C O N T E X T 1 3 4 : M A Y 2 0 1 4 7 ‘THE BULK of the housing market, especially for first-time buyers, has nothing to do with [Osborne’s] favourite mortgage-aided greenfield estates. It is the renovation and conversion of existing urban properties. Yet he relieves new building of all VAT and imposes a discriminatory 20 per cent on all renovation and urban renewal. This is a straight tax on the most efficient form of new housing.’ Simon Jenkins writing in the Guardian about chancellor George Osborne. ‘THIS IS A significant ruling; it reaffirms the importance of applying planning policy thoroughly in Northern Ireland’s conservation areas, recognising their contribution to the built environment and defending their unique character.Without good planning policies and their proper application and enforcement the heritage streetscape that gives Northern Ireland its unique character will be diminished by design that has neither a cultural or historic relationship with its locality.’ The Ulster Architectural Heritage Society welcoming the success of a High Court Judicial Review which has saved Swanston’s warehouse, an unlisted historic building in Belfast City Centre’s conservation area, from demolition. ‘I RECOGNISE, and the government recognise, that national parks and AONBs are so called for a reason and have a special status. It is a status we must respect, and it is important that we think hard and listen to the arguments put to us about the appropriateness of this measure in those areas.’ Planning minister Nick Boles reassuring MPs that the government is aware of the arguments being put forward to exempt national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty from proposals to introduce permitted development rights for redundant agricultural buildings. ‘WE ARE committed to renewable energy but it has to work in the landscape. The trust aims to source 50 per cent of its energy from renewables, including wind, by 2020, but this shouldn’t be at any cost. Our core purpose as a conservation charity means we have a duty to protect beautiful places like Lyveden, and each wind proposal should be of a scale and location that works with the special qualities of its setting.’ National Trust director general Helen Ghosh commenting on the Court of Appeal’s decision to uphold the High Court ruling that quashed a planning inspector’s approval of a wind farm close to the National Trust property, Lyveden New Bield. ‘LOOK UP, look around, there’s a building falling down.Well, not really falling down, more knocked down and ripped apart from the inside out – with its skin torn off. All that scaffolding and netting that seems to go up overnight looks innocent enough but some nasty and brutal things are going on behind it. ‘Like a sheet that obscures a particularly bloody surgical procedure, scaffolding hides the gruesome operation of deconstructing buildings; in most cases, however, these patients have little or no chance of survival… ‘Gone are ledges and recessed entryways, light and shadow, window boxes of flowers and places to perch and rest weary bones. Most importantly, gone is variety and punctuation. Instead, we’re left with razor-sharp walls devoid of personality, sharp breaks between pavement and forbidding curtains of glass – and no sense of transition between inside and out.’ Journalist and magazine publisher Tyler Brûlé writing in the Financial Times. ‘NOT ONLY would the demolition of such a recent building be a tragic waste of energy and resources, but this supermarket is outstandingly important. It is the most innovative retail store to have been built in the UK in the last 50 years. ‘To date no other supermarket buildings have even been assessed for their architectural or historical interest – and yet they are an incredibly important. Practically everyone has been to a supermarket at one point or another. This one is the best and most obvious candidate for listing.’ Twentieth Century Society director Catherine Croft calling for the first eco-designed supermarket to be listed at Grade II*.The Sainsbury’s on the Greenwich peninsula, south east London, which opened in 1999, is threatened with redevelopment. Welcome to new members The following members were voted in at the April 2014 council meeting.Welcome to you all. Full members Amy Davidson (LO) Rebecca Burrows (EM) Joanna Burton (EA) Laura Levitt (EA) LaurenWay (LO) Affiliates Marsaili Aspinall (SC) Chris Bodey (EM) Robert Buckley (LO) Adrian Curran (NI) Julia Garnaut (OV) Rebecca Kerr (SC) Donna Laing (SC) Wallace Loo (OV) David Mahony (WM) Katherine McClean (NI) Judith Mosley (OV) Lucy O’Connor (SC) Neal O’Leary (WA) Paul O’Loughlin (LO) Heloise Palin (LO) Emma Penny (YO) Ray Rice (RI) Christina Stuart (LO) EmmaWells (YO) JustinWebber (EA) Michael Wright (LO) MikeWye (SW)
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