court decision that local authorities which al- lowed their properties to fal into such disrepair as to become a statutory nuisance may be charged with acriminal offenceandfinedupto£200. agency’swork,”butwillbe edtobuyamucholderhouse, ofEngland.Itisavailablefor resistantdoor—allmade-to-measure The design office is intend- ed to undertake “a significant representative sample of the “Many respondents did not like the design of houses built in the immediate post-war period. They ultimately want- Consult usfor folding sliding shutter doors, roller shutters and grilles, range and ease of maintenance orrepairs. Associates, was based on 12 group discussions with 100 irst-time new house buyers in the North Midlands and South us highly competitive in today's conditions. The comprehensive nature ofourexpertiseisalsoatellingfactor Lambethhadtopayafineof concentrating initiallyonde- butuntilthiswasfinancially £85 from The Radfords, foryouropenings. £50, £105 compensation for signing the PSA’s new possible they preferred the de- Stone, Staffordshire, ST15 damage to clothes caused by headquarters, which will be sign of new houses,” says the 8DJ. Telephone Stone (078 the collapse of a ceiling and built in Teesside under the 583) 3164/5. £66 costs, dispersal programme. report. ® on reader inquiry form uilt environment, both for green field development and in Sean existing built-up areas; and to consider the scope for greater Week 9, v collapsible gates and altypes offire- y iv Perpecu e e7, r io 9, Week by lucts 14, Reader e 7, I Int n ter- For doors that match ernne ‘Some of the Rax sliding folding shutter doors supplied for the Main Transport Workshop, Creekside, Deptford for the London Borough of Lewisham. Contractors Ws: Simms Sons & Cooke (Southern) Ltd. Borough Surveyor:J. W. Turner. 8Bee ae out by Dr lain Clark of St Luke's Hospital at Guildford. The full report is expected to be criminating against certain a this summer by periods ofarchitecture — Dr Clark began his particularly Victorian — in its Grade 1 list of historic buildings. According to investigations carried out on behalf of SAVE, i The new London head office of NAM address change THE address of the New Architecture Movement has changed to 9 Poland Street, London, W1. Membership is£5 for working members and £2 for unemployed and students, not £1 as stated in BD last week. Dramatic talk y Vic Tapner country houses listed as Grade 1 are Victorian. also notably absent. Other about £5 million and building work | The application has come tertainment facilities are en- started in August 1975. Completio: from architects Gray Associates visaged. inbalancesinthesystemwouldIsexpectedincarly1978.eeeofWindsor,actingfortheirSofaronlyanoutlineplandancyif.cutbackmeasures come to light when his own lists Client: Banque Nationale de Paris, clients Craftroad Ltd which was has been _ Submitted and being considered by the council were complete, he said. Architect: Fitzroy Robinson and | set up several years ago to Southend District Council has are implemented. Most of the “Though the Victorian period saw the building of more palatial and prodigious country houses than any previous period, officialdom has been slow, indeed grudging in theatres and railways.” appreciating their worth,” says SAVE. The criticism accompanies Make the most the release of the initial fin- dings of a three-year research said, the listing system was too Dr Iain Clark. programme into Grade 1 ised) upgraded Mentmeoreitealf fram buildings in England carried Grade 2 to Grade 1.” jayman's study “basically SOUTHEND councillors were The project would en- Theatre” on March 30 at the William Street, London which was yesterday considering a compass a total area of 200 ha. Kingston Branch of the RIBA. THE trend to community wagon which is inevitably architecture is continuing with attracting many architects in the establishment of a new search of work.” organisation called “‘Support’’. set up hard on the heels of the work in Support is based on direct relationships with people Architecture Working Group, on the ground. There is a need RIBA’s Community consists of people with ar- to redefine ways of working.” Hinsley added that there was who want to work outside no formal membership, but a traditional professional loose organisation working to hitectural and building skills methods Support says its aims are to a structure had _ been promote socially responsible deliberately avoided to retain work and to help the majority flexibility. of people who have no control over the built environment they office in The Clerkenwell live in. Although it is London- Workshops, 27 Clerkenwell based it intends to work with Close, London EC1. community organisations helping deprived social groups in all parts of the country. Demolition error Where particular projects need specialist advice Support THE Environment Secretary, will contact an expert to help. Peter Shore, has admitted he In the long term Support wants made a mistake in authorising to establish new skills like demolition of a building in support each other. Too formal King’s Lynn which contained Unlike many other “‘com- Norman arches hidden behind participatory design. munity architecture” groups Support will be involved directly with those it is working for. In its first newsletter re- discovered after demolition had leased this week Support says: started. King’s Lynn Preser- “Community architecture is vation Trust disputed this rapidly becoming a fashionable earlier this week. A spokesman expression. It is used by groups told BD a letter containing as disparate as ARC and the photographic evidence had All this and more from the world’s largest manufacturer of decorative products. Make the most of us—ring Freefone 6067 for literature and further information. Support is establishing an the facade. Shore told the Commons last Make the most of Crown’s vast product range nts Specifier— invaluable for tricky specification week their existence was only Banque Nationale de ParisTieiiol Britain's largest marina planned SIR Denys Lasdun is to give a was “topped out” last week. The illustrated talk on “Architec- new building is on the site of the bank’s old headquarters inKing tural aspects of the National through curiosity” and an demolished in February 1975 and planning application fora huge Two harbour walls would be interestintheownershipofproviadgerossareaof7800sqm.commercial/housingbuilt—onealongsidethe historic buildings. He told BD Expanded foreign exchange development on 90 ha of remains of Southend’s fire- that Victorian buildings were capacity, improved staff accommo. reclaimed land off the seafront, ruined pier — to enclose the not the only ones to be dation and catering facilities are The mecting begins at 7.30pm in the Main Lecture Theatre, Kingston Polytechnic, Penrhyn Road, Kingston. Council cuts mere” 1 of the 780 overlooked in the Grade 1 list. Included in the new development, combined with what would be reclaimed land and water area. Non-conformist chapels were The original contract was worth Britain's largest marina. Housing, shops and en- More than 100 workers in Barnsley Council's building department could face redun: On the question of Victorian Partners. Main contractor: Sir pursue the possibility of marina Set up a special sub committee workers are involved with major buildings, he said: ‘I don’t Robert McAlpine. think there is any other category in the list which has as few as 11, expect perhaps In total he has looked at 38000 Grade 1“‘items’’, which often include groups of buildings. At the moment, he development in the area. to consider it. capital projects. random and he hoped that his report would give a clearer overall picture tothe committees who drew up the lists. In reply to the claim of discrimination against the Victorian period, the DoE has told SAVE: “It is quite untrue to say that there is any prejudice among Ministers or in the DoE against Victorian buildings... we_ recently Hugo Hinsley, one of the The group, which has been organisers, told BD: ‘Most RIBA.Itisimportantthatour beensenttotheDoEbeforethe problems.ManathemostoftheCrown crown work and ideas can be building came down, but no Crown Decorative Products Ltd., PO. Box 37, Darwen, Lancs. BB3 0BG distinguished from this band- action was taken. scheming on major projects and specialist technical advice on any decorative problem, Building Design, London SE18, Every Friday. Copyright 1977 Morgan: Grampian (Construction Press) Lid. 7, For instant information tick on reader inquiry card Printed by Huthweite Printing Co. Lid, Sutton-in-Ashfield Nottinghamshire. Registereads a newspaper at the Post Utnce. YP est by Are Fimseting, London EC1. works with you NEWS IN BRIEF Apprentice decline THE number of apprentices entering the construction industry through the National Joint Council scheme fell from 13093 in 1975 to 11336 in 1976, accordin t NEBTE. g to the Victorian period discriminated against by DoE THE DoE was criticised this week by the conservation organisation SAVE for dis- Ii Community design group established jobs. Make the_special paints for special colour range-ineat of the B.S. 4800 Crown Eggshell aswell as Gloss and Matt Emulsion. Make the ureau-free colour most of the Crown Pai Decorative Advisory B If you wish to communicate urgent news, contact Vic Tapner on BD Newsdesk 01-855 7777 Construction professions needrevamp — Labour NEC A NUMBER of radica atic indemnity scheme AdministeremA by the institutes and reforms in the construction the insurance industry.” Each professions and a move Ace ce would be insured against towards greater standard- liability for defectsin larger projects isation in design have been nd would require a special bond called for by the Labour for “more ambitious” schemes. A firm could be promoted to a higher Party National Executive experience level only after it had A GROUP of prominent architects, artists and writers occupied these near derelict early 18th century houses in Elder Street, Spitalfields, East London last week in an llth hour bid to stop further demolition and protect five other house in the row to negotiate with the prospective owners of the site, the Newlon Housing Association, about saving the houses when they redevelop on and around the plot. This should protect the rest of the street, which could also fall into disrepair and need eventual demolition. Committee completed several bonded schemes The proposals, which also Aesthetic quality should be improved by holding more design include a blunt demand for competitions public ownership of the con To improve cost control, quantity Struction industry, will be put surveyors “who at present do little before the 1977 Annual Labour more than translate design draw Party Conference in Brighton ings into qua antitics of materials” next month The document makes the following five major recom mendations for changes in the professions Professional education should be abody representingt of the industry a possibly the Construction Industry Training board. The currentsyste narrow, giving inadequ onboth to production m technical independent of the The document also reiterates the Labour Party demand for a Public Procurement Agency to co-ordinate the letting of public sector contracts. There should also be more use made of continuity and serial contracts The document adds: “Both systems require substantial similarity between successive projects, and therefore create a need for greater standardisation in design. this need not mean uniformity the use of standard building plans, simple construction details and a restricted range of fixtures, fittings and components can allow standardisation in production without uniformity in appearance.” The NEC advances a three point plan for public ownership of the industry which is needed socially, to improve working conditions and practices and to critical path d to the wide: 7 social context of professional we Co-ordination of projects should be improved by setting up Regulatory Board for Contracts Procedures and [ which would lay n rd forms of contract and resolve contractual disputes Contact Dennis Punter for Purpose Built's approach to housing today. Licensing arrangements and overseas enquiries welcomed Purpose Built Ltd., treatment and modular fabrication give Burnt Tree House, PURPOSE BUILT Technical competence should be more firmly controlled by creating Comments to the proposals: The National Federation of Building Trades Employers said; “They amount to economic and industrial idiocy as far as the con- struction industry is con cerned. They are likely to ensure its continuing decline rather than aid its recovery.” Purpose Built homes. Timber frame housing in a wide range of designs and styles with critical path construction thinking behind them. The National Council of “municipal enterprises” and would be assisted by a new said it did not want to central agency to pool Building Material Producers comment until its members had been consulted, but according to its director Richard Hermon, it could sce no reason for inter fering with the present oration to be established based structure” initially on the acquisition of one or more major contractors The RIBA said it had Thirdly, it suggests that workers’ co-operatives should educational recommend be set up, backed by Par “prave reservations over the ations”. But other parts of liamentary legislation and a the report which aimed at revitalisir heindustry were encouraging and showed that construction’s vulner ability was at long last beginning to sink in with the politicians Co-operative Development Agency On the building materials Side, it recommends a pro: gramme of selective public ownership under a new state holding company, a Building Materials Corporation experience and co-ordinate documentation and methods of working Second the NEC wants a National Construction Corp Architects in bid to save houses began ripping off the roofs, but were The owners of the houses, British Land, want to clear the site to make way for a not shored up an adjoining building housing scheme. The buildings are This temporary halt gave the Spitalfields listed and the street is part of an Historic Buildings Trust, which includes weavers’ homes outstanding conservation area, but the* Mark Girouard, Colin Amery and Dan TheSpitalfields Trust Squatters, looking GLC has given the go-ahead for clearance Cruikshank, cnough time to organise a tired and uncomfortable after a week because the homes are considered unsafe squat and a 24-hour guard. The Trust sleeping on floors, expected an eviction Last week British Land's demolition men hopes this move will give it breathing space order later in the week Purpose Built. Homes that have Factory assembly, timber pre- ‘challengethesubstantial Coe monopoly power” exerted by the big contractors It calls first for an expansion of direct labour departments which could be run as a uniform standard of reliability that ensures quick economic site construction. Insulation values are higher than the statutory requirements, a variety of elevation treatments are possible and stepping and staggering on sloping sites Is.easily achieved. A complete Development and Manufacturer service Is offered, for the private or public sector. Four thousand families have already opted for a Purpose Built home. Burnt Tree, Tipton, West Midlands. DY4 7UE. Telephone: 021-557-6232. Telex: 336842 MLLARD G stopped on a technicality because they had BUILDING DESIGN, September 9, 1977 3 For instant information tick on reader inquiry The houses were built in 1725 and are the last surviving examples of local 4 BUILDING DESIGN, September9, 1977 To celet y of the of the reassertion of the private set up a viable project. “The YAn architectural training in WANCHESTE® MCW TOWN HALL Somer expensive. That's probably because the any.Or never looked beyond the basic pr ce. Built-in Savings 1911 and came to Britain in are in need, the poverty True, the c way be alittlehigher tha window frames Butthen, alu »,farfrom beingex windows actualy cos actually save Quality As my Window ve, in real terms alumaniurr and, in the long run, they come ready glazed and they don'tneed to ey have two material fthe Alummnium Window Association are manufactured to BS 4873 and come costs built into their price the qualitya surance of the Kitemark symbc rSpecifier Wallchart tells y allyouneedto know which had been set up the But Schumacher believed previous year by a group of that his message of austerity ethat aluminiurr 1937 and trained as an econo- Stricken multitude who lack mist, studying at New College any real basis of existence Oxford and Columbia Uni- who have neither ‘the best’ versity New York. From 1950. nor the “second best’, but go 1970 he was Economic Ad- short of even the most visor to the National Coal essential means of subsist Board and its Director of ence.” Statistics from 1963 to 1970, In recent years planners in In 1966 he became chairman the developing countries have of the Intermediate Tech increasingly accepted his nology Development Group message \,eaHeptertcsy =)2 re A PREDICTION that far- proposals although its author, rather than the council's, only reaching proposals for Charles McKean, secretary of the private architect can help changes in practice will be the group, prefers to phrase out impartially,” he told BD demanded in next year’s them as “questions” rather Rod Hackney proposes sever- report of the RIBA Com- than demands until the CAWG al ways in which private prac- munityArchitectureWork-reportcomesoutinJanuary. ticescouldbeencouragedto ingGrouphasbeenmadeby Hackneyseesthelocalauth- workforcommunitygroups its deputy chairman, Rod ority as the chief villain both to JThe creation of an archi- Hackney. existinginstitutionsandtecturalaidfund,subsidisedby cooreSLttt ayAnan ¥y Withh,Sah}ra SPUTUM } | ity Art G; He suggests that the report could demand an end to local authority interference with community group projects and community groups aspiring to By Michael Foster the RIBA and central govern- ment to pay practices working for clients with few financial resources about alurr help yout rs. Ask for yourcopy today...it 26 Store Street, London WC1E 7EL Tel: 01-637 3578 Aluminium Window Association, engineers, economists and and technological gentleness scientists to provide practical was also applicable in the advice on self-help techniques developed countries. On a for developing countries News architect's position as sole suit local authority sitting in its In 1867. His} #blce counsellor for the work. Ivory tower does not give a hat and coat A letter circulated today to damn,” he said the schools grounded in prac- tical building methods and sympathetic to the simple refurbishment needs of practices Hackney claims that political “ugly, squat and heavy”. The | interested in community action considerations must interfere community groups. BH! Maintenance Free What'gqnare, aluminium window frame rust, warp orpeel and they're virtually maintenance free RIAS plans group to boost construction SCOTTISH Nationalist Party doldrums and so much of the spokesman on housing Andrew physical environment needs Welsh has welcomed the idea of Improvement. The idea sounds forming an all-party body to most welcome and I shall be press for greater priority to the getting in touch with the RIAS Scottish construction industry, to find out more.” an Initiative being mooted by the Royal Incorporation or The Incorporation’s with a local authority architect secks 4 mandate for such called in to help out in a CJAn increase in fees for the architect at the expense of the builder, at liberty to raise his tender price at will rather than being confined by a restrictive code Extensive RIBA campaigns on the media to bring the services of the architects to the notice of the community at large rrot, community group. Enforce ment orders could be put on properties to improve them which a community might not be able to carry out itself or did not want in the first place. “Unless local authority architect departments are broken into sections account- able to professional opinion Architects in Scotland (News, membership is currently being September 2) Welsh told BD this week proposal, which would be “Something like this is badly linked with a £100 000 advert- needed in Scotland in that the ising campaign to get more industry is so much in the work for Scottish architects OBITUARY Dr Ernst Schumacher ALTHOUGH his name will progress along the same path always be linked with that of, as doomed to failure. Instead intermediate technology, he proposed an intermediate Ernst (Fritz) Schumacher was technology based upon simple not a technologist. He was a devices, low capital invest- moralist and propagandist. ment and the use of indig- His death at the age of 66 enous skills and material. _ occurred in Switzerland where Some accused him of he had been addressing the proposing a “second best” Industrial Week of Moral technology for the poor which Rearmament; for him per- sonal morality and the bus- iness of living were not separable He was born in Germany in would confirm them in their poverty rather than enable them to emerge from it. But these he answered eloquently “This is the voice of those who recent tour of the US His book, Smallis Beautiful Schumacher had no less than | published in 1973, is strongly 160 speaking engagements in moralistic im tone. Schu Six weeks and was received by macher was deeply uneasy President Carter. His last about the selfishness and book, Guide to the Perple. vd materialism of the consumer is due to be published shortly society and saw the attempts of the developing countries to Gerry Foley consulted on attitudes to the Community report may demand big changes the 100th y allery is mounting an exhibition of drawings by Alfred Waterhouse, architect for the town hall. Wai jlerhouse, a chief exponent of the Victorian Gothic style in large secular build won the | working drawings of the town hall on show range from plans and elevations to details as minute as a stand. Visitors to the exhibition will see how Waterhouse modifled his design in response to public criticism. The} original clock tower, for example, was remodelled after complaints that It was too exhibition, at Manchester Clty Art Gallery, Mosley Street, Is open from September 13 to October 23. more than 30 “ITnever use aluminium windows. in methods of practice They cost too much.” Forinstant information tick [4 | on reader inquiry card Table It Number of Less than 3 months 3 but less than 6 months 6 but less than 12 months 12 months ormore *See footnote to Table | have at feast 12 months work to ploy = AJ SURVEY (per cent) 2c x =23 a~i Sms | tie Oma Speers =<<sS=S Poe Fe ote bing et e eS Ss Spee Lore wht rserkdeip Tt e = = g 2S g = : s So SUA Te ores et a. The Architects’ Journal 8 June 1977 AJ SURVEY (per cent) RIBA INDAL Detailed results Howmuchandforhowlong? s 2 2 Sil Sere serene 2 s/s= 4S ei Spins moma ered|Iemecy Salsas Here Ga 3ioEeypeieseie)i|Sneuilisaiees Sis eS eeercpapes| ears cans SERS RNR Sa ea ea Alreadyunemployed Lessthan3months 1211184116O4/32o|813 SbutlessthanGmonths 13 14 18 3 12 13 25 4/33 3/16 23 3 Sbutlessthan12months 23 22 27 16 16 28 13 0/26 21 29 37 17 12months ormore 49 50 33 76 70 35 63 90] 9 76145 27 73 * Totals will not necessarily add up to exactly 100 por cent due to rounding up of figures. The AIBA chairmen's survey is of practices and not individuals. OnStOr2 eSeeSeOS|ee|ee 90 ——— 80-; 70 — 60 — archts archts in archts archt! 8 a ase 3 Jar Oeae O a 9 19 134 «#413 Sh y22 195 69 91 1 10 21 21 60 62 14 28 47 83 83 58 archtl pa plans techs re on! p la govt inpp inia a all resps 1© ® ©86©© Key to tables and graph Columns from left so right (nos 1-8) 1 All respondents 2 All architects 3 Architects in private practice 4 Architects in local authorities 5 Architects in government departments 6 Technicians in private practice 7 Technicians in local suthorities 8 Planners in local authorities tects on the ARCUK register. archts in in techs anticipate continued employment beyond the next 12months Regional variations Architects in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (and to a lesser degree in the North West) are marginally better off than the rest of the UK, and those in the South West region are considerably worse off. The other regions conform within a few percentage points to the national averages shown in the tables, although the northern region appears in our survey to be a bit below. In the South West only 38 per cent of al architects (including both private and public offices) have 12 months work or more, and much less than half think they will be employed by their offices next year. Comparison with INDAL and RIBA INDAL’s results are slightly more gloomy than the AJ’s, but are a reasonable match. The RIBA chairmen’s survey is very much more depressing than either AJ or INDAL, especially for the private sector. Regional comparisons are more difficult, although there is general agreement on the best and the worst. Comparison with RIBA new commissions would suggest that Scotland, the North West and West Midlands should be weathering the recession best. All have a larger percentage of total national new commissions than the percentage of archi- ics FQ e How busy? When al respondents are counted, the split between those who are fully occupied in their present jobs and those who are not, is roughly even. But, when sub-divided according to types of office, nearly 60 per cent of architects and architectural technicians in private offices are doing less than a good day’s THE ROAD TO CATASTROPHE FOR BUILDING Dramatic decline of architects’ anticipated workload confirmed by detailed analysis of AJ survey The results of our Architects’ Employment Survey published there is a dramatic increase in the inflow of new commissions. two weeks ago aroused considerable interest both inside the The most fortunate people to emerge from this survey are profession and in the national and regional press. We have now local authority planners, both in terms of anticipated future beenabletoprocessaltheresultsindetailandcollatethe employmentandinsalary. many written remarks and suggestions. The picture painted now is no less alarming than that depicted in our earlier issue—the future for architects is grim unless Table | Number of months’ work considered to be in the office’ In addition to our own AJ survey, we commissioned Industrial Data Ltd (INDAL) to carry out a random sample (rather than a self selecting sample) survey asking some of the same ques- tions. Their results are given in the description which follows, plus the results of the recent RIBA regional chairmen’s survey, for comparison. Details of the amount of work being carried out in architectural and planning offices are shown in table I, and prospects for |continued employment in table I. The figures for 12 months or more work, and the same period of anticipated employment, are combined in pillargraph 1. The luckiest are planners: the unluckiest are architects in private practice. Taken overall for architects, only half reckon they have work beyond the next year, although a higher percentage hope stil to be employed in their present office in 12 months from now. Even so, one-third |of al architects and over one-half of architects in private Practice do not think their present employer can go on employ- ing them, or that they can continue running their own practice beyond spring of next year—a probable total of well over 7000 architects out of work, in addition to the 1000 or soalready made redundant. This means that 1 in 3 of the 25 000 archi- tectsontheARCUK registerthinkshewillbeoutofhisjobby next year. percentage The editors Editor: Leslic Fairweather RIBA News and features editor: Peter Davey BArch, RIBA Assistant news editors: Dan Cruickshank BA Nick Wates BSc Deyan Sudjic BSc, DipArch Buildings editor: Henry Herzberg AADip, RIBA Technical editor: Maritz Vandenberg BA( Arch) Assistant technical editors: Barrie Evans MSc Jane Taylor BSc(Eng) Patricia Tutt AssocPoly(Arch), RIBA Assistant editor: building economics Helen Heard AADip, RegArch, MSc(Econ) Production/art editor: Tim Cottrell Assistant production/art editor: Colin Jenkins Sub editors: Carol Hemsley BA Patrick Tierney BA Drawings editor: Louis Dezart Photographer: Bill Toomey Librarian: Dorothy Pontin ALA Editorial secretary: Carla Dobson BA Editorial administrator: Gillian Collymore Editorial director: D. A. C. A. Boyne HonFRIBA Advertisement manager: Roger Bell London and home counties area managers: Phillip Capstick Peter B. Hadley Malcolm Hamilton Barry Lait Midlands manager: Ronald Baker Northern counties and Scotland manager: Elwyn Jones Advertisement production manager: W. Evans Advertisement administrator: Brian Storey Advertisement director: F. G. Dunn ONE VOICE: ONE MESSAGE—DISASTER Everyone in the industry must hope that the delegation, led by Eric Lyons, which is to meet the Prime Minister on the 16th, will at last achieve a proper understanding by government of the grave state to which building and construction have been brought. (Our survey, analysed on the next two pages, indicates the degree of despair among architects who are at the mouth of the pipeline which leads ultimately to the men on the sites). In the long run, there will be benefits to the industry as a whole from collaboration in preparing the case to the Prime Minister. One such benefit must be the realisation that we, as an industry, need a common pool of information on which to base our arguments. At present, several bodies collect information about the workings of the industry. For instance, the RIBA produces statistics about the workload of private architects, quarterly. But every four months, the DOE analyses the workload of public architects’ offices. Yet the DOE does not distinguish between public work done in-house, and work put out by public authorities to private architects. Confusion reigns. No one can measure the workload of the whole architectural profession accurately. So no one attempts to estimate the effects of a slump (or boom) in architects’ work on what contractors will be doing one, two or three years later. The fact that we cannot produce detailed and complementary figures makes it easier for those politicians who have no serious wish to understand building’s plight. The RIBA has begun to put the industry’s house in order by starting on a re-examination of its own statistics. If the DOE can’t collect usable public practice figures, the institute must surely ask its members in local authorities and central government, as well as those in private practice, to provide information on work coming in, the value of working drawings going through, and on abortive work. This will put the onus on members to provide the ammunition for future battles. And, after evaluating the overall workload, a small survey should be conducted to discover, in detail, what is happening in the regions, in different types of building, and so on. At the same time, the DOE must do its own survey quarterly to chime in with all the other figures collected by itself and others. This is just one instance of the kind of information that must be found and co-ordinated. Among others are the relationships of architects’ workload to the employment of building workers, contractors’ cash flow to orders for building materials, and subcontractors’ well-being to the intake of certain craft apprentices. Whatever the outcome of the industry’s visit to number 10, all the industry’s interests must surely agree to set up a commonly funded statistics bureau for building. But meanwhile . ..the Prime Minister must be left in no doubt that, though we may not, yet, have precise figures (partly because of government inadequacy), the pipeline is emptying fast. Building is the biggest industry in the country and it will not remain cowed and divided any longer. The Architects’ Journal 8 June 1977 1055 A credit to The Bauhaus lives again—or at least its the party buildings do. According to the excellent Danish magazine Arkitekten, alarge party for ex-Bauhaus students and teachers was held at the end of last year to celebrate the rehabilitation of the Dessau complex, exactly 50 years after the building was first opened. With the thoroughness that only communist countries seem to be able to bring to restoration work, a team led by Hans Berger of the East German institute for the care of monuments has restored the war shattered edifice to its former glory (it was used as a trade school for many years after the war). Great attention was paid to detail: chairs, lamps and even the devices for opening the windows have been lovingly restored. Only in the epoch making curtain wall of the workshop isthere any important alteration: itis now double glazed with vacuum sealed units (how did the students survive behind the single layer of glass designed by Gropius?). Happily, Arkitekten says that the new glazing isnot particularly noticeable. Mirthless mayhem The main hall is now hired out for functions and there isapermanent exhibition on the Bauhaus in the old gallery. But, as yet, no one is quite sure what to do with the rest of the complex. Undeterred by this slight problem, the East Germans are pressing ahead with restoring other Gropius buildings including the Bauhaus staff houses and even the famous circular Dessau labour exchange. Architects al over the world will raise their hats. “Art to me is an expression of my environment. IfIbetray agrisly image then you have only society to blame.’ Sounds, you might think, like an architect explaining away his latest outrage on the landscape, but actually it’s Derek Wain talking, an art student from Leeds, charged with iltreating six budgerigars and 12 white mice as part of an ‘artistic event’. Wain and his co-defendant, Peter Parker, were fined £20 cach by Leeds magistrates because of a ‘work of art’ they staged before an audience of 100. This was to culminate in the massacre of the budgies but, Iam glad to The Architects’ Journal 8June 1977 A breezy lot say, the two were prevented by the audience from killing more than one bird. To the accompaniment of loud music and flashing lights, the tethered budgies were showered with broken glass and shot at with an air pistol. This bizarre tale must have some relevance for architects, if only because it proves that you can’t blame the environment for everything and get away with it. Bunting isperhaps too modest aword to describe the plangent banners of the South Bank which range from ashimmering black and silver chequered flag to a hand painted silk windsock. Three of the projects, vastly Raymond Rankine, left, and Tony Fretton, in front of their black flag (top). The windsock to the right, is Brenda Taylor’s lion. Pedro Jaramillo-Carling’s streaming pennants (above). The finest jubilee bunting in London is to be seen adorning 18 flagpoles outside the Festival Hall. They are the winning schemes of an Arts Council open competition for the design of flags and similar projects. The aim of the competition, which attracted 218 entrants, was to provide an opportunity for professional artists to propose designs which would ‘enliven an urban location’. ge a aentaeearnei ESa aT.mT CESS APLSRECRO eee MR work. In local authorities, the proportion is reversed and 60 per cent think they are fully busy. Planners are yery busy: 83 per cent think they are fully occupied, and only 17 per cent are less so. Of those in al groups who are not working to their full capacity, most think they are utilising about a half to three-quarters of their full potential. Where is the work? The work, such as it is, is overwhelmingly in this country. About 93 per cent is in the UK, around 5 per cent in the Middle East, and the remainder in Europe, Eire, Nigeria, West Indies and, for one lucky practitioner, ‘world wide’. What else can you do? About one-quarter of al architects who returned our question- naire are secking alternative employment; strangely enough nearly 20 per cent of them are secking it in private practice, the hardest hit sector. Otherwise, no definite trend is discernible and, among the choices we gave, the percentage preferences are fairly evenly divided. About one in five architects supplements his present income by taking on other work. The amount can vary between 1 and 60 hours, although how those at the upper end of the scale do their normal job as well is not stated. Much of this extra work is private architectural work—conversions and small exten- sions—but others work as musicians, bar tenders, a hospital cleaner, lecturers and writers, security officer, taxi driver and song writer. How much do your colleagues earn? The worst off are technicians in private practice; the best paid seem to be architects in Northern Ireland, followed by archi- tects in government departments and planners in local authorities. Table III gives the details. Are professional bodies any help? A good two-thirds of architects feel let down by their national orregionalbodies.TheRIBAtakesalotofstick,butNALGO and RIAS also come in for censure. In fact, the RIBA has been taking a more active part than most architects obviously realise—many of the recent initiatives have been either started or actively supported by them. The RIBA has not been as The age of a large proportion of those who replied was between 30 and 39. There was a fair proportion in the decades before of the RIBA is obviously in not making enough of what it and after these ages, with a drastic tailing away in the over ineffective as so many of our respondents think—the failure has been doing. The many pages of computer print out 60 group. Regional response compares very favourably with architects on ... too remote. ..totally ineffective ...backward looking . . the ARCUK register. include: ‘RIBA appears to be above reality ...doing nothing not militant enough and branches too timid ...carries no respect . . . a bosses’ clique which couldn’t care less about salaried architects’. One or two do support the RIBA, but tartly point out that the membership generally has not supported branch meetings and given help and encouragement and formed an effective lobby. What do the surveys show? The AJ survey shows, as we said two weeks ago, that archi- tects—especially those in the private sector—are in desperate straits and that this will mean very severe repercussions throughout the building industry (and therefore the country) as a whole. We predicted about one in three of all architects on the ARCUK register out of work within the year, plus What are we short of? Only about 12 per cent or so are worried by shortages of many thousands of building contractors, sub-contractors and The Architects’ Journal 8 June 1977 1057 | Table II Salary ranges* AJ SURVEY (per cent) s ARCHITECTS IN REGIONS (percent) both labour and materials. The percentages are a bit higher in the north of the country, and Northern Ireland seems to have a considerable problem in obtaining al the building materials it needs—S3 per cent complained of a lack. The crucial shortages are of skilled craftsmen and tradesmen: bricklayers, carpenters and joiners, plasterers, plumbers, elec- tricians.Theconcernisnotonlyaboutthesmallnumbersof Allthefeetaretreadingalongthesameroadtotheruination skilled men around, but about the competence of some who claim to be skilled. Shortages of materials tend to be local— bricks, sanitary fittings, steel, decent timber, doors. of a profession and the wrecking of a crucial industry. It is the purpose of RIBA president Eric Lyons and his delegates to the Prime Minister next week, to make sure that this case isforcibly put and firmly understood. S2 o 3 ‘0 a BWko8s058esSato Piesisycescmipegeecgreg:i peg eeietaiagaees Zeetgcetgetreagwgrtus4ute Lessthanf£a000. 9 5 8 1 0281203 43 410 3 «6 £3100-£4000 |£4100-£5000 }£5100-£6000 16 13) 18 212 37) 23) (0/12 11 9) 9 21 15) 10 262426241425301330203323272423 1922163622 §&2335232224231223 0 3136333752 5125234433242303769 Over £6000 * See footnote to Table | Who answered the questionnaire? We received 1466 completed forms, of which 1450 were processed and analysed—the remainder arrived too late. About 90 per cent’were from architects and architectural assistants; 4 per cent were from planners, some of whom were also architects; the rest were mainly from architectural technicians, landscape architects, teachers, and quantity surveyors. They worked in the following types of office (figures are per- centages): Private practice 59; Local authority 24; Govern- ment department 4; Industry and commerce 5; Nationalised industry 1; Hospital/health authority 2; Others 5. About 70 per cent were salaried and 30 per cent self-employed. In the private sector, 46 per cent were salaried and 56 per cent self-employed. Comparison between response to our survey and the ARCUK register suggests that private practice is slightly over represented, but as we have more subscribers in the private sector this would be expected. The work done was overwhelmingly housing, with a fair sprinkling of schools, hospitals and commercial and industrial. materials suppliers out of business. The INDAL survey supports our own findings and is, if anything, more gloomy. The RIBA chairmen’s survey is very much more depressing even than the other two, especially for architects in the private sector, and makes it quite clear that AJ and INDAL are not scare-mongering. Theweekly newspape rfor the building team New note from RIBA on abortive work costs A NEW practice note has been issued by the RIBA in an attempt to reduce friction between housing associations and architects who have diffi- culty getting payment on aborted schemes. The note says there is no difference between housing associations and any other client. Architects should make Sure, before carrying out any work either that there is a written agreement or that the scheme has received DoE cy council approval in the shape of @ grant Shoreallays fears of new towns’ cuts NEW towns may not suffer such drastic cutbacks in their future programmes as has been feared following a recent state- ment in the House of Commons by Environment Secretary Peter Shore. “With the exception of Central Lancashire, the for- ward programmes of other new towns are mainly so far advanced that there is little Scope for material changes,” said Shore. He was replying in a written answer to Conservative MP Edward Gardener, following Speculation that the review currently being conducted by the DoE into the new towns’ future may recommend a cut- Shadow Spokesman on the Environment, when they met him for the first time this week. Heseltine of its fears that the Slough Estates report on factory and management. as al helping to speed up the Under the heading “Planning current procedures. control” the panel suggests that Among the architects giving the 1971 Town and Country evidence to the panel were private architect was being Squeezed out by the increasing size of public sector depart- ments. Also discussed in the one- hour meeting was the present general plight of the construc- tion industry, and the ways Government action could help to alleviate it. “We got on with him very well,” said ACA chairman Ray Moxley. ‘He showed an imme- diate grasp of the problems we are facing.” fire precautions on a 400-house when flames from a “flashover"’ REMEDIAL work to upgrade September, Three people died Council house repairs study AN investigation into ways estate at Swindon will cost furniture fire on the ground council tenants can help in hour fire resistant doors, to FOC and GLC regulations, tailored repairing their houses is to be £500000. Forty thousand floor penetrate the plaster- homes throughout the country walled lining and spread carried out by the National to fit any Consumer Council. ; using the same steel-framed rapidly through the wall cavity BISF system could require to the roof. The ventilated opening, delivered on time. Acme, 01-560 2233 ring Similar modification to bring cavity acted as a self-fuelling them up to standard. flue and quickly ignited the The work to Thamesdown roof and the hardboard and Borough Council's Pinehurst fibreboard panelling on the The council's research unit us now! will rt on the tenants’ and councils’ attitudes to the concept. Maintenance costs are currently running at £2-3 per week for cach of the country’s four million council homes. Acme Gate &ShutterCo, Ld. Great West Road, Estate follows extensive investi- first floor. gation after a fatal fire last Thamesdown is now carrying Brentford, Middlesex. For instant information tick { 1 |Z on reader inquiry card Aas cre INSID As theatre companies take to the road Robert Adam looks at the latest innovations in move- able structures. Pages 12-13. Perspective features the Tid- worth Zouch Junior School, Education School Design Award. Page 10. Sutherland Lyall visits Essex self-builders with a difference. Pages 16-17. In Half the city's 120000 houses need repair and there 24, News in Focus 6, Letters are 13 000 on the waiting list. 8-9, Perspective 10, Scorpio 11, About 10 000 houses have been Week by Week 11, New put out of use — often due to fproducts 19, Reader inquiry @ “Today and Tommorow’ An aerial view of Milton Keynes City Centre wing latest progress. On the left the Lioyds Court office back of their expansion. The is the title of this year’s RIBA building which was officially opened this week. The first two sta; of the Shopping areca( ht) are scheduled review is expected to be pub- Conference. The Conference for completion by Su Committee last week issued a | The half-mile-long bi Statement giving more details of the subjects to be covered “Many influences are calling into question not only the traditional nature of profes- sionalism and the changing nature of patronage, but also the traditional roles and relationships within the profession,” Says the statement. “Clues to the future can often be found in what is happening today — and it is timely now to try and predict some of the future areas of change and how architects might respond.” Speakers for the conference, at RIBA HQ October 19-22, have not yet been chosen. 1978, with the third stage, amassive ‘ohn Lewis store, completed byAutumn 1979. lished in the next few weeks. a study day last November will be the largest covered shopping area in Britain providing almost 101000 @ A five-year plan has been dto combat the trend of dereliction in inner Belfast. Spending could mun to £130 Sw v ig new pr Heseltine and started to look into the lished this week. ACA hititoff The proposals — from an Regulations with a view to simplification was the main proposal under the “Govern- ment lations” category. The “Design” heading covered MEMBERS of the Association organised by estate agents of Consultant Architects struck Hillier Parker — also in- tutes and MPs and the panel is the building contract, drawings up “an instant rapport’ with clude a revision of the confident there will be consi- and standardisation already Michael Heseltine, the new Standard form of building derable Government follow up mentioned. contract. to their recommendations. Under “management” the The conclusions are listed panel was less specific, but The investigating panel was under four brand categories covered better training, an Adelegationofsixtoldsetuptolookatdevelopmentcoveringplanningcontrols,examiofnovaersteasiporacntice delays and costs following the Government regulations, design and clearer client instructions building, which showed that UKperformancwaes among the worst in Europe. The panel — which included Planning Act should be Ps, distinguished fives from the construction industry and property developers — listened to evidence from architects, planners, tradeunions, quantity Surveyors, builders and suppliers. Richard Seifert and Percy Gray. ded to allow licati Seifert said the standard form of for planning consent and for building contract was the “root Industrial Development Certifi- cause of trouble’ and should be cates and Office Development “scrapped”. Permits to take place simul- Percy Gray said much of the tancously. Planning authorities detailed architectural drawing shouldproduceanexplanatorydoneinthepaysaeeswas leaflet with advice on the best unnecessary. Thecriti factor ROLLER SHUTTERS, FOLDING SHUTTERS, COLLAPSIBLE GATES, GRILLES Four products, made to Acme's standard of perfection for the market you are involved with — and we know that market through years of experience. Solid and durable materials, 2 Copies of their findings haye way to minimise delays and the was the production of final been sent to all Government DoE should establish drawings before site working departments, professional insti- procedure for dealing quickly started, he said, Engineering consultants: Felix J Samucly. especially on factory buildings. for cutting development A major inquiry should be and bricked up. service 20, Dateline 21, Appointments 22-23. costs and delays recommended in a report pub- effectiveness of the Building investigating panel set up at | By Ted Stevens million, A steering group under the direction of Ray Carter, the Under Secretary for Northern Ireland, has been setup to take control of the drive. Repre- sented are the district council, the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, the regional DoE -and other private and public agencies involved in housing. the violence of recent years — COMMENT 2, News 3-5 and DING SIGN _FRIDAY FEBRUARY 18, 1977 No. 335 5q m of lettable space. Contractors: John Laing Construction. Report calls for planning changes a ‘SPEED UP DESIGN’ PLEA APLEA to architects to try and cut down on the with planning appeals — quantity of their drawings is one of several Swindon faults—a_ nationwide bill? out a two-year modification Programme that involves mineral wool with fire-proofing qualities being injected into the cavity and plasterboard being fitted to all first-floor walls and ceilings. The total cost for each unit will be about £1 200 The council has been in contact with the DoE but as yet ho modification note has been distributed to other [ocal authorities. TENANT CONTROL The unjust treatment of council tenants is at the heart of this country’s housing problem, says Tom Woolley. He argues here that public housing work is organised in such a way that it has little more social benefit than speculative office building and that architects should be made more accountable to building users, whoSmust organise control of their estates. Woolley works for the Glasgow Corporation Tialea : ", Twant to look at housing problems more from the tenant’s pointof view than from the benevolent administrator’s. While a great deal has been said onbehaoflfthehomeless,thecauseofthecouncil thancounciltenants. tenant has never really been fashionable. This is perhaps becauseof the underlying assumption that once someone gets a council house, his problems are solved and he can be forgotten about: ifhe complains, he is thought to be somehow ungrateful. Yet the problemsof council tenants are at the centre of the housing problem, and itisimportant to understand their grievances both about design and about their generally oppressed status. Housing managers are the intermediaries between the architect and the real client: the building user isthe anonymous client. The architect isbriefed, not by the people who will use the building, but by those who organise its financing — the public authority. The architect is accountable only to a ‘false’ or intermediate client, not to the real client or the user. Council tenants therefore have little control over the kind of house they will live in. But those architects who have a social conscience can do little to break down the artificial barriers that have grown between them and their ‘real’ clients. Even where attempts are made, the economic constraints strictly limit the alternatives that can be offered. Where public participation isoffered, itisstil barely more than a paternalistic gesture, which means little to people whose lives are severely limited and constrained in every other respect by economic and bureaucratic forces outside their control. Genuine participation means people having control over al the factors affecting their lives, not just in one or two areas. There is much to be done to improve the relationship between public authorities and tenants, and tenants will have a fight on their hands ifthey are to establish any control over their environment. In my experience, tenants — especially those in the poorer areas — have a tremendous struggle just trying to maintain decent living conditions in substandard housing. Maintenance is poor, rents are continually rising, and completely unjustified stigmas become attached to many council housing schemes, which permeate through to officialdom and influence its attitude toward the tenants. For many tenants, it is a continual fight to retain self respect. Even in *better’ and ‘showpicce’ schemes, To many architects, this does not represent a dilemma. They quite happily tailor their designs to meet the needs of the present power structure and current ideologies, without considering whether the designs will suit the tenants. For example, Irecently heard an architect, showing slides of an award winning scheme in London, say that he had adapted the design in its final phase to give more individual identity to each house,sothatwhentenantsareforcedtobuytheir tenantshavemanyjustifiedgrievancesbecauseof houses (as a result of the Housing Finance Act and so called ‘fair rents’) they will more easily be able to identify what they ‘own’. Apart from uncritically accepting one of the most devastating inflexible and second class treatment. In response, tenants’ associations have been formed, often because of rent increases, but also in an effort to resist the way in which they are treated by +Douwity2!‘ ae ,me Renr We 574k Act oy - attacks on the living standards of working people, this architect was implyiing that owner occupiers were entitled to more attention and individuality RIBAJ January 1974 c= mM LO! Lill Tom Woolley | | | | | ' ' | . about architec tural and environmental issues, but it is an uphill battle getting anyone to listen. The unjust and oppressive treatment of tenants can be illustrated by the following case. I used to live in an area in Glasgow’s East End which traditionally had a ‘bad name’, and where the local tenants’ association was quite strong and active. At weekly meetings, mainly attended by women, issues from education to planning were discussed, with regular repairs and complaints sessions, and bingo parties were held to raise money. Sometime in 1972, the housing management department tried to evict the vice chairman of the association, Mrs Johnston. The local supervisor claimed that Mrs Johnston’s dog had peed on the common Staircase, and that was the reason given for the eviction. It was a clear caseofvictimisation, but ittook several months of pressure before the housing management department withdrew itsthreats. It is wrong to suggest, as some ‘officials’ have done, that itisneighbours and not housing managers who want people evicted for such “Where public participation is offered, it is still barely more than a paternalistic gesture, which means little to people whose lives are severely limited and constrained in every other respect by economic and bureaucratic forces outside their control. Genuine participation means people having control over all the factors affecting their lives’ ‘offences’. Every day, tenants throughout Britain are harassed by petty officials, and while, in some cases, neighbours may complain, they will always unite to oppose unjust treatment, as they did in Mrs Johnston’s case. Tenants can be evicted ifthey have infringed any oneofthe 17‘conditionsof let’.Most local authorities stipulate many rules for their tenants, ranging from obvious conditions, such as maintenance of the property, to telling them not to putcigarettevendingmachinesontheirwallsorto hangoutwashingonSundays.Thereisnoagreed or recognised pr ocedure of appeal or complaint against housing authorities, and so tenants can England send out hundreds of thousands of similar documents every year, many for rent arrears, but also for trivial ‘offences’ like that alleged against Mrs Johnston. Many authorities keep black lists of what they call ‘anti social tenants’. It is true that there are some people that no one would like as neighbours, but in general the definition of an anti social tenant is based on subjective and unjust decisions which are kept secret, and are often even withheld from councillors. Mrs Johnston was considered to be acting unsocially because she was failing to keep her staircase clean. But in fact, the particular housing scheme in which she lives is dirty, not becauseofthe tenants, but becauseofofficial neglect. The drains are blocked and the buildings are crumbling. Every town has similar council housing estates where the poorer people are dumped. Imean that many local authorities have deliberately let estates run down, and then turned them into ‘problem’ areas. As their stigma grows, only the weakest and most desperate people are prepared to go to such estates. It has taken direct militant action by residents ofclearance areas to expose the local authorities’ classification and gradation of people by ‘type’ — very good, good, medium, fair, poor — which condemns them to certain areas which match their grading. The only way that tenants think they can escape this classification is by bribery (which is not unknown), or by refusing to move until they get an acceptable offer of a house where they want to live. There has been an important growth in community action over such issues in, for example, Hamilton, the Gorbals, and Maryhill. But the process ofallocation stil remains much the same. Sociologist Sean Damer recently carried out a study of one stigmatised area in Glasgow, and found that corporation officials and departments have adopted outrageous and insulting views about many of the residents. (It isn’t uncommon to hear tenants described as ‘animals’.) Tenants are treated in a humiliating way, as a result of being classified according to middle class standards of ‘good behaviour’. The fact is that some tenants can’t meet such standards simply because of straightforward poverty. The attitude had grown up among officials thatitwasn’t worth doinganythingforpeopleinthestigmatisedareas. Repairs are done in an extremely grudging manner. The policy, according to Damer, ‘seems to have been to do as little as is compan lle with keeping the place from actually falling apart. Even those public officials who have a humane understanding of the causes of people’s problems attack only the symptoms: they supervise and harass people in such a way that the blame for thephysicaldecayoftheareaseemstobeputon thetenants.AsBarryCullingworthhaspointed | RIBAJ January 1974 uthority.Manyareveryarticulateandconcerned removal’.LocalauthoritiesinScotlandand be threatened with eviction on an official’s whim. Thelocalauthorityis,ineffect,theprosecutor, jury, judge, and executioner. The result is that the council tenant has no security of tenure. After being threatened verbally andthenwitha letter,MrsJohnstonwassenta pseudolegaldocumentcalleda‘noticeof ut [October RIBAJ, pp 488-91], many local authorities have hundreds of empty houses, even in towns with enormous waiting lists, but people just refuse to go to them. One corporation in west Scotland is trying to remove the stigma attached to one area by dividing it into smaller ‘districts’ with new names, in an effort to ‘foster a sense of community’. The answer to the problem shouldn't, however, be superficial. Providing new place names or even employing more enlightened housing managers are not sufficient (though clearly the latter would be better). Instead, fundamental attitudes to mass housing must change. It is scandalous that council tenants have no rights and can be treated like cattle. Tenancy agreements always state the tenants’ obligations, but those of the landlord are not defined. Meaningful change will have to be toward more tenant control over housing, and there must be devolution, not centralisation, of power. Managers, architects, and others concerned with housing must be directly accountable to the building users. Some improvement is being made, not on the question of rights and control, but in the field of communication. “Participation’ or ‘consultation’ is seen as improving communication between the ‘masses’ and the experts’. While this may give tenants the chance to make their voices heard, it is essentially a diversion. Unless people can control how the money is spent, the impact of their views will remain minimal. Some tenants’ associations fal for ‘participation’ concessions, but there is a growing tension between demands by community groups for more say and a better deal, and attempts by public bodies to develop more sophisticated techniques for dealing with and managing people. Through participation and other communication techniques local authorities are becoming better informed, but they stil have al the power and control. As administrators become more sophisticated and better understand the importance of the social content of housing development, new kinds of professionals — ‘the soft cops’ — are being employed to work closer to the people and provide corporate bodies with a more human face. This would be all right ifpublic bodies directly represented the needsof the ordinary people they control. But state and local authority agencies increasingly reflect the needs and priorities of capitalism and big business. Public housing and rehabilitation policies have grown out of the attempts to redistribute wealth through services to the poorer sectionsof society, but in practice they have also provided the mechanism to boost private power and profits. Problems of finance, land costs, and organisation of labour have been left to market forces, allowing construction firms and property companies to exploit urban renewal, rehabilitation, and public spending. Industry and private property stil receive massive government subsidies, while in public housing there is a move to deny subsidies to tenants altogether. Even at the local level, decisions on projects are too often influenced by a network of graft and corruption which is only now beginning to be revealed. The state manages the people for the benefit of private wealth and capital. It is in this context that the very real economic powerlessness of working class people must be understood. Established housing policies reflect not so much the needsof the people, but the need to provide an adequate supply of labour where big business requires it. The broader needs of the ‘community’ are generally ignored, especially if ‘Industry and private property still receive massive government subsidies, while in public housing there is a move to deny subsidies to tenants altogether. Even at the local level, decisions on projects are too often influenced by a network of graft and corruption. The state manages the people for the benefit of private wealth and capital’ they involve capital expenditure for facilities such as nurseries, meeting places, rooms for voluntary and collective activity, and places for kids and old folk. Housing for the people is the little box and no more. The young professional whose social conscience would have directed him toward local authority | work istherefore faced with atremendous dilemma. Since working on public housing projects often has no more social benefit than working on speculative offices, many architects are now looking for new roles, often through voluntary and independent agencies doing work thatcanbelooselydescribedas‘advocacy’—or ~ they may even refuse to build at all. *Advocacy’ can be seen as a facet of ‘community’ work, and itcontains many dilemmas and contradictions. The detached and independent community worker in a working class area can providea useful resource to powerless people by stimulating local initiative, building up solidarity, and providing the finance, telephone, duplicator, and information. Community workers can also play a manipulative role, focusing the interests of residents on, for example, local authority plans for participation. But the encouragement of independent, critical action inevitably leads to conflict and confrontation as the demands on the authorities become more articulate and persistent. 7 RIBAJ January 1974 ; : party has let them down and that only direct action and ‘illegal’ formsofprotest have any effect, In the past, rent strikes have succeeded in saving thousands of pounds’ worth of rent increases for tenants. Recently, in Kirkby in Lancashire, however, the total rent strike has been used as a weapon, and this tactic will inevitably spread to other areas. The complete withholding of rent raises the question: why pay rent when mostof it goes into the pockets of moneylending organisations as interest repayments ? In fact, many tenants are asking: why pay rent at all? Instead, if tenants controlled their own estates, they could manage them inamore humane way, making regular contributions for repairs and to a citywide pool for building more houses. The more progressive politicians are now recommending that the new community councils could be responsible for local housing management, or that council housing could be handed over to locally run cooperatives. The politicians, however, are not prepared to face the problem of interest rates and housing finance, and tenants’ control will be meaningless unless the crippling interest charges and loan debts are removed. The popular ideaof giving tenantsa financial stake in their estates isreally just a way of conning them into accepting moreof the interest charges. But tenants’ control should not involve subsidising the profits of moneylenders: it should be a militant objective, similar to that of workers’ control at the point of production. Only when there is real tenants’ control can architecture reflect the needs of the people who use the buildings. While we, as architects, may expend agreat dealoftime and energy intrying to provide the best kind of environment for our anonymous clients within present financial limits, our work will be undone by those who finance and control housing. The struggles over these issues must be won before itwill be possible to build homes which are fit for humans. ‘The problem of unjust distribution of power and resources can be solved only when people control their own lives by collectively organising so that they have the power to fight back. The working class has had to do this in industry, and is now having to do it in the community. Working with the community means recognising the need for people to Organise action which is autonomous and politically conscious’ RIBAS January 1974 “ny people in community work projects are oking to young radical architects and planners to work with them, so that community groups can have their own ‘experts’ to help articulate their criticisms and organise counter proposals to the Jocal authorities’ plans. But the expert’s role must be the secondary one of helping the community to work out its own answers: providing expertise is not the complete answer to the people’s problems, Projects like sNAP in Liverpool, which is thought by many to beashining example of how ‘experts’ like architects and planners can work more sensitively with people, may be doing little more than providing the authorities with a more flexible tool for manipulating people. In the SNAP report [reviewed in the RIBAJ last June], urban problems were seen as the result of technical and administrative failures. The control of power and resources, and the distribution of income, were not considered as central issues affecting community problems. The illusion of advocacy is that by making expertise available to poorer and less powerful groups in society, inequalities and injustice can somehow be balanced. It assumes that the technical solutions and expertise of the professionals issomehow objective and ‘nonpolitical’, but in fact the ideas and ideologies of professional education over the years have helped to integrate professional services in the existing power structure. Advocacy, where itsees people’s problems as soluble in terms of administration and technical processes, will tend to reinforce people’s dependence on experts to solve their problems for them. The problem of the unjust distribution of power and resources can be solved only when people control their own lives by collectively organising so that they have the power to fight back. The working class has had to do this in industry, and is now having to do it in the ‘community’. Working with the community, therefore, means recognising the need for people to organise community action which isautonomous and able to generate political consciousness. The solutions to people’s problems will have to be fought for and won: they cannot be handed out by socially conscious experts. Those experts who become involved, therefore, must first and foremost be political agitators. Finally, to return to the problems of council tenants, Iam convinced that the primary issue will become one of rents, around which the community organisations will grow. As housing policy becomes more clearly controlled by the State, so community action will become more militant. The working class has a fragmented tradition of rent strikes, which can be used as an economic weapon against the system. Studies of rent strikes have shown that the majority of people are disillusioned with constitutional means ofgetting things done. They feel that the Labour e overwhelming Brighton confere the party also restoration of alJ public spen- ding cuts for the next two years advisers and, most important the introduction of the Govern with proper procedures nanded the happens to be the next one in of all the British public, of the Delegates at Brighton in addition voted by a huge majority for the expansion of direct labour departments and ing enterprises some pointing a working has “shown aware specified whats wrong with atough, durable wall finish,everywhere else? Awarding these public ui sects would be a far better bet than giving them to these yall Tom, Dick and Harry iding contractors who don't give people a fair deal,” he said ‘The trouble with the building industry is that the natient has been dying slowly vision interview rooms being next door to the air-ducting equipment and gantries having to be erected to accommodate the television cameras because the television companies found the intended positions on the balconies unsuitable The architects had replies ready when questioned by BD. They justifiably pointed out the new headquarters tn south centre is an all purpose build Later we a spray guns. application yet retainsthe pots otherattributes ing, intended just as much for Several delegates were entertainment or sporting London apparently dismayed the events as conferences, and this washed-out, ascetic colouring precluded the normal cosy in the auditorium and by the atmosphere found in con fact that it resembles a large ference halls The decision to switch the nal. According to press room scemed “foolish” si this e it difficult to commented associate, John August. He said the trouble The part of the building over camera positions was designated for press received difficult to understand because the cold shoulder from the the television companies had sports arena more than a be involved in the proceedings party organisers who decided given the balcony positions the instead to use the restaurant for OK during the design stage. Atany rate the architects will attending yeant the clos- get ample opportunity for user ing of the restaurant and no feedback during consultations meals available in the building over the conversion of the Georgian terrace in Walworth the journalists other than snacks Other upsets included the road, London which is to be the rooms chosen tor quict’’ tele- party's new hq Eric Heffer. Opening of 1977 Labour Pa yConference. public ownership at the cost, be a “‘colossally expensive have no doubt, of hundreds of blunder’ said Peter Morley, millions of pounds,” he said president of the National The reasons for this were not that a proper case had been made out for a more efficient E Ueto Biteesennaililll major industry to come into Sensible, moderate is the very worst nationalise,” he Morley, “and construction just Minister, his colleagues and wing of the and cost-conscious industry. but “because socialist dogma said Morley urged the whole the means of production,” said industry to convince “the Prime requires public ownership of all line.” colossally expensive blunder He did however hold open stakentime.Buthereit is.Fresh. Pas For instant information tick | 14] on reader inquiry card Peter Marsh reports from the Labour Party Conference in Brighton was in the right direction, but not nearly enough, he said Other speakers pursuce the same, familiar theme, but it was left to Eric Heffer, MP to supply the emotional appeal. Reminding delegates he was set out by the party's national executive, which included radical measures to reform the professions. (News, Sept 9) The only reference to the yarious institutes came from Norman Mikardo of ASTMS who said they were often “fragmented and insular” But they have much expertise and learning in the technical field and we must take their views into account In plans for the future,” he said All the motions were carried by vast majorities with the few hands raised in disapproval earning boos and mutters from the rest of the delegates anyenvironment you caretoname.We felt there wasn'ta wall in the country that would escape our Labour Party votes to nationalise the construction industry leaving it for the usual econo mics cycles to determine And he reiterated that direct works departments had a powerful role to play if given the status of “municipal build and equipped accounting ‘We've made Portaflek kinder Conference facilities come under fire NFBTE hits out at ‘expensive blunder’ MacphersonThse FreshPaintPeople. hope for the future that any Government attempt- out that Callaghan ing to nationalise, or even part- himself acutely nationalise, the construction the vote losing industry, would be com- capacity of the left’s demands mitting.” Although Portaflek did in fact become the undisputed brand leader itwasmostly ment’s much-postponed Bil “If the Government were to be re-elected with majority the construction industry would be the next LABOUR Party members, who spent time last week criticising design details at the new Brighton Centre, where their annual conference was being held, stumbled upon an embarrassing coincidence. For Russell Diplock Associ- ates, who designed the centre for Brighton Council, are also the architects for the party's Labour's new hq will be in this Georgian terrace in Walworth Road “basically a construction worker” himself, he said the huge numbers of unemployed in the industry was something LABOUR’s plans to nationalise the construction industry would for the nationalisation of the banks opinion in the Labour Party and elsewhere will, |am sure, recognise that construction — by virtue of its very size and diversity — which the party ought to be deeply ashamed Federation of Building Trades Employers last week He said a public procure If the lett Labour Party's Executive Committee has its way, millions upon millions of taxpayers’ and ratepayers money will be sacrificed on the altar of socialist theory,” Morley told NFBTE members in South Wales. industry to National dded a whole range of subtle,beautifulshadesandtexturestosuitevenyourbestfriendsarenotsupeto thing. The problem was one that tell you about. Ours did. Finding the formula which isalmost odour free in THE nationalisation of the construction industry coupled with an immediate Government-led reflationary injection of £1 100m is now official Labour Party policy. Voting in favour of this by an majority at its nce last week ment agency was needed to work out plan programmes of public works instead of and cruelly for a long time. Our statement is the only answer to curing the patient and making him a healthy being,” he said onthe snozzle. The conference also accepted the proposals on construction Hard on the surface. Easy on the eye. And now, atreat to the nose We started with a wall finish that was tough, durable, hygienic, quick to apply and cheap to maintain. expanding their pow Danny ¢ rawford the building workers union UCATT proposing the motion, said construction had too long been “bottom of the list” for Government help The aid, in the form of cash injections in recent months, ‘or use in heavy-traffic areas. So NLL Trade Division, Donald Macpherson & Co Limited, Radcliffe Rd., Bury, Lancs. Drop in delegates attending conference PROVISIONAL _ bookings the high cost of attendance for this year’s RIBA annual £60 plus accommodation and The conference happens to conference indicate a dis- fares. The original cost-cutting clash with the National appointing response with measure of holding the confer Housing ‘77 exhibition and only about 250 delegates ence in London (instead of Town Planning Conference in expected at the final roll- Bournemouth where it was Harrogate, and this 1s expected call, Last year more than originally scheduled) seems to to attract some of the potential 300 turned up and in prev- have backfired. The organisers delegates, said Murray ious years the figures usually haye been charged, internally, forthehireofthehallandthere evened out at about 400 a has been only a small handful year. of architects taking up ofters of ~ Last minute bookings and free or cheap hospitality from day tickets could swel the total London architects but it is unlikely to go over the The organisers have also 300 mark preliminary been unlucky with their main breakdown of the delegates crowd-puller, Peter Jay, who Today and To eheldar RIBA in ¢from October 19-22 Students — eavily subsidised can dl for just £5. displays on show AT LEAST ten different Monique Faye, tapestries from exhibition displays will be on degree students at the Royal show during the conference College of Art, panels on next week, including the first Charles and Ray Eames loaned show of the winners of the by Herman Miller, an Building Design/RIBA Round- exhibition by the Architectural about competition. Press called “Salvage and Other attractions include a Photographs from a collection display of delegates’ own work, taken by Edwin Smith. an exhibition of work by archi- During the conference fects under 35, panels illus- delegates will also be able to trating good landscape design visit two exhibitions of work Provided by the Landscape trom students at Central Lon- Institute, a display of work don Polytechnic and the Poly- from the London Region technic of the South Bank. branches titled “And All the displays will be open tomorrow’, photo murals by to non-conference delegates. was suddenly whisked off to his local authority representatives. new job in Washington earlier BD. goes daily Last year private firms sent 121 this year, and is now unable to iclegates outweighing the 107 attend BUILDING DESIGN will be pub- from public offices. This year Conference co-ordinator, lishing a daily newspaper at this the trend appears to have Lesley Murray, said she was year's conference — along similar hopeful of a few more during lines to the highly successful issues f contributing the last week. “But we are still produced at last year's meeting in involved, but a bit below last year, although Hull. Delegates will find their free s thought to considering the economic sit- copies in the main hall on Thurs- ye the economic recession and uation I don’t think it’s too day, Friday and Saturday mornings. ALLOM O60 Recessed LUMINAIRES Change of face on keynote speaker Students at conference as part of course NEARLY 30 students and staff from Liverpool University School of Architecture will be ALLOMSee Forinstantinformationtick IZ |onreaderinquirycard THE 1977 trial scheme to invite local architects, who are not Thursday October 20: at the attending the conference, along Foundling Hospital, Blooms- to some of the evening social bury, WCI. Buffet, wine and events has met with a “mild” 18th century music. Tickets £9 response, although the each. 8 — Ilpm. Organisers are hopeful of a last Thursday October 20: buffet minute rush for tickets nearer and disco dance on HMS bad,” she said \ NUMBER of minor changes attending this year’s conference have been made to the conter in mass as part of a two-week ence programme Peter course into the effect of Chamberlin of Chamberlin, different practice management Powell and Bon, has been Structures on design forced by poor health to pull out The conference will act as a climax to the course, which is in introduction mto the way in which the final design is influenced by the size and approach adopted by the practice, contractual arrang ments, the type of client, and physical considerations on site. The 23 students attending in block are all on the Part I B(Arch) course, and are in the fourth year of their studies, Michael Manser Clare Frankl of the Thursday morning ses- having just completed a trad- sion. He was originally sche itional BA duled as one of the speakers to Before coming to London for respond to the keynote address. the conference the students will His place will be taken by look at a number of different Michael Manser. practices to try to understand The three other architects the ways in which design is chosen to respond are Cecil formed. Speakers from the Elson, of Elson Pack and Building Design Partnership, Roberts, Gordon Wigglesworth the PSA design office, Ormrod of the GLC, and Clare Frankl, and Partner, a medium-sized a late addition representing local practice, and an ex- young salaried architects. employee of Ove Arup have The aftern session on beenlinedup Friday has been modified The idea of finishing the Slightly from the original plan course at the conference was of Six architects speaking on six dreamed up by year tutor, Alan specific issues (patronage, Brookes. “The conference is directorships, salaried archi- perfect for the course we are tects, the building industry, running here. It couldn't be bureaucracy and controls, and better for us,” he said education). The session is now likely to be conducted as an informal relaxed debate cover ing the subjects more broadly New trial scheme response ismild Wednesday October 19: open- ing reception with buffet supper films, cabaret and review Tickets £8 each. 7.30pm — lpm. the time. “The programme is Belfast has been cancelled due listed in the next column. to lack of response, Evening socials 8 BUILDING DESIGN, October 14, 1977 Variety of exhibition 1s wing back towards Pi and attracted nearly 150 people, mostly representing local h Clerkenwell Workshops. The Dove Centre of Creativ- Glastonbury in Incorporating living as wel as working, and crafts teaching along with production, itisalso in ost authority development and planning departments Last Thursday, however such symposium sponsored by the RIBA and the created Fede mbitious and idealistic. wil influence their future development. Although in general the con- ference was dealing with work ing communities in specific buildings, the desire to se the principle broadened out to include an urban area encom- passing also residential, retail shopping andsocial accommo- aaa wasvoicedbyanumber of5 -JohnMorton, who presentedthe Barlow Mow t t Tee a ‘ a : Hence Sa dallk would Ifthe event can be viewerd as another nail in the cofin comprehensive redevelopment, grandiose commercial and civic schemes, and 30 years (or Workspace, thought that, to do so, the local authority should take the initiative in setting up 4 non-profit trust as a service company, especially in a con- servation area Bi id ; iorattack on the whole f tocraftsmen’ shopfronts th cosa) He saw wy P ceses."Hesaw workingcom munities asaremedial mea sure,countering "30yearsof fipt” and the theat of speculativedevelopment. : “P° Franks thinks the local sometimes crippling a wh town, the concept ofadiversi- fied “community small cSoembinedbled papetrstheatreand cle’ firms looks increasingly attrac ema reclaimed tive facingbricksandtradewindowsto eands— Scuffham’s plea for further irms_collaborat exploration of the possibilities outeachfirmlosingItsown pl dividuality.” Six Londo’ in Heading community proposals. Unless The conference blurb des elma esieieg eeesnere relaxations were made, or a While putting the working system of grants analogous to communitiesconceptinamore Housing Improvement Grants set up, the present situation ing by sharing a building (or for indu buildings), together picked up from the up services and facilities, with flor by Manuela Sykes, En teni trial Chaplaint x se consumption c consumptionof« ing historical build- Act intended as a undertake worth, v nOfficerofthe of V n¢ t! tnd reat b ha ld mak wil be caled) were sen bl under Section 1 floweringofideas like “‘self king iner city” ils, likethe pre ingnedsf r 1 1 c | pri mw | pace fr The new bulldings Later in the day, Reynolds emphasized the political and social necessity for authorities meeting current standards and to channel their limited aid to industry in such a way a’ to minimize unemployment Sitatead picturesquebasinonthe North London Isacomplex community and that the work- the resent highly _popul feels the nn focal authority work are usually so high that many necessary pt jects become unfeasible. speakers noted the difficulty of dustrial of which are of revolving fund, has ben mad ani tectur vailable under the administrs wellas economic, ¥ tion of the Industrial Common Thetensionembodiedinthe Ow shipMovement(ICOM). o industrial ° hat aditional d . 4 HAVING demonstratedIntheClerkenwellWorkshops“theprinciple of quick, cost-effective renewal using existing alldings,” Mike Is now seting his sights onthe 5 ling area. With an £8000JieGrantessetinguptheCerealrastforUrban Renewalandhas work tlswekonsxseslntheClerkexvell tto nied“outthat aditional.decision-making It creates dela : sisdeCOMCO andSeaT Aiea lecoration anc tenance requirements largest supplier ofprecast concrete structure : 7 ¥ adecade. raceof planingightandhavebenvacantfradecade.Theeraofre peoplea Screen che eds ntenance requiremen What BP frames,Whateveryournceds,Atcost canalmost “| tronthaleratr Anumberofspeakerstes Atcost Frames.Buiilt-in fire EaeresistancemeansbuiltIneconomy|nestndustrialDivisionSE ES }buldin, acts the to catalyst tomarket placepro htheorg i fire-casing steelwork sitetnotonlycastlgnleatimeconeinatae iharencronetheater . Green Conservation oe rojects range from creating& garden, omen tet 1gwith astudytoassess what growsrat the iothe reinstatement of “thelast example of early htheprovisionof RRpeatee rf quirementupto‘and Tees tproductionfacilitiesare excessof30metres. An: 7 t retextnicturalfeare rebullttoaccommodate,onceagain,craftsmen'sresideonctehse Wreenndtthleirhweroksopacressabore.Pranksodkethertso be taken ov ‘completionnext year by acommunity organ! Caer [easenemunderacevensawhichwouldforexample, ‘ y Teen Ua id ong the largest and most advancec “Ope todealwithaservice threstoreys.Andmeetthefire Ss eryon schedulei A ape Position Rh society onth twa pilars company having ful responsi r ring up to 4hours fire = of“acquisitionandcompet vfortheenterprise. Most esistang houtanyaditional sitework Henenlase} sured. And you 1ebenefitsofhigh technology duct project, give special thought to the fire regulations. AndthenthinkAtcost.Evenifyouonlywant | requlre the occupants to take on apprentices. lesaw in orking ofthe ae communities” the possibility ca fortheco-operative, limited: withaconsultativefunction a TM =s = I 1 peor eur co uns |: )ld Rond Street. L MuntaRoad.Stil ' WIN SDA Ted. DA Tel:Stirling6291 1demonstrationfwhaltocalsathortiy rees Coulddo.Atpresent,winotbuhdget idam renewal projects, the council's reralkasl been rastcieliaita But, of course, the TY AlthhaismsadeTheAtcostGroupBritain's eratesbeakperkibanytpeteage(teClerkenwell” Shownhereinthetpresentconditionth,eyhavespe30nytearsunder | certainlymeetthem-includingclearspansin peaneXUDayouineLaingseOUAen | pan. aIt-i _—— For instant information tick inquiry card 01-495 080. nd Contain‘saveral]lonter:oes BUILDING DESIGN, June 17, 197 15 conference held at the RIBA last week on the role of work communities in urban renewal. up-market, relatively elegant conversions for architects, graphic designers and other professionals, likeSDey reet an #pace tallarger lower budget conversions for skilled crafts- Mike Franks of the Clerken- wel Workshops stressed that local authorities for the future development of working com- munities, Anational “revolving fund" was suggested by Ron Renata paestedby,Ron ValuerattheGLC, speaking fromtheflorinanindividual capacity,toenablelocalautho- ritiestounderwrite“thetop slice of therisk" in setting upa working community. He also pointed out that one obstacle to the development of more we's is the reali cally high i|pree which 5 are oeiriany vacate Dales edthekeyroleofsympathetic theareawastherealworking realistic perspective, this also highlightedthediversityofthe schemes which had earlier been presented. They ranged from ditions would continue. authorityhasavitalroletoplay but that this partnership with a non- promis commun. . He which condemns many people to work in “Dickensian” con 4 BUILDING DESIGN, June 17/1877 IT IS very unlikely that five Bob Maltz reports ona years ago, when the con- cepts embodied in “Worl ing Communities and Urban Renewal” were the concerns of a few voices in thewilderness, aconference on the subject would have hi kSi Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource AJ, BD, 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 From Nov 1975 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/b1efb34a899563cdd12d0c28a5a98c0d.pdf a1f5044848c05f1c935b7b05f20fd2c9 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 <p><span style="font-weight:400;">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. </span></p> <ul><li style="font-weight:400;"><span style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </span></li> <li style="font-weight:400;"><span style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </span></li> <li style="font-weight:400;"><span style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </span></li> <li style="font-weight:400;"><span style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</span></li> <li style="font-weight:400;"><span style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </span></li> <li style="font-weight:400;"><span style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</span></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 Déjà Vu- Parallels between High Rise System Built Housing and PFI Subject The topic of the resource Article in SCALA Newsletter September 2004 describing the intriguing parallels between the way the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) operates and the building by local authorities of system-built tower blocks in the 1950’s and 60’s. Description An account of the resource John Murray T: 020 8340 4359 E: johnmurray@ btinternet.com John Murray was formerly Borough Architect at the London Borough of Haringey. His 1977 MA Thesis on Design Evaluation and the Form of Council Housing included a historical review of council housing. 28 High rise system built housing and PFI: Have they anything in common? What Similarities? There are intriguing parallels between the way the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) operates and the building by local authorities of system-built tower blocks in the 1950’s and 60’s. • Both policies were introduced by a Conservative government. • In both cases, the Government promoted an unpopular policy by using financial incentives to encourage reluctant local authorities to adopt unfamiliar and untried methods of building. • In both cases control over design and construction was vested in large private construction companies, with local authority architects having little influence. The responses of the in-coming Labour governments of 1964 and 1997 were, initially, similar. PFI, introduced by the previous Conservative government in 1992, only took off after Labour took office in 1997. It was enthusiastically adopted and extended for a substantial proportion of large public sector building projects. In 2001-02 the PFI accounted for 9% of public investment. According to the NHS plan, more than 100 new hospitals will be provided using PFI by 2010. 1964-1973 By 1964, there was an increasing use of high high-rise systems imported from Europe. The in-coming Labour government, having promised to build 500,000 houses a year, continued the drive to industrialise and established the National Building Agency to advise on industrialised system building. But within three years, the new government set about changing the inherited policy of slum clearance and high-rise system-built council housing. The 1967 Labour Housing Act, which introduced the Housing Cost Yardstick, is less well known for effectively bringing an end to the building of high flats by local authorities. It reduced the financial support for high flats, abolishing the additional subsidy available for each storey in excess of six, and re-introduced the general needs subsidy. Thus ended an arrangement, which, since 1956, had encouraged often reluctant local authorities to build high blocks. The Housing Cost Yardstick, while strengthening central government control over the financing of public sector housing, drew attention to the excessive cost of high building and the possibilities of alternative patterns of housing layout. The partial collapse of Ronan Point, a system-built tower block in the London Borough of Newham and a customary datum, was therefore not the cause of the decline in the high block. It occurred one year later in 1968. In parallel with the decision to discourage the building of high-rise council flats, the efficacy of slum clearance was also questioned. In 1966 the government commissioned the Deeplish Study to assess the possibility of housing improvement in place of the slum clearance programme begun by the Conservative government in 1953. Its report of 1968 recommended rehabilitation rather than demolition, stressing the economic and social advantages. By 1969, the government had transferred the emphasis from slum clearance and high flats to rehabilitation. In the private sector also, improvement grants were introduced “to provide dwellings by conversion, or by improving dwellings and houses”. General Improvement Areas were introduced with compulsory powers to improve living conditions. In 1974, following the return of another Labour government, the policy was further extended to include municipalisation, the acquiring by local authorities of homes from private developers and agencies. PFI Time will tell whether the current government will have a similar change of heart about PFI. At present that seems unlikely, despite criticisms and public disquiet. The PFI was introduced by the Conservative government in the 1992 Budget, after the UK was forced to pull out of the European exchange rate mechanism earlier that year. The government wanted to stimulate the economy while at the same time holding down public spending - and the PFI appeared to offer a relatively inexpensive way of boosting a recession-hit construction industry. Under the PFI a private consortium raises the money needed to build or refurbish a capital project such as a school, hospital or housing estate. The project is financed, designed and built by the consortium, and is then leased back to the public authority complete with services such as routine maintenance, cleaning and catering, typically for a period of 25-30 years. The private consortium will be regularly paid from public money depending on its performance throughout that period. If the consortium misses performance targets, it will be paid less. The attraction of PFI for the Government is that it avoids making expensive one-off payments to build large-scale projects that might involve unpopular tax rises. Since the risk of PFI projects is technically transferred to the private consortium, in the government's accounts it does not show up as increased public borrowing. But there is a question mark over how much risk is genuinely transferred to the private sector given the record of government having to bail out private companies managing troubled public services. Critics also claim that as with any form of hire purchase, buying a product over a long period of time is more expensive than paying for it in full at the outset. They also point out that governments can borrow cash at a cheaper rate than the private sector. Growing concern has recently been expressed amongst experts about the cost of PFI. Public sector accountants claim that hospitals and schools would be cheaper to build using traditional funding methods. The national audit office described the value for money test used to justify PFI projects as "pseudo-scientific mumbo jumbo". It said that there was little evidence so far that the PFI offered increased value for money, especially in providing new schools and hospitals. (cited by Weaver, M, PFI: The issue explained, The Guardian 15/01/03) Public sector unions have criticised PFI as "back-door privatisation". They are concerned that the wages and conditions of support workers who are transferred from the public sector to the private sector consortia suffer as businesses seek to maximise profits. Economists also point out that the government can borrow money from the markets at cheaper rates than the private sector so the PFI saddles public services with higher interest repayments than if the cash had been borrowed by the Treasury. The Government does not dispute this but it believes that PFI encourages greater control of costs over the project's lifetime. For example, since the consortium will be penalised if part of the building becomes unusable, in theory, it is in its interest to use high quality construction materials, which in turn should keep maintenance costs low. High rise system built housing and PFI 29 “Growing concern has recently been expressed amongst experts about the cost of PFI.” “...there is continuing unease about the low priority given to design quality...” 30 High rise system built housing and PFI In an article, To PFI or not to PFI in the Summer 2004 Scalanews, Mark Mattison, in discussing alternatives to PFI, argued that, “Partnering contracts allow the provision of integrated design solutions by requiring the procurer, the contractor and related consultants working on a project to work closely together, providing an integrated service to the employer using a wider skill base and a (hopefully) non-adversarial approach to negotiation”. But the PFI is now the major source of capital funding for local authorities and NHS bodies because ministers will not countenance the borrowing or increased taxes that would be needed if PFI were to be abandoned. Design Quality In addition to these concerns, there is continuing unease about the low priority given to design quality in the process where control of projects has been taken over by contractors. Building Design magazine reported on the anxieties about contractors’ control debated at the July 2004 RIBA Conference. The Manchester City Council Chief Executive criticised the government for leaving local authorities with little control over their own areas by allowing control of regeneration projects to be taken over by contractors. “The mismatch at the moment is very serious. It is the notion that the private sector knows best; the contractor, heaven forbid, knows best. We have to be more responsive to the local, and to the particular circumstance in the community”. He also criticised the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (Cabe) for failing to challenge the Government in terms of procurement. Architects from the platform echoed his disapproval. A Cabe commissioner and architect pointed out that Cabe had challenged the government on design quality and had produced a report to ensure that design quality had a higher priority in PFI but the Government has not adopted all of Cabe’s recommendations. The complaints came just before the government announced an extra £16 billion of public funding to build houses. In his spending review in July 2004, the Chancellor extended the Government’s commitment to contractor-led procurement by announcing more PFI housing. More recently, the Architects Journal described a report by Public Policy Research commenting on the need to improve design quality in PFI projects: “There is enough evidence to argue that the design of some PFI facilities is below best practice...The Audit Commission report on early PFI schools establishes a correlative link between PFI and poorer design when compared to conventional procurement. New research into the effect of PFI on design standards should therefore be a top priority” (Three Steps Forward, Two steps Back Public Policy Research report). Cited in AJ 09/09/04 P10 Labour Boffins demand PFI Probe. Summary By jettisoning the inherited policy of slum clearance and high rise system built council housing, and by transforming it into a combination of rehabilitation of existing housing plus medium-rise, architect- designed new build, the 1964 Labour government anticipated the growing unpopularity and expense of the high-rise block. It seems unlikely that the current Labour government will discard its commitment to the PFI, at least in the near future, despite signs that the method is becoming increasingly unpopular. A Guardian/ICM poll in the latter part of 2002 showed that almost two thirds of voters supported a moratorium on any new PFI projects. So far, the Government has refused to grant one. It is not only the pared-down designs and long-term costs, which cause concern. Excessive charges for using facilities are also cited. Anecdotal evidence suggests that it is more expensive for visitors to park their cars at the new out-of-town PFI Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, than it is at Edinburgh Airport. One consolation for local authorities may be that while much of the blame for the consequences of high rise flats was laid at their door, rather than at the door of the culprits in central government, so far, at least, there seems little doubt in the public’s mind where responsibility for the PFI lies. 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 18 September 2004