Building on the foundations of political legacy

1 February 2010

We all remember John ’two jags’ Prescott telling us a few years ago that building in the South East was to be concentrated on inner city brownfield sites. That was, of course, until all the banks shut up shop and went home with their ball.

I wonder if Prescott included Earls Court which, disappointingly, is to be bulldozed and redeveloped with 8,000 homes no less. Work isn’t due to start until after the 2012 Olympics because bizarrely Earls Court is to be used as the venue for the Olympic volleyball tournament.

One wonders how on earth an already heavily congested area of south west London will cope with an extra 15,000 or so people at 8am, all trying to access Earls Court tube station.

Somewhat amusingly the reporter announcing this scheme was clearly an individual of lesser years who stated that the venue had been played by some of the biggest names in music including Kylie and Beyonce.

She didn’t even mention Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Queen or Genesis, who presumably she hadn’t heard of. Anyway Earls Court, with its Art Deco faςade, is iconic and I for one will miss it.

On the subject of redevelopment Holborn and Bloomsbury are also to be the subject of a multi-million pound revamp.

Although the home of many museums, this area is little more than a cut through between the West End and the City but right in the middle is the hidden gem Lincoln’s Inn Fields.

One wonders how an already heavily congested area of London will cope with an extra 15,000 people

For years I’ve been dealing with house No 5 which has been used as offices since the 1800s but has been vacant for a long time.

You would think that getting planning permission to reinstate a house for residential use would be a piece of cake but, oh no.

Interestingly there only 20 houses in Holborn and this will be No 21, if it ever happens that is.

Now everyone and their dog are involved, including The Georgian Group, English Heritage, The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and of course the local council as a result of which no one can agree on anything.

Next time you walk through Lincoln’s Inn Fields take a look through the windows of No 5 and I guarantee it will still be vacant, and probably will be for the next decade.

Speaking of windows, those of two particular houses in Leinster Gardens in Bayswater also offer interesting viewing.

The front of both of these houses are facades, with nothing behind them except an exposed section of the underground.

In the 1930s a hoax was played on London’s hoi polloi who were sold 10 guinea tickets for a black tie charity ball to be held at No’s 22 and 23 Leinster Gardens W2.

The great and good turned up in evening dress to find the addresses were fake, with the perpetrator no doubt on a boat to the south of France by then.

SIMON WHITE
DIRECTOR
LONDON’S CHARTERED SURVEYORS

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