8 10 310 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/01be8ce4a29aa316794499ecba0eba52.pdf 537c91f8b207778b60ce82f68588769c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Local Authority Architectural Services Subject The topic of the resource Article in SCALA Newsletter October 2003 re John Murray SCALA survey about decline in public architecture services Description An account of the resource LOCAL AUTHORITY ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES INTRODUCTION In her seminal report, Building by Local Authorities,1 Elizabeth Layton showed how the origin of local authority departments of architecture was almost wholly dependent on the provision of local authority schools and council housing. The growth of these departments followed closely on government legislation making schools and housing a statutory provision. Their subsequent identity as separate departments depended on whether the local authority built mainly schools or mainly housing. The provision of state housing and schools goes back to 1919 and 1902 respectively and it is the extension of this responsibility for the greater part of post-war housing, and schools under the 1944 Education Act, that accounts for the expansion of architectural work and to a larger degree of the architectural staff in local authorities in the last century. PRESENT POSITION 2 In 1978, local authority departments employed nearly one-third of all registered architects . Since then circumstances have been significantly altered. Successive government policy changes, beginning during the 18 year period of Conservative Governments from 1979-1997, affected the provision of both council housing and schools and has resulted in the main workload of departments being removed. The majority of new social housing is now provided by Housing Associations. Schools are generally financed through the Private Finance Initiative (PFI)3 Both of these changes tend to exclude local authority architects. Housing Associations generally commission private practices to design their new housing schemes, until recently as part of a design/build team where the contractor takes the lead, although in recent years the Housing Corporation has been promoting Partnering as a more advantageous form of contract. The PFI developers also involve private practices as part of their project teams. These changes suggest that there will have been a substantial reduction in the number of local authority departments of architecture and in the proportion of architects employed in the public sector compared to 1978. While evidence ‘on the ground’ tends to confirm this, there appears to be no published data readily available, and further information is required to analyse the present position. SCALA SURVEY 2003 A survey designed to discover basic information was carried out for SCALA in 2003. Authorities were invited to respond to a brief questionnaire included in the SCALA May newsletter. 48 completed questionnaires were returned, which, although only a ‘snapshot’, tended to confirm 1 Building by Local Authorities, Elizabeth Layton, Royal Institute of Public Administration, Allen & Unwin, 1961. 2 “Origins, Evolution and Structure of Local authority Departments of Architecture”, draft paper presented by John Murray to a Public Design Service Conference, Birmingham May 1978. 3 From Society Guardian 1/10/02 The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) PFI is now the government's favourite way of funding major new public building projects such as schools, hospitals, prisons and roads. It was introduced under the Conservative government in 1992 and extended under the new Labour government of 1997. How does it work? Private consortiums, usually involving large construction firms, are contracted to both design and build a new project, and also to manage it. The contracts typically last for 30 years. The building is not publicly owned but leased by a public authority, such as a council or health trust, from the private consortium. How is it paid for? The private consortium raises the cash to build the project. It is then paid back with interest by the government through regular payments over the period of the contract. The amount paid depends on the performance of the consortium, so if the building project is delayed or if it is badly managed the consortium gets less money. In theory therefore the risk of the project going wrong lies with the private sector. 1 LOCAL AUTHORITY ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES the expected reduction in the number, size and status of local authority departments of architecture. The 48 responding councils employed a total of 1,032 architects and building surveyors and 2,128 design related staff in total. Just under half did not distinguish between architects and building surveyors, presumably reflecting the fact that planned maintenance and looking after existing buildings now comprise a substantial part of their design workload. The biggest design departments were in county councils and metropolitan city councils. The largest number of total design staff (250) supervising the biggest annual turnover (£120m) was in a large county council. This council also had the most senior level head of service (second tier). On the other hand, another large county council with an annual turnover of just under £94m, did not employ any design staff whatsoever. All design work has been privatised in this authority, with a single consultant providing the service previously carried out by the County Architects’ Department. In terms of status of the departments, there were no chief officer City Architect or County Architect posts. Most heads of building design departments are third tier posts located in a variety of directorates, ranging from professional services to client directorates such as Housing or Property. Only 2 of the 33 London Boroughs responded, perhaps reflecting that the loss of building design departments in the Capital has been particularly marked, with few building design departments remaining. FURTHER STUDY 4 There are 468 local authorities in the UK as a whole . The 48 respondents represent a sample of just under12% of the 410 local Authorities in England and Wales. A further study is now necessary to establish a more comprehensive understanding of the current position. Two further types of investigation are proposed: 1. Seek support from IDeA, possibly in collaboration with an architectural magazine, to carry out a comprehensive survey of all local authorities. 2. Interview a sample of departments to identify the main issues affecting them. THE FUTURE It may be speculated that the contraction of local authority departments of architecture will continue. Twenty-five years ago there were 203 separate departments of architecture in the 454 English and Welsh local authorities,5 employing nearly one-third of all registered architects. What will be the position at the end of the next twenty-five years? And is there anything SCALA could or should be doing in the face of continuing decline? JM/02/10/03 4 Guardian Local Authority Directory 2003 5 Metropolitan Year Book 1978 cited in Footnote 2 above (Origins, Evolution and Structure of Local authority Departments of Architecture”, John Murray 1978) 2 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource John Murray Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Murray Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 02 October 2003 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/28ee234a48887a10208fb63211406745.pdf ea9aa7ad598513dbddbc77ed5185b005 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Development of NAM - PDS Group Subject The topic of the resource Talk to Bartlett Masters Students about development of NAM ideas Description An account of the resource NAM TALK 07 MARCH 2014 TO DAVID ROBERTS’ MASTERS DEGREE STUDENTS, BARTLETT, UCL I’ll talk briefly about NAM largely using the agenda suggested by David Roberts  Background to NAM How I and others got involved How NAM ideas and ideals were discussed and disseminated (for example in SLATE) How all this related to my Masters study here at the Bartlett How this related to my work in Haringey Current practice and John McAslan’s initiative      1. Motivations for forming NAM Edgewick Primary School in Coventry 1968 I was briefed by the City Education Client Officer. When I asked him how I should accommodate suggestions from the Head Teacher about the design of her new school, he just said “Ignore her”. But I decided instead to ignore him and went on to work closely with the Head teacher, staff and pupils in developing the design of what turned out to be a successful and well-regarded Primary School in one of the poorest areas of Coventry. For me this was confirmation that the users of a building must be fully involved if the design is to be successful. It was a very important lesson and my respect for the committed Head stayed with me ever since. Other ideas came from working with tenants. 2. Working with Tenants The next stage in the process: In the early 1970s many architects, including myself while working in offices during the day were also providing free design advice to Tenants’ and Residents’ groups. This taught both sides the benefits of having a design service accountable to the people who use buildings. I was working for tenants in Newham while during the day I worked for BDP, incidentally a very good firm whose idealistic founding partner Grenfell-Baines stated it should be multi-disciplinary and fully involve and reward its staff – and so it was. (3Rs, Responsibility, Recognition and Reward) These ideas subsequently influenced the Public Design Group. (See Guardian obituary) My wife Ursula was working at that time in a Community Development Project in Canning Town. Through her I became involved with West Ham tenants. 3. ARC and First NAM Congress 4. How      While working in BDP, at lunchtimes we used to occasionally visit the AA in nearby Bedford Square. There was also an AA Studio in Percy Street near the BDP office. There I met Brian Anson the tutor and his students. I talked to Brian about my interest in a public design service. ARC Architects Revolutionary Council. Brian Anson and students Proposal for New Architecture Movement. Trying to encourage sympathetic architects. Brian asked me to make a presentation on a National Design Service at a conference. In November 1975 an advert appeared in the architectural press inviting participants to attend the inaugural Congress of the New Architecture Movement in the unlikely setting of Harrogate. The congress brought together a considerable number of like-minded salaried architects and students. NAM was born NAM’s ideas and ideals were discussed and disseminated ARC proposed that NAM’s structure should be an elected Leader and committee. Animated debate resulted. The women at the congress persuaded men to structure NAM like women’s movement, ie, groups of people interested in particular issues who would come together as necessary, not at the diktat of a higher body. NAM was structured as local groups. There was also to be a liaison group whose role was to coordinate the different groups, deal with correspondence and arrange the next annual congress. I was involved in the London liaison group and we got a grant from the Rowntree Foundation for an office in 9 Poland Street. See articles about history recommending radical historians from my thesis. (See SLATE)     1 NAM TALK 07 MARCH 2014 TO DAVID ROBERTS’ MASTERS DEGREE STUDENTS, BARTLETT, UCL 5. Groups  Accountability to Users Alternative Practice Education Feminist Group Professional Issues (A number of us were elected to ARCUK to represent ‘unattached’ architects) Public Design Group Trade Unions and Architecture SLATE        groups, which were largely autonomous, worked across local groups to develop These their ideas. They arranged their own conferences and reported through SLATE and annually to the NAM Congress. Although I was involved in the liaison group and some other groups, my main interest was in developing the ideas for a National Design Service. This eventually became the Public Design Group. It included Adam Purser, one of Brian Anson’s mature students and architects and students from Sheffield and Nottingham. So we did a lot of travelling. 6.  Public Design Group Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. In May 1978 we organised PDS Conference in Birmingham with the help of UCATT. Presented papers including on the Origins, Evolution and Structure of LA Departments of Architecture, which demonstrated that the existence of Council departments of architecture was almost solely dependent on the provision of   schools and council housing based on Elizabeth Layton’s 1961 study Building by 1   Our Interim proposals paper suggested six steps which could readily be adopted: 1. Local area control over resources 2. Design teams to be area based 3. Area design teams to be multi disciplinary 4. Project architects to report directly to committee 5. Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect 6. Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations Also in 1978, these interim proposals were included in our Report Community Architecture - A Public Design Service? to Reg Freeson, Minister of Housing. This report which was widely publicised, argued that community architecture should be based on the public sector rather than on the private sector as promoted by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), claiming that the RIBA’s newfound interest in the community stemmed from a growing shortage of work in the private sector. Incidentally, the proportion of registered architects working in local government rose from about 20% in 1952 to about one third in 1977. (ARCUK votes) Local Authorities. The growth of these departments followed closely on government legislation making schools and housing a statutory provision. Their subsequent identity as separate departments depended on whether the local authority built mainly schools or mainly housing. 1 Building by Local Authorities, Elizabeth Layton, Royal Institute of Public Administration, Allen & Unwin, 1961. 2 NAM TALK 07 MARCH 2014 TO DAVID ROBERTS’ MASTERS DEGREE STUDENTS, BARTLETT, UCL 4. How it related to your Masters studies 2. Evaluation of Design     While all this was going on, in 1976 I decided to leave BDP to do further study. I particularly wanted to learn more about the evaluation of housing design so I applied to join the Bartlett Masters course. The course was run by Bill Hillier and two other tutors, one of whom also taught at the North London Polytechnic and was very good. I enjoyed the course and learned a lot. It was good to study full-time again. My Thesis was called: Cultural Reproduction and the Form of Council Housing. I developed the theory that housing design is evaluated primarily in relation to the extent to which the form of tenure reproduces the ideas of the dominant culture. The historical appendix to my Thesis showed that not only did the quantity of council housing fluctuate in relation to the government in power, but also the design. Starting in the 19C, the Conservatives, who were concerned about the growing working class poor living in rookeries, promoted slum clearance and multi-storey blocks which culminated in the contractor-designed tower blocks of the ‘50s and ’60s. "The rookeries of central London were considered to be hot-beds of the "dangerous classes", the foci of cholera, crime and Chartism". (Stedman Jones) (Attempts to improve working class housing and to alleviate the danger of rookeries took four main forms in the period from 1840 to 1870. These were; street clearance, model dwellings, sanitary regulations and the Octavia Hill schemes). And that Conservative view continued throughout the 20 C and certainly appears to be alive and well today. On the other hand Labour Governments favoured cottage-style estates. The successive Conservative Governments’ policy of slum clearance and high flats was challenged in 1968 by the Deeplish Study instigated by Harold Wilson’s Labour Government. The Deeplish Study (Deeplish in Rochdale) demonstrated conclusively that it was more economical to rehabilitate existing houses than to demolish and build new. And it also ensured that communities stayed together. That became Labour’s policy and it was extended to Councils buying houses for sale, which became Council houses and we renovated them.  5. Haringey BDS The most comprehensive design service reorganisation along the lines proposed by NAM took place in Haringey where I live. Tenant Involvement in Haringey Haringey Council had developed an early commitment to user participation. In 1976 the Council had initiated cooperative housing projects, in which the future tenants were invited to take part in the design process. The architect for the new build scheme was Bert Dinnage who was not only radically minded but a very good architect. The Council and staff in the architects’ service were therefore familiar with and committed to ideas of tenant and user involvement in design. I met Bert Dinnage to see if he thought NAM ideas could be implemented in Haringey. After I completed my MA at the Bartlett, I got a job in Haringey’s Central Area Team in 1978. The NAM ideas were adopted in Haringey Architect’s Service in two stages in 1979 and 1985. (See article in Going Local 1987) At the same time as we in NAM were developing our ideas, young Labour councillors who had emerged from tenants’ struggles like Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Grant in Haringey were beginning to be elected. They were fully supportive of our ideas, as were many officers in other departments. I then worked with Bert Dinnage and other like-minded people to get the service changed. This was done through union meetings. The then Borough Architect, Alan Weitzel was also supportive. The first change came in 1979 when area design teams were agreed and I was appointed by a panel chaired by Jeremy Corbyn, the then Chair of the Planning Committee, 3 NAM TALK 07 MARCH 2014 TO DAVID ROBERTS’ MASTERS DEGREE STUDENTS, BARTLETT, UCL as the Team Leader of the Wood Green Team, the first multi-disciplinary team in the service. Jeremy Corbyn continued to be very supportive of our proposals. The Wood Green Team carried out the rehabilitation of the historic 19th century Noel Park housing estate, built by the Artisans and Labourers Dwelling Co, including phasing of design and construction work to ensure annual delivery of 100 completed renovations. Tenants were involved in developing the design and there was a show house for each Phase. Tenants’ satisfaction surveys were carried out at the end of each Phase by architectural students. Our team won a DOE and Civic Trust Award for Palace Gates Sheltered Housing Scheme, designed in conjunction with the resident representatives and built by PELAW. Involvement with the DLO: Following the 1980 Conservative Government Planning and Land Act, I was asked by the Chief Executive to work with the DLO and local building workers unions (UCATT) to ensure fair tendering in the procurement of housing and other building work. Subsequently seconded on recommendation of UCATT shop stewards to manage PELAW, a pioneering design and build housing rehabilitation Direct Labour organisation which required support in meeting its programme and financial targets. During this period, negotiations to develop the Architect Service reorganisation continued. The second stage took place in 1985 by which time the Council had fully adopted these ideas including the proposal to have a Management Board of Team Leaders who would manage the new Building Design Service (BDS) of eight fully multi-disciplinary area teams. The Coordinator was to be elected annually by the Management Board, this decision being subject to ratification by committee. I was elected coordinator each year until about 1990 when I was appointed Borough Architect. This system worked successfully with the support of Councillors and Committee Chairs. People were attracted to work in such an innovative organisation and in a Council which encouraged equal opportunities, so we never had trouble getting good staff; more women and people from ethnic minority communities were appointed (a considerable number of whom were in senior positions), so that the service composition became one of the first to be more reflective of the community it served. By 1990, over 60% of the staff were black and ethnic minority and 30% were women. This compares to 22% and 14% respectively in 1985. 3% of staff had disabilities. Design Teams were now located in their areas and soon became closely associated with their local communities and local councillors. As an example of community involvement, local people were involved in the selection of the Broadwater Farm Team established after the riots in 1985. The team implemented a 10-year £80m estate action programme, ensuring the use of local labour and encouraging BWF Youth Association Coop to carry out work on the estate. The award–winning Broadwater Farm workshops were designed by our Broadwater Farm Team and built by the BWF Coop. Architectural Trainees As part of a policy to encourage local young people to become involved in architecture, each of the eight teams appointed two local young people as trainees. The majority were young black and ethnic minority men and women who were sponsored through college. 6. Wider Impact The traditional way for architects and engineers to work was in separate teams accountable to a chief. But as Grenfell Baines had figured out that means staff are primarily accountable to a chief, whereas on a project which is necessarily multi disciplinary they should all be accountable to the client or as NAM would say the client including the user. So we went around proselytising giving talks to other LA architects departments. What we were doing was also being reported in SLATE, BD and the AJ. 4 NAM TALK 07 MARCH 2014 TO DAVID ROBERTS’ MASTERS DEGREE STUDENTS, BARTLETT, UCL In terms of the wider impact of these changes, Graham Towers in his book Building Democracy: Community Architecture in the Inner Cities, records that, “The events in Haringey sent ripples through technical departments in neighbouring Boroughs. Many staff disillusioned by being typecast into specialist roles, were attracted to the new way of working...In Camden, an alliance of staff and councillors succeeded in introducing area working. A similar alliance developed in Islington Architects Department and ...eventually bore fruit. Subsequently, the new approach was adopted in some other authorities. Area team working brought a new structure to public service, giving a more accessible and accountable approach to public capital projects”. (Building Democracy: Community Architecture in the Inner Cities, pp 142,143, Graham Towers). Award-winning Designs Quality of work was recognised in Dept of Environment and Civic Trust design awards plus awards for energy conservation work. Public Sector Consultancy To supplement the service income in the light of a declining capital programme, in 1988, the Council approved the proposal from Haringey Building Design Service to establish a public sector consultancy to obtain work from other councils and from housing associations. Eventually by 1994, the consultancy provided 15% of service income. In 1991, as part of a consortium, Haringey’s design service won in competition a project in Moscow to create a small business support agency. This project, supported by both the UK and Russian governments, was funded by the UK Govt. ‘Know How Fund’. Based on work with Broadwater Farm community, we collaborated with the University of Cambridge to provide advice to Bratislava City Council in Slovakia on the renovation of a large concrete panel estate. UK Govt. ‘Know How Fund’ also funded this project. 7. Current Practice Privatisation When the 1980 Planning and Land Act sought to privatise the work done by Council DLOs, I assumed that would just be the start and the rest of Council services would follow, including architects and engineers and so on. And so it has proved although at the time people thought I was exaggerating. Many architects preferred working with private builders because the DLO could challenge their authority through Councillors and the Union. So many were happy with the 1980 Act, not realising they would be next.... Then sheltered housing ... then housing... then social care.... And now the unbelievable is happening... The NHS is being secretly privatised - already 70%. As far as architects are concerned, my 1978 Paper Origins, Evolution and Structure of LA Departments of Architecture, demonstrated that Council departments of architecture were almost solely dependent on the provision of schools and council housing. Now there are no more Council Houses being built and PFI ensured that private contractors chose their own architects to build schools and hospitals. (I did a review of this for SCALA newsletter and also on PFI). So now nobody remembers there were LA architects departments... new Haringey Councillors don’t know what we did or how radical we were. 5 NAM TALK 07 MARCH 2014 TO DAVID ROBERTS’ MASTERS DEGREE STUDENTS, BARTLETT, UCL Letter to Guardian 04 January 2014 Subject: Hidden from History? Date: Sunday, January 4, 2014 13:56 From: John Murray <johnmurray@btinternet.com> To: The Guardian letters@guardian.co.uk John McLaslan’s initiatives to open a studio and train local young people as architects from Tottenham (Haringey) and also to rectify the absence of black and minority architects in the makeup of the architectural profession, are to be very much welcomed (After Haiti, Tottenham architect opens studio in riot scarred borough 4 Jan 2014). However, it is equally a timely reminder of the hidden history of the role of local authority architects services, which disappeared in the 1990s in the steady march of privatisation. The Haringey Building Design Service was especially pioneering. At its peak it employed around 200 staff, 60% of whom were black and ethnic minority, reflecting the Borough’s very diverse population. It had 8 multi disciplinary teams serving different areas of the Borough. As part of a policy to encourage local young people to become involved in architecture, each of the eight teams appointed two local young people as trainee architects. ie 16 in total. The majority were young black and ethnic minority men and women who were sponsored through college. What currently seems pioneering was then a core part of a public service shaped by the two strands of social change which fortuitously came together in Haringey in the 1980s. Firstly, a radical local Labour Council committed to equal opportunities and secondly, the impact of the New Architectural Movement (NAM). The latter was a social movement committed to extending accountability and user involvement in design services and Haringey local authority architects (including myself) were among some of the most actively involved. As neo liberalism has advanced over thirty years and the social state is dismantled, it is important that we do not forget this radical legacy and the sense of agency to bring about social change from this era. And as the housing crisis deepens, what was once deemed possible as a part of the social state may well need to be reinvented. John Murray (former NAM PDS Group) 07 March 2014 6 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource John Murray Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Murray Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 07 March 2014 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/f3c7e17769cddc51a2892fde3d51971a.pdf 3f464ef71c5c9e97f33387f73fd6854e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Going Local Subject The topic of the resource See 'Haringey Builds for the Future' John Murray article about Haringey Building Design Service, based on NAM PDS Group Proposals Description An account of the resource Going Local PCL School of Planning No.8 July 1987 NEWSLETTER OFTHE DECENTRALISATION RESEARCH AND INFORMATION CENTRE — Haringey builds for the future JOHN MURRAY outlines the unique structure of Haringey's innovative Building Design Service, which is seen as an essential part of improving the Council's public design service through community architecture Although the term 'community architec- ture' has become common currency, fifteen years ago it scarcely existed. During that period it has changed from referring to a part-time, unpaid, temporary and largely political assignment as part of the wider community action against private developers and sometimes local authorities in the 1960s and 70s, to achieving respectability and the Royal seal of approval in the 1980s. The ideas underpinning the objectives and structure of Haringey Council's Building Design Service also can be traced to com- munity action and the discussions which took place in alternative architectural circles in the 1970s. Organisations such as the New Architecture Movement studied the part played by the architectural profession in the creation of unacceptable environmental and social conditions following slum clearance and large-scale redevelopment. They proposed that if architects were to avoid these mistakes in future two main conditions should be met. The first of these is the need for control over resources and their allocation at local level by representatives of the people who will use the build- ings, and for architects to work directly with and be accountable to the building users. For this to work effectively there was a second and corresponding requirement for the architects themselves to work in a democra- tic and non-hierarchical way. This was partly to ensure that the people who actually designed the buildings related directly to the people who would use the buildings, and partly to avoid the frustration and lack of responsibility encountered by the 80 per cent of architectural workers who were employees in authoritarian and hierarchical private practice or local government offices. To achieve the change within the profession three main avenues were proposed: the unionisation of private offices; the establishing of design co-operatives to work with tenants and other groups; and the democratisation of the public design service in local authorities. The last of these led to changes being proposed in some local authority architect's departments, one of which was Haringey. At the same time similar ideas on democracy and accountability were gaining ground in local government and in the Labour Party as described in previous issues of Going Local and other publications. The Second Stage In 1985 a further reorganisation of the Architects' Department took place resulting in the new Building Design Service of about 220 people. The new service was structured around eight multi-disciplinary area design teams of 20-25 staff (ten architects, four quantity surveyors, three engineers, three clerk of works and three administrators) and one central support team providing central facilities such as programming, staffing, administration, library and contracts compliance. The teams are responsible for all the design work occurring in their area. The arrangement represents a major departure from the traditional structures in that the people required to provide a complete service work together in one team. The central management or chief-officer function is carried out by a Management Board made up of the team leaders. The coordinator of the Managerpent Board is elected annually from the team leaders. A further aim of the reorganisation is to move towards self-management in due course, with elected team leaders. A key feature of the organisation is that individual workers are responsible to their teams, and teams are collectively responsi- ble to the Management Board. The team leader's job is to make sure that the team fulfils its constitutional duties, and like all team members, he/she is accountable to the team. Similarly, the Management Board is collectively responsible to the Planning Committee of the Council for the work of the Service, the co-ordinator's role being to ensure that the Board carries out its functions. Area Links Teams, which are paired to facilitate sharing of resources, relate to the areas covered by the housing area sub-committees. The reorganisation report states: 'By operating the Teams on an Area basis it is intended to strengthen the awareness of staff to the particular problems and needs of the area and increase accountability to local groups and organisations including area based subcommittees . . . The chief officer function and cross- team co-ordination Chief-officer functions are allocated annu- ally amongst individual Management Board members (and to a lesser extent other senior staff). Decisions at the Board are generally by consensus with occasional votes. Standing panels of the Management Board are delegated responsibility for issues such as staffing and recruitment, capital programme monitoring, etc. Within the Service co-ordination of different disciplines (e.g. quantity surveying, design) in terms of quality, standards and procedures takes place through co-ordination groups of representatives of each team. Teams operate a common agenda and cycle of meetings so that programme information and monitoring is available at the same time. Team leaders formally report back to their teams at regular intervals, and feedback from teams is reported to the Management Board every four weeks. Thus in addition to trade union consultation, all major issues affecting the Service are discussed in the teams before a final decision is taken by the Management Board. A structure consistent with a decentralisa- tion strategy is in place. Systems are being developed to allow teams to operate semi- autonomously at local level while being able to influence the central management and direction of the Service. Six teams are already located in, or adjacent to their areas and the long-term goal is to decentralise in paired teams. This is obviously dependent on the Council's overall decentralisation policy. Employment issues and equal opportunities Clearly the changes outlined above had a significant effect on people in the service. Individual chief-officer and section-head posts were abolished and replaced by collective structures. This affected both existing groupings and the power of individuals throughout the organisation. Recently a substantial increase in the Capi- tal Programme due to deferred purchase arrangements has resulted in an increase in the establishment of BDS to around 300. This expansion created the opportunity to recruit more women and black and ethnic minority staff into the service and thus more closely reflect the make-up of the local community where around 40 per cent are black or ethnic minority. Over the last two years around 130 staff have been appointed. Half have been black or ethnic minority and just over one-third were women. The proportion of black and ethnic minority staff in the service has now risen to 34 per cent, while the proportion of women is around 25 per cent. The changes have taken place at all levels. Of the twelve people now on the Management Board (expanded dup to increasing establishment), three are women and half are black or ethnic minority. 8 Sixteen trainee posts have been established covering all professions. The emphasis in recruitment is to secure employment for local school leavers — again, particularly women and black and ethnic minority young people. There are also three multidisciplinary trainee posts to enable young people to sample the different disciplines for six months each before deciding on their -careers.' Clearly these changes in the composition of the Service are not only of importance in employment terms but also for the quality and sensitivity of the work produced. This point has been stressed by Councillor Peter Doble, Chair of E*nu Haringey's Planning Committee: 'A growing percentage of women and black and ethnic minority people work within the Building Design Service. The views and concerns of these groups have been underrepresented in traditional hierarchical offices. A collective structure with the emphasis on equality of participation should begin to ensure that •a diversity of views are given voice. At the same time, we are intending to achieve much greater accountability to the people who use our buildings.' Quality and user control The belief that the quality of architectural design is dependent on the involvement of the building user is a theme which runs throughout the systems being developed in the Service. Three extra technical posts have. been agreed to advance work on methods and systems for user consultation; to co-ordinate the formulation and development of design briefs for buildings', and to establish and monitor responsive design standards and practices in relation to the needs of black and ethnic minority people, women, and the elderly and people with disabilities. Accountability to representatives of building users as well as to Council members takes place at area sub-committees at a formal level and with tenants' associations before and during the rehabilitation of existing buildings. Design work is also carried out for community centres 'and voluntary groups where the architect works closely with building Users, Recently completed examples include a Women and Children's Centre in Tottenham and nursery for West Indian Under Fives. Currently designs are under way for 'the refurbishment, tof Haringey's Women's , Centre, where the design and construction will be carried out by women. At Broadwater Farm an on-site design group has been established which will eventually have around 25 staff. Representatives of the Youth Association and Residents' Association took part in the recruitment of the team, and regular meetings take•place with community representatives, council, Iors and client officers to agree day-to-day issues, and monitor progress on schemes which include workshops and a community centre. -It is hoped that this close involvement of the community in the selection of the people who will design their buildings will become general policy in due course. Contracts compliance The Building Contracts Compliance Unit has already been referred to as a means Of ensuring fair competition between private contractors and the DLO. As part of this process contractors are required to comply with technical and employment criteria including equal opportunities. All contracts let at Broadwater Farm for example specify the employment and training of local unemployed labour as a condition, and this is being extended to cover all contracts. A new approved list is currently being compiled to ensure that small local firms, particularly of women and black and ethnic minority workers, are able to tender for council work in the future. Summary The Building Design Service over the past two years has been developing systems of internal accountability to positively encourage co-operative and collective working within the Service. Building on the practical experience of staff at Broadwater Farm and other schemes where tenants are involved in briefing designers, methods are being established to allow regular consultation and feedback from building users on the quality, performance and appearance of all buildings designed by the Service. When the enterprise of transforming Haringey Design Service was begun there was a clear understanding that only by making public services more accessible and more democratic could they hope to or indeed deserve to survive. Employers in the private sector of architecture represented by the RIBA, recognised nearly 10 years ago that changes were required to meet the rapid decline in traditional workload and general changes in the building industry. . . . community architecture is not a passing trend. Economic and Social pressures will ensure that for many architects, the nature of the job will change . . . (from RIBA Report — cited in Architect's Journal 19.4.78) The RIBA were naturally anxious to find areas in which private practice could con- tinue to function profitably, to help ride out the then crisis in the industry, but also adapt to longer-term structural changes. The fact that the 1985 Conference on community architecture was not only addressed by the Prince ofWales but partly financed by Regalian Properties, Bovis and the Wates Foundation demonstrates the growing importance attached to this sector of the economy by big business as well as by the private architectural profession. The private sector is therefore moving into areas of work which ought to be met by the public design services. The potential of being something more than an echo of private architectural practice has always been a challenge. It can be grasped as described in this article. The necessary changes are dependent for their success on the skill and commitment of the staff and the continuing support of the union, Council members and building users. JOHN MURRAY John Murray is a team leader in Haringey's Building Design Service, and has been Coordinator of the Management Board for the last two years 9 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource PCL (Paul Hoggett) 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 July 1987 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/a66104a58388f32cfdaa4f8c38a834a1.pdf e5f5e7f46f8d4b5e1903ea22bc6e074f Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Service - A Personal History Subject The topic of the resource A personal history from the first NAM Congress in November 1975 to 2006 describing the development of NAM ideas in Haringey and subsequently in Russia and Slovakia. Description An account of the resource A PUBLIC DESIGN SERVICE A PERSONAL HISTORY At the first NAM conference in November 1975, at the request of Brian Anson of ARC, I presented a paper on a National Design Service. Subsequently, along with people from a variety of locations, including Adam Purser, a former Brian Anson student we developed the ideas from the initial paper, which proposed involving tenants and users in the design process and collective responsibility on the part of the design teams. Although we in NAM’s Public Design Service Group didn’t manage to achieve this nationally, we did more or less achieve it in Haringey. In Haringey we developed area based multi- disciplinary design teams, so that people in teams owed allegiance to their teams rather than to their professions and, through their teams, to the community they served. Team Leaders were also accountable to their teams and the Service Coordinator was elected from amongst the Team Leaders. At the same time as we in NAM were developing our ideas, young Labour councillors who had emerged from tenants’ struggles like Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Grant in Haringey were beginning to be elected. They were fully supportive of our ideas. Jeremy Corbyn was the Chair of the Planning Cttee, which at that time oversaw the Architects Service. Jeremy and his committee approved the NAM proposals for 8 multi-disciplinary area teams. He chaired the panel, which selected the team leaders including myself. We then worked closely with him defending public services like the DLO against Tory government attacks. I was appointed as the team leader of the Wood Green Team in 1979. Our main work was the rehabilitation of the 19C Noel Park Estate, designed by Rowland Plumb for the Artisans and Labourers Dwellings Company for workers on the new railway line out of London. The Council took it over in 1966. It’s a marvellous estate, set out on a gridiron plan with very small houses which had baths in the kitchens and outside WCs. We put in new bathrooms and kitchens. With the tenants and housing officers we worked out an efficient system which enabled us to renovate 100 houses a year on time and on cost. We also completed a new award-winning sheltered housing scheme. By 1985 the new arrangements were fully approved. I was elected as the Coordinator. As part of a policy to encourage local young people to become involved in architecture, each team appointed two local young people as trainee architects. We were asked to establish a team at Broadwater Farm after the 1985 riots. A few years later George Meehan the Chair of Housing complained to me that the team had gone native. I suggested that this was a mark of their success and took his complaint as a compliment. Eventually during a restructuring in 1990, the Personnel Service brought us more into line with other Council Services and I became the Borough Architect. The restructuring removed some of our autonomy though and we became part of a Directorate. To supplement the service income in the light of a declining capital programme, in 1988 we established Haringey BDS public sector consultancy and obtained work from housing associations and from other councils, such as Newham and Tower Hamlets in London and from Leicester and Nottingham. Eventually the consultancy provided 15% of service income. As part of a consortium, we won in competition a project in Moscow to create a small business support agency. The UK Govt. Know How Fund funded the project. Based on our work with Broadwater Farm, we collaborated with the University of Cambridge to provide advice to Bratislava City Council in A PUBLIC DESIGN SERVICE A PERSONAL HISTORY Slovakia on renovation of a large concrete panel estate. This project also funded by UK Govt. Know How Fund. Our project in Moscow was deemed a success and was eventually opened by the Minister. At the end of the project our team and the Russians began to look for ‘life after death’. Using the Russians’ Komsomol contacts we travelled all over Russia giving seminars. Eventually we won an EU TACIS bid to provide small business support agencies in 23 Russian cities. My colleagues asked me to join them in the new project so I decided to leave Haringey in 1994 to work with my former colleagues in Russia. After the first project was complete in 1996, in conjunction with Russian SMEs and Housing Associations we won an EU TACIS funded project to develop economic sustainable housing in Chelyabinsk, a large industrial city in the Urals. I worked in collaboration with Jon Broome of Architype who provided the house design. Subsequently built in Liverpool but alas not in Russia as the 1998 Russian financial crash put a stop to the implementation of our project. In 1998 two colleagues and I established SEEDS (Social, Economic, Educational Development), a not for profit organisation which aimed to inform policies, influence practice and to generate projects which help to implement a set of social objectives. Through SEEDS we won a DFID funded social housing renovation project in Ekaterinburg, the capital city of the Russian Ural region, to develop a low cost, tenant-driven renovation model for the 5 storey so-called Khrushchev flats which house some 40m Russians, mostly poor. A key feature of the project was to encourage residents to become involved in the proposals for their flats and to persuade the city administration to involve residents in decisions affecting their homes. I was the leader of the project and involved some of my old Broadwater Farm colleagues in the team. We designed a project with DFID to implement our findings and in 2001 were in the middle of tendering for it when the Government decided to divert money away from Russia to Africa. Perhaps they were right but we and our Russian colleagues were very disappointed. We tried unsuccessfully for EU TACIS funding before finally accepting defeat. In 1999 I was asked by my old NAM and Haringey colleague Andy Brown to apply for an Interim Manager’s job with Southwark Building Design Service. I did so and then worked intermittently at Southwark until 2007 when my assignment to procure sub consultancies to supplement the work of in-house staff ended. Unfortunately Southwark Building Design Service which was the last Borough Architects Service in London was closed down a short while later. Since 2006 I have been working as the volunteer coordinator for the North London Group of Different Strokes, a charity which supports working age stroke survivors. John Murray 15 October 2015 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource John Murray Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Murray Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 15 October 2015 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/0fd4f708a523a76014aebb676e5f4a04.pdf d54b369243f9ed0ca6d29a6338363891 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Haringey Experiment in Public Design Subject The topic of the resource Development of NAM PDS Group proposals Description An account of the resource HARINGEY EXPERIMENT IN PUBLIC DESIGN NAM PUBLIC DESIGN SERVICE Between 1979–1985, Haringey Council Architects Department implemented a number of pioneering features from the New Architecture Movement (NAM) proposals for a Public Design Service, many of which went on to become adopted more widely. See NAM Report ‘Community Architecture – A Public Design Service?’1 to the Minister of Housing. Summary in 1978 Building 2 Design article . A key feature was accountability to users based on the idea that the excesses of slum clearance and high-rise housing promoted by Conservative central government but implemented by local government architects would not have been so readily achieved if tenants and building users had had a say in what was being produced for them. (eg, the Broadwater Farm Estate where a planning brief based on the seemingly spurious argument about high water table resulted in the prohibition of dwellings at ground level and access by walkways at first floor level). The main NAM PDS proposals adopted by Haringey are summarised below: 1. Area based teams rather than function based teams to ensure accountability to users. 2. Multi disciplinary teams to ensure accountability to projects rather than to professions. (Pioneered by Building Design Partnership and Arup Associates in the private sector but unknown in the public sector at this time). 3. Project Architects to be responsible to Committee for their projects. 4. Team Leaders to be responsible to their teams. 5. Service Head to be elected from team leaders. Election to be ratified by Council. The purpose of these proposals was to ensure that architects were properly identifiable and accountable to both tenants and users as well as to committees. This system worked well. Subsequently, accountability to users was incorporated as a standard procedure by Central Government. (eg DOE Estate Action bids). It was also adopted by the RIBA’s Community Architecture group, which eventually spawned firms such as Hunt Thompson. Area based teams and multi disciplinary working also became the norm for other London LA architects departments such as Camden, Islington and Southwark. WHY HARINGEY? These proposals for a public design service accountable to tenants and users, coincided with a number of other factors which lead to the ideas being developed in Haringey: 1. Under the then Housing Chair, George Meehan, Haringey Council had pioneered the involvement of tenants in the design of a new housing cooperative at Pelham Court in Tottenham. Bert Dinnage of the Borough Architects Service designed the scheme. The first phase was completed in 1980. 2. John Murray, one of the founders of the New Architecture Movement and a Haringey resident, approached Bert Dinnage to discuss how a new form of public design service could develop incorporating his experience at Pelham Court and the ideas of NAM. 1 “Community Architecture – A Public Design Service?” Report to Minister of Housing, author John Murray, NAM Public Design Group, written in response to an RIBA proposal that community architecture should be provided by private architects 2 Building Design Magazine 13 October 1978 1 HARINGEY EXPERIMENT IN PUBLIC DESIGN 3. The NAM proposals were debated and agreed by staff at meetings of their NALGO trade union. 4. The then Borough Architect Alan Weitzel was sympathetic to the new ideas. 5. New radical Labour councillors such as Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Grant supported the proposals. They themselves had campaigned for neighbourhood committees which included tenants’ representatives as well as councillors. 6. In 1979 the first restructuring took place with the creation of Area Design Teams carrying out all the work in their area. They superseded specialist design teams such as Education or Housing. John Murray was appointed as one of the eight new Team Leaders. (The councillors appointment panel was chaired by Jeremy Corbyn, chair of the Planning Committee). John Murray lead the Wood Green Team whose main work was the rehabilitation of the historic Noel Park Estate. He continued to work with colleagues and to develop the proposals. 7. John Murray was then asked by the Chief Executive Roy Limb to act as the liaison officer between the Borough Architects Service and the trade unions and officers of the Direct Labour Organisation (DLO) to prepare for the Conservative Government’s Planning and Land Act which was the forerunner of compulsory tendering for local government services in the 1980s. This lead to constructive discussions with the DLO Trade Unions convenor Dennis McCracken and the UCATT convener Hughie Dagens and also with Bernie Grant, the Chair of the Public Works Committee responsible for the DLO. To achieve fair tendering, a system was developed by the Contracts Compliance Working Party, an interdepartmental team chaired by John Murray, which measured the performance of firms against key performance indicators, so that only high scoring contractors were invited to tender through the approved list. In 1982 John Murray was seconded by the Chief Executive on the recommendation of UCATT shop stewards to manage PELAW (Partnership Experiment in Local Authority Works), a pioneering workers cooperative Direct Labour Design and Build organisation which required support in meeting its programme and financial targets. By 1985, the Borough Architects Service had developed into the new Haringey Building Design Service (BDS) comprised of eight multi-disciplinary, area-based design teams accountable to area committees. The Management Board of Team Leaders became the head of service. The Coordinator of the Management Board was to be elected, the decision to be ratified by a Council Committee. John Murray became the elected head of the new service in 1985. This system worked successfully with the support of Councillors and Committee Chairs. People were attracted to work in such an innovative organisation and in a Council which encouraged equal opportunities, so the service never had trouble getting good staff; more women and people from ethnic minority communities were appointed (a considerable number of whom were in senior positions), so that the service composition became one of the first to be more reflective of the community it served. By 1990, over 60% of the staff were black and ethnic minority and 30% were women. This compares to 22% and 14% respectively in 1985. As an example of community involvement, local people were involved in the selection of the Broadwater Farm BDS Team established after the riots in 1985. The team implemented a 10-year £80m estate action programme, ensuring the use of local labour and encouraging BWF Youth Association Coop to carry out work on the estate. The award–winning Broadwater Farm workshops were designed by the Broadwater Farm Team and built by the BWF Coop. 2 HARINGEY EXPERIMENT IN PUBLIC DESIGN Architectural Trainees As part of a policy to encourage local young people to become involved in architecture, each of the eight teams appointed two local young people as trainee architects. The majority were young black and ethnic minority men and women who were sponsored through college. Wider Impact In terms of the wider impact of these changes, Graham Towers in his book Building Democracy: Community Architecture in the Inner Cities, records that, “The events in Haringey sent ripples through technical departments in neighbouring Boroughs. Many staff disillusioned by being typecast into specialist roles, were attracted to the new way of working...In Camden, an alliance of staff and councillors succeeded in introducing area working. A similar alliance developed in Islington Architects Department and ...eventually bore fruit. Subsequently, the new approach was adopted in some other authorities. Area team working brought a new structure to public service, giving a more accessible and accountable approach to public capital projects”. (Building Democracy: Community Architecture in the Inner Cities, pp 142,143, Graham Towers). Award-winning Designs Quality of work was recognised in Dept of Environment and Civic Trust design awards plus awards for energy conservation work. The Wood Green Team carried out the rehabilitation of the historic 19th century Noel Park housing estate, built by the Artisans and Labourers Dwelling Co, including phasing of design and construction work to ensure annual delivery of 100 completed renovations. Tenants were involved in developing the design and there was a show house for each Phase. Tenants’ satisfaction surveys were carried out at the end of each phase by architectural students. Palace Gates Sheltered Housing Scheme, designed in the Wood Green Team following briefing by future tenants and built by the Council’s Direct Labour Organisation, won a Civic Trust award. Public Sector Consultancy To supplement the service income in the light of a declining capital programme, in 1988, the Council approved the proposal from Haringey Building Design Service to establish a public sector consultancy to obtain work from other councils and from housing associations. Eventually by 1994, the consultancy provided 15% of service income. Based on work with Broadwater Farm community, BDS collaborated with the University of Cambridge to provide advice to Bratislava City Council in Slovakia on the renovation of a large concrete panel estate. UK Govt. ‘Know How Fund’ funded this project. In 1991, as part of a consortium, Haringey’s design service won in competition a project in Moscow to create a small business support agency. This project, supported by both the UK and Russian governments, was funded by the UK Govt. ‘Know How Fund’. This project proved very successful and the consortium and their Russian colleagues sought to have a similar project in 23 other Russian cities. John Murray was invited to join the new project funded by the EU, and decided he should leave Haringey to do so. As team leader of a subsequent DFID funded social housing renovation project in Yekaterinburg in the Russian Ural region, John Murray developed low cost, tenant-driven renovation model for the 5 storey “Khrushchev flats” which house some 40m Russians. A key feature of the project was to encourage residents to become involved in the proposals for their flats and to encourage the city administration to ensure that residents were able to participate in decisions affecting their homes. So NAM ideas spread to Russia as well. JM/26/03/14 3 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource John Murray Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Murray Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1979-1991 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/33158cdf2a51d538181ef19936ae6317.pdf 0842fbc285558df975d6e2392d014589 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource PDS GROUP Subject The topic of the resource Various papers and historical reports including Netherlands Community Architecture Description An account of the resource PDS GfeuP Aa) 18- Mav. 79 CG PRAaTICS @) eee Talealeact — AlGuecitivePadice ovillunlG « CA—Haxe44,)erestha1botaat ons we actug aunaebyer ~1 : bd | ° fase pale foot eb Elsah saya. epee alples ofice eet are, F ep ee ee cifinl To p—tedack She chant ‘ f Seiihvieehphe 4tel Hates fePRE | | OPadTeSEfl nyenemree itlPaaryoubart eeiresos Te | ee wkei ghe ysig et Fadyale eit SeoiynWnere he Ph Sacanges beginby do 4 ' a ana — - — %“=aT oe fee is anedp pal ae rbataet apes An re Mot PMN oeeT ve ThattoDesiy,, ® braae ae—ia Sa oe footlags Te ee Hetae lenopoaoegUeap — ; tlBg alin cagefe a ailepeeeEheLeei ee fein daWerzts iP 7a asoe Lrseorciatiaenee astetubenyeei ft nt ese | cmt —_— ee Se = ai i htheateG=age See ee HF ieee peq] A eeeylL ia ( anit, ard usar A - eee eeoii | Thun fle Yn daiclucdipars egindend by 1 C capitanoiegS geen pein q alfroAidgy, BHbecameWisceueceofRee ° eee aeseee AvilaleeatSAUthSieia,Se MI ae cox We Irot Me an selite & tact atte eumeluer Ot tneSON aac epeeee tteate [— p (a :Fe ————_—_—. — ee aN PhMnferet? toepostion1 ee anda jer Srtat iny epee Prochie Clots rutt oP — @ laceafte.He(\4¢FelicatitysRokyAilEexsketetra.eectsal ne atLeast fran ave fence the arcncts u—ele Sy Ch Seylepms LA Ft [hams THe OfPrwt—a a pidotce “ — : Remap oe iy: g 7 pode ioack}arATSCTy | aa precTlieiFcidetesecteyWafrcestheprevadlg G MVteAA‘shee es collate, le toe tyoa ae in lbhut, bett, i cally on SE iontictcAe Tere bene Olieoftounre>IieSaidMovot. 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As NAns atagunak pat & te Momepaliss Cou mas |'nx (2) | enehjsis afHh . haleupp+ aRIGACarmelao ALCUL cullGaye Tse bool ane Olneenalid by patbnar for theme practa,./| [prrtice wm t wselA also tdve hac fodrotane || a Shep a thin SPbabaseses Shey,SaQntiy ewgolfru Ofpuction | . | pas Fham midiima, seat oracle’ (eofle), astale F| According ft Some 26%, oY prackiss, reveiiteler hardle Got ove EO, ofravk by (lie and erofoler] Go yf | Stlirnndantlicf tThDrigeteSeto).hr . wv — ° ° Ke SamoSetogapralelsAndaW"hsee fash Tryon tr (4)Prete + a Norma,AthorasMegcalo ws a eS ——S prachct re. 1 dul ene hspias He AU” avehalctt wil bau) partneyr ne ce cancel— dannof acloffhe nsoEYHasBLED ny fe Wyle fh ctf 85 seal en e022 Ietyelo oe Ce hee}apfureroa Ke Mo ral 1 Uu a5aayzov eee oemite a aeby ) cote Chefae eea Ze LidhiA | 1 ba. o thew Aefparhas-Lr %& Bb : ofmieperdodandoo to.asox feriate practtoata,bat antl. aate | AsampleSumvegfSeg sap Salta pes 1 Cat.officepane ee cbpluled vit Voce 0fpluid %evenlpupet-&Le oe HvStileenvyla»Theerttahle Bp nnicLtol up tule =Pepin Sabana,’ yee of fecal Salante,Bee ee May eeThoee es ¥ one atiadnmvanbertemamnoubaruniaee: - = = Artitzctone Y0prachced ' b. oetle, an eto Gwalily yee és hs 1 barann wills svetely ~G) BD &, / wets, cans wate 4a tae ‘totais fancks ent aaa he a t fo pe az th bot ‘© Admit, Yo turrting tes Nene afte, UeGantdy AVe cntofWtawh, becauneAysviavthReduceAe ag Une Ass fetter 1} howe o,.scot © Kedluce labow) Hime expt.oted, Gow 2 relative Waa tt tr pega Meprope CtueD, nears aeihea)HeaaS | .«A monte ©Nice bildiog Aiea bok qWirtimable tote, ta bo @ Guth hatea fev s bare himanred Consfan7, feorc 4tunete 3 — Tees Ss -rt es SF te -—__ A St Cieee . Gets tt —ste a ybueg)Lt Micongquoldy tHebe Tew 4 Af L SolefSouee i sa 2Shull Of buldhg ThocyloWesat tesfeds : fe the ) Apne,t alcat procuctosby : ey Convtceeu ie Aevelus Hoey awn AW aa eel /oo at shuha« ae mi S| on.ioe: Se jpeg /SRU 2 Pony Cole yutansaf Liphihied | Uonl WedthangAosalueifaff7 Lot eh evade \JPhe Hurrah 2Q 4Gwile? ees lishack WJ G) AMlnrA fo preload in.bs | anyAlas”duby 29 | ee aie We wt hains Pp Design. Semeex “Se pin\i x ms a as =a -- hy, may ¥ oT: — } a& ‘ ones *) Us a ' r fr | | |i iK { Dear “ igen. rr Aig,e~) — =< 82, Kimberley Rd. Leicester, July 16th. '79 o nS your group rep, please can you get your group to discuss and &ct on the following: The preparation for Congress is now underway and @ arart &genda h&s peen drawn up Oy the Liaison Group. Acopy of this agenda Will oe circulated to &ll groups in the Liaison Group Minutes. £. Annual report (brief), and motions (if any): These will be needed by the first week of October So that they can be sorted out and printed in time to send to people before Congress. - So start Writing now. » 0. Display panel(s): We would like each &roup to prepare a bright, attractive, zappy display panel Showing in an easy to assimilate form the Work, projects and activities they have deen involved in. This will form an exhivition Giving 4n introduction to i. Workshop topics; lhis year we are departing from previous practice and organising workshops (Some of them With sympathetic people from outside N.A.M.) which cut &cross our oWn specialist &roups. You should ve Betting @ more detailed list soon. Can you Send us any criticisms of existing workshops or Proposals Tor new ones that you may have, preferably before mid-August. We can obviously change things right up till the beginning of Congress, but it Would be vetter to get things sorted Out &S soon &8 possible for effective Publicity ete. N.A.W.'3 work at the Congress. For those of us who are not so well organised - a timetable: r id-August: suggestions re. workshops. 1979 N.A.M. Congress, ist. week in Octover: Annual report &nd motions. Novemoer: display panels. Bev. Daa Prepwrals Now you've got no excuses, We look forward to hearing from you. Yours fraternally (or Sidlingly?) Jobn Mitchell, for Congress organising cttee. _ ‘ rar é j a Aaa ye ; 42 5) lhasland Sa. Mm,{-éINAIASpCal)=La (Dy‘typeCyile5bytwd.}.!a ectBsoepeif u‘, (oi. Cl- fos lS? Ne L Adon SE f Pease reply to above address, or Phone Leicester \daytime) if you've got any queries. 671513 ext ge NM lO FUTURE cote- Should Rap cpag Ted Eeposh aeWieGeyaeLys.Y. ee Lech bel Dine G, [Min saggyeld auc if bes Ment te pact, po ette eae ro ED. Proge,feaemnTaee Bb 3 reteGarcon, obenMetall,teMary, e‘of ‘ 4ptmKplnpteLf,feyhyeiTieee eel ASty-Fe cae DSState, 32 Bri&ceho Meleganr Meo dipriofcSfepaeld DLO, 4:0 DEGAe cithelaeser, e<aA[lobiast AbshatoeSsocaAIPe ne Rea or 2: —— oe =: a PoloGraewee.ti®nprtayeartuclhhbnPN4fartss « eo MantLs tfrre. Depry a*Geoulp iat Group eBelectfeo« a (htad« c A Laos ae a a eer pocet esthiloYueG « Ponaukitcun ros precoato ae NpavelleledhyLn clb»eThelTclyena~ (AY Ulichasacttandipstes S.ReetolerlnehorltiltedBeeGAprs!)| F2 dulyMictgofEtucatlnnGroup tbealtel. G2 fdweny oF war Srmenns Sherk Ulm « f acocun ae jo see of Fe85n- o nie~vemaclayUarctilzoture,teet—a(ey KEL | bo +bre dpeuned nin nio~ hareatk Sy Som Cr-hetzhX~ t theopelicah 1stlS ca beArena it 52 Crtistel scheotls, Speculataiootn ant ofit willbeers eq Uirhidfo Mrefta,eait 10 Wiki Fare Prot « Sop nev qritnEgo Huon Dobra Sc UAtSerdceuP LELRERT :(obo~ Mifell) a 2 mol ance bodewieKheAmeSoSage « No ene | VO MELT MEETING: _ . 3 lest i.; | u7, 60 Commwnity AremtecTULE COmFEMGnee « profotl7teli ee 5at.deh, Ee ee aaa 7 tlaae ebOthewre.Minto&praySOEAe aayeder| it the goat tmtagh yp)beat ict Ga ypen Wife pa LA. ARCHITECT'S DEPARTMENTS — UNDER THE AXE? job Cen 25% | iia <r a pet if (N ae (ANskein , With the Conservative Government now seemingly entrenched for a five year term the effects of their promises to drastically reduce public spending, and to place major importance on the private sector, are Starting to be felt. The Conservative manifesto stated that they did not intend to use the construction industry as an economic regulator, but it is becoming increasingly obvious that they have to do this, and that the cuts will hit the industry severely. The Group of Eight have already reacted by lobbying the new Environment Secretary, Michael Heseltine, on a number of points, including their beleif that any further cuts will jeopardise the industry's chances of handling the country's future needs, and that the change in emphasis i to the private sector will cause many short-term problems. The construction unions have all expressed concern and threatened action, UCATT in particular has pledged to oppose any restrictions on D.L.O's. Various bodies concerned with housing, most notably Shelter and many Labour councils, have attacked the proposed drops in councilhouse building and increases in councilhouse sales. Soar Architects will of corse be as hard hit as everyone else concerned with the provision of buildings. Their workload must drop as the level of construction ddops (even allowing for labour intensive rehab work). They will have to design to even greater cost controls and to even lower standards, and will bear the blame for the resulvs. j ait Private practice may hope to gain from two possible sources, the transferal of work from L.A. architects departments and an upsurge in private sector building. L.A. architects departments are in a more difficult situation. They will be expected to bear most of the cutpacks in architectural services. If the government succeeds in it’s aims these departments will have work taken away from them, will suffer serious stafi reductions, will lose their heads and be absorbed in other departments to hide the losses, and their activities will be generally curtailed as much as possible. { di Yet although there have been many defences for general construction levels, council housing and direct labour, L.A. architects have so far not risen to the defence of their departments, and their jobs. The other interested bodies are defending themselves, why aren't L.A. architects? i i their cause any less defensible? Any such defence of L.A. architects departments must firstly consider @ number of points, including how effective the Conservatives can be with their policies, and where room will be left for local autonomy for .«f tae councils. Then the results of these considerations must be coupled | eis their cause any more’ hopeless than that of direct labour workers, is ‘if [ito arguments for the need for (and the worth and possibilities of) these in-house departments, ‘ It is of course impossible to say how succesful the Conservatives will } be with their attempted switch to the private sector, but a look at i council house sales can give us an idea, I A survey carried out by Shelter has shown that one in every six tenants who have bought their owm homes have lost them within twelve months due |} to failure to keep up payments. In the private sector the record isn't much better. Glasgow for instance has 120 applications to it's housing list every year from families who cannot keep up their mortage repayments: on private houses. Even with discounts the people who are tempted by ; Heseltines aprle of home ownership are not going to find it easy. There is some doubt that they will be even able to sell that many houses. ; Edinburgh has only sold 600 houses out of a stock of 57,000 since the war! with a continuous policy of house sales. This is a pattern repeated s throughout Sritain: witiz: the exception of London, Leeds and Birmingham and the rise of the minimum lending rate to 14% is bound to bring a reduction in all house sales, , ; Prypmmur -- Gg o- Papal Gre F Shuts bs Cc & sfes (aoe Moir ; re £ c /ats x NMRLS | —5 The implications of these figures are that in housing the private market will not be able to rise sufficiently to compensate for the drop in council houses, Even if developers do manage to build more houses who will buy them? There would anyway be a serious delay before private developers could increase their housebuilding, leaving another shortfall in housing starts, The Conservatives are therefore likely to be embarasse by the lack of housing starts over the next year and the pressure for Similarlyt}he Government will be under pressure when unemployment rises | especially in the building trades. The Conservatives may have a 44 seat majority but that does not mean that they can easily enforce their policies, They are reliant on the private sector to take advantage of the help they will be offering it. They are reliant on the money market to release enough capital for private investment, They are subject to pressure from various bodies including trade unions and local councils, 4 i bg The Conservatives will try to carry out their policies by means of Stricter control on the way that Local Authorities Spend their money. However they have also promised a certain amount of local autonomy. Mostly this autonomy will be in choosing which standard or service to Cut, but there will be some room for local decision making. They will find it hard to force some Labour Councils to abolish their D.L.0's or to sell their council houses. In the Same way Some Local Authorities wil., defend their architects departments, seeing them as an integral part of council buiding provision, ; ; 4 4 j L.A. architects departments have been the subject of much criticism in tH recent years, both from within the profession and outside. As part of a public service and a non-profit making institution they are naturally viewed as a threat to the prevailing ideology of individualism ana the market place. Cries of unfair competition can be heard from private practitioners , but what they are worried about is any competition, as building contractors are worried about D.L.0O's. Private practice already handles a substantial amount of local authority work and would be grateful to have more. 1 1)te Tenants and building users often associate L.A. architects departments | with all the faults of recent council house building. However a lot of the decisions which led to these faults were out of the architects vans and much of the work was done by private practices, Local authority | ; { TAs ee ,architects aren't blameless but they aren't the only culprits either. rp Local authority design has actually been receiving more favourable publicity recently, the AJ for instance has been criticised for it's m €mMphasis on local authority work. The prevailing ideology however leads to private practice being judged on it's better products, whilst local i authorities are judged by their failures. if To defend in-house departments it is necessary to to analyse what they | can offer that private practices can't. These departments are the only way of getting a continuity of service, with direct links to user % departments and the possibility of feedback, The London Borough cf { Hammersmith for example has co-ordinated and ‘integrated it's functions of; design, planning and housing management in an attempt to link housing ; policy implementation to actual housing needs. This integration would be i| impossible without in-house departments. (see AJ 25/4/79 pg 847) Unfortunately Hammersmith have not included their D.L.0O. in this integration, but it could be done, and it would lead to necessary links between design and construction, t The London Borough of Haringey have also reorganised their design process. They have restructured their architects department as a design co-operative in an attempt to overcome bureaucracy, give greater job Satisfaction, and to establish vital links with the community. The ; department has been split into area &roups who will do a cross-section of work and will have close contacts with tenants associations and community groups, The normal hierarchies have been flattened with job architects reporting direct to the Borough architect, team leaders only being responsible for job co-ordination. (see BD 4/5/79 vg +) }jf Dave Green/ public Design Service Group/ NAM/ June '79. f BANesting, ; “ai: E i ee am — L.A. architects departments could go much further in this direction. The ideas of Haringey and Hammersmith are Similar to the proposals of the New Architecture Movement's Public Design Service Group, as put : forward in their paper 'Community Architecture- a Public Design Service!*| These proposals include area control of resources, area based teams, f more responsibility for job architects, t.e flattening of hierarchies, and contacts with D.L.0's, One of the main problems with councils is that although councillors are elected on an area basis they serve on function committees where they have to make decisions on an assumed general interest. To safeguard ; local interests area committees are needed. These could be made up of representatives of tenants and.residents groups, trade unions and the local councillors, They could deal with the council matters that relate to their area, briefing architects and approving designs and standards. So that architects could relate to these area committees and make extra contact with the users of there buildings they nee? +o be organised! 3 on an area basis as well, For job architects to get involved in their work, and to take 7.- f responsibility for ti, it is necessary for them to report direct to committee, which would cut down irresponsible work done under blind ‘ orders. The present vertical structuring of architects departments sts from the lave 19th. Century model, which private practices have since changed to a system of multiple partners each with their own area of responsvdilit Local Authorities have however made more and more tiers of non-design ; staff to control the job architect. If the cuts are to hit anywhere it rid should be this hierarchical structure, through redeployment of staff, ae ; To spread the architects range of contacts, which would enable them to design more responsibly, joint working groups with D.L.0's could be 4 j set up. These could lead the way to an integrated design and build system, Te These changes would enable greater contact with tenants, and would give those tenants a greater say in their environment. It is by these means that a real community architecture could be established. Local authority architects therefore offer a unique Opportunity in architecture today, an integration of the building process in complete contrast to it's present fragmented state. ; a i Therfore we need to defend these departments both for their value now i and for their value in the future. The case is by no means hopeless. i Other local authority workers are fighting with some success to maintain } wtheir position as part of a service, and some of the more progressive \ councils have shown themselves sympathetic to ideas for reorganisation i i| put forward by staff, as at Haringey. The means of action for this defence need to be varied. Any attempts : >i at cutbacks or reorganisation should be met with alternative proposals, Organisation within NALGO should be attempted. The RIBA should be lobbied, if only to see their reaction. Councils need convincing of the worth of their architects departments and general publicity of the positive sides of local authority architectire is needed, i zy *'Community Architecture-a Public Design Service' is available from NAM, 9 Poland St. London W1 £1.00 A meeting of the PDS group to discuss the issues in this article will be held on Sat. July 7th at / SO rr2peSpee ers+ ere oe AD * raat’ oe Naeseed Hows= Cvaerored tcmad ¢wo) oN‘OQUN‘HA = Satis <n. ye Bom Hos urxckand ;‘ COmee ¥ e-oeaeNe\culeme)semeke Cw) The wad wr Ptebob ly jos eleqekee ERO MOK, houren P ger po Decauna eo Comm0rle ifyou Aare ay p 1! See nlaMela~ | “ )prpf afee Crrafa~;| +hefrertuceolnyet dian. 'ofh,oe ber shail nor empro iy 15 Of Statutory appr ' BRYAN HARRY RidFERSON. TASSac EL oe member shall not take scouts Pucement to shaw favour to anv denmMeNnd oF allow # Peice or product in der shall not carry ¢ company. . Pies authority. respo whom he isprofessin nee ~ s ciate 26 Amember wll 5 » sup sr ns . wate Ober * OfSEra genera with. Crawal of the labour of members without first tax, @ Datiot vote of 9 4 central government department. a foal authorrty, he whove of ine Mmambershio and two-tnirds of the vosca cast berg Public board or corporation or Comenercial firm or cOMoaNy shait in favour in the event of the necessary majority of voles be arrange win hes emplover that ine Susiness of that body so far as Obtained for strike achon, Ihe Execute Commitioe shail be tuiry Lrelates19architecture*SConductedinConformitywithtreCose authorisedtogwemeNecessarystnkeMOlCeOnDehsifofati Members concemed Ths procedure Sra atso apply in the Case of @ NOCh-Out by the employers as regards rejusas 0 accept their A marmber who is unable to ensure tratthe business of ms SMBIOVEr FS $0 Conducted shall furnish the RIBA with awnten decharanon of the facts ‘ f i si lermy 6.30 tuesday5 june PCL. 104-108 bolsover st-W/1, Rules : ——— 2.1 Armember shatt Not have such -Pe via exhibition -bar- refreshments | 5~ Sponsored by London branch of TASS Building Design Staff 25 Amembdor snail nor actin disregard of the Professional ablaarons OF Quahficatons of INE from who CEWVeS OF f0 Whom he months on arrears Deett snail rez @oniteciural business of 8nv body corporate or un NCOfoorate ime Seyord the terms iaig tne Executive Commit. .' The problems facing the building industry, both Shorter-term and Structural, have Produced a wide ranging and heated debate over recent years. At one stage, with the Iabour Party in office, the Partial nationalisation of the industry &long lines Proposed in Building Britain's Ratioren becdme & distinct POSSivility. The recent election of a Tory government, however, with their firm committment to monetarism aay ees his article Will take the form of @ review of Building Sritain's Future from the architect's Specific position Within the construction process. It will look &t changes in the organisation of the industry that &re necessary for the development of the New Architecture Movement's &im of a fully enterprise, has radically altereg this situation: CABIN has &ccountable ang democratic architectural Service. ie Suilding Britain's Future - Iabour's Policy on Construction. Ihe Labour Party. October 1977. 2. The Campaign Against Building Industry Nationelisation. This w&s the campaigning body set up by the contractors! organisations in opposition to Labour's Proposals. ( See 'Slate' no.g ) [HE NEED FoR CHANGE : construction Process, both to extend cooperation and understanding Within the industry and to increase Popular control over the design and Construction. The Toots of this split are complex, but for the last 150 years or So it has been a central element of 4rchitectural practice. It is a division of interests that has Produced, and is in turn reinforced by, the legal forms that govern Working relationships: it is inherent in the Contracting System. The effects of this division &nd the Problems it causes are obvious, as an R.I.B.A. official quoted in 5 Building Britain's Future has stated: is the Signal for the battle between the various parties - contractors, Su0-contractors, Suppliers and the various Professionals-— to commence, a battle which soon develops into a continuous tactical game of catch-as—catch-can, €&nd hard luck on the one left holding the baby when the music stops." There is an ODvious need to find ways in which this OppoSition and mistrust can be overcome, to create 4 relationship of cooperation between architects and Duilding Workers, where o- Building Britain's Future. p. 20, e@ch other's skills &nd abilities are recognised and can be creatively developed. A move in this direction requires not only @ change away from the contracting system and the conflict of interests it Produces, but also a Conscious effort to break down the dam& ging ideological divide between Professional and manual workers. This Process can be started OY Support for existing union Camp&igns around health and safety, unemployment, the lump, defence of direct labour, ina&dequate training and all the other problems Which not only affect Duilding workers, but also the Quality of the built environment and the Potential for constructive relationships between builder and architect. Cooperation can then begin to be built on the basis of common interest as workers in the construction industry. The section above has Srgued for changes Which start to increase democracy and Cooperation within the industry; of equal importance however, are attempts to make the industry as & whole more &ccountaple to the people who have to live in and With its products. Greater control is required over cost and Quality of Work. The problems and inefficiences of competitive tendering hawe been descrived very clearly in the document "Building with Direct Tabaueien They are also recognised by the Iabour Party: "... constant competition for each &nd every contract on the Sole basis of lowest tender price has not brought to the surface the most efficient contractor, or the best employer, but the 4. Building with Direct Iabour - Iocal authority building and the crisis in the construction industry. D.L. Collective. 1978 had TM effectively exploit Peculiarities of the market or the weakness of other Participants in the construction pidoestane; his SyStem, far from 8iving value for money, can often have disasterous effects on cost, quality and Subsequent m&intenance, especially for local authorities, During the Speculative boom Contractors to take on Work. When work is in short supply, on the other hand, competition for Public sector Contracts is fierce, and Contractors, having put in low original tender Prices, are often forced to cut corners: the resulting claims, skimped Work, bankruptcies and &SsSociated Problems al] push 4p costs and reduce quality. Although exaggerated during Periods of rapid expansion or depression, Poor quality ana high cost work are permanent features of a construction industry Organised around the contracting System. The result of al] this is that the Public Sector, which Commissions about a half of all building work in this country, has little real control over the cost and quality of work Produced, and it is the Public, Who pay for ang use the buildings, who Suffer the Consequences, o. Building sritain's Future. p.14 overall system of economic 4nd industrial planning. must be the development The most important aspect of control over the industry, of user control over the built environment, particularly at the local level. This requires not only a radical transformation Within &nd development It is on the the industry basis as a whole of these criteria - democratisation { of accountability | however, especially for architects, of existing architectural Services, but also a closer and longer term Cooperation between architects and builders; a cooperation Whereby links can be fostered between the entire building team and local tenants @roups and Community associations. From this a dialogue and understanding may develop, giving rise ® to @ quality and flexibility of work that is sensitive and responsive to local peculiarities ang the needs of the user. and popular control over the industry - and the implications they hold for architectural practice, that the Proposals contained in Building Britain's Future should be &nalysed, e, eee ee a enea eesMe Sew Process." THE LABOUR PARTY'S APPROACH : The severe recession facing the building industry has been 4 major factor Stimulating deoate; the Labour party's Proposals in Building Britain's Future are both a response to this immediate crisis and an attempt to solve some of the underlying structural Problems of the industry. These Problems, they argue, are vased on the fragmentation of the industry - a fragmentation of construction activity into Separate, finite contracts, and of construction organisation into numerous contractors, Sud-contractors, design Professionals etc.; reinforcing this fragmentation, and adding further Problems of its own, as outlined above, is the System of competitive tendering. The use, by government, of the construction industry &S &n economic regulator exacerbates this situation &nd makes for an industry characterised by its instability. This instability 4nd uncertainty causes Problems both for the contractors, with resulting large scale inefficiencies, &nd for the workforce, where job insecurity and lump la@oour make unionisation difficult, Siving rise to bad working conditions, appalling health and safety precautions and insufficient training. The extent of these defects and their complex inter- Connection lead the Iabour Party to conclude that: "None of them can be tackled in isolation; each makes sense only in the context of the others, and only a comprehensive &pproach can solve them. taken together they add Up, in our view toanSeeeecaseforradicalchangesintheconstruction 6. Building Britain's Future. p.20 De neEe >a C.I.M.B. o. Staoility of Work: Lo provide a stable flow of work industry, both terms of contractual of forward planning of a proportion the public client of the quantity to the construction and timing of work, and in from in terms proceedures. Systems for It proposes capital programmes, the extension & guarantee These "radical changes" take the form of a series of interventions in the organisation and the structure of the Quilding industry. The following is a Summary of these proposals, under the same Subheadings and in the same order as used in Building Britain's Future. 1. Puolic Spending: An "immediate and substantial" increase in public spending on construction is needed. 2. Working Conditions: By the registration of all employers and employees under the Construction Industry Manpower Board (C.I.M.B.) Standards of working conditions would be imposed on employers, JOD opportunities and manpower coordinated, 4 national apprentice training scheme established and trade union membership encouraged among registered employees. A levy on employers would provide fallback pay to all temporarily unemployed building workers registered under the C.I.M.B. In addition to this, a Code of Construction Site Practice would be drawn up ".prescribing high standards of safety and welfare 7 provision.". Public sector contracts would be limited to of future construction work against expenditure cuts, and a firms complying with this code and registered with the 7. Building Britain's Future. p.60 Would be ",.managed professionally as municipal enterprises" 8 reserve shelf of future spending programmes to be advanced or put back dependent on €conomic policy requirements. 4 Public Procurement Agency should be set up, based initially on the Property Services Agency of the D.0.E., to coordinate the letting of Public sector Contracts. There should be, in addition to this improved quantity and coordination of work, & move away from competitive tendering towards continuity and serial contracts, with a Code of Conduct laid down by the National Building Agency Covering negotiations between contractors and the Public client. To improve continuity Within the industry there Should be greater standardisation of building plans, Construction details €@nd components. 4. Public Ownership: This Would take three main forms. Firstly, the exp&nsion of direct labour departments, with national and regional Coordination, the right to tender for &ny work in the locality anda greater industrial democracy. These D.L.0.s &nd would operate in competition With private contractors. Secondly, the Setting up of a Publicly owned National Construction oe TEED, ",.basedinitiallyononeormorem&jorcon- tractors"; this Would take the form of a State holding company, Covering & number of different enterprises competing in n&étional and region@l construction markets. As with D.L.0.s, increased industrial democracy would be a feature of these enterprises, Thirdly, workers'cooperatives Would be encouraged at a4 local level through an extension of the Industrial 5. Building Britain's Future. p.61 9. Ibid. p.62 Common Ownership Act; these would operate mainly at the level of specialist Sud-contractors. In addition to this expansion of the public Sector, large private contractors should be brought into the Planning agreements System through an oi Planning agreements system. The Forestry Commission should Should ve used to promote the Standardisation of building | components. 6. Organisation: This , this suggests out of the hands of the R.I.B.A. & oody representing the whole industry, such as the Construction Industry Training Board. Recognising present exists between architects between design and construction, integration and as one way of achieving section proposes a closer that architectural education &nd put under the control of should be taken the conflict which at &nd contractors, a statutary Regulatory Board for Contracts, Procedures and Disputes in extension of the 1975 Industry Act. Building Materials: Increased public sector control of Production should be matched by increased control over the Supply of building materials. fo this end, a new state holding company, the Building Materials Corporation (B.M.C.), Should oe established. This would nationalise mineral rights and associated production facilities along with a range of monopoly materials Suppliers, including Pilkingtons, B.P.B. Industries, London brick, and one or more maéjor cement, ceramic tile, concrete roof tile, clay pipe, concrete slab and sanitary equipment manufacturers. Plumbing, heating and ventilation equipment producers Would be brought within the expand and diversify its activities and bulk timber importing consortia should be set up. This public sector involvement SpE rsenna 7 the Construction Industry, with trade union representation, hes been proposed as a means of solving these contractual disputes. In an attempt to secure a better deal for the client, Gesigners and contractors should be legally responsible for any faults in their work that might occur up to ten years after completion; a national indemnity scheme is Proposed to cover this liability. Among ways of ensuring greater client control over cost would be the greater independence of quantity Surveyors from the design team. In addition there are proposals for an independent Source of technical information for designers, possibly provided by the National Building Agency, and for a greater proportion of the industry's work to oe open to design competitions. This summary of the Iapour Party's proposals has been given in the form of a Shopping list, without comment or of the criteria established at the beginning of this article - the extension of democracy and cooperation within the industry, { criticism; its implications will now be examined in the light and the increase of popular control over the industry. CRITICISMS: Although different priorities &nd emphases might be Placed on many of the issues discussed in Building Britain's Future, there is little in the a@ims and intentions with Which to quarrel. A number of the proposals, however, seem to effectively contradict these stated aims and Severely restrict their 1. Contracting: Despite a lucid and coherent exposition of the problems and inefficiences of the contracting system, and particularly of its most common form, competitive tendering, the Proposals do nothing to undermine or replace this system of organisation in the construction industry. Continuity and serial contracts méy temper some of the worst excesses of the contracting systen, but the basic conflicts and divisions will remain. The Public Sector will still have little real control over the quality and cost of work, while public funds will continue to boost private profits, and the conditions will be created for further Widespread corruption. Especially important for architects, the continuation of this system will maintain the division of interests between architect and builder; the Labour Party's expressed desire for closer links between design and construction will not be achieved. Restricted to the private sector, this @pproach might be acceptable, put it also structures the proposals fora greatly expanded public Sector, both in direct labour and in the proposed National Construction Corporation. The advances represented by direct labour, both for the implementation. These will now be examined in greater detail. workforce and the client, have been clearly recognised, and a CRITICISus: 1. Contracting: Despite a lucid and coherent exposition of the problems particularly the proposals and inefficiences of the contracting system, and tendering, of its most do nothing in the construction méy temper but the basic contracts system, remain. The sector will cost of work, profits, and corruption. still have while public of this system architect and will maintain builder; the the division Labour Party's of interests expressed desire closer links achieved. Restricted be acceptable, greatly expanded will not be approach might the proposals both in direct Corporation. by direct labour, the proposed The advances represented both for the common form, to undermine competitive or replace this system of organisation the conditions Especially industry. Continuity some of the worst excesses conflicts and divisions will public little real funds will will be created important for architects, between design to the private out it also structures for a labour and in public sector, National Construction and construction sector, this and serial of the contracting control over the quality continue to boost private for further the continuation between for and widespread implementation. These will now be examined in greater detail. Although different priorities &nd emphases might be Placed on many of the issues discussed in Building Britain's Future, there is little in the a&ims and intentions with which to quarrel. A number of the proposals, however, seem to effectively contradict these stated aims and severely restrict their workforce and the client, have been clearly recognised, and a Significant expansion of D.L.0.s is planned, &llowing both an increase in new construction work undertaken and the right to compete for work with both private firms &nd other public bodies in the locality. For this expansion to take place, the document argues that D.L.0.s must ve "..run. as municipal enterprises, and not purely as local authority service departments." : This is & fundamental Shortcoming in the Iabour Party's Proposals. Some supporters of direct labour argue for competitive tendering on the grounds that it Will prove the efficiency of D.L.0.s against private contractors, but as Building Britain's Future itself contends, the original tender price bears little relation to subsequent cost, efficiency and quality of work. (It ais Worth noting that this form of Sccountability is not only ineffective, but also restrictive, in that the &ccounts of direct labour departments, at present open to public Scrutiny, Would have to become confidential, to avoid the passing on of information to Competitors.) All this is not to deny a need for close control of direct labour accounts but to say that competitive tendering does not provide a suitable basis for this control. Direct Labour departments offer the potential for the creation of locally based, democratically &ccountaple building teams working in close cooperation with both architects and users. The Iabour Party's insistence on their being run 4s "municipal enterprises" denies this potential by reinforcing the contractual 10. Building Britain's Future. p.s9 ll. See, for example, some of the depate in Slate 9, Split between architect and Duilder, and by replacing the concept of building as a service to the community with one in which Profit and loss predominate, with al] the adverse effects this Produces, as argued above, for building Workers, designers and clients. These criticisms can be extended to cover the proposals for 4 National Construction Corporation - Proposals which in themselves tend to five rise to further contradictions. Public Sector intervention On projects of a size and type not applicable to D.L.0.s would seem to be Sensible, and the Suggestion of taking profitable Sectors of the economy into public ownership With substantial internal democracy is & welcome break from past types of nationalisation. However, the relationship of this body, 48 organised at a regional level under the parent holding company, to the expanded D.L.0.s seems extremely unclear and needy of reexamination. The main point of disagreement with the Iabour Party's Proposals, therefore, is the acceptance of the contracting System &@s @ suitable basis for advancing the democratisation of the industry; this will severely restrict many of the professed aims, most importantly the closer integration of peep TT Proposals for greater standardisation through "..standard building plans, simple construction details, and a restricted 12 range of fixtures, fittings and components." are the logical primarily to reduce costs, it is also argued that greater construction and design. ere Standardisation: Outcome of the Labour Party's approach to the industry. Proposed 12. Building Britain's Future. p.352 standardisation will facilitate the introduction of the new contractual arrangements Suggested in the programme. While €conomies in construction are to be welcomed, the infinite variety of built form necessitated by different user needs, Sites,climates and other variables severely restricts €conomies through standardisation: the argument in favour of Standardisation for contractual reorganisation, on the other hand, becomes invalid if, as above, this form of reorganisation is found wanting. Standardisation to reduce unnecessary competition and waste m&y be desirable, but the limitations and restrictions can outweigh the limited financial savings produced. For workers in the industry, both in design and construction, it c@n represent a severe loss of job satisfaction and a sSub- stantial deskilling, at a time when the m@intenance and development of both traditional and new creative skills is essential. Technology should be used not to replace these skills, but to remove the drudgery from work and allow an increase in its creative ana fulfilling content. Equally, standardisation can be restrictive for Duilding users, limiting the possibility of their exercising control over the built environment; "standard plans" hardly seem a Satisfactory way of making buildings responsive to user needs. If we are to produce a colourful, varied, interesting and responsive environment, greater standard- isation, though valuable in some areas of the construction process, is more likely to be a hindrance than & help. o. Independence of the Quantity Surveyor. In another attempt to control costs to the Public client, Building Britain's Future proposes that "Quantity Surveyors rod could.... become technical auditors, employed by the client and 15 independent of the design team." This may well be appropriate to the private sector, but in the Public sector, where the client already employs "in-house" architects and quantity Surveyors, and architects remuneration is not based on fees, greater Separation of the two functions Would only be harmful. Instead, area-based, integrated design (and in the longer term bDuilding) teams should be developed in which all the different technical Specialists, including the quantity surveyor, would work closely together; greater control over both cost &nd quality in this context should fall to the real users at a local level, with Whom this team could establish an Ongoing &nd cooperative 14 relationship. ee core eeeteeel ere lo. Building sritain's Future. p.o6 14. For a further discussion of these ideas see "Community Architecture-— 4& Puolic Design Service ?", @ paper produced by the P.D.S. Group of the New Architecture Movement. zt CONCLUSION: This critique of Building Britain's Future, from the Position of architects in the public Sector, leads to the Suggestion of some ammendments to the Iabour Party's proposals. The most important of these changes is in the &4pproach to direct lapvour. The Iabour Party's committment to the expansion of direct lavour is to pve welcomed, but if a framework is to be Provided in which the Split between design and construction can be mended, this expansion must be on the basis of D.L.0.s &S service departments. In the same way as "in-house" architects departments are Sutomatically allocated the work of, for example, the pvorough they serve, direct labour Ouilding teams should automatically ve allocated the work of that architects department. This would necessitate new forms of cost control and accountability, but Would provide the basis fora regionally devolved and democratic extension of Public ownership. With local authority work asutomatically allocated to locally based direct labour teams, the role of the National Construction Corporation at a regional level would need reexamination. The N.C.C. should primarily be concerned with larger scale work not suitable to D.L.0.s. The same criticisms of contracting apply to the N.C.C. as to direct lébour. iF lhe incorporation of these proposals on direct labour and the N.C.C., along with @ reappraisal of standardisation | &nd cost control, as argued above, would leave little in the ] document with which to disagree. In this form it could both 4 q help the development of a militant, but positive and critical, defence of direct labour against the current attacks of the Conservatives and building contractors, while at the same time providing a longer term programme for radical and pro- gressive change throughout the industry. Public Design Service Group, The New Architecture Movement. 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The Fens mag try and encomeage mere th. thinrock ausathese ak (bufferoo me:matopla Mata on He trewnin Cynthia Cockebuen In fak I hewan’+ read eee Ele ba alee koMaecOteeaesSecasakaceeinergepttsitesghine refered—te preinieus (Mite Pn, tls eee haem le Ghee hasanes atc Sey Loeete : Sons aalhs oe phys a eae ee is (aJe Vue cetieenaleleteGetbecstenettnearthgoesnaebe weet thy He frome fm percha Lethe othe hepa ek uae a, Pe tagtealilosle ~ OE HLS saber sa, 4 na els poner Has» ercsica ake i Dear Friends, Mike Fleetwood Peta Sissons s Tues, 3rd. April, er vices to lanChristie ommun ity DexterWhitfield tion and 31 CLERKENWELL CLOSE The venue for the meeting has now been confirmed - {t will be held on Saturday 28th. April at the Digbeth Civic Hall in the centre of Birmingham. (We will be sending a map nearer the date). The meeting will take Place in Lecture room no. 1, will start at 10.30 am. anc will continue until about 5.30pm, The room wili hold about 100 people, so when we have heard from all the campaigns we have contacted, we may have to limit the number of delegates from any one campaign, To help us finalise these arrangements quickly, we need the following information; 1) The names (or at least numbers) of delegates you wish to send, 2) Approx. time of arrival, and whether you will need accommodation on Friday night. Please state whether delegates are willing to share a room. (Accommodation is being arranged with tenants in the Birmingham area.) 3) Whether you would need to make use of a creche for your children, the latest, (or phone). eee Anti-dampness campaign strategy meeting enants TELOFASeo So please fill in the Slip at the end of this letter and return it by Thurs. April l2th, at So far, we know that delegates will be coming from Glasgow, Edinburgh, South Wales, London, Sandwell, Manchester, and several other areas, We are making every effort to raise funds to help with delegates! travelling expenses, but obviously 1t would be a great help if campaigns could agree to pay their own delegates! expenses. Possible sources of finance might be ea local resource centre or law centre, local charitable trusts, or Council of Voluntary Service etc., or the usual fundraising events. However, if you have any problems raising the cash, let us know and we will tell you how much money we can put in towards your delegates costs. Brief papers are being prepared on the following; 1) Finance - how repairs/renedial work is financed; impact of the possible new Housing legislation. 2) Brief overview - of progress made by campaigns, drawing together common issues and problems, response of councils to demands, the scale of the problem. Types of estate, and kinds of dampness experienced etc, 8) Dampness and health, 2. Best wishes, jen aaa Deiilossee 3) Remedies - what causes anid what can be done about condensation, rising damp and penetrating damp. 5) Joint Action between tenants and DLO_workers,as in Sandwell, W.Bromwich. —— rantsandDLOworkers 4) The construction and contracting System, and the role of Direct Labour Organisations. 6) Historical background = development of council housing, high rise etc., housing cuts, attitudes to council housing, 7) Legal Action - different sorts of legal action, uses and limitations. We will be inviting people with Specialised knowledge - an architect, a public health inspector, a solicitor, and possibly a doctor - to come to the meeting to comment and answer questions on some of these issues. However, the emphasis will be on future Strategies for campaigns, rather than on a detailed discussion of these issues in isolation. Rs We enclose a questionnaire for you to complete and send back to us as soon as possible, to help in the drawing up of the "overview" paper. The questionnaire will also be duplicated and passed on to other delegates at the meeting. This will enable groups to see what the Situation is elsewhere and to contact groups with similar problems. It would be useful if delegates could bring material for an exhibition which will be displayed at the meeting - photos, leaflets, posters, and any surveys/reports which you may have prepared during your campaign, We feel it 1s important for delegates to discuss their contribution to the meeting with their groups beforehand, particularly the success/ problems met by your campaign, and possible future strategy to get your demands met. The meeting 1s being sponsored by UCATT Midland Region, but we are still waiting to hear from other organisations which we have approached for financial support. We look forward to hearing from you shortly. Local Plans Housing Finance SLUS 2Other Reports obtain. : Tequires as 0 Seat N . ven ; clarification or Registered office 9 Qucen Anne's Gate London SW1H 9BY Telephone 01-930 0611 SCAT Publications W y Registered England 1175699 6 March 1979 A pamphlet about tne Uistr..°, action Aree and Subject Plans which local authorities now have to prepare as a meons of try- ing to guide and control change ond development in their areas and as supplements to Structure Plans. It will show how all the important decisions about the use of land and resources within a Local Plan crea are detemined by political and economic forces beyond the control of the local council. It will also in- clude a stage by stage guide to the legal procedure for prepar- ing local plans and an action section suggesting how groups can exploit the procedure to meet some working class demands and to demonstrate the ineffectiveness of loca! planning within a market economy. The pamphlet is being prepared with help from the Southwark Low Project and North Southwark Commun- ity Development Group and wil! draw on the experience of gf in Coventry, Birmingham, Edinburgh, London, Manchester and other creas. (Publication late 1978) movement is finding itself more ye; the national and local press ortunately quick to seize on the sort of controversy obscures fan equally, if not more, important the amount of progress being made ft€rol in Management, design and ithin the movement. This pamphlet will describe the present and proposed systems of local authority housing finance and government controls, and will put housing finance into a wider economic context. It will be produced jointly with an economist atUniversity College, London and will attempt to unravel the complexit- ies of housing finance in as simple and straight forward a way as possible. It will explain where the money comes from, how council housebuilding, improvement, repairs, slum clearance, council mortgages etc are financed and how to use and understand a Housing Revenue Account etc. The pamphlet will show what happens to socialised housing ina capitalist system and how landowners, financiers and build- ers profit. The implications of the kind of policies proposed n the Green Paper on Housing Policy will be examined together with the need for and impact of radical alternatives td the present system. (Publicatior early 1979) As part of the subscription you will receive 2 other reports or pamphlets. These will be EITHER reports or pamphlets publish- ed by SCAT Publications covering issues on which Services to Community Action ond Tenants is currently working eg. the impoct of housing policies on employment in the housing sector, high heating costs and defects in council housing, build-for—sale schemes, OR reports or pamphlets produced by local campaigns and organisations to which Services to Community Action and Tenants has given advice and assist- ance. These local reports or pamphlets will be ones which have national relevance. They are also often difficult to ~ {e SladeWe % The Architects’ Journal DAL LVAIlMamis / ‘ticle this week, OUT OF THE PUBLIC | that much of the process of irk, by force of circumstance and 10 ignore tenants and as Such is i key principles for opening up jociations' contribution to the ibe pleased to receive your in take dictated letters Over x rynA L 7besey 4 \en ® sae VCR ROL, ee $UPke, CLIO ZL { Patrick Hannay Buildings Editor -_ The housing association movement is finding itself more e- If any of the analysis requires clarification or refuting, then we would be pleased to receive your comments. Eve George can take dictated letters over the phone. John Murray Esq NAM PDS Group c/o 5 Milton Avenue London N.6 Dear Mr Murray TM Yo Slate we % :x | fa Td Octobe 1912 A : Se ee ~ 7 an? UV fei, Registered office 9 Queen Anne's Gate London SWLH 9BY Telephone 01-930 0611 Rogistored England 1175699 6 March 1979 and more in the public eye; in its usual way, is unfortunately quick to seize on the financial scandals; this sort of controversy obscures what might be considered an equally, if not more, important issue of debate, namely the amount of progress being made in developing tenant control in management, design and development decisions, within the movement. Roger Barcroft in his article this week, OUT OF THE PUBLIC ‘ EYE (pp 471-487), argues that much of the process of housing associations' work, by force of circumstance and legislation, continues to ignore tenants and as such is a betrayal of one of the key principles for opening up the scope of housing associations' contribution to the housing provision. The Architects’ Journal the national and local press : PAX NVM iy /ithR ROW aaaetaU Cibk yinbheal:tife Yon.5 i J 22910” SEW ’ Dear Friend, The Report of the Alternative Practice Seminar is at last completed. We will keep you informed about the Conference when this has been arranged. The Alternative Practice Organising Group. oo} GoFS GA wet ND ~~! 7 As the seminar decided, this report is intended as a basis for further discussion, and a working group is to be set up to further investigate the issues raised at the seminar. The working group will report back to a Conference to be held at a later date. The first meeting of the working group is at 5.00pm on the 16th March, at the offices of Support, and it is hoped that each group will send a delegate to that meeting. Would you contact Mary Rogers at Support to confirm this. Saturday: 10.00 a.m. : ANN BLISS — BILL HILLIER and JULIENNE HANSON 41.00 p.m.: Lunch break. 2,00 p.m. SHIRLEY ARDNER CLATRE COOPER trained in geography and urban planning,,has worked as a planner and researcher in Britain, Sweden, Puerto Rico and the USA. She is now Associate Professor at the Department of Architecture and Landscape at Berkeley. She will be talking about St. Francis Sq., a case study of an inner city multi-racial housing co-operative in San Francisco, both as researcher and as resident. 4.00 p.m. :Workshops. Women and Buildérs (led by Krystyna Domanska). Women in Housing Co-ops (Seagull\. The St. Francis Sq. Case Study (Claire Cooper). Women and Space (Julienne Hanson, Bill Hillier). ie Women, Space amd Human Evolution (Denise Arnold, Chris Knight). Defining Female (Shirley Ardner). “4 6.00 p.m.: SHOBSRING TREATRE: "HOUSEWORK", WOMEN AND SPACH: Feminist Anthropology, Architecture and Community. Weekend School: March 10-11, 1979. will be looking at present-day housing from the standpoint of her own personal experience as a woman with two young children and as a-social work assistanndtwi,ll talk about whyshehas found:anthropological knowledge concerning women in other cultures relevant. are from the, Bartlett School of Architecture and Planning, researching and teaching on the comparative study of architecture and spatial organization in different cultures, BILL HILLIER will look at the social forces behind changes in urban space which have taken place in the twentieth century. He will suggest a framework for discussing the relationship between the built environment and forms of ‘community. JULIENNE HANSON will sketch an overview of how different societies organize, the relationships between men and women in space, suggesting how the organization of space can be used in weakening or strengthening women's solidarity. : is a social anthropologist at Queen Blizabeth House, Oxford. Her topic will be 'Defining Female'—-the title of a book which she has recently edited, and which was sponsored by the Oxford University Women's Studies Committee. ay SUSAN WALKER JULIENNE HANSON KATE YOUNG DENISE’ ARNOLD VAL VENNUSS is an archaeologist at one of the major London museums, participating in the preparation of an exhibition on everyday life in classical antiquity. She will be looking at women and physical space in antiquity, both in ceremonial and domestic life. will talk on developments in housing forms since the nineteenth century. She will be looking at life in traditional urban streets and in their modern counterparts:-—high-density, high-rise estates and low-density, low-rise suburbs—-and will be examining the consequences for women's solidarity of these different kinds of urban locality. is from the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex University, and is a social anthropologist. She will say a few words on the effects --which the, installation of piped water had on women's social life in ‘a village.in Mexico in which she did her field-work. is a practising architect, and will look at the influence of design “guides in reinforcing the privatisation of the nuclear family and the isolation and oppression of women within the context of mass housing. chairs the Housing Committee of the Islington (Labour) Council, and has been an active campaigner for working-class women's rights for a number of years. She will be discussing the practical problems aifficulties which she has faced both inside and outside the council as planning and architectural policies have changed within the area in recent times. : : PEGGY BEAGLE and as a N.U.P.E. shop-steward and women's representative on Greenwich Trades Council. She will say a few words on What kind of housing 1 | like to see", particularly in the. light of her experience living in a 30 year-old 8-storey block of flats. 4.00 p.m.: Lunch break. 2,00 p.m. Gh iD) 1S) BE Oa . Design Workshop (Anne Thorne). 2.30: Workshops. ; Housing since the nineteenth century (Julienne Hanson). The political struggle for good housing (Val Venness). Cuba: community, buildings, living and working spaces (Dr. Mo Mowlan) . an History and women's spaces (Susan Walker). a House as an image of self-psychological perception (Claire Cooper). Design Guides, CcO-OpS, creches, society co-operative dwellings (Sarah Stron We fine ; S eee AAUSWN [ Se 453 Discussion. . |Z Steff 8 Bruce Dirne Gree , Fie pe faoocteie “ Le uel bic. 8 ae PIS fo (afro + 2/70 fof. |Coo haAe|TO|SLeblig Feta i. <—fA fa G Pydtatoyry+Soe fey Growl oben Seok 445 2P? Kamin typrl SDesin Qe? Sup Wallen uc eo) a ayne »et NWAMAMK meeEROYEOveCO-}, oe NA PRS. NERTING S FEB.’79 Presenk:— Ti EES ,SMtne, D.Grea, J R.Ge BSmith,R0ae E.Smivxk chaire R.Genton Gok hie thinutes. I) Matters arising — No, branchofRIBAmeeting €E0discuss “Does ie Koga | |InsGeeoesfreiews~a1daspimmGousBe icine “whl Gtke m Apc 3rc. R. Gres NAM Femunise and P. groups asill akeend. RG ovAon eo f < paste , f , ( fies lopics 7 discussion — rina dHes Co-cperaGve prac&ce. ® Pre nad he user Shave CARs |ORLEEEAE. 4) Jace wasa discussion omideas about GlacaGon. Sees gees Wh aViewGarepo’ciAy i qhe influcnze the our Party's pokice on Consoickion. Tech oe Oeslumpas AoeKeenas€iCvauemc / anh 4 NexeMocking—BNET ab19MousfietdRd,Nos; D oiscussion of haw Coe Should be ; ured, Mak Freeson «sith allocat&eos Communicy A rchiteckure. Communé: Arhitedoue-a RDS?” report b be sone & ( ® AcsRilhi of pave Mma peomanent basis. Ae he Same Gre, here isan i. cal alla om Direct bubou; hin has -ernen ES “Iau IRED “Building Britains Facure? We cmside- DLO's must he senize Acparemenés, So an | bo exbad accountability. 3 Mmarch_ i VAPayerFockwascmaucted,ithicinclJ.uMditechedlls Liasm Group xprnsco. (Sadaat 4.220 “am lfc in he Kitty. nen A —ceilingof £e-so) c ere | te TM i 1, 2, 3» Notes On Nationalisation Of The Building Industry for P.D.G. Meeting 3/2/79. The State Of The Industry. a, the present crisis, 1, unemployment and it's associated problems, 2, inefficiency of idle plant and -rundowns, 3, effects onll-A.'s (attacks on D.L.0.'s, low tenders etc), many people believe that all that is ‘needed is more work but there is a need for fundamental changes in the industry and now is the time to make them. b, underlying problems, 1, tragnentation a, in discontinuity of contracts, bd, in splits within the industry, 2, the use of the industry 4S an economic regulator, 3, the competitive tendering system, these lead to instability and insecurity affecting, The L.P.'s Reasons For Intervention In The Industry. a, economic influence over the industry, 1, for internal efficiency, challenge the monopolie's and oligopolie's although not for bankruptcy reason's, 2, to tie industry into overall economic planning, b, the desire to control profit's generated from public fund's, c, to improve working and safety condition's. 1, firms and employees, job insecurity etc., 2, client's and user's, lack of control over cost and quality of work and extra work and bureaucracy. The L.P.'s Mean's Of Intervention. they see the need for diversity and flexibility of approach and the need for accountability. their main proposals are; A National Construction Corporation based on one or more major contractors, A Public Procurement Agency to co-ordinate the industry's work load, The registration of employees and employers under the Construction Industry Manning BOard, with restriction's of work to those registered, The reform and expansion of D.L.0.'s, changing them from service to trading department's, The encouragement of Co-Op's under 2 Co-Op developement agency, especially for small and specialist firm's, The acouisition of major material's producer's under a Building Material'’s Corporation, A @ode of Construction Site Practice to be drawn uD, Programme, serial and continuity contracts to be encouraged, they alsm recommend changes in the organisation of the building profession's; The integration of design and construction, Professional education to be under the Construction Industry Training Board, Greater standardisation of design's and component's, Greater cost control with more independance for Q.S.'S, More responsibilities for defective design, all these are seen within the context of competition and the tendering system. oe they state that competitive tendering problem's, to firm's which are =the N.C.C. to be an umbrella almost incidentally nationalised in normal with standard building firm's and D.-L.0.'s, but don't challenge it at all, b, standardisation of plan's, contract size, competition is of insignificant importance compared to a regulated work load and it limit's user -economic consideration's completley ce, architect's and Q.S.'s need to be integrated same design team, all under democratic etc. (in for moving service possible?) department's The political competition limitation's of an d them need extensive tackle large scale work, between design and (for all as regionally football encouraging argument enforcing not? the L.P.'S the 4, The P.D.G.'s Reason's For Intervention. democratisation a,within; 1, break down division's build, = 2, improve working condition's, industrial democracy and safety, by, over; 1, accountability and greater control over quality and cost, | 2, national and local control, planning, theee require more stability and increased efficiency as argued by the Labour Party. 5, The Limitation's Of The L.P."s Proposal's. a, all their proposal’'s are within the competitive tendering system; —D.L.0.'s to be trading department's which duplicates the is wasteful etc. component's etc. the need both designer and overide social, into the controle for 6, Proposal' s. expanded I.Mi/D.G. 1/2/79- as work where ownership. although way's way's to reform ilding industry. Tentative Outline a, DeL.0.'s to be Local Authority devolved public isn't applicable of D.L.-0.'s and investigation, bd, a limited N.C.C. to civil engineering with the exception of the proposal's provide a basis democratisation of the bu or above toward's motorway'S, 3, PDS Commnity architecture Keporc — tty ae ; ; ' i | t | i fhe next meeting is on 3:rd Feb 11-59 118 Mansfield Ra. Nott. more capies of the report are to v2 sent ty relevant T.U's selected journalists, the National Tenants Aszcciation, and political pazties. The paper is selling well. Furtker action is awaiting Freeson's response. 4, Programme of work Develop ment of theory and history,the J.M's Nationalisation, J.Mitchell ana b.Green County Councils difficulties Rafael Wakesburg Education discv ssion paper Bob Gordon Standards discussion paper Brice Smith Feminists link Dave Green also, Contracts Tom Bulley preliminary work on thesg to be done for the relevant meeting im the prcsramme bdelow. Ideas on talks and ways of presentatign fromm everyone the next meeting. : 7 D+ Programme of meetings '79. 2, 3xd Feb, nationalisation and ideas on taiks. dy 24th Fev, education 4, ifth Mazxch, meetinz with feminicts,Tom Bulley on to contr=cts history, alternative agate for feminists tt 6, 28th Apetl general. review and standards i} ‘| alli meetings in nottingham except the feminist oné in Lendon ‘| 5, 7th April theory anda the kitty now stanas at £1.70 ;| ; | ' LJ PDS GROUP MEETING 20th JAN 79 MINUDRS. ( Pave G ter, ) : *1, Liasion Group Report ay the L.G. has agreed to tenay 211 debts to the PDG, £79 has deen received, £60 will follow. b, the L.G. asked if Wwe wanted to speak at the Notts and Derby RIBA meeting on April 3jrd- It was considered a Possibility depending on a, the debates title b, & neutral chair. Z c, JeMurray is to be the PDG press contact. GQ, our Slate contact bersan is Andy Brawn, Slate 114 will be e, £, &» on the inner city etce, submission ¢«ate 24th Feb. NAM events_ feminist group seminar ‘Women and Space’ 10th Mar Alt. Practice seminar in May (we're te be invited). the LG. Suggested that we have local meetings with tenants Groups etc. to be investigated. Suggestions for union contact between NALGO and BDS Tass to David Burney, 2, RIBA Cawg report J.Mitchell has done areport far Slate, criticising the RIBA's motives whilst admitting the need for Some short term measures (that we up to now haven't deeply considered) .The school's were thought ta offer a. good alternative, their present activities should be encouraged and develicped. The incorporation of architects into aw Centree needs considering. The basic ‘reovriremert is that these effort: should not gct ruined by the neecs of profit etc. alk starr involved should be saillaried. ; NEW. ARCHITECTURE David Basnett, General Secretary, Workers Union, General and Municipal Thorne House, Ruxley Ridge, Claygate, Esher, Surrey. Enc. MOVEMENT i 9, POLAND St,LONDON. W1V3DG. Daytime tel: OI-888-1212 Your ref: RES/DG/SMC 5th January, 1979. A copy of your letter of 8th November 1978 has been forwarded to me by the NAM Liaison Group. The creation of links between user and architect, leading to the control of design by the user 4s the most important aspect of the policy of the New Architecture Movement in general and of our Group (Public Design Group) in particular. Consequently we were pleased to receive your letter advocating that your members and other trade unionists, as consumers of the product should be involved in the specification and planning of buildings. We also suggest that those workers who construct and service buildings should similarly be involved. No doubt many of your members Would belong to this category as well. We therefore would give every support to your proposal for the practice of closer liaison between user and architect. Dear David Basnett, I enclose for your information a copy of our report “Community Architecture = A Public Design Service?” which we submitted recently to Reg Freeson. I attach also a brief summary of NAM's and our Group's activities. For our part we would welcome the opportunity to discuss with you in greater detail, both your ideas for user/ architect collaboration and your reaction to the proposals contained 4n our Report. Yours sincerely, \(e ,Maman John Murray for Public Design Group. NAM cc. NAM Liaison Group. emer rer romer tO Warburt ear Sirs, National Industrial Officers ena RES /DG/SML Yours faithfully, {) .is Vivg2S (VV DAVID BASNETT General Secretary = Incorporating MATSA General and Municipal Vorkers’ Union 8th November, 1978 I am writing to enquire whether you give any support to » idea that the people who consume the products of your profession S..uld be involved in their specification and planning. We have had a great deal of evidence from our members in the past to show that health, safety and welfare have not been effectively included in the design specifications for new buildings, and that the views ; of eventual users are frequently excluded from the consultative stages. As part of our effort to eliminate hazards at source we are advising our members that they should be involved at the earliest stages of planning alterations to existing premises or of construct- ing new ones, You may know that the new Safety Representative and Safety Committee Regulations 1978 oblige employers to provide safety representatives with information about "the plans" and their "proposed changes" insofar as they affect health and safety. New Architecture Movement, 9 Poland Street, London W1V 3DG I am sure that many architects would welcome closer liaison between themselves and users of their designs, and the article regarding an order office at BOC Crawley in yesterdays Guardian (7th November - Women's Page, Peter Gorb) illustrates the general point we are making, We would like your comments on this, and in particular any Support that you can give to the practice of closer liaison between user and architect. We realise that the extent and nature of liaison will have to be agreed between the architect's client and eventual users, but if we knew that architects would welcome this idea it would assist in it's general adoption. I enclose a copy of the Guardian article for your information. FA Baker CBE W.J.C Biggin F Cooper FW Cottam C.Donnet FEarl J.Edmonds E.P Newall MW. Reed JP RSmith Patricia Turner D Warburtor but to creative al authorities whose i Wriefs demand rence to Standards, rihy in themselves ually inhibiting fike multiple retailers 3oa ceees 6 i aa a or orewers. But unless build- ing itself is their business, even the most dynamic Organisations are unlikely-to need new factories or offices very often. Their skills in briefing architects are bound to grow rusty. Indeed, they national theatre. The build- ing does look good from the top of an Embankment bus; al right if you prefar looking often commit millions toe architecture with an insow! ciance which is totally incon- Sistent with their usual hard- nosed control of their money, and which scares their arohi- tect rigid. deliberately unconstrained by uP ratlony: recently In this state of mind the architect needs a_ well- developed ego to draw a bow at a venture — choosing from and copying existing models is easier, and proba- bly cheaper. But when the dDuilding has no models he is forced to thrash around for a brief, and too often designs to a set of generalised social and aesthetic considerations; h means designing: to please other architects. Unfortunately he js encouraged this way, because the accolades (like those given to many professionals). @re awarded by his own kind — other architects. . The National Theatre is a case in point. A large, expen- Sive, oneoff building, it has heen awarded a major archi- going, « . ee Brian Boylan, an architect esigned an’ order office in CraWley, Surrey, for BOC, the company that’ supplies gas cylinders for.welding. He too by Ww it is the policy of the National to attract a higher than usual proportion of first-time theatre goers. For newcomers to the National, in Studying the wild life in the wood which bordered the site. There was no reason why the new building should not be set on the wood edge with windows, and _ bird tables designed’ to accom- modate this interest. = = Don McPhee... . _ deplore Ahad a generalised brief but luckily he discovered that the bullding was to be used for onl 2 ‘people. So he and his ‘team talked to all of them, and at some length: not,their:representatives, or thejr. managers, hut each and €very person. The’ brief, in consequence, was uniquely enriched and -particularised. Kor ‘example, .they dis- covered that for some years the; loaders, in -the rest, ériods between humping eavy gas cylinders, had ef tecture. Most of the time easier to copy something which can be good or al, depending on the mudel. Nur is the poor architect ich) betler off with his cor- * clients. The best usually cume from who build little and ee architect is only Peter Gorb the building inside and out is a bewildering obstacle course of apparently unrelated levels reached dy Alice in Wonderland stair- cases pointing away from. where they are supposed to’ QO Sivan Team vaeans The discreetly - obscure signs, the carefully hidden ticket collection and informa- tion points under claustro- phobically low ceilings com-’ ‘pound the visual confusion. To this is added the inescapa- ble cacophony of the foyer performers and the airline terminal announcements. The oor first-time ‘visitor must ong for the certitude of Pad- dington Station. or Milan’ Cathedral, large buildings designed with the needs of strained and much more useable space. There are many other details which a sympathetic company, its interested employees, and a -conse- fall out with your architect. Oi Law 1K: ;Ons Whatyoucandoifyoutr—ytheBOCoffatiCrcaweley ashis brief An piper as es | quently, well-briefed architect have managed to incorporate into this satisfying building. It may not win any architec- tural prizes, but it is an tectural prize. Had the users been the judges “this elegant concrete addition to London's riverside skyline’ would cer- tainly have got the wooden Spoon. ° Actors and their audiences are its.main users. The actors the time lag of response’ in:the Olivier audi- torium where the design con- centrated on sight lines at the expense of the essential rapport between audience and actors. They describe the “Wimbledon” effect in the Lyttelton, -with a stage so wide in relation to ‘aud torium depth, that the audiences are vigorously exercising their neck muscles to follow the action. Averting their eyes from the inert back stage technology, they the newcomer in mind. will take you to the tiny con- crete cells that serve as dressing rooms, set round a courtyard so large that a visit to a colleague turns into a route march, It is disappointing too, (2 queue for a drink, and dis cover that the nearest sand- wich is two foyer levels and another queue away, ‘Or to try and reach the terrace tables with a trayful of food ‘developed a serious. interest The actors’ complaints are interminable; the audiences through an inward opening are less articulate. After all door. Not that you can sée much more than concrete from the terraces anyway. Of course the priority in the design brief was for a national monument mot 4: opject lesson on how not to © ALL dail out with our hitects. It isnt their fault. se ollier designers (hey are »better than their brief; Having created a glass-clad building the architect had to protect it from the gas uch ts usually abysmal. le trouble is that so few lis are competent ¢o brief anclutect ‘ lake houses, Most of’ us suld claim familiarity with fiouse or two. But how of us have actually But perhaps the greatest breakthrough came at the organisational level. The expectation of local manage- ment was for a traditional e, and have tried to y experience a ign brief ? Remember “Mr Dream and how poor Mrs dings added a flower building which reflected functional separation; offices from canteens, blue collar from white collar workers, and so forth: The inquiry revealed that the magnificent twenty seven didn't want it that way. As a result every- thing (except the lavatories) happens in one open uncon- uk io her porch and got bill for extras for $10,000? yway, most house Ouildin by speculative builders a -at,townscapes to -theatre- cylinders which. have a habit of toppling over; prison like guard rails were discarded in favour of a sloping bank of @tass which in any case enhanced the rural nature of the building. 374 The Architects’ Journal 30 August 1978 In the Netherlands many architects working on low income housing projects for the inner city are effectively appointed and controlled by the communities for which they are designing. At a time when the RIBA’s Community Architecture Working Group (CAWG) is attempting to formulate a new system for funding community projects in Britain (AJ 23.8.78 p356), the recent experience in the Netherlands has particular significance. Itcould well provide a pointer for the ,uture here. NICK WATES reports. ‘Neighbourhood groups choose their own architects’ asserted one young Netherlands architect, and although oversimplified, this statement is not far from the truth. The Dutch have de- viJ}+d aform ofarchitectural practice which gives ordinary citizens in inner cities a great deal more direct control over their architects, and it is already producing very interesting results. The most sophisticated system has de- veloped in Rotterdam. Eleven areas have special project teams in which half the members are officials and half are citizens appointed by neighbourhood groups. The officials come from the Departments of Town Development, Housing, Building and Housing Inspec- tion, Traffic and Transport and Social Affairs. Project groups have their own budget, and buildings located in the area concerned. They are responsible for drawing up plans for neighbourhoods and then implementing them. Proposais and finance have of course to be ranted bees he municipal council and central £ —ament,butwithincertainfinancial toshowphaseddevelopmentinthearea. Right: Window poster ‘This flat to be renovated’, limits the project groups effectively determine development. Architects are appointed by pro Oups, usuall ie intensive interview essions at which previous work 1s shown and working methods described. Project groups then write briefs and act as clients throughout the building pro- cess. Usually a number of architects are employed on different schemes in any area, and altogether some 20 practices of varying sizes are doing this kind of work in Rotterdam. Most architects are from private practices (the private sector con- tains a higher proportion of the pro- fession than in England), although it is possible for architects from the public sector to be seconded, returning to their former posts on completion of a project. Official members of the project team are paid civil servants, though each team also has an ‘external expert’, appointed and controlled by the neigh- bourhood group, but whose salary is paid by the municipality. fo audition there_is__a__local ombudsman service team (LOS), which consists of seven professionals sub- Sidised by the government but independentadvicetoactio upsand oe aeigourhood Broups which want it. This kind of neighbourhood controlled client body has had a marked effect on the architects. ‘We try to work with the people’ said architect Piet Bennehey who has designed buildings for several projects. “You have to explain how you do things.’ The first thing he does wnen appointed for a scheme is to hire a bus and take neighbourhood inhabitants aeoe tld WN ec BeLoshed r ny 1Trenty-eightnewdivellingsinCool project area, central Rotterdam. 4 ps pt ats "2 oo peas errr Pree2 2 Series of drawings published in the Oude Westen project team’s broadsheet wave : 3Lowincomehousing onsiteofaformership-butldingyard,Simmonsterrein,Rotterdam. Neighbourhood orgamsation, BOF; architect, Henk van Schagen. Netherlandsneighbourhood architects “LISSW a0 ’4 € p) W278C34d DHL n ~VALNZD ,SIVLS_W227 BRLealsahore to see other schemes both in Rotterdam and in other cities. ‘They get an idea of what ispossible and what isnot possible’ he explained. ‘Otherwise people don’t know what you are talking about. We also learn what they like and whar they don’t like.” The end product of such a process of direct democracy secms to be far more sensitive developments. For instance the Oude Westen district close to the centre of Rotterdam, which contains about 5000 low income residents of mixed nationality, was first destined for office and commercial development. Active neighbourhood groups stopped those plans and a combined programme of rehabilitation and rebuild is now well under way. New schemes maintain old street patterns, and shops and work- shops and community buildings are . incorporated into new buildings. Build- ing work is carefully programmed so that there is always somewhere for people to move to when houses are demolished or renovated, 2. Bush emt is stdoy 5 Erected ona half-completed dual carriageway, this new low income housing signifies the victory of a neighbourhood group's vision of the future over that of the city planners. Van Eyck & Bosch. portance in other cities, where the system ismuch more adhoc. In Amsterdam for instance some neigh- bourhood groups are able to choose their architects—not because there is any recognised procedure but because the city authority has discovered that it is the only way to avoid conflicts which have in the past resulted in large scale physical confrontations between citizens and armed police with many injuries, arrests and much political em- barrassment. As architect Hans Borkent pointed out ‘It is not by accident that the most active neighbourhoods have the best architects’. He himself was selected by a neighbour- hood group in Dapperbuurt, a nine- teenth century area of Amsterdam, originally to be torn down under a grandiose redevelopment plan. He holds mectings in the neighbourhood every three weeks to which everyone in the area is invited although inevitably only a small proportion actually attend._Un- like England, the housing authorities, whether municipalities or housing: associations, appear to be capable of designating tenants (both from the neighbourhood and from outside) for new schemes before design work starts. (Borkent admits that it was quite a battle to get them to doso,)_ A full scale mock up of one flat was constructed in an old synagogue and everyone visited it and discussed it. Separate meetings were held with tradesmen, to discuss how to incorporate them in the new scheme, and temporary buildings were provided ifthere was any lume gap between the old buildings ‘being demolished and new ones con- Structed. Once again the result has been a phased sensitive new development which above al is well liked and cared for by the new inhabitants, 4, 6. Amsterdam is illustrative of the process 4 Communal roof terrace, Dapperbuurt, Amsterdam. Architect, Hans Borkent. All flats also have private bcicomes. Inevitably the population in these high density areas is reduced but this has not proved to be a probiem for there are al- ways some people who want to move out of the area altogether. In any case neighbourhood groups invariably want higher densities than planners. Of course the community cannot totally control the development. Investment and subsidies are restricted and con- trolled in much the same way as in England. But within these parameters, project groups can adjust levels of quality thereby influencing rent levels. Indeed rent levels are a major concern for neighbourhood groups, and on one occasion, an architect was sacked by a group for refusing to lower the quality of his design and hence future rents. Architects have an interest in working for active neighbourhood groups be- cause the strength of the group is crucial in forcing extra subsidy money out of the government, through political campaigning. Amsterdam more improvised The political strength of the neighbour- hoodgroupsisofevenmorecrucialim- fullscalemock-upofanewflatfortheDapperbuurtscheme. The Architects’ Journal 30 August 1978 375 7 Architect Hans Borkent (taking notes in the centre) showing future inhabitants round a rd | f id , \) A powerful they are”. A lot of this money is invested on the Stock Exchange and in Governmont stocks. An increasing proportion is invested in property. So much so that property development is starting again. Take a look around your city. YOUR MONEY is behind those empty office blocks, a) 4 airconditionedshoppingcentres, : luxury hotels, yachting marinas and warehouse estates. ARE THESE PRIORITIES YOURS TOO? : A NATIONAL CONFERENCE PENSION FUNDS: YOUR MONEY AND YOUR LIFE see back for details Do you ever wonder what happens to that money, after its deducted from your pay? Obviously, its your deferred wages, and it will be paid back to you as a pension when you retire. In between, however, your money is put into @ pension fund or insurance company. These institutions are controlled by a small group of fund managers and are responsible to noone, least of all their members. They have become financial giants, and even Harold Wilson admits “they are so power- ful, they do not know how When you retire you can expect a little more on top of your basic pension os @ result of these speculative develop- ments. But ask yourself, what use will this extra money be to you then. Our health service is collapsing, and housing, public transport, education and social services are in crisis through lack of investment NOW. The tragedy is that many workers may dio before they draw their pensions because of the present poor provision of these services, many more are likely to be mado redundant and be unemployed. They will not get much of an extra pension. SST Puetsxe AOA AAR JSOO eae: +ee aes:‘L IS IT YOUR PENSION FUND TOO? There are three types of Pension Fund: PUBLIC SECTOR: this includes the large nationalised industry funds, including the Post Office which, with assets of over £1200 million, is the biggest in Western Europe. PRIVATE SECTOR FUNDS: there are well over 50,000 of these with some very large funds like those of Unilever £400m, of IC] £593m, but many are quite small and are invested with insurance companies LOCAL AUTHORITY PENSION FUNDS These funds are based on Local Authority boundaries. The biggest is the GLC at £235m. TRADE UNION CONTROL The Pension funds have grown because of the struggle for a decent pension and the strength of white collar trade unions but also because in the 70's pensions have not been part of the wage freeze and so have been o subject of negotiation The funds face very few disclosure of information requirements. They are responsible only to their trustees who in most funds are the employers. Only the nationalised industries and a few ‘enlightened’ private companies have trade union representation. In June 1976 the Labour Government produced a white paper “The role of Members in the running of Schemes”, which proposed better disclosure of information requirements and the right of appointment to 50% of the membership of the controlling body of the fund to recognised independant trade unions, the backlash of this proposal from the employers, the CBI and Pension fund managers, not to mention right wing bodies such as Aims for Freedom and Enterprise, was such that the proposals have been quietly dropped. Yet even where trade unions do have representation there is no evidence that this has made any difference to investment strategies apart from disinvestment in South Africa. According to The Economist Intelligence Unit “present evidence from the nationalised industries shows that whenever trade union representatives become trustees, they are just as keen if not more $0 to act in acapitalist fashion” THE INNER CITY ALLIANCE FIGHTS BACK The overall picture of but still intends to press on the Pension Funds is one of with its office venture. Almost “PENSION REPRESENT IMPORTANT PART OF OUR AS WORKS OF ART OR SURPLUS WEALTH AND WE THE BRIGHTON MARINA” ARE CONCERNED THAT IT David CSasnett GMWU, June SHOULD NOT GO ON 1977. surplus funds being used to generate a new property boom. This threatens the homes of people in inner city areas and our heritage of historic buildings in the cities. It does not provide working people with better understand and publicise the living conditions. problems referred to, In FUNDS AN ECONOMIC VALUE SUCH Ptah=|=[= tLe TO. LET One day conference for trade unions and community groups: 20th JANUARY 1979. PENSION FUNDS: YOUR MONEY AND YOUR LIFE at TREFOIL HOUSE PURPOSES OF NO Nr. Holloway Circus La Birmingham re|hd PVsltl) rela 643 0751 IF OUR CITIES ARE TO BE DECENT PLACES IN WHICH TO LIVE, WITH GOOD STANDARDS OF: HEALTH, EDUCATION AND HOUSING, THEN THE TRADE UNIONS MUST TAKE SOME CONTROL OVER WHAT IS BEING DONE WITH THEIR MEMBERS’ MONEY AND DIRECT IT INTO SOCIALLY USEFUL INVESTMENTS. Name . PAGCLOSS c ccsvessecsesoteseccosessnseccrcscners Trade Union/Organisation Fee: £1 per person. Return this form to: Green Ban Action Committee, 35 Chantry Road, Moseley, Birmingham 13 The Green Ban Action this broadsheet, the Inner City Committee's campaign to save Alliance (a national affiliation Birmingham's Victorian Head of Community Action Groups Post Office from demolition fighting for more socially and replacement by a useful urban development) speculative office block, has reached 2 crucial phase. Planning permission, for an alternative leisure centre scheme has been granted. The Postal Board is now prepared to save the original frontage, have asked the Green Ban Action Committee certainly it will turn to one of the Pension Funds or Insurance Companies for the necessary finance. We are campaigning to stop this. In order to fully explore, to arrange @& conference. This is also backed by the South Wales Housing Action Group and UCATT Midlands Region. Dear Iriends, way for such developments. How cal working people have more control over the dizection of money? How can the mosy be used for socially useful production really ncoei? of these vast suns and things we + How can ordinary people develop control over the planning of the cities in which they live? We look forward to hearing from you, Yours sincerely, Va Sc VAL STEVENS. ns ‘gAiS Vow ater 2 45, Chantry Rd., Moseley, Blrminghem, 13 2{th. November 1976 4 BN 2£2 AC Dita Ww r mY WY TW Q x " class communities, whether inuer city sreas or mining communities in the Soug$h ...-z vales valleys. Often too, a citiy's heritage kas to be destroyed to make ! ~ your orgeanis>tion or trade union bulletin, local Councillors or M-P.'s with whom you have contacts, ani your locel trades council. We hope that a wide Vollowing two meetings cf the Innen (ity Allionce, ani oun own goncern over Gily redeveloppent plans in Birminghem, we agave been esked to organise 2 ngtional confercnce on the theme of PENSION FUNDS and their major role in financing property davelopment in our cities. As a vesult of financila institasions investments since 1974 the property narket id picking up Speculative office blocks, luxusy hotels, warehouses estates, shopping centres, are a safe source of orofits but they come into direct conflict with the needs of Ordinary people living in working spectrum of delegates will astend from the Labour movement, and from community associaltions ani environmental sroups. These are the kind of issues which will be debated at the conference. At present there is a lot of talk about the possibilities of directing a proportion 9f the funds'money into industry, but will this really make any ditference to to the way in which they operate? Some Trade Unions are struggling to get some control over investment panels. but will they just end up administering the present system? In the nationalised industries there is no evidence that traie union representation has made much difference to investment policies. THS CONFERENCE aims to reise these issues and to explore ways in which we can begin to change the present situation. Please help us to publicise it in Hore copies of thie letter and the leaflet are available from us (postage cost appreciated) at the above address. Gremln eC: Vo b b a—— CALL FOR EXTRA PROPOSAL TO BE SENT TO REG FREESON. It seems to me that we may well have lost out on our position in the "Community Architecture" problem,in the short term, because we have failed to come to grips with the question of why there is now a call for government subsidies to designers werking in this field. Nick Wates has summarised the problem for us in his review of this year's N.A.M. Congress A.J.15/11/78. In the following extract from the review Nick is trying to give an impression of what the "alternative practice" people felt about our P.D.S. proposals: "It was likely to take years to achieve reforms in the public | sector and until tinat time the private sector experiments } could provide valuable experience, a vehicle for propaganda, and a means of providing working class people with services | they would otherwise be denied," The key phrase in this quotation is the one I have underlined. If we look at the provision of services to the public sector in this country we will find that they are provided in four different ways: by private.enterprise for a profit; by central & local stateas statutary | & discretionary services; and by voluntary effort by individuals or groups on a charitable basis, It is in this last provision that the "alt-— « ernative practice” people are primarily interested, although there is interest in central state sponsored services such as Housing Associations, The main elements of their argument for providing design services to this voluntary sector run as follows, r 4 i | | Most of the voluntary services are formed to fill a gap in the central & local state provision,or to provide a superior service, The lack of a central or local state provision may, for example, be for several reasons.| They both may not have the resources to provide the service and politic- | ians are opposed to providing it. A good example of this opposition might | be sexist poiiticians refusing to provide cash Tor the rehabilitation of houses for local Women's Aid groups. | I think that it is fairly true to say that the usual historic process is that central&local stte politicians eventually take over the idea of the necessity for providing a service, such as Women's Aid, or in the distant past the provision of adequate housing from the charity bodies or philanthropic trusts, The main point, however, of my argument is that there often seems to be a time lag between the voluntary provision of services and the state be- coming involved in that provision. It is this time lag that the "“altern- ative practice" people feel they must organise to operate in, although we should also recognise that they may well believe that the state is never going to be able to operate an adequate service because of bureaucracy, Because the P.D.S. group is unhappy about the profit motive and lack of accountability lying behind "private" and "alternative practice" operat— | ions in the "community architecture" field, I therefore propose the follow: ing: the setting up by central & local state of a subsidised Community Design Service operating from. but senperctely, within local authority architect& departments, The service should be available to all voluntary service groups, except perhaps political parties, and should not be con— trolled by local state politicians, but be accountable directly to Parl- lament through the D.O.E. It is obviously important that design fees should be below the R.I.B.A. mandatory fees but to ensure that the State |does offer adequate subsidy to local authorities to employ sufficient |design staff to cope with the workload, there should be some right of appeal by voluntary service groups if they are kept waiting for the design work to be done, I appreciate that central state control is against P.D.S. theory, but what I am looking for isaTMneutrality" of service which I think will oper- ate better with politicians being in a distant arena rather thata local one. It could be said that generally local politicians are exceptionally touchy about the adequacy of the services they operate in their area, Bruce Smith, Nov.1978 Reg Freeson, MP, House of Commons, Westminster, London SWi. Dear Mr. Freeson, ‘Comunity Architecture’ I work as a member of the ‘Support’ group which provides architectural advice and profeséional range of low income and working class organisations. While my work is within the 'private' independent and rely on fees earned, the proposals of the PDS group, and would strongly oppose ang encouragement to the RIBA proposals which you might give. There is such an enormous immediate demand for the kind of service we offer that we have chosen to work in the private sector, and plan to establish ourselves as a co-operative in the near future. To this end, we have organised a seminar with the Industrial Common Ownership Movement to discuss the problems of professional operative lines. and tenants complaining about defects, we would conclude that Because of our co-operative nature, we have inevitably been asked for advice by a number of co-operative groups, and are currently negotiating with a housing co-op in Brent to provide them with architectural services. From our experience in working with groups opposing local authorities at public enquiries 46 Church Road, Harlesden, London NW10 SPX. 10th. October, 1978. services for a wide sector in the sense that I am I lean towards supporting (ICOM) on 20th. October, incorporating on co; tT understand that you are currently considering proposals from the Royal Institute of British Architects concerning the establishment of a community aid fund. You should also have received a report from the Public Design Service Group of the New Architecture Movement. As an architect in private practice in the field of "community architecture" , I am concerned to ensure that you are aware that a substantial number of young architects like myself do not support the RIBA's proposals. You will see from the enclosed leaflet about ‘Support’ that our work is primarily with tenants, trade union organisations and user groups concerned with community buildings. In a number of cases, we work closely with the local authority involved, and see our role as an "advance guard", an experiment in working closely with local people and users in a way that could easily be followed by the area design teams advocated by the PDS group. there would need to be independent architectural advice services for groups in dispute with local authorities; however, because these would need to adopt a radichl position on professionalism - tather like law centres - there is no way that the RIBA wobld encourage this. The financing of our operation is, of course, problematice We are currently completing an analysis of our time and income and this pointe to the need to obtain grants in addition to our fee income in order to sustain research and advice work. However, we cannot see how a community aid fund as proposed by the RIBA would channel money in the direction of work organised along these lines. There is a strong suspicion that it would be used as bait for more established commercially minded practices who currently find the work we do unprofitable. In considering the CAWG proposals, I think you should look to the appalling record of the RIBA in its failure to encourage social responsibility. The profession has done nothing to raise money itself to support ‘community architecture’, has failed to invest money in research, and now looks to you to help improve its public image, I would hope you can recognise the distinction between the RIBA approach to community architecture - which is to mould community problems to fit into existing pattewns of professional services (therefore égnoring many difficulties) - and the approach of Support and PDS, which is to reform architectural practice to make it more relevant and accountable to ordinary people. I know most of the people involved in the RIBA CAWG personally. I I have talked with Rod Hackney at various stages during his process of building up his successful practice, I was involved in the early and subsequent discussions about ASSIST, and we have worked closely with Chris Whittaker. While I respect their motives, I feel they are placing too much trust in a professional bedy which has no understanding of ‘community problems’ and therefore takes a paternalistic and narrow view of things. I believe that it is necessary to be much more closely in touch with local needs than is the RIBA. I am, for instance, a member of Brent Community Law Centre Committee, and the Brent Federation of Tenants and Residents, and other members of Support have close links with grass roots and trade union organéfations. In this way, we can shape our professional role to meet their needs. From such involvement, I am in no doubt that public opinion of architects and architecture is very low, and the responsibility of the RIBA for this is one of the reasons why 25% of registered architects léke myself refuse to join the RIBA. I would suggest that your response to the RIBA CAWG proposals is to consider a general review of the architectural profession including the need to strengthen the rale of the Architects’ Registration Council of the UK at the expense of the RIBA, the need to improve the availability of professional services to groups like housing co-operatives, and the need to implement proposals along the lines suggested by the PDS group. Renort of Public Design Service Group Backeround: 1977-1978: At its Hull Congress in November 1977, NAM decided to develop further its policies relatinr to the nublic sector. NAM's interest in this field had already teen established at our first Congress in Harrogate, in 1975, when the idea of a National Design Service was nut forward. The National Pesign Service (NDS) proposals, based on 4 a critique of architectural patronage, argued for locally based desicn service directly accountable to local representatives of tenants, residents, councillors, suggested that local authority departments of architecture could provide the basis for such a service. sector. By late 1977 it was considered that a more concentrated programme of research and action was required, and following the Hull Congress an enlarged NDS group were mandated to carry out the work and to arranrce a conference in 1978 to establish the potential support for these ideas. The NDS Groun evolved into the Public Design Service (PDS) group @r: in addition to refinins, its critique of patronage and local authority working arrangements the group has been studying the origins and present role of departments of architecture and their relationship to the profession and private practice. Work has also been done on the narty political context and on an analysis of housing associations. From theories discussed in the group, a series of interim proposals were suggested, which would lead to the denocratisation of departments of architecture and to closer links between users and architects. and trade unionists. It was ~)iscussions on the NDS were continued initially under the auspices of the former North London Group of NAM, and a small issue ; sroup evolved. Further NDS papers stressed the view that since nublic control of finance and land were a prerequisite of any design service which would be available to the majority of people, any long term advance in architectural service to the public could only come through the public The Mav 1978 PDS Conference on Democratic Design endorsed these proposals and also our future programme of research and action. An important feature of this conference was a description by a local authority worker of how joint action by architects and building workers was able to influence and change council building policy. The conference was thus given proof that change from within can be achieved by trade unionists working together. Since May, the reorganisation of departments in two London Borourchs has given the opvortunity for our ideas to be tested in practice. Sunport by staff for some, if not all of our interim proposals was gained at departmental meetings. The final outcome of these taiks is not yet resolved. At the same time the Sheffield PDS group have been discussing the p question of standards in relation to central government financing and local control over resources. While this study is still at an early stare, an introduction to this group's work will be given at the conference. We trust that the participants of the 1978 NAM Congress will find Within the last two months the group has submitted to Reg Freeson, the Minister of Housing and Construction, a report on community architecture, to assist in the investization which he is currently undertaking into this subject. our material of interest and that the Congress will sunport our proposals and future programme. PDS Groun. November 1978, PNS Group Publications: *A National Desinn Service (Papers 2&3; 1976) * Proceedings of Public Desisn Service Conference, May 1978 (includes: "The origins, evolution and structure of local authority denartments of architecture" & "lousing Associations - A Democratic Alternative?") 75p. EAb GS) *Communityv Architecture - A Public Design Service? £1.00 (Institutions -£1,25) j The New Architecture Movement was founded in November 1975 at the llarrogate National Congress, to effectively channel the collective action of architectural and allied workers, in order to bring about radical changes in the practice of architecture. NAM seeks to restore control over their environment to ordinary neople, and social responsibility and accountability to the work of architects. NAM seeks not only to challenge the existing relation- ship of architect to client and user, but also the existing industrial relations between employer and worker, to restore a voice both to those who provide the labour for architecture and to those who use its products. To this end NAM exists as a network of sroups which have over the past three years campaigned on specific issues in pursuit of these agreed aims, programmes for action being formulated from detailed critisues of current practice. In terms of democratic control over architectural practice NAM seeks a lay controlled governing body, ARCUK, which though established as a 'public interest! body, has for its entire existence been controlled by the RIBA, thus effectively regulating oractice in favour of the architectural establishment. NAM's elected oresence on ARCUK Council is growing in line with disenchantment with the RIBA amongst architectural workers. NAM's proposals for a reform of ARCUK are a component of its submission to a covernment sponsored Monopolies Commission into architectural practice which concluded in favour of the NAM case that existing practice constitutes a monopoly operating to the prejudice of the public interest. NAM continues to campaign for the abolition of the RIBA instituted mandatory minimum fee scale which restricts the availability of architectural services to the wealthy, cornorate or bureaucratic. In the belief that the State represents for many the only means of access to resources, NAM proposes a Public Design Service, a reform of public sector practice, deriving from analysis of existing Local Authority devartments. It seeks to establish locally based design and build teams, directly accountable to tenants and users —- the abolition of existing hierarchical arrangements in favour of ynarticinatory democracy at a decentralised local level. In May 1977 NAM's work on the unionisation of architectural workers, an essential component of the democratisation of architectural practice, culminated in the setting un of the Building Design Staff branch within AUEW-TASS. The responsibility and initiative for this work has now passed to the Union. NAM has, since its inception, sought out specific issues around which to campairn in furtherance of its aims. The recent successful formation of a NAM Feminist Groun demonstrates NAM’4s ability to seek out real issues as a focus for concerted action, whilst developing its critique across the whole spectrum of architectural voractice. For further details of NAM, meetings, publications and newsletter, 'Slate', write to: New Architecture Movement, 9 Poland St. London ‘V1. / NEW ARCHITECTURE MOVEMENT LONDON / SOUTH dohn Allan A.S. Bagley John Bewimer Andrew Brown a Romilly Rd, N4. 01 359 0491 2 Prince of Wales Rd. NW5 82 Balaclave Rd. Surbiton, Surrey 12 Hill House, Harrington Hill, ES 01 806 1273 NEW ARCHITECTURE MOVEMENT 4th. ANNUAL CONGRESS CONTACT LIST Francis Bradshaw 14 Duncan Terrace. Nl Anne Brandon Jones 2 Reddington Rd. N.W.3 7 C. Brandon-Jones 2 Reddington Rd. N.W.3 01 435 429 Tony Brohn 53 Millbrook Rd. S.W.9 01 274 767 8 David Burney 23 Arthur Rd. Kingston-upon-Thames Suurrey ‘ 01 546 5634 Collective Actions Rep. - 175 Hemingford Rd. Nl J.M.G. Cooper REGS GRU BER aRKa Susan Erancis Mark Gimson Noel Glynn Hugo Hinsly Susan Jackson David Jennings Christine Leylandb Caroline Lwin Bob Maltz Neville Morgan John Muuray Robin Nicholson Ken Pearce Giles Pebody Marian Roberts David Roebuck Mary Rogers Barry Shaw ' Douglas Smith Cathy Taggart Ken Thorpe Nick Wates Julia Wilson-Jones Tom Woolley 202a Squires Lane, Finchly. N3 01 346 4100 37/Couleton Rd, N7 Becondale Rd. SE19. 01 761 0332 9:St. Georges Ave. Tufnell Park N7 01 609 2976 8 Cambridge Terrace Mews. Nwl 01 486 7597 13c Crealock St. SW18 01 870 8280 4 Carlisle Rd. Finsbury Rark N4 01 272 3747 4 Hidhshore Rd Peckham SE15 5AA 01 639 8264 32 Balaclave Rd Surbiton Sumrey 38 George St. Wl 01 935 2115 10 Tolmers Sq. Nwl 01 368 1650 14 Holmdale Rd. NW6 O01 794 6437 2nd Fl. Flat, 18 Charlotte St Wl 01 633 8389 (wk) 5 Milton Ave. N6 01 348 8713 5 Richmond Crescent. Nl 01 609 06 08 127 Fairbridge Rd, Holloway N19 0 1 272 0580 48 Sutherlend Sq. SE17 01 703 777 5 4) Roden St. N7 01 609 2065 25 St. Georges Ave. N7 6HB. 01 60 7. 4183 23 Grove Hill Rd SE5 01 733 4896 6 Tolmers Sq. NW1l 17 Delancy St. NW1l 68 Victoria Rd NW6 10 Tolmers Sq. NW1 01 388 1650 MIDLANDS etc. Richard Anderson 9 Stoneygate Ave. Leicester Helen Teague Chris Dent Dave Green Anthony Mercer John Mitchell Adam Purser Rafael Waksberg Richard Wea&herill 21, Beis . “eyworth, Nottingham "" 63 Barnstock, Bretton, Peterborough 0733 6893] x244 14 Derby Greve tTenton, Nottingham 32 )la Marston Rd. Oxford R 82 Kimberly Rd Leicester. 10 Spencer Rd, Belper. 37 Penarth Rise Nottingham. 0602 622034 251 0274 27 Clerberss11 Close ECIR OAt 01 Contact list cont'd NORTH etc Norman Arnold, Dave Breakell Mick Broad George Cameron Chris Cripps A.J. Earl W Halsall Maurice Lyons Jim Scott Bruce Smith 5 Bob Gordon Ian Tod Edward Walker WALES and WEST 9 Midland Rd Leeds 6 Liverpool School of Architecture. 5 Brewlands Ave, Kinneil Bo'ness, Scotland ‘ Ian. Cooper Anne Delaney Tom Foster Janis Goodman P.J. Hayea John Hurley Paul Knowles Gerry Metcalfe Chris Saxon Chris, Shaw John Shepherd Angela Sutton Dave Sucton David TypaRady 123 Malefant St Cathays Cardiff 196 Albany Rd Roath Cardiff 492047 18 Upper Camden Place. Bath BAl 5SHX Laurel's Farm Upper Wraxall Chippenden Wilts. 87 Prestbury Rd Cheltenheam 4 Priory Terrace, Cheltenham 25. Sandhurst Rd. Gloucester 23 Exmouth St. Cheltenham G.C.A.D. - Sth year student. 5 Suffolk Sq. Cheltenham Fieldhead, Amberly, Stroud Gloc. 3 Elsewick,,Tanhouse, 0695 32545 Bo'ness 4811 Skelmersdale WN8 6Bx 42 Ullet Rd, Liverpool 17 051 734 0454 13 Severus Rd, Fenham Newcastle upon Tyne Elat C 15 Croxteth Rd. Mersey side. 051 708 8944 (wk) Liverpool School of Arch. 138 Upper Parliament St. L 8. 42056 (wk) 56 Sunnyvale Rd TOtly Sheffield 363095 25 Market St, Huddersfield. ditto 9 Midland Rd. Leeds 6 783907 15 Briarsdale Croft, Gipton Leeds -&& 655793 205 Arabella St. Poath Cardiff. 23 St. Lukes Rd. Cheltenham Dunedin 1.Western Rd Cheltenham 196 Albany Rd Roath Cardiff. 492047 Susan Barlow Lizzy Brandon-Jones Pete Buchwald Tain Campbell Rosemary Clements 52 Oakfield St Cardiff. 398005 34721 3 Brecknock Rd. Knowle Bristol ditto 18 Uppex Camden Place Bath. 89 Prestbury Rd. 20761 32731 Birmingham May 6 1978 ATTENDANCE LIST NAME Norman Arnold Dave Breakell Tony Brohn Andy Brown Tom Bulley Hugh Byrd Iain Campbell Peter Carter Ian Colquoun Chris Dent Benedicte Foo Bob Gordon Jean Geldhart ADDRESS 9 Midlands Rd, Leeds 6 c/o BUDA 173 Lozells Rd. Bham I9 53 Millbrook Rd. London SW9 I2 Hill House Harrington Hill London E5 146 Rushmore Rd. London E5 45 BeechburnWay Handsworth Wood Bham 20 I96 Albany Rd. Cardiff 6 Passey Rd. Moseley Bham 73 I8 Brookhill Dr. Woollston Nottingham * Ra— 29wal lh Sheffield Shaffuld Ll 235 Kennington Lane London SEII oI- 806 1273 oI- 985 2559 02I- 533474 0222- 492047 02I- 7771019 0602- 282370 OI- 267 1774 274 7722 Ext. 396 if UCATT Convener City Arch, Dept. Sheffield Student Notts. Univ. GLC Student Sheffield Univ. L.B, Tower Hamlets 633 8301 NEW ARCHITECTURE MOVEMENT PUBLIC DESIGN SERVICE CONFERENCE T4 Leyfield Ra. Sheffield 44 Grafton Terr, London NW5 ® OI- 703 7775 077- 3824484 oI- 609 2065 ATTENDANCE LIST CONT‘T. NAME Dave Green John Hurley ADDRESS 4 Priory Terr. Cheltenham TEL OCC), J 495072 WORK Site rane Lecturer Chelthm TEL 108 Gaff Wel 45 34S Sproat JohnMitchell seberoy~cuereBE Read|—__| et pero: ¢ Trevor Muir John Murray Richard Myall John Napier Hugh Pearman Giles Pebody Adam Purser Marion Roberts Jim Scott Bruce Smith Douglas Smith OI- 348 8713 Student L.B. Haringey 474 5637 888 I2I2 Uobibogham Nottingham Univ. 5 Milton Ave. London N6 I2 Paton Grove Moseley Bham BI39TG 68 Wragby Rd. Lincoln 5 Gordon Pl. London W8 48 Sutherland Sq. London SEI7 I0 Spencer Rd. Belper Derb yshire 4I Roden St. London N7 Whinney Bank House Wooldale Student Ele Yorks P 7110Rerewrinflea ; o7¢e —j— 56-Sunnyvale-RA. Totley Sheffield I7 Delancey St. London NWI Hy 66 (04| 6742 City Arch. Dept Sheffield | 734261 L.B. Camden - 0242—{ 27801 363095- OI- 388 3369 S+ SofArch. 3Woot Bham City | 02I- Arch. Dept | 2353196 Arch. Cathedral Area Reporter Building Design Private Practice Housing Dept. Derby Private Practice Private Practice oI- 937 7372 ATTENDANCE LIST CONT'D. Mick Broad 5 Brewlands Ave, Kinneil, Bo'ness Scotland 3. NAME Howard Smith ADDRESS TEL WORK TEL Martin Springs ’ 4 Catherine St. London WC2 OI- 836 6251 Reporter *Building’ Val Stevens 77 School Rd. Hall Green Bham 28 Green Ban Action Cttee. Chris Thomas 134 Westfield Rd. M. Topham 43 Milverton Rd. Knowle Solihull Knowle 4oho Regional Richard Thompson IO Longmeadow Rd. Walsall I0 Walsall DCs Arch. Dept|xt. 2160 Nick Wates IO Tolmers Sq. London NwI OI- 388 1650 Reporter AJ I9 Langtree Ashunt Skelmersdale West Lancs District 0695- Kings Heath, Bham 02I- 4432010 Private Practice PEOPLE EXPRESSING INTEREST BUT UNABLE TO ATTEND John Allan Shirley Ashton 67 Romilly Rd. London N4 oI- 359 O491 Private Practice 734 8577 David Bartlett L.B. Islington Arch. Dept Gloucester House Margery St. London WCI Liverpool City Arch. Dept NALGO Staff Committee Blackburn Chambers Dale St. City Arch. Dept L"Pool L*Pool 169 2JG 02I=- 7775726 Council 77177 Health Board AOA Rep. L.B. Islington | 837 4242 27244 930 O6II oI- Ext. I5I PEOPLE EXPRESSING INTEREST BUT UNABLE TO ATTEND CONT 'D NAME Joanna Clelland ADDRESS TEL WORK TEL Mike Goulden Tom Jones 47 Tetherdown Rd. London NIO OI- 883 7222 Peter Luck Steven Mitchell II Nettleton Rd. London SEI4 OI- 639 5569 Student 9352207 Neville Morgan 2nd Floor Flat I8 Charlotte St. London WI ,7 Chainnye | 42UlletRd,LPal : Wicle Tadele 7 Beeclureoel Ave. Macleli. S! Marke Myson 23 Fuller Med order SWB *Foelas* Tanrhin kd. Tregarth Bethesda, Bangor Wales Local Authority 7 Allemund Ct. Bdward St. Derby DEI 3BR OI- 221 5847 Researcher GLC oI- 580 5270 GLC PDS Group May, 1978. Interim Proposals and which create the potential for further change : status to chief architect. i.e. towards a two-tier system. ESTABLISH JOINT WORKING GROUPS WITH DLOS. To consider how to achieve better designed, constructed and To achieve an effective Public Design Service the NAM Public Design Service Group proposes local authority design and build teams which are area based and which will be accountable to users and tenants. We suggest the following interim Proposals which are feasible now DESIGN TEAMS SHOULD BE AREA BASED INSTEAD OF FUNCTION BASED. To increase the potential accountability to local people, and while giving each team a varied work load. AREA DESIGN TEAMS SHOULD BE MULTIDISCIPLINARY AND SHOULD HAVE AROUND 12 MEMBERS AS A SUGGESTED OPTIMUM. JOB ARCHITECTS SHOULD REPORT DIRECTLY TO COMMITTEE. TENANTS AND USERS SHOULD BE PART OF BRIEFING TEAM, AND SHOULD HAVE POWER OF APPROVAL OVER DESIGNS AND STANDARDS. ABOLISH POSTS BETWEEN GROUP LEADER AND CHIEF ARCHITECT. As a preliminary step towards group leaders having equivalent maintained buildings. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Various Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived John Murray Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Nov 1978-Nov 1979 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/843df6d463a695d580e52aff8e779f16.pdf 084eacb15546a83326f3644c1a5a3a76 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Press Cuttings Subject The topic of the resource Various articles and comments incl NAM PDS Group about RIBA proposals Description An account of the resource BobGilesisamemberoftheRIBA Salaried Architects’ Group and isstilemployed inthe GLC architects’ department. The AF went to see him, them in the public sector, but some still have very positive ideas about their future role. This week, the AJ gives the views of three architects working at the drawing board in the public sector. Next week we shall be looking at the ideas of one chief architect. serve the community, almost like corner shops. Certainly there would be no ‘career Structure’ or ‘promotion prospects’ bur motivation to go into public service should coincides with a period of economic diffi- culty... .’* The political basis of the cuts in public expenditure thus disappears, public sector architects are separated from their context and SCALA can address itself to finding a technical solution to a technical problem. Why should leaders of the profession shy away from a reality so apparent to everybody else? Is it because they are unwilling or unable to accept that the model of architec- tural practice which has been pursued for over half a century is not (and probably never has been) relevant to the practice of architecture as a public service? The promulgation of this model is reinforced by the control of architectural education, employment and regulation (ARCUK) by the Icaders of the profession, It defines the architect as an independent entrepreneur Following the collapse of the GLC archi- not be about self-enhancement at the expense tects’department,BobGilesandmanyofhis oftalent.Itshould,hefeels,haveanelement operatinginanidealisedprivateeconomy,in architect colleagues are looking for some of what George Smiley called ‘a sense of competition with other architects and in con- satisfactory alternative employment. As one of the Salaried Architects’ Group, he has campaigned for years for more authority to John Murray and Bob Maltz are unattached be delegated to job architects. However, architects, trade unionists and members of the despite his optimism when Fred Pooley’s New Architecture Movement and both are practice groups were first discussed at the GLC, (AJ 29.11.78 p1022) he cannot raise anyenthusiasmnowtheyhavebeensetup. The initial idea has been badly mutilated by Savage cuts in both the number of architects and their workload and, in any case, all work hierarchical pyramids that stil exist in most public architects’ offices and sees no reason to have an architect at the top of them. He argues that once an architect leaves the draw- ing board he loses touch with his expertise and is no better than any other administra- tor. It is the very existence of these large hierarchies, completely divorced from clearly locates them as actors or victims on a building users, that has brought about the political stage. downfall of the public office. So tightly They are not alone in this predicament. It is definedaretherolesofthedifferenttiersof onethattheysharewiththeonemillion service’—and that means working with, as flict with other professions and trades in the well as for, the community. building industry. Imposed on the public sector, this model has resulted in a view of councillors, tenants and fellow public sector workers (who suffer under similar models) as obstacles in the path of their architectural creations, rather than collaborators in the effective provision of desired services. employed tn the public sector. They write: Discussionsonthefutureofarchitectureasa Thekeytotherealisationofanewrolefor public service are su.facing in the archi- public architecture is an alternative model tectural press. Not since the AJ Guest Editor based on: series in 1952 has there been any widespread on education buildings has been excluded informed consideration of this matter. The and obstructive hierarchies and moves from the groups for the time being, so harbinger of the long overdue debate is less architects working on ILEA buildings welcome. Public expenditure cuts, parti- remain in the same old empire, pyramid and cularly in housing and education, mean that all. towards a structure based on co-operative | principles; e forging strong technical and’ political there will be less work for architects, At the Giles continues to be bitterly critical of the same time, as local councils come under in the production of buildings, such as increasing pressure to reduce staff, depart- housing officers, valuers and building ments of architecture rank a close second to direct labour organisations as prime targets for the ‘back to private profit’ movement. Architects in general, but especially those associations. who work in the public sector, find them- selves thrust forcibly into a spotlight which The clear aim should be to create integrated public development teams, including al those who are involved in the production and subsequent management of building, which would be accountable to councillors and tenants ona local basis. authority that those professionals who householders on the country’s council and This model is dependent on collective action actually carry out the work rarely, ifever, get housing association waiting lists, and with of architects and fellow workers, acting a chance to meet their real clients. Every- other public sector workers and the people through strong inter-disciplinary unions like thing has to be relayed through each layer of for whom their services are intended. Thus NALGO and TASS, for both its implemen- the pyramid and several committees. No the position of the public sector architect is wonder public architecture is unpopular—it Not separate from that of the tenant, housing is imposed upon its users, whether they like officer or building worker and cannot tation and successful operation. Substantial moves in this direction have already begun in two boroughs. Professional institutions that seek to line up architectural staff in al sectors behind the owners of private architectural firms, merely it or not. Since no system is foolproof, Giles sees no point in employing endless numbers of ‘back stops’ to ensure that nothing goes wrong. Architects are professionals and should be allowed to take responsibility for their own work, without layers of higher-graded pro- fessionals to supervise them. He thinks that more public money is wasted in employing people to ensure that mistakes are not made than could ever really be justified. The only hope for public architects, argues Giles, is if the impenetrable hierarchies are dismantled and small local offices set up to reasonably be considered in isolation. Yet this is precisely what the RIBA and offshoots like the Society of Chief Architects 736 AJ 15 October 1980 ae CAWG, NAM, individual architects and neighbourhood groups must back him up. in Local Authorities (SCALA) are trying to hinder the active trade union and political do as they attempt to come to terms with the dismantlingoftheWelfareState.ThePresi- dent of SCALA, instead of acknowledging that to provide or not to provide council housing and other public building is and always has beena political act, now seeks to redefine the problem in technical rather than politicialterms:‘Thepatternofdemandis changing in many services. This arises from demographic change and other factors. This involvement of architects in campaigns againstthecutsinpublicservices.Itisonly through such involvement that the new model will be built. *(From: letter to Public Service and Local Governmest, September 1980 by President of SCALA.) MurrayandMaltzlookforwardtodiscussingtheseissuesand appropriate action with other architectural trade unionists at the New Architecture Movement Congress in Edinburgh on 7, 8 and9 November 1980. ¢ internal reform which abolishes arbitrary working links with other disciplines involved workers; e forging similar grass-roots organisational links with building users through tenants’ Next week, the Society of Chief Architects in Local Authorities (SCALA) isholding aone-day conference to discuss the future of local authority architecture. After the government cuts, many architects may have decided that there is no work for What future for public sector architects? Time please From M. W. Jeffels Diparch, RIBA, Acting County Architect, County of Cambridgeshire Sir: In his article on the 1980 JCT contract (AJ 1.10.80 pp667-669), Donald Valentine is concerned that it doesn’t make the failure of the employer to gain possession of the site a ground for an extension of time, and he suggests that architects should advise their clients to add this as a further reason for extending time. In my view we should try to avoid amending the contract and I would suggest that the architect has two practical solutions if the problem of late possession arises. He either issues an Architect’s Instruction to vary the date of practical completion, which would then be a relevant event as specified by JCT 1980, or he grants an extension of time under Clause 25.4.12 due to the failure of the employer to grant him ingress to the site through land owned by himself. The first alternative is the one which I would pursue in these circumstances. M. W. JEFFELS Cambridge Martin Richardson refreshes the parts... windows an added interest while the occu- pants stil have full security. This device is particularly suitable for doors to narrow entrance hall lobbies, which are usually left unventilated. A range of windows was marketed in Sweden some years ago with this arrangement, including insect grilles behind the louvres, but so far UK manufacturers have not, to my knowledge, shown interest in this idea. RICHARD BURFOOT East Twickenham, Middx Essex guidelines From 7. K. Simpson, architect Sir: The two schemes under fire in your ‘Colchester Camouflage’ article (AJ 27.8.80 p390) are, of course, pure Essex Design Guide (EDG). The South Woodham Ferrers complex, alas nowareality, which also falls under the critical axe, was of course definitive Design Guide. Remember the guide? The panacea for al that had ever ailed architecture since the dawn of time, and hailed with bouquets strewn in its path by the technical press including the AJ? Mr Dan Cruickshank amusingly and naively divides ‘blame’ for the Colchester schemes between ‘the council’s influence and tendency to favour the traditional approach’, and ‘the architects’ tendency to embrace the spurious principles of pastiche’, etc. Is Mr Cruickshank stil not aware that these schemes, as all schemes submitted through boroughs and districts in Essex (with thankfully, stil one notable exception) are of necessity pure EDG, because nothing short of this will ever get consideration. If any Contracting out From Peter Hampton RIBA Sir: Having read the new 1980 JCT contract, and your appraisal (AJ 1.10.80 pp667-669), it becomes ever clearer that an architect who allows his client to sign one is in grave danger of being sued for negligent advice. For many years the JCT contract has been ... other architects can’t reach. inclined so far towards the contractor as to earn the name of the ‘Contractor's Spot the difference contract—that this issue just has to be From Martin Richardson Darch, RIBA unacceptable. Thank goodness there is a Sir: The short answer to Mr Hossack’s letter ‘blame’ or criticism is due, it should surely better alternative—the Faculty of Architect's contract which puts the architect’s authority where it should be, in his own hands. PETER HAMPTON London SE1 Clear up on dereliction From Paul Spelzini Sir:IfeltIhadtoreplytoarecentreport(AJ upresidenceallhisspotshadgonc.But 17.9.80 p534) entitled “How to tackle whether this is due solely to the excellent derelict land and vandalism’. I am not as night ventilation only further detailed concerned with the latter as with the former, research would ascertain. a major factor in creating vandalism. MARTIN RICHARDSON A deliberate policy of under-investment by London WC2 successive governments is causing deteriora- Private view at the louvre tion of the national building fabric which is From Richard Burfoot DipArch, RIBA severely hampering efforts to provide better Sir: Your letter from Mr P. G. M. Hossack living and working conditions. John (AJ 24.9.80 p583) regarding the provision of Kelcey’s view that derelict land is a valuable night ventilation to casement windows, is resource may be true, but it is also a scar on the landscape and a drain on national resources. Consequently, Iwould advocate that derelict land be cleared of obstructions and rotting buildings, irrespective of ‘economic’ factors or red tape (listings, etc) to provide eco- logical zones in city areas. As a result more is no, it is not another instance of archi- tectural considerations over-riding people’s be laid at the shrine of the EDG and at the feet of those who accepted its ‘guidelines’ as mandatory. I somewhat gloomily forecast the future preferences. I am told by Milton Keynes Development Corporation Housing Department that they under the guide (letter AJ 5.4.78), and have never had a single complaint about although I am pleased to see the AJ night ventilation on the estate. One occu- pant, however, did tell me that since taking apparently changing horses, I am at the same time surprised that it got so far into midstreambeforeitdidso! J.K. SIMPSON Westcliffe-on-sea, Essex Dan Cruickshank replies: The AJ initially welcomed the Essex Design Guide because it sought to stop the worst of speculative housing in the county by instructing the builders and their architects how materials and clevations were traditionally treated in Essex. Before the appearance of the EDG it was common to get the same sort of boxes on grid layouts most interesting. House occupiers do need to have an additional means of ventilation while that one could have found in Dorset or the window remains closed. This is parti- Devon. The link between this and the guide, cularly important for older people living in admirable in intention but questionable in single storey houses, or in apartments practice, is not as direct as Mr Simpson directly adjoining an access balcony, who need positive security. I have for some years used a vertical louvre, suggests. Indeed, one of the more poignant aspects of the Colchester story is that the borough council, far from being dragooned by the requirements of the EDG genuinely interesting city areas could be created and many problems associated with dereliction, doors with an internally opening insulated wanted this type of scheme. It was made including the investment and safety aspects would improve. PAUL SPELZINI Potters Bar panel, usually side hung which, if necessary, may be in two or more sections to give high or low level ventilation. Louvres can give clear to both firms of architects at the outset that only ‘traditional’ style design would be considered. AJ 15 October 1980 in wood or metal, to one side of windows and CAWG, NAM, individual architectsand neighbourhood groups must back him up. New Architecture Movement, 9 Poland Street, London WI. 3rd April 1978. Dear PUBLIC DESIGN SERVICE CONFERENCE, UCATT HALL, GOUGH STREET, BIRMINGHAM Yours sincerely, for Public Design Group, NAM. Invitation PUBLIC DESIGN GROUP As you may know, the New Architecture Movement decided at its Hull Congress in November 1977 to develop further its policies relating to the Public Sector. Since then, work in this field has continued steadily and the Public Design Group which was delegated at Hull to arrange a conference now invite you to attend this, the first NAM Public Design Service Conference in Birmingham on Saturday 6 May 1978. During the past months we have met regularly and consolidated our programme. In addition to refining our critique of architectural patronage and local authority working arrangements, we have been considering the origins and evolution of local authority architectural departments, their internal structure and their relationship to the profession, private practice and to society as a whole. Papers on these will be available at the conference. We feel that discussions have now progressed sufficiently for interim proposals to be made. At the same time areas of further study and action have been identified and more support is needed to extend the work of this group. We therefore hope that you Will wish to participate in the conference and to contribute subsequently to the programme. As you can see from the attached papers it will be a very full day. We hope you will be able to attend, and we look forward to receiving your application as early as possible and to seeing you in Birmingham on th May. Freeson must take the initiative but — ; CAWG, NAM, individual architectsand . neighbourhoodgroupsmustbackhimup. STR LE f ere Leche t rehabilitation The Architects’ Journal 30 August 1978 | Astragal | Squeals of delight an Gambolling at the Ritz. a ee No doubt it’s due to the warm weather—a condition which encourages useful reflection —that Ifind myself ruminating rather excessively upon historical matters thisweek. But events have conspired to exaggerate the condition. For example, Ifound myself being entertained at a reception in the gambling dens of the Ritz and, as Ichomped my lobster and quaffed champagne, Iwas assured that ‘Conservationists and socialites throughout the world breatheda sigh of relief when London’s Ritz hotel was reprieved from decline by anew management’. For two years, Iwas told, the basement had been closed and used for storage—sacrilege. But now all is put right (that is, returned to the original 1906 design) and gold leaf, ‘faux marbre’, lush carpets, and specially designed French rococo furniture have returned to these quarters. OPEN THE COMMUNITY CHEST The initiative being taken by the RIBA Community Architecture Working Group (CAWG) towards launching a community aid fund is extremely welcome. As we reported last week (p356), CAWG is collecting data from architects engaged in ‘community work’ to demonstrate to Housing minister Reg Freeson the need for such a fund. What no one has given much thought to is how such a fund should work. Should it be controlled by central government, local government, neighbourhood groups orthe RIBA? Should the money be used to subsidise private architects? Or should efforts be concentrated solely on expanding local authority departments? The latter approach was advocated by the Public Design Group of the New Architecture Movement recently, but they have not spelt out how it would work. CAWG has so far not committed itself. The Netherlands system (see p374) is therefore particularly interesting because the Dutch appear to be several years ahead of us. There neighbourhood groups really do have some access to and control over architects; tenants are allocated to new flats before they are designed and therefore can be involved in the design process. The main lesson to be gleaned from the Netherlands, however, is that the system evolved as it did only because of both pressure from local neighbourhood groups (often assisted voluntarily by architects) and an enlightened government. If we are to progress in this country Freeson must take the initiative but CAWG, NAM, individual architects and neighbourhood groups must back him up. The designer responsible, Robert Lush, worked with GLC historians to get all the details right. And getting it right has been pricy. For example, the walnut doors alone cost £1000 apiece. But the press release (from which Ihave been quoting) ends with a spasm of unexpected perception: ‘whether f 4:| Building The Architects’ Journal 30 August 1978 Defending the faith Taken out of context Cl/SfB| 81 The Welsh way Astragal [the rich and famous] will appreciate the care and expense that are being used to restore this spectacular example of Edwardian rococo abounding with stucco and extensive gold leafing isamoot point’. The Ritz’s press officer has stolen my words. should be abetter balance between the two sites and wants the expansion to take place not at Headington, Oxford, but five miles away at Wheatley. It also thinks that the depart- ment of architecture should be the unit to move to improve the balance. Oxford County Council isapparently proposing to move the Oxford School of Architecture from Oxford to Wheatley, a pleasant village five miles to the east.At Wheatley there is already a part of the Oxford Polytechnic using buildings put up fora teachers’ training college. The Poly isdue to expand by 6000 square metres and from 3200 to 3600 students in the next couple of years and there are at present only 700 education and management students at Wheatley. The county thinks that there It’s a subtle scheme. Bear in mind that there are, of course, far too many university students in Oxford anyway, let alone polytechnic ones, and that the factories at Cowley are the only really important features of the city.Recall also that the influence of Oxford buildings on architectural students can be very upsetting. Remember too, that there are an excessive number of architects in practice anyway and that architectural study may make a man discontented with his environment for life. All this supports the argument that any step taken to destroy an architectural school must be welcomed. Isolating a school of architecture in a village is just such a step. The art historians’ favourite church in Muswell Hill, London. The way the listing process is being run down is really getting beyond a joke. The list for Swansea has not been revised since itwas first compiled in the early 1950s and, says the Welsh Office, will not be until the 1990's. As one would imagine, many buildings in Swan- sea which are now listable are not protected. Also, again as we would imagine, several of these potentially listable buildings are cur- rently threatened. Notably the Carlton cinema, built in the early 1900s and the Palace Theatre of 1888. Both are important survivors in this much-devastated city and both could be found suitable new uses if there was some official move to save them. Surely, since the Welsh Office intend to be so feeble, the city council should serve Building Preservation Notices on the buildings. The Welsh Office would then have to take some action and, who knows, do its duty and safeguard thehistoric buildings under itscare. There can’t be many threatened buildings to have had Sir Hugh Casson, Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, Sir John Summerson and Sir John Betjeman as its champions. The lucky building that these illustrious fellows are now fighting (or at least writing letters) for is the somewhat unlikely Broadway church in Muswell Hill, North London. Built in 1903 and designed in a curious eclectic Art Nouveau style by George and Reginald Baynes, the church is listed grade II and its owners, the United Reformed Church, want todemolish itand sell the site for commercial development. As a result of the application a public inquiry was held a couple of months ago whose decision is still awaited. Certainly the inspector should find in favour of retention for not only is the church important in itself, and in a key position in a well preserved Edwardian suburb, but also the local group (BROACH) fighting for ithas collected 9000 signatures from locals calling for the church’s preservation and has produced a scheme showing how itcould successfully be tumed into a centre for music. Carlton cinema in Swansea. CI/SfB, 81 bakbmesilt) rehabilitation WORKING FOR AN ENLIGHTENED LOCAL AUTHORITY ALLOWS ONE TO PUT INTO PRACTICE ONE'S CONCEPT OF ARCHITECTURE AS A SOCIAL SERVICE . 4+.THE SOUAL SERVANT. THE AGED... THE INFIRM THE HANDICAPPED / AND HOW BO THEY LIKE THE NEW BUILDING, MATRON 7 HOSTEL FOR HAUNICAPPED OLD PEOPLE CLASS 6p/s Obituary Charles Eames Charles Eames, who died last week aged 71, was one of the most influential furniture designers of this century. He trained as an architect and worked in Eliel Saarinen’s office. Street, London E8. 13.00-17.00. With Eero Saarinen he was one of the first to appreciate the potential of new production techniques and new materials. His first outstanding design (with Saarinen in 1940) was for an armchair in die-moulded aluminium and plywood. The famous rotating “Eames chair’, with its mighty headrest and stool, was also designed in laminated timber and aluminium (1957) but the majority of his post-war designs were for furniture in various kinds of plastic; many are produced by Herman Miller Inc. Eames did not limit himself to furniture design. In 1949, the steel-framed house he built for himself at Santa Monica, Cali- fornia, out of standard components ordered from a catalogue, showed a humane and delightful approach to industrialised Plymouth Polytechnic one-day conference ‘The teaching of colour in schools of archi- building that has, unfortunately, been too little followed by Ltd). At TCPA, 17 Carlton others. All his work: his furniture, exhibition stands, films and toys showed the Eames hallmark—painstakingly thorough, yet full of wit and chann. House Terrace, London SW1. Admission: 20p. At 18,30. 12 September RIBA/DIA private view of Alvar Aalto exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, Burling- ton House, Piccadilly, London WI. Fork buffet supper with wine will be served in the galler- ies during the evening. Cash bar on arrival. Tickets: £6-50 from Anne Corke, RIBA Conference Office (01-580 5533 ext 225). 19.30-22.30. (Exhibition open to public from 16 September to 15 October). 18 September One of Eames’ wittier designs. ad The Architects’ Journal 30 August 1978 an s Diary IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF LIFE FOR THE NEEDY AND DEPENDEAST MEMGERS OF A CARING ComMMUNITY OH WE ABSOLUTELY ADORE IT, DoNT WE MR CHATTERLEIGH 7 2 September NAM Public Design Group tecture’. Speakers include Martin mecting “Theory and Practice’ at Wilkinson and Tom Porter. At Centerprise, 136 Kingsland High 9-10 September NAM Leeds Group Forum, main topic NAM Constitution. At Red Ladder Theatre Building, New Blackpool Centre, Cobden Avenue, Lower Wortley, Leeds. Details from Norman Arnold, 9 Midland Road, Leeds. Plymouth Polytechnic, Palace Court, Palace Street, Plymouth. Details from: Joe Lynes, prin- cipal lecturer, School of Archi- tecture (0752 21312). 27 September The Polytechnic of Central Lon- don: one-day course on arbitra- tions. At PCL School of the Environment, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1. Inquiries to the Short Course Unit (01- 486 5811 ext 397). 6 October Corrections O The figure of £74 000 quoted in the news item about the newly converted premises for RIBA Publications Ltd (AJ 5.7.78 p48) comprises not merely the conversion cost—as implied in our note—but the entire budget including freehold purchase of the old building, conversion costs and all fees. ( In ‘Use of redundant build- ings 2’ (AJ 22.3.78 p568) para 2.02, the correct address for SAVE should read 3 Park Square West, London, NW1 4LJ (01-486 4953). ( Russell Rose was the job architect for the Dutch Quarter, Colchester (AJ 26.10.77 p780-1 and AJ 17.5.78 p952). Future events TCPA Planning Forum ‘Hous- ing in the inner city’. Speaker: A. F. Rawson (chairman, Bar- ratt Developments Southern th la ees, 372 The Architects’ Journal 30 August 1978 1‘Concrete Armada’ by Deanna Petherbridge. 2 ‘Brick Knor’ by Wendy Taylor. 10 eweee ~[ James" Latnamesuggetcans vi ,] ITCTFs illustrated RS Time2 wo eA i” { \ | 4 :i i { Berto)PATS eeaie) 19.10. asoeOreee ~ a nt to know.’ fa ceri, 5ht AT 15 October | —— ize amen das aun a @ ARE: “gaan on)a5 ane. 4B MEER OTeh ee cuaeo one-theperson nd, on the way, aoente aCR psa.Meeye me PS | t | | AJ 15 October 1980 a} coincides with a period of economic diffi- culty... .'* The political basis of the cuts in public expenditure thus disappears, public sector architects are separated from their context and SCALA can address itself to finding a technical solution to a technical problem. Why should leaders of the profession shy away from a reality so apparent to everybody else? Is it because they are unwilling or unable to accept that the model of architec- tural practice which has been pursued for over half a century is not (and probably never has been) relevant to the practice of architecture as a public service? The promulgation of this model is reinforced by the control of architectural education, employment and regulation (ARCUK) by the leaders of the profession. It defines the architect as an independent entrepreneur operating in an idealised private economy, in competition with other architects and in con- flict with other professions and trades in the building industry. Imposed on the public sector, this model has resulted in a view of councillors, tenants and fellow public sector workers (who suffer under similar models) as obstacles in the path of their architectural creations, rather than collaborators in the effective provision of desired services. The key to the realisation of a new role for public architecture is an alternative model based on: internal reform which abolishes arbitrary and obstructive hierarchies and moves towards a structure based on co-operative principles; e forging strong technical and political working links with other disciplines involved in the production of buildings, such as housing officers, valuers and building workers; e forging similar grass-rootsorganisational links with building users through tenants’ associations. The clear aim should be to create integrated public development teams, including al those who are involved in the production and subsequent management of building, which would be accountable to councillors and tenants ona local basis. This model isdependent on collective action of architects and fellow workers, acting through strong inter-disciplinary unions like NALGO and TASS, for both its implemen- tation and successful operation. Substantial moves in this direction have already begun in two boroughs. Professional institutions that seek to line up architectural staff in al sectors behind the owners of private architectural firms, merely hinder the active trade union and political involvement of architects in campaigns against the cuts in public services. It is only through such involvement that the new model will be built. (From letter to Public Service and Local Government, Sepiembee 1980 by President of SCALA.) Next week, the Society ofChief Architects in Local Authorities (SCALA) isholding aone-day conference to discuss the future of local authority architecture. After the government cuts, many architects may have decided that there is no work for Following the collapse of the GLC archi- tects’ department, Bob Giles and many of his architect colleagues are looking for some satisfactory alternative employment. As one of the Salaried Architects’ Group, he has | campaigned for years for more authority to be delegated to job architects. However, despite his optimism when Fred Pooley’s practice groups were first discussed at the GLC, (AJ 29.11.78 p1022) he cannot raise any enthusiasm now they have been set up- The initial idea has been badly mutilated by savage cuts in both the number of architects and their workload and, in any case, all work on education buildings has been excluded from the groups for the time being, so architects working on ILEA buildings remain in the same old empire, pyramid and al. Giles continues to be bitterly critical of the hierarchical pyramids that still exist in most public architects’ offices and sees no reason to have an architect at the top of them. He argues that once an architect leaves the draw- ing board he loses touch with his expertise and is no better than any other administra- tor. It is the very existence of these large hierarchies, completely divorced from building users, that has brought about the downfall of the public office. So tightly defined are the roles of the different tiers of authority that those professionals who actually carry out the work rarely, ifever, get a chance to meet their real clients. Every- thing has to be relayed through each layer of the pyramid and several committees. No wonder public architecture is unpopular—it is imposed upon its users, whether they like it or not. Since no system is foolproof, Giles sees no point in employing endless numbers of ‘back stops’ to ensure thar nothing goes wrong. Architects are professionals and should be allowed to take responsibility for their own work, without layers of higher-graded pro- fessionals to supervise them. He thinks that more public money is wasted in employing people to ensure that mistakes are not made than could ever really be justified. The only hope for public architects, argues Giles, is if the impenetrable hierarchies are dismantled and small local offices set up to them in the public sector, but some still have very positive ideas about their future role. This week, the AJ gives the views of three architects working at the drawing board in the public sector. Next week we shall be looking at the ideas of one chief architect. What future for public sector architects? Bob Giles is a member of the RIBA Salaried Architects’ Group and ts stil employed in the GLC architects’ department. The AF went to se him. John Murray and Bob Maltz are unattached architects, trade smionists and members of the New Architecture Movement and both are employed in the public sector. They write: serve the community, almost like corner shops. Certainly there would be no ‘career structure’ or ‘promotion prospects’ but motivation to go into public service should not be about selfenhancement at the expense of talent. It should, he feels, have an element of what George Smiley called ‘a sense of service’—and that means working with, as well as for, the community. Discussions on the future of architecture as 4 public service are surfacing in the archi- cectural press. Not since the AJ Guest Editor series in 1952 has there been any widespread informed consideration of this matter. The harbinger of the long overdue debate is less welcome. Public expenditure cuts, parti- cularly in housing and education, mean that there will be less work for architects. At the same time, as local councils come under increasing pressure to reduce staff, depart- ments of architecture rank a close second to direct labour organisations as prime targets for the ‘back to private profit’ movement. Architects in general, but especially those who work in the public sector, find them- selves thrust forcibly into a spotlight which clearly locates them as actors OF victims on 4 political stage. They are not alone in this predicament. It is one that they share with the one million householders on the country’s council and housing association waiting lists, and with other public sector workers and the people for whom their services are intended. Thus the position of the public sector architect is not separate from that of the tenant, housing officer or building worker and cannot reasonably be considered in isolation. Yet this is precisely what the RIBA and offshoots like the Society of Chief Architects in Local Authorities (SCALA) are trying to do as they attempt to come to terms with the dismantling of the Welfare State. The Presi- dent of SCALA, instead of acknowledging that to provide or not to provide council housing and other public building is and always has been a political act, now seeks t0 redefine the problem in technical rather than politicial terms: ‘The pattern of demand is changing in many services. This arises from demographic change and other factors. This al Murray aed Maltz look forward to discussing these issues and appropriate action with other architectural trade uniocists at the New Architecture Movement Congress in Edinburgh on 7,8 and? November 1980. 4| ee |National architectural service? The A:rchitects' Journal 2 March 1977 ‘Boss architects’ But David Gosling said that those speaking posal were merely ‘representing their own positions or chief architects’ and the RIBA was supposed to represent architects, the majority of whom are salaried. ‘If we oppose this proposal we will be seen, in Hellman’s words, as the Royal Institute of Boss Architects.’ was not up- Several other speakers said that if the proposal accepted then something much stronger would come Adams said that the institute’s study of the profession, Bernard shortly, shows that the majority of which will be published the there or it could ‘find some way of salaried architects are not happy with their lot. Either could ‘sit on the safety valve’ in which case institute would be a ‘certain explosion’, the pressure and find a new kind of professionalism’. relieving to defer a decision was an attempt to Brown said the decision kill the proposal and ‘puts its finger on the [lack of] of the Council’. sincerity against the pro- as partners all ae! ps > the professional class, the need for accountability in the pro- posed fund, the need for community schemes to be locally based. ‘Many people working in this arca think that the prin- ciples of the RIBA aresagainst the principles of community architecture’, he said, affirming his belief in ‘4 community 4, _\ 3 |were another example of architects believing themselves to |be ‘a panacea for social problems’. The paper did not recog- |nise severe problems: the suspicion by the working class of ite ’aa |Benefit communities, not architects Student member David Breakell believed that the proposals architecture that benefits communities, notarchitects’. Jim Johnson agreed. Very often the community architect needs to become a kind of entrepreneur—taking initiatives for people who will not do so for themselves. A new concept of professionalismisneeded:‘it’softenamatteroftakingsides’. The institute, he thought, should take ‘a persuasive not @ pre- scriptiveattitude’.DavidPercivalwantedtoseethefeescale pressedcodeofbuildingregulations;second,forahighly revised to be appropriate for community work. efficient enforcement service operated by ‘adequately skilled James Latham suggested that the industry’s pressure group persons’, and third, for ‘as far as possible uniform interpreta- oeftheCounde Savidge ideas get wide support In the debate on the building regulations, councillor after councillor reiterated the same proposals for reform as spelled out in the AJ by Rex Savidge. Thedebatecentredonapaperfromtheinstitute’sBuilding Control Committee which called first for a single clearly ¢x- TA ‘The Architects’ Journal 19 April 1978 on Westminster, the Group of Eight, should take up the pro- posal for a fund. The Government is committed to improving the inner cities but doesn’t know what to do, he argued. Nego- tiations with Whitehall should start immediately. Salaried architects sat upon After one of the most fraught debates of the day’s meeting, Council rejected a proposal by the Salaried Architects Group to immediately set up a Salaried Practice Advisory and Con- ciliation Panel. Instead, by 18 votes to 17, a much-amended motion was carried agreeing in principle to the notion of such a body but referring the idea to the membership and public affairs committee and to the membership in general for its views. Jake Brown, who put forward the proposal on behalf of SAG, voted against the amended motion because he said it was an attempt to sweep the issue under the carpet. The SAG proposal, described by Brown as a ‘spring lamb’ in its mildness, is aimed at providing a means by which salaried architects could protest against employers who prevent them carrying out their work with proper professional responsibility. The panel (five members including two salaried architects and two principals/chief officers) would be appointed by Council and could only act with the co-operation of its members. Un- like an industrial tribunal it could not have statutory power. Yet Council members expressed their disquiet with the pro- posal. Ray Moxley said he had a ‘gut feeling of anxiety. It could be very damaging to good relations in practices.’ Eric Lyons said it could ‘seriously jeopardise the future of private practice ...to see this institution as a quasi trade union would be very worrying’. Allan Groves, chief architect ofCornwall, said it would be ‘divisive’ and was unnecessary because ‘chief architects in the public sector are responsible individuals’. RIBAGOUNC : ; subsidised by fees from otherwork. Alan Meikle, introducing the paper on community architec- ture, emphasised that community architecture is not ‘a pass~ ing trend’. Economic and social pressures will ensure that, for many architects, the nature of their job will change, he said. There will be much more concern with the existing stock i 3. Now it’s the turn of the infantry: house-to-house work |anu fine-grainplanning.” ( |Much is being done but not enough, he argued. So anational |fund is needed to help the poor acquire the skills ofarchitects, |just as the legal aid scheme and the National Health Service |help them get access to the services of the otherprofessions. |A Community Aid fund should be set up by the Government to help poor people pay for architectural advice. Council agreed by a massive majority that the institute should press Whitehall to provide cash for this purpose. The fund would |cover fees for community schemes including abortive work, |non-architecrural services related to home improvement and fees for full services for housing rehabilitation, which is often |and by extension, directly with the inhabitants. “The day of |the big battalions with their bulldozers and tower crancs is ‘This kind of architecture can only be practised with the know- |ledge and consent of the user’, he said, “we must be moving towards an architecture for everyone, not just for those who have the money to pay forit.” Lotham: Whitehall talks should start immediately. baile againgge!meetinif Nittional Krogty Pore To suggestthatthe,ptiblig 9dJ résifmably iknorantof St ictural caine cerstharhas.Beught oTarepypodana sh the } reputid to Prafgs Comments ) cin +}, Fhereave ingund muledheg pga yara sare modularragigdesignSah y ho a Crohg fyétédines the onthe icedu demonsiarlor,THate02 Leagueiscomplet PT theuseofviolegce'fshemHrotXo- esré SESS, au his letter (AJ 4.1.78 p7) than is - illustrgt a a inthearticle cepttha Ryle deteahi AJen i Apna ~| thectigui,= cea rathJK use Ras own money i At itsobjectivesa) acwcoesforthelowWgubli<4\ASuithiehainal_\ An ‘Architects agaitet dens ff National FrontTMtarfipantey has been set up,to enfouragd! ) » architects?SdHvindK{ ofthemt ziLeague. The a intentionjd bgnae SaPO} t signaturesdtLooWarg hitects Cy and\£5000 intdonaiSiots to. theA LScafes16.5Sal A massive response of this sortcanbel}++eyeBoB } of the Natis iu Brtai counter theunpretedented Nazi Propaganda to which the electorat: is going tobe , exposed Iath‘eg ack Sn IcallupeénaiBARE demonstrate their ahbortuke of racialism by writing to‘give support to this campaign, irrespective of other political differences. Letters of support and donations should be sent to “Architects against the National Front’, c/o The Architectural Association, 34-36 Bedford Square, London, WCI1B 3ES John Sell London WC1 ee Recollections of violence From Geoffrey Maddison RIBA, AADip!, MRTPI Sir; Your correspondent A. Anderson PUN eeoneronpeene Ppastebrmo fWhi en, gine - complam, /¥ i\ sone ent, disgri inssting f uniARelligencel &We’ woltd sugkest th: ‘Goth ‘compejence CORN ay auseful i}. wulge! tab hthe'pub! hf,5‘intelligen,ry= vy NYyWretfeb sewho find e lre pe OLA lnnang Fe alfo a ah, The Architects’ Journal 19 April 1978 733 qualification. Put against the RIBA, SAAT iss*Hlinitsinfandydandunless $ Fascists in London in the 1930s; my own visits to oom any. he Austria in crab re includingbejngaeay! wastocarrytheargument nerchristopbblign} GestapowhenItriedtoseTebeyondtheengineeingcirclein.*schatny;moveaiwaiyf)dup Photographs of evidence of aptj)=4ne Sir: The objegt of the Ie on limig state debigycaJ ‘Ate 77 p1201 ath pate will definit bth sides, juWshagdakafpnhiy Reng) c cretive, kriow-it-a MTaeakG ingsin theirsHa wBeebyandBillen Ulnton N «PaniDAO }ow SAAT the only hope From §.mele have Jewish violence in Vienna and a “a y]a ekweston era Or mharter rather than writh tt prejudiced red scare hysteria shown by Meese whosq attituleist ander hit was previouslyy confined a sintendedtobe contfovepdl. a mal opinionlabourthediahdonAasfitrary fe | ieDurSdieenthere ckwork, The figBures ip —- rey diso; freeeprohcesslegiayt Pe webrokethatdow great Tho ember that the argicles in i¢saméansvWerusing;J197](repripy asatOAT CP110thanusidgAVWe;Hanokybidsstiekei rae that he €Ane shme dealt adequately pfich the evel ofthenewdhaftBS449, jets f;actors,Hytosis iyteleee Bepate soe <q riticismofthecurent <as‘ind"thatmaywel} CP114 i)AN Agigbed ths Midd TM io ‘ishTaohie‘ dai a 1 ang,sAAiSteayy wcthts my aWrarded, ean li ; Whatwedany Aino 4 ~sénse’ig the OF Mi sicy in shortestsupply,particujgtly where fashion and progress are concerned G. ae bets Ao > G A4Hodgkinstn letter above). members. Ihave astrong feeling that if some review is not made soon, the R pamey inda take-over bid.by shar very (evidert—based Ppirel) and simply, on the fact that there will be more of them than us! Philip W. Heeks “Crewe and Nantwich, Cheshire : London W4 a a a ee té Technicians’ training wl From Philip W. Heeks Sir: uM | Twould like to stronghy *ey fi the let from B@. Tint AJ 30.11.77 p1961), Satie to architectural technician training My own view is that as the RECS now have a bridging, courge fo eyabersofST,.s¢should the yolbam haveabridgeforSAAT to totally demolish 17 listed buildings and partially demolish five others, in the Queen, Foregate, Frodsham Street area ofthecity. Ifnthhi Rey: are not going forthasc wv mentioned above; then what are they going for? nsstheSince would begin to id“y t he editors engineersare prepared to ope Kj Acepniebpaehibnona lad From John Sell RIBA Sir A. Anderson is incorrect in both the points he seeks to make (AJ 12.4.78 p678) attack- ing the Anti Nazi League. the latter would begin to com- prehendichgincering realities themannerofeee them" opinion in this country, united « forthe soleobjectiveef Opposing.the poi of racial by the National ¥ront and other Nazi organisations Among oe thousands who have givent su ort to the Anti Nazi Lea cmeiiAbey ‘A shtcoft’ S§ir * Tohi Gielgud, Pete Buon 'i Cleo L3ine, ints M Michael*Parkinson’ a Previn The second paragraph of Mr Anderson’s letter cdr, only refer x toac paysasceayyn Srpanfsed a by tH BitmifigHam Ang “A RacialistCGommittesAR ON mil + ici " a with e ee obectsincludney wen rhehup~gilrcominghttechniéians socialpriority Bye no rote of ite it,1¢Willstayth woe oar | ANnti-Naziaesan) Sca¥sbrook yeybehthtetenteeoftheanti-_ ressreports,and Mlfission . roadbpjldittglobby*howsthar” mee none of itsmm ti ’ salt this Yarn. ispossiMe anstttat Ohi re sj bienseatdesign OW Pirliamentacceptsthatthe Weide fromG.M.Roseland psppleSreotaay o NSNareeas Mosley’s|AHodgkinson Tens (AJ 12.4.78 p678) refers to the Anti-Nazi League as being odious and implies that its Sir; a Afthe regi MOI tocar * pees(AJ5:4,78 2637),Iie} Neth hq Kok CrRAtRoid° people. Imysqlf havéheen c xhpalyttlege forthe.By Ao ght years with SAAT as, the,a / oly hopep Al Tretogn: fi aigingysnyie i ith present and future empl yaa of the heagJAf ane} oPHNCanWaspwheoal ate\) confused e eS ai‘terePRO aeaePee cah yj take tq hainthese quabfic nS,6, atbotertaiglyrare. Renee anda lot of Practiges § Nesto % Further recollections of violence (sec oviteaanags;,* Whe eal TheAntiNaziLeagueisnot pyc lentWaragainstaD ¢ ndengagaen! aCommunist front apisation« but an organisatig priothdd Vv V5ve ine pat byaverywidecross-Sectionof da We ear TRearticle,cover: ,aspectof ergs ofs ipimty 3 the appligation o Agate te Meavehale ay ay demiginhi— biplais tehnlticz Up firswy QbA hicg eke heirorric 5 T(soncepe’a doesnotinA { ‘ SARE merefygeflectsthecriticismWs hoserjousissinapros CP11¥ made ateverypectin lit é ae fe criticisry fe ca)pve v on that code since jtapp, Nuintt a eb sis intakeinganarbi- ts sevenforthesafetyfactor {Harry ae | 119. brey Says no more in CNaweregiso equal ose 386 ‘ \ » The Architects’ Journal 2 March 1977 . Diary 2 March The possibilities of community architecture meeting organised ternational Council of Socicties by Nottingham New Architec- of Industrial Design at the May ture Movement group, at the Fair Theatre, Stratton Street, Peacock Hotel, Mansfield Road, j London WI. Speakers include Nottingham. Guest. speaker Selwyn Goldsmith. Adam Purser, NAM, London. 16-17 March 19.30. 3 March Official vandalism: housing in the inner city lecture by Jim chow preanised by NORSAG, at the Departiient of Architecture, Infor systems for de- | signers symposium and* exhibi- tion at the Universiy of South- ampton, organised by the Design Group. Details: Publication Ser- vices, 33/35° Foxley Lane, High WAKE UP, SIR — YOUVE BEEN MADE } Edinburgh University, 22 Salyington, Wotthing, Sussex, +) REDUNDANT/ \Chahibérs Street, Edifburgh, at 117.15 “4 March’, 5 ay Discourse in architecture lecture by Francoise Choy in Lecture \ Theatre 1, Architecture Unit, ¥ 4)Pobytechnic’ of Central London, BD13 3AD (0903 65405). 23-25 March ———————— ee Design guidance a three ‘stage workshop organised +by\ the School for Advanced Urban Studies to proyide a forum’ to discuss how design guides are 35 Marylebone Road, ‘London | preparedy their,impact on. devel- opment control and-thteir pérfor- “mance. Details; Judith Tyler, School for Advanced Urban Richard MacCormac: an archi- \ Studies, ‘Rodney, Lodge, Grange tect’s. approach’ to ~architécture Road, Bristol: BS8 4EA; (Bristol mecting at North East London; 311117). Polytechnic,: Department of 23-25 March aa Architecture,ForestRoad,Lon- rN eeeobe NW1, at 18.00. i sSe _ 7 March |EiDeadwood| CHIEF ARCHITECT) don, E17, at 18.30. . — a + Aspects of health ‘provision building programmes course for architects, administrators and , YOURE UNAWARE OF w THE Wider ISSUES § March ‘ Tropical architecture lecture by pFactifioners on the designiprob- vere LADDIE f vf Otto Koenigsberger at the Lec- “lents ing region#i\ant ajgrice tures. Theatre, 'sDepartment >of + health authorities) organiséd by Fine ‘Art, Neveanle Univecsity, the IpSituseof Adv: anced Afchiy |) tectural Studies. Derhils: they Secrosary, IAAS, King’s Manors at 13.00. / a —_— : - 7 Yor’, YOT ZEP (0904 26912). 28 March-2 )April tony 1 > seminar with speakers Gordon *“Rok? “and Patrick-\Morréay; at, 7 8 March Tube structures and the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, Correction)“; Liverpoo}] Polytechnic, Main 6 Wérdhe ddiwings hahdbsoky Jiy‘hecture_Theatte, Byrom Street, i26.1.77, IS5,/p188, para 1.02 § Liverpool 1, ag 14.30 third line sHould ready ¢he:values 8 March }\ aX Lecture by. Geoffrey. Darke t otganised by); N@RSAC, at 17,15. See above for venue. 8Mairch LA ASS Lecture by Cedric Price in the Main Auditorium, South Bank Polytechnic, Wandsworth Rbad, London SW8, at 16.30. 8 March RABAS*Lalk in’: can we afford the building regulations? Walter Segal will open the discussion with Eric Lyons in the chair, at the RIBA, 66 Portland Place, * London W1, at 18.30. — ‘9 March Milton Keynes lecture by Derek Walker ofganised by Oxford Polytechnic, at Museum of ‘Modern Art, 30 Pembroke s Stteet, Oxford, at 19.30. th 9 March Le Thoronet, La Tourette lec- ture by Dr Geoffrey Baker, at Plymouth Polytechnic School of Architécture, Studio 3, at 14.00. AJ © \ i7'S ALU RieHTs OFFICER = / I've'Gor Aim | Future events The designer and the disabled conference sponsored by the In- =. 1 :V2‘and, of course, | XA¥ FS compil, p186, should read. eqm- passes 9 , : Innnext week’s. Guy ‘Hawkins looks at Water- field School, Thamesmead—a turning point in the design of comprehensive secondary schools. ® UY Git mavens LOCAL AUTHORITIES ARE IN THE NEWS AGAIN / fi ‘The Architects’ Journal 2 March 1977 ponds and redecorate Sydenham station. The fifth campaign is intended to encourage Londoners to plant more trees. A special committee chaired by architect and tree enthusiast Sydney Chapman will advise public auth- pees and individuals and, in some cases, it will help with cash. Neut Fe duce partial services only, said Nisbet, and ‘such policies declare only too clearly that the cor- porate client has no requirement for independent professional advice’. Even so, Nisbet pointed to the greatly increased status of the qs. Partly as a result of the power of the corporate client, most qs firms now find that a large pro- portion of their appointments are made direct by the client without prior selection of the qs by architect or engincer. Qss’ status has also been enhanced by their appointment as project co-ordin- ators of design teams, said Nis- bet. ‘We are all proud of the fact that a quality surveyor was chosen to manage the team for the National Exhibition Centre and that the project was success- ful in terms of both time and cost.” This role for the qs is growing and, according to Nisbet, there seems little doubt that there is ‘a tendency for clients to look to them for financial management in the full sense of accepting res- ponsibility for ultimate costs. And no doubt it will soon become apparent that responsibility can- not be undertaken without the authority to take such actions as would ensure compliance with the financial brief.’ Local authority single person housing is being provided for the first time, by a London borough at least. Haringey implemented this policy from 1 January and other boroughs will follow suit. Haringey gives priority first to those over 50 who cannot afford a mortgage, then to people over 35 earning less than £35 per week. Those under 35 get the lowest priority. There are also residence qualifications. The sixth campaign aims to use waste land and buildings al over London. The pilot projects include the conversion of waste land by the canal in Paddington to a temporary park, the creation of a permanent park in the Isle of Dogs and the foundation of a city farm in Newham which will incorporate grazing land, a tree nursery and a communal vegetable plot. The seventh campaign is intended to clean up London’s build- ings and streets. The west front of St Mary le Strand, the portico of St Paul’s Covent Garden, the Ritz and Grand Buildings in Trafalgar Square are all to be cleaned this year. Build to human scale: Shore Listed building legislation is not overruled by Dangerous Struc- tures or public health legislation. Answering a question in the House of Commons last week, Environment Secretary Peter Shore made it clear that listed building consent must be obtained before any demolition works are carried out on listed buildings—even those that have been classed as Dangerous Structures. pt In the past there has been con- fusion over this point because several listed buildings, for ex- ample the 1760 tapestry factory in Streatham Street, London (AJ 17/24.12.75 p1282), have been demolished as Dangerous Structures without listed build- ing consent. Large corporate organisations, both public and private, are crod- ing the professional role accord- ing to qs James Nisbet. Recently Nisbet talked to the qs division of the RICS and explained that thegrowthoflargecorporateSSesa clients, with their in-house pro- fessional teams, tended to reduce independent professional firms to ‘a reservoir of supplementary manpower to be called on from time to time as necessary and to follow instructions’. There was an unnecessary tendency for in- dependent qss to be asked to pro- P. E. O'Sullivan, professor of architectural science at the Welsh School of Architecture, Univer- sity of Wales, is one of four new members appointed to the Advis- ory Council on Energy Conser- vation by the Secretary of State for Energy, Tony Benn. Manor Farm scheme in Stornoway, Council’s Architect's Department. Peter Shore, Secretary of State for the Environment, spelled out the Government's thinking on new housing when he opened the GLC exhibition ‘New directions in housing’ at the Design Centre last week (AJ 23.2.77 pp330-334). Shore welcomed the ‘trend back to building on a human scale” and opined that ‘when historians look back on the ’sixties I think they may categorise it as an age of illusion, of false hope and false dreams—a period in which we thought we could & solve society’s problems by turning to the new and theuntried, WY breaking with the past. In no area is this more true than 'n the field of housing architecture where, with the best of “‘ntentions, though the worst of consequences, politicians, planners, architects—with few dissenting voices from outside —saw the block and other high density dwellings as the answer. This approach did answer one problem—slum clearance— for we saw a faster rate of planned redevelopment than any other country in the world. But I think we can now acknow- ledge that we probably created as many difficulties for our- selves as ever we solved.’ No more comprehensive redevelopment He criticised the notion of comprehensive redevelopment (though ‘I am not one who believes that bricks and mortar as such must be preserved, whatever the cost, just because they are 50 or more years old’). But, said Shore, ‘where we build new we must place a premium on trying to preserve the sense of community, the street patterns, the facilities and al the other familiar landmarks which give people their sense of identity with an area’. He stressed that a strategic housing plan for London with an inter borough allocation is ‘vital to ensuring that all Londoners in need have a fair chance of a decent home’. Shore congratulated the GLC for providing housing ‘on a human scale’ and for being ‘in the forefront in promoting methods of consultation and participation’. The pitched roofed, low rise, consciously urban way ofdesigning Symbol of social division ‘Tower blocks’, he said, ‘and high density barrack blocks are not liked, and are not good places in which to bring children up. And then there were, and are, the community defects of this kind of vast institutionalised building. Up to the sixties, particularly in areas outside the inner city, the bulk of muni- cipal housing had been terraced or semi-detached—of a similar design to the kind of house desired by owner-occupiers. The tower block broke away from this common pattern of design, and divided people not only by tenure, but also by the style oftheirdwellings.Towerblocksbecameasymbolofsocial -_ division, and understandable discontent, and have in my view added to a sense of polarisation betwecn tenure groups.’ He enthused over ‘the move back to the basic, well tried and well loved idea of houses—where possible with gardens’. “2 ese) i TI ,1 eal : jl ne housing has reached the farthest corners of the kingdom. This ts the 'eo a ya —— Deena ef. Western Isles, designed by the J 0 | ~~ —v “Michael Heseltine's present policy (on council house sales) is enjoying only a limited Success — by the end of the present term of this government, he will be lucky to ownership against their will. have sold more than 10 per cent ofthestock.Heknowsthatthe article—thatmostcouncil next 10 per cent will be far harder to sel. On the other hand, the proposals we have made would bring about the large redistribution of wealth this country has ever seen — from the state to the individual.” So concluded a recent article in The Times, “How All Council Tenants Can Become Instant Owners", (May II 1982) by Peter Luff and John Maples. The theme of the article was simple. Most council tenants want to be owner |occupiers. Public housing is expensive and inefficient. Society isbecoming increasingly divided between those who own and those who rent. The solution could hardly be simpler; transfer the ownership of al council houses to existing tenants by converting rents into mortgage repayments. At a stroke this would satisfy widespread aspirations, Nothing new There is nothing new about this idea. A similar proposal was advanced in the mid 1970s by Frank Field, former director of the Child Poverty Action Group and now a Labour MP, and then in 1978 by Peter Walker, former Conservative Environment Secretary Unfortunately the latest authors seem to have learnt little from the extensive debate which accompanied the earlier Suggestions. tenants would rather be owners — acomprehensive NEDO Nobody involved in housing could pretend that al is rosy with public housing. But equally those who advocate radical solutions ought to be a bit more honest about the likely implications. The truth is that the above proposals would have dwellings with very low very serious social and economic repercussions, potential market values would be permanently trapped in poor repercussions which scem to have been totally ignored by their architects. First, there is the effect of coercing tenants into home Contrary to the assertion in the survey of tenure preference in 1975 found that 55 per cent of council tenants preferred council renting. The National Dwelling and Housing Survey in 1978 found that 74 per cent of council tenants were very satisfied or satisfied with their accommodation, Not expensive Secondly, there is the impact on public expenditure. In fact, the provision of council housing is not ‘enormously expensive’. Studies have shown that the real rate of return on investment in council housing has averaged 2¥4 per cent in the last decade While this is slightly lower than comparable rates of return on industrial and commercial investment, the social benefits of housing would lead one to expect alower than market rate of return, In addition, under existing financial arrangements, Owner Occupation costs more in public subsidy than public renting. It is also not the case that public housing ‘results in poor use of the housing stock’ as claimed. The average vacancy rate is no higher in the public than the private sector, the household-dwelling fit is much closer in the public than the private sector while under- occupation is much higher among Owner occupiers. The impact on the distribution of wealth could be much more complex than the authors suggest. Local authority dwelling market values are lower, on average, than owner occupied dwellings. Tenants in difficult to let and unpopular properties. especially those on low incomes. Mobility would thereby be discouraged for whole sections of the community. Private tenants would not benefit at al. If the authors are really committed to a more equal wealth distribution, more effective polices are available. Their proposal would be both capricious and inequitable. There is also the impact on the one and a quarter million households on waiting lists. Access to decent housing for these would be removed at a stroke. Indeed, the proposal would end the prospect of reasonable housing at reasonable cost for the large number of poorly housed, homeless and newly formed households unable to make their way in the private sector. The ‘right to buy’ is proving more successful than the Government —at least in its own terms — originally expected. In the 15 months since its introduction in October 1981, no less than 422,900 tenants had applied to buy, some seven per cent of al local authority tenants. Actual sales have risen beyond initial estimates, reaching an expected 134,000 in 1981/82 and a forecast 165,000 in 1982/83. A recent thorough and up to date review" of both the effect of sales and the future of public housing are hardly supportive of Government assumptions. The book forecasts a bleak future for public housing on current policies and trends with sales creaming off the best of the state and local authorities being left with the most unpopular dwellings; with subsidies continuing to fall and new building confirmed to special needs; and with increasing maintenance problems as the stock continues to age. Equally, Luff and Maples’ proposal will not put an end to “a two national country divided between those who own and those who do not’, as they claim It would simply recreate the same divide within one tenure that exists between sectors at the moment and which is being exacerbated by sales. The only real prospect of reversing current trends towards a society Segregated by tenure and class is to remove the artificial advantages — financial, social and legal — afforded to owner occupiers by successive governments. Stewart Lansley Vohn English, Ed. The Future of Public Housing, Croom Helm, 1982. PSLG July/August 1982 1) 51 CUSIB (Amw) Housing AJ7July1982 ee eeeee = ‘ CONVERT RENTS TO MORTGAGES? CPEEY CUSEB (Amw) (1976 revised) (Amw) 16 PSLG July/August 1982 yworpremper 1982 HUMEOTyewsween atOxford Polytechn: chelsea=<Qama> Circle 9 on Reader Inquiry Card vpair-was shown on television, there were 51 : 74 CUSiB (Amy) : 5 Unfortunately, it’s a fact of life that some power take offs are more reliable than others. But ifthe PTO that supplies power to your specialist machinery lets you down, the rest of your machin- P a units are the most reliableonthemarket | isquite simple. Only Chelsea PTO’s have afacility which as Chelsea power take offs. And that’s our exceptionally = Telex: 335665. fast delivery service. So ifyou’d like full technical literature, contact Spicer Power Products at Spicer Power Products Division, | Racecourse Rd, Wolverhampton WV6 ONE. Tel: 0902 773814. \ ery will be useless. And with some applic- ations, you can’t afford to take that chance. So if your application demands a high level of reliability and performance, there’s only one owertakeoffthatyoushouldever puton. They’re called Chelsea power take offs and they’re manufac- tured by Spicer Power Products Division. And the reason why our | allows you access to check backlash and accurate fitting. Which means that ifyou don’t s ecify our PTO’s, you won't be able to check a hothe® your | vehicles are suffering from prematurely worn gears, and they could break down with- out warning. Thankfully however, there’s @ still one thing that’s as reliable CI/SfB (Amw) (1976 revised) (Amw) — multi-disciplinary approach )in building, is to close. [thas years ago to promote a area in the next year. On the question of anew body to take over the work, Mr Jefferson said, “We're putting quite a lot of resources into our |institutions that it would have liked. STANLEY FLOATS BUILDING REGS RELAXATION provide the right type of land as their predecessors in the Labour government.” Mr Moody went on in his speech to forecast that the increasing cost of land would force many small builders out of the industry because of the large amounts of money that had to be tied up in expensive land There isachance that a similar unit of some sort will survive, though probably not in report from the continuing professional development working group which recommended a yoluntary system of education, backed by incentives. The York Centre was: The Government iscurrently )York. The York Centre |Advisory Committee will discuss the setting up of another body, possibly in London, at its meeting in November. This toowilldependoninstitutional to have played a major role in the guidance and co-ordination of the RIBA approach, a job which may now fal to the RIBA. investigating “without commitment” the possibility of relaxing some of the rules governing health and safety requirementsinnewhousing,in purchases. YORK CENTRE TheYorkCentre,setupfive educationasa“keypriority” made its mark, with proposals for continuing education having been taken own programme, and I'd be the up by the RICS, IOB, and last to say that there would be |finally,lastweek,theRIBA, anythingtospareforoutside ~wa who also announced the closure. But ithas not had the support from the work". Compulsory education The RIBA council accepted a - support.Governmentfunding »Acompulsionincontinuing favouroftheuseofinsurance. es ASBESTOS RULES TO BE TIGHTENED Specifiers of products containing asbestos are explicitly obliged to consider its substitution by other materials * the recommendations of the final! report of the advisory | committee on asbestes, published this week. “he committeewantsastavuto! ban on new applications of blue asbestos and statutory control limits on the use ofbrown and white asbestos. There is no quantitative evidence of a risk to the general public from exposure to asbestos dustssays the report, and in worker exposure ithas not been possible to identify a threshold limit, so the committee rejected an across- the-board ban on asbestos. Instead of a “hygiene standard” which implies a level below which exposure is safe, the committee wants a control limit introduced. This gives a realistic level of airborne dust )seems unlikely. The York Centre consisted basically ofits director, Dick |Gardner, plus secretanal support. Its total expenditure |over the five years has been some £70000. Mr Gardner is currently on holiday and unavailable for comment. | That the York Centre has |survived as long as it has is |probablyduetogenerous funding from ARCUK, some |$50 000 in the last five years. |The feeling isthat ARCUK may be unwilling to fund at this level given lack of support from other bodies. The RIBA, paying an the centre last year. The objective of the York Centre, Philip Groves of the advisory committee told | Bralding this week, was to jchange the climate on continuing education. It could fairly be said to have done that, he thought. Without the York centre report last year, the adoption of continuing education at the _RIBA council last week would not have taken place. education is ruled out by the group, unless after a period of several years the voluntary scheme fails. This is recognised as a hot political issue which needs to be discussed further, the report says. Speaking at the first international conference on house warranty, Housing Minister John Stanley told 300 delegates that the Government was investigating the possibility of removing from local authorities the obligation to Cost of the enterprise would be about £19 000 a year—a modest sum to change the outlook and standing of the professions,itcomments.Inthe designofhouses,matenals next year, the outlines of the scheme will be worked up, linking up with the regions and identifying topics of interest. Full development would be in the years 1981 to 1983 by which time the climate of opinion will shave changed, the group hopes, and offices will have started training budgets, the RIBA will have produced guidelines for standards of development, and members will have begun to keep a record of involvement in courses, in office events and personal studies. The group presses for the scheme to go ahead as rapidly as possible, but with its in built dependence on the York Centre, used, and the standards of construction. The present requirements would be replaced — to a greater or lesser degree —by the use of insurance. This would probably operate on the health and safety aspects of housing in the same way that NHBC guarantees presently affect the physical fabric. France has used such a system for some time and provided the Government was satisfied that minimum standards were being set and met and that policies for the conservation of energy were being followed, Mr Stanley saw regulate housing standards through the use of minimum requirements governing the CASH CRISIS CLOSES ry Mr t= SS Andrew Tait, NHBC director, opening the first International Home Warranty Conference, London, on Monday index-linked grant, gave £650 to Building 26 October 1979 E rT ll The York Centre has discharged its role, RIBA |president Bryan Jefferson the RIBA programme may need | no reason why a similar system | above which no person should claimed this week. This had |been to map out the work tobe | Centre at its next education some revision. ARCUK wil consider its should not be employed inthis | be occupationally exposed. country. This recommendation has position in relation to the York HBF president Don Moody _| been welcomed by theAsbestos done and to arouse interest. It | committee meeting in |Was essential that the RIBA now] November, but has not yet been| problem caused by land Government is aware of the picks up on the work, he said, ; asked whether itis prepared to | shortage “they do not seem at |and it would be taking continuing | support any new initiative. present any more willing to AUS Serrember- 1962 ae S _ SpainWasCheaatanhaeineae aS ‘ , there were atOxford Polytechnic. 74 pe ‘ ‘ _ OT Ree CIUSEB (Amw) (1976 revi )(Amw) renee NUEEF TIE a CI/SEB (Amw) complained that although the Cement Manufacturers : Assdctation, which says that it wil provide additional reassurance to building workers handling asbestos cers 2r.. AJ 8 September 1982 TorWnurDErUy — atOxford Polytechnic | CUSSS (Amw) City Centre Edge Hill Wavertree In place of riots The venue isachurch inToxteth,Liverpool 8, Wednesday 14 July 1982 ar 20,30. One Section of the church has been cleared of pews, and grouped around trestle-tables covered with house floor plans are over 70 men and women of all ages. Reflecting the area’s 35 per cent unemployment level, many of them are unemployed, the remain- der mostly in low paid manual and service jobs. All of them are currently living in some of Europe’s worst housing—crumbling six- storey municipal tenements, often without hot water. This is the Mill Street Co-operative and its members have met in the hall two or three nights a week for over three months, designing their 54 new ‘dream houses’ with architect Martyn Carmichael Associates. Even when the World Cup match between England and Spain was shown on television, there were Coppin of Brock or Public Sector SomethingincrediblehashappenedinLiverpool—arguablythemost important step forward in British housing for decades. Without anyone in the rest of the country really noticing, an era spanning 60 years of paternalistic quietly come to an end. In itsplace funded housing has taken over in which the users are firmly in the driving seat. Nick Wates reports. COMMUNITY ARCHITECTURE THE LIVERPOOL BREAKTHROUGH | There have been endless research Studies and experiments. Occasionally, as at Byker in Newcastle for instance, architects for new schemes have worked closely with the tenants, but they have always remained accountable to the localauthority. Housing Phase 2 Liverpool City Council no longer uses its own architect’s department to build, on Spec, new public housing for rent—apart from a small amount for special needs. Instead it funds the people who need new housing to Organise the design, construction and management of it themselves through self- generating, self-reliant co-operatives. Liverpool’s first new-build co-operative scheme of 61 homes was funded by the Housing Corporation and is now two-thirds occupied. Nine more, involving 341 families, have been approved and are at various stages ofdesign and construction, and several more are in the pipe-line. All but one are being funded by the city council, /. It works like this. Local authority tenants living in slum clearance areas or deterior- ating tenements organise themselves into groups—so far ranging from 19 to 61family units—and obtain the Management services of one of Liverpool’s co-operative develop- ment agencies: Co-operative Development Services (CDS), Merseyside Improved Houses or Neighbourhood Housing Ser- vices. With its assistance they register as a ‘non-¢quity’ housing Co-operative with limited liability, locate a suitable site and negotiate to buy it. (So far nearly al the land has come from Liverpool City Council or the Merseyside Development Corporation.) They then select a firm of architects with whom they design a scheme which is submitted to a funding body. The scheme is then submitted to the DOE for Subsidy and yardstick approval as on al localauthority funded housing association schemes, When the houses are built, the co-op members become tenants of their homes, paying standard fair rents, but they are also collectively the landlord, responsible for management and maintenance. The full significance of events inLiverpool has not yet been Brasped nationally. The need for participation by tenants in public housing has been talked about foryears. 1 The spread of new-build Co-ops in south Liverpool, Solid dots show sites of those already approved, open circles indicate where co-op members are moving from—invariabl yclose by. Merseyside Development Corporation’s area 18 Shown hatched, with the International Garden Festival site in tint in the south. Co-ops inorder offormation: 1 Weller Streets, 61 units, nearly complete 2 Hesketh Street, 40 UNILS, ON Site 3 Prince Albert Ga rdens, 19 units, on site 4 Dingle Residents, 32 UNITS, on site 5 Grafton Crescent, 30 units, On site soon 6Southern Crescent, 40 1s, design Stage 7Mill Street, 54 units, design stage 8 Shorefields, 46 units, design stage. Two other schemes (Leta Claudia and Thirlmere) not shown on the map are on site in north Liverpool. public housing provision has a new way of building publicly CI/SfB (Amw) (1976 revised) (Amw) But the Liverpool new-build co-ops are totally different. The tenants are not being asked to participate or be involved—they are actually and firmly in control: they choose the professionals they want to work for them, they choose the site, the layout, the floor plans, the elevations, the brick colour and the landscaping—albeit within the normal yardstick restrictions—and, when built, they manage and maintain the estate. The implication of all this for architects and other professionals is immense. Only a handful of firms are involved in the work so far but already they have developed a unique new style of working. Instead of being accountable to council committees or housing association managers, they are accountable to the consumers who are making very different demands on their talents. The architect’s vision, technical expertise and design skill are as important as ever, but, in addition, a new range of knowledge and skills has to be learned. no absentees from the co-op meeting Tonight they are finalising details of their floor plans. Some people are opting for a combined kitchen/diner, others a combined living room/diner, while some want three separate rooms. Coppin moves from table to table, pointing out problems and suggesting ideas on cach person’s layout: “If you want a carpet in your dining room, the last thing you want is french windows into the garden as that’s your only access.” ‘Why not switch the sink round so that you can reach the drainer better?’ You'll get more space in the living room if you turn the staircase round the other way.” Mostly his advice is heeded, occasionally ignored—it’s up to the future occupant to decide—unless the co-op as a_ whole considers the chosen design so bad as to seriously jeopardise future lettability. In the end, the Mill Street Co-op opts for six basic house types with 16 variations Design mectings have become a regular feature of Liverpool 8 nightlife. The previous evening, a few streets away, 10 members of the design committee of the Shorefields Co-op were deciding on brick colour and elevations for their 46 new homes with three architects from Innes Wilkin, Ainsley, Gommon. Daye Ainsley displayed coloured Pantone drawings with a range of They're not houses for people. 1 think the options, 7. After discussion, one banded council housing thing is going to dic out and brickwork solution was rejected because it more houses are going to be built like we're 2 Fohn surveys the site of the co-op’s 46 new homes from afifthfloor access balcony ofdoomed tenements in Liverpool8 where most of the co-op members now live. They wilbe the first new homes built on land controlled by the Merseyside Development Corporation. The site for the International Garden Festival ts in the distance 3 The last days of back to back terraces around Weller Street where 61 families formed Liverpool’s first new-build co-op. Their new homes, mostly complete, are les than half a kilometre away. looked too ‘Noddy-like’. Another suggestion was ruled out because it was too ‘Corpyish’, that is, too much like Liverpool City Council housing The first thing that most co-ops tell their the major spur for the housing co-ops, and few cities better demonstrate the tragic and like those built by the council. ‘Council costly failure of Britain’s public housing. housing is the worst housing ever,’ said Despite having a ‘gross surplus’, almost one- architects is that their homes must not look atOxford Polytechinix 74 CUSIB (Amw) John doing it. It’s more personal—each one personally designed—and it doesn’t cost any more.’ Reaction to ‘Corpy’ housing has indeed been Bailey, chairman of Shorefield Co-op, 34-year-old Bailey, chairman of the Shorefield Co-op ‘Ivs boring, pathetic, inhuman—like someone went into the architect's department and said, “I want 400 houses—get the drawings in by half-three.”” unemployed bricklayer ee AJ 8 September 1982 AJ 7 July 1982 | { 0were ageriene Sr Co-op leaders put the council’s failures down to the fact that tenants w not involved in design and, as a result, the council did not build what people wanted. Furthermore, tightly knit communities were broken up in the rehousing process, causing widespread alienation, which, coupled with irresponsive management and maintenance, led to uncontrollable var m and violence They are convinced that their new homes will not suffer the same fate. For a start, al the co-ops are building on sites close to their old homes (se map and picture) and, by movir masse, the intricate web of family and kir ship ties and local associations will not broken In addition, their involvement in the design and construction process will give them a pride in their homes which no council tenant ever has ‘Once you've designed it yourself you're going to look after it,’ stated one co-op member. ‘You’re not just going into somewhere they’ve built for you. Council estates deteriorate, but ours aren't going to be like that. They’re going to be the best.” In a letter to a local councillor, the chairman of one co-op wrote: ‘Apart from the ambition which comes from the very fact that we are doing something for ourselves there are also prevalent feelings ofbeing part of, taking part in, belonging to and being. It is a very healthy attitude that is positive and contagious.” The community architects Four Liverpool architectural practices are currently working with co-ops Brock Carmichael Associates (two schemes); Innes Wilkin, Ainsley, Gommon (three schemes); McDonnell Hughes (one scheme); and Wilkinson, Hindle and Partners (three schemes). They range from small to medium-sized practices, engaged in a variety AJ]8September 1982 brick colours with architect Dave Ainsley at an architect Mike Padmore to help them choose landscaping for 6] UNITS OF FAMILY HOUSING FOR WELLER STREETS HOUSING COOPERATIVE LTD MINERAL CONTRACTOR WM TOMKINSON& SONS LTD. ; i cheSupparrcommemtryarcemexeurewey CommunityDevelopmentProject(CDP)privateinitiat ee ba. fora numberofyearsattheAands at Oxford Polytechnic okihete CUSIB (Amw) : re 4Some of the Weller Streets Co-op members ture to celebrate the beginning of work on site, August 1980. 5 The Thirlmere Co-op is addressed by 1s secretary, Mrs Martin, in the local church hall where itholds al itsmeetings 6Architect David Wilkinson discusses site with mem 1Co-op Shorefield Co-op’s design committee chooses rT scheme. ae grecimenre ny ryury198zZ = t that are having their top floors cut off to form single-storey houses at a cost of £20 million. Only last month the council agreed THE LIVERPOOL BREAKTHROUGH \ ‘ evening meeting. ler Streets Co-op members visit the Ness university botanical gardens with landscape third of the city’s housing stock of 75 000 units is now classified as ‘hard to let’, including much built since the war. Some 6000 homes are empty because no one will live in them. Much is scheduled for demolition, some is undergoing desperate last ditch surgery, like the ’50s walk-up flats pose for a pict to demolish some *50s low rise housing wernerere 54 "for anum! atOxford Polytechnic —-7-+ _ 74 CISEB (Amw) AJ7 July 1982 ray Grafton Street Cis 20m 19 z ; of work throughout the Liverpool area. In services all but two of those currently in existence. In a special pamphlet for co-ops called Choosing an architect, CDS describes the architect’s appointment as ‘one of the most important decisions that the co-op will take.... The architect is the co-op’s employee, agent, teacher, adviser, designer, negotiator.’ It also stresses that ‘the co-op and its architect will work together very closely for up to three years and the human or personality angle will be very important.” CDS provides co-ops with a list of firms it considers competent from which to short- list, although co-ops can of course add to the list if they choose. The pamphlet lists questions which might be asked at the interview, for instance: “What was the worst mistake you ever made as an architect?” While advising on procedure, CDS plays no part in final selection: this is up to the co- ops. The chairman of one co-op described the judging criteria as: Community Development Project (CDP) private initiatives have been more errective” by architects working with co-ops. 10 Grafton (Brock Ca rmichael). A central pedestrian spine and minimum car penetration provides an easily defensible core for the close- knit community. 11 Shorefields (Innes Wilkin, Ainsley, Gommon). Rejecting anything remotely addition, Merseyside Improved Houses 1s doing one scheme in-house. Invariably the architects actually doing the work are in their twenties or thirties. The starting point for architects is being interviewed by the co-ops, & process conducted with remarkable rigour. The co- ops usually insist on visiting previous examples of the architect's work, followed by an interview. One co-op interviewed no less than eight architects and made its choice by secret ballot using a non-transferable vote system. Co-ops are advised by their co-op agency on how to select an architect. The most active agency so far has been CDS, a non-profit- making registered housing association with a stock of 900 houses in the area controlled by avoluntary management committee elected from tenants and co-ops buying its services. CDS has played a pioneering role in getting the new-build co-op movement rolling, and 9 Ground floor plans for the Shorefield Co-op. Of 20 alternatives drawn up by Innes Wilkin, Ainsley, Gommon, the co-op chose the topfour shown. The bottom one was evolved with three families who wanted separate dining rooms overlooking the rear garden. A wide variety of site layouts has been evolved ‘| The people must be the ones who tell the architects what should bebuilt. 2 The architects’ involvement with the co-op must be total. 3The architects should act as advisers and scribes. (Tell us what is and isn’t possible and suggest alternatives.)’ Communicating and learning Selection over, the first task is educa- tional—for the architects to discover the needs and aspirations of the co-op (both individually and collectively), and for the co- op members to learn about architecture and the building process. ‘It’s like teaching the first three years of an architecture course to 70 people in 6 weeks,’ said architect Bill Halsall, partner in Wilkinson, Hindle and Dartners, ‘but it’s a mutual process. It is possibly more important for the architect to be able to listen and learn, and in the process unlearn previous professional preconcep- tions.” AJ 8 September 1982 Fol'years atihe AA and wscurrently afacarch musent 74 ‘Corpyish’, the co-op opted for semi-detached houses in spec-style arcadian layout, a solution made possible by a virgin unrestricted site. 12 Weller Streets (Wilkinson, Hindle). A courtyard scheme with six houses per court. 13 Leta Claudia (Wilkinson, Hindle). The solution for this long narrow site was evolved using a flexible model. Unlike other co-ops, old people wanted to be separate from families and their bungalows are grouped at the top right round a communal room/co-op office. 14Elevations for Grafton reflect a desire for a change, something different from normal council schemes. make design decisions’. All the architects have used models of various kinds, but in the end found that drawings are the most effective design tool which, perhaps surprisingly, people soon find easy to use and understand. ‘At first we couldn’t understand drawings,’ said Francis Mogan, secretary of Mill Street Co-op, ‘but once Martyn (the architect) had sat down and drawn little people and furniture on them, people soon got the hang of it.’ The architects have similarly found that people soon grasp the complexities of government yardsticks, Building Regu- lations and space standards, so that, as one put it, ‘cost yardstick densities are bandied around as easily as the latest supermarket prices’. Through developing a close working rela- tionship, professional barriers are broken down. ‘Professional people are no longer faceless. We’ve broken down the language barrier and learned how to handle the professional mystique,’ said one co-op chairman. Another said: ‘Professional people usually think they're better, superior. We didn’t know what they were about at first; now we know they’re people who can be very useful.” ‘The co-ops have an enormous loyalty to their architects, vying with each other as to whose is best,’ said CDS development officer Paul Lusk. ‘People talk about “our” architect, which isincredible when you think how architects were thought of a few years ago.” Each co-op has different priorities and these are reflected in the design solutions they evolve with their architects. The layouts of the schemes on the drawing board, for instance, vary considerably, Some have gone for semis, some for a more urban streetscape with small courts and alley ways. One scheme has old people in three single-storey houses, while another has integrated the old people in special flats which are deliberately indistinguishable from adjacent housing. The co-ops also vary in the extent to which they encourage individual eccentricities. Some have restricted themselves to a limited range of house types; in others almost every house is different. Same fee—harder work Inevitably working this way involves The practices vary in their relationships with local hall but regularly visit the architects’ architects in a great deal more work than deal with internal layouts and finishes. Most co-ops set up a design base in a convenient Wilkin, are ‘the most effective way of choices. To avoid this they see competition allowing people without design skills to between architects in getting the work as 55 AJ 8 September 1982 offices. they would have devoted to an equivalent ‘An early breakthrough was to sit around a amount of public housing in the past—an table—instead of round a room,’ claimed estimated 7hr per week over two years, Halsall. ‘It was psychological—developing a according to one architect. Yet, although it is the co-ops and are developing and refining new techniques all the time. A common early ploy is to give everyone a tape measure. “The most useful phase ever was when people measured the furniture in their own homes, cut it out in cardboard and fitted it on plans,’ said Coppin. ‘They were getting physically involved and it was the most useful device for getting past the threshold of people just thinking they were getting a new home.’ Architect Mike McDonnell visited al his co- A variety of techniques have been used to op members in their own houses. “It was familiarise people with the design process old rope, designing council housing,” workman-like attitude—and helped develop too early for those involved to have made a the idea ofprofessionals and co-op members working together on an equal basis rather than the architect lecturing. The first architectural discussion is how you organise yourself in the room.’ final calculation, at 6 per cent of contract price the work is stil thought to be profitable. CDS believes that this merely demonstrates that for 60 years architects of public housing have simply not been doing their work thoroughly. ‘It’s been money for and make them aware of the options and claimed Lusk. ‘Architects didn’t put invaluable. It gaye me a tremendous insight into what people were like and really helped with discussions.” Some co-ops have opted for having a design committee which liaises with the architect, work were shown using slides or an epi- CDS’s main concern now is that architects others have involved everyone al the time. diascope. Coach trips to see other examples should not try to save time by bull-dozing One co-op set up an ‘outside’ committee to of housing and landscape are extremely through their own ideas instead of deal with layout and an ‘inside’ committee to popular and, according to Dave Innes presenting co-ops with a wide range of choices open to them. Kids haye made models at school and taken part in painting competitions of houses. Examples of other anything in apart from reading design guides on what people were thought to want and producing standardisedplans.” CUS (Amv) AJ 7July 1982 ay jury T9sZ THE LIVERPOOL BREAKTHROUGH foughtintoSaltiey,Birmingnam,vyureeevee:VS——— Z~ Cane Project (CDP) private initiatives have been more effective the Support community architecture group in London. He taught for a number of years at the AA and is currently a research stedent atOxford Polytechnic Community Development overtime rates dedicated difficulty 1s An additional absurd financial that architects are not guaranteed any fecs at all until the site 1s purchased, by which ume a substantial amount of work has already been done. Some firms have had to work for up to two years Wjthout receiving any income and with the prospect that if the project fell through they w ould never receive any involved in the Despite this, all the architects work are finding 1t extremely stimulating ‘Working with a co-op presents the architect with an opportunity to open design precon- ceptions to criticism from which to learn,’ wrote Danielle Pacaud of Innes Wilkin, Ainsley, Gommon. ~There are obvious gains gers having first st the stirring of concludes Work enjoyable. Itisthemostrewarding discovered homes hav: designer under CUSIB (Amw) AJ7 July 1982 the architect’s imagination from the rman mee a neighbourhood and build new homes designed to their own specifications to be owned, controlled, managed and maintained by themselves 1s 4 remarkable one for which there is not space here. Now, though, the battles are over and most of the co-op members are settling down in their new homes and proudly showing visitors around, casually pointing out snagging details which would normally only be spotted by 2 trained building surveyor and monitoring the final construction process ‘What's going to happen behind this wall here, Bill (the architect)? If we don’t fil it with earth it’s going to become a rubbish trap.’ Bill agrees, and a solution 1s quickly 15 Members of the Thirlmere Co-op discuss the site layout for their 40 new homes on site with architects from Merseyside Improved Houses 16 Weller Streets Co-op ‘dig-in’, August 1980. Everyone in the co-op joined in to clear the site. Four lorryloads of cobble-stones were gathered and used later for landscaping. The event was also a good morale booster ata slack time between design and construction. essential. An architect who skimped would never get another job, at least in Liverpool On the other hand, the anti-social hours that architects have to work can create stresses within practices (and marriages), and the amount of extra work required would not be possible for practices paying normal Architects have to be in users rather than man ect, not mines local authority housing, as well as from the overriding emphasis on cost In eloper housing. On reflection, the co- ive works so well that to return to other systems of housing production would seem for us a step backw ards into contradictions whose resolution has been the first new-build co-op scheme is already three-quarters built and provides grounds for hope. This is the Weller Streets Co-op which is also important because it 1S having a vital call on an arc the imagination of the pressure tO consider primarily trying to live in his or her buildings rather than trying to organise the smooth management of them.” A report by Innes Wilkin, Ainsley, Gommon with co-ops is proving very experience in housing design that we have had as a practice Or as individuals. It releases stereotype of t building user conceived from a housing manager's point of view that agreed before we move on The scheme comprises 10 courts with six houses around each ‘We wanted itsmall and intimate,’ said one co-Op member. The courts were designed as the key to estate management, with decision making devolved to each court as much as possible They are seen as communal rather than public open spaces, where toddlers can play freely, although they are linked by a network of paths and the public are free to wander through. However, care was taken in the planning to ensure that they won't be used as short cuts, 12. Significantly the co-op had to fight hard for the courtyard layout because the city owsoe Paving the way Whether the universal optimism by tenants ind professionals involved is well founded will not be finally proved until the new din for some years. But ‘demonstration effect’ in stimulating the growth of Liv erpool’s other Co-Ops Much of the philosophy and techniques of communal design and participation Which are now becoming Widespread in Liverpool were evolved by the Weller Streets Co-op, CDS and architects, Wilkinson, Hindle and Part- ners. ‘Weller Streets paved the way by showing that the seem y impossible could be achieved,’ said Walter Menzies, special projects manager of Merseyside Improved Houses—Liverpool’s largest housing associa- tion—which 1s now moving into new-build co-ops and already has two under its wing in its role as an enabling agency The story of how 61 families living in sordid back to back slums, galvanised by their local milkman, fought bureaucracy and political inertia to make history by getting £1-3 million of public money to buy land in their AJ 8 September 1962 AJ7 July 1982 57 AJ 8 September 1982 THE LIVERPOOL BREAKTHROUGH engineer insisted there should be 4 Jitter every day. In practice, people take a designed by its users to be maintained by its hammerhead to accommodate articulated pride in doing it,’ said the co-op chairman. users—a concept which could offer an alter- lorries turning in each one. This would have (The co-op symbolically got its own back on native to the current choice between an completely destroyed the co-op’s concept by the city engineer by insisting on calling its increasing burden of landscaping main- requiring 12 houses round each court instead new street ‘Weller Way’ despite his protesta- tenance or a featureless, bland environment of six. ‘The whole point was that we didn’t tions about the “obvious implications’ .) attempting the unachievable goal of no want articulated lorries turning in our The designissimpleand almost utilitarian, 17. maintenance.’ Residents 1n each court had courtyards,’ said a co-op member. The city The same red brick is used throughout their own ideas and preferences, so that each engineer stood firm, so the co-op decided to (‘Everyone was in favour of using different will have a very different feel. have the courts ‘unadopted’, which means It, coloured bricks, but everyone wanted redin Weller Streets’ houses are less customised rather than the council, will have to maintain them. It was a decision that no conventional housing association could possibly have taken. their own courts’). “Bay windows were than some of the co-ops’ now on the drawing thought to be a bourgeoisie irrelevance,’ said board, with only six different house types Halsall. ‘Instead they went for super out ofa total of 61 units. (Members picked insulationstandardstocutdownfuelbills.’ outofahattodecide,withineachhouse High priority was given to quality fixings to tYPS> who should have which house, but reduce future maintenance, and to security, many people have since swapped.) A major So far this has not been a problem. ‘Each courtyard has 4 cleaning rota to sweep UP 17 Liverpool’s first new build co-op scheme, Weller Streets, completed summer 1982. 18 Co-op chairman Peter Tyrrel with his family one week after moving into their home. defensible space and ease of management The scheme was designed withmanagement very much in mind and the architects have provided each house with a manual. The co- op could have taken out a management agreement with CDS but, significantly, decided last year to dispense with its services altogether. ‘We feel we've built up sufficient expertise to run it ourselves,’ said a co-op member. ‘If they hadn’t designed their own scheme, they couldn’t have managed it,’ commented Bill Halsall. Landscaping also received high priority, with co-op members visiung other land- scaping schemes (notably Runcorn) and botanic gardens with landscape architect Mike Padmore of COMTECHSA (AJ 7.7.82 p74), 8. According to Padmore, the landscaping is ‘a unique pilot scheme, exploring the possibilities of an environment cy eee ee prUEE UL CIC CHMLITY UTA yoruntary-ana —$—<$—— een currentryWTEsCSCSTUSENT at Oxford Polytechsic Community Development Project (CDP) private initiatives have been more effective 74 CUSEB (Amw) 58 AJ 8 September 1982 AJ 7July 1982 ae sayy re 74 CUSEB (Amw) New horizons Despite their achievement, the Liverpool co- ops have only just begun to explore the potential of user control. The current schemes are being conducted within an extremely tight framework of yardsticks and space standards, which leaves little room for experimentation, creativity and significant individual eccentricity. The present financial arrangements, for instance, are a deterrent to users doing any self-build, since it would just lead to a reduction in the grant. The tight restrictions and control over the form of public housing were introduced in part to protect users against architects who were working at arm’s length. With architects working directly for users, many of the restrictions could be relaxed. Regardless of whether new-build co-ops on the Liverpool model become more wide- spread, those involved think there are extensive possibilities for the lessons and techniques being developed there to be applied in other directions. There is no reason, for instance, why the close working relationship between architects and users existing in Liverpool’s co-ops could not be equally successful in other forms of tenure— for instance equity sharing or even in the private spec market. CDS might well be proved right in denying that Liyerpool’s new-build co-ops represent the end of council housing. ‘It’s the beginning of council housing,’ it says. ‘It’s public sector housing phase Day It may also signal the beginning of a new era for housing architects generally in which users, at last, become the clients. sail 7/pte x ed LPL ILO 19 One of Weller Streets’ 10 courtya rds. There are six houses in each with those for the elderly indistinguishable from the rest. t. ‘ Ao Oe monyhallecys elvideeefiat am Soerent caagaglReSom the rehab co-ops and, having proved themselves, new-build was a_ logical development. Liverpool’s housing policy has three com- ponents, according to chairman of housing, Chris Davies: stopping decay through a massive programme of housing action areas in strict order of need anyway, involving tenants effectively in design requires, by definition, preselection of tenants. This has always been the main stumbling block in the past in this country (although other coun- tries like the Netherlands have been doing it for years (AJ 30.8.78 p374)) because Labour and other politicians fear that they cannot predict who will be in priority need suffi- ciently far in advance. Co-op members, they say, are jumping the waiting list. Liverpool has clearly decided that any injustice in preselection—and indeed acertain amount of self-selection—is far outweighed by the benefits of self-determination and involvement. Tt is significant that many Labour coun- cillors in Liverpool who were formerly opposed to co-ops are now starting to show more enthusiasm, and the council is attempting to allay some criticism by incorporating co-ops in a more compre hensive housing programme. One scheme with Merseyside Improved Houses now on the drawing board will entail offering everyone in a tenement clearance area the choice ofeither forming anew-build co-op or being transferred to municipal accommoda- tion or moving into rehab property. ‘It’s a model of how local authorities should deal with housing,’ said Menzies. row blew up when one member wanted a containing 30 000 properties; cheap green bath, and in the end it was decided that everyone should have white. This reflects partly the co-op’s particularly strong egalitarian principles which are mile of the sites); and new-build for rent evident throughout the scheme, and partly the fact that it was the first and already had enough on its plate. ‘The whole thing was touch and go,’ remarked a co-op member. ‘We only managed to sign the contract two months before the Government’s housing moratorium. We could have fallen by a green bath.’ through housing co-ops and housing associations. The most important breakthrough isthat it is now official council policy that tenants shall be involved in the design of their new rented houses. The council only supports housing associations on that basis. ‘It is the way forward for the public sector,’ said Davies. ‘We've got to have people involved in order to strengthen the community base and to give people more responsibility, self- control and self-respect.” developer housing for sale (2000 have been built, mostly by Barratt’s and Wimpey’s, and most of it sold to people who lived within 1 As the good news ripples through the city, new co-ops are forming faster than the professional services can cope. ‘The trouble now is controlling the co-ops,’ said Davies. ‘We haven’t got money for endless new- build co-ops.” He is in the process ofturning one down and delaying another. Whether Liverpool’s lead will be followed is difficult to determine. Charles Barnes, a DOE principal architect in the North-West, who has dealt with the Liverpool co-ops, is personally enthusiastic about them. But he stressed the importance of local authority support: ‘The local authorities are the key link in al this. They’re providing the funds. This department can’t do anything unless the co-ops have the backing of the local authority.” Inevitably there are stil many unanswered questions, Will the co-ops stand the test of time? Will they manage to maintain the current enthusiasm and involvement to handle maintenance and management effec- tively? What will happen when people start to leave, and others, who were not involved in the design process, take their place? If the public sector were to rely completely on co- ops for al new-build, will some people be left out? The last point is the nub of Labour council’s reluctance to be more positive about co-ops (or any kind of tenant involvement in design)—it does not secure rehousing in strict order of need. Leaving aside the question of whether current waiting list procedure houses people .Pe * ks * ee Tenants’ control for real In the long term the importance of Weller Streets’ scheme is that it happened at all. It has demonstrated beyond doubt that tenants’ control over the process of design and construction of their homes is possible, even efficient. Catherine Meredith, director of CDS, points out that despite delays due to being a pioneer, Weller Streets was the ‘fastest housing association new-build scheme on Merseyside, from land registra- tion to start on site. So much for the argument that participation slows the process down too much.” As a result of Weller Streets’ success, tenants’ contro] is becoming a reality in Liverpool. That the co-ops emerged there is due to a unique combination of local determination, patient hard work over the last decade by a wide range of radical professional enablers, and oscillating party political control of the city council, which culminated in full backing by the ruling Liberal Party, with, significantly, active support from the Tories. Since 1970 rehab housing co-ops have been making their mark in Liverpool, with some two dozen co-ops now having rehabilitated over 1000 properties (AJ 29.6.77 p1215). The co-operative servicing agencies (secon- dary co-ops) and many of the architects now doing the new-build work cut their teeth on PHOTOGRAPHS: CDS 4,16;MIH 5,6,15; COMTECHSA 8;NICK WATES 2,7,18;JOHN MILLS PHOTOGRAPHY 5,17,19. — 74 wt | 1 ‘The failure of many attempts over the last three decades to tackle the problem of inner city decline successfully 1sstriking. Theproportion of national resources devoted to resolving the problem isclearly an important consideration, but it is noricea ble that large sums have been spent to little apparent effect.” (Lord Scarman) for a number of years at the AA and is¢ urremily ® research student at Oxford Polytechsic HERE ILLTHE Architects as fund raisers Many of the so-called community architects work in inner city area with voluntary involved: for instance, Shankland Cox on the groups. These groups have made use of Inner Area Studies, although this involved *Tom Woolley is an architect with experience ranging from community work oa 3Glasgow housing estate 10 practisingwith the Suppor¢ unity architecture group in Londen He twught minimal contact with community groups (AJ 19.1.77 p140), and Rod Hackney, who was brought into Saltley, Birmingham, by the Community Development Project (CDP) ‘urban programme! finance to rehabilitate there (AJ 5.10.77 pp630-636). buildings or even construct new ones. But there have been some encouraging deve- To obtain approval for grant aid, project lopments recently with the establishment by initiators have to demonstrate the feasibility the voluntary sector of some technical aid and likely cost of any building work. For centres. In _ Liverpool there are some time many sympathetic local architects COMTECHSA and the Community Pro- and other professionals have provided this jects Advisory Service, and in Manchester information—usually without payment. The the Community Technical Aid Centre. In early discussions about community architec- Glasgow ASSIST (AJ 10.11.76 pp899-908) ture, for instance In the RIBA Community Architecture Working Group (CAWG) report (AJ 39.11.78 p1023), were verymuch has been offering aid on an informal basis and there are plans for an aid centre in the city. In Newcastle the Architecture Work- concerned about the extent of such shop is increasingly taking on this role. In ‘speculative work’, Some private practices London Support and NUBS (Neighbour- even found that once the project was hood Use and Building Services) exist and approved, local authority architects would plans are well advanced for an organisation attempt to take over and their speculative called CLAWS (Community Land and investment would be wasted. Workspace Services). However, there is stil Experience has shown that community a yawning gap be filled between the architects should know a lot about fund demand and readily available professional raisingsothattheycanassisttheirclientsto advice. obtain the finance for the project as well as their own fees. Over the years it has not been easy for com- munity groups t0 find sympathetic profes- sionals who understand these problems. With the exception of SNAP (the Shelter Neighbourhood Action Project, AJ 3.1.73 pp249-250) in 1969, there have been few organised interventions to provide technical aid to community groups: This is surprising when one looks at the extensive serics of measures aimed at dealing with the inner city’s ‘pockets of deprivation’ or releasing ‘community initiatives’ to tackle social problems, 2. Some private practices did get edoibaCoedol ARD—REPORT ? fs ANDREW WI! 4, Tom Woolley* looks at the crucial issue of community architecture funding in the contextof government strategies to tackle inner city problems of urban deprivation and unemployment. He talks to Tom King,Minister forLocal Government and Environmental Services, about the role of the new Urban Initiatives Fund and examines some of the issues and problems in financing the voluntary sector. The announcement of the Government's £100 000 Urban Initiatives Fund (UIF) is important because it provides additional funding (albeit a small amount) for com- munity projects. It also indicates 4 change of emphasis in its recognition of the contribu- tion of voluntary groups in tackling inner city problems and of the importance of providing professional advice to those groups engaged incapital (building)projects. There is some debate within the profession about whether this new government finance should go to agencies such as community technical aid centres or tOprivate practice. Concern has also been expressed by some (for example, P. Lambert’s letter in AJ 16.6.82 p35) that much of the UIF money might be snapped up by the RIBA to finance its administrative work promoting com: munity architecture rather than going directly to projects. CUSSB (Am) private initiatives have been more effective AJ7July1982 Increasing emphasis on the voluntary sector The interview with Tom King shows that the provision of government funding for government technical support to voluntary initiatives marks 4 significant recent shift in policy emphasis. Despite 14 years of inner city schemes, poverty, unemployment, de- caying environments and social conflict remain. They were brought sharply into focus by the 1981 riots. The Conservative Government, committed to cutting public expenditure, has actually increased its budget for the inner city as 4 result; the traditional urban programme allocation for 1982-83 1s £24-6 million compared with £16-5 million in 1981-82. An increasing share of this money 1s likely to go to the voluntary sector, which is some recognition of the claim that voluntary and \ Carol Bucknell News and Features hs NOQUIR READERS’ ENQUIFha Fach feacur | CISyB The AJ15ave Please appl ; ntlybeen Alison Gauldie BA Buildings BUILDINGS EDI TOR DipUD, RegArch i ISSN 003-3466 Elwyn Jones CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMEN T MANAGER David Thorne SALESOFFICE MANAGER Brian Storey PRODUCTION MANAGER Willie Evans ASSISTANT PRODUCTION MANAGER Malcolm Todd AJ7 July 1982 FEATURE SEDITOR dD, wickshank BA NEWS EDITOR Charlorte Bilis DipArch, RegArch ASSISTANT NEWS EDI OR Belinda Ward BA Patrick Haxway Dip ASSISTANT BU Buchanan BArce Lynne Jackson INGS EDITORS ArchitecturalPracticeResearchand Advertising ADVERTISEMEN Roger Beil LONDON AND SOUTHERN AREA MANAGERS T MANAGER Phillip Capstick Malcom Hasniten Barry Law Rickard Maguire BA MIDLANDS AND W ALES MANAGER Ronald Baker NORTHERN AND 5 OTLAND MANAGER Circulation CIRCULATION Eamonn Vincent MANAGER COVER: British architecture for export (see p23). Illustration | based on Moroccan tiledesign Limelite Finishing Specially formulated for use over Limelite Plasters. It is porous, assists rapid drying out of walls- permitting early decoration. | PLASTER | | APRODUCTOF —_— ata Tilcon Limited SPECIAL PRODUCTS DIVISION Limelite Lightweight Plasters— Sales Office |74 COMMUNITY ARCHITECTURE: Where will the money | come from? Tom Woolley discusses the funding of community architecture in the inner city, and interviews local government | minister Tom King about the UIF and the voluntary sector NEWS SECRE TARY Limelite Renovating Controls dampness passing through plastered walls and is also suitable where new damp- proof courses OF systems have been installed. | | 79. ASTRAGAL Vauxhall Cross double; Classicism revived in Shepherds Bush, Winchester and CoventGarden 81 LETTERS: Double takes of people and pictures; Jolly Jencks; Popular views of community architecture |86 HELLMAN ANDDIARY | | 83 REPORT: LDDC planners put to the test; Commons favour Vauxhall Cross SDO; Lubetkin’s Gold; Bristol’s fate reconsidered THE ARCHITEC TS’ JOURNAL | 7JULY 1982 Editorial Consultant DACA, Bayne© BE, Hon FRIBA | SECRETARY TO THE EDITORIAL CONSULTANT NUMBER 27 VOLUME 176 Please use the yellow AJ Reader’s Enquiry Card atthe backofthis journal when seeking information about products of trade literature advertised or reviewed in this issue It helps both the manufacturer and the AJ to know the original source of the enquiry Editor LeiteReiremsten é E Information Library TECHNICAL EDI TOR MA, MA(Arch), RIBA TIVE TECHNIC ‘AL EDITOR 1sMSc NT TECHNICAL EDITORS Anthony Ferguson MSc BArch, RIAS Graham Parsey ASSIST TYPRODUCTS EDITOR Jane Taylor BSe (Eng) LIBRARIAN Dorechy Ponrin ALA Limelite Cement Backing Dry bagged LIGHTWEIGHT plasterwith similar properties to 4 1:1:6 cement:lime:sand mortar. The ideal backing - offering a hard durable background surface, developing very little suction. Lingerfield, Scotton, Knaresborough North Yorkshire HGS 9JN Telephone: Harrogate (0423) 864041 Telex: 57471 | Gillan Collymore EDITORIAL SEC RETARY ¥ CARDS; Amew form oJ lypaid en be Al prices quored are for pounds sterling For more details enter 1748 on AJ enquiry card | Telex 8953505 —_—_— SS a ee em | Ealing |Greenwich 8 13 | |Haringey = 1 ee OFINNERcity| |THE FAILURE FROM |Havering - _Hounslow 8 |POLICIES: EXTRACT AGOVERNMENT REPORT* | 4 | |andChelsea — 13 | | didnot | ‘Local authorities |Lewisham |Merton |Newham |Redbridge |Southwark |Tower Hamlets |Waltham Forest 3 8 2 4 3 7 2 | |explicitly and consistently |attempt to channel traditional 6 — urban programme funds |towards the worst areas.’ 12 | — | 138 | | | | | 2 5 = |Harrow 1 1 | | Borough Local Volun- | Kensington 5 2 Wandsworth 4 6 4 6 | |Westminster — |TLEA |GLC TOTAL 3 | 14 author- tary | ity organisa- | projects tion | projects | 3— — 3 | Barking |Barnet 1 6 | Bexley 3 1 | |Brent 1 = | |Bromley |Camden |Croydon 3 8 1 66 1 | 3 | 13 | | one lar e~ Selected bibliography - The urden programme, the partnerships at work, Department of the Enviroament, 198) Review ofthetraditions!urbanprogramTMs Department ofthe Environment Inner Cities Directorate, March 1950 Donnison, D. and Soto, P The good city, Heinemann, 1980 The Econoreist, 13.382 pP 40-32, 10.4.82 pp3?-35, 2, 82 pp3e-+0. Eversley, D. ‘Retrospects and prospects’, The Planner,November 1981 Gough, L.,Thepolitical economy of the Welfare State, Macmillan, 1979, Hall, P. (ed) The inner cary te context, Social Scence Research Council, 1981 Potiey for the anner calves, HMSO, June 1977 The Brixton dirordert, H MSO, November 198) Whosefoun1IrayeHMSO,1952,(ReportofDurham conference) Home, R. K. Inner city regeneration, Spon, 1982.* Jones,C. (e4.) Urban deprrvatior and the inner <tly, Croom Helm, 1979 Lawless, P. Britain's tuner cities, Harper and Row, 1981." London Comenunity Work Service Newsletter, June 1952, No4l, Urban Aid Supplement Nabarro, R. and McDonald, L. “The urban programme’, The Planner, November 1978. Inver city mettoork, National Council for Voluntary Organisacion®, May 1952 Steen,A.D.Newlifeforoldcxticeaiofmindsustry,198) Regenerating our snner cities, Trades Union Congress, July 1981 *AJ ‘best bays’ OF FUNDS FOR TARY GROUPS* [HISTORY OFINNER CITY | Contact the National Council of Voluntary Organisations, Inner Cities Unit, 26 Bedford Square, | | London, WCIB 3HU (001-636 4066) \4 eS | POLICIES | | | | | | and Education Priority Areas. | 1968 Two weeks after Powell’s | ‘Rivers of blood’ speech, Callaghan lau nches Home | Office run Urban Aid Programme, Community Development Projects (CDPs) | | Urban Development | Corporation and Enterprise | Zones established. | «Many projects funded by local | |authorities, however, didseem— | |Urban programme: | (a) traditional urban programme |for deprived areas not including | inner city partnership and rogramme authority areas (b) inner city programme— partnership and programme authorities Local authority grants—rates funded Local education authorities— especially youth services Conservation—most architects will be aware of these sources The Sports Council Tourist boards The Arts Council | Health authorities | European social fund, EEC | The Prince of Wales Committee | Charitable sources Parish funds Commerce and industry Breweries—where licensed bars are included in schemes |Manpower Services Commission | | Liverpool8. As well as running jts own direct jabour | team, theNewcastle workshop hasmoved from being an environmental education 1972 | New Conservative Government commissions Inner AreaStudies. Peter Walker pratses SNAP. | resource [0 becoming 4 technical advice | service, But, aS competition for funds becomes fiercer, the survival of even this | |1973 enterprise 1s 1n question (AJ 9.6.82 p38). | 1982 Large increase in inner city spending announced. | | FJome Office Urban | Riots in Brixton, Toxteth, Moss Side, ete. Heseltine becomes M inister for Merseyside. | workers with tradesmen supervisors, has managed to employ 4 site architect to super vise their building projects, but he is paid £89 a week while the supervisors he instructs get £116 a week. |4969 ShelterNeighbourhoodAction | | Project(SNAP) setup1 | 4979 | Heseltine announces poltcy | review. Local government and | other spending cuts stepped up. | Centre for Environmental | Studies closed. | | to fall under the category of | | “more of the same”’.’ | | <Yoluntary sector projects | appeared,onthewhole,tofulfil | more of the traditional urban | sinner Cities Directorate, DOE, 1980 3i ) 1978 Inner Urban Area Act comes | practices with expertise in community Pro jects and technical advice centres. An exampleofthis partnership isthe Design Co-operative's close relationship with the nearby Community Technical Aid Centre in Manchester. However, such developments are themselves hampered by shortage of funds to which the UIF will only make a small contribution. | into force. Partnership scheme | | 15 ‘programme authorities’. Urban aid continues as “rraditional urban ard’. | Ian Finlay, of the Design Co-operative and | chairmanof the RIBA’s Projects Committee, ser up, with bulk of money going £0partnership areas and | | Architect as enabler Finance is likely to be one of the main topics under debate tomorrow, 8 July, at the RIBA’s community architecture conference. No clear policy has yet emerged from the RIBA, but it seems likely that the emphasis will be on a partnership between private believes that the Government will have to provide increased finance for such develop- ments. He, like Rod Hackney (AJ 13.1.82 p22), considers that it is time that free architectural advice 15 available like legal aid and most medical services. He argues that environmental problems are often at the root of medical and legal issues, and that local authorities are increasingly unable oF unwilling to tackle such problems. However, until funding is adequate and pro- vides for the essential professional contribu- tion to the job, it will be difficult to evaluate just how effective professional enabling can be. The imaginauon, skill and commitment are there, but theireffective application is threatened by 4 combination of bureaucracy and shortage of moncy- *From the London Community Work ServiceNewsletter | Deprivation Unit set up. | 1974 | Comprehensive community | programmes setup. | | 4977. CDPs closed down and Home | Office refuses 10 publish final | report. Labour Government | | | publishes White Paper on | policy for the inner cities and | DOE takes over responsibility from Home Of Ice. programme criteria than those | ‘submitted by local authorities.’ *Further information may be obtained from three | papers which will be available shortly Funding and planning a pacant building project, Funding skills and rechnacal support, and The role of local authorities. _— —= |1982 URBAN PROGRAMME | |PROJECTS IN LONDON* | AJ7 July 1982 Fighting for fees to the voluntary Given a shift in emphasis sector, will it be any easier for community groups to get professional advice? Urban aid and partnership funds for capital projects usually allow for fees at normal RIBA rates. These only become available once a project is approved. But thecrucial work is usually to establish the feasibility of projects: few voluntary groups can raise enough funds to mect the hourly charges of the professionals engaged in thisessential work. Experience in the field hardens some to this problem. The Design Co-operative in Manchester told me that it always charges £10 an hour after attending one or two initial meetings. In order to pay for such unfunded fees, some groups raise the money in 2 variety of ways, ranging from local authority grants to jumble sales. do give free In some cases local authorities assistance to voluntary groups in preparing applications, but this is very rare. Local councils of social service may attempt to co-ordinate applications to ensure that those most likely to succeed are pushed forward. However, many promising initiatives fail to get past the first stage. The usual pattern of project funding is to put together money from a variety of sources, 5. Typically, 4 redundant or tem- porary building isacquired for low costwith financial assistance from the local authority, urban programme money pays for materials and fees and the Manpower Services Com- mission (MSC) pays for building labour. Any shortfall comes from fund raising and private sources. expertise The accounting and management to co-ordinate this work is considerable, especially when some agencies persistently fail to recognise the problem. The MSC, for instance, assists many projects through its Youth Opportunities Programme (YOP) and Community Enterprise Programme (CEP). However, the MSC has completely failed to recognise the importance of professional input to projects. Many job creation schemes involve building work and the MSC regional committees always demand ahigh degree of technical detail, drawings, specifications, work programmes, cash flow schemes, plan- ning permission etc before approval is given. But even after approval no allowance is made in the funding arrangements for professional fees. this A number of projects have overcomearchi- problem by employing unemployed tects and technicians on their schemes. The Neweastle Architecture Workshop, for example, employing 20 trainee building > 75 lu arecent conference organised by the Labour Co-ordinating Committee, called ‘Beyond welfare’, has started discussions about more democratic and attractive objectives for the Welfare State. Itsuggests that local authority services should be devolved and demo- cratised, but there have been few steps (0 develop this in public architecture offices. It therefore seems likely that, in future, private and voluntary initiatives will be to the fore. in terms of the urban programme, despite the fact that the voluntary sector has received only asmall portion ofavailable funds. Apart from massive expenditure on expen- sive research (for instance, Inner Area Studies and CDPs) 75 per cent of traditional urban aid allocations between 1968 and 1969 went to local authorities. When implement- ing the cuts, local authorities have used inner city money to keep departmental pro- grammes going, rather than evaluating the most effective ways of spending It. This clearly influenced Lord Scarman in his strongly worded condemnation of the failure of inner city policies (sec caption to fig 1). The DOE’s own Inner Cities Directorate has produced evidence to support this picture, J. Some local authorities in London stil do not give grants to voluntary groups, 4, but in other areas urban aid andpartnership funds have become a lifeline to a whole range of esssential projects. The competition between groups to obtain such funds is fierce and there are always many more applications than money to meet them (for example, there were £1-5 million’s worth of bids for £0-5 million of partnership money in Manchester last year. In some areas attempts are made [0 COo- ordinate applications, but the overall short- age of money leaves a great deal of dissatis- faction. The most successful groups are arguably those that are most sophisticated in assembling finance rather than those most capable of doing an effective job. Because of the expertise required to tap such funds, an inner city network of highly professional organisations has grown Up, many advising or servicing voluntary groups to the extent that the term ‘voluntary’ sector issomething of a misnomer. A Ao THE MINISTER’S VIEW Tom King, the Minister for Local Government arid Environmental Services, was worried about inner city projects becoming dependent on state finance when I talked to him recently in his Marsham Street office. His solution is to ‘get the voluntary sector moving’, and he em- phasised that ‘public money will never do all the jobs because there is such a massive amount to be done. The Government will do what it can but its skill is to get the maximum gearing with other funds coming in to support projects.” He was prepared to admit that ‘under the squeeze, local authorities tended to cut the voluntary side to protect their own programmes’, but pointed out that the recent increases in budget would benefit voluntary groups. However, King stressed that projects should not expect to recetve a continual injection of public money: ‘I don’t automatically subscribe to the idea that they are all by definition totally unsustainable or unviable in their own right.’ His policy ts to cut out waste and help in a cost- effective way to encourage projects that will be self-financing. Groups obtaining funding under urban programme schemes will be given time limits to stop them running on and on, he said. Part of this strategy of increased support to voluntary groups ts to encourage technical and professional advice. This is the main purpose of the Urban Initiatives Fund (UIF). King explained that the idea of a fund had emerged from discusstons during the European Cam- paign for Urban Renaissance (ECUR) (AF 6.1.82 p21). Despite criticisms from people like David Eversley, who called wt an ‘intellectual middle-class professional movement’, King considers that ECUR has been a success—its exhibition of demonstration projects had ‘stimulated people around the country 10see what they could do themselves’. King believes in the power of example and hopes that good professional advice would encourage more successful voluntary projects in urban renewal. He sees COMTECHSA* as an example of effective professionalassistance. He would not say what criteria had been used to assess the many applications which have well exceeded the £100 000 available in the UIF, but a decision on its allocation ts expected shortly. Applicants have to match any grant pound for pound, bur King hopes that a number of differ- ent approaches will be supported so that the most successful can be evaluated in use. Look- ing into the ‘foreseeable future, he said that the fund would be renewed each year. «Cocamunity Technical Services Agency, based inLiverpool. Itis financed langely by Inner City Partnership fiands. In 1980-81 its budges was £61 000, which isas indication ofbow thinly spread the£100000UIFmvoncywillbe.COMTECHSA ismanagedby representatives ‘ofthe community groups Htserves and local sympathetic professionals. Restructuring the Welfare State Early critics of community architecture, such as the New Architecture Movement’s Public Design Service Group, saw com: munity architecture as a threat to local authority departments. While some see current developments as recognition that voluntary groups do a better job than the more bureaucratic local authorities, others warn against the dangers of state services being whittled away and replaced with cheaper private groups which exploit the social concern and goodwill of unpaid volunteers. Much of this has been seen in the social services, where cuts in home help and nursing services, for instance, have put more burden on low income families. However, Ian Gough, in his book, The political economy of the Welfare State, argues that a preoccupa- tion with the cuts obscures an understanding of what is really happening— @ restructuring of the Welfare State which includesprivatis- ing many state-run services. The present Government has been able to implement many of these changes without much opposition because of widespread public dissatisfaction with public services, particularly in housing and health. Even the left of the Labour Party and the trade union movement has belatedly recognised this, and mame | ARCHITECTURE AS COLONIALISM |Colonialism isnotarelicofthe past—empire building inforeign ey - . “i of this year’s RIBA conference if t there was a genuine desire to listen to people outside the profession. lands—nor tsit just a superficial charge to be levelled at those members oftheprofession who f build models ofMilton Keynes in the Muslim deserts. C aphilosophy that tsvery much alive right here and now in the UK. (It could have been the subject ‘olonialism ts 2 Colonialism always includes three essential processes: the occupation of territory, the resettlement of communities and the destruction of indigenous cultures. If theprofession continues to claim some responsibility for the ‘world about us’ (as this year’s conference title would suggest) then 1tmustalso recognise the colonialist natureof so many of its actions. To absolve itself the profession must accept | 4 humbly, in principle and in practice, that because of our history and our narrow class base, we architects actually know very little about our own subject, ‘the whole environment’. So often we are brutally colonising an area and its people, feeding them only our narrow perception ofculture. Brian Anson in this, the second and final part of ‘Architecture as colonialism’ (Part 1,AF 30.6.82, pp29-44), suggests that the profession can choose one of three routes for the future. Two of them he considers disastrous; the third, ifchosen, will mean that to recognise our profound ignorance will not be depressing—on the contrary it could offer us a genuine cause for celebration in 1984’s Festival ofArchitecture. fie’ AJ 7July 1982 61 an ~— cnSe IEE oe Gio eerie eed ES mera ar ke ae | | | | | | 68 ]Frontis page: What environmental usefor the future of Bootle? 1 The two-faced profession—culturally oe Ay 7July 1952 AJ7 July 1982 we a 3 routes for the profession James Bellini, in his book Rule | Britannia: a progress report for domesday 1986, describes the Britain of a few years hence thus: ‘There will be a small closed world where knowledge is God and the altars are tended by a monastic order of information brokers. And there will be a vast backwater economy around it, where unemployment, menial work, moonlighting, barter and brigandry are | the standard features of everyday life.’ Many would argue that, in parts of the country, that world already exists. Bellini omitted to sketch out its envi- ronmental characteristics but we can imagine them—indeed, in some regions, we can already see them: | decaying industries, decaying housing estates and decaying landscapes. Such dereliction is no longer nicely confined to traditionally poor areas and the inner cities—it is rapidly spreading. Chronic unemployment, leading in many cases todisillusionment, apathy and bad health, prevents even ‘average’ | people maintaining their own personal environment. It is a cancerous phen- omenon which the architectural pro- fession has assiduously ignored. In the first part of this article (AJ 30.6.82, pp29-44) I suggested that the RIBA was perfectly correct to describe architecture as ‘the whole built envir- onment’ and pointed out that this wide- | ranging definition was verified by the fact that no architect (no matter how small the practice) has ever refused a major city development on the grounds that it did not form part of their sphere of knowledge. | Throughout the “60s and ’70s the pro- fession largely neglected its social responsibilities just as it ignored, or more often aided, the breaking-up of indigenous communities in the interests of comprehensive redevelopment— indeed the RIBA president, Owen Luder, is on record as declaring in 1972 that ‘the most successful architects are those who know the property field’. In its current neglect of the growing dereliction which is helping to fuel communal violence, the profession con- tinues to ignore its social responsibility. In the first section of this article I sketched out three community situa- tions with some reference to the ‘spatial culture’ within each environment. The case studies were chosen carefully to illustrate by comparison two of the essential problems of the architectural profession—its inherent ‘colonialist | character and class base, and its pro- found ignorance of the ‘spatial cultures’ of many communities. which way will you go? . a But, as a profession, we have also been in- volved in the other aspect of colonial- ism—the neglect or brutalisation ofthose we have either ignored or seen resettled. As part ofits social responsibility, the profession has never seriously considered how itmight put its talents at the service of those who inhabit the slums and grey areas of our environment. The profession’s general ignorance of the case, to be recruited from the ‘other’ classes. This is not to imply that the profession has a great knowledge of the numerous other ‘cultures’ within our society (rural, suburban etc) but at least architects are closer to these communities. Most architects will totally re- ject the idea that our profession 1s related to a colonialist mentality, yet We really are en- gaged in the same game. To the present day we frequently (and with- out protest) create our architecture on ‘occupied’ land—the compulsory purchase order and the comprehensive development area have been used for the same ultimate purpose (profit) and with the same success as was the bayonet in the past. We ought to have been perfectly aware that, through our architecture, we have aided the ‘forced’ re- settlement of communities of long standing and played a direct part in the destruction of their social cultures. The ‘language’ in the streets of many ‘gentrified’ areas of the UK is totally alien to that heard even a decade ago. These changes (in which the profession was heavily involved) were not slow and gradual, incorporating the best aspects of traditional cultures, often centuries old, but swift brutal acts of aggression. What, after al, is Covent Garden but a classic case of ‘colonialism’? people’s social culture has produced what are now aptly termed ‘the new slums’. Although the architectural profession has largely identical characteristics (as an elite) in the countries of al three case studies (the UK, Ireland and Germany), 4comparison of the ‘cultural strength’ of the three com- munities highlights the subtlety of the British system of social and environmental control, of which our profession is a part. Despite the severe problems it faces, the cul- ture of the Irish community is by far the strongest of the three, ifonly by virtueof the retention of its language. However, the furure is ominous: 4 member of the West Donegal community writing [0 the European Court of Human Rights received the reply that ‘no further letters in Gaelic will be acknowledged’. The German community, although with a similar working-class history to Bootle, is the ‘culturally’ stronger of the two. One explana- tion for this is that European communities, owing to their continuing history of wars, revolutions and occupations (and thus resist- ance), have a greater ‘sense’ of struggle ofall kinds, including community action. Architecture as colonialism Colonialism, in pursuit of profit and power, always involves three essential processes: the occupation of territory, the resettlement of communities and, to consolidate its con- | quest, the destruction of indigenous cultures. Having no interest in those com- munities the occupation of whose territories would bring neither power nor profit, it ignores them. Those it resettles it always ignores, in some cases first brutalising them. | Colonialismisnot4relicofthepast(empire- | building in foreign lands), it is @ philosophy—very much alive—which sees territory as merely a profit, of power making mechanism. As he threw starving | peasants of West Donegal off the land in 1849, the words of Lord Brougham that “it is the landlords inalienable right to do as he pleases, otherwise money will cease to be invested in land’ were only a more honest | version of those of one particular GLC | chairman, who in 1970 informed the Covent Garden architects and planners that they | should have nothing to do with community organisations because ‘they are more trouble than they are worth’. In its basic objectives, colonialism 1s more successful in its own domain than in ‘foreign | lands’. The British working class has been, justifiably, described as ‘the last colony of the British Empire’. If my reference to working-class culture seems excessive it is because this class has been the most neglected or brutalised by the architectural profession which tends, in any illiterate. (Illustration by Brian Anson.) i —e AJ7 July 1982 ARCHITECTURE AS COLONIALISM ART IN ACTION BRIAN ANSON "=noo eeeeee ee eb eA As regards Bootle, |know from personal ex- | perience that I totally failed to understand | how brutal and oppressive the environment of the dockland community was until I had left it. Jingoism, false patriotism and propa: ganda still prevent—as they did in my child- hood—the poorer communitics of the UK from fully appreciating the extent to which they have been conned into accepting, among other things, 4deprived environment of scandalous proportions. However, as the communal riots (with their shocking results) have proved, things are rapidly changing. Timidity isbeing replaced by community anger and violence towards the environment. The architectural profes- sion cannot hide from this; first because, as architects, we have a clear duty to face up to the problems of the ‘whole built environ- ment’, and, second, because the anger will | not be contained. I suggest that there are three basic routes | which could be followed and the future of the profession will depend upon which one we choose. 2 This year’s conference theme, but some worlds | are ignored. 3 Option two: defensive architecture. | | | | 70 vo AJ 7July 1982 AJ7 July 1982 uf > Route 1: ‘Steady as she goes’ This will be a continuation of the profession’s present course—really two routes in parallel but not in conflict, despite their different appearances. At one level is a profession obsessed with advertising, directorships, liabilities and ever-larger combines. Concomitant with this will be the continued expansion of architecture as an international pure ‘art’ form, complete with drawing sales, _ exhibitions, cultural jamborees and a continuous search for quiet cathedral towns (rapidly diminishing in number as Bellini’s ‘brigandry’ spreads) in which it can continue to ‘talk to itself? and ‘rage’ over the latest stylistic ‘battles’. For both profession and society the results of this course will be disastrous. Society will lose out because, despite its social failing and ineptitude, the profession has a wealth of creativity to offer all the people in this country. Architecture will lose because it will bring upon itself the naked hostility of a growing community of people who sce that they have as much right to a civilised habitat as they have to some form of dignified work. As the tensions grow in our society we will be reminded of the old adage that “if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem’. Characteristic of the blindness of the present route is the mind-blowing insensitivity of the RIBA’s decision to hold its 1984 ‘birthday party’ on the theme ‘The art of architecture’ in the drowsy environment ofOxford. Some will argue that the problems outlined in this article are being tackled by the much- lauded new venture of ‘architecture work- shops’, backed by both Government and the RIBA. They have recently becn described as ‘a major breakthrough on a national basis’. Leaving aside the fact that they represent @ minute element in the whole fabric of the profession, their performance so far would suggest that, at best, they are reformist (and paper over the cracks of the real problems) and, at worst, deeply sinister. If the work- shops idea was ‘to combine education and training in the built environment’ (thestated aims of the Newcastle venture), then their ‘curriculum’ must have excluded some very crucial subjects (rack-renting, land speculation, class and cultural take-over and environmental neglect on acriminal scale) or else their ‘pupils’ were mute, docile or architecturally brainwashed at an carly age. One would expect any normal community of people, being provided with the real reasons for their substandard environment, to give vent (at least initially) to a show of anger and protest. No such outburst has yet resulted from the activities of the workshops. On present evidence the advent of the archi- tecture workshops will not alter theexisting course of the profession; it will stil be ‘steady as she goes’—to social disaster and disgrace. This will be a development which acknow- ledges the growth of a violent society and Not al British landlords in West Donegal were brutal; some of them, though patronis- ing, genuinely wished to ‘improve the con- ditions of the peasantry’, yet their land ‘improvements’ depended upon the destruc- tion of the people’s most important cultural traditions—the inherent egalitarianism and countenanced by the system. The plan therefore included ‘safe houses’ for those on the run, Those who would condemn such ascenario as exaggerated and extremist should consider that it was outlined three years before the Liverpool riots. This route would also be disastrous for al sides: not as disastrous as the present route (which will in any case lead to the develop- ment of defensive architecture) for there is evidence that some form of creativity arises out of overt struggle. Yet few couldscriously desire such a scenario if for no other reason than that it would waste the immense amount of creative potential presently lying dormant in our society. There are two specific prerequisites for this path, the only way that gives the profession any chance at al of producing a socially acceptable architecture. The profession must first reject its obsession with corporate imagery and esoteric ‘cultural’ debate, and, having done so, must become involved in a major way with the areas and classes it has so long avoided. The second requirement is crucial: the pro- fession must drop its arrogant belief that it can ‘teach’ the communities of these areas about the environment; such an approach is impertinent in the extreme, given the record of architectural disasters. If their declared in- tentions in the Press are accurate, the RIBA’s Architecture Workshops are afaulty concept from the start, in that they propose to ‘educate’ the people in environmental matters. It is we, the architects, who need the education. The ‘spatial cultures’ outlined in the case studies were the people’s environmental knowledge—information without which any concept for improvement of their environ- ment is facile. I described only three examples (two of them working-class, since I consider the improvement of working-class environment a priority) but every community, whatever its class, has a unique ‘spatial culture’. If we ignore this then we not only design in a vacuum but, ironically, our creativity can actually be destructive. The communities of whole streets identical to the one described in dockland Bootle, but closer to metropolitan centres (particularly London), have been eliminated through the application of, among other things, ‘creative’ ideas. It is good for an architect to make @ humble dwelling more beautiful by the application of design talent, but ifthis results in the landlord (in his determination to get ‘more of this class of person in’) evicting the indigenous community, then the end result js bad. If the architect, in the quite proper aim of brightening up 4 grim environment, eliminates the vital physical elements in the community culture (for example, the blank gable wall which is the only ‘football pitch’ for the local kids), then the end result is again negative. Route 2: ‘Defensive architecture’ I proposed that a block within the area should be deliberately burnt and vandalised and then encased in an (exquisitely designed) glass sheath. It would contain a continuing anti-colonialist exhibition showing not only what Britain did to its colonies, but also how city areas were raped and exploited by the powerful world of property, aided and abetted by our profession. Defensive architecture is not to be confused with Oscar Newman’s theory ofdefensible space (and that is not to devalue his contri- bution to our understanding of architecture). Newman's analysis refers to the defending of space within communities; defensive archi- tecture will deal with whole areas designed in such a way that entire communities not only totally control their neighbourhoods but ensure the ‘other side’ keeps out. It will be created on both sidesof the divide in our society with the majority of the profession continuing to serve the ‘small closed world’ of Bellini’s scenario. A minority ofarchitects who have long endeavoured to put their creative talents at the service of the more de- prived communities will, in their frustration at the profession’s obstinate refusal to libera- lise(letalone‘revolutionise’)itself,developa Route3:‘Celebration’ defensive architecture for their side. There will be a difference in the two styles. One will continue to be ‘a green and pleasant Jand’, but with more private roads and, most importantly, guarded by the State through whatever ‘law enforcement’ arm iteventually creates. The other will be more aggressive in character and with one prime purpose in its design—to keep the State out. Space does not allow detailed description of the numerous examples of defensive architecture which have come out of Belfast in particular in recent years, but they include the ‘creation of open space’ (free-fire zones) by the army and the ‘physical removal’ of modern blocks (designed by architects to make the streets ‘more interesting’) by the Provisional TRA, who feared they would become conyenient observation posts for the army. In 1978 I described the streets of my home city, Liverpool, as ‘Belfastian’ in character and argued that ‘there is little difference between the Falls Road and the Shankill Road and the streets of Liverpool 8’. As an ‘academic’ exercise I designed a piece of defensive architecture for the centre of the city. I will only briefly describe some of the principal elements in the plan, 3. The first objective was to define the area that could be successfully defended against the ‘forces of the State’. Thus market forces (the MEF areas of the plan) are excluded as being too powerful to contend with. The streets of the defensible area are al renamed: ‘Street of Loneliness’, ‘Street of Irish Sorrow’, ‘Sam Driscoll Way’—the first to make the point that architectural training and practice seldom comment on the sad and derelict as- pects of our environment, the second to re- emphasise my contention that architecture has a ‘colonialist’ character and the third in memory of the many ‘ordinary’ people who struggled so hard for a better environment in the days of community action. The project made the point that, despite the fact that ‘participation’, ‘Jocal initiatives’ etc are now fully accepted processes in our establishment philosophy, this does not mean that sofa! control will ever be Oepe tries THO tenet a seg peeee er ae 2 eer Ahe orSN ‘learns how to live with iv. | AJ 7July 1982 Conclusion alone cannot solve the pro- The profession blems that led to the riots but it can recognise the part it played in their creation. Many architects might then join’ those who have taken to the streets, learn from them and, ultimately, co-operate with them in creating a more humane environment. If the profession does not take this route (and ‘a dozen architectural workshops by the end of the year’ is just an insulting gesture) then architects are in for a bad time. of the Perhaps the most dramatic example is the profession’s current social irrelevance high probability that, had the RIBA been located in Liverpool’s Upper Parliament Street or Brixton’s Railton Road and not in salubrious Portland Place, it would now be a burnt out shell. magazinenot- The decorum ofaprofessional withstanding, the justified hostility citizen of one of these environments prevents me diluting his reply when questioned on the architecturalprofession: ‘The bastards who design this shit in which we are forced to live make a lot of bread from it—when the time comes we'll burn them too!” But then perhaps Ihave got italwrong. Per- haps the profession is acutely aware of the future implications of the ‘whole built en- vironment’ and is seriously preparing tode- fend itself and its creations from the ‘prigandry’. This might just explain why Lt Gen Frank Kitson, former GCC Northern Ireland and foremost ‘counter insurgency’ expert, was going to be one of the principal speakers at the RIBA conference! of a 71 —on SA y= the caretakers, the typists, the canteen | 4 Recognising our ignorance of others’ cultures workers of their own institution. Thus they ought to be a cause for celebration; we can learn leave the school of architecture a homo- from one another. geneous mass, thinking and talking the same current stylistic irrelevancies. It is an immense tragedy. The recognition of our ignorance is not a depressing idea; on the contrary, it is a cause for celebration. “To know what you do not know—that is wisdom,’ said Confucius. The creative environmental knowledge we do possess is marred and rendered less effective than it could be because of its narrow base, but al its philosophies are not to be despised—they are just wrongly directed towards ‘the small closed world’ and not to society at large. Our acquisition of the knowledge possessed by the people will immeasurably enrich our own knowledge base: it will ‘feed’ it and, through this process, it will develop and thus live. The people’s acquisition of our ideas will similarly enrich them. Surely such a prospect can only delight us. The celebration of co-operation being sug- gested is in contradistinction to the absurd theory that architecture, in order to gain social acceptability, must ‘give the people what they want’, a notion as ridiculous as that of Anthony Caro at the recent Art and Architecture symposium that ‘people do not know what they want; when they get it they like what they get’. The citizens of Liverpool 8 and dockland Bootle may eventually require and demand defensive architecture but, like any other sane community, they would infinitely pre- fer an architecture composed of the richness of their own culture plus the wider ideas of any architect (from whatever class) who had goodwill towards them and was offended by the dereliction in which theyexist. co-operation with which they shared good | and bad land. Creativity, in the world of architecture and | environmental design, 1s not an abstraction: it must be related to social reality. The rota! experience of the physical environ- ment resides, by definition, within society. Every man, woman and child possesses cle- ments (possibly only munute ones) of the ‘knowledge’ that we architects need to do our job properly. It is a concept far beyond the (now sopatronising) ideas ofparticipation, consultation, town trails and the like: it is | based on a shocking realisation that, because of our history and our narrow class base, we architects actually know so little about our own subject, ‘the whole built environment’. Indeed in the considered view of those who | have already taken to the streets, we are simply illiterate in the matter. Our system of architectural education per | petuates this creative ‘narrowness’. Students embark upon architecture with a combined wealth of environmental knowledge—the expert knowledge, rich in detail, of their own neighbourhoods. I once taught a class of students and was able to draw out of them a massof environmental knowledgeof ‘spatial culture’ in which they were the experts: the spatial patterns of an African village, of growing up 1nFlorida, ofaNew England in- dustrial city, of growing up on the edge of the Libyan desert, and a dozen other such spatial culrures—it was only 3 small class! Retaining the definition of architecture as ‘the whole built environment’, we must work from the basis that, at one level, there are perhaps.20 million architects in the UK alone. Yet in al my experience with students they have never been encouraged to share this knowledge with each other, let alone with ee The Otis award To be given to the architects making the most significant contribution to the urban scene in the UK. First announced: AJ 16.6.82 p31. Sponsors: The Otis Elevator Co Ltd, in association with the AJ. Judges: Richard Rogers, John Outram, AlecClifton- Taylor, Simon Jenkins, Leslie Fairweather. Prize: £10 000. Closing date: Nominations by 3 September 1982 at 17.00. Details: See AJ 16.6.82 p31 or contact Barry Wheeler (Otis Award), Otis Elevator Co Ltd, The Otis Building, 43/59 Clapham Road, London, SW9 0JZ (01-735 9131). | | Current AJ competitions and awards | The AJ has two competitions and one award scheme currently under way. Here is a reminder of the crucial details and dates. Judges: Maurice Culot, Nicholas Cooper, Leslie Fairweather, A new leaseof life for Belsize Wood Ideas wanted for the future ofa9 acre site on the fringe of central London (below). First announced: AJ 24.2.82 p38. | 7 Sponsors: Belsize Conservation Area Advisory Committee, AJ, Camden Society of Architects, London Region RIBA and London Environment Group. Judges: James Stirling, Jake Brown, Leslie Fairweather and a representative from the Landscape Institute. | 5 Prizes: Total £500; first prize £300. | Closing date: Tuesday 31 August 1982 at 17.00. NB No further copiesof the conditions are being issued. | Po e but risk * Condensation * Mould growth * Delay and deterioration % . of decoration Efflorescence Rust and pattern staining * Material wastage Excessive labour Measured drawings * High maintenance International competition to measure and draw historic buildings, structures, machinery and archacology. First announced: AJ 3.3.82 p31. | by using Sponsors:WigginsTeapeandtheAJ. other Plasters! 2 IanKennedy. Prizes: Total £2500; first prize £1000. Closing date: Friday 29 October 1982 at 17.00 | Details; Apply to A. J. N. Edwards, Wiggins Teape (UK) PLC, Chartham Paper Mills, Canterbury, Kent, CT47JA. Architectural photographer of the year This competition will not be run this year, but is programmed again for 1983 when it will be held in conjunction with the a For more details enter 1748 on AJ enquiry card ys mats ’ 7 ; Victorian Society’s 25th anniversary celebrations. Details will | 2 —— AJ 7July 1982 ~~ uave scaled the be announced in the spring of 1983. PSLG March 1980 ee ee| fith the For more than 50 years, the provision of public housing on 4 large scale has been a central plank of successive government housing policy. In consequence. municipal housing now caters for about a third of the population One can speculate about what might have been without state intervention on this scale. But there is litthe doubt that public provision has been a major explanation tor improvements in housing conditions in past decades. As a recent NEDO report has argued, “its achievement must be regarded as among the successes of British social policy.” This is not to say that Council housing does not have its problems Local authorities have estimated 250,000 of their dwellings to be “difficult-to-let”, a product of deteriorating environments and obsolete physical structure and design Housing management still leaves a lot to be desired. Local authorities are too often insensitive and unresponsive. and standards of repair in many areas are simply appalling Tenants also lack real choice and mobility. and generally tind it difficult to realise rising housing aspirations The problems associated with e¢n- vironmental and physical decay are gradually being recognised, but the cuts in housing investment will severcly delay the improvements required, In an attempt to give tenants more tirmly based rights, the Torys version of the “Tenants Charter” contained in the Housing Bill/Act gives tenants security of tenure, the right to sub- let, take lodgers, make improvements and apply for improvement grants The Bill also requires landlord authorities to establish and make publicly known, arrangements for consulting tenants on issucs of housing management. These are steps in the right direction, and may lead to some backward authorities reviewing and improving their practices In view of the Conservative Government's drastic policies of the past twelve months or so, and in particular the controversial legislation consuming housing and local government, this year's National Housing and Town Planning Conference (The Brighton Metropole, 28, 29 and 30 October) should be quite a powder keg. Secretary of State for the Environment, Michael Heseltine, will bravely step into the jaws of the > ctocodile when he presents his Ministerial Address and, no doubt, will emerge again » <unscathed, without even a trace of plaque. >Among the diverse problems to be ironed out at — the canference will be public behaviour in the environmentSEE a housingtheelderly, . Gocial services-departments, planning in the. Sp eighties and housing management, ‘repairs and © feature, time is running out for public housing so. there may..be nd need to ever consider the . problems of maintenance ormanagement. TTTTT I] maintenance. But,-asStewart Lansley points.aut- in his opening article to this speciak PSLG _ 2 sa Not far enough But they hardly go tar enough. Two im portant provisions in Labour's Housing Bill. for example. have simply been dropped by the Tories. These would have relaxed residential qualifications and facilitated mobility by empowering the Secretary of State to require local authorities to make a proportion of their relets available to tenants moving trom other areas Significant as some of these problems are. the bulk of council tenants are happy with their housing. A survey in 1975 found that 75 per cent of council tenants were satisfied, though 40 per cent still had a preterence tor owner occupation An important feature of British public housing has been its comprehensive charac: ter. Since 1946, it has, in principle, been open to all — not just to working class - — — —_—* —_——- ai 2oe —_— a) pid a ———— - j => ol eeeed, Somaya —_— 4 oa ——~ wun } to ownere their own home . that ownerC- homes Provides greater freedom. dkernative 2 } aluminium plates for someon 40] Aj 20 February 1980 x This trend is hardly surprising. The tempt to put the financial and other benefits — But without radical changes in policy — and role choice between renting and buying 1s. as a of renting and buying on a par. households soon — the shadow may soon become a ing. recent Fabian author put it, far trom a with sufficient resources to make @ choice shroud. das z oT toTMown theirown homeaaEpa: : / j '- = cent. In 1975, 45 per cent of the poorest tenth of households lived in council genuine toss'up’. Financially, owning 1s will generally opt tor purchase housing. In 1976. only 2 per cent ot generally a much better bet than renting Time is running out tor public housing as professional workers and Il per cent ofem- Many other advantages lie with buying, a a comprehensive sector catering for a wide :m. ployers and managers lived in the public situation that is not the ‘natural’ one that range of income and social groups. What we jis sector. In contrast. 65 per cent of unskilled this and the previous Labour Government — are witnessing is the gradual demise of Fhe manual workers were council tenants, com- have claimed, but one created and fuelled public housing into a largely residual. pared with 55 per cent in 1970. Current by successive government policy. The facts Government policy will therefore simply are that housing preferences have been ar reintorce a trend that is already well under _ tifictally distorted in favour of home owner- way ship. Until changes are introduced which at welfare role — towards the polarisation ot any society. by income and class, between the ng two major sectors Council housing ts cer- and tainly passing under a deepening shadow jical | occupation provides greater freed es om. PSLG October LYS0 five 6! ach the leir /Yop BHOUSING! households. In contrast. social housing in other countries has played a more limited welfare role, catering mainly for the poor and disadvantaged. In the United States, for example, the share of public housing stands at about 5 per cent, and ts largely limited to low income houscholds. In 1970, 70 per cent of tenants were non-white, 40 per cent were one-parent families and 40 per cent were elderly and disabled, with only 25 per cent of houscholds containing wage-carners In Britain, public housing has catered tor a cross-section of the population. Despite this. its existence as a@ major and com prehensive sector is now under real threat Partly this is due to the policy innovations of the present Government Insignificant New building, already at an all time low since the war, could collapse to less than 30,000 by 1983, according to a recent report ‘ by the Commons’ Select Committee on the Environment. The new measures to boost sales will not have a significant effect on the 5 size of the public sector, at least tor some } time. With a current stock of 6!2 million dwellings, sales would have to rise above even the Governments most optimistic target of 200,000 a year, to have any i noticeable impact. Where sales will have an impact. however. — and a crucial one — ts on the quality of the stock and the range of houscholds catered tor by the public sector Despite denials by the Government, sales will lead, in the main, to a loss of better quality dwellings in popular areas. and bet- ter-off tenants The Government's retreat trom public housing is therctore important, but it is not the only factor threatening its vote Recent years have seen a gradual concentration of poorer households in the public sector Between 1967 and 1975, the proportion of all households in receipt of sup- plementary benefit’ living in municipal housing rose from 45 per cent to 37 per faith the PSLG March 1980 |2 iterative aluminium plates for someon | on The Government's retreat from public housing will mean that there may never be any more interesting local authority estates such as the one at Virgt Walk and Cherry Laurel Walk, in the Borough of Lambeth. | ‘ |d yes he f} ; a The ho; cant hea to InLondonW10 there’sahousewithafront wall measuring just four feet nine inches. In Oxfordshire there's a modest pile called Blenheim Palace that boasts a handy 200 rooms. Fooca(aoemdar alasccmaorremeORritllore other homes in Britain, from one-bedroom flats to eighteen-bedroom vicarages. Glow-worm gas central heating boilers can heat them al. And when we say ‘heat’, we dont mean we can just slap in any old boiler. With the biggest range of domestic gas boilers be authoritieswant.erate ‘Fi GhawawormLimuted,NeatinghamRoad,Belper,DerbyDESIT AdiviseeofTlGasHearinLgidow Circle 11 on Reader Inquiry Card pee," URAL a Baris in the country, we have the most economical unit for every size of house. With our combination of wall-hung, free- standing and backboilers, with conventional or balanced flues,we can fitaboiler anywhere. Up and down the country, local authorities are specifying Glow-worm boilers at the rate of over 300 per day. Which means we dont just have the biggest range of boilers for local authorities. We also have the kind of experience local Too many proye : san oe ane tocommission then slumimium piate for somecun c whereby a t1( ng ical fole ing a as each A the mative 2 to own their occupation provides uld preter that owner greater treedom own homes. council ifitwas years of thIe original sold within purchase This pre-emption clause designed to prevent the owner selling at a Profit within the five year period. A further Circular tssued in 1977 enabled councils t increase the discount to 30 per cent, but only with Department of the Environment consent The 1974-9 Labour Government. for I to rescind 4 DOE Circular in 974 (70/74) irgued that it would be wrong to sell houses in areas with a ontinuing Never bund 6,000 in € also points out that any old piece « alloeamkYelo) housing always has been a political pawn — up and down with the fortunes or misfortunes of successive governments. In the sixties the emphasis focussed on building more and ‘better’ UToaohMeyerTTCMTTathconstruction thisgeneralconsent has tailed-off dramatically and, in Michael Heseltine’s own words, ‘will never get back to the scale it was ten years ago’. Provision of new housing is being left to the private sector's CTIAERYCLTaLingenuity,sometimesin partnership with local authorities. At the same time, to continue updating the existing housing stock and its immediate environment, is imperative. In this, and the next two issues of PSLG, we are devoting our main features to the changing aspects of housing. The following article, by Stewart Lansley, Senior Researcher with the Centre ion Environmental Studies and author of consent to local authorities that houses could be sold atfull market value. without restriction, or at as much as 20 per cent below that value on condition that houses were offered back to the their opposition to sales, did little need for rented accommodat theless, sales fell sh irply to ar 1976, but subsequently rose to reach 28.000 n 1978. Then in March 1979, follow ng the growth in sales in some areas, Labour issued a circular preventing sales in certain narrowly detined circumstances Owner-occupation Council house sales are an integral plank of current Cx nservative housing Pp »licy a reflection of their determined Support for pation and their vision of Pe(TNTeeNT)ItaILO TAMTe Owning democracy But this time, the proposed policy has a new twist — compulsion. The aim is sales on a massive scale, and it is the element which has aroused particular controversy The generosity of the discounts is also Not all parts of the Housing Bill published in December have aroused political con troversy. Indeed, some sections remair largely unchanged from Labour's Bill » hich fell with the election. Most Parts of the proposed Tenants’ Charter, and the greater availability of grants for repairs and im provements have bipartisan Support. Other elements, however including the proposed shorthold tenancies, and the new local authority subsidy system particularly the intention to reduce the overall level of sub sidy — are being hotly debated But most controversial of all is the Proposal embodied in the Tenants’ Charter to give council tenants the statutory right to buy their own homes at fixed discounts of up to 50 per cent. This is already set to provoke a bitterly fe Ught parliamentary bat tle, which will almost certainly forex the Government into the use of the guillotir e The selling of council houses is not a new policy. Sales in England and Wales re #peak of 62,000 in 1972. This tollowed the e Heath Government's provision of genera highly contentious. Purchasers receive discounts from assessed market value of 33 per cent after three years’ tenancy. rising by one per cent for each year to SOper cent af ter 20 years or more. The option clause JEposit provides at year time continued from p42 H ATacteyKMey TeGovernment's decision to sell ofa large portion of the country’s council house stock. argued that most households w 718 " 177ayy : sef0COM 1 ic sfor someone fo¢ Option to buy at the price fixed att of the original 4tluation has also aroused wide concern Most of the arguments about stiles have already been widely aired Supporters have sluminium plate c ‘| ultimate value of the scheme as some | allocations ofcapital expenditure will be | marginal or accidental overspending’. _ F measure of the value of the scheme’. At | made, as before, under five main | The new broad controls on capital is IP diay Nick. et — — — ———-— =perwnmcsutinapresOrmn UTE" proposa aanrnrour OWCVETS cotomancan awe ee 5 Milton Anonue Re RIBA Comumlis Prelutieriane, CUSHE 81(A}p) = _Af30January 1980 *. ye > LONDON W.1. pessapo “ait Counate OF Te ultimate TEATUTE OY Mis Proposals that although | However intend to make directions Tory measure of the value of the scheme’, At | made, as before, under five main | The new broad controls on capital DEMOCRATIC DESIGN A ONE DAY CONFERENCE TO DISCUSS THE PROBLEMS FACING LOCAL AUTHORITY ARCHITECTS AND TO BRING TOGETHER IDEAS FOR RADICAL CHANGE. U.C.A.T.T, HALL, GOUGH STREET, BIRMINGHAM SATURDAY 6TH MAY, 1978, AT 10.30 A.M. REGISTRATION: £1 (EXCLUSIVE OF MEATS), FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE WRITE TO: PUBLIC DESIGN GROUP, NEW ARCHITECT MOVEMENT, 9 POLAND STREET, A MEW ROLE FOR LOCAL AUTHORITY ARCHITECTS DEPARTMENTS value of the scheme as some | allocations of capital expenditure will be | marginal or accidental overspending’. | CISIB 81(Ajp) AJ30 January 1980 Discucsios m o fete af anclulectie as a public Senet ane Surfacinugr hie avetulicturak guess. Not sorce tha AT Guest EMI Senisin (952 Lastherebtonanysilesprtad rsfomtd Conidtation or Mus malléy. The harlovingoy sf the long averdul Acbato is Less ttle. Public Expenditure Cuts ,particularly bn hoting amd LAucahar moans thot there will he Lass ote qr archutects Ar Ke same tome, as lal ouuck Cane hid) ncnasing pressinfeo teduce Shh, clopadtments ef ardulacture fank a chow Second fp Direct lalouY Crgamasahions aS promt iagels Pv te “back fp private profit WaovreweTD frchilictstimgonoval, but expecialythoseoko sores,te public Seep ford HomselvesAroust forccbly tify Spotlightasbuchclearly IecalesthomasacotfrWicksens| @ am a felibical stage: They ase not aloe din Tes precicawumt, It t ane usbuclr royShape thr Ke ore million Beetle houscholds on fhe coumpry’s Comet and housing asspiatio waiting lists,and C sat Chey peble Sect rotleoy)avd fspreafLefr wlian.thong Gernees ane tnttrdad. pabliescctvarellect isnotseparatefroHoatfhe tovand| tousung offeced AVbuilding wirtheny ard cannot : keasmably be conrsidend tn (Selatan, [et Thr is precisely what the RIBA and off shats ihe te socuity 2} Chil Aeluitets om Umal Authentics (SAA) are hymng clo as fray attmpl b cane to Wars tultr te Thus He potion of mctsbeds the ClsrmantingoftheLlelfiseult,ThePresideatfScatA, | Wstiad 4 ack nouledy lng thot fo provide VW Not fe Prom hy CE Repoblic Soniee » C aie prwulgatior 0 This melel isKerafrced by (ew Corhal of architictwal pepulatine(7i2cvid). Itaefumesdlearchilelas Bee dinAafe dint Srtreprevscu ofeling Marx dalisod : educatior ,omplayntict and / “in Ikitbecouse tHeyanounwillingvUmal4salccept thatAo metel ofarrchpaicktiszlinal hich has been pelaEe eeae) povedhasbeer) rolaeu%t tsproachesafarctlichan S é. Protea Cconowny |La canpotitian dull. othe archiltels “7 Be nae eae secttusmnuedelhasee, isothers (tle SufedUndoy Sumilay mgels) =—etatoret Chat et pe eneinptt.of © Te bey *® te Kealisahien of a ren) role fev public arcdulecture 15 an alteyalne nud based om s @y Gene Mefovwr biel elelsnasarlularyavd *e ob Shuctr bithianclues ard www Poses OL Shuictuhe - based arcoefibralireprcples (b) ForgingShongCechrucalandpleticalwerlonrglinksvoit Olay Avredlinatirurlsed dn te ae ¥ buildings, suchas bee—lEea,hosingqfecen|heey workeo tikes i CHSIB B1(Ajp) By oeeI | Ville: foto Proisiar al Aes pad Seytees , trade Unions dfar- the claw ann rbouldbe 4 create Unteqatidpublic 9 dudlnig mel aceoumnbaletoeouraiodllinenrson a (gal Lam. This wislel to dehtrdodt calloetedé actiar of avtulll® and fle wert ae acting D tins We UALCO and TA SS 7 bot, Us lanyploutnbohi throug. Shong tnlaAirciplonay ound Gucci oprrotin Subsfartal nor tix thar rection — RE erewecoranarnnre: ena anchitidined “Professional ‘ merely ; cumey)of private avclalirel : badly pln Murer) and Bal malt. are tmaltahad aretulich hadeuUnuaustsmApearNA EPOCs 6Og BABaIaciap Te)Tesiferia Ge clincuniFnigne Gussanc offppiats action atte wil. Me arnclelitiel pads undtausts ho act» tede tier aco jfotiltcal Le Solupe-T | a ime wn eanrpangus agennsh EY up fhe | Bee stjp cn at Seto> ie eel beelund Te cul > ee ww publec Lovitz , ab in, Reegh Sucl. : | Ln plenad soar Ce WS niglek ttl be 1] belt» eln Muvar{ Bob Male. a. lie “hs elgihsse one ai paie aeNarecalaty14YO, Interim Proposals and tenants. my the his hi To achieve an effective Public Design Service the NAM Public Design Group proposes local authority design and build teams which are area based and which will be accouritable to users ¥ DESIGN TEAMS SHOULD BE AREA BASED INSTEAD OF FUNCTION BASED. We suggest the following interim proposals which are feasible now and which create the potential for further change : td LOCAL AREA CONTROL OVER RESOURCES. AREA DESIGN TEAMS SHOULD BE MULTIDISCIPLINARY. JOB ARCHITECTS SHOULD REPORT DIRECTLY TO COMMITTEE. z : * " ABOLISH POSTS BETWEEN TEAM LEADER AND CHIEF ARCHITECT. = ESTABLISH JOINT WORKING GROUPS WITH DIRECT LABOUR ORGANISATIONS. For further information contact : Public Design Group New Architecture Movement 9 Poland Street London W 1 — aes van” estimofatthee|feature :re ultimatepatieoftheschemeassome ilese 1 sure ofthe value oftt 1 t 4 INTERIM PROPOSALS: _1, LOCAL AREA CONTROL OVER RESOURCES Since control over design cannot be separated from control over the resources of land and finance, changes are required in the formal counci] structure to enable control to be exercised at community level. Although counicllors are elected on an area basis they serye on function-based committees (housing, education) which have contro] over the expenditure of money on the provisioonf services across the whole local authority area, Real local needs tend to be subordinated to an assumed general interest. The role of a councillor as a committee member therefore may be in conflict with his or her role as a representative of a local interest, In order that local area interests are safeguarded, jt js suggested that a further tier be added below the main functional committees (c.f. neighbourhood councils), These would be area committees consisting of representatives of loca] tenants and residents organisations, local councillors and trade unionists, The size of the area would obviously be a matter for discussion. These committees should deal with al] council] matters relating to their area and would consequently relate to several or a]| of the main function-based committees, They should have powers of recommendation and of veto in their relationship to the main committees, They should brief architects and have power of approval over designs and standards, 2. DESIGN TEAMS SHOULD BE AREA-BASED INSTEAD OF FUNCTION-BASED So that they can relate to Jocal area committees and the requirements of local people, The present arrangement of function-based architectural teams servicing function-based client committees and departments has two major disadvantages. Firstly, in providing a service within this structure, architects are isolated from the people who will use their buiidings. Architects work on a Borough- wide basis, and people's needs and wishes, insofar as they are taken me as |alloc neas some/ allo 1fesch re",At Teenie Vitoyoravtet (American) tutors": ang | Goesm't catch his real atfec- remember, I'ma fan. had been invited to make .anyMors©5)and”9)tionforMarcarntiasRuatuadlinBiessenbos.csncninAstilsneeileal \ A —_— into account at all, are averaged out and presented to the architect in briefing guides as criteria to be designed for in much the same way as are site constraints. The total constitutes a design problem and the concept of the a-political officer paid to solve technical problems is thus reinforced, Similarly the professional ideology of individual architects expressing themselves in their designs is sustained, of that action. the recipient of decisions by others. P 218 CUSIB 81(Ajp) AJ30 January 1980 Secondly, this system creates a "closed circuit"! method of liaison. For the architect; architect-client department- client committee. It is illogical as well as difficult to break this circle to relate to local residents or even loca] councillors. The public also find this organisational] boundary virtually impregnable, They are vulnerable to officia] action yet the boundary renders the officers immune to the consequence It should be noted that the term ''area based team'' as distinct from ''function based team'' does not necessarily mean that the team is located in an area, ([t merely means that a team is responsible for the work in an area. As such, it would offer the architects a variety of types of project. It would also enable them to initiate action in their area instead of being 3. AREA DES|GN TEAMS SHOULD BE MULTI-DISCIPLINARY AND SHOULD HAVE AROUND TWELVE MEMBERS AS A SUGGESTED OPTIMUM : 4. JOB ARCHITECTS (and other team members) SHOULD REPORT DIRECTLY TO COMMITTEE The term multi-disciplinary would in the local authority context include planners and valuers as well as the more usual design team members such as quantity surveyors and engineers. Each job architect and team member should be responsible directly to the committee for the work he or she carries out, In this way PARRACTELORRIOeee) aeaena not only will committee members relate to the person actually producing the work, but job architects will be aware that they work in a political forum as well as a technica] one, 5. ABOLISH POSTS BETWEEN GROUP LEADER AND CHIEF ARCHITECT Group leaders should become responsible directly to the area committee and thus to the Council for the collective work of the group, The chief architect would then perform a co-ordinating role amongst the groups, similar to the role performed by the elected leader of the counc!] vis-a-vis committees, Occupants of redundant posts to be found a more usefu] role in the new structure. It is envisaged that in the future group Jeaders shou]d be subject | to election by their group and that the chief architect should be elected from amongst group leaders, with periodic change built in. lt should be noted that the present vertical structuring of the - architects departments stemmed from the late |9th Century private practice model, That is, from a form of practice compriseodf one | principal and a small number of apprentices, The largest practices of that time had one partner and around 25 apprentices. As private practices grew so did the number of partners, each being equally responsible under Partnership Law, (A common ratio of partner to staff is 1:15), In public practice the concept of one chief remained so that when the chief architect became responsible to the council for the actions of more than 100 staff, intermediate grades were introduced whose sole function was to contro] the job architect, Theirs is a non-design function and their status is dependent on increasing the proportion of procedural and managerial matters. under their control, They form an effective boundary between job architect and chief architect, let alone between job architect and counci]lor or job architect and user. en trern Ree primesse ne 218 <5 a — + ---- 2ne epee rr L Leeratenripeniveentxignh apt Rae ee otal” and more ominously, ne “con= Uinues, ‘perhaps an estimate of the ultimate value of the scheme as some measure ofthe value ofthescheme’, At| ected Imanotner sipmiticancrmmncnnr-ae! feature ofhis proposals that although| ho allocations of capital expenditure will be | m; made, as before, under five mair Rca mand . ren SS 218 YE, ~ee se~ departments. CISEB 81(Ajp) a —; 6. ESTABLISH JOINT WORKING GROUPS WITH DLOS To ‘consider how toachieve better designed, constructed and maintained buildings. In the longer term it is envisaged that separate professional teams should disappear in favour of design and build teams within the service of the local authority rather than within the building contractors! organisation, Summary: it is clear that many if not all, of these proposals could be put Into effect fairly readily, \t may be noted that in at least two London Boroughs, proposals similar to these are being actively discussed as departments of architecture are re-organised, These proposals are seen as part of a continuing process of democratisation of local government, without which a lasting communi ty architecture is not possible. They are not seen as a final solution but are offered as practical proposals applicable at this stage. The next stage in the development of these ideas is to widen this discussion to include representatives of tenants, local councils, relevant questions which should be considered but which are outside the scope of this report. e.g. * The relationships between architects and other council] i central] government and NALGO and other public sector unions, In advocating these proposals it is recognised that there are other * Devolution of power from central to Jocal government, particularly in relation to the control over building finance at present exercised by central government departments, ——S es AJ30January1980 Pr. woure-ve-tae value Of thescheme” At |m aaa i ere ns for ESeas aer itare2WiW.bemargin1aloracciidentaloverspending”. » under five main | The new broad controls on capital NtaterAtLtOT 19. pendence to elect a -—+—How the RIBA for m of building contract dictates the relationship between architect and building worker by separating design and construction, how this is necessary in the public sector, and how a new gement could be evolved to facilitate the on of local authority design and build teams. un arran format tectural education, including abour Party proposals for The role played by archi further discussion of the L overcoming the present sectar bias. (3)- jan and private practice Sreagcaas-—- ae: owe ontrols on AJ 30) Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource AJ, BD, NAM 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 1978-1980 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/39f58996006b6ab7c352d6134d6a4dee.pdf d9cf2f62158799c8aec9fd3a4feac94b Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource NAM National Design Service Subject The topic of the resource NAM goes for public sector... report of third annual congress, held in Hull. 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A ches Ws naku An More OW bation Nake preeenaleara oe a !goreGly dionAe ee Ro pena, eget ger eet eT Levdspinsh ie ieans wi beprin tl tenn, locabioankottoheebeetse Greater Lcendon Council \ Historic Buildings Board keport (27,9.72) by oe Cer CC col Lec va Gic Wie oe THE SCHOOLS OF THE LONDON SCHOOL A =£ ~“S : EP 523 sup. ie \or BOARD (1872-1904) AND THE LONDON _2-/ | COUNTY COUNCIL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT ? Vine > pe Ee | <2 “1904-1910—INVESTIGATIONFOR ae ~ / ,{ PRESERVATION : ee | The Board will recall that some time &@g0 a request was made that a detailed report on Board Schools of London snould be submitted for information and consideration. It will be appreciated that a very considerable amount of research was involved in the preparation of the report which is now presented for the Board's consideration. 1 The remarkeble architectural phenomenon of the Bozrd Schools of London was conceived iin that section of the Hlementary Education Act of 1870 concerned with the special provisions to have effect in the 'metropolis'. Requiring that the name of the school board 'shall be the School Board for London!’ the Act stated that the board 'shall proceed at once to supply their district with sufficient public school accommodation’. london was thus required to lead the way with a vast programme of school building, and, dividing the district into ten areas ~ Marylebone, Finsbury, Lambeth (East and West) Tower Hanilets, Hackney, Westminster, Southwark, City, Chelsea and Greenwich, the Board set immediately about its orgenisation. Ata meeting of the Works and General Purposes Committee in May 1871 it was decided that the duties should be divided under three headings: the Acquisition of sites, the selection 'from time to time', of an architect to erect buildings, and the appointment of a consulting architect end surveyor, with reference to talcing over schools and ‘the general business likely to arise’, The importance of getting the best possible designs for all ney buildings was stressed even et this early stage_ and the method favoured was to hold limited competitions of known school architects. The intention of the Boord-had first been to research the Situation fully, but 'at the instence of Lord Sandon it was determined to build a first batch of twenty schools in the most destitute districts without waiting the result of the laborious Statistical investigations'. Eighty-four architects applied for the post of consultant architect to the Board and from these six were shortlisted: Joseph Janes, J.i, Morris, Thomas Porter, John S. Quilter, E.R. Rodson and Yiliian Wigginton, E.R, Robson was appointed to the post with an overwhelming majority at a Board meeting early in July 1871. Born in Durhan iin 1835, Robson had been erticled to John Dobson of Newcastle— on-Tyne.e In 1857 he came to London whore ne worked for three years ‘in the office of George Gilbert Scott, and met there in 1858 as a fellow pupil the young Scotsman, John James Stevenson. Setting up in practice, Robson was Appointed Architect to Durham Cathedral and in 1864 became «chitect and surveyor to Liverpool City Corporation, a post he held for nearly five years. During this time he was responsible for the new ilunicipal offices end riany other public Works and improvements in the city. It was the prospect of the massive School Board commission that brought Robson finally to London: he resigned from the Liverpool post in 1859. Fhilip Robson wrote in a Memoir of his father that, seeeees ON the 2 75ing of the Forster Fducation Act my father determined 4f he cowl te Lead the way with regard to Educational Buildings'. Shortly after his aprointment in 1871 Robson took J.J. Stevenson into a partnership that lasted into 1875 and there can be no doubt that this action was decisive in the development of the Board School Style, as it came to be known. i However, for the first two years of the Board's existence, Robson and his partner had little or no influence upon the designs of the schools, for the competition system was pursued with the somewhat panic-stricken zeal of the. early Board until its unwieldy and expensive administration and by no means alvays satisfactory results led to its rejection in 1873. A characteristic example of these first competition schools was that at Johnson Street, Stepney, by T.R. Smith, opened in 1872 and now destroyed. In the Gothic manner, with little to distinguish it from the numbers of parochial and national schools that had gone before, Smith's design represented all that was to be rejected so dramatically within a year of its completion. Robson himself wrote in 1874, Pe e Johnson Street School cannot, when critically considered, be regarded the light of a success which invites general imitation.' One school emerged from the competition system to foreshadow the elements of the Board School Style: that at Harwood Road, Fulham, designed by Basil Champneys and opened in October 1873 (now demolished). The distinguishing features of this building - the red brick walls articulated with slender brick pilasters, gable ended roofs, tall chimneys, tell white-painted sash windows and mild Renaissance details - were those of the 'Qucen Anne’ manncr, about to become one of the stormiest controversies in art and architectural circles of the 19th century. Robson's ovm comments on Champney's school in his book School Architecture of 1874, were restrained in their approval, but reflect the crucial influence that Harwood Road must have exerted upon hin: 'The style in which the building has been thought out", he wrote, ‘is a quaint and able adaptation of old English brick architecture to modern school purposes. Apart irom the opinion, which may be termed that of fashion, because of its temporary nature, but which runs for the moment headlong after e favourite style, even when carried out in the most tasteless and unmean— é: manner, this building must be regarded as possessing decided architect-— ural character. The war between the rival styles has raged so long that we are in some danger of forgetting the existence of certain broad first principles common to the great architecture of all times and countries, and whicn are certainly never absent from the more conspicuous and representative examples. Among these first conditions of architecture must be ranked a regard tox good form, geod proportion, good grouping and, above all, good architectural character and good colour .....- .. The design in question must rank as thoughtful and artistic work, whatever may be our individual preference as to style.' . : With these words Robson was justifying his own decision, when in 1873 with Stevenson in unofficial partnership with him, he took over the designing of all Board Schools and chose to express the new age of education with the new style of architecture. : | The division of responsibility for the 'School Board style’ is by no means a straightforward matter, and was, it seems, already a subject tor arguaent in 1874, Stevenson was undoubtedly one of the principal spokesmen and apologists for 'Queen Anne' and among the first actually to have built in the new style. In 1870-1 he designed Red House, Bayswater Road for himself, in red brick with pedimented gables, tall chimneys and flat arched sash windows, at a date when Norman Shaw, later to be the arch—protagonist of the style, had not yct abandoned the picturesque Tudor of his work of the '60's. In 1874 when the programme of the Board Schools had already been formulated with Robson, and Shaw's Lowther Lodge Kensington, a classic example of 'Queen Anne’ was only in course of building, Stevenson read before the General Conference of Architects at the R.I.B.A. a paper entitled 'On the Recent Reaction of Taste in English Architecture’, a key document in the history of the Queen Anne revival. Emphasising the close affinities of Queen Anne with classical architecture - in the search for an appropriate label for-the style the term Free Classic was often recommended — Stevenson depended heavily for his justification on the practical ari economic advantages of the new manner, 2 reflection, no doubt, of the discussions he and Robson must have had when establishing a coherent and viable house style at the School Board. The central argument of his paper, quoted below, is immediately applicable to the Board's work: “(The Style) has much to be said for it on practical grounds. Take the ordinary conditions of London building - stock bricks and sliding sash windows. A flat arch of red cut bricks is the cheapest mode of forming a window-head: the red colour is naturally carried down the sides of the window, forming a frame; and is used also to emphasise the angles of the building. As the gables rise above the roofs, it costs nothing, and gives interest and character ........ to mould them into curves and sweeps. ~The appearance of wall-surface carried over the openings, which, in Gothic, the tracery and iron bars and reflecting surface of thick stained glass had taught us to appreciate, is obtained by massive wooden frames and sash bars set, where the silly interference of the Building Act does not prevent, almost flush with the walls, while to the rooms inSide these thick sash bars give a fecling of enclosure and comfort. . : : With these simple elements the style is complete, without any expenditure whatever on ornament ........ There is nothing but harmony and proportion to depend on for effect. We may, if we have money to spare, get horizontal division of the facade, in this style, as in Gothic, by string courses and cornices, and we have the advantages over Gothic that we can obtain vertical division by pilasters, which, though not constructive any more than string courses as used in modern Gothic, have at least as much meaning in a London house as pointed window arches ..... The style in all its forms has the merit of truthfulness; it is the outcome of our common modern wants picturesquely expressed. In its mode of working and details it is the common vernaculer style in which the British workman has been apprenticed, with some new life from Gothic added ....." 3 Later, in his book House Architecture, published in 1880, Stcvensor referred Specifically to the Boarda Sc Schools in this Context: "Within the last year or two there has been a revival of the ‘Queen Anne! - style for town houses and even for streets. The fashion scems to be spreading. It has received some accession of force from the schools of the London School Board, planted in every district of London, having been mostly built in that style. For the architecture of a few of the earliest of these I am responsible, having found by the practical expericnce of a house I built for myself in this manner, that the style adapts itself to every modern necessity and convenience. In that case I made no attempt to follow any particular style, the style grow naturally from using ordinary materials and modes of work, and trying to give them character and interest ........" eee nnd a - _—- - ote So * 1874 was the year in which Robson too published his important document School Architecture, already referred to above, in which, together with examples upon which he comments, he sets out to justify the adoption of the Queen Anne Style. More ideological in approach than Stevenson and less passionate, perhaps in his advocacy of the new style per se, Robson was nonetheless well aware of the great opportunity for changing the face of ‘London and the course of architectural development that his post as Board Architect was offering: "Among so large a number of new school houses," he wrote, "some are “4 fortunate in being placed in positions where they can be easily seen and it becomes of some importance to consider what style is most suitable ......! His rejection of Gothic - in theory, at least - seems characteristic now of the evangelistic fervour that the Act had inspired in the Victorian reformers in Education: "A building in which the teaching of dogma is strictly forbidden, can have no pretence for using with any point or meaning that symbolism which is so interwoven with every feature of church architecture as to be regarded as € its very life and soul. In its aim and object it should strive to express civil rather than ecclesiastical character." Thus, he reasoned, the idiom previously employed for National Schools in England (Gothic, that is) would be entirely inappropriate, and for the added reason that it would lack "anything to mark the great change which is coming over the education of the country." But a precedent had to be found somewhere - these were, after all, the 1870's ~ and it was observed that "iin London the plainer and less expensive buildings forming by far the most numerous class, must always be constructed of brick." Moreover, "specimens of good and thoughtful brickwork in sufficient numbers still remain scattered among the old architecture of the city and its suburbs to form the basis of a good style suited to modern requirements — Hackney and Putney, Chelsea and Deptford all furnish old examples." With a final flourish of logic Robson concluded, "The only really simple brick style available as a foundation is. that of the time of the Jameses, Queen Anne and the early Georges, whatever some enthusiasts may think of its value in point of art. The buildings ...... are invariably true in point of i@ construction and workmanlike feeling. Varying much in architectural merit, they form the nucleus of a good modern style." ‘Robson seems to have been unwilling to acknowledge Stevenenson's contribution fully. Philip Robson recorded that his father had observed how he "was occupied often in the afternoons rubbing out what John had done in the morning," and in School Architecture Robson did no more than mention in passing that "severai of the designs selected for illustration are from the pencil of my partner tir J.J. Stevenson, who, althoush haying no connection with the School Board, has rendered much valuable assistance in their work." Together with schools that are a clear expression of 'Queen Anne’ there are illustrated, in Robson's book, others that reflect a more conservative attitude to Gothic, as for example those at Winstanley Road, Battersea (demolished) and Mansfield Place, Kentish Tow (demolished); it is likely that these examples reveal Robson's individual hand, while the first group was predominately Stevenson's responsibility. Vith its immediate roots in the work of Philip Webb and W.E. Nesfield in the 1860's, the Queen Anne style was developed mainly in the field of domestic architecture, and it is reasonable to suppose that Stevenson, having "With the most basic means availeble for buildings regarded as nothing more than utilitarian, they si.ccessfully combined architectural distinction with good, honest construction. ‘Thoir essential charm is in the grouping of their building masses which is always interesting without boing contrived". In the informality of Robson's schools lies the central difference between them and the schools designed by the second Architect to the Board after 1884. Designing for smaller numbers of pupils than his successor, Rooson was able to Maintain the domestic scale and assymetrical plan which were crucial to the idea of the Board Schools as part of an Enplish vernacular revival. E.R. Robson resigned from his post in 1884 and returned to private practice. His later independent works included the People's Palace, Mile End Road and € these poor persons brighter, more interesting, nobler, by so treating the necessary Board Schools planted in their midst as to make each building undertake a sort of leavening influence, we have set on foot a permanent and ever active good - this is no mere theory - it is already proved by the manner in which builders of ordinary houses are imitating the Board Schools in every direction.'! ea applied its forms at an early date to his own house in Bayswater, provided the impetus for Robson's adoption of the style. Certainly little that fore- shadows the Board Schools of 1874 is to be found in the ponderous semi- classical formality of Liverpool Municipal offices. Whatever the truth of the matter, the influence of the Board Schools of London upon both the school and domestic architecture of England during the last decades of the 19th century was profound. It was Robson himself wno, in two articles published in the Art Journal in 1881 related the schools to the Aesthetic Movement as a whole, and he who should be allowed the last word: - "It must always be among the high purposes for which the Act exists to make any home brighter and more interesting, nobler if you will. We have seen how abject are the homes of countless thousands. If we can make the homes of Little remains of the schools with which Robson illustrated School Architecture, and where they have survived, as at the Charles Lamb School, Islington, they have often been enlarged almost beyond recognition. Indeed, examples of Schools from the whole period 1873-84 that have not been subjected to over~ whelming alterations ze now rare. € necessities of planning to introduce variety and intcrest into what might have becn a bleakly functional structure. Thus the decorative possibilities of the white sash windows and their repeating rhythms, the soaring chimneys and spirelets and the colour contrasts of yellow bricks with red briok dressings, white stone plaques, copings and cornices, were all exploited. So, too, were the opportunities for interesting formal compositions that the flexible plan afforded, with its simple units of hall, classrooms and cloakrooms on each storey. Hermann Nuthesius, the eminent critic of English architecture at the turn of the 19th century, wrote of the early Board schools in 1900: Usually, like Park Walk, Chelsea, they are of three lofty storeys, their height emphasised by the thin brick pilaster strips that frame the tall white painted Sash windows. The steeply pitched red—-tiled roofs are enlivened by delicate lanterns and pretty stonecoped gables carrying one of Robson's rare concessions to pure decoration —- the stone plaques with their flower reliefs that became one of the hallmarks of the early schools. Other small enrichments were the familiar title plaques and, occasionally, a wall panel in bas-relief of Knowledge strangling Ignorance, from a model designed by Spencer Stanhope. Robson was otherwise dependent solely on his materials and the bare Me Royal Institute Galleries in Piccadilly - both buildings of distinction. Eis successor as Board Architect was Thomas Jerram Bailey, who had been : Appointed chief draughtsman to Robson in 1873. Bailey had served his : apprenticeship with R.J. Withers and worked as an assistant to Ewan Christian before entering the School Board's Architect's offices in 1872 at the age of 28. In 1881 he became an Associate of Royal Institute of British Architects and a Fellow in 1893. In 1904 when the London County Council took over the School building programme of the London School Board, he was appointed Architect to the Education Department and, exempted from retirement in 1908, he continued to hold office for two more years and died only six months after he finally retired early in 1910. The R.I.B.A. dournal's obituary notice began: "By the death of Mr T.J. Bailey we have lost a member whose influence on the evolution of school planning during the last 25 years can hardly be exagserated." Drawing attention to the "enormous numbers' of schools built to his designs Since 1884, the report concluded: . "There is probably no type of modern building which more nearly combines the werits of carefully thought out planning with an xchitectural treatment so thoroughly expressive of its purpose, as a typical London Board School." Having observed the building of the Schools for more than ten years and contributed, no doubt, to details of their design, it is not surprising that Bailey's own work after 1884 was essentially a development of Robson's proto- types. But the assymetrical plan and the vocabulary of architectural rooms which had been evolved for the small schools of the '70's - and were essentially domestic in character - now had to be adapted to the demand for much larger buildings. Wherever possible, as Bailey himself explained in his paper quoted below, the domestic scale was maintained, but it is in the massive schools for up to 1500 pupils that the development of his individual style can best be appreciated. His first response to the problem of the long clevation was to multiply the familiar units of the original small schools: the Munster school and its twin the Sir John Lillie in Hammersmith are of this type, but in their plans that uncompromising rectangular symmetry which became the characteristic of Bailey's large schools, is already firmly established. The Hall forms the entral core and, unfolding on either side f it, are, in sequence, the staircases, the cloakroom blocks and classroom wings. Behind the hall, and completing the rectangle, are ranged in line the principe] classrooms. In his paper The Planning and Construction of Board “Schools, read before the R.I.B.A. in 1899, Bailey revealed the extent to which the problem of restricted and awkward sites had dictated the devclepment of his monumental school tyne: "WInere sites are sufficiently large and level, schools of all one storey aro usually built - as a rulc, a senior mixed school, consisting of classrooms grouped round a central hall, with an infants' department as a separate & pbuilding. Another type is to put the boys' and girls' as a two-storcy pbuilding; again with separate infants' school. This type is suitable for a large site where the levels are inconvenient for a one-storey school. The majority of sites will only allow for three-storey schools ...--." Proceeding to describe this type as being the most usual he explained: "The infants are naturally on the ground floor, on a level with their play- -ground, the girls on the first floor, the boys above. The London School | Board consider a hall indispensable to every department of a school. 7 \ Experience has shown that nearly every school built in London has required enlargement. There must naturally, however, be a limit to the Size of a School, so that the departments do not become unwieldy. The maximum size or accommodation of a group should not exceed 1,548 ...... and if further accommodation is required, it should be provided by a separate mixed department ...... On the other hand, if a smaller school is needed to begin with, it is convenient to take the figures named as a maximum, and built a portion first, leaving it to be added to as needs arise ....!" "The main line of classrooms should, if possible, face the playgrounds rather than a noisy road, and draw their light from the east, as that aspect suns up the rooms in the early morning and does not disturb them for the day. TI never build to the cheerless north if I can avoid it .....; the classrooms in the Wings cannot be so considered, but it would be impracticable and unworkable to place them all in one line. The hall, facing west, provides a good reservoir of sun-lighted air to help the classrooms, and, not being seated or reckoned in the accommodation, is a cheerful place into which to march the classes for recreation or collective purposes. Architecturally also, this elevation, being the more broken up (comprising, as it does, the main lighting of the hall, the Staircases, cloak and teachers! rooms and blocks, and gable end of wings) is more desirzble for a street front than the long unbroken lines of classrooms, though the aspects of the site do not always allow for this." Thus, for example, the Munster Road school Successfully presents its hall elevation s the principal front, while the Sir John Lillie has its classroom range fronting onto the main Lillie Road. By the late '90's Bailey had evolved for the large schools that bold ana monumental front which, though differing widely from Robson's prototype, is often held to be Synonymous with Board School architecture ana appears, with only minor variations, throughout London. Good examples are Vauxhall. Manor, Lambeth, Montem, Islington and Rhyl, Camden. The Slender central lantern and delicate gables of the earlier schools have given way to elaborate twin cupolas over the staircase blocks, to flank the plain central mass of the hall, and heavy pediments Surmount the wings. In this school type each part of the plan was expressed as a Separate architectural unit, linked primarily by the majestic Symmetry of their arrangement in 4 B C DC B A rhythm. The later development of Bailey's work - for the School Board and then for the L.C.C. - shows a general tendency towards a more Sculptural style and a more richly decorative use of materials, as shown for example in the magnificent South Hackney School Cassland Road or Torriano School in Camden. The plan, however, remained basically unchange@, and the variations in architectural treatment, although astonishingly inventive, were little more than superficial, Bailey was essentially an eclectic architect: reflections of current architectural fashion ~ the Ndwardian onilence of Ei. Mountford or Ernest George in the South Hackney Upper School, Hackney and the Harion Richardson School, Tower Hamlets, or the eccentricities of Art Nouveau in the Torriano and Kingsgate Schools, Camden - are constantly to be found, although his own feeling for sombre Baroque symmetry and mass is never absent. In the area office at St John's Hill, Wandsworth, Bailey achieved a final refinement of Edwardian "Wrenaissance" brick architecture and brought to a close the vernacular revival in which the carly Board Schools had played so important apart. That Riley had retained a firm influence on the designs produced in his office is indicetea by the fact that architectural standards abruptly declined after his retirement despite the continuing presence under his Successor R. Robertson, of his principal assistants, H.R. Perry and G.L. Wade. The contribution of Robson and Bailey to school architecture and to London erchitecture in general has been all but ignored for sixty years, although the — 8 o The School Board's real concern, fom the beginning, for architectural values, "The policy of the School Board has almost always been to Give these a buildings, as public buildings, some dignity of &ppearance, and make them ornaments rather than disfigurements to the neighbourhoods in which they are erected .... It was found that the difference of cost between bare utilitarianism and buildings designed in some sort of Style and with regard for matcrials and colour, was rather less then 5 per cent. At the same time, this ornamental appearance may be scured either by richness of detail, or by a dignified Grouping of masses; it is the policy of the Board, while studying, in the first instance, suitable arransements for teaching, not to Set aside the dignity and attractiveness of buildings, which the Board have e* feltshouldbeacontrasttotheirpoorSurroundings,!! 7A a . : - = One valuable assessment of the merit of the Schools was published in the Architectural Review in 1958 where it was stated, with reference to the early schools but with equal truth in the context of the 1884-1910 period. “Robson's achievement eesee lay firstly in his incisive analysis of his objectives, his ready understanding of the challenge which new social demands had placed before him; Secondly, in his prompt understanding that designers Such as Champneys and Stevenson had hit upon a stylistic approach that might be developed in answer to this challenge; thirdly, in the Superb confidence and virility with which he and his staff carried through the development of the style, Giving power and sometimes Grandeur where its originators could only achieve charm; anc, lastly, in the truly Victorian drive with which he pushed a vast programme of work to completion with architectural standards of the very highest order maintained throughout ......!! _/ *wirtuosity of their schools is everywhere apparant. The pleasant Spreading buildings of the Single storey schools Give a village air to arid suburban streets, while the larger Schools, their beautiful detailing expressly concentrated in their upper storeys, were built to S02r above the -crowded streets, often the only concession to dignity among the Victorian slums. Was emphasised in the Final Report of the Board, published in’1904: Z eley Principal sources School Board Chronicle “inutes of the London School Board rinal Report of the School Board for London 1870-1904. 1904 *loor Plans of L.C.cC. Blomentary Scnools, 1,.C.C. 1931 V9. Architacture U.R. Robson, 1874 "By sheer Victorian ruthlessness the L.S.B. achieved a far higher degree of standardisation than most education authorities have achieved since the last + Although the L.S.B, Schools vary from very plain building to the Greatest elaboration according to the openness of their sites, it cannot be Said that, in practice, Robson was over—anxious about tailoring each shool to suit its locality. The positive result of this is that these buildings, strong in personality, do a very great deal to set a stamp of unified character on the hodge-podge of Victorian London ....,." : (UOic of E.R. Robson, P.A, Robson, 2.1.B.A. Journal, February 1917 2 : renee COUR F On $ne Recent Reaction of Taste in English Architecture, J.J. Stevenson, 187} (i) Early Robson (ii) Classic Robson (iii) Late Robson (iv) Early Bailey (v) Classic Bailey (vi) Late Bailey (i) EARLY ROBSON (3) Camden Institute, Holmes Road, Caniden. (liolmes Road School, opened April 1874) S: 3-storeys, assymetrical plan, plain coped gables; square-headed windows on first floor and end bays of second floor are recessed in Gothic relieving arches. Brick buttress piers divide the bays. Elegant lantern spire. (fhe Victoria, opened January 1876, date plaque 1875, additional Junior Mixed School by Bailey, 18S) Two storeys, assymotrical plan. Single-storcy hall block on Becklow Road has square stone flower plagues in gables. Two storey end bays contain a large Gothic wincow with glazing bars in ogee-form and figured rclicf panel and titles tadlot in elnvorate Gethic frame with crockets and angel corbels. House Architecture, J.J. Stevenson, 1880 Das Englische Baukunstder Gegenwart, Hermann Vuthesius, 1900 Das Englische Haus, Hermann Muthesius, 1904 Ovituary of E.R. Robson, The Builder, 2nd February 1917 Obituary of T.J. Bailey, The Builder, 25 June 1910 R.I.B.A. Journal, 24 September 1910 Towers of Learning, David Gregory—Jones, Architectural Revicw, June 1958 In the following descriptive list, principal features only are noted. The Original names are given in brackets with the date and indication of type. Asterisks and letters indicate schools of closely similar typee The list is divided into the following groups: Of more than 550 schools built or projected during the period 1871-1910, 351 have been considered as possessing architectural and historic interest, while the remainder have been demolished or altered too extensively to merit consideration. The selection of the 37 buildings listed below has been dictated not only by individual architectural merit, but by the degree to which the schools illustrate the characteristic qualities of Board or early L.C.C. school architecture, and by the need to represent the principal stages of development. The architectural importance of each school within its _immediate neighbourhood has been taken into account, and wherever possible, a balanced distribution of selected schocls among the I.L.B.A. areas has been attempted. Minor external alterations and additions have not necessarily ruled out inclusion. The process of modification according to changing needs began almost immediately after the completion of the first Board Schools and has continuec ever since, though with declining respect for the character of the original buildings. Victoria Junior School - Becklow Road, Hammersmith. 4 f Hackney end Stoke Newington College for Further Education, Oldfield Road, Hackney. : » 10 (ii) CLASSIC ROBSON (5) aie Colville School, Lonsdale Road, Kensington. (Buckingham Terrace School, opened June 1879, Classic Robson) 5 storeys, assymetrical plan, with flat range of classrooms as principal front, hall and staircases at rear. Date and title plaques on ground floor, end bays. First floor windows recessed in blind arcade. Stone coped gables with ball finials and decorative plaques. Thomas Jones Primary School ~ Freston Road (ex. Latimer Road,) Hammersmith. (Latimer Road School, opened January 1880, date plaque 1879) 3 storeys, symmetrical plan with hall at centre of main facade, flanked by staircase blocks and recessed classroom Wings. Small shaped stone-coped gables with ball finials, flower plaques and semicircular pediment caps. Cut brick scroll decoration surmounts the title and date plaques on the. staircase blocks. s : J Sucen's Park School, Droop Street, Westminster. A Pinar (Droop Strect School, opened November 1877, early Robson, with much later alterations) Kingswood School, Gipsy Road, Lambeth. 2 storeys, assymetrical plan; fine corner sitc. Triangular gables, some Stone-coped. Elegant louvred ogce-roofed lantern with fleche. Ono of the two good stone gates to playground is intact. (Salters Hill School, opened April 1880, alterations 1905) - 3 storeys, assymetrical plan, halk at rear; the five stone-coped gables of the main front each have stone plaques in the apex with scrolls, pediment and finial. Buttress piers and pilaster strips. Tiny lantern tower. Park Welk Primary School, Park Welk, Kensington and Chelsea. (Park Walk School, opened January 1881, dated 1880) zee ve 5 storeys, assymetrical plan, flat classroom ranse to Park Wall’ and hall and staircases at rear. Shaped and pedimented brick gables, some with stone flower plaqyes. Date and title plaques on end elevation. (Oldfield Ro2d School, opened January 1882, additions 1899, dated 1881) 3 storeys, hall enclosed by classrooms in assymetrical plan. Brick gecbles with stone flower plaques alternate with paired circular windows in upper storey. First floor rectangular openings with brick corbelled stone cills, and fromee by pilaster strips. ,7 4 the (iii) LATS Rosson (5) “Weavers Fields School, Mane Street, Tower Hamlets. z ——— ergs school (Hague Strect School, opened October 1883) 5 storeys, assymetrical plan. Gables only at ends of classroom range, the other units finished by crenellated Stone-coped pzrapets. Cloakroom block expressed externally as hexagonal turret with Spire and lantern. ‘First floor openings recessed in pairs in relieving arches. *Kenmont Primary School, Valliere Road, Hammersmith. ——— mary school (Kenmont Gardens School, opened February 1884, date and title plaques 1883) As last. Primrose Hill School, Princess Rozd, Camden. Eltringham Primary School (Single storey infants block only) Eltringham Street, Wandsworth. (Princess Road School, opened Februsry 1885) 3 storeys, assymetrical plan, the principal bays surmounted by a variety of extravagant Stone-coped Dutch gables. (Eltringhem Road School, opened January 1886, dated 1885) Single storey, assymetrical plan, long classroom range to York Road, 2 dormer gables and broad ond gebles with flower, monogram and date plaques énd finials at base and apex. Stone coping. Daubeney Junior School and Daubeney Infants School, Daubeney Road, Hackney (Daubeney Road School, opened May 1886, dated 1884) Junior School: 2 storeys, symmetrical, classroom range as principal front, triangular gables with shaped stone coping. Date cnd title plaques. Good wrought-iron railings. Infants School: Single storey, assymetrical plan, classroom range as principal front, trianguler gables with shaped copings, the large end -gables carrying elaborate stone finials at base and capex and stone plaques. Good railings. (iv) EARLY BAILEY (6) Copenhagen School, Boadices Street, Islington. eeLeeROO (Bondicca Street School, opened February 1887, dated 1885) 3 storcys, assymetrical plan, with architectural features th-t emphasise this. H22i enclosed by classrooms and cloakrooris. Roof playground with picrced p2rapet. One staircase block boldly treated as ansle turret with Surmounting lantern. Gable end of one classroom wing has pediment with floral relief decoration and large shell motif below. r ——— “* Laneford School, Marineficld Road, Hammersmith. } Sa : =e <i = X eee 12 a Riversdale Primary, School, Merton Road, Wondsworth. 3 storeys, assymetrical plan; unusual use of Board School decorative features. Projecting turret with copper ogee roof and Spire on side elevation; main front with two smal] Stone-coped shaped @2bles and one large gable with corbelicd lantern at “pex and finials at base. Ivydeale School, Ivydale Rond, Southwark —chool (Ivydale Road School, openod August 1892) **Munster Primary School — Filmer Road, Hammersmith. S ey school (Munster Road School, opened June 1893, drawings dated October 1890) Fine island site. 3 storeys, symmetrical plan, principal front of 7 bays with central hall, staircase blocks, cloakroom bays and gable ends of classroom wings. The hall block With sm211 centrally placed 2-tier lantern, has crenellated parapet and giant brick picrs surmounted by stone corbels, Scrolled gables Over classroom wings, return elevations and six main bays of the rear elevation, where rear staircases are pressed as round arched recesses, : **Sir John Lillie, Lillie Road, Hammersmith. —_—_—_— _(Merton Road School, opencd May 1891, dated 1890) (Lillie Roza School, opened September 1893) Similar to Munster Ps. (Longford Road School, opened June 1890, enlarged 1893) Similar to Munster PS (below) 2 (v) CLAssic BAILEY (8) — et B Hungerford School, Hungerford Road, Islington. (Hungerford Road School, opened April 1896, enlerged 1904) -3 storeys, symmetrical plan, facade of 7 units; stairense towers with leaded Ogee roofs surmounted by tiny wooden balustrades ond lentern spires. Cloakroom blocks with Shaped coped parapets and trianguler pedimented classroon Wing bays. This school is of the type repeated, with minor variations of detail and different tower form in Rhyl School, Camden. B WNontom Primary School, Islington. —eeeeeee——— (Montem Strect School, dated 1897) Similar type to last. -: : B Vauxhall Manor School (annexe) Kennington Road, Lambeth. nor school Similar type to Hungerford School. 353 Richard Atkins School, Kingwood Road, Lanbeth. =e ensschool (Beixton Hill School, onened fugust 1897). Similar to Kennington School (below) but the towers lack 2 contral lantern. BB Kennington School, Cormont Road, Lambcth. ———— (Cormont Road School, cpened January 1898) 5 5 storeys, symactrical plan; 7 unit hall facade to Cormont Road; a variation on Hungerford ang Rhyl Schools type, with different These ench have 4 corbelled angle turrets and a centrel lantern Spire, while the gables of the classroom wings arc shaped, with Single circular openings. form of staircase towers. (vi) LATE BAILEY (10) ALLEL C Rosendale School, Turney Road, Lambeth. EEechool Rhyl School, Malden Road, Camden ve School (Rhyl Street School, ovencd August 1898) 5 storeys, symmetrical plan, principal front of 7bays, central hall 5 windows Wide, the first Storey arcuated with Stone~banded pilaster Picrs; flanking Staircase towers with spires of intricate snd fanciful form; cloakroom bays with date tablets end railed playgrounds Over; classroom wing bays with Giant Ionic brick pilasters and triangular stone pedinents, BB Henry Compton School, Kingwood Road, Hammersmith (Kingwood Roaa School, opened March 1898) Similar to Kennington School (above). B Smallwood School, Smallwood Road, Wandsworth. _ oe =Kood School 2 (Smallwood Road School, opened February 1898) Similar to Hungerford School (above) C Sunnynill School, Sunnyrill Road, Lambeth. FonS REsensigroemaoe i= schoo) (Rosendale Road School, Junior block opened January 1900, Infants School added 1908, domestic, for School Board) j Single Storey, both blocks with symmetrical plan and elevation. Low red- tiled roofs broken by broad gables with pebble dash finish, deeply moulded "cornice! Surrounds and small tablets with date and LSB monogram. End gables of Junior school contain vestigial shaped 'gabdles' in facing bricks. Delicate lantern with spire and weather-vane. A school with closely Similar characteristics to those of Rosendale is South Hackney (Upper) Scnool, Casslana Road, Hackney. (Cassland Road School, opened August 1902, for School Board) (Sunnyhill Roza School, opened January 1901, datea 1900) Similar to last. 2 storeys, Symmetrical, all req bricks with terracotta dressings. Main facade with central 4—bay hell flanked by Staircase blocks and classroom Wing bays. Outstanding Yor the exuberant uSec of terracotta decoration: cudins, cnannelied pilasters, modillion cornice, window arcoitraves, friezes and pediments, the Staircase towers terminating in deep frieze, cornice and balustrated parapets with elaborate angle urns, all in terracotta. Good wrought iron reilings and gates and low enclosing wall with Stone copins and pedinented piers, nh 1h Millbank Primary School, Erasmus Strect, Westminster. ° x —— ime ny school Kingsgate School, Messina Avenue, Camden. aware school (Kingsgate Road School, opened November 1903, for School Board) (The Nillbank, opened January 1902, domestic) Ei Scparate single storey and 2 storey buildings, assymetrical plans, excellent Stone date and title plaques. The Single storey (infants') school has gable ends with rough cast finish characteristic of Bailey's small shools. The two- Storey block has eccentric Spire and gables with pilaster strip motif. +Charlies Lamb Junior School, Dibden Strect, Islington. (Popham Road School, 1875, 1903, mostly Bailey for School Board) Bailey's work of 1903 was to attach a School of his classic symmetrical type to Robson's early building, illustrated in his 1874 book on School Architecture. Parts of this are still visible. Bailey's principal front hes the central halj block expressed as a projecting splayed bay on 3 Storeys, with buttress piers at angles. The staircase blocks are without towers but numerous tall chimneys enliven the roof. The classroom wing bays have triangular gables with pairs of round Windows. The school exhibits the Q@rmre Sculptural tendencies of Bailey's late work. 2 storeys, assymetrical plan; extravagant use of highly mannered stone details — bands, parapets, date vlaque and gable copings, eccentric circular louvred lantern. Gordon Primary School, Craigton Road, Greenwich. (The Gordon, opened August 1904, for School Board) (Senrab Street School, opened April 1907, for L.C.C.) > Pane 1 2 ct o borcys, symuotrical plan, a variation on the familier classic Bailey type ange rraicen ron facade; heavy classical details in stone. Hell front has trircase blocks with Squat copper turrets; closkroom blocks terminated by tone arches Springing from Giant pilasters. Trianguler stone pediments with date and L.C.c. monogram surmount the rear and return clevations. Stone- banded chimney stacks. i 3 storeys, symmetrical plan; terracotta dressings and date plaques; a variation on Bailey's late '90's type with 7 unit hall facade, the classroom range facing Craigton Road. Staircase blocks flanking 5 bay hall torminate in terracotta balustrades and are linked to hall by the cornice which is @oontinvea round the triangular gable ofthe classroom wings. Marion Richardson School, Senrab Street, Tower Hamlets. I.L.5.4. Division Office, 92 St. John's Hill, Wandsworth. (Dated 1909, for L.c.c.) ALtHOuEN not built as 2 School, the offices were designed for the Education Depsrtmcent under Bailey's Supervision: it scoms appropriate thet one example of this branch of his work should be represented here. The office is conceived as an elegant "Wrenaissance! town house. Built of brick, it is of two storeys, with dormers ond is 9 bays wide with plain sash windows and 15 modillion cornice, Stone pilasters énd a bold Segmental pediment with high relicf decoration and date inscription emphasise the entral entrance, The dominant feature of the steeply pitchca tiled roof is the central dormor with its Surmounting wooden balustrade framed between two delicately detailed tall chimneys, Torriano School, Torriano Avenue, Camden. school (Torriano Avenue School, opened November, 1910, for L.C.C.) 2 storeys, Symmetrical plan, principal facade 5 units wide, the stcircases placed in the wings. Central hall of five windows with three miniature dormer &ables; flanking classroom bays with belled g2ble ends finished with white painted rough-cast; cloakroom blocks at the ends of the facade aro of unusual cubic form; the Separate units of this School are much more closely inter-related on the facade than in the Symmetrical schools of the 1890's. RECOMMENDING — (a) That the Boora adopts the attached list of School buildings Set out in the foregoing report as representing the best remaining examples of the work of E.R. Robson and PJ. Bailey in the remarkable sequence of designs produced for the London School Board and the London County Council between 1873 and 1910. (b) That the officers be euthorised to investigate any means by which preservation might be achieved. (c) That a furthor report be Submitted in duo course, AR/HB/NME/5869 > OF SPRCLAL ADCEITECTURAL INTEREST. SHAS GOO e! Se5)) Salat CAuty GRESNVICH 172 Euston 2ozd Lancaster Grove 30-2 Cannon Street *Bishopsgate (ambulance station) “Carmelite Street “121 Charlton Road Eltham High Street Eaglesfield Rd., Shooters Hill 1912-3 Lakedale Rozd, Plunstead Tunnel Avenue, ©=.Greenwich Eltham Road, Lee Green Sunbury St., Woolwich EACKNSY HAMMERSEITH TSLINGTON Ta Homerton High Street Shepherd's Bush Road 685 Fulham Road Mayton Street, Holloway *Calverley eae *217 Blackstock Road Old Court Place, Kensington ‘ Basil Street *Herne Hill ' 41,5 Norwool Road Gresham Rozd, Brixton *aterloo Roid (ambulance stn) *Renfrew RNoud, Kennington 19071 1913-4. 1896 1908 1906-7 1902-3 High Street, 1902 191),-15 1$06 : 1885 1896 1907-5 1901, 1905-6 1887 (Tose I know to be in other use marked with * but others may now have joined 4 LVTSIAM “Lewisham High Stre.4 1899 1903, 1902 Evelyn Street, Yoolstone Road, Perry Vale Deptforat SOUTHWARK 306-8 01d Kent Road 1903 *59-61 Chatham Rd, Bettersea 1906 TOVSR HAMLETS eae eee west Ferry Road, Millwall Brunswick Road, Bow 1904, 1910 WANDS YORTH Trinity Road, Tooting 1907 WOSTUINS TSS Chiltern Street Greycoat Place, 1888-90 1505-6 The Euston Fire Brigade Station was designed in the Fire Brigade Branch of the L.C.C. Architect's Department's Constructional Division in 1901 and was opened the following year. ‘The Assistant Architect in charge of the fire Brigade Branch at this time was Owen Fleming, with Charles Canning Winmill] as his second—in-command. Suston Firs 3ricade Station, 172 Suston Road, Camden. The authorship of the design of the Zuston station has been much dsiputed. When photographs of the building were published in the years imnediately after completion it was described as the work of W-E.Riley, the then chief architect to the Council. Even Riley's obituariyn the R.1I.8.A. Journal (December 20, 1937) wrongly cites the station as one of the principal works for which he was personally responsible, It was then described as 'so logical in its outwardly visible form that it would be almost possible to draw the plans from externa] examination only. It is a genuine firerunner of the modern movement towards a franker method of design and if its details were translated into concrete would immediately be recognised as such'. David Gregory Jones in his excellent essay on Some Garly Works of the L.C.c. Architect's Department (A.A. Journal, November 1954) wrote: 'I have not discover the names of the designer who deserves to be known to posterity‘;it was certain]; not designed by Owen Fleming to whom I have heard it ascribed". That Gregory Jones had consulted Fleming before writing his essay gives considerable weight to this statement. John Brandon-Jones, in the correspondence that followed the publication of the article, sugzested that Matthew Dawson, a disciple of Lethaby, and closely involved at the Council with the designer of the Central School of Arts and Crafts, may have designed the station. It seems highly unlikely, however, that an assistant outside the Fire Brigade Branch would have been given any hand in its work. There is little doubt that the man responsible for Huston Fire Brigade:Station was Charles Winmill, an architect, on the evidence of the later Swiss Cottage Station and many other stations in London, of unusual originality, and the friend and admirer of Philip Webb. As in all the best examples of L.C.C. stations built before the First World War and under his direction there are clos links in the Suston design with the Arts and Crafts movement, reflecting the association of Winmill with Webb, Lethaby, Thackeray Turner, C. R. Ashbee and others. Gregory Jones describes the station as ‘an eminently serious essay in the romant its multitudinous forms seem drawn together by the concentrating force of its own personality...... Certain details such as the entrance porch to the flats which the station contains are eccentric and mannered in the style of Mackintosh while the whole building is perhaps over—picturesjue for a city site. But it extracts undeniable power from its corner position and is extravagantly fertile in ideas —- note the treatment of the lintels over the garage doors.....' The Suston Fire 3rigade Station, with the Swiss Cottage Station at the junction of Ston Avenue and Lancaster Grove, is not only among the best examples in London of this building type, but must be considered as one of the most outstanding achievements of early L.C.C. architecture. Marke) Como Csndio- Wehaidi 5-50 IZ) Gwe —PYO Mb.gasora>efel.ubetz lo | (OyMoye) eS ees Ligaen Felumli hel tIoigrs (8 PS Pore totatrcl«ferepyOgle ® Sop pec aeae “Shylet Sook ©fv h +sCraps Giuk =) Peer IST So Scleels wag of A jldeg g 1 The penultimate design by Inigo Jones for the Banqueting Hall 2 A working drawing for Somerset House. 3 Barry and Pugin's Houses of Parliament. 4 The Great Hall at Westminster, just before its mid-nineteenth century restoration; itwas designed by the Board's master-carpenter Hugh Herland during the 1370s. (Print: Mansell Collection.) 5 Somerset House, designed by William Chambers in 1776, was the first purpose-built government office. Inigo Jones, Christopher Wren, Robert Adam, John Soane, even Geoffrey Chaucer are among the famous figures who have been employed by what could be called the most distinguished, and certainly the most ancient, architect's office in the land. The Office of Works (as the Property Services Agency was then known) was formed 600 years ago this year—an event which is being celebrated this month with an exhibition in London's Banqueting House.* Bur, of course, the Office of Works was (as is the PSA today) much more than just a design office. Under a clerk of works (a post held by Geoffrey Chaucer from 1389-1391) were gathered masterbuilders and craftsmen capable of maintaining and constructing major state buildings and royal residences. In 1615, when Inigo Jones became surveyor-general, an office structure was sect up which lasted for the next 100 years Under the chairmanship of the surveyor-general was a Board which consisted of master- masons, master-carpenters and acomptroller (who watched the money). During the period when Wren was surveyor-gencral (1669- 1718) the office reached its golden age with virtually all the country’s leading designers and craftsmen being employed by it Grindling Gibbons was master sculptor and carver in wood. John Vanburgh was comptroller between 1702-1726 and Hawks- moor was secretary to the Board from 1713-1718. After 1718, when Wren was replaced, the Board was reorganised with the various posts generally being held as sinecures by relative nonentities until William Chambers and Robert Adam became joint architects of the Works in 1761 (this was the first time in official history that the term ‘architect’ was used). Thereafter other distinguished architects again became involved with the Board—James Wyatt was surveyor-general from 1796- 1813, John Soane was an attached architect from 1814-1832. However, by the mid-nineteenth century the Board's responsibility had grown to such an extent that it became bogged down in what one can only suppose to have been a stifling bureaucracy. After about 1850 we find very few of the country’s leading architects employed directly by the Office, with most of its major building operations being undertaken (usually following competition) by leading architects in private practice, such as Gilbert Scott at the Foreign Office or Edmund Street at the Law Courts. This state of affairs continued well into this century. In 1940— *25 April-7 May, admission free. The Architects’ Journal 19 April 1978 PSA 600 J \ The Architects’ Journal 19 April 1978 Number 16 Volume 167 726 PSA 600 730 The editors 730 Notes and topics 732 Letters 734 RIBA Council 737 The week 740 743 745 761 775 See "Theroos thewhole Roof -and nothing but Contents NEWS AND COMMENT 600th anniversary of the Property Services Agency Small change from Healey Astragal on: GLC architects; RIBA future presidents; The army museum Defending the Anti Nazi League A national architectural service; SA schools get the chop; Salaried architects sat upon All-party support for Savidge; Budget brings little cheer; Workload up but jobs fall Hellman and Diary AJ INFORMATION LIBRARY Manufacturers’ catalogues helpful to the architect Coed Glas Assessment and Observation Centre Handbook of Sports and Recreational Design Glass reinforced cement 4 APPOINTMENTS Vacant posts and partnerships Registered as a newspaper Copyright © 1978 The Architectural Press Ltd 9 Queen Anne's Gate London, SW1H 9BY (01-930 0611) ISSN 0003-8466 Each feature of the AJ Information Library is CI/S{B classified and punck marks are provided. Further information about advertisements or Products file notes may be obtained from manufacturers by using one of the reply-paid folders on the last pages of this tsswe. theRoo TECTON the complete timber roofing system from Blacknell Timber has a lot of advantages. It’s light and easy to handle. It’s strong and rigid. It’s economical. It’s available. For al those reasons, if you have not specified The Tecton System before, now is the time. Tecton is the timber beam roofing system with the ability to support all types of decking over flat or sloping roofs. But its most important asset isthat itiscomplete. Blacknell developed it that way — even to the extent of taking care of fascias, and super- vision on site. That’s why throughout the country, Blacknell are recognised as experts in timber roofing. The Tecton roof provides the proof. Show us how quickly you can return this coupon and we’ll show you how Trade literature file Building study Section 3Indoor dry sports: Introduction Technical study @ coloured pages at end Blacknell Buildings Ltd., Westmead, Farnborough, Hants GUI47LB. Tel. 0252 44333. | Name __ Position _ A Add. SS SSF eS quickly we can provide aTecton roofing system. interested n rapid roofing Tell me abour Tecton. Subscription rates per paid £18 a year; abroad £44 a year (US and Canada $78); student rate £13°50 to members of a UK school of architecture. A reduced rate of £28 for a combined subscription to both The Architectural Review and The Architects’ Journal is available in the UK to architects or other members of the building dengn team and associated disciplines (see order form on last page of AJ). Single copies ef AJ: UK and Eire 32p (post paid 70p); overseas B5p (post paid £1°15). Back numbers more than 3 months old: UK and Eire £1 post paid; overseas £2 post paid. Your half-yearly volumes can be bound complere with index in cloth case for £11; carriage £1-20 extra. os tz (alea(|FRGaP)sje The Architects’ Journal 19 April 1978 The Architects’ Journal 19 April 19/% fae a 58 iT NTxa aDiy OANad get i l i 6 Institute of Geology, Edinburgh, 7 British Embassy, Rome, Sir Basil Spence & Partners for PSA. 8 Leicester Crown courts, Perspective designed by Midland Region PSA. pacemaker for high quality work across the range of PSA projects. Leading by example as Lacey puts it. The design panel was set up at the same time to review and discuss sensitive jobs. The pancl, made up of PSA board members including two architects from privatepractice, has a monthly programme of visits. Lacey reports considerable success with this system, but the object is not to achieve a PSA house style: "You can unify objectives not approach’ The design office on the other hand does seem to be producing 4 recognisable style. ‘We are after the logical and unpreten- tious,’ says Lacey. He sees the essentially domestic feeling of much contemporary PSA work aS springing naturally from the type of work being undertaken ‘T’'ve been keen to make sure that the design office doesn’t get all the plum jobs,’ says Lacey. As far as the future is concerned Lacey isrelatively confident. Workload is stabilising after a period of Government cut-backs, though its nature is changing. Most of the big defence projects are giving way to the programme of dispersing civil servants. The other mainstay is the Crown courts’ programme. Expansion in graduate recruitment is being sought by the agency and Lacey speaks glowingly of the committed and talented new recruits now coming to the PSA. As far as the PSA’s next 600th anniversary is concerned, Lacey hopes to see his years remembered for laying the foundations of an architecture which made ‘buildings humane, good places in which to work and for people to derive pleasure from’ 9 Worthing Crown Building, designed by Doman Hatton and PSA 10 Civil service block Liverpool, sketch axonometric, 11 Harlow telephone exchange. ‘The Architects’ Journal 19 April 1978 when the board was renamed the Ministry of Works—it had 6000 employees, which increased to 20 000 by 1946 and steadily gtew thereafter. Indeed, itwas to reverse the trend towards mediocrity that the Matthew Skillington report on ways of upgrading official architecture was produced in 1974. The report criticised the PSA for its ‘unsatisfactory and even daunting image’ and its con- clusion, accepted by the Government, asked for higher standards from the PSA ‘to influence for the better the environment as a whole’ As a result of this report Dan Lacey was appointed, in 1975, to a newly created top post with a brief to stimulate design awareness, At 55, Lacey is an architect who has spent his whole carcer in the public sector, rising to Notts county architect in 1958 and DES chief architect in 1964. From his 13th floor office at the DOE Marsham Street headquarters, Lacey, whose official title is director-general of design services, has care of more than 500 architects working on a £417 million annual programme. Apart from them, the PSA, which now employs almost 50 000 people, has civil and mechanical engineers, surveyors and estate managers among its professional ranks Talking to the AJ last week, Lacey looked back on his first three years as the most senior architect working for the Government. With his architects Scattered through 15 offices round the country, his approach has been at various levels, but Lacey sees his major function as being to introduce ‘values’. A first step was the establish- ment of a multi-disciplinary design office acting as a The Architects’ Journal 19 April 1978 Chopping Cutler The destruction of the GLC architecture department iscontinuing with accelerating speed. The latest butchery being considered by the cash-register-obsessed Tory administration is the abolition of the ILEA. If the Inner London boroughs produce a Conservative majority at the elections next month, the plan seems to be to push school building responsibilities back onto impoverished and ill-equipped boroughs. With housing already badly mauled, the total disappearance of school building would make the final rundown of the architecture department so much easier. Especially if, as is strongly rumoured in County Hall, the job of architect to the council goes to Fred Pooley, currently head of planning. Tory thinking seems to be that allowing Pooley to hold both jobs would leave both departments ripe for culling when Pooley retires in a couple of years time. 730 The Architects’ Journal 19 April 1978 —_— The architectural shop floor is coming in for attack too. “The productivity (in value terms) of GLC architects on construction work is about half the standard adopted by RIBA in the private sector’ wrote Tory GLC leader Horace Cutler in the March issue of the council’s staff gazette London Town. Horrific one might think. Get rid of the lot of them. And indeed this is what Cutler seems to be trying to do. ouwatw Ses i, SMALL CHANGE FROM HEALEY If you say it loud enough, they’ll all believe you. This seems to be the Government’s technique for dealing with the building industry. After the budget, Housing and Construction minister Reg Freeson claimed that £100 million had been injected into construction. Yet most of this bonus goes in equipping hospitals, paying for increases in the costs of school buildings already being built, and in help to householders to insulate their own roofs. Precious little new building or rehabilitation will result. The chancellor has apparently decided that he can buy off the industry by making sympathetic noises and by offering a few tax concessions to private partners. Environment secretary Peter Shore must be as disappointed as the building industry that Healey has not accepted the vital role the industry has to play in underpinning the industrial strategy. There were no tax concessions to spur factory building. And despite pleas from the industry’s representatives and from Shore, Healey has not seen fit to raise the level of public spending on building from its pitifully low level. In fact, including the £400 million which he gave the industry last autumn, he has only restored half the cuts in public spending he made in 1976 alone. No one wants to return to the overheated days of the early 1970s boom. But the quarter of a million unemployed building workers have a right to a higher level of investment in the industry. The industry’s pressure on Healey must not be relaxed. It must find MPs to fight for it in the Finance Bill battles when, in this Parliament, quite radical revisions of the chancellor’s budget policies are possible. But the productivity of GLC architects can be precisely measured by an ingenious Cost of Production Scheme which has stood up to the closest scrutiny by an all party members’ Steering group and an especially appointed assistant director general. All staff costs (including productive architects and non-productive staff) are measured on time sheets. To this is added departmental overheads and another 32-5 per cent as central ‘on costs’. If this is compared with costs of each project by the standard adopted by the RIBA in the private sector, then the productivity (in value terms) of GLC architects engaged in housing construction has worked out to be 30 to 45 per cent more than their private sector counter- parts in every year for the last 15 years. public who sources of <oanna - 22! 584") : A he U fs y buildings. arranged on The public \ Telephone 24017 k RE 31 March 1978 besa | MODERN REC ORDS GENT RE Ee i University of Warwick Library Coventry GV4 7AL Ext. 2014 Our Ref. R/RAS Dear Mr. Murray, My former colleague, Janet Druker, who is now engaged in full-time research, has passed me your enquiry of the 27th about the ABT records heres I enclose a check-list of these and information on the Centre. We should be pleased to make the papers available to you to study here; it is helpful if we could be given a few days' prior notice of your intention to visit. We look forward to your visit. Apart from the late summer bank holiday and the day » following, we expect to remain open throughout the led services on adjacent to or. University's summer vacation. peeronithe igtonSpa to On the architectural side of the question, you are probably aware of Alastair Service's Edwardian architecture (Thames & Hudson, 4977) and his collection of essays Edwardian architecture and its origins (1975), ir. both of which Gnclude material on the LCC's Architect's Dept. yetween the | Road Yours sincerely, R. A. Storey ® irs are 9.00 ns Encs- id9.00 a.m. and jar's Mr. J. Murray, 5 Milton Avenue, London N6- A rewrey wernerat euveney Buu Wie Walang med sd We West Midland No. 28A and No. 29A bus services start from Pool Meadow in the city centre. The 28A and 294A call at the Main Site of the University. vetanea inrormation about courses at the University is contained in the Guide to First Degree Courses and the graduate prospectuses, copies of which are on, obtainable on request from the Academic Registrar. s April 1977 De is ie Archivist University t yhich has a rom see ares eae ee Centre is part of a national network of repositories, Sa yocoupeuniversityandotherspecialisedarchives.The eee a enrecangivesomeadviceaboutotherpossible ical information and the principal guides to these. A selective guideOtNotheeerecentteeacrceesssions0fotherWesstMiMidlandsreposiitorieisis {| L | I COVENTRY, VVarwic = of . . University . Information for Visitors Access by rail The Euston/Coventry between the CV4 7AL TELEPHONE: COVENTRY (0203) 24011 The University is situated three miles south of Coventry and 1'/, miles north of Kenilworth, in Gibbet Hill Road off the Kenilworth — Coventry section of the A4G. pyar Access by road See the location plan inside. From Leamington Spa station Midland Red servicetso De Motorists should note the one-way traffic system in arr on the Main Site. Motoring times Birmingham 40 minutes, Kenilworth 10 minutes, Leamington 20 minutes, Leicestér 1'/, hours, London 2 hours, Oxford 1'/, hours. 517. 518, and 536 leave the bus station adjaceont the the railway station and pass Gibbet Hill Road way to Coventry. The journey from Leamington Gibbet Hill Road takes about half-an-hour. train service is half-hourly between 08.10 and 19.40 (journey time 11/, hours). There are also trains from Paddington via Reading, Oxford and Banbury to Leamington Spa, which is seven miles away from the University. Local bus services Footpath Visitors on foot should use the footpath East and Main Sites, and not Gibbet Hill Road. : The University welcomes members of the public who wish to see the campus and the University buildings. a ee ; F on LorSee a aeereSee ome Conductedvisitsforlargepartiesmaybearrangepdublic Sa Ceo ee oe big MeSemiiere ore prior;request:tothecaAecademic Reogeistrar.ThUeniv,ersit.y | are in particular invited to visit the bookshop, situated in the Arts Centre, whichare 9.00 wide range of books on sale. Opening Hours eeSee eSeSCRaeCaan eae a.m.top5.m1.5onp.m.,FridMaoyn.daytoThursday,and Midland Red bus services to Kenilworth¢, wWhiarwick, : S pe has2 eon ins Seana on ee see rat areTe MY ee Bee e. Uniwersitysine ane ; son je most frequent 9.00 a.m. pao lar's minutes. e ; 7 , and : also)pass the University. The bus stop for the University is Gibbet Hill Road; it is about five minutes walk from the stop to the East Site and fifteen to the Main Site. From Central Coventry Both the Midland Red and the West Midland No. 28A and No. 29A bus services Start from Pool Meadow in the city centre. The 28A and 29A call at the Main Site of the University. April 1977 De to 4.20 Detailed information about courses at the Universityandis contained in the Guide to First DegreeofCowuhriscehs are Registrar. on, 5 is copies obtainable on request from the Academic the graduate prospectuses, Spa to A ‘the Modern Records Centre is part of a national network of repositories, including city, county, university and other specialised archives. The staff of the Centre can give some advice about other possible sources of historical information and the principal guides to these. A selective guide to the recent accessions of other West Midlands repositories is maintained in the Centre. Je 2e 3e 4, De Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick Library, Coventry, CV4 7AL. RULES FOR RESEARCHERS WORKING IN THE MODERN RECORDS CENTRE 4. A Research Record form is to be completed on a researcher's first visit. 2. <A Deoument Requisition form is to be filled in for each request for material. 3. No smoking. 4, Pencil only to be used : no ink or ballpoint pens. 5. No documents may be marked. 6. Documents are not to be leaned on or have writing materials or other items laid on then. 7- Documents are to be returned to staff in the condition and order in which they are received by the researcher. August 1974. Q@re HULU UnUuGc. CU vei Ve 2we ewww ewwwnne How to find out about the Centre's holdings A Guide, describing principal accessions to June 1977, is available from the Centre, price £1.50 (inclusive of inland postage). New accessions are described in a quarterly Information Bulletin (No. 1, April 1974) and the appendices to the Centre's annual Reports give details of each year's accessions. Each accession receives a number in a running sequence (MSS.1, etc.). A numerically arranged Accessions Register with alphabetical index is maintained in the Centre. In due course check-lists or catalogues are compiled for each accession, and a set of these is held in the Centre. (Copies of most catalogues are also held in the National Register of Archives in London.) A Selective Index of names and subjects appearing in these catalogues is maintained on cards in the Centre. The Modern Records Centre is part of a national network of repositories, including city, county, university and other specialised archives. The staff of the Centre can give some advice about other possible sources of historical information and the principal guides to these. A selective guide to the recent accessions of other West Midlands repositories is maintained in the Centre. UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK LIBRARY THE MODERN RECORDS CENTRE Normal opening hours: 9 aeme - 5 Pee Monday - Thursday, 9 am. — 4 pem. Friday. Other times by arrangement. Address & Telephone no.: Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick Library, Coventry, CV4 7AL. Coventry 24011 ext. 2014 The object of the Centre is to collect and make available for research original sources for British political, social and economic history, with particular reference to labour history and industrial relations. How to find out about the Centre's holdings 4k. A Selective Index of names and subjects appearing in these catalogues is maintained on cards in the Centre. 5. The Modern Records Centre is part of a national network of repositories, including city, county, university and other specialised archives. The staff of the Centre can give some advice about other possible sources of historical information and the principal guides to these. A selective guide to the recent accessions of other West Midlands repositories is maintained in the Centre. The type of material held by the Centre includes signed minutes, correspondence files, runs of printed journals and ephemera of trade unions and other organisations and individuals, including some local political parties in the West Midlands. All material is kept in closed-access secure accommodation and may only be worked on in the Centre, under the supervision of its staff. Some deposits are held under conditions of restricted accesSe 16 A Guide, describing principal accessions to June 1977, is available from the Centre, price £1.50 (inclusive of inland postage). New accessions are described in a quarterly Information Bulletin (No. 1, April 1974) and the appendices to the Centre's annual Reports give details of each year's accessionSe 2. Each accession receives a number in a running sequence (MSS.1, etc.) open numerically arranged Accessions Register with alphabetical index is maintained in the Centre. 3e In due course check-lists or catalogues are compiled for each accession, and a set of these is held in the Centre. (Copies of most catalogues are also held in the National Register of Archives in London.) Classification of records held in the Centre As far as possible, a uniform scheme of arrangement and classification is applied to all accessions. The main classes are: /\ minutes (and related papers, such as 2xendas and reports) f2 financial records (e.g. account books, balance sheets) /3 correspondence (including subject files) /4 publications of the institution or individual creating the archive o /5 other publications /7 miscellaneous (this category may be subdivided in a number of ways, @efe by alphabetical suffixes: /7/LE legal papers (other than agreements: see 9 below); /7/ST staff records) [8 diaries /9 +agreements /10 press-cuttings {11 reports Examples: MSS.5/1/4 3 Accession 5, minutes series, volume 4 NSS.9/3/24 ote Accession 9, correspondence, file 24 ras 1/78 /6 sub-groups within a deposit (e.g. the personal papers of a member of an organisation handed over to it for safekeeping on retirement) MSS.78 ARCHITLOT ASSOCIATICN 1942 the AS! TANTS, PROFESSIONAL UNION later the VEYORS AND TLCHNICAL ASSISTANTS, from IG TECHNICIANS EC minutes 1919-29 (includes GC mins. 1919) & 1948-69. Council mins, 1943=42. With Kmergency ixece mins. 1938-9. Ceneral Council winse, 1942-69 AGM mins. 1919-69 with mins. of National Conventions 1919-26. Accounts bks., 1940's-60's. re sir-raid shelters & war-time building. Check-list by J. Druker, May 1977 e journal of the ABT, Mar 19/9-Nov 1968 (incomplete). tame j =C ubs. of the University of Warwick Library GUIDE TO THE MODERN RECORDS CENTRE, UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK LIBRARY compiled by Richard Storey & Janet Druker The Modern Records Centre was established within the University of Warwick Library in October 1973 with the aid of a grant from the Leverhulme Trust. Its object is to collect and make available for research primary sources for British political, social and economic history with particular reference to labour history and industrial relations. Since its foundation it has received records from several dozen trade unions, including numerous defunct or absorbed unions, and from a number of other organisations in the field of indus- trial relations. It also holds records from some pressure groups and special purpose organisations in other fields, as well as some West Midlands political records, business records and some important groups of personal papers. All except the smallest accessions received between October 1973 and May 1977 are described in the Guide temee published shertty. As well as a description of the records, each entry includes, where appropriate, background notes and bibliographical references. Entries are arranged in a classified sequence and a full index is provided. Occasional Publications No. 2 AS format, card covers. Price inclusive of inland postage and packing: £1.50 ISBN 0 903220 O1 6 June 1977 Onc afHe pote arjuntAs f afe bac ar tue 16 — GEE, APAFT. 15-378. hat ot bucgs tefe frt Ue tlahin-shp bsfoseer gually ad quantity 2] laboww ipinsted, Suiadiby Isa seal comapl aeft.di-d a plece --cA Yont It defoctha 1Schet aolafin%debate|yet bhAclussonsisto bawfhecerhalGutinra)arclulectarallpracecefr oe |e. quaranliz af qualily YAM Nnigag teal fifforavec wtul. 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Gr addition He arelulcte urd fon Uo fees Wares not Cortef matiomals- rolatin ho qualdy but& rahe The fu avebule”gftcficspee quaiddyad ay pce te wut ot a ar allimalixe , te (fe will be turce argeal cal barelee nat +Thawllalse jaleowy font expo cted cceuy +f Yer ile gual ef + maleiel glicfucd » fofo!atsche ieee heLrintingeetragpnetegiv &das ole.Weqeavthd0XcantoVeusette,becauac , con Wane Hp A~-a-teve thin vert reduce te fee ork: ake Gp) Lacser6l al % B beducz Valse, faa a ShaslA ets xferdid ne Aprnrcpal toAAA. mM) C.creaae to prof? Jha Xiong fe scale rar be crn manistd a ae cotucl At ® netAte anCeleNtxlfefeddicebuildi~gcarsLutetuclAes spit. are A Ontese Wy MAU bualdnng Graliby. he qutstin Wwhelley Ha i¢a suka bass [ srcehy/) barvga- witt. Kearchutictiretpapsnn Y cde quali pb te crnertme ofprofesional conven of ORLA Sn fkbeatleaatlayfteh&e¢hbobelaClebacofiVemee)jeSal Ke only qparilfabteehemeut ® @) arehcabpetuyo—ThaDoaneAoacriodAg[Shisee- |"Guokionafie aghoat Quality] t“hore nocoraany Hemd quatelyae ae ,2 carMaeyyoot tzHightfu patteMightprice. eRener + RS [wot a 4 4LXMC_« band Shut Le cul a2 bp “54eee amycgoufafdsalbotwood. ie eck A lilceeenney |i ee ej | Se ee AatheGeatoled—(asCeLESEL oe Ke19%ot." aeChrorebAtulweLaveceatrable_tefa+29 ; «|publi.aed.oficln¢ WO naibie_1faseHle" |eiHeiclohgae EhAGflorFiley.FleIZ 1a)a ERMatha ear, by eer &, Say Lr1949 ue MeNon=ple cirBE | WeA-= treet ; 5 7Ga DN ei ce MAL Digithete ae. eae Iealicheetes CoH oo 20Sformewap«a paeeta tie cabotsigee AderspateBaaMMAge | pe date te eta a |eu he re ae 4i BA covetcolape iE 0 ae ef | tlepusaty pacticehoa|<I Lalrf-d 4a | caeweg ey paFeeSS er es o} v8 ug t a‘e an » evan Green Yellow Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Building 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 2 December 1977 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/dc4369feadfeb1022f050a519d19cdca.pdf 754fc750fbbc3a249e5d94b12df73af9 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource a REAL guide to Liverpool Subject The topic of the resource What architects do-some views from the ground by group of Liverpool architects Description An account of the resource ahs dt Merseyside Weak Architecture 1945 -1995? p 5 Raverttain and Price 10p . Blind Guide (25p &employedRIGAmember) We only work here! Written by a group of designers in Liverpool interested in looking for real solutions to thecitie yOoblems aREAL— torosea| Living ‘on’ Cities 1.WHAT DO ARCHITECTS DO? ~ 2.WHO CONTROLS US? 3. WHAT ARCHITECTS HAVE DONE IN LIVERPOOL. 1. WHAT ARCHITECTS DO — SOME VIEWS FROM THE GROUND. The following summarises discussions between people working for different arch’ ts practices during a series of ‘designers meetings’ held in Liverpool in the first uif of 1978. Most people know we have something to do with designing buildings, but what isitreally like? A. HOUSING — which makes up about 50% of al buildings built. 4. WHERE ARE WE NOW, AND HOW DO WE CONTINUE? In Liverpool one years housing output is made up by: Housing Co-ops and Associations doing about 1,000 conversions and 200 new houses. Council new housing, falling from 966 completions this year to less than 60 by 1982. Building companies ‘build for sale’, just started with 670 completions this year with a total of 2250 completed by 1982. Also there is the council’s modernisation programme programme and some grant improvement work, 5. THE ‘REPRODUCTION’ OF ARCHITECTS Clearance programmes have virtually stopped, and with Housing Associations rehabil- itating the remaining stock at a fairly constant rate or providing ‘specialist’ new houses (pensioners, young people etc.) the large numbers of empty sites around previously ear marked for council redevelopment will be now rapidly filled with low-density, suburban- type housing produced by the speculative divisions of Unit, Wimpey, Broseley and other familiar building firms. The council's own building programme is rapidly grinding toa halt. In Liverpool, the need is to organise and co-ordinate action and discussion between architects and other groups Designers need to open up a description of their skills which enables them to work alongside other groups rather than feeling that if they do not lead, they have failed. There is an increasing number of examples of environmental and building work being done in either a collective or co-operative way. These two articles are written partly from discussions held in the first half of this year by people interested in forming a non-professional group of building designers Now a clearer picture has emerged, a group will be formed in the autumn to continue analysis, formulate acticn on certain issues, and take on projects. If you are working in architecture or building design, want to know more about architectural organisation and practice, doing or needing projects which involve a Housing Associations are directly controlled by central government's Housing Corp- oration, originally intended to encourage small-scale organisations to develop housing which was more responsive to people’s needs (and architects and designers would be able to work more closely with tenants). The local authority system was seen to have become too cumbersome and type-cast. Now, however, the two Liverpool ‘giants’ which do the majority of the work have almost equally hierarchical structures. Another prob- lem is that the independence of associations from the local council and ‘democracy’ leaves them open to control in some cities by managers who pursue their own self-inter- est to the extent that they become like the old private landlords. Architects who discussed their work in a larger association felt they were being edged out of the hierarchy by more politically-oriented housing and building managers or surveyors. The idea of a closer relationship with tenants in design has faded as ‘feedback’ from tenants is chanelled in the form of the association management's briefing of the architectural team. Architects seldom have a place on a management team, and the con- trolling Housing Corporation itself has a distinct lack of architect members. Discussion of the range of different design possibilities, or factors such as the need for better methods of energy conservation to keep heating costs down in the future are therefore left out of the associations’ policies. In this situation design has become, like many other jobs, mechanistic: tight Housing Corporation control has squeezed design. Pressure on architects’ fees is forcing them to minimise time spent in the important early stages of design when liaison with tenants could be most useful. With only half a day during an average week spent on the drawing board, the rest of the time is taken up with form-filling and bureacratic pro- cedures, The cost of any such design choices as can be made is often outweighed pure- ly by the amount the cost of work rises while waiting for central government decisions. Preparatory work done on schemes which are subsequently axed is not paid for. Although architects can be rightly criticised for wasting money in the past, to cut out design altogether is both to threaten our jobs and waste even more money by not designing what tenants need. collective way of working etc., contact: ; ‘Designers Meeting’, c/o School of Architecture, University, Liverpool. The contributors to group discussion were:— Mike Brown, Paul Coats, Chris Cripps, Robb MacDona Bill Halsall, Jonty Godfrey, Frank Horton, Nigel J Graham Ward and others. The articles as published 4o not necessarily represent the Id, Don Field, Pete Gommon, ones, Alison Lindsay, Weak and its 1978 Conference in Liverpool: views of contributors. n from the RIBA‘s brochure for Merseyside Architecture The cover is take sares ‘Living in Cities. The Housing Co-ops, with a much smaller turnover, offer the possibility of tenant con- trol in that tenants’ co-ops own the houses by paying only a nominal membership fee. In-house architects are service agencies to the co-ops, and people working in this situation felt that, as a result, the housing product was a better deal for tenants. But the co-ops tend to be sited only in the city’s ‘crisis areas’ and don’t give an opportunity for better design as such: architects had become involved in forming a more direct relat- ionship with tenants, builders and the Housing Corporation in places in which any of the other housing solutions would be unworkable. The architect was merely outlining the rigours of housing legislation, circulars and cost-constraints (e.g. bog-roll holders are out this year — too expensive) to tenants, or explaining drawings to unskilled build- ers. Whether or not anyone thinks this is what architects should be doing, it points to the waste of the lengthy professional training needed to qualify for this job. Altern: atively, people with such skills can see how their time is spent in the implementation of tightly-controlled procedures which overrule such opportunities as might arise from more time to design, both in detail, and at the level of the whole way in which the existing street and community patterns are being reinforced. B. INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS Industrial building is one of the few areas being encouraged, and many private practices must have been cocking an eye in this direction as welfare state and other sectors have been cut back. But architects have not traditionally had much to do with factory design Such larger factories as are at present built on peripheral estates seem to be designed by developers and system builders or architects directly employed on a permanent basis by the insustries themselves. Most of these firms are south-eatern or internationally based, so their factories are not designed in Liverpool. Larger Liverpool-born firms, on the other hand, are doing little more than minor repair and extension work at present. Since 1974 the cuts in state expenditure have meant that resources have been redir- ected into stimulating industrial production. It is the state-developed Advance Factory Units which have produced a major source of industrial architecture work in Liverpool The developers are either the local authority, who use their own architects department, or the English Industrial Estates Corporation (EIEC) which uses private architects’ practices, though not as designers. Standard sets of plans and specifications, ‘proven as the most economical form of construction’ are handed to these architects to adapt to each site. Although these jobs are concentrated in the inner city where site preparation is complicated, architects can take little pride in the fact that they have designed every- thing below the ground floor slab! They then supervise construction, the whole job being on a reduced fee basis. Architects who work in this situation had many criticisms, but they were not sure whether they had the expertise, let alone the power, to participate in this field. Advance Factory Units are a direct transplant of EIEC’s forty years’ experience of spec- ulative building on areen-field sites. Their use on vacant, ‘problem’, inner-city land is not necessarily right. There are plenty of empty warehouses and industrial buildings around Liverpool’s dockland which could be converted, but in fact are now being demolished to feed the dwindling supply of vacant ‘problem’ sites! To convert existing buildings would mean a greater amount of architectural work and less waste, butwould meet resistance from financiers, developers and builders who claim that conversion work would not ‘sustain their present capacity in its existing form’. Part of the reason for the Advance Factory Programme, in addition to alleviating inner city construction un- employment is that the capacity of the construction industry should be kept up so that it will be able to cope with the next economic boom (and so more suburban factories again) — when itcomes. Waiting for the next boom, the present monetary halt in the traditional course of city expansion seems to be all that can be coped with. This, linked to the idea of in- jecting new life into the centres — ‘the old dying hearts of our civilisation’. Promotion of small manufacturers is supposed to seed new firms which will grow large, or feed new ideas to the large and perhaps be the basis for a new boom. The revival of the inner city then seems almost an attempt to re-run economic expansion in the way it worked from the nineteenth-century city to the emergence of the now-flagging twentieth-century metropolis and giant industries. But ...of the 44 Advance Factories developed by the local authority and now in use, the majority have attracted service rather than manu- facturing industries; and the service sector both ultimately depends on manufacturing, and isat present seen to be expanding only very temporarily. tstteronys urepras tomerren’s (NN cit Prodzms Architects were in the forefront of the ‘SNAP’ project which foreran the co-ops and siiowed how communities could have better housing without being smashed up. Now, a few years on, some have found themselves to have been turned into a ‘housing machine’, which although keeping streets intact is as isolated as ever from the other fun- damental problems, such as employment, which compound these as crisis areas. Architects working on Advance Factories could see the obvious inconsistency in using them. To replace industries that had been the life-blood of the nineteenth-century city with the suburban factory type is illogical. The liklihood that they employ labour from the surrounding community, which had been built for the old industries, is slim — the grant system discriminates against local firms using the units and in favour of attracting outsiders, and Liverpool! is more oriented to the one big employer, the docks, than to lots of small firms. Is it desirable for people to commute to work on One militant group of tenants has recently formed a co-op and successfully cam- painged for new houses on a vacant site: it remains to be seen whether this will provide an opportunity for a better architect-client relationship. ‘Build for Sale’, low-density, suburban-type schemes are designed by building firms as standard consumer models perfected over a very long period of time with perhaps some slight variations to suit this year’s or next yer’s fashion. This puts the user in the same position as when buying a Car or choosing soap powder from the supermarket shelf — it's all right if you can afford or your requirements ‘fit’ into the standard pattern, but you can never know whether you are getting what you want or what you are being made to want. The architect's traditional consultation with the client is out of the question. In fact the whole process from market research, design, local authority consent, contract planning to advertising is being computerised by some of the biggest firms — and more jobs are going down thedrain!. See below for private practice and local authority work in housing. central sites — a complete reversal of the original idea of moving industry to the suburbs? This is true also for goods transport: the accessibility of central sites compares unfavourably with the outskirts near the motorways. Does this mean that inner area industry will be the excuse for bringing back the idea of motorways in the old city? The scale of vandalism entails the defence of the ‘community’ factory, resulting in high fences. The need for lots of open space for storage and transport is also inapprop- riate to the close-knit character of the inner city. Architects could contribute to these problems by showing what sort of physical solutions are possible. The profession, however, is appealing for architectural leadership in creating small enterprises housed in old buildings. One or two such projects may get off the ground, but the local authority is producing more than 20 units a year. Even if 40 small firms a year are born, creating, optimistically, 400 jobs, they are not going to go far in a Merseyside which announced over 8,500 redundancies in major industries in the first three months of this year and has unemployment in some inner areas running as high as 32%. No, what is needed is for architects to forget their entrepreneurial role (which isn’t going to create much impact anyway), and concentrate on simply using their skill as designers to create solutions which make it possible for the ideas of exist- ing local people and groups to be realised. A deeper dimension to the problem may be seen in that twelve giant firms account for 50% of employment. Only one of these is both locally-rooted and powerful enough to be considered internationally secure. The rest are either subsidiaries of national or foreign-based conglomerates which bear no allegiance to the area, or relatively out-worn local firms starved of the capital needed to re-equip. The furore over encouraging small firms and re-kindling the spirit of the free market and private entreprise can be seen as a smokescreen which provides optimism and diverts attention from the problems which the centralisation of big industrial capital is now posing. ‘Official Architects’ in the council's architects department control the building work of council committees. In the fifties and sixties the department was being built up on a big programme of work, some of it being put out to private practice. Although part of the state, these architects stand out for parity in status with private practices in the profession: the profession, in turn, has often been criticised for regarding its ‘official’ members as second rate. In Liverpool, the council architect's staff committee se. is to be dominated by people who are politically conservative and paradoxically, broadly opposed to an extension of state activity! With a run-down in council housing development and the growth of ‘Build for Sale’, for example, a proposal that the design and marketing functions of this new type of housing should be kept in the department never got through in spite of the fact that it was strongly backed by NALGO. Support from within the department was stalled. This was partly due to confusion created when members of the Association of Official Architects (the officer-architects’ union recognised by RIBA) warned of the danger of loss of professional status if they became too strongly identified with NALGO. The fact that surveyors constitute a strong element of the same staff committee compounds the problem: they have less to lose. Firstly, for example, the housing im- provement work that has been coming to the department has been done by surveyors who have lower fee scales. This is justified by the fact that overheads on an office built Up on massive housing developrrents are too high to allow a full architectural service. Active thinking on design, architects jobs and quality of service to tenants which could ultimately lead to reduced costs — al miss out. A second example is that surveyors have welcomed the council's share of the Advance Factory.programme, and indeed all types of industrial building on local authority sites in that the preparatory surveys and ground works fall fully within their speciality. But again, the opportunity for the type of deeper analysis of designs suitable to the locality (as outlined under ‘industrial building’ above) is lost. Employment in the architects department is down 30-40% on two years ago. Mech- anical and electrical service engineers working in the department hardly exist now, and work is going out to private consultants. The remaining supervision work on the council’s housing programme is running out. Designs still being prepared are axed as cleared sites go to ‘Build for Sale’. Educational work is at rock bottom. A programme of building for the police which has kept work levels up since 1970 is tailing off. The recently announced Maritime Museum project on the docks has gone out to competition with the council's department just on the list. Meanwhile there is no defence of the architects’ real potential, and attempts to make their services directly available to the community would be blocked for not going through proper channels. . Qrtta atatnat oe eleect C. THE LOCAL AUTHORITY ARCHITECTS’ DEPARTMENT D. PRIVATE PRACTICE. Architecture is effectively controlled by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) which constitutes the majority on the Architects Registration Council UK (ARCUK). An insight into the nature of RIBA can be had from a look at the people it has gathered for its annual conference, held in Liverpool in July 1978, titled ‘Living in Cities’ and calling for a ‘general commitment to the ideas of community architecture’ Firstly, a lot of members are excluded by the cost — £65 for three and a half days Fifty buraries are offered to help counteract this to people who can offer a few ‘well- chosen words’ on why they should go, but this is on the level of a competition on the back of a Cornflakes packet. So much for architectural communities — the same would apply to much of the rest of the city’s community. Looking at what was covered by the conference speakers it can be seen that the whole spectrum of a city politics is covered — the church, industry, land, the local and county authorities, central government, the USA, all on the first morning. The second day covers the inner city partnership programme (ICPP), and housing by a local councillor, local officer, housing associations and co-ops, private developer and finally, a county officer. A closer look confirms that the conference is an annual bandwaggon, a showpiece, revealing that RIBA is unable to make a serious attempt to assist with the city’s and architects’ problems. At the centre of the public image of architectural work is the private practice, similar to the medical or legal practice. There are lots of these practices in Liverpool. Their local club is the Liverpool Architectural Society (LAS) and they are represented in the North West Regional Council of the RIBA. The five or six largest firms appear to dom- inate the LAS, but below these there are twenty or more firms with two or more part- nersm and a whole host of further smaller firms. As in all small enterprises there is an intimacy about these latter which is a relief from the big hierarchies, although those who work in them are dependent on the partners’ relationship with clients and have to help cultivate the right social climate in the firm, whoever the client may be. 2. WHO CONTROLS US, WHO REPRESENTS US? While the larger and better established firms get what little number of jobs do come to them through the organisation of the profession, the smaller and medium-sized local firm is in fact extremely vulnerable and dependent on what clients it can attract. Desian skill is very much within this context. In one discussion in our group, for example, the job of working for a private housing developer was described as: to aim at a certain market: must have Georgian windows; areas to be designed strictly dictated and un- related to government minimum standards; no direct contact with house buyers; no garages; no ‘little extras’ in houses; no storage etc Another type of local practice as represented was based on ‘community’ and housing association work. In this case lack of finacial rewards is, at least initially, replaced by the satisfaction of working with, and the support of,the local community. These arch: itects were playing a part in community development. Architects have often been prime movers in the declaration of GIAs, HAAs or community schemes which have later been backed or taken over by the state. The resulting organisations such as the co-ops have then farmed a certain amount of work back to private practices. In this way, schemes get the more specifically ‘architectural’ attention which isabsent ‘in-house’, and seems to be only attainable within the old professional set-up The co-op which has fought successfully for its own new housing (mentioned above), for example, looked at inter- nationally-famous housing architects such as Darbourne and Darke before deciding ona local practice. Existing housing associations or co-op ‘in house’ architects were not con- sidered The Anglican Bishop begins by introducing the ‘social climate’ of Liverpool — thereby instating the the profession firmly outside the embarrassment of its position in worldy politics? The result is often politcal naiveté. Next, the object of the architect's work, the city fabric, is stated in a primarily visual and aesthetic way. The visual aspect may be an important part of an architect's work, but the primacy of the ‘aesthetic’ blinds many employed architects both in their education and later in practice, to their manipulation by developers, builders and others whose motives can be less easily acceptable. Will the speaker in this case, Theo Crosby, repeat his former mistakes? His praise of Cumbernauld New Town in 1962 points to his ‘visual blindness’: “Nearby (the municipal centre) on the north edge of the hill will be a group of tower blocks. From the hill there will be spectacular views in all directions, and this centre, with its wide terraces and broad flights of steps, could be the most exciting big new thing in Britain.”’ Fifteen years later, a Sunday Times popular splash against architects led pub- lic opinion that the centre was, in fact, “expensive, out of character, impractically sited on a windy hill. . wives were left to trudge the endless walkways and ramps to a city centre that, isolated from the passing pedistrian, couldn’t fail to be dull.” Next, John Worthington introduces “‘the private initiative”, dealing with industry in terms of “creating work through small entreprises, self-help”. This is coupled with David Palmer, a Chartered Surveyor, appealing to financiers to help with non-profit- making development of ‘difficult’ inner city sites. Land, finance and industry which are at the base of Liverpool's problems are skirted around. The conference official stimulus paper, “Living in Cities ” sees the problem as one of “a graduated balance between ‘the little things and the big things’ ...in a free market economy.” Good sites, roads, well-housed labour and a local authority with an empathy towards private enterprise are all that is needed, and “there is no reason why these things should not be provided” !To reduce such closures as that of Triumph at Speke or any other of Liverpool's recent disasters to this is naive. Furthermore, Palmer's appeal to goodwill from financiers (usually mostly insurance and pension funds) on land development can be little more than a cosmetic measure when they generally have to underwrite high land values to maintain high profit rates so that such things as‘our' pension funds keep pace with inflation. Does the professional practice have a part to play in the community? Some combine community action and involvement with getting their bread and butter from such design work as results from this activity Professional ‘independence’ may have some edge in communities over agencies hampered by local or national state departmentalism Attempts by local groups to organise their own lives always cross departmental and disciplinary lines, and in so doing often expose some of the real conflicting interests which the local authority sustains. The former Community Development Projects, backed by the state, did this and where disbanded when they exposed local interests of ‘big capitals’. Opposition to recent attempts by Liverpool community groups, under the umbrella of the LCVS, to gain a say in the DoE’s partnership scheme is a more recent example. Some architects have realised the need for community organisation, but in returning to the ‘bread and butter’ aichitectural practice for community groups, such design work as comes their way can only represent Community control within the confines of a design process as defined by the ethics and codes of professional practice There is a dilemma between private practice (architectural private enterprise) and community work. The ethic of independence combined with service in itself conflicts with the iater-disciplinary involvement needed in effective community control. This dilemma is also present in other small practices trying to maintain professional integrity in the face of increasingly desperate and competitive commercial and other clients. At the same time, Monopolies Commission investigation of the fee-scale, the rising cost of insurance, and the increasingly precarious legitimacy of the architectural profession loom large as factors in the insecurity of these firms OD. PRIVATE PRACTICE. While the larger and better established firms get what little number of jobs do come to them through the organisation of the profession, the smaller and medium-sized local firm is in fact extremely vulnerable and dependent on what clients it can attract. Design skill is very much within this context. In one discussion in our group, for example, the job of working for a private housing developer was described as: to aim at a certain market; must have Georgian windows; areas to be designed strictly dictated and un- related to government minimum standards; no direct contact with house buyers; no garages; no ‘little extras’ in houses; no storage etc Architecture is effectively controlled by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) which constitutes the majority on the Architects Registration Council UK {ARCUK). An insight into the nature of RIBA can be had from a look at the people it has gathered for its annual conference, held in Liverpool in July 1978, titled ‘Living in Cities’ and calling for a ‘general commitment to the ideas of community architecture’ Firstly, a lot of members are excluded by the cost — £65 for three and a half days Fifty buraries are offered to help counteract this to people who can offer a few ‘well: chosen words’ on why they should go, but this is on the level of a competition on the back of a Cornflakes packet. So much for architectural communities — the same would apply to much of the rest of the city’s community. Looking at what was covered by the conference speakers it can be seen that the whole spectrum ofa city politics is covered — the church, industry, land, the local and county authorities, central government, the USA, all on the first morning. The second day covers the inner city partnership programme (ICPP), and housing by a local councillor, local officer, housing associations and co-ops, private developer and finally, a county officer. A closer look confirms that the conference is an annual bandwagqqon, a showpiece, revealing that RIBA is unable to make a serious attempt to ass'st with the city’s and architects’ problems. The Anglican Bishop begins by introducing the ‘social climate’ of Liverpool! — thereby instating the the profession firmly outside the embarrassment of its position in worldy politics? The result is often politcal naiveté. Next, the object of the architect's work, the city fabric, is stated in a primarily visual and aesthetic way. The visual aspect may be an important part of an architect’s work, but the primacy of the ‘aesthetic’ blinds many employed architects both in their education and later in practice, to their manipulation by developers, builders and others whose motives can be less easily acceptable. Will the speaker in this case, Theo Crosby, repeat his former mistakes? His praise of Cumbernauld New Town in 1962 points to his ‘visual blindness’: “Nearby (the municipal centre) on the north edge of the hill will be a group of tower blocks. From the hill there will be spectacular views in all directions, and this centre, with its wide terraces and broad flights of steps, could be the most exciting big new thing in Britain.” Fifteen years later, a Sunday Times popular splash against architects led pub- lic opinion that the centre was, in fact, “expensive, out of character, impractically sited ona windy hill... wives were left to trudge the endless walkways and ramps to a city centre that, isolated from the passing pedistrian, couldn't fail to be dull.” Does the professional practice have a part to play in the community? Some combine community action and involvement with getting their bread and butter from such design work as results from this activity Professional ‘independence’ may have some edge in communities over agencies hampered by local or national state departmentalism Attempts by local groups to organise their own lives always cross departmental and disciplinary lines, and in so doing often expose some of the real conflicting interests which the local authority sustains. The former Community Development Projects, backed by the state, did this and where disbanded when they exposed local interests of ‘big capitals Opposition to recent attempts by Liverpool community groups, under the umbrella of the LCVS, to gaina say in the DoE’s partnership scheme is a more recent example. Some architects have realised the need for community organisation, but in returning to the ‘bread and butter’ a:chitectural practice for community groups, such design work as comes their way can only represent community control within the confines of a design process as defined by the ethics and codes of professional practice There is a dilemma between private practice (architectural private enterprise) and community work. The ethic of independence combined with service in itself conflicts with the inter-disciplinary involvement needed in effective community control. This dilemma is also present in other small practices trying to maintain professional integrity in the face of increasingly desperate and competitive commercial and other clients. At the same time, Monopolies Commission investigation of the fee-scale, the rising cost of nsurance, and the increasingly precarious legitimacy of the architectural profession loom large as factors in the insecurity of these firms 2. WHO CONTROLS US, WHO REPRESENTS US? At the centre of the public image of architectural work is the private practice, similar to the medical or legal practice. There are lots of these practices in Liverpool. Their local club is the Liverpool Architectural Society (LAS) and they are represented in the North West Regional Council of the RIBA. The five or six largest firms appear to dom- inate the LAS, but below these there are twenty or more firms with two or more part- nersm and a whole host of further smaller firms. As in all small enterprises there is an intimacy about these latter which is a relief from the big hierarchies, although those who work in them are dependent on the partners’ relationship with clients and have to help cultivate the right social climate in the firm, whoever the client may be. Next, John Worthington introduces ‘‘the private initiative”, dealing with industry in terms of “creating work through small entreprises, self-help”. This is coupled with David Palmer, a Chartered Surveyor, appealing to financiers to help with non-profit- making development of ‘difficult’ inner city sites. Land, finance and industry which are at the base of Liverpool's problems are skirted around. The conference official stimulus paper, “Living in Cities ” sees the problem as one of “a graduated balance between ‘the little things and the big things’ ... ina free market economy.” Good sites, roads, well-housed labour and a local authority with an empathy towards private enterprise arealthatisneeded,and“thereisnoreasonwhythesethingsshouldnot be provided” !To reduce such closures as that of Triumph at Speke or any other of Liverpool's recent disasters to this is naive. Furthermore, Palmer's appeal to goodwill from financiers (usually mostly insurance and pension funds) on land development can be little more than a cosmetic measure when they generally have to underwrite high land values to maintain high profit rates so that such thingsas‘our pension funds keep pace with inflation. Another type of local practice as represented was based on ‘community’ and housing association work. In this case lack of finacial rewards is, at least initially, replaced by the satisfaction of working with, and the support of,the local community. These arch- itects were playing a part in community development. Architects have often been prime movers in the declaration of GIAs, HAAs or community schemes which have later been backed or taken over by the state. The resulting organisations such as the co-ops have then farmed a certain amount of work back to private practices. In this way, schemes get the more specifically ‘architectural’ attention which is absent ‘in-house’, and seems to be only attainable within the old professional set-up. The co-op which has fought successfully for its own new housing (mentioned above), for example, looked at inter- nationally-famous housing architects such as Darbourne and Darke before deciding ona local practice. Existing housing associations or co-op ‘in house’ architects were not con sidered Where do architects stand? Strangely, local architects may gain from this uncertainty, in that in the rush to beat deadlines forproposals for applications, d ments can only agree to resurrect their old building programmes rather than Grand the money on re-organising a joint attack. This is, however, architecture by default; mor ‘ so when the DoE itself appears to be laying the blame, perhaps rightly, for the fousin disasters of the last twenty years on the shoulders of architects. But as our owndis : cussions have shown, to cut design skills out of housing altogether (viz. run-down of local authorities and fee -cutting in housinig associaitions) may be to throw the b. with the bath water. ; eo Further speakers on housing are unlikely to give much help to the situation of arch- itects as we find them: Allan Roberts of Manchester is likely to give short shrift to architects for their performance with system builders in the public housing programme. Liverpool's new Liberal housing chairman has recently “slammed the ‘hare- brained architects and clever-dick planners’ for producing ‘zany and often bizarre- looking’ council housing estates in the past. ‘Good homes are not created by last year’s architectural competition winner’.” Finally, Tom Barron expounds ‘Build for Sale’ — the architectural component of which has already been mentioned: is the conference onOFF IDO |BRASOF RL -— : es pnyEX HowAdeyourAovAME\—~ — FACTORY Jogs gens? / NS évs I} organiser crazy when he asks us to desecrate our own jobs by asking ‘what isstopping developersbuildingmorehousesforsale?’ +f After skirting round industry and land, J.P. Mcllroy represents, under ‘the public initiative’ just how determined a stand a local authority can take in ‘empathising with private enterprise’. Formerly chief planning officer of Labour -controlled Bootle, now chief executive of Tory-controlled Sefton, created out of Bootle and Southport after re-organisation, he has been known as a strong officer, perhaps above local politics. The effect of attracting private enterprise on the local community in Bootle, however. is questionable. A vast area of working class housing was removed, for example, to make way for the Stanley office development. Although this was justified as creating jobs for Bootle, the offices pull in workers from all over Merseyside, and certainly don’t discriminate in favour of local people with a background in manufacturing and port employment. Similarly, in conjunction with Ravenseft, Bootle wasprovided under Mcllroy with the New Strand shopping centre which gaveoutlets for major shopping chains while local shopkeepers went to the wall after promises of relocation made in return for passive acceptance of the necessary CPOs, fizzled out. To sum up, the profession founds us on the church and an aesthetic basis which blinds us in our compliance with the forces which control us. We may be gingered into another year of drudgery by a vision of small enterprise workshops and land develop- ment which will never get to the real problems. We have a local authority in which we are squeezed out between ‘attracting big business’ (using outside architects) and an in- ability to relate to the local community. And we are being by-passed in housing, both in the public and private sectors. We need a new political basis for organising ourselves. The RIBA continues to ‘represent’ us by drawing its alliances with the management of a political establishment which can still, in fact, do nothing but run the old city and its communities down The RIBA tries to excuse itself for doing this, and for letting a lot of its members go down, by trying to create an atmosphere of ‘regenerating the old city’ and ‘community architecture’ while our jobs disappear. The RIBA is rightly associated with the architects responsible for the disasters of the last 20 years, but bankrupt in terms of the representation of architects as they now stand. Thesearebuttwoexamplesofsomethingwhichhasbeenparallelledintheema ingofLiverpool.WhiletheimageofthewelfarestatehadbeenthatofSi e worstaspectsofwhollyfreeenterprise,peoplearerealisinghowthelocal Lea has complied in the rape of local communities; wholesale Gestruction ae reco! was justified as attracting industries — but these are now leaving town The confusion of the architects’ fall between private enterprise ange Sa ne continues in the next morning's discussion of the ICPP. Des Nevonee eRe ebfafsecdtwoFheNnethheTLrieyaesurpyanoeteherSEiOe raiealSOeusyaadthceireseeparate rs. The ICPP is thus unable to address itselfproperly tot e o saatlackinginthenecessaryeconomicteethtocreateaJohnat oe ral roblems. In Liverpool, local political instability (the former LIE nthe : hhasbeenreplacedbyaLib/ConpactwhenLabourgainedama}Can See clection’l further undermines because departmental policies are pitcne 9) each other for reasons of short-run political expediency. UNIVERSITY OF RIALTO Community Centre. eZmi ; by Commumty Architect SNAP PROJECT AREA New-buila Co-operative BENE Eos SSOP SMI EOGLIA Pies ies Se So/ : r SNAP improvement SHELTER’S original base KINGSLEY ROAD PRINCES AVENUE RATHBONE JOINERY WORKSHOP ADMIRAL STREET designed Plz Stetion > ~E " ROAD "DISTRICT CENTRE architect - STEBLE STREET BATHS CORN and YATES STREET HOUSINGaacCO-Ol’ Housing Co-op Rehab ESSEX STREET POLICE STATION ses ? S new uses for oldbuildings DS i> } MK “Zo< £ yy , es yeSis sem :a I ATon : . Wath Sa SS BRMeare Bieaol re ge BY NOE Ge he PH CBE R: 57 Peart e Sce43 35 PACK EDN ES au SERusfori f ‘<}|if cel}aed ;- pane ; : eS 30/2 ATi) y ae pal Eed| A bHee-}5;—f2erat| W f ) o2 A S ro°))I Otho LIVERPOOL ThWe Ae,ye *raine) , ie oO me BARA eS PARLIAMENT STREET Planning Blight" FAULKNERSQUARE Sate V—"o*m@BOEBEY BSSOY yoa cmtsy SQUARE Fehabilitation and Conversion eCOMeMUNITY SOG 3 rea race | CENTRE UPPER STANHOPE STREEY Commumity centre ED cee GRANBY STREET SHOPPING improvement Project MERLIN STREET First Urban Aid Community cenére WELLER STRRETS HOUSING CO-OP “TOWN TRAIL” OUR — examples of professional architecture in the community and the alternatives. be |shopping :Social secunty, 3. ARCHITECTS IN LIVERPOOL A look at the origins and post-war development of Liverpool will show the declining local architectural involvement in the changing power base of the city. It may also help to explain something of the situation we are in now, and point the way for a reformulated local organisation of architects which can play a stronger and more realistic role in what the planners who took part in one of our discussions characterised as in effect a policy of a “managed decline’ — which is something no-one knows how to handle. The RIBA conference stimulus question, ‘Should architects commit themselves to the entrepreneurial-catalyst role as professionsal leaders; is this a vested interest in disquise; if so does it matter?’ is entirely inappropriate to the position of local archi- tects and the demise of the inner city. In ignoring the rea/ industrial and economic base of the city it masks the true basis of a profession which is still a useful form of organ- isation to its largest and still successful national and international firms which are in alliance with big capital. Its purpose may be seen to encourage the continuance of an entrepreneurial attitude in its out-dated 19th century form among the mass of mem: bers led by the profession. This leaves local architects powerless to organise against the erosion of their position by an increasingly powerful central and local state working with ‘outside’ industrialists and developers who have the area in a stranglehold. Local practices still depend on ‘professional independence’ for their position, but are undefended against fee-cutting and loss of work to nationals. Local authority work is decreasing, while central state agencies such as the PSA increase their workload. Meanwhile, successful national and international practices, well capitalised and estab- lished at a higher turnover on lower fees, draw further into ‘unethical’ package dealing and speculative enterprise. There is little on the horizon to give Liverpool! hope that it has anything to gain from ‘international expansion’: yet the idea of a non-growth economy, participation in the management of decline, is as unpalatable to the city’s managers as it is to the local architects’ society. The latter seem content to cut each other's throats and sell out to outside interests (for example, the Liverpool Architect- ure Society’s passive acceptance of the demolition of the Lyceum, its own birthplace and part of ‘our architectural heritage’) in order that those in control will get what crumbs do come their way. In the 1930s, Liverpool's architects had an international reputation for what they were doing under the patronage of the port and related industries for the city itself. In a city which had been built up by its industrial bourgeoisie comparatively ‘overnight’, there had been a strong tradition of philanthropy followed by a model municipal government. The local authority were early in their patronage of architecture. Under Sir Lancelot Keay, the council housing developments of the 1930s attained a respectable architectural clothing which was coherent with the style of the city’s other great buildings, Both shared, for example, the influence of Dudok and the Dutch School School. Working class housing attained the image of equality with the city’s industrial base. But by the 1930s, the old industries were already in decline, and new ones seen to be needed. Keay’s housing culminated in the model community at Speke which was integrated with new factory building for modern industry. Liverpool was, then, an ideal setting for the 1948 RIBA conference to catch the utopian mood of the immediate post-war era. Keay, now the first public officer president of the RIBA sat comfortably next to Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, architect of the cathedral and at the pinnacle of private practice. Architects were entertained to tea at the home of the major industrialist Lord Leverhulme whose family was renowned for philanthropy (Port Sunlight) and patron- age of the arts. The RIBA banner was instated in the new cathedral by the Archbishop of York, and the LAS, celebrating its centenary, was acclaimed for its position as a foremost regional society in the RIBA. rc Aé ' i ' 4 J36 e < 2 m= 8 ' > - = PO} 2UBA OYA SOV3A90 JHL VYuViLiyY | aetndodun uv ojur , ueeg aaey fee 33S VW¥GUYA ATHO 4Se tl 4 vyONY q StLIN3W OL LON “S3HDNH * Say euNq ywouN 942 JO, $2503 Tyosu <q *‘kerted hidw3 341 J¥dS dQHS LN¥I¥A 30 "609, 943 UT 4379 UT perderseauy TTeN@ITUR 03 @2UepUCdweZI0> ye03024 = Ot Seetyeratza i] 1OOd:JUe a sOUTPTOH IWS. t ss they 3729939 ¥ 3SNNKH 91 HOAONG @ ‘L3N193Hd Se OL a fe27j730 Wrepow sbtse02d 27 UT AON “Pp @sou 37 340m eeu @usy2e Ayes JO G212e4IHOW Guy3ueyIUe sua Aq Wate BYR J0J /OHS SSI13ISN 3HON NIAZ P2TINZAIq 2UealoTaAVpar 943 eD4 Tw9p 943 P PIN wpyob sNidens DNIMOG Visa “Sdcl¥ JH1 a1 NHorF °32S 39 49013 gunsg Aig joodieAry SS3713SN3S SIHL MONS SUDLIYNANODD OVIGIING TATT dN AN VAN fone gloss sa3HTANIAR PIO We = 2903804207 suoiyin 133415 J 49 3c SLNTA 311 *aeAys aya 228A ITUA POTPPTS pue uno; 4302) @1OUA Oa 2eatuore ‘o"d ‘AW 1SHL Lhso1e *(OP TH puw 10179495 I! u-kq-A1E @LON SJOdo|ereq OU If "3 QUOF 9say Aled *uoyTes>ep q ple peuu02, © 3¥ 26U2 290s O42 JO SpiwY 637 SOUCTA SY Cd Ut pegrsosep 419307 © PEND hing w#yNb *3 ‘wnesk] oyy Uywied pInon "qn st#O4UTPT ING peretr © epead ysyTousp oF H3UesUOD UO BayetT eay3 OU Sunnok'q YT :5::: WarBOGTwasnotrevival|CaaSTRERIEE;GERdtRhemovement ofinternaet-s tonal industries to Merseyside encouraged by state regional policy. While planned net towns were the basis of peripheral expansion, the old city retained its atmosphere ca dereliction inherited from the war, and still remaining after a lack of state control habitual to a continuing conservative local authority (planning committee chairmen of the time are heard to be accused of using development control to bolster up a clique of local practices). Liverpool's first Labour council only came in 1955. : The post-war generation of architects were less concerned with making buildings which were locally acclaimed than establishing their international reputations. It was the /nternationa! Style. This ran true to the disestablishment of focal capital and the need to ally with outside, rather than local interests to be successful. By the early 1960s Liverpool had a combination of a stronger Labour leader wanting a planned revitalisation of the city, the standard approach by a developer (Ravenseft again) to round up an unprecedented parcel of central land for a shopping precinct (St. John’s), proposals for motorway development round the city centre, and the emergence of arch- itect-plans for city development. Holford, an ex- Liverpool architecture student, was a professor in Liverpool at the time. He had been director of the war-time state Planning and Resources Agency, and strongly recommended another of the internationalist and utopian socialist post-war generation, Shankland to prepare a plan. (The fact that and Shankland’s practice was designing private hotels in Jamaica at the time — ‘breaMdodern It is important to note that the butter work?’ — didn’t appear contradictory). reform and Style, originated ina mood of left-wing social Movement, the International the method of a utopian harmony between a working class and capital: it was to cfaoprimtal in the post- restructuring the built environment alongside the restructuring of war era. establishment was on the way out. Shankland Pe Liverpool's older architectural road be demolishe 1965 posed that nearly all buildings within the proposed inner ringoutof date : merit’ for the reason that they were ‘unlessofarchitectural ofhighbuilding,‘toconte | of building capital). There was a policy repor Y we (Restructuring skyline’. Ata timewhen the Buena thetraditionofthewaterfront pedestrian/tra alae inTowns’wasinvogue,therewastobeacompletetopavethewayoer ee walkways. Hisproposals were oe asystem of high-level but since (het TN based Se fortheyoungergenerationoflocalarchitects, », ee are and the new In lustries, brought work to go round, 2 large proportion velopers, such as Ravenseft, was aval a andcentralise fact building the most tightly-controlled isa ediHeOAe oreo firmsandsystemsdevelopers The impetus of building aae The position of architects working in planning at the time has been aptly summar ised: “We were not planners and we had no concept of urban change. Our naive enthusiasm and pre-occupation with built architectural form must have been a headache for the inner city residents we met. We talked about how the areas were going to be well designed in the future; Hey talked about the lack of jobs and the bloody-mindedness of Town Hall officials. We were miles apart and we could not even see it.” The emerging economic crisis brought home the idiocy of reconstruction, and an increasingly devastated commmunity strengthened its opposition. Under Amos the policy changed from what could be conceived to what could be afforded. Develop- ment plans were limited to areas which were likely to see significant change in the short term. Rehab, community projects and Urban Aid programmes replaced recon struction. SNAP took place in 1969. More recent planning policy in an atmosphere of even greater uncertainty is to monitor social and economic trends in order to present coherent policy options as clearly as possible. Architect-planners could not be further ‘our’ BEFORE (right) amd AFTER (below) in the Tntenm Planning Policy Statement under Borin practices of the time. well-known. 7 ement of a separate planning department hee1haTiandarchitects’independentcontrolover Whe e satl A lot of the new planning staff were still architects by training, but (Rain, washing and football eee no ntrolofthecity’sgrowthandarchitecturalleadershipofitsimplement on ret Spada programme became divorced: this further weakened thepotential stronlipiasrpaeinthebuildingofthecity.BorextendedShanklandsmethods sakete LS(1963),stillinwhatnowseemsthestaggeringlybanalarchitect-plan o ie Sealing for‘more data. The NBA's report on the sie housing Tae ee arate j _taking into account the outlined First prope coat Transportation StudY 11969) perfected the proposed TheMere temonthebasisofnearuniversalcar-ownership.These,andother a mreoptoortrsway a ithin the era in which statistics were used blindly to justify reconstructions : In a context of unlimited work, the passing of local firms’ contro! was probably un- bute Liverpool sou has 2 fist divinon beans p) f eee andCrgeniseronof/tse/fisoutofKeywithwhatalotofarch- 4.WHERE ARE WE ACTION. ? NOW? ASPECTS OF ORGANISATION AND ACTION aie ; . Theexample of Liverpool's history indicates radical State aénd private capital. 7A form of orgganainsiastiaotnion isneeded whicChHIETiGscapablseeeofr standing how the forms of control which architects face have chanel Th eine fa Certain sections of both the state and private capital have grown to the point whe professional organisation’, ethics and ideas no longer hold sway over an increasing! i specific and technically-defined logic of big capital’s and giant Geganleattonsv grote Working for these, architects, along with many other skills including management need to defend themselves (and increasingly do) on union lines. But membership of even white collar unions is seen to contradict the ‘profession’ and ‘being an architect’, although many of these unions are based on defence of skills. The private-independent streak and professional pride run deep, even when architects are badly paid down- trodden and overtaken by better-organised skills. : ive? collective or co-operative . Ol raig reporting in the Liverpool Echo, May 1978 liverinseciets The Property Boom’, London: Pan 1968 , propcsats forSe As, however, ‘Local Government becomesgo Part of the way to so’ vingJthe pr ationoflocalauthority willonly eracs architects eltheyie 7;InterimPlanningPolicyState’ LiverpoolCityPlannin ‘C:ityit ii’ ' feySar BigBusiness oe ' uchnick,‘UrbanRenewalinLiverpool’,Occ.Pap.onSoc.Admin.NoS3,COT] a. ’ architecturewhentheyare Seon: i - See REFERENCES: Liverpool lDistricttLabour Part y, Housing Poliicy Statement, 1978 pene VEISOUCe Demantiing Merseyside: the collapse of Regional Policy’, New Statesman, 21.4.78 . lve, ‘Large Firms on Merseyside’, i |Poly, 1978 RIESMembershipList,1977"ert a Pt : Ceemy.CumbernauldNewTown’,ArchitectsYearBook10,1962 Conner jameson, ‘British Architecture: 30 Wasted Years’, Sunday Times 6.2.77 Tae ‘onaghy, ‘Inner Cities: Government Response’, RIBAJ July 1978 . ieat merenos‘BritishInnerCityPlanning:apersonalview’,Architect’sYearBook1974 eeewLitiverpoolCityCaeDnetpraertPmlean’t,,1965” ae ofcommuniOtFyotherwiseunrelatedtogia inLiverpooln’,eunpub.d=raft,LiverpoolUniversitiyoe forms practices of Post-War Planning aswioilfotchoemrmercial Le eatsmn Newoncnsummary inArchitecturean ey andeconomic baseofcities. tfrag¢mented ,butm e q NeusareasraeaingProfessions.’NAM1977 rch. Movt. (continued) ‘Publi i StatedepartmentsDeocallySHON“ fewrch.Movt.‘WorkingforWhat?TheCaseforTradeUnionOrganisation somewha' manageme! informerlyandmergedunderacorporate i X 197; SAGManifestoinAJ,3.5.78peasLene a centralised ise. rfunectioneee withprivateenterpris Jolhohn Bennington, ’‘Local Government Becomes Big Business’, COP 1976 which enables the state to keep pace aRaaeea Proposals arising from NAM’s recent conference on 2 Public Design Service (PDS) have pointed out how an architectural ideology founded primarily on private practice has given even local authority building programmes the image of private enterprise specifically from major new ideas coming from farming out projects to private practice and competitions. At the same time as bringing the local authorities into line with private enterprise In this way, architects have been becoming involved in specific corruption scandals in handling contracts with private building firms. Finally, now, local authority architects are again caught between private enterprise and the state, torn between their profession and unionisation as their departments are dismantled. These two articles are written partly from discussions held in the first half of this year by people interested in forming a non-professional group of building designers . Now a clearer picture has emerged, a group will be formed in the autumn to continue analysis, formulate action on certain issues, and take on projects. If you are working in architecture or building design, want to know more about architectural organisation and practice, doing or needing projects which involve a collective way of working etc., contact: ‘Designers Meeting’, c/o School of Architecture, University, Liverpool. A stronger, more democratic basis for planned control over the city’s development is needed and some planners in local authorities are moving In the direction of creating a basis for this. Local architects, having barely got over the passing of control from the city architects department and local practice, and then the architect-planner and nat- ional practice, must be now prepared to think in terms ofparticipating in decisions on the city’s development, not as leaders, but from a more realistic definition of their skills. (At least, then, the dangers of repetition of the blame for the tower blocks and the concrete jungle of the sixties could not be repeated). Private practice in a society founded on the free market and private enterprise !s still the basis of the Royal Institute of British Architects. As such they may effectively represent the interests of the management of a few large offices which act as consultants or leaders on the reorganisation of state or provate projects. The ethics and requirements of practice of these are increasingly far from those of employed architects and even medium and smaller private practices. By remaining under their domination, the majority of architects cannot help themselves. One current defence of professionals is that by the Salaried Architects Group inthe RIBA. This is likely to continue the tradition of a succession of ineffective union-type challenges within the RIBA unless it can completely expose the latter’s foundation on private enterprise and recognise that their defence of the ‘profession’ is tantamount to 4 defence of craft skill. The New Architecture Movement on the other hand, ha opened up the possibility of unionisation outside the profession through the AUEW white collar section, TASS — there are no TASS architect members in the North West yet. Ther a re a hanful of architects in the building industry’s STAMP, but this new organisation still has no policy on the building firms’ strengthening grip on design. In Liverpool, the need is to organise and co-ordinate action and discussion between architects and other groups along these lines. Designers need to open up adescription of their skills which enables them to work alongside other groups rather than feeling that if they do not lead, they have failed. There is an increasing number of examples of environmental and building work being done in either a collective or co-operative way. The contributors to group discussion were:— Mike Brown, Paul Coats, Chris Cripps, Robb MacDonald, Don Field, Pete Gommon, Bill Halsall, Jonty Godfrey, Frank Horton, Nigel Jones, Alison Lindsay, Graham Ward and others. The articles as published do not necessarily represent the views of contributors. Architects working In both the state and private sectorscould unite in mutual defence if the basis was an understanding of how their work fitted into the growth, change and interaction of private andstate capitals — rather than ae ums , sph competitive discourse confined to building form and techniques {which are, any increasingly outside our control). : ThePDSisaproposedreformationoflocalauthorityarchitectsdopeee ing in local areas. The RIBA’s move into ‘community architecture ,W' ich a a S te practice in the community, would be a similar venture if based on true par Se oiPaiaetivepractice.Whichisthebetterformat?Statepineoss eT from the relatively weak and private enterprise-oriented RIBA, whose prac 5. THE ‘REPRODUCTION’ OF ARCHITECTS Entry into the architectural profession is almost exclusively in the hands of the schools of architecture. Liverpool has two schools, at the University and the Poly If the first is too accademic, international in its outlook and disregards ; Liverpool, the second is too practical and local-signed to be more ‘practical’ and local in its caucus. These two schools have played the major role in supplying the members of the local architectural establishment (in addition to many architects for other areas). Only a few technicians and part-timers now make the grade, and this is not without a hard struggle during their attendance at the schools). going on. Of course, these general criticisms of architectural education are experienced by — individuals. In fact, education is very much a biographical process which isrevealed in the life cycle of individuals. Therefore, the following, partly factual, partly fictitious case study of Joey Bishop, a working class kid who makes the architectural grade, exams helped assessment and nearly al project work with little emphasis on written elped a poor exam performance and rewarded his consistent effort. jtectural education. +1 ie |' |at }| ly ——ssy —— + Pu r HF igCees a -- 4 | .@}| + ~— = a “ysoo iE 5 | 1 con ©t- Loe f HL Ls i an t nt \ (i ne fF|}— a Wace,an zCSE,EnglishLanguage2,EnglishLiterature1,Geography1, JoeyAeae andEngineeringDrawing1,Physics1.CSEhadbeengoodfor The process of producing professional architects is dominated by several bodies, notably the RIBA, who monitor intake standards and the content of courses. The RIBA Education and Practice Committee (EPEC) plays an important role in the con- trol of education. EPEC makes recommendations to the RIBA Council, where, if agreed to, they become policy and are put into effect by EPEC and its committees. One of the most important of the EPEC committees is the visiting board. Both the Liverpool schools have recently had visiting board inspections. The outcome ofa visit- ing board inspection Is a confidential report to the head of the school in which recommendations on standards and conditions are made. The weapon of refusal to re- cognise a course is a powerful force in the schools’ educational policy. Joey was born and brought up in a two bedroomed terraced house with no bath room and an outside toilet. He attended the local state primary school, he was a well btehaved and highly regarded pupil. He was expected to pass the 11+ and go on to the local grammar school. In 1962 Joey failed the 11+ examination — and was already classified by the system as a failure. Rather than the local Collegiate or Institute, it was Earle Road Secondary Modern School, ‘Never mind, Joey, there is always the 13+”, his mother had said. The 13+ never took place for Joey, and that was how much his mum knew about education. In fact, Earle Road’s greatest claim to fame was 4 first division footballer. Enquiries among both staff and students at both schools suggest a sparse under- standing of the way their architectural education ts controlled. The two aspects of architectural education, ‘skill teaching’ anda ‘liberal education’ are encompassed by both schools to different degrees, perhaps depending on whether salaried or manager- jal positions are aimed at. The Liverpool schools don’t seem to question whether their establishments are sutiable for achieving the aims of learning, which of the many architects, technicians or builders in the city they could'leatn their skills from, or how this should be done. The result is an ad-hoc exchange of arhitects’ contributions to teaching programmes in the schools in return for qualified people to staff their offices: this depends on personal contact and there is little awareness of what is really Things started to happen for Joey in his first year at secondary school; ‘he worked well and fully deserved his high position in class’ to quote his school report. He never asked many questions, but just got on and did things consistently well. To his teachers Joey was a good pupil from a good home, he was never in trouble, and always conscientious .. .head prefect material. When he was 14, Joey’s parents visited the eco andweretoldthatJoeystoodagoodchanceofdoingquitewellatCSE.They eenbreredanesayesbrightfuturefortheirson,theydidn’tknowwhatCSEwas Fords Cerin + 'poe aqualification, enough to keep Joey away from the docks or Ns aan ae y this tended towipe out Joey's previous failure at 11. The CSE and RenESRC wouldbeJoey's ‘saviour’.MrJames,thewoodworkteacher,who dbVAISERERKS inners than you have sawn wood’, was very influencial on Joey's the doing that urrounded by spoke shaves and planes Joey was in his element. It was Rbounthewinter:eee andnotthethinkingaboutit.MrJamestalkedalot Recreate Fine education and Joey was impressed. Secondary school years passed at English laser 2 ne about them. Top of the class after top of theclass. Bad only edithath pelling) he shone at geography and technical drawing. It was suggest- at hecouldaimforajobasadraughtsman. The discussion of fundamental issues is non-existent in both the Liverpool schools. What discussion that does take place centres around such issues as course content, the desirability of lectures as opposed to seminars, year structure as opposed to work-bases or exams as opposed to continual assessment, to the exclusion of all else. Any protest is futile, disunited and ineffectual. For example, student criticism of the courses ‘jacking in real life content’ is dismissed as being of small value simply by virtue of the fact that each student is there only for 3 or 5 years. Prehensi % icate inReais so itwas off to Anfield Comprehensive Schoo! with his CSE certif FROM THE COMMUNITY TO ARCHITECTURE ..... sere ieacoecomprehensivetotake‘A’levels.‘Everthoughtaboutdoing load isgene He oe. the goegraphy teacher had asked. In for a penny !n for a pound, bit ofa surprise Se results were no surprise to Joey’s English teacher, they were 4 what was going © Joey but more than anything else he didn’t really have any idea it was all about oa mowevaly and perhaps more importantly, no-one explained what really understoc AR fact, it wasn’t until his later years of university education that he Joey was od what matriculation meant. The family had misgivings, perhaps aiming too high. However, the school fought hard for a trial year at the com: might raise some questions about arch ’iii Joey Bishop is an architect, he was trained at the Liverpoo {University iSchool of arcnitectare! He is the only child of Joseph and Mary Bishop. Joseph isachargeliand in a local facory, Mary owns a small knitwear shop. They're a Liverpool family, the most prosperous and comfortably off in their neighbourhood. They own their or . terraced house, and Joey’s first real job is to process an improvement grant applicatio for his parents’ house. ciliata Joey's first task at the comprehensive was to decide which ‘A‘ levels to try for. Joey had been good at geography and had enjoyed the projects associated with it, so it was geography ‘A’ level for him. Geology was interesting and there were plenty of field trips so he had a stab at that as well. However, before Joey could get on with his ‘A’ levels he had to get one 'O' level in English. After two attempts he succeeded in passing with grade 5. Whatever came later, this, perhaps more than anything, proved to be the greatest failing of Joey's education. At the beginning of the upper sixth,, many of his school mates were considering teachers training colledes, polytechnics and universities. The headmaster at Anfield thought it might be worth Joey trying out an application form for university in addition to the technical colleges and polytechnics he was trying for. What to apply for? The only possibility seemed to be planning, well geography and planning went together. Six choices of university doing undergraduate planning degrees. . Sheffield, Birmingham Aston, Heriot Watt, Newcastle, Cardiff, Manchester. No offers, no interviews, in fact nothing. Joey felt hard done by. Brixton College of Building made him an offer of two C's and so did the local polytechnic, so Joey set his mind on one of these, at least, that was until September and the’A’ level results came along. Joey got an A and a B. The staff at Anfield thought it would be a good idea to go to a university, but it wasn’t as easy as that. Then came September 1970, and the UCCA clearing scheme; Course Code 5100, Architecture, Liverpool School of Architecture — without knowing what ‘architecture’ was, Joey was off on his architecture education. ‘Architecture, what's architecture?’ thought Joey. The postman brought him an answer in the form of a programme of pre-term work. A book list, from which Joey was to select two and write an essay. Already Joey was at 4 disadvantage. The letter also asked him to make a diary about his thoughts and react ions in observing and studying some designed artifact. ‘What's a designed artifact?’ Joey thought. His confusion was made worse by the helpful clarification ‘anything from a teaspoon to 4city’. The jargon of architectural education was introduced early on in Joey's education, even before he arrived at the school of architecture. Joey wrote about a block of high rise flats for his pre-term essay. He noted the simplicity and symmetry of the design. He wrote about the external facade of the block of flats, the surface patterns, colours and textures. Even at this stage, with only a few preconceptions, Joey assumed architecture was something to do with ‘facades’. He thought little of his home surroundings, a house without a bathroom in.an area suffering planning blight. He thought nothing about the community. In fact, despite living at home he was to become increasingly separat- ed from his home background. He was progressively cut off from the life of hissocial group and family; neither was he a member of the ‘street gang’ and, even at univers ity, sex came late for Joey. After all, he always did his homework. Arca tecsered fFae= Wet ope — Joey consistently equated architecture with drawing, so he thought he'd be ok. He knew he had done well at technical drawing and he thought his woodwork would be useful, Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. The graphic artist, from the school of art knew how to draw, Joey thought, or at least it sounded as if he did. Joey never s2 him draw. One of Joey's first projects had something to do with the ‘considers’ .on of a line’. ‘As for his woodwork experience, well, that wasn’t really on either. The yea! Joey arrived at the school of architecture the one and only craftsman technician was being laid off, Whilst Joey was at the school the workshop turned into 4 glorified model making room withalittle used wind tunnel in one corner. : Architecture must have something to do with buildings, Joey thought, but people at the school of architecture kept telling him it was more than just buildings. In fact, during his first week at the school, Joey came to the conclusion that it was glossy architecture in the university and buildings in the polytechnic. For a short time the folk singing, records, wine and coffee till the early hours: became part of Joey’s life. An occasional visit to the halls of residence to visit ‘friends’. He replaced his football scarf with a school of architecture scarf and stopped ‘going to the match’ on Saturday afternoon. In his second year Joey questioned the value of a sketch design for 2 community centre in an area of high rise housing, when the local community had said they didn’t want one. At the external review of his work, the examiner suggested that Joey got on wath wba he was told to do without questioning projects. ; as ee Haan oe to concentrate on working, 4 language he knew well, Joey kepta easene rawingskillsdevelopedtoafineartandhedrewhiswaythrough Seciea : honours degrees. Professional practice and part three examinations in, but that aspect is another story. After fifteen years of ‘graft’, Joey had made it; an architect. coceretats school of architecture was no different than secondary school or the See Sistine Soeseee of hurdles, the scholarship fence which he had jumped by, Teetinesseea eae-Heacquiredfactsratherthanhandlingandusing eed aeal Tones Ps ed to thinkdifferently, to experiment to learn but he only Relsea hiner Be is personality. In this respect the school of architecture neither indered him. eeHaeendofthecourseJoeyiswellonthewaytobeingafullypaidupmember i urgeoisie — and he doesn’t understand how it happened. PES Uatie nen the school of architecture Joey was taught many lessons. He Seaeta noc x ofparty-goingandconversationtogetherwiththepatina anvehinatlierenee: isdrivetoworkandachievewasreinforced,and,if ee eien Mey ceue increasingly competitive. Joey certainly became a highly selt- Gea shone La Aa even arrogant. Equally, he was alienated and drawn away resha SEhGGIGE meee a .Finally, the practical skills he had acquired were too open, Joaeihcd osennh ecture design skills must be arcane. ranemnitting ae a powerful socialising mechanism as well as a knowledge Graledueston palyaere oe eauOn is a subtle, but important part of the architect- EMauEISeT IST;.rchitecturaleducationisamajorpartoftheprocessof se ttioniintalclise : eo of continually recreating and maintaining the architects thi tandawaranes ociety. In fact, itis an indictment of Liverpool's educationalists enes of this is buried in the sand. ; Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Group of Liverpool Designers 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 1978 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/3fd5a982419ece9db9e84c952716eb3d.pdf cd009f1deaa07117f289570b38386c55 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Public Design Group Description An account of the resource Argued that it was only through the public sector that the majority of people could have access to the land and resources needed for housing, education and other essential services. The task was therefore to reform the practice of architecture in local councils to provide an accessible and accountable design service. The Public Design Group proposed reforms to the practice of architecture in local councils to provide a design service accessible and accountable to local people and service users. The following 6 Interim Proposals were developed which were later initiated and implemented in Haringey Council 1979-1985 by NAM members. <ul><li style="font-weight:400;">Local area control over resources </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Design teams to be area based </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Area design teams to be multi-disciplinary </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Project architects to report directly to committee</li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Abolish posts between Team Leader and Chief Architect </li> <li style="font-weight:400;">Joint working groups with Direct Labour Organisations</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource THE PRACTICE OF COMMUNITY ARCHITECTURE Subject The topic of the resource RIBA CAWG Report setting out case for a Community Aid Fund. Report opposes local authority public architecture services Description An account of the resource THE PRACTICE OF COMMUNITY ARCHITECTURE: the case for a Community Aid Fund. Royal Institute of British Architects. fe , t yei Jy, ery >Do>s a) Baa ’2 : [ oh p20ae ob Ate eet23 Are sorte Beat AS Ah 7oN This paper sets out the case for a Community Aid Fund to be established within the framework of the Government's urban programme. The Fund would make professional services available directly to groups and individuals to satisfy needs at present unmet through existing channels. Introduction community groups. community. —— ape 1. The Community Architecture Working Group of the RIBA was formed in late 1976. It was established as a result of the increasing concern, within the profession, at the difficulties encountered in attempting to provide adequate professional services for certain community needs. The nature of those needs and the current attempts to provide services to meet them are indicated in the case studies which accompany this report. Whilst they vary widely in scope they all show a clear need for professional assistance and in certain respects share a common background in the These problems continue to raise fundamental questions both about the nature and organisation of professional assistance itself and more particularly 2. In carrying out this task, the Working Group has gathered evidence In response to these concerns the Community Architecture Working b) to explore the problems involved in providing such services. c) to identify areas of current and future need. d) to recommend appropriate action to enable professional skills and resources to match more adequately the needs of the wider from national bodies including the Royal Town Planning Institute, the Town and Country Planning Association, Shelter and the Civic Trust, and has examined over 60 case studies where community groups have received or are S ————— receiving, professional help. 33 of these studies are annexed to this report. problems of obtaining and financing that assistance. about the organisation and level of funding for the physical environment. Group was set up with the following broad terms of reference:- a) examine the kinds of professional services currently provided to Evidence From The Case Studies conclusions:- :2’ be met in the future unless radical changes are made. shown to exist. accessible. 3. The evidence from the case studies suggests the following a) (that there is a strong demand for professional help to community groups which is not being met adequately, either by public service or by private practice, and that it is unlikely to that at present the types of demand vary widely, ranging from the improvement of older properties to environmental education. The eight types shown in the attached list of case Studies highlight the gaps between the main areas of finance for the physical environment and specific community needs. Even if the legislative and professional framework changes in the future to meet these needs it seems likely that others will be that these needs are not a temporary phenomenon and demand is likely to continue and grow particularly if professional services are better advertised and made more readily that there are considerable social, environmental and economic benefits to be derived from meeting this demand quickly. Where residents, whether tenants or owners, have added their own efforts to over-stressed local services these have manifested themselves in a better maintained physical environment and greater public spirit. Community projects represent good value for money by ensuring appropriate solutions and reducing maintenance and vandalism costs. Also where local people have been prepared to do work for themselves there have been considerable savings in capital costs, provided that the necessary professional support is available to carry out proper co-ordination and ensure adequate quality. Moreover, particularly in housing, the arrest of further deterioration now is helping to avoid the cost and disruption of subsequent demolition and replacement. e) _that the existence of professional help can enable communities jto derive maximum benefit from existing legislation, for instance by helping to speed up the take up of improvement grants for older housing and by ensuring the quality of the work carried out. The existence of such expertise can therefore make a positive contribution to the success and cost effectiveness of Government programmes. Current Problems In Meeting The Demand and thirdly the lack of resources for fees. providing professional services. 4, From the available evidence it emerges that the main reasons why the demand for professional services is not being adequately met are firstly the present structure of local authorities, secondly lack of legislative provision 5. In the public sector, some of the problems of local authority professional services have already been identified by the New Architecture Movement's report on Community Architecture. They include lack of resources both financial and staff, in some cases lack of commitment to the idea of community architecture, both among staff and elected members, and an organisational inability to respond quickly and sensitively to local community needs. Furthermore, an additional fundamental point, not adequately dealt with by N.A.M., is that there can be inherent conflicts of interest between, for example, particular community groups and the policies of their local authority. This can arise,for instance, in the case of local groups objecting to specific Compulsory Purchase Order proceedings or lobbying for alterations to Structure Plans. If public service professionals, as currently employed, were to aid community groups in such cases they would be acting against the corporate policies of their employing authorities. This is sometimes done but it cannot be judged to be a satisfactory means of 6. The form of legislation can create problems which effectively restrict access to adequate professional advice, as in the case of Urban Aid schemes where costed sketch schemes are often required before a grant is made but no support is available for the preparation of the inception work. A similar Situation arises in the cases of work on Manpower Services Commission projects and Improvement Grants, where the use of adequate professional advice is inhibited by the lack of specific financing provisions within the legislation. - for aid. or carry the financial risks involved. 7. In the private sector, the profession is unable to provide an adequate service for projects when no provision is made for fees or when payment of fees is inadequate or seriously delayed. From an analysis of the case studies it is clear that where it has been possible to ascertain costs, architects have received no more on average than 1/6 of the fees to which they are entitled. In almost all cases, they have pointed out that the inception of a project up to feasibility stage is more difficult in working for a community client than for any other. The client as an identifiable organisation may not yet exist, or if it does, it may be unclear about what is required or what is achievable. Considerable time and effort have therefore to be devoted to the project to bring it to a stage at which a local authority, or other sponsoring body, can approve it and determine grant, if indeed the project is accepted as qualifying 8. The uncertainty experienced by private practice over payment, particularly for feasibility studies, means that few practices, especially small ones of the kind best suited to this work, can afford to offer a full time service. Accordingly, professional input is either reduced to a point at which ‘it is barely effective, or is carried out on a part time basis, which in the end benefits neither the community nor the profession. The recent state of the building industry means that very few practices are in a position to subsidise 9. It has been suggested that financial help for professional services is available through Legal Aid, but this is seldom the case. Legal Aid is only available to those with very nominal disposable assets. Householders who wish to improve their homes for instance, who in most cases have to find their share of the cost of doing so, will obviously have some disposable assets, so although they may have no other resources with which to pay for professional advice, the very fact that they are in a position to require aid usually renders them ineligible for Legal Aid. Suggested Action 10. There is already an awareness within the Department of the Environment, the professions and informed public opinion, of the social necessity for communities to be more closely involved in determining their physical environment. There are many overlapping developments ranging from changes in tenure and control, as shown by the ‘tenants’ charter' and the co-operative movement, to changes in participation and access as shown in recent planning and housing legislation. The RIBA itself is involved in studies concerning the matching of professional skills to needs, including the study of the Role of the Architectural Profession in the Work of Public Authorities, and investigations into alternative forms of practice which will indicate medium and long term lines of development. The specific recommendation of this report however is for immediate action in the short term to provide a source of funds for communities to pay for their own professional advice on environmental matters. us To some extent, some of the cases examined could, and arguably shoud, have fallen within the responsibility of the local authorities concerned. However, if local authorities are to meet the demand for professional services sensitive to the needs of local communities then both professional and political attitudes and structures will have to undergo radical changes. However desirable such changes may be, they are long term solutions. Even if such changes were made there will still be situations where residents are at variance with the established authority or where the authority has no particular involvement or no resources are available. For these reasons it is Suggested that there will always be a need for independent professional advice and services both to assist community groups and to act as conciliators when conflicts arise. Furthermore this service should be seen as a valid and important extension of public service in the broadest sense. CommunAidtFuynd 13. The RIBA therefore proposes that a national Community Aid Fund be set up, sponsored by the Department of the Environment. Such a system would involve problems of accountability and clearly it will be necessary to establish some machinery whereby the authenticity of projects and the bona fides of community groups can be ascertained as there is no precedent in this country for channelling public funds direct to community groups. The following alternatives may be worth considering: by analogy with the Law Society and Legal Aid, money could be channelled through a joint professional committee or it could be channelled through a joint professional committee or it could be channelled through the National Council for Social Services or system could be organised here. programme. 12. The need for these services is pressing now but is likely to increase in { the near future as the new initiatives to encourage the involvement and | concern of communities in the development of their physical environment, take effect. The services, as shown in the case studies, include community environmental education, for residents to learn about their opportunities and rights as well as professional assistance for specific problems. The former, although very important, is largely outside the scope of this report: it is to " In the United States, the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development is currently considering a programme of grants direct to neighbourhood organisations which could, in part, be used to provide the professional advice they need, and the National Endowment for the Arts {an approximate equivalent to the British Arts Council) is empowered as an independent agency to make funds available to private individuals and the latter that the recommendation is addressed. through an independent agency siinilar to the Housing Corporation. 14. Examples from overseas also serve as a useful pointer to how such a community groups through its Architectural and Environmental Arts In Holland a scheme has been introduced whereby private practice architects can be paid out of public funds to work with local community groups. The scheme operates in a number of towns including Rotterdam and Amsterdam, and early results indicate that the Dutch Government expect it to be expanded. Recommendation 15. The RIBA recommends that joint discussions be arranged through the Department of the Environment with all interested parties to develop the practical shape of a Community Aid Fund to meet the needs described in this report. These discussions might examine the extent, scope, management and | accountability of such a fund. The RIBA believes that these aspects are capable of solution and that a Community Aid Fund would be a valuable contribution towards satisfying certain basic environmental and social needs. a) South Field Square, Bradford Archite-cJothn Brunton & Partners. Cli-eSnheltter Housing and Renewal Experiment. Project: The improvement of the properties and subsequent preparation of evidence for a public inquiry against clearance. 75 properties. Briefed May 1974, first fees received November 1975 from a housing association. Actual cost of fees £887, including voluntary help, total cost including voluntary help estimated at £2,000: money received - £500. The local authority has refused to remove South Field Square from its clearance programme, which means there is no public source of funds to finance this sort of work for the local residents. The Square is a listed building. Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales Architect -Chris Whittaker of Stephen George & Partners, Client - South Wales Anti-Poverty Action Centre, followed by Merthyr Housing Group, followed by Merthyr Tydfil Housing Association. Over a hundred small old houses have been looked at and schemes prepared for two infill sites since 1976. So far the cost to the practice has exceeded £10,000. No money has yet been transferred to the Houstng Association. In this long development stage there has been a lot of wastage while the association the council, the Housing Corporation, and the District Valuer open up that narrow band of houses that are too poor to find private buyers but which can still be rehabilitated. The practice now has an office in the town, but should it have had to Carry the costs so far on its own? Confidential Community Case Studies Category 1: Poor Housing Areas b) The following case studies illustrate the variety of community projects for which professional services have been required; they are typical of the activities which would benefit from the establishment of a Community Aid Fund. They are listed under 8 main subject areas. The DOE's 1976 Housing Condition and Social Surveys indicated that nearly 20% of the country's housing was in need of attention, mostly of repair, and that the need was greater where there was a concentration of elderly people and poorer families. Although the surveys show a decline in the number of unfit houses, particularly in whole areas, there are still a number of existing situations where residents, either singly or in communities, are threatened by demolition and clearance. It is in this category that the Fund would have an immediate benefit, in providing residents with professional help both to defend their homes against clearance and to prepare alternative proposals, and also to improve them. St Andrews Street, Development Co-operative, Beverley A project involving 30 new-build and 30 rehabilitated houses for a housing co-operative; involving bringing the residents together, establishing the co-operative, carrying out the professional work, and establishing credibility for the co-operative, without which the street would have been demolished and the community dispersed. The professional skills provided came free from three members of the Hull School of Architecture. No fees were paid, but the assessed cost of the professional service was approximately £3,000. The benefits of their efforts is demonstrated by the fact that the houses are now being rehabilitated. d) e) c) f) g) Qucens Road, Kingston-upon-Hull Representing 168 house owners against demolition proposals at a public inquiry. Preparation of scheme up to public inquiry took 15 months, estimated cost of professional help £2,000. Help came from members of the Hull School of Architecture, free of charge. Professional work included detailed house survey, a comprehensive social survey, structural report, plans for rehabilitation, preparation of specification, costings, preparation of an alternative plan for the area, a phasing programme, organising a case for a public enquiry. RedevelopmenotfpriorityareasintheAngel, Islington,London Staff and students of the Polytechnic of North London were first approached in September 1973, and work was carried out over the following year. The purpose of the project was to translate the planning proposal for the area into architectural design for the benefit of local community and for council members. The principal contribution the project made was to demonstrate to members of the council and their architects’ department that considerably more rehabilitation of so-called ‘poor building’ was possible than that proposed by their planning study. As a result of the demonstration, the council had adopted a policy of fewer 'clean sweeps’. The cost of professional services has not been assessed. 13_150-year old cottages, the Meadows, Kidsgrove Rod Hackney Associates were bricfed to represent the owners at a public enquiry. The time involved in the preparation of material, and the assessed cost of professional feces are not stated. No fees or expenses were paid. Parton, West Cumbria Representation by Rod Hackney Associates on behalf of local residents at a public enquiry to save Bank Yard Row and White Row. A housing association was prepared to acquire the houses and rehabilitate them. Bank Yard Row was saved, but White Row was not. No professional fees or expenses were recovered for White Row. They are likely to be recovered for Bank Yard Row as part of the rehabilitation costs. ' -10- Moor End, Northenden, Manchester Rod Hackney Associates represented all the local residents at a public enquiry at which Manchester City Council withdrew its case , so allowing residents to carry on with improvement proposals. The architect had to finance his professional work over five years from first being asked to help the residents until such time as they received their grants for improvement. 1 - 23 Nealden St, Lambeth, London The study and investigation of an alternative form of renewal in Nealden St, as against the comprehensive redevelopment proposed by the Borough. The study was carried out by the Housing Renewal Unit on behalf of the Solon Housing Association and a residents association. Actual cost of fees- £7,000; money received £2,500 in instalments during the project. The money came from Solon, which does not normally have the money to finance studies of this nature. Despite that, however, the HRU's proposals turned out to be substantially cheaper in terms of capital investment requirement and more cost effective in social terms than the development proposals by Lambeth. Leedsbatcobkacks A survey by the Housing Renewal Unit of a cellular renewal approach was applied to Leeds, with the Leeds Civic Trusts and the Leeds Community Housing Working Party as clients. Cost of the study in professional fees £1,000 but only fares were paid. The purpose was to explore the opportunities of a gradual approach to renewal for the remaining 30,000 back-to-backs in Leeds. There is no official source of funds to pay for such theoretical and general studies which would be done on behalf of local authorities. ASSIST, Govan, Glasgow The project started within the Department of Architecture at the University of Strathclyde, with a grant of £10,000 each from the Wates Foundation and the Scottish Development Department. The sced money has borne fruit in a changed attitude to rehabilitation of tenements in Glasgow. This is manifested by some 12,000 houses now in housing action areas all over the city which might otherwise have been destroyed. As is customary in such projects, the money received was from special sources. It was hard enough to raise the money in 1971, and might now be impossible. Carlisle and Cumberland, Portsmouth The Housing Renewal Unit prepared detailed evidence and alternative proposals for 85 houses - phase 1 of a clearance area of approximately 350 houses. Project included survey of house conditions, household attitudes and decisions on the range of rehabilitation options. The professional work involved is likely to cost up to £5,000, and a fee of £50 is to be paid. The money will come from Shelter, the client being a combination of the residents association and Shelter. The Consultants are now carrying out Phases Two and Three of this job for no further fee. -ll- m) -ampaign Nottingham a) Camlachie School, Gallowgate, Glasgow A project to defend 77 old properties apainst a Compulsory Purchase Order, and make representations at a Public Inquiry. Work included educating the inhabitants on procedure, social and house surveys, preparing alternative plans, and making the case for the enquiry. -The architects, D Nicholson-Cole and M Chiuini will receive no fee unless the residents win their case, although the solicitor involved will receive his costs through Legal Aid. Much of the architects’ time was spent on giving quasi-legal advice, planning matters, housing legislation, and doing surveys. Category 2: Community Buildings Community groups May wish to use a building, usually an existing one, for their own community purpose. They require professional assistance to prepare a technical argument in order to secure finance. Conversion work partly carried out by Community Industry with specialist contractors, initiated by the teachers running the community school. ASSIST provided advice on feasibility, on conversion, negotiations with Education Authorities, Fire Master, Building Control, Planning etc. designed the conversion, negotiated with the electrical] and plumbing contractors, supervised their work and co-ordinated the Construction process. Problems included the high level of vandalism and theft from the site, and the unreliable nature of the community workforce. Architectural input in such projects must have continuity given the inexperience of the client. To expect such projects to be Squeezed into any office as unpaid work handed from architect to architect is to invite disaster. Assessed cost of fees £1,500: fees received —nil. Dixon Hall Day Centre, Govan Hill, Glasgow Conversion of a public hall for use as a day centre for pensioners. ASSIST were asked to produce ideas for the conversion, and to produce a scheme sufficiently detailed to form the basis for an Urban Aid Grant. This necessitated taking the project to production drawing Stape, as the local authority had to be assured that all necessary building regulations were complied with. If work does not proceed, assessed fees would come to £2,500 of which ASSIST may receive £1,000. Note: Much of ASSIST's work is at stages A and B (inception and feasibility). Most grant giving bodies do not pay for this stage of the work. c) Govanhill Community Rooms, Govanhill, Glasgow This is the conversion and alteration of two temporary school class- rooms for the Govanhill Youth and Community Youth Association. Problems included those arising from the use of job creation labour, and the fact that JCP programmes allow only 10% over salary costs for overheads which is wholly inadequate to cover the real costs of housing, supporting and supervising young and fairly inexperienced architect. There is uncertainty about the liability for professional negligence of a practice sponsoring a JCP architect. ASSIST receive no payment for supervision, nor for providing accommodation, phones, nor secretarial services used by the JCP architect. The architect was financed under the JCP programme but the JCP Grants are insufficient to cover adequately the professional services. Bridstow Village Hall, Ross on Wye, Herefordshire The repair or renewal of the village hall for which grants would be available as long as work began before April 1979. In rural areas, the village hall or community centre is more often than not the focal point for social and recreational activities. Yet most organisations using them are generally short of funds. They are reluctant to spend part of their very limited resources in engaging professional consultants. The result is that they either attempt to do it themselves in which case they may fail to meet the criteria for funds, or are led into a package deal without adequate safepuards on their side. When the committee sought grant aid from the County Council, they had not sought any professional advice and had wasitd valuable time. The result was the village hall committee failed to seek professional advice early enough in the year to ensure the most economic solution to the problem was found, and the application was not submitted in time for planning permission. Brilley Village Hall, Brilley, Herefordshire The extension and improvement to the village hall, a converted redundant village school. The committee did not seek professional advice and submitted a grant application which did not make the best use of the money or space. The estimate of costs first submitted by the committee for their own scheme turned out to be based on the use of voluntary labour. Now the scope of the work is fully appreciated it is apparent that the work will be beyond their capabilities. The project will now have to be carried out in two phases spread over two years due to insufficient thought at the initial stage regarding the way the building was to be improved and the cost of this work. Although redundant village schools can make extremely good village halls with careful consideration at the design stage, committees, usually short of funds, attempt to design the conversion themselves without professional advice. The result is unnecessary delay, additional costs and in some cases the aborting of the project. =a ai d) e) Lenton Community Centre, Nottingham Nottingham Community Arts and Crafts Centre The conversion of the Old Dispensary at Gregory Boulevard, into an Arts and Crafts Centre. David Nicholson-Cole prepared proposals ior a group of local people, and did the typing and graphics for the report. He thereafter worked on the preparation of a Manpower Services Commission application. All professional services were donated although the architect had a university salary on which to live. The project had dual objectives in aiming to provide working space for craftsmen to earn their living and also to teach their craft, both of which would alleviate inner city problems. Architectural advice was necessary but there was no moncy to pay for it. Merseyside Carribean Centre, Liverpool8 Since the project is funded under the Urban Programme, the Merseyside Carribean Council had to apply initially to Liverpool City Council. In order to make a proper application, a substantial amount of architectural services was required in advance: - agreement of the brief, finding them a site, negotiations with various local authority departments, site appraisal and investigation, sketch plans, outline of a realistic cost estimate. These services were provided by James Hunter Associates, Liverpool planning approval, and the production architects. If the application Programme applications in Liverpool have a success rate of 1 in 10) the Council would have been unable services. A community aid fund would make it easier for voluntary organisations to take a positive attitude towards environmental change. The reason is that the absence of expert knowledge can cause organisations to come unstuck when regulations and legislation surrounding architectural and environmental issues. The value of preliminary work prior to grant aid application being made was approximately £2,500. Nottingham City offered the Tenants Association a portion of a baths building built in the thirties, £2,000 conversion. Architect David Nicholson-Cole produced a feasibility study for the cheapest possible plan which cost £9,000. After that the City Council architect did the necessary working drawings and provided other professional services, and David Nicholson-Cole's task was to monitor the building work and help the residents. Services were donated free by the architect. The Tenants’ Association, being composed of council tenants, had no finance to pay for professional fees, yet the architect's help multiplied the money available to tenants by four and a half, simply by finding out what they needed and working out the best plan. The action of the City Council doing the architectural drawings based on the architects drawings, negotiating with the builders and supervising the work was the ideal compromise. had been unsuccessful (Urban to pay for these architectural confronted with a host of was offered to pay for the Day Work andCentrefor Radford Community Care Group,Nottingham David Nicholson-Cole was asked by the Action Resource Centre to prepare plans for a site selected by the Radford Care Group to provide a day centre in which old people could spend the day. Architect prepared plans for the site, obtained costings from a builder, and fresh drawings for local authority approvals and tenders. No fees received for feasibility work; fees payable after an Urban Aid grant is received on a time basis. Without the professional work, the old people of Radford would have been unable to accept the donation of a redundant prefab nor make an application for an Urban Aid grant for the new building. A Community Aid Fund would have enabled the Radford Care Group to feel that the success of the project did not depend entirely on the continuing generosity of one person. Category 3: Conversions Similarly in kind to Category 2, this category includes the conversion of buildings for a variety of uses, including the provision of small scale workshops. a) Margaret Street Baths, Everton, Liverpool 5 100 years old building closed in 1974. Local voluntary organisations assisted by the Liverpool Council for Social Service, produced a scheme for the conversion of the baths to a sports centre for use by un-clubbable teenagers who were causing havoc on the streets. This required detailed negotiations with various councillors and officers of the local authority. Initial design work, costings and organisation of the funding was worked out by architects Jim Hunter and Nigel Worth. Without expert knowledge it is certain that this scheme would have floundered in early stages. Architectural services for inception and feasibility were donated free to the project. The value of these services was approximately £2,000. In addition to this, assistance had been provided by the staff at LCVS. b) Rotherhithe Workshops, Hope Sufferance Wharf, Southwark, London SE16 The renovation of warchouses and conversion to craft workshops and a dance studio on behalf of the Industrial Buildings Preservation Trust. This was a particularly difficult task in converting historic warehouses into low cost workshops, using paid direct labour teams, and inexperienced site management. The professional fees involyed came to at least £7,000, which were paid in full. However they were paid out of a number of grants, which took a very long time to assemble. In addition to that, initial feasibility studies were provided free of charge -although without those feasibility studies the project would never have been started. The immense amount of inception work which this project required was provided on a voluntary basis. The lack of funds for the planning stage undoubtedly led to higher costs later on. Sis c) Brunel Exhibition Project, London Si:16 d) Working out schemes _that Category 4: _Anti-vandalism a) ‘ Angela Street, Liverpool The project consisted of landscaping a former junkyard, followed by the restoration of Brunel's Engine House for the Thames Tunnel. The scheme was funded by a variety of charities, an appeal, local authority and DOE funds. There have been many difficulties causing substantial delay including obtaining the use of the site, the release of funds, the necessary approvals, agreement on specification, and raising more finance. Once again, the body of the work was done by Nicholas Falk on a voluntary basis. Some £3,242 worth of professional fees have been incurred to date by the architects Duffy, Eley, Giffone Worthington in addition to £1,938 worth of abortive work. Total amount of money received so far - £500. This case study reveals yet again the difficulty of getting schemes started -particularly where they involve older buildings which require very much more negotiation than the construction of new ones, and hence more professional fees. t mest fall within approved government prograanmdmbuedgsetse.g.inrelationtotheD.O.E.'sIndustrial Improvement Areas or the M.S.C.'s Special Opportunities Programme. Often 'third force' agencies are needed, particularly where there are multiple objectives and several sources of finance to be tapped. A good example of this problem is the difficulty that the Job Building Action Group (JAG) has had in setting up a training workshop and related flatted factories in Lambeth. Thougn Wicholas Falk helped the group devise a scheme involving a number of different voluntary groups, JAG lacked the capacity properly to evaluate the various possible sites and press the case’ for one of them. The Industrial Buildings Preservation Trust has spent around £500 on working up schemes for converting buildings owned by the GLC into workshops, and it is easy for a voluntary body's resources to be exhausted if nothing goes ahead. Local residents' or tenants' groups require professional help to combat vandalism, often in post-war developments, where the built environment has contributed to the problem. Hunter Associates of Liverpool were commissioned under the Inner Area Studies to carry out a scheme of Defensible Space in blocks of four storey walk-up flats in inner demonstrated the extent to which living conditions in those flats were virtually untenable, and it tested out some methods of improving them. The point of the inclusion of this in these case studies is that the money came from a special research fund. There is no normal source of finance to pay for this sort of work, although it is essential if improved living conditions for tenants are to be achieved. Liverpool. This experiment b) Tower Hill Estate, Kirkby, Knowsley c) Withens Centre, Cantril Farm, Liverpool Category 5: Use of derelict land The Lively Arts Centre, Dock St. London On behalf of the Half Moon Community Theatre, the Community end Resource Planning Group prepared a report looking at the revival of the surrounding area near Wiltons Music Hall. The report recommended refurbishing empty and derelict warchousing, out of doors activities on derelict land, the provision of low cost housing, #nd associated industrial units, whereas the centre of the square will be used by the local community for various activities. Joint clients were the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, and the professional fees were assessed at £5,500. No fees have been received, and none are likely to be unless the scheme proceeds. =n lie a) This is a virtually uninhabited scheme of deck access, multi-storey maisonettes with low income families. In addition to the unsuitability of accommodation for low income families, the construction of the buildings is technically poor. Pre-cast concrete cladding panels leak at the joints, access decks leak water into the flats below, and condensation is rife. The tenants commissioned Hunter Associates to prepare technical reports in some cases required to back up legal action undertaken under Section 99 of the Public Health Act. Although some of the services can be obtained under the Legal Aid scheme, in practice the time scale relating to such payments is too long to work. A community aid fund would allow harrassed tenants groups to participate in the improvement of their own living conditions. The value of the consulting work was approximately £1,000. No payment received. This is a multi-level district shopping centre in the centre of an overspill estate. Residents are harrassed by delinquent teenagers who use the centre and the communal deck access as an unofficial adventure playground. Cars parked in the underground carpark are prone to break-ins and vandalism. Hunter Associates were asked by the residents to report on ways to make this centre safer. This report involved a considerable amount of study, and produced 8 proposals. There is no finance available to pay for the preparation of this report or the recommendation. The availability of a community aid fund would allow similar groups of residents to purchase technical expertise and to contribute to the decision making. Value of consultancy work approx. £1,000. No payment received. Community groups can often find a short term use for waste land and need help in securing it and in providing a technical solution for its community use. The services provided by Inter-Action's NUBS in helping the establishment of Urban Farms fall into this category. =aia b) Use ofland bencath motorways The study of land beneath an elevated motorway showed that it could provide facilities for the local community including a self-build theatre, low cost community facilities, a shop, landscape improvements, and a community hall. These projects were completed by a group of local architects acting individually or as a member of the community design group over three years (1971-74). The funding was organised through a charitable trust, and fee paying projects subsidised unpaid or voluntary work. Not all the proposals have been taken up, and there is a large amount of derelict land still unused, Category 6: Area Studies c) Other references There are a number of publications on this subject giving details of projects carried out. They include the Civic Trust's Urban Wasteland” report and Norwich City Council's "Heritage over the Wensum". Local people not only require explanations of the planning authority's proposals, but also need to commission independent studies, and obtain advice in formulating alternative proposals. a) A continuous programme in Canterbury Involving students, local groups and professionals refining and developing plans to mect the needs for people living in the area. For example, a recurring problem was what to do with cars in the city centre. The local authority proposed a multi-storey car park. One result of the studies demonstrated that almost as many Cars as could be accommodated in the multi-storey, could be parked in the existing surface car parks simply by laying them out properly. Potential saving of £2 million. Secondly, alternative proposals were made for a site for a large office development in a residential area. The public enquiry came out in favour of those alternatives. Thirdly, the design and negotiation of a community garden on land that had been blighted by road proposals in the middle of a conservation area. This garden is now proceeding. None of these projects would have been carried out without the area studies produced free of charge. b) An investigation into the effects of industrial development upon rural communities for the Easter Ross residents group in Scotland. Community and Resource Planning Group (CRPG) were asked to report on the likely effect of major industrial decisions upon existing rural areas. The report was made available to residents of Easter Ross, was summarised on television and radio, and was discussed in the House of Commons. Publication of 2,000 copies of the report was funded by the residents group. Assessed cost of professional fees £15,000; fees received £5,000. c) Category 7: Adult Education and Environmental Education a) Environmental Education for Adults and Schools Involvement of the public in planning matters is now central to Government policy. Some planning decisions-on _ rehousing, relocation, transport etc - have a direct bearing on individuals and on companies. Yet there are few methods by which the non-professional can acquire the know-how to survive and prosper. One of the root causes of urban troubles could be the lack of such education, and the subsequent apathy or antipathy toward environmental matters. Work done in Urban Studies Centres and the Newcastle Architectural Workshop demonstrate the need for special educational units or centres. Best linked closely with a School of Architecture and within the area of a sympathetic local authority the unit should draw together different design professions and teachers. Sao Opinion survey of industrial development around the Moray Firth in Easter Ross. CPRG was asked to undertake an opinion survey of 5% of the families living in Easter Ross with a view to discovering the extent of movement of people into and out of the area, the adequacy of employment and local amenities, the views of local people concerning existing industry, and the attitude of local people towards communication of official information. The document demonstrated a clear picture of life in Easter Ross with rapid acceleration of people moving into the area during the last five years; the desperate need for more jobs and a general desire for industrial development to be more closely related to the size and scale of existing communities. Assessed cost of professional fees: £5,000; fees recieved £900. There is a pressing need for people to be more aware of their urban environment, its quality, need and potential. Innovation in the community architecture/education field is becoraing increasingly important if we are to satisfy the needs of society. Finance is urgently required to set up an experimental unit(s) in an inner city/partnership area for a minimum period of five years. Pilot work would be geared to the needs of the community and would be monitored over the trial period. - This work would relate to programmes already evolving through institutions such as the Urban Studies Centres and the Newcastle Architectural Workshop. The capital cost of setting up such a unit is expected to be in the region of £30,000 and running costs for a staff of 6-8 approximately £60,000. The Unit would be a major innovation in the fields of higher and professional education. y 8: Arbitration This category covers cases where professional help is required to produce technical evidence in rent tribunals or to settle disputes between agprieved residents. a) Rod Hackney Associates appeared on behalf of Pensioners who could not afford an increase in rent. 45 professional hours were spent in this case, with no indication from the client on how they could repay professional charges. The bill remains outstanding. Solicitors acting for the tenants obtained fees through the Legal Aid funding system, but the architect did not. The architects’ involvement was necessary because structural and condition surveys had to be drawn up. In addition, the clients were trying to persuade the landlord to improve the property. A schedule of work, of drawings and specifications were required as information for the arbitration. Without free professional advice in the building field, a successful case could not have been entertained. -20- Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource RIBA Community Architecture Working 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 Decenber 1978