Ciudad Bristol
July 21st, 2005, 02:31 PM
I quite like this building. I used the conference facilities last year for work and think it would be a shame it was knocked down. I believe restoration works were carried out in 2001 by Avery Associates.
July 21, 2005
Commonwealth leaders accuse Britain of selfish imperialism
By Jill Sherman, Whitehall Editor
COMMONWEALTH leaders accused the Government yesterday of “selfish imperialism” by refusing to let them knock down their defunct 1960s London headquarters.
The Commonwealth Secretariat, which represents 53 countries, condemned the Government’s refusal to remove the Grade II* listing from the Commonwealth Institute building, which protects it from being demolished.
The secretariat held an emergency meeting after it heard of the decision and is now considering taking the Government to judicial review. It claims that the sale of the site could have raised £80 million to educate children abroad.
Yesterday Commonwealth officials claimed that the decision flew in the face of Tony Blair’s G8 pledges on Africa. It was also scant reward for the Commonwealth’s support for Britain’s successful bid for the 2012 Olympic Games, they argued. In a strongly worded statement Don McKinnon, the Commonwealth Secretary-General, said that the Institute could have funded education programmes for 75 million Commonwealth children if they had been able to sell the site without the white elephant.
“The UK’s decision is selfish imperialism,” Mr McKinnon said yesterday. “This scandalous act robs millions of children in the developing world of educational opportunities. The British Government has missed this opportunity and instead decided to keep the Institute’s assets locked in a derelict building, a Millennium Dome of the 1960s, which no one wants, no one needs and serves no purpose whatsoever.”
He argued that Commonwealth countries had invested the equivalent of £40 million in today’s prices to establish the Institute in the 19th Century. But instead of gaining an £80 million return on their investment they would get a mere £17 million if they sold the land with such a building intact. “The decision is a betrayal of the Commonwealth Institute,” Mr McKinnon said. “The Commonwealth has been wholly supportive of the British Government’s efforts, through the Commission for Africa, in the G8 and elsewhere, to improve lives in Africa and other regions of the developing world.
“This decision flies in the face of those efforts. It is all the more disappointing given the Commonwealth’s unfailing support of London’s successful bid for the 2012 Olympic Games.”
The Commonwealth took over ownership of the Institute’s site in 2000 when it was set up as a charitable trust and have had to maintain the building ever since. But in 2004 it closed the building because it was no longer viable due to maintenance costs exacerbated by a leaking roof. Since then, the Secretariat has been keen to sell the land and raise money for education programmes.
Its call for the building, which was opened by the Queen in 1962, to be delisted, sparked a furious row within the British establishment. Commonwealth high commissioners from New Zealand, Barbados and Nigeria and Lord Fellowes, the Queen’s former private secretary, argued that the building had little architectural value and should be demolished. But they were pitted against Harold Pinter, Lady Antonia Fraser, the royal borough of Kensington and Chelsea and two former director generals of the institute, James Porter and Stephen Cox who pressed for its survival.
Yesterday Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary, unofficially informed the Commonwealth Secretariat of her decision to keep the building listed. A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said that Ms Jowell had no legal alternative. He said that the problem was that the building was listed in 1988 as Grade II* which meant it was in the top 25,000 buildings in Britain. Ms Jowell consulted English Heritage and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, but both said that they could not recommend delisting it. Although Ms Jowell has the power to overturn their recommendations the bodies warned them that she would face judicial review.
The spokesman said the building was “of its era”. He said that the decision not to delist the property would give it extra architectural protection but would not “preserve it in aspic forever”. He said that Ms Jowell was very aware of the socio-economic considerations but had no room for manoeuvre because of the legal position. She is expected to make a formal announcement in the next few days.
PAST ITS TIME
Institute set up in 1888 for “mutual benefit” of the entire Commonwealth
Its aim was to promote education and research in Commonwealth countries, initially biased towards scientific research
The £440,000 cost of the building in Kensington was met by contributions from Commonwealth countries
The concrete building with a curved green copper roof was designed by Sir Robert Matthew
Opened by the Queen in 1962, it was given a Grade II* listing in 1988
It was closed in 2004 because of a leaking roof and high maintenance costs. Its functions moved to Cambridge University
Landmark should live again
By Marcus Binney
THE Commonwealth Institute is a landmark of modern London and the capital’s first important public building erected after the Royal Festival Hall, which is being restored with the help of lottery millions.
Like the Festival Hall, the Commonwealth Institute expresses the surge of optimism in British architecture after the immediate postwar years of austerity. It was designed by leading figures of the period: the architects Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall and Partners, the engineers A. J. and A. D. Harris and the great landscape architect Sylvia Crowe. Its informality is the exact antithesis of the portentous Edwardian Imperial Institute in South Kensington, which it replaced.
Though the white flagpoles marking the entrance are a familiar sight on Kensington High Street, the building is almost invisible behind a stately row of plane trees.
Today it is best seen from Holland Park, where its angular prow and brown, copper roof rise forcefully above the trees.
This sharp angularity expressed a desire to break with the block-like form of earlier modern buildings. The main exhibition hall is lozenge-shaped with a dramatic, parabolic roof in thin concrete inspired by the adventurous Mexican engineer, Félix Candela. Its floating form is emphasised outside by corner supports angled like the ropes holding down a marquee. As at the Festival Hall, the roof covers a large, open space on several terraced levels.
The Government is entirely right to reject demolition. Fine architecture is always at its most vulnerable when it comes to the end of its first period of use but, with Olympia nearby, this is a building that should live again as a major exhibition hall and conference centre. Its setting is exceptionally pleasant and, with its attractive, landscaped pool immediately in front, it should be restored in time for use in connection with the London Olympics in 2012.
http://www.avery-architects.co.uk/images/ci03.jpg
http://www.avery-architects.co.uk/images/ci01.jpg
http://www.tombofjesus.com/commoninst.jpg
http://www.laade.org:571/gal_db/gal_images/Comonwth_Inst1.jpg
July 21, 2005
Commonwealth leaders accuse Britain of selfish imperialism
By Jill Sherman, Whitehall Editor
COMMONWEALTH leaders accused the Government yesterday of “selfish imperialism” by refusing to let them knock down their defunct 1960s London headquarters.
The Commonwealth Secretariat, which represents 53 countries, condemned the Government’s refusal to remove the Grade II* listing from the Commonwealth Institute building, which protects it from being demolished.
The secretariat held an emergency meeting after it heard of the decision and is now considering taking the Government to judicial review. It claims that the sale of the site could have raised £80 million to educate children abroad.
Yesterday Commonwealth officials claimed that the decision flew in the face of Tony Blair’s G8 pledges on Africa. It was also scant reward for the Commonwealth’s support for Britain’s successful bid for the 2012 Olympic Games, they argued. In a strongly worded statement Don McKinnon, the Commonwealth Secretary-General, said that the Institute could have funded education programmes for 75 million Commonwealth children if they had been able to sell the site without the white elephant.
“The UK’s decision is selfish imperialism,” Mr McKinnon said yesterday. “This scandalous act robs millions of children in the developing world of educational opportunities. The British Government has missed this opportunity and instead decided to keep the Institute’s assets locked in a derelict building, a Millennium Dome of the 1960s, which no one wants, no one needs and serves no purpose whatsoever.”
He argued that Commonwealth countries had invested the equivalent of £40 million in today’s prices to establish the Institute in the 19th Century. But instead of gaining an £80 million return on their investment they would get a mere £17 million if they sold the land with such a building intact. “The decision is a betrayal of the Commonwealth Institute,” Mr McKinnon said. “The Commonwealth has been wholly supportive of the British Government’s efforts, through the Commission for Africa, in the G8 and elsewhere, to improve lives in Africa and other regions of the developing world.
“This decision flies in the face of those efforts. It is all the more disappointing given the Commonwealth’s unfailing support of London’s successful bid for the 2012 Olympic Games.”
The Commonwealth took over ownership of the Institute’s site in 2000 when it was set up as a charitable trust and have had to maintain the building ever since. But in 2004 it closed the building because it was no longer viable due to maintenance costs exacerbated by a leaking roof. Since then, the Secretariat has been keen to sell the land and raise money for education programmes.
Its call for the building, which was opened by the Queen in 1962, to be delisted, sparked a furious row within the British establishment. Commonwealth high commissioners from New Zealand, Barbados and Nigeria and Lord Fellowes, the Queen’s former private secretary, argued that the building had little architectural value and should be demolished. But they were pitted against Harold Pinter, Lady Antonia Fraser, the royal borough of Kensington and Chelsea and two former director generals of the institute, James Porter and Stephen Cox who pressed for its survival.
Yesterday Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary, unofficially informed the Commonwealth Secretariat of her decision to keep the building listed. A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said that Ms Jowell had no legal alternative. He said that the problem was that the building was listed in 1988 as Grade II* which meant it was in the top 25,000 buildings in Britain. Ms Jowell consulted English Heritage and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, but both said that they could not recommend delisting it. Although Ms Jowell has the power to overturn their recommendations the bodies warned them that she would face judicial review.
The spokesman said the building was “of its era”. He said that the decision not to delist the property would give it extra architectural protection but would not “preserve it in aspic forever”. He said that Ms Jowell was very aware of the socio-economic considerations but had no room for manoeuvre because of the legal position. She is expected to make a formal announcement in the next few days.
PAST ITS TIME
Institute set up in 1888 for “mutual benefit” of the entire Commonwealth
Its aim was to promote education and research in Commonwealth countries, initially biased towards scientific research
The £440,000 cost of the building in Kensington was met by contributions from Commonwealth countries
The concrete building with a curved green copper roof was designed by Sir Robert Matthew
Opened by the Queen in 1962, it was given a Grade II* listing in 1988
It was closed in 2004 because of a leaking roof and high maintenance costs. Its functions moved to Cambridge University
Landmark should live again
By Marcus Binney
THE Commonwealth Institute is a landmark of modern London and the capital’s first important public building erected after the Royal Festival Hall, which is being restored with the help of lottery millions.
Like the Festival Hall, the Commonwealth Institute expresses the surge of optimism in British architecture after the immediate postwar years of austerity. It was designed by leading figures of the period: the architects Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall and Partners, the engineers A. J. and A. D. Harris and the great landscape architect Sylvia Crowe. Its informality is the exact antithesis of the portentous Edwardian Imperial Institute in South Kensington, which it replaced.
Though the white flagpoles marking the entrance are a familiar sight on Kensington High Street, the building is almost invisible behind a stately row of plane trees.
Today it is best seen from Holland Park, where its angular prow and brown, copper roof rise forcefully above the trees.
This sharp angularity expressed a desire to break with the block-like form of earlier modern buildings. The main exhibition hall is lozenge-shaped with a dramatic, parabolic roof in thin concrete inspired by the adventurous Mexican engineer, Félix Candela. Its floating form is emphasised outside by corner supports angled like the ropes holding down a marquee. As at the Festival Hall, the roof covers a large, open space on several terraced levels.
The Government is entirely right to reject demolition. Fine architecture is always at its most vulnerable when it comes to the end of its first period of use but, with Olympia nearby, this is a building that should live again as a major exhibition hall and conference centre. Its setting is exceptionally pleasant and, with its attractive, landscaped pool immediately in front, it should be restored in time for use in connection with the London Olympics in 2012.
http://www.avery-architects.co.uk/images/ci03.jpg
http://www.avery-architects.co.uk/images/ci01.jpg
http://www.tombofjesus.com/commoninst.jpg
http://www.laade.org:571/gal_db/gal_images/Comonwth_Inst1.jpg