C O N T E X T 1 3 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 4 57 rather a comprehensive collection of essays to be dipped into and savoured as individual topics. All of them are instructive and enjoyable, although it must be said that some are a little dry. The chapters by Julius Bryant stand out for their sparkling prose. It is Bryant who proposes Kent at Rousham and Raynham as a conservation architect and who, in his discussion of the monument to Sir Isaac Newton in Westminster Abbey, slips in a reference to the film version of The DaVinci Code. This lightly humorous touch is thoroughly Kentian. Kent the man was clearly delightful company. He endeared himself to his aristocratic and royal patrons by his engaging personality and enjoyed a particularly warm relationship with Lady Burlington and her children. His witty correspondence shows how much he relished his food and drink, and the tubby self-portrait that he painted of himself and his mistress, the actress Elizabeth Butler, over the great staircase at Kensington Palace is testament to the consequences. Indeed, the malicious obituary written by Vertue attributed his death ‘to a Mortification in his bowells’ brought on by ‘his high feeding & life & much inaction’. Many of his presentation drawings are enlivened by witty sketches in the margins, which must have delighted his patrons as much as they can still charm the serious modern student of his legacy. This book, a magnificent testimony to a likeable genius, has left me eagerly anticipating the exhibition. Malcolm Airs, Kellogg College, Oxford There is another way Transformation Urban Splash, RIBA Publishing, 2011, 166 pages, hardback, ISBN 978 1 85946 396 3, £24.99 ‘“Location, location, location” – we all know these are the three most important things in property... The difference with Urban Splash is that we try to create the next location.’ Transformation is the lavishly illustrated story of perhaps the foremost heritage rescue, development and design phenomenon of our times, told through the camera lens and words of its co-founders, Tom Bloxham and Jonathan Falkingham, and Nick Johnson (formerly deputy chief executive). Founded in 1993 at a time when historic warehouses and mills in northern industrial cities were valued neither in economic nor heritage terms, Urban Splash pioneered affordable loft apartment conversions, flexible work spaces for start-up creative businesses, and city centre mixed use developments both in Liverpool’s RopeWalks area and Manchester’s Northern Quarter. Transformation sets out the vision and ethos: to confront market conventions; focus on undervalued and ‘problem’ buildings and sites; add value through great design; originate bespoke solutions not follow patternbook ones; and maintain an unfaltering belief in the power of regeneration to improve places and people’s lives, irrespective of the baseline. As Falkingham writes: ‘I hope that one thing we have demonstrated over the last 20 years is that it is all too easy to give up on old buildings – and that if we apply some creativity and lateral thought we can reinvent and repurpose them for another generation to enjoy. I also believe that in this age of sustainability, before coming to convenient conclusions about demolition, our first obligation is to give serious thought to reuse – this may take a bit more time and effort, but continually knocking down our heritage (in all its forms) is quite simply unsustainable.’ Further: ‘It’s often the same people who are worrying about plastic bags who are happy to tear down perfectly good buildings.’ As if the catalogue of flagship postindustrial projects were insufficient – Bradford’s Lister Mills, Birmingham’s Fort Dunlop, Bristol’s former Imperial Tobacco headquarters, Plymouth’s Royal WilliamYard – and art deco icons such as Liverpool’s Bryant and May’s Matchworks and Morecambe’s Midland Hotel, Urban Splash has also successfully challenged negative perceptions of northern terraced housing and 1960s concrete blocks. The plan-form inversion of the two-up, two-down houses in Salford’s Chimney Pot Park was both practical (for natural light to the upper floor living rooms) and symbolic (turning perceptions upside down). The 318 houses proved a sell-out; as one would expect, the authors are not fans of the housing market renewal (Pathfinder) strategy. Urban Splash has taken a special interest in post-war ‘socially inspired housing’: Transformation expresses incredulity that so much of it continues to be demolished without evaluating the options. The completed phase I of the Park Hill flats, Sheffield, described as ‘a brute of a building’ and Europe’s largest listed complex, short-listed for the 2013 RIBA Stirling Prize, is just one of several ‘transforming projects’ that have successfully confronted this negative perception. Winners of over 300 awards for architecture, regeneration, marketing and enterprise, developers of projects in use categories that only appear to sidestep heavy engineering and power stations, Urban Splash is, as the text quotes, ‘widely regarded as the UK’s most innovative developer’. Shaken (but not critically) though Urban Splash was by the 2008 economic crash, Transformation looks back with pride over the first 20 years and forwards to new locations for the next 20 years of projects that will transform public appreciation of the manifold diversity of our historic environments. Dennis Rodwell, consultant in cultural heritage and sustainable urban development The functional tradition Support for the Fleet: architecture and engineering of the Royal Navy’s bases, 1700–1914 Jonathan Coad, English Heritage, 2013, 468pp, profusely illustrated in colour and black & white, ISBN 978 1 84802 055 9, £100 The Royal Navy achieved legendary fame for its stunning naval victories Designer MilesFalkingham UnionNorth 'Added to the architectural significanceof this seaside icon is the genuineattachment of tensof thousands ofpeopleand the hotel’spotency asasymbolof renaissance for Morecambe-so thateverydesign decisionhad to embodyempathy andaspiration in equalmeasure.' MilesFalkingham UnionNorth MidlandHotel,Morecambe 99 urban splash book_ resized_final_166pp.indd 99 15/11/2011 16:15 Midland Hotel Morecambe MidlandHotel,Morecambe 94 urban splashbook_ resized_final_166pp.indd 94 15/11/2011 16:14
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