|
New Scottish Executive Architecture Policy - Launch:
PR from Scottish Executive 19 Feb, 2007
NEW ARCHITECTURE POLICY STATEMENT : TO BUILD ON SUCCESS
Culture Minister Patricia Ferguson will tomorrow outline the Scottish
Executive's aspirations for the future of the country's architecture.
Ms Ferguson will make her statement as she launches the Executive's revised
architecture policy, at The Lighthouse, Scotland's Centre for Architecture
and Design.
Building Our Legacy is the Executive's new statement on architecture policy,
which builds on the commitments made in its original policy in 2001.
The Minister will be joined by stakeholders and given a tour of current
exhibitions at The Lighthouse including the Executive-funded National
Programme exhibition "Northern City: Between Light and Dark".
Launch: 20 Feb, The Lighthouse
New Scottish Executive Architecture Policy - Brief thoughts:
An update makes sense but will the contents? Iain Gilzean as new Chief
Architect for Scotland and former head of the Architecture Policy Unit
is a safe pair of hands so I am confident the Policy update will be logical
and well-structured. But will it tackle issues that damage our built environment?
Can we up the quality of PFI projects across the board or do we need to
limit its dominance? Can architects affect the PFI debate or is it simply
the case that it makes short-term financial sense? Shouldn’t we tackle
identikit buildings – mostly houses and shops – across the country?
Sustainability is high on the agenda - rightly so in my view, but this
is a complex and multi-headed beast. Take for example the use of materials.
Scottish slate for example has not been quarried for decades and thus
local slate is becoming more and more difficult to specify. Added to this
is a dearth of craftsmen and more worryingly too little training of craftsmen.
A sea change is taking place across most sectors, such as the retail industry's
massive transfer of logistics from road to rail and huge increase in stocking
local produce. Developers and architects should be working harder to use
indigineous materials.
There have been a series of articles recently that mock 'green' attitudes
and architects' interest in 'sustainability' from commentators such as
Austin Williams, Penny Lewis and Tim Abrahams. I can understand their
frustration at some of the double standards, soundbites, 'jumping on the
bandwagon' mentality but this is an extremely important subject. Architect's
creativity shouldn't in any possible way be negatively impacted by 'trying
to save the planet', surely this is simply another design constraint.
Maybe it's cool to mock but those engaged in trying to positively build
a future have a major responsibility and that simply means making buildings
that use less energy and create less pollution. There's plenty of cool
new architecture out there in the world, don't worry!
Scottish Architecture Policy - Issues:
On the macro scale how do we ensure the new Forth Crossing is superbly
designed? It should be exquisite, beating the Danes and the Swedes, but
is there anyone in Scotland who believes we have any chance of making
this a success?! How can we persuade the Executive not to run 200ft high
pylons through the middle of the Highlands? Hang the cost, we all know
this is irresponsible and plain daft. And how do we tackle mass housing
that looks the same as it does in Leicester or Reading? These anonymous
houses do nothing for our country, they are an embarassment that my friends
and family from abroad laugh at - we have to demand better quality houses
that are indigenous, that sit 'within' the landscape.
On the micro scale there’s a whole range of issues that together
impact negatively on the quality of the built environment. How can we
stop service providers demanding exposed GRP substations? Architects are
provided with standardised substation designs with daft pointy roofs,
but there should be a nationwide rebellion against this offence. It’s
an old chestnut but still Scotland's communities drown under street clutter
(despite having Architecture Tsars in Scotland's two major cities) after
numerous books and campaigns against this chaos. Who can control this
better? And finally, identikit shop fascias erode character, making town
centres forgettable and uninspiring. Apart from amenity and conservation
societies what bodies with any clout have helped to stem this?
When companies run into problems with architecture – often at the
planning stage – we often hear about threats to leave the area or
concerns that jobs might be lost. But surely this does not affect the
Service sector. MFI or ASDA are not going to leave the edge of your town
or city if only the planners demanded decent buildings. What stops Councils
demanding more: surely they are not frightened of big business, but if
so, why?
Some lateral thinking and encouragement of innovation in the built environment
would not go amiss. And it doesn't just have to be strictly architectural.
Ugly newspaper kiosks should be reinvented by creative designers; in Frankfurt
architects managed to do this but Edinburgh continues to suffer washed
out boxes that belong to another era. The dysfunctionalism of the new
landscapes along the Clyde has been strongly condemned by visiting experts
from outside the UK; in most European cities adjacent developments work
under a masterplan to ensure integral designas and compatible materials.
The Granton gasometer is destined to fall, where three once stood. In
Vienna architects managed to imaginatively re-use this typeform but in
Edinburgh it's easier to just knock them down.
The original Scottish Architecture Policy brought welcome inspiration
to Scotland and no doubt subtly affected many aspects of the built environment.
But if we are to update it I believe we must more firmly grasp some awkward
nettles and more vigourously engage in dialogue with those who really
affect the built environment: central government, big business plus the
apathy and inertia that are all too prevalent. We should look outside
Scotland to see how sophisticated other country's solutions have become.
Adrian Welch, architect.
Comments on the Scottish Architecture Policy and its Update welcome:
info@e-architect.co.uk
Possible Topics:
Equalisation of VAT for New-build and Refurbishment - a matter only for
the UK government?
Architecture Competitions - a lack of successful Scottish Architecture
Competitions is the consensus, but how could this be remedied?
Scottish Architecture
Scottish Office
World Architecture : e-architect
- a guide to key buildings across the globe
Architecture
Design Scotland
Comments / photos for the Scottish Executive Architecture Policy page
welcome: info@e-architect.co.uk
Scottish Executive Architecture: page
- adrian welch / isabelle lomholt
|