Highlights of 2015

 
As 2015 draws to an end, it’s time to reflect on the year gone by, and what a year is has been!  

We continue to enjoy uncovering London’s rich heritage; exploring contemporary and historic architectural sites; and inspiring learning and new perspectives by engaging people with the built environment and providing opportunities for them to shape its future.

Here's a summary of our activities across 2015, and a big thank you to all those who contributed to helping make these projects happen:

Senior BEEs and Islington Eyes 

Both our older peoples groups continue to meet regularly and are keeping active through our Spring, Summer and Autumn term programmes of activities. 2015 highlights include:  a site visit to the Bishopsgate Goodsyard development; a consultation session with the Hackney Street Scene team; a tour of Hodgson Gabb Studios; a private exhibition tour at the Royal College of Physicians; a visit to the Cally Clock Tower; a film screening of Through the Hole in the Wall; a visit to RIBA on lnternational Older People’s Day; a guided tour of the historic buildings of Whitehall; and a walking tour of King’s Cross.

Another highlight of 2015 is that our Islington group (previously known as the Islington Architecture & History Group) now has an official name: the Islington Eyes!

 

This year, we’ve also set up an Older Person’s Advisory Group consisting of members from both the Senior BEEs and Islington Eyes. The aim of the group is to help inform and provide suggestions across the work that we do.

Our Place Too
This newly launched project is funded by the People's Health Trust, using money money raised from Health Promote through the Health Lottery. Working with older people living in two neighbourhoods either side of City Road, the project seeks to improve their health and wellbeing by facilitating discussion about the massive changes taking place on their doorstep. 

Places of Worship

2015 marked the third year of a visit to the Suleymaniye Mosque in East London and Sandy's Row Synagogue with Year 8 from the Bridge Academy.

Wandle Treasures 

A volunteer-led local heritage project where we identified and researched heritage ‘treasures’ along the course of the River Wandle, which spans four London boroughs (Wandsworth, Merton, Sutton and Croydon). The final selection has been drawn by artist Stephanie Theobald and will be uploaded to a website along with an interactive map.

The project has been delivered in collaboration with Living Wandle Landscape Partnership Scheme as part of the Industrial Heritage Recording Project, and aimed to engage people in the local heritage of the area, making it more accessible.

To extend the life of the project, we will soon be launching a crowdfunding campaign to frame and exhibit the unique artist illustrated map of heritage treasures, touring it across the four London boroughs. More details will follow in the new year.

This is Our East 20

Students from the University of East London and Year 8 at Chobham Academy, the newest and only school on the Olympic Park site, created view finders with Mobile Studio. An online resource has also been produced, documenting and celebrating the work of the students.

Revitalising Peckham Rye

The second stage of community engagement, speaking to local groups and residents, and consulting on plans for facilities in Peckham Rye Park & Common.

Upcoming Projects for 2016:

We are currently working in partnership with History Pin to develop an Heritage Lottery Fund  community heritage project in the King’s Cross area. The aim of the project is to create a digital archive through a series of local community activities.  More will be revealed in the new year... 

Islington's Locally Listed Buildings

Another exciting project coming up in 2016 is a review of Islington’s Local List of Buildings for Historic England with a view to then making it publicly accessible. A group of volunteers will be enlisted to research, document and record the list, which includes over 1000 buildings.

Thank you once again to our many collaborators, clients, friends and volunteers! It’s been an exciting year and we look forward to the year ahead!

 

 

    

 

Islington Eyes Explore MontCalm

Our Place Too* is a project working with older people living in two neighbourhoods either side of City Road. With a focus on improving the health and wellbeing of older people living in these areas, the project seeks to achieve this by facilitating discussion about the massive changes that are taking place on their doorstep.

One such recent change has been the building of M by MontCalm as part of the larger ongoing development around the City Road and Old Street or Silicon Roundabout area, which is fast becoming a major hub for tech media companies. As part of the project, Islington Eyes, one of our older people's groups, visited the newly opened hotel on City Road.

Located opposite Moorfields Eye Hospital, the 23-storey boutique hotel’s striking façade and angular structure immediately evokes ideas about optics and the visual. The design concept for the hotel was created by architects Squire & Partners, with 5plus Architects as the Executive Architect and SGP Contracts overseeing its construction.

The building is one of first in world to use a horizontal transom on the façade. This along with its height, size and location makes the hotel unique and eye-catching, though has divided opinions not least within the Islington group. 










 

The group was warmly welcomed by Kubilay Tunc, the hotel’s Cluster Business Development Manager, and his team. On the visit, the group were shown around the public spaces of the hotel, including the various lounges and restaurant areas. The Skye Lounge in particular on the 17^th Floor offered some fantastic views of Tech City below. The eager eyes of the Islington group were also treated to a tour of two of the 269 guest rooms, the M Spa, the Versace-tiled swimming pool, and the hotel gym.



MontCalm exudes contemporary luxury, integrating art, music, design and technology into the exterior and interior of the building. While some may view the hotel as overindulgent – both architecturally and in terms of its ethos, the visit was an eye-opening experience. It provided the group with a chance to see inside a contemporary building, to learn about its design and how it functions, along with its users. It also provided a different perspective of this rapidly changing area. 

Sometimes there is more to a building than initially meets the eye, and it's worth getting an inside look to develop a more informed point of view.

*Our Place Too has being funded by the People’s Health Trust, using money raised from Health Promote through the Health Lottery.

Wandle Treasures Map Goes Live!

While our Wandle Treasures project has now officially come an end, we hope its legacy will live on.

As part of this legacy, we have created a Google Map plotting all the treasures researched by our volunteers. We would like to share this map, which hopefully demonstrates not only the rich heritage of the Wandle River area, but also the range of research work carried out by the project’s participants over the past year.

The treasures displayed on the map have been divided into different categories including Historic Buildings & Structures, Arts & Crafts, and Industrial Heritage. We hope that this helps to make the map a user-friendly resource that can continue to reveal and inform people about the fascinating history of this area of London, as well as be a rewarding tribute to the Wandle Treasures project itself.

Have a look at the map here:

* The Wandle Treasures is a volunteer-led local heritage project where we identify heritage treasures along the course of the River Wandle, which spans four London boroughs (Wandsworth, Merton, Sutton and Croydon). The final selection has been drawn by artist StephanieTheobald and will be uploaded to a website along with an interactive map. 

The project has been delivered in collaboration with Living Wandle Landscape Partnership Scheme as part of the Industrial Heritage Recording Project.  

   

 

Wrapping Up Along the Wandle!

Earlier this month, our Wandle Treasures community heritage project culminated with a celebratory event held at the Wheelhouse at Merton Abbey Mills. This fantastic venue, in-keeping with the spirit of the project, is situated on the banks of the River Wandle. The Wheelhouse is set in a working watermill, which generates the electricity to light the building, and houses a stoneware pottery workshop.

The event gathered all the volunteer researchers together, along with participants from a variety of local organisations who had contributed to the project. It provided an opportunity for all those involved to see artist Stephanie Theobald's illustrated treasures map in full and to reflect on the project over cake, strawberries and a glass of Pimms.

The event provided a lovely opportunity to bring the project to a close, to say thank you and celebrate the hard work of the volunteers, and to present the illustrated map – a treasure in its own right.

And while all good things must come to an end, this is not the end for the Wandle Treasures… We are developing plans for extending the life of the project by touring the illustrated treasures map across the four Wandle River boroughs (Wandsworth, Merton, Sutton and Croydon). We aim to announce more details about this very soon.

*The Wandle Treasures is a volunteer-led local heritage project where we identify heritage treasures along the course of the River Wandle, which spans four London boroughs (Wandsworth, Merton, Sutton and Croydon). The final selection has been drawn by artist StephanieTheobald and will be uploaded to a website along with an interactive map.

The project has been delivered in collaboration with Living Wandle Landscape Partnership Scheme as part of the Industrial Heritage Recording Project. 

 

Senior BEEs See the Goodsyard Sights

Recently our Senior BEEs older people’s group had the opportunity to visit the soon to be transformed historic Goodsyard site at Bishopsgate in Shoreditch. The site straddles the London Boroughs of Hackney and Tower Hamlets, and has been derelict since the 1960s.

  

Kitted out in steel-capped boots, high-vis vests and hardhats, the Senior BEEs were treated to a tour of the site, which spans over four hectares in area and is abundantly rich in history (embedded in the buildings, materials and textures it holds). 

Photo Courtesy of Soundings

Coordinated by Soundings, public engagement organisation, and with the developer Hammerson, the tour first took the Senior BEEs under the Braithwaite viaduct with its arches and barrel vaults along to Brick Lane at one end of the site.  

Photo Courtesy of Soundings

This part of the tour uncovered a disused swimming pool and hydraulic lift, along with old cobblestones and brickwork creating cavernous spaces currently concealed from the eyes of passers-by. 

The evocative setting stimulated memories of past and present which were shared between group members through animated conversation.

 

 

The tour then took the group above the traffic along an elevated section, revealing an unexpected expanse of urban countryside - again currently not visible at street level. 

Photo Courtesy of Soundings

 

  

This plateau of urban wilderness will be landscaped in similar vein to the New York High Line, transforming it into a raised public park. The blue skies and summer sunshine made for wonderful views, providing the BEEs with new perspectives of familiar buildings.

Photo Courtesy of Soundings

In an area, indeed a city, that is rapidly changing, the site has not escaped controversy, and regeneration plans continue to be developed. For our Senior BEEs, the tour provided a unique opportunity to explore a part of London's industrial heritage. It also served as a celebration of people and place by highlighting the importance of voicing and sharing memories past and present in order to help shape the future hopefully for the greater good.

 

Photo Courtesy of Soundings