#london development

[legitedigiulia]

LOTS OF POWER

Lots Road Power Station

Chelsea Creek, Lodnon march 2021

[goodsyard-recaptured]

Pipe speaks out on Goodsyard

Hackney Mayor Jules Pipe’s has issued his formal response to the current consultation on the proposals for the Bishopsgate Goodsyard.

His open letter to the Mayor of London says that although he supports the principle of high density redevelopment of the Goodsyard site, and that it “represents a fantastic opportunity for regeneration”.

However, Mayor Pipe is opposed to the plan’s scale and housing mix. He says that “it’s entirely possible to design a scheme more appropriate in scale, which generates the right kind of business space for growth and job creation, and provides a good mix of housing, while still meeting reasonable expectations on the part of the developer”.

He criticises Hammerson and Ballymore, the joint developer, for showing “very little interest in collaboration”, and producing something which “serves primarily their financial interests”.

He feels the scheme, with towers of 47 and 39 storeys among 12 buildings is too tall for the location.

Pipe provides significant criticism of the developers’ economic viability assessment, which suggests no affordable content for the scheme would be appropriate, although they have included 10%. The council commissioned their own assessment, which concluded that 30% affordable was easily possible, together with a further offsite contribution of £12m.

He also crticises the amount and type of proposed commercial space, saying it “brings no value to Tech City and could actually lead to the dissipation of this growing and increasingly renowned cluster of design and tech companies”.

He says: “As it stands, this scheme will serve primarily to line the pockets of developers and property investors and is an example of everything that is wrong with the capital’s property and development market.”

The Mayor of London called the decision in after Hackney failed to determine it within the time limit.

[goodsyard-recaptured]

Tower-full Own Goal by Boris

Bishopsgate Goodsyard or, in football terms, the ‘Power League’ area. Power League shares this site with the recently established Box Park; an ad-hoc shipping container gathering of small retail outlets. The rest of the site is predominantly unused Greenfield land, dissected by the new(ish) Overground line. It is, admittedly, ideal location for a new development of pretty much anything, from a developer’s perspective.

The proposal below has been put forward by Farrell’s (super-Architect and planner Terry Farrell’s practice), so automatically deserves some respect, right? On first glance, there doesn’t appear too much wrong with the images put forward. It’s reasonable to expect developers to want to maximise the space by implementing luxury residential towers (whose apartments will be snapped up in seconds by foreign investors), and they will supplement these with all of the usual mixed-use facilities that would be expected to help them attain planning permission just about anywhere else in the city.

What has brought this to my attention, however, is the recently published alternative design by global architects, Gensler (whose local practice is around the corner), on behalf of Hackney Council.

It seems that Boris Johnson has virtually approved the multi-tower design, bar a couple of tweaks, despite the fact that the Mayor of Hackney, Jules Pipe, is openly against the proposition, to the extent of launching a petition against the scheme. Pipe points out that the proposal contradicts the ambitions of the government – Boris’ Tory government – for the area surrounding ‘Silicon roundabout’, London’s answer to California’s Silicon Valley. “The repercussions of this development could be so severe that they lead to the fragmentation of the local cluster of design and tech firms, leading to the loss of thousands of local jobs, and damage to London’s reputation as a global leader in these industries”. Bit of an own goal, then, Boris?

The Council here got together with Gensler to conceive this alternative layout. It’s worth noting that Gensler’s American office, and origin, is based in San Francisco; home of the original Silicon valley, so their ideas should hold with some merit. It’s clearly in very sketchy format but and some of the principles applied are pretty obvious; i.e. matching the immediately adjacent building heights at the perimeters of the site, and building up to slightly taller blocks within the extents of the scheme. Simple, but effective tactics (my 7-aside team could have done with some of those last night).

A pragmatic approach must surely be taken with regards to luxury housing. Mayor Pipes seems to object to these as they are “well beyond the reach of most people and have a hugely detrimental impact on the local area, both residential and commercial”.

I feel that it is perfectly acceptable to accommodate a number of luxury apartments, even with the sole intention of marketing off to foreign investors, so long as they are supplemented by an adequate proportion of genuinely affordable homes for Londoners. I am aware of the vague language I have used here when discussing figures, as ratios of affordable-to-private homes are topics which require far more consideration than an angry footballer is willing to give right now. However, I do strongly feel that ‘affordable’ should not be constituted by the reduction of just 20% of the market price of equivalent properties in the location. As a professional working in the city, I would barely be able to afford a property at 50% of the market value, so I think ‘affordable’ is somewhat misleading.

In all likelihood, either option would realistically want to accommodate some luxury, private accommodation (“some”. Yes; still keeping the figures vague). However, the difference between the proposals’ massing options is particularly revealing. If the figures presented by Gensler are realistic, than the option of a medium rise development should surely be worth genuine consideration by Boris and chums. This proposal is a step in the right direction away from Farrell’s line of skyscrapers that look as if they are queuing for a bus to the growing gathering of office towers down the road. And isn’t that where towers are supposed to be located? Isn’t that what the “cluster” is all about, Peter Rees?

I have no problem with towers. I have been working on the design of one for several months, and I genuinely believe that it will benefit its specific local context. The cluster of towers around Liverpool Street is logical (not the Walkie Talkie. That’s a different story all together) and the unusual shapes they make are unique and, well, fun. Plus, there is already a tower (below) right next to our wonderful football pitches (again, another story). Towers in general are not the problem.

I’m also not afraid of change (best not to be, as an Architect), so even though I have no idea where I will be scoring all of my Gerrard-esque goals on Tuesday nights in future, I welcome investment into the area and look forward to seeing the development get started.

However, Architects and developers should be considering whether towers are right for their environment. In this case, a barricade of glistening vertical sausage matrixes* will block views, cover vast areas in near-permanent shade, play havoc with the local microclimate and detract from the factory scale character of the existing Shoreditch context. These problems could all be argued away if it were not for Gensler’s viable alternative. This design proves that the Council shouldn’t have to compromise the immediate context to achieve similar land value. According to the Emma Bartholomew at the Hackney Gazette; “Both Hackney and Tower Hamlets councils will scrutinise the proposals before deciding whether to grant planning permission”. So it sounds as though Hammerson and Ballymore Group, along with Farrell’s, will have their work cut out for them with keeping everyone happy.

I have to admit that I do feel like the Gensler proposal (“Scenario 2”) could do with one taller building somewhere in the middle. Sound hypocritical? Well let’s put it this way; if the entire 11.6 acre site is to be developed in one masterplan, then there is a reasonable element of control over the entire “plot”. With that in mind, we can feel reasonably comfortable that a single tower will not be accompanied by tower mates any time soon, as this would involve the removal of large portions of the well designed lower massing, and would probably scramble the masterplan intentions. A single tower within a mix of medium rise would therefore surely be suitable.

I suppose that Gensler have been deliberately modest in their massing heights to prove a point, but the developer in me sees further room for maximising land value.

Click here for the Mayor of Hackney’s petition for Boris Johnson to withdraw his support for the skyscraper scheme.

*A term I believe I remember reading Jonathon Meades coining. If not, I’m claiming it.

[goodsyard-recaptured]

The problem of tall towers in cities

Using London as an example, tall buildings are being planned for and developed in isolation without enough regard being given to the effects they have on their surroundings, neighbourhoods and neighbours.

Many of these individual towers are being designed to be ‘green’ and low-carbon, but some basic issues are being missed. For example, these tall buildings soak up heat during the day and then release this heat during the night – and this effect is even more marked in clusters of tall buildings which is being missed in the pre-planning and pre-construction modelling and simulations.

This leads to heat-islands which are not that great a problem when these buildings are offices which are not occupied at night – but will be a problem when they are residential towers, of which many are now being planned for London. Tall residential towers, especially when in clusters, could well lead to very uncomfortable sleeping conditions.

Also, these tall towers are having, and will have, a detrimental effect on the environment of their neighbours and neighbourhoods. For example, the proposed tall tower cluster at Bishopsgate Goods Yard will cast a large shadow over the low rise Boundary Estate – a Council Estate which was laid out to take advantage of passive solar design; so that the streets received sun-shine and daylight and the homes received passive solar-heating.

Studies have shown that the new tall towers will remove this passive gain to such an extent that the heating costs of those on the Boundary Estate will rise by about 5% .

So, the people living in this area will not only be living in a giant shadow with all of the ‘liveability’ issues that brings but will have to pay out more in heating costs.

The question has to be asked if it is right that one landowner should be allowed to pass these costs onto their neighbours in the interest of profit maximisation?

I can’t help thinking that we seem to have moved away for the point of having a Town Planning System – to balance the needs and interests of society as a whole.

March 10, 2016 by stevenboxall

[uncutdiamondsjewelrygii]

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