6 CONTEXT 176 : JUNE 2023 ‘So instead of having blocks of wonderful old houses covered in vinyl windows and acrylic stucco with combo gas boilers, all of which come with significant upfront and operating carbon emissions, we can now concentrate on insulating lofts, air sealing, and eliminating operating carbon with heat pumps.’ Canadian sustainable design teacher Lloyd Alter at lloydalter.substack.com ‘I DON’T understand why it has caused them to be so angry, I can’t understand that emotion about the colour of a door. These homes were built as entertainment spaces. They are incredible spaces and I have leaned into the bones of the rooms to maximise their beauty. ‘I have restored all the windows, and kept the cornices and mouldings as well as the shutters. I have been much more sympathetic than more modern refits. And I saw a pink door on EastEnders last night, so it really isn’t that weird.’ Homeowner Miranda Dickson talking to the BBC after losing her appeal against the enforcement notice that has made her change the colour of her pink front door in Edinburgh New Town. ‘SINCE the purpose of designating or extending conservation areas is to preserve or enhance areas of “special architectural or historic interest”, the designation or extension of a conservation area which is motivated principally by a desire to protect a specific building and prevent its demolition will be unlawful.’ A High Court judge ruling in the case of Future High Street Living (Staines) Ltd v Spelthorne Borough Council ‘NO RISKS to the integrity of the mechanism have been identified… ‘It is not uncommon for issues like this to arise as the clock mechanism beds down after an intensive conservation programme.’ A House of Commons spokesperson explaining that the Great Clock of Westminster, which contains Big Ben, stopping twice in a week, following the tower’s £80 million refurbishment, was ‘all part of the bedding-in process’. Extra lubricant has been applied. ‘AT ONE point in the inquiry, a member of British Rail’s legal team stood and grandiloquently suggested that, in view of LISSCA’s commitment to saving historic buildings, it should donate its entire funds to the rail operator to assist with preservation efforts. ‘I responded by saying we would be very glad to make over the entire contents of our bank account to British Rail immediately. The fact that it was several thousand pounds overdrawn would be largely unnoticed given the size of British Rail’s deficit.’ Campaigner George Allen of the Liverpool Street Station Campaign (LISSCA), a coalition including Save, the Twentieth Century Society and the Victorian Society, recalling its mostly successful earlier opposition to the demolition of the station in the 1970s. The latest proposals would see much of the existing station demolished and office space built over the Grade-II listed Andaz hotel. ‘THIS IS THE modern city today which looks alive. There are the pictures of the tragedies of Hiroshima, and then the pictures of what we can see today. ‘I consider that the same will take place in Bakhmut and other cities and settlements and villages and so on. Definitely, it will be like that. ‘Unfortunately, today it is a tragedy but in the future there will be reconstruction and recovery.’ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaking in Hiroshima, Japan Liverpool Street Station: under threat (Photo: Rebroad, Wikimedia)
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