Last chance to save the South Bank

Friday is the deadline for lodging objections to the Southbank Centre's £120m+ planning application, which would see the complex turned into a glorified shopping mall.

English Heritage and Nicholas Hytner, on behalf of the National Theatre, have already expressed their opposition to the plans.

The element which has received the most publicity is the replacement of the undercroft skate park by yet more cafes.  Yes, the organisation that claims to celebrate 20th century culture with its 'The Rest is Noise' festival also wants to eliminate one of its most iconic representations. I am not - as regular readers may have guessed - a skateboarder, but even I can see that this would be an act of wanton cultural destruction. The designs will also create an ugly barrier between the concert halls and the theatres, and it's this element that most concerns the National Theatre.

The benefits of the plans to concertgoers will be improvements to the bar, toilet and foyer areas of the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room, in line with the similar changes made to the Royal Festival Hall in 2005-7.  As with the Royal Festival Hall, it's unlikely acoustics would improve, as these are dictated by the basic shape of the structure.

If you want to support or object to the planning application, or simply read what others have said, do so here:

http://planning.lambeth.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=neighbourComments&keyVal=MMU2FHBO03000&neighbourCommentsPager.page=1

This (and not the Southbank website) is the only place where objections will be read and taken into account.

If you want to read more about the plans themselves, you can do so on the Southbank's special website - but bear in mind that this is a necessarily one-sided view and doesn't represent the objections.

 

*UPDATE* 4 July: Looks like the objectors have won out - temporarily at least. The Southbank Centre "have asked Lambeth Council to allow us more time to review whether our scheme is achieving the very best balance of opportunities for current and future generations".

Comments

[Faye]

I'm going to be controversial and admit that I find the entire Southbank complex an ugly, grey and depressing pile of concrete and it would be better to demolish the whole thing and replace it with something modern and attractive - sorry!

[Philip Lawton]

Two things bother me about that picture. One is the position of the Thames - I can't quite reconcile it with the plan view provided on the website. Artistic licence, possibly. And the other is the misspelling of Belvedere Road. Oh well.

Also - I heard the skate part will be relocated, not just removed. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-22832575)
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Intermezzo replies - Not exactly - when the current skate park is built over, a new area will be reserved for skateboarders. But that's not the point. It's not just a matter of having somewhere to practice - they can do that anywhere.

The real issue is that the current site has a cultural significance that goes beyond its current daily use, as English Heritage recognise. To destroy it would be like ripping down a historic building to replace it with a new 'improved' one. The fact that it's 40 years old not 400 doesn't change the essence of the argument.

[Miriam]

I agree with most of what you wrote Faye, except I am not convinced that if they replaced it with something "modern" it would also be attractive. However it could hardly be much worse than what is there now. The only positive thing I can find to say about the Southbank is that it is not quite as hideous and ghastly as the Barbican.

[SJT]

Jude Kelly herself chose the otherwise blameless forum of the Philharmonia's season-closing concert last week under Temirkanov to make an impassioned address to the bemused audience imploring us to fill in ready-made petitions available from the ushers during the interval, thereby investing in the South Bank Centre's shiny new future.

Purely personally, deplacing the skateboarders wouldn't bother me at all, particularly if it means ridding the QEH's undercroft of all that hideous spray-paint graffiti en permanence. But then, this is not being done with a view to restoring to the actual paying audience some pleasant area of foregathering: rather it's for opening up yet more possibilities of lucrative contracted-out catering for people who've never set foot in a concert hall in their lives (or only get as far as the foyers in order to take advantage of free Wifi).

The glazed atrium which would knock through the existing back wall of the QEH at podium level in order to improve access in and out of London's most inaccessible venue is long, long overdue. And linking it to the Hayward Gallery's entrance opposite makes sense, too. Even the theory behind the construction of the vast glass box on top of it all to act as a new rehearsal space for the LPO, PO, OAE etc. is unexceptionable in itself, except apparently to the National Theatre, noisily defending its "right" to dominate the local architectural landscape with its hideously ugly, blind and hunched mass at all costs.

My view: Lasdun's vile pile can take its chances with all the rest, having no more or better claim on our aesthetic attention than a waste reprocessing plant. Even so, I still think the best way forward for the South Bank Centre would be to bite the bullet and contemplate wholesale demolition rather than tinker with the superstructure. Four times now I have actually voiced the view at various enquiries that much the best course of action would be to clear the whole area except for the RFH itself, and start from purpose-built scratch, to generally hushed horror.

So what we'll get is what we always get: the usual half-arsed, make-and-mend expensive compromise, the same thing that brought us the current ROH after the expenditure of £200 million, instead of just for once letting sense rule sentiment and knocking a thing down because it's plainly unfit for purpose. The fact that carefully building afresh would right otherwise unrightable wrongs and in all likelihood cost far less seem to me like added arguments in favour. That the preposterous rabble that run English Heritage are weighing in favour of the skateboarders strikes me as proof positive of just how far we've sunk in this country, with a fat, free-booting cartload of fellow-travellers trying to pull the horse.

[John]

I generally agree with the tenor of comments being voiced. Very little of what currently stands at Southbank strikes me as particularly deserving of heritage preservation; just because something already sits there doesn't mean it is good, or important, or immune from criticism. I have always felt the skateboard park a complete waste of rather valuable space, and would be pleased to see it gone.

Barring actual demolition and the ability to start afresh, I think some attempt at serious revamp is a very good idea. It always makes me a little sad to visit redesigned cultural offerings in other cities, and to witness results like the beautiful Alice Tully Hall in New York where we end up with the Barbican.

A sense of heritage needs to be tempered by sense, in my opinion. If they do proceed, however, I just hope they do a decent job and don't waste the opportunity.

[inter mezzo]

If this proposal is accepted the SBC will do *exactly* what they have outlined in the plans. That's what the planning application is all about. If this particular application is rejected, they still have the opportunity to put forward alternative refurbishment plans.

I don't think anyone would disagree that the 'Festival Wing' would benefit from a revamp. The question is what form that revamp should take. Anyone who doesn't want exactly what the SBC are proposing with these plans should oppose, and wait for them to come up with something better.

[harvey]

You lost me when you described the relocation of the so-called 'skate park' as "an act of wanton cultural destruction." Oh please!
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Intermezzo replies - If you don't understand the issue, read this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/13/south-bank-skaters-vandalism-cultural-heritage

[Faye]

The problem with the present skating area is that it's disgustingly dirty and covered in graffiti.... could they not at least clean it up, paint the walls white or something and get rid of the smell of urine?

[Richard]

Southbank Centre asks for "more time to review" the scheme ...
http://www.bdonline.co.uk/news/southbank-centre-caves-in-to-objectors/5057345.article

[Miriam]

And how long would it be likely to stay clean before it was just as bad again?

[Oroveso]

Faye said... "The problem with the present skating area is that it's disgustingly dirty and covered in graffiti.... could they not at least clean it up, paint the walls white or something and get rid of the smell of urine?"
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This is almost word for word how I feel about most regie opera productions.

[harvey]

Yes, appalling that English Heritage is weighing in favour of the skateboarders! Graffiti and skateboarding have nothing to do with this nation's heritage.

[Ivis]

I agree with both of you. Even in the 1970s (or especially in the 1970s?) the Southbank was the most oppressive, ugly, and depressing place I'd ever been, despite being home to some amazing performances and art exhibits in those years.

[Jacky Tarleton]

I twice tried to register in order to object to the removal of the skatepark and each time never received the email Lambeth said would be sent for me to activate my account. That skatepark is an institution and should not be destroyed. It is irreplaceable. Many young people have found there a place to perfect their skateboarding skills, a place that they feel is theirs. It is part of a trip to the South Bank to stop and watch the skateboarders. It is unique.

[Guy Cavendish]

Slightly surprised to see such narrow-minded comments on here along the line of "it's a concrete monstrosity – just demolish it" and "it's only skateboarders — get rid of it" but perhaps they come with the territory!
As a longstanding member of the SBC I personally love the buildings, although I obviously appreciated that they're not to everyone's "more-refined" tastes. I believe that as far as possible they should be renovated and restored as they are and that what is proposed is wholesale architectural vandalism masquerading as a modernisation of the site. The way the so-called consultation was worded to seek feedback was a disgrace in not offering this option and I complained at the time but failed to receive a response.
I also appreciate that the skaters' area is not to everyone's tastes either, but nor is it as ugly as yet more chain restaurants replacing it as proposed instead.
In my opinion these buildings should have been listed in the first place, but I am delighted that the Twentieth Century Society, English Heritage, Nicholas Hytner and many other organisations and individuals have put the brakes on this dreadful proposal.
Perhaps Jude Kelly would like to now get some unbiased questionnaires created, this time really LISTEN to what people are saying in them and act accordingly rather than trying to ride roughshod over their objections.

[Dennis]

having been a regular visitor to the area for decades,I simply cannot see what is so great about the filthy graffiti ridden areas where the skateboarders carry on their "sport". In addition,my experience is that they do not stick to that area in any event.