My Haggerston: rescheduled walk date to be agreed

Dear friends

We would like to apologise for the postponement of the "Haggerston Treasures" - My Haggerston walk, which was to take place on Saturday 29th March. We are rescheduling the walk and have an option of three different dates: please click on the link below to add your availability to these dates, and we will email round for you to sign up to the most popular date chosen.

“My Haggerston - Haggerston Treasures walk": http://doodle.com/b8txyusc9vcps4ez

Please select the dates that you are able to attend by adding your name to the schedule.

The dates are:

Saturday 26th April 11:00am OR

Saturday 10th May 11:00am OR

Saturday 17th May 11:00am

Many thanks from us all at The Building Exploratory 

Peckham Rye Park & Common - proposals to be discussed at adventure playground fun day this Friday

We are working with Southwark Council to consult with local people in Peckham about the proposed changes to Peckham Rye Park & Common. 

The proposals are to:

• Build a new One O'Clock Club (now known as a play room) next to the adventure playground
• Build brand new changing rooms near to the football pitches
• Remove the existing playroom building and changing room containers to make way for a fantastic new open access play area for local children 
  

Fun Day Friday!
Come down to the Adventure Playground FUN DAY this Friday between 12pm and 4pm to discuss the plans with the project team and to share your views.

Make a tile, take a tile!
Local artist Sally Crowley will be making clay tiles with children, using natural objects found in the park.

More details and a press release from Southwark Council follow below.
Email us to let us have your views.

Tour South Haggerston with us - 29th March

Haggerston Treasures

- A walk by The Building Exploratory on Saturday 29th March at 2.00pm

 

Join Nicole Crockett on a guided tour of some of the listed buildings of the southern part of Haggerston. The walk begins on the lawn just outside the main entrance at the Geffrye Museum and ends at Shoreditch Town Hall. The walk is approximately 1.5 - 2 miles long and will take around an hour and a half.

 

All walks are FREE but booking is essential.

Call the Geffrye Museum Booking Officer on 0207 749 6024

email: dpatten@geffrye-museum.org.uk

Find out more about the four spring walks on offer here

Building a new Peckham Rye Playroom

The Building Exploratory has been appointed by Southwark Council to speak to local people about creating a new, fit for purpose building for Peckham Rye Playroom.

 Peckham Rye Playroom last Summer when the weather was much better than it is now!

The hut in which the Playroom is based was originally one of a group of huts built during WW2. They were originally built as barracks for anti-aircraft gunners based in Southwark Park and later were used to house Italian POW's. You can find out more about the history of the park here

The Playroom is housed in the last of these huts but is sadly becoming unfit for purpose, so the intention of Southwark Council is to build a new purpose built home for the Playroom.

This week we have been speaking to lots of parents, carers and staff about what they like about the current facilities and what their priorities would be when building the new Playroom.

If you attend sessions at the Peckham Rye Playroom, we would like to hear from you about how you use the facility and about any ideas you have that could improve the new Playroom.

Keep an eye out for upcoming events where we will be speaking to more park users and local people about the new plans. We will also be providing opportunities to find out a bit more about the history of the park and get involved in some creative activities.

To let us know your thoughts or to find out more please email us

Seasonal Best Wishes from the Building Exploratory

Islington Group: End of term review

Our end of term review with the Islington History and Architecture Group took place this week. One of the group’s highlights this autumn was our recent visit to the offices of architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM) which proved to be a fantastic learning experience. Inspiration for the visit came from an earlier tour of AHMM’s Angel Building where the group saw how a redundant office block has been transformed into a new landmark building. 

 

The tour of the AHMM office was led by their Events Coordinator Claire Pollock who had organised for the group to explore their offices located in the Morlelands Building on Old Street. The tour included a look at the model workshop where the group learnt about the practicalities of model making and a visit up to their recently extended upper floors and roof terrace with amazing panoramic views across London. During presentations from members of the AHMM team the group were given an introduction to the work of the practice and learnt about the process of designing and completing a building.

The group also met with an architect who had worked on the Angel Building which proved to be of particular interest to the group. They were fascinated to hear an in-depth description of the design and construction process of a building they knew as it helped them to see it through the eyes of an architect. This led them to understand the thinking behind features that they would have otherwise overlooked such as the building’s new curved façade which mirrors the curve in St John’s Street; the perfectly smooth concrete columns with their formwork holes purposefully left unfilled. This information helped to unlock the process of design, allowing them to make sense of the building and see it in a completely new light:

“I’ve never appreciated concrete before!”

When we spoke to the group about the visit their response was overwhelmingly positive. What they appreciated was being face to face with people who design buildings and having an opportunity to ask questions. 

“I enjoyed meeting highly knowledgeable people and seeing what they do” 

They agreed that this had given them insight into the world of architecture (which had no prior knowledge of) and it had also helped the them to better appreciate and value what architects do. The visit to AHMM highlighted that going to architecture practices can be a valuable learning experience – it has inspired our group to visit more in 2014.  

The Islington Architecture and History group is aimed at older people who live in Islington. The programme is funded by the Cripplegate Foundation, to whom we are very grateful for their support. For more information on this project and our work with older people please visit our website or call us on 0207 6080 775

Heritage Counts: Discover Haggerston

We are delighted that our Discover Haggerston project has been included by English Heritage in their  'Heritage Counts: London' report for 2013.

You can access the report here - Heritage Counts: London

 

Our 'Discover Haggerston' page, complete with interactive map of Haggerston's listed buildings, is now up and running and can be found on our website at www.buildingexploratory.org.uk/listedhaggerston

Listed Haggerston is part of the My Haggerston project run in partnership with Discover Hackney.