Demolishing arguments

[Howie]

The problem with appointing a body of "experts" is that their expertise is so often questionable. Cabe, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, was created by New Labour as a successor to the Fine Arts Commission allegedly run as a one-man show by Lord St John of Fawsley. It soon acquired a reputation for making dubious aesthetic pronouncements on new building projects, promoting the foolish and faddish at the expense of the tried and trusted.

Overall, Cabe often failed to apply the simple rule which it has since formulated about new buildings: that they be of better quality than those they replace. In consequence, many much-loved Victorian terraces all over the Midlands and the North are due to be demolished to make way for indifferent new housing.

But this week, at last, the developers' poodle has turned and barked. Cabe reported for the first time on one of the Government's "housing market renewal" (i.e. demolition and rebuilding) schemes, and found it badly wanting. "We think the project fails both as urban design and as architecture," say the experts of the site in Sandwell, previously pointed to by the Government as a showcase for "market renewal". The project, designed by Persimmon plc and paid for by John Prescott's amorphous Whitehall department, failed on eight out of 10 of Cabe's objectives for good design. In particular, it lacks sufficient communal space and fails to keep faith with the character of the area - errors sadly familiar from a generation ago.

The high crime rates endured by the residents of 1960s housing estates testify to the obvious truth that bad design blights lives. "Expertise" and "modernity", no matter how eye-catching on a drawing-board, are no substitute for good building. If Cabe has a reason for existing - which is not yet proved - it is surely to defend unfashionable and worthy styles of architecture against ephemeral and worthless fads. If this report signals a new determination to do so, we will all be grateful - particularly if the commission now turns its attention to the catastrophe pending in Victorian Liverpool.

Source: Telegraph

[Kev]

Ringo's House to be flattened. Former Beatle Ringo Starr's birthplace is to be demolished because it has "no historical significance", Liverpool City Council has said.

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[Max]

Only historial thing about it is that he lived there.

[Howie]

Welsh Streets homes doomed

HUNDREDS of homes in Liverpool's historic Welsh Streets are facing demolition after an 11th-hour change of heart by housing officials.

Almost 500 homes, including Madryn Street, the former home of Beatle Ringo Starr, are now set to be bulldozed.

The controversial plans to flatten the 11 streets and rebuild were shelved earlier this year after huge protests.

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[Howie]

Your guide to the new Edge Lane



PLANS to transform Liverpool's Edge Lane with a widened road and new housing have sparked anger from some residents, whose homes will be demolished.

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[Howie]

Soaring house prices save 7,000 homes from the axe

ROCKETING house prices across Merseyside have led to a dramatic cut in the biggest housing demolition programme since the slum clearances of the 1960s.

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[Howie]

Battle as road plan gets the go-ahead

FAMILIES living close to Liverpool's busy Edge Lane were gearing up for a fight last night after councillors gave the go-ahead to a £40m road widening scheme.

Despite pleas by local people and their three councillors, the council's planning committee voted by a majority to approve the road scheme.

The battle will now switch to a proposed public inquiry next month to decide whether compulsory purchase orders should be confirmed.

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[Kev]

THE house where Ringo Starr was born will be taken down brick by brick and preserved, it was revealed today. Housing chiefs have come under fire for wanting to demolish the Beatles drummer's first home in Liverpool's Welsh Streets area under a £54m regeneration plan. Liverpool council today announced it will carefully dismantle the Madryn Street terrace rather than bulldoze it along with almost 500 other properties.

Source

[Scousemouse]

Quote by Cllr Flo Clucas, executive member for housing: "There has been a lot of speculation about Ringo Starr's former home in Madryn Street. I have asked officers to ensure that the property is taken down and stored. Its future use will become clear over time."

Translates to "We haven't got a bloody clue what we're going to do with it, but it'll keep 'em quiet for now."



I wonder if the Council will think to take down the 'Madryn Street' sign before some enterprising chap half-inches it?

[Max]

When they take the house down brick by brick were will they take the bricks? Will they rebuild them somewhere and make it into a tourist attraction?