Newspaper
Design for London
In a bid to make London a ‘world leader’ in sustainable urban planning, design and architecture, mayor Ken Livingstone has created a special design unit.
The newly established group, Design for London, will review major schemes and establish a portfolio of projects that boasts ‘exemplar design’ in a bid to encourage best practice. It will also use planning frameworks in an attempt to enforce a more considered approach by stakeholders involved in the design and development ofthe crucial area of the Thames Gateway.
The elite team, which merges staff from the Greater London Authority’s (GLA) Architecture and Urbanism Unit and the London Development Agency designers, will report to an advisory group led by architect Lord Rogers. The group is expected to include a mix of experienced design professionals, academics and industry leaders. The search for a director of Design for London, a newly created post, started last month with advertisements placed in national and trade press. The director and the new team will work with groups such as Transport for London and the design team at the Olympic Delivery Authority.
“If we are to continue to attract the world’s best people and more international investment, we must adopt and promote the highest standards,” Livingstone said.
Livingstone wants Design for London to target climate change, regeneration and accessibility, working across the GLA to champion his vision for “exciting, sustainable and world-class architecture and design”.
Lord Rogers, the mayor’s chief advisor on architecture and urbanism, said: “Cities are competing to be the best and design lies at the heart of that competition. The new group will take very practical steps to support better public space and buildings in London.”
Just how Design for London will work with the Government’s national design watchdog CABE has not been revealed. CABE, however, has issued a short statement welcoming the move.
“We welcome the important and influential role for Lord Rogers,” the organisation said. “Design for London seems to be a natural home for a design-review function and CABE will be happy to draw on its experience to advise on establishing and running this.
“The team will be in a good position to give input on the spatial strategies for the opportunity areas identified in the London Plan. For example, it can feed into arrangements, shortly to be announced, for advising on Olympic projects.
“Like the mayor, CABE believes that achieving consistently good design is vital to the future success of London. We are particularly looking forward to working in partnership with Design for London on projects where we have a mutual interest.” Meanwhile, CABE Space director Julia Thrift has moved to quell fears her group will lose its identity when she leaves this summer. Thrift insisted “there will be no real change” and that the challenge ahead was to view urban areas as a whole.
Thrift, who has worked at CABE Space since it started three years ago, announced her decision to resign as a full-time director. “There is no sinister reason for leaving; it’s a quality of life thing,” she said. Thrift will, however, continue to work for the team on a freelance basis.
“CABE itself has 100 staff,” added Thrift, “and this is a good time for it to join things up more, while thinking about the whole environment. There is now an opportunity to get understanding of green-space issues to a wider audience through working with CABE.”
In another move, the Labour MP Nick Raynsford is replacing Stuart Henderson as the chairman of the Construction Industry Council. Speaking about his new role, Raynsford said: “A benign economic environment is fundamental to the industry.
I remember the dire consequences of the stop-go pattern of the British economy in the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s and early ’90s.” Raynsford, who will hold the post for two years, stressed the importance of the public sector. It will account for at least 40 per cent of the industry’s total workload and will be backed up the private sector, which will pour badly needed investment into projects.
He said: “One of the real advances of recent years has been the close co-operation between the public and private sectors in financing new development through the Private Finance Initiative, and in creating mixed developments. Partnership is crucial to future success and will be put to the test in some of our major projects in the coming years. The 2012 Olympic Games will present opportunities and the challenges.”
Raynsford was minister for Local and Regional Government from 2001 to 2005. The Construction Industry Council represents professional, research and trade groups, and Henderson takes over Raynsford’s previous role, deputy chairman. Discuss this article
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