Dyson Academy faces refusal

[rogerh]

Despite the support of English Heritage, Bath's proposed Dyson Academy looks set to be refused LBC and planning consent on Wednesday. Both the uncompromising stance of the Environment Agency and a spirited defence of the newly-listed Newark Works by the council's planners seem certain to save the city from a Wilkinson Eyre eyesore that had strong support elsewhere within the Council.

Much of the Officer's Report is given over to criticism of English Heritage.

"Your Officers thus regrettably find themselves in the unusual
position of having to advise members that in this instance only very
limited weight should be given to the advice and recommendations
received from English Heritage. If Members are minded to support the
scheme, this should be on the basis of their own assessment of the
Listed building merits of the proposals, and NOT on the basis of the
flawed approach adopted by English Heritage."

While on the flood risk,

It is your Officers’ firm view that the requirements of PPS25 have not
been met, and that the Sequential Test fails to support the development of
this (part) Flood Zone 3a site for a “More Vulnerable” educational
development. Quite astonishingly, the Applicant’s Agents attempt to argue
that PPS25 is incorrectly worded, and that this LPA should unilaterally apply a
more flexible interpretation of the Government’s policy. Members are advised
that that is simply not an option, and that any misdirection of that sort would
almost inevitably lead to legal challenge from the public against any decisions
made.

Full report:
http://tinyurl.com/2wddm5 (PDF, 1.8MB)

 

[Nemesis]

Beat me to it - was going to post it this morning but sunshine beckoned.

Older threads and pics:

http://periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6548&p=68652&hilit=Fuller+Bath#p68652

English Heritage - well, useless really, but I think scared of seen to be standing in the way of 'progress' and the government's pet Academy scheme. Dyson's millions for the good of the yoof of Bath etc - despite the fact this is a dreadful place to build a school, with the busy road and potential flooding, and the educational outcomes unproven anyhow.

What is the point of listing buildings if all that is left is a butchered facade?

http://periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6914&hilit=Newark

Yet EH (after a bit of persuasion...) fought against the ghastly facade scheme for the Red House cold store and Annexe Market at Smithfield - but that was a private developer and the City of London, so no claims of 'public benefit'.

Sadly the horrid Holburne is going ahead and the Riverside concentration camp. That one threatens the World Heritage Site status I think, can't believe it wasn't called in. 'Contructive conservation'? Bah humbug!

http://periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8941&p=100357&hilit=bath#p100357

Let's hope that we don't have another bullying and inaccurate rant in the Observer by S Bayley.

(Apologies that some of the links in those older threads don't now work - will post some pics when I get time.)

 

[Nemesis]

However - we have the architect Chris Wilkinson mouthing off in the AJ:

http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/dailynews/2008/03/chris_wilkinson_council_is_desperate_to_kill_off_dyson_scheme.html

Well he would wouldn't he?

 

[rogerh]

Re. Western Riverside:

EH memo from Chris Smith (Planning & Development Director - West):
http://www.thebath.net/pdfs/EH_memo.pdf

 

[Nemesis]

Yes - I saw Stephen Marks had quoted it. Bizarre.

Nominal historic environment grounds? Views in and out of a conservation area and setting of a WHS ... time for UNESCO to flex some muscle, and hopefully in Edinburgh also.

 

[rogerh]

Great corrections of our time:

Correction

Wilkinson Eyre will be preserving two walls of Bath’s 19th century Newark Works for its Dyson Academy scheme rather than one as reported in News February 22.

http://tinyurl.com/28xn95

(If only to stop the other wall falling over.)

 

[Nemesis]

There was a piece in the Times yesterday - forgot to mention the fact it's listed.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/engineering/article3558498.ece

Of course, it's all the fault of those pesky planning officers. How dare they stand in the way of what Mr D wants to do.

Throughout much of this saga, the EA has been pointing out national planning regs re flood plains and educational establishments. The EA has the final say.

I think the second wall is a short return, I have some pics I took somewhere. Must find them...

 

[Nemesis]

Clearly, demolition of all but the front elevation and a short side wall, alongside punching holes in it to form an 'arcade', and building a strange glass thing to protrude above the roofline etc, is going to really enhance this historic building. This of course is the latest EH wheeze - decide what it is which is important about a building, and you can demolish the rest. Makes a bit of a farce of conserving them of course. The whole is often more than the sum of the parts.


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I found it difficult to take pictures without traffic - that's a very busy road. Hardly going to be the place for young people to be spilling out onto it.

 

[Nemesis]

More about Bath - and Edinburgh:

http://independentrepublicofthecanongate.blogspot.com/2008/03/bath-and-edinburgh-at-risk.html

 

[rogerh]

James Dyson will be speaking at tomorrow's meeting (although he only gets 90 seconds).

 

[Nemesis]

Well so far he seems not to have much grasp of the planning issues...

 

[Nemesis]

Interesting comments under the BD News article:

http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=426&storycode=3108821&c=2&encCode=000000000147f04e

 

[rogerh]

Well despite everything it was approved by seven votes to five.

 

[Nemesis]

Unbelievable!

Wonder if it will be called in?

 

[rogerh]

It has to go the the Secretary of State anyway so maybe there's some hope. It's a very NuLab-friendly project, though.

 

[Nemesis]

Yes, and that's the problem. It's politics not sense which prevails.

 

[fostertom]

Nemesis said:
a very busy road. Hardly going to be the place for young people to be spilling out onto it

Look again, and don't worry - in Dyson tec-land, cars and young people pass transparently through each other.

 

[Nemesis]

Yes I niticed that!

And Mr Dyson says all will arrive on foot, bike or public transport... all two and a half thou (although Bath is closing down other schools...) despite an eight coach parking space being allocated on site.

It isn't over yet - seems EH only supported the butchery if the EA thought this would mitigate the flooding - the EA still objects, but councillors failed to take note of that.

 

[rogerh]

I hear this features in Piloti's column in the new Private Eye.

 

[Nemesis]

I have been corresponding today with the SAVE office about it too, sending pics, and have been bending ears to whoever will listen.

Here's a blast from the past:

The Times October 30, 2006

List v bulldozer in Bath


By Marcus Binney, Architecture Correspondent


THE Government’s neglect of the nation’s heritage, even at the highest level, is demonstrated by the continuing failure to produce an up-to-date inventory of historic buildings for the City of Bath, a World Heritage site. The official “list” of listed buildings was last revised in the 1970s. Since then, English Heritage, the Government’s adviser in these matters, has resurveyed extensively Bath, proposing additions as well as occasional deletions.

One suggested addition is a splendid example of 19th-century industrial architecture, the works of the great crane builders Stothert & Pitt, whose mighty Titan and Goliath cranes are to be found on dock quaysides around the world. The architect of the works, Thomas Fuller (1823-1898), designed a grand frontage which echoes Brunel’s Temple Meads terminus at Bristol.

While Brunel chose Collegiate Gothic for Bristol, Fuller not surprisingly produced a classical composition in the grand manner for Bath, with long matching wings beautifully faced in golden Bath stone. The centrepiece is an intriguing essay in Florentine palace design — not the suave elegance of Sir Charles Barry’s Travellers’ and Reform Clubs in Pall Mall, but using the rugged stonework associated with the Pitti Palace.

Typically Florentine are the trios of arched windows and the upper windows treated like loggias which continue the whole length of the long front. By contrast the low, almost cave-like entrances recall the watergates of Venetian palaces.

In these features Fuller’s sophistication and talent are manifest. One of his earliest works was St John’s Anglican cathedral in Antigua, where he went to live in 1845. After the Stothert works was finished he went to Canada, where he designed the central block and library of the Parliament in Ottawa. He secured first place in the competition for the New York State Capitol and the San Francisco City Hall with his partner Augustus Laver, and at 60 he took the post of architect to the Dominion of Canada, building more than 140 post offices, armouries and prisons.

The Stothert works, which stands on a site known as South Quays, is threatened by a planning application to build a £25 million school of design innovation, submitted by the entrepreneur James Dyson who is offering to provide half the finance himself and has commissioned Chris Wilkinson as his architect. Dyson has stated adamantly that his proposal must be approved quickly, otherwise the planned opening in September 2008 will be delayed for an academic year. This has created fears that he may take his school elsewhere.

Bath and North East Somerset Council has failed to flag up that the Stothert & Pitt works is a noteworthy building and probably a candidate for listing. The council is the co-owner of the site with the South-West Regional Development Agency.

Many locals feel passionately that the works should be retained. Some argue that the four-acre site is large enough to incorporate the school without demolishing Fuller’s frontage. Others propose an alternative site on a newly cleared car and coach park nearby.

A master plan for the site prepared for the council has not, yet been made public. Elizabeth Freeman, of the Bath Preservation Trust, says: “How can the council start issuing planning permissions on the site before it has considered and approved the master it commissioned?”

If the council approves the application there is a case for a public inquiry. The council cannot be considered an objective judge on a matter in which it has a significant financial stake.

Marcus Binney is president of SAVE Britain’s Heritage