RECENT MEETINGS
SUSTAINABLE HOUSES ARE COMING
March 19, 2008
Brian Mark heads a firm of consultants which advises on ‘sustainability’ for new housing. He is also a adviser to the Government on renewable energy. Sustainability, Mr Mark explained, expresses the notion that houses and the people who live in them must drastically reduce their use of energy, if global warming is to be halted.
Councils are already empowered to require planning applicants to provide a percentage of renewable energy on or close to all new developments, and to reduce the consumption of energy to a level below that required by normal building regulations. Challenged by one developer over its stringent rules, Merton Council took the developer to court and won the case, so establishing the ‘Merton rule’ which the Government now expects to be followed nationally.
From May 1, all new homes in Britain must carry a sustainability rating. In this quest to reduce carbon emission, the target is zero carbon emission for all new homes by 2016. All new public sector buildings such as hospitals and schools must be ‘zero carbon’ by 2018, and shops, offices and other commercial buildings a year later. Small wonder, said Brian, that ‘developers are becoming scared’.
One questioner asked what we can do to help ourselves. It seems the scope for individual action is limited. Only 11 per cent of our individual carbon footprint stems from our home heating, our hot water and the appliances we use. Most of the measures needed to reduce our collective carbon footprint are related to outside forces, such as the sourcing and supply of the food we eat, and the transport we use.
Making new buildings ‘sustainability compliant’ is the first goal, but what about all our existing buildings? Better insulation is one answer, most efficiently on the outside of walls, and Brian stressed that regulations on cutting carbon emission must outweigh the interests of townscape conservation.
Turning to the question of cost, Brian Mark said zero-carbon building materials are more expensive, and there is the expense of extra insulation and energy-efficient lighting and heating. ‘People must be prepared to see house prices increase’ , he warned. And ultimately we might have to accept higher taxation to meet zero emission targets.
A ‘NEW-LOOK’ CHURCH FOR KINGSTON
February 13, 2008
Congregations at Kingston Parish Church could one day find themselves attending services ‘in the round’, if plans described by the Rector, Rev Jonathan Wilkes, are put into effect. The altar would be moved to the centre of the present nave, with seating on all four sides, while a clear passage would be opened up across the church between the present south door and a new door in the north transept.
When Jonathan arrived in Kingston as rector 18 months ago, he realised that much work was needed to restore the ‘faded glory’ of All Saints and put it back into its rightful position as ‘the gem at the heart of Kingston’. Damp was seeping in, causing plaster to peel off the walls, the heating was faulty, basic facilities for church congregations and concert audiences were lacking.
Clearly a long-term plan was needed, so architectural adviser Ptolemy Dean, familiar from his appearances on the TV ‘Restoration’ programme,was brought into the picture. The new position proposed for the altar, the rector explained, would ‘open up’ the entire building, enabling people to move freely across its centre and creating a screened chapterhouse-like compartment in the south-east corner suitable for meetings and exhibitions.
Beyond repairs and improvements to heating, lighting and the use of space within the church there looms the need for a new building outside the church to provide extra facilities. Made aware that several proposals for an extension have foundered in the past, Ptolemy Dean was charged with designing a simple annexe to fit into the north-west corner of the churchyard, joined to the existing church by no more than a rain-proof canopy.
Though detailed costings are not yet available, Jonathan felt that the cost of necessary work within the church, including the proposed rearrangement, need not exceed £1 million, much of which has already been raised by public appeal. As for the annexe, that could cost up to another £3 million, so further sources of funding will have to be sought.
SYLVIA BOWS OUT
January 16, 2008
An era ended at the society’s annual general meeting when Sylvia Blanc, a founder member of the Society in 1962, stepped down from the committee after 46 years’ sterling service. Thanking Sylvia for her ‘exceptional dedication to Kingston and the Kingston Society’, Jennifer recalled that Sylvia had been secretary of the society for many years, becoming its chairman and then its planning secretary, scrutinising local planning proposals and presenting the Society’s views to Kingston Council. She had represented the society on conservation area advisory committees and on the Thames Landscape Strategy, and she remains the keyholder in charge of the Society’s management of Coombe Conduit for English Heritage. ‘The Society owes so much to Sylvia that cannot be repaid’, said Jennifer. She asked the Mayor, Councillor Shiraz Mirza, President of the Kingston Society, to present Sylvia with a token of the Society’s gratitude in the form of a book, ‘Modern Architecture in Europe’.
KINGSTONIANS WHO WENT FAR
November 21, 2007
The principal characters in a talk by Dr David Kennedy entitled ‘From Kingston to Parts Beyond the Sea’ were two 18th-century Kingstonians who in January 1788 found themselves in far-off New South Wales, only recently claimed and named for Britain by Captain Cook.
Both in their twenties, they seized their opportunities in the undeveloped new continent of Australia. One of them, James Bloodworth, was a master bricklayer and builder, whose skills enabled him to play a large part in the design and building of Government House in Sydney, capital of the first Australian colony. He became a sergeant in the local militia, and when he died in 1804 he was accorded a public funeral.
The second man, James Squires, acquired land around Sydney and opened a pub called The Malting Shovel, strategically placed between landing place and town. He founded his own brewery, and introduced hops into Australia. In 1988, to celebrate Australia’s Bicentenary, a plaque was unveiled in the Sydney suburb of Ryde to commemorate the achievement of ‘the first commercial brewer in Australia’.
What is remarkable about these two men is that they went to Australia not as ordinary emigrants but as ‘guests of His Majesty’: members of the band of 700 convicts transported to Australia in the First Fleet which sailed from England in May 1787 and arrived in the harbour of Port Jackson eight months later, after a journey of nearly 17,000 miles. In a land populated mainly by Aboriginals they were destined to start the process of white colonisation.
By long study of Kingston Assize and Quarter Sessions records, David Kennedy has established that Bloodworth and Squires lived in Heathen Street (now Eden Street) and were convicted in 1785, Bloodworth of an unknown crime and Squires of theft, and sentenced to transportation. Like 45 other Kingstonians thus sentenced between 1751 and 1851 they were lucky, perhaps, to escape the death penalty, at a time when men could be hanged for 220 different crimes including the writing of a threatening letter and theft of goods valued at five shillings or more.
Bloodworth and Squires were still held in England nearly two years after their sentencing, until a Privy Council meeting of 1787 determined that a host of prisoners held in gaol or in the notorious hulks, or floating prisons, should be at last transported. Since Britain had just lost its American colonies as a destination for convicts, it was decided to clear the big backlog of felons by sending them instead to start a new penal colony in Australia. So it was that Bloodworth and Squires ‘took passage’ on one of the 11 ships of the First Fleet, and embarked on successful careers in a new country.
In conclusion, David had a question for his audience. ‘Kingston prides itself on its heritage’, he said. ‘Isn’t it time to consider blue plaques for these two Kingstonians who made a name for themselves on distant shores?’ His suggestion has not fallen on deaf ears. A group of Kingston Society members are, with David Kennedy’s assistance, planning to assemble a leaflet about Bloodworth and Squires with the object of making their histories better known, as a preliminary to seeking support for the placing of plaques at a suitable site.
HOUSING FOR THE 21st CENTURY
October 17, 2007
For our October meeting Kingston Society committee member Elaine Emling had gathered a panel of guest speakers to debate the topic of Kingston housing policy.
The first speaker was Professor David Miles, Director of Development for Kingston University, whose particular concern is the need for adequate student accommodation within easy reach of the university campuses. A tall order, indeed, with a student population already topping 19,000 and more than 2,000 staff also to be fitted in somewhere. Chris Whelan, of Richmond Churches Housing Trust, explained how subsidies from the Government's Housing Corporation enable housing associations to offer mortgages at only 2 per cent interest. But the severe shortage of suitable accommodation means that there is a five-year wait for larger properties. The Council requires that new developments should include 40 per cent affordable housing; however, only 14 per cent affordable housing was achieved in new Kingston developments during the last year.
The shortage of affordable housing was a theme echoed by the third speaker, Mike England, Kingston Council's Director of Housing. With 6,500 council-owned properties already in occupation he faces a waiting list of a further 6,000, a figure already 80 per cent up from the year 2000 and increasing yearly.
Opening questions from the floor, Society chairman Jennifer Butterworth said the situation that our speakers had revealed showed how important was the Kingston Society's insistence that the new Skerne Road development should meet its target for affordable housing.
One questioner asked if use was being made of accommodation over shops. Mike England said that such spaces were being used, in accordance with Council policy to spread Council tenants around to secure a good social mix. Asked whether pressure for student accommodation limits the stock of affordable housing for local residents, Professor Miles said that while students are not candidates for existing affordable housing, the university is inevitably in competition for space for new developments.
Chris Whelan said that Crown House, the former Higgs and Hill building near Homebase in New Malden, was one of the success stories of recent years. Partnership between the Council, housing associations and AXA Life had converted the building into a useful addition to the Council's housing stock. Regarding the K + 20 plan for our town centre, Mike England confirmed that developers would be under pressure to comply with Council targets for affordable housing, so the scheme could result in a useful increase of low-rent housing in the town centre.
What can the Kingston Society do to help? 'Keep talking', Mike England urged. 'Make sure that housing remains under constant discussion, for that is the way to get things done '.