From the Chairman:

London has hardly been out of the news in the last month, for distressing reasons. It is difficult to understand the minds of terrorists who think that bringing indiscriminate death to citizens and visitors alike can ever take their cause forward. London has ever been a liberal minded and tolerant city; I hope it stays that way despite the efforts of those who think otherwise. I was out of England on 7 July and had some anxious hours before establishing that my family and friends were well. I was in central London on 21 July. Then and since I have been struck by the steely determination of Londoners to continue their lives in defiance of the terrorist threat and their resilience in the face of the disruptions that both terrorism and anti-terrorist operations have confronted us with. A visit to the theatre in the West End last week did not suggest that London was off limits to either tourists or residents; long may it remain so.

The terrorist attacks rather took the edge off what was seen as London’s triumph in its Olympic bid. Whatever our thoughts about London as an Olympic city we should congratulate those who were responsible for this successful outcome and do whatever we can to ensure that before, during and after the Olympics energy and expenditure is directed towards making London a better place to live in and to visit. Already political and administrative processes are well advanced and the construction press is full of advertisements about the commercial opportunities arising from the Olympics. We must press those responsible to make sure that London 2012 will be looked back on as the seizing of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to improve London and not as an open door for short term opportunism.

How the approaching Olympics will seem increasingly pervasive into all aspects of our lives was made clear within a few days of the announcement of London’s success. The Heritage Lottery Fund has announced major grants of some £20m for a major revamping of the Museum of London and a transformation of the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries at the V&A Museum. Both these awards were explicitly linked to programmes intended to cater for expected visitor increases in 2012. Both museums, we hope, will benefit in the long term from these improvements.

The pace of change in London can now be very graphically seen in a new project at the Building Centre, in Store Street, just off Tottenham Court Road. NLA, New London Architecture, sets out to highlight developments in London. Central to the exhibition space is a large model of London which includes not just what has already been built but those projects which have planning permission. Around the model, intended to be a permanent feature (we hope it will be kept up-to-date), will be changing exhibitions. On until 10 September is an exhibition, called The Changing Face of London, of photographs of a large number of projects, recently completed, in progress and planned; this will be followed in September/October by an exhibition on 100 Public Spaces, reflecting the Mayor of London’s initiative to improve the quality and accessibility of London’s public realm.

The model at NLA shows the growth of clusters of tall buildings. These continue to be of concern to the Society, especially when their sprouting all over London seems haphazard and promoted against other planning constraints; the Deputy Prime Minister has recently over-ruled his own planning inspector in permitting the development of a 50 storey building at Vauxhall which the inspector had decided would adversely affect the Westminster World Heritage site. The Mayor has just set out his thoughts on strategic views and his draft document clearly encompasses the growth in the number of tall buildings which was first envisaged in his London Plan. This draft strategy introduces some welcome innovations, especially the concept of strategic riverside views, but it also lessens the control over some of the view corridors protected under existing guidance. It emphasises the consolidation of clusters of tall buildings - seen, for instance, in the proposals for new tall buildings in Bishopsgate and Leadenhall Street - but also rather worryingly refers to the development of new clusters. Does this mean that any planning permission for one tall building in an area hitherto without them will immediately become an excuse for a whole cluster of them?

September will bring the 2005 London Open House Weekend on 17-18 September. This annual festival allows free access to many buildings, old favourites and newcomers, which are not on the usual visits network. Organised through the Civic Trust the event has become not just a means of satisfying our curiosity about the insides of buildings not usually open but also a means of encouraging an appreciation of good architecture, old and new. The programme for this year’s event will be available from 15 August and can be obtained by using the website www.londonopenhouse.org or by telephone from 020 7383 2131. For those who would like to see further afield here is the annual Heritage Open Days weekend on 10-11 September. Information on this can be got from www.heritageopendays.org.uk.

The Society had successful meetings just before the summer holidays. We had a wide-ranging and informative Banister Fletcher Lecture from Margaret Richardson on the London work of Sir Banister Fletcher. Then we had a convivial Annual General Meeting at the Georgian Group’s building in Fitzroy Square. Many members squashed into the handsome first floor Adam drawing room on a warm evening to conduct our business meeting and hear about what the Georgian Group does. This was followed by our usual good spread of refreshments. The Society would like more new blood among its active members. This year’s AGM saw only one significant change in your executive committee, and we welcome James Sandison as our new Honorary Treasurer. I was glad of the opportunity to meet many of you at these events. This newsletter brings another visits list. The Debenham House visit on 7 July had to be abandoned but arrangements are being made to replace it and those who had booked for 7 July will be contacted individually.

Two of your Society’s officers have suffered bereavements over the summer. Our sympathy and condolences go to John Hill and his wife for the sudden death of their son and Lizzie Wells for the death of her husband after a long struggle against ill health. Christopher Hill has been an invaluable help to the Society with the development of our website and computer facilities and we shall miss his skilled guidance on these matters.

With best wishes,
Frank Kelsall

TheLondonSociety

From the Chairman:

The
London
Society