The Barbican Quarter Action (BQA) campaign meeting against the demolition of London Wall West on Tuesday 17 January 2023 proved a huge success, with St Giles church in Cripplegate filled with hundreds of supporters. Below we’ll simply quote from the BQA mail out about the event sent on 18 January. Prior to that just a note on a small detail of this very well organised and much needed campaign.
The BQA had already produced badges in support of their anti-demolition campaign and it is great to see there are now banners too. However new to us at the meeting were the Bastion House and Museum of London postcards with BQA online links. It was a sharp move to provide free campaign postcards the month non-barcoded stamps go out of use. Sending the cards to a few friends is clearly a great way to get the word out and deploy stamps that might otherwise be wasted if not used within the next couple of weeks. While a very small thing, this kind of touch and timing shows how on the ball the BQA campaign is.
And of course there was good follow up on Twitter, as well with this, the BQA’s 18 January 2023 email.
The Twentieth Century Society places Bastion House and the Museum of London on their Buildings At Risk list in another blow to the City’s plans
At a packed meeting in St Giles’s Church last night, Coco Whittaker, Senior Caseworker at the Twentieth Century Society, announced that Bastion House and the Museum of London are being recognised as one of the ten most threatened 20th century buildings in the UK and are being placed on their Buildings at Risk list.
This is a highly significant moment and another blow to the City’s plans to create an inappropriate new office development at London Wall West. The Twentieth Century Society confirmed that it will campaign for Bastion House and Museum of London to be identified as Designated Heritage Assets that merit protection.
The City was granted a Certificate of Immunity from Listing until August 2024 in the context of the Centre for Music scheme. Clearly the City’s current plans for LWW have little or no cultural or heritage merit, but the immunity from listing still stands. Demolition can therefore, in principle, take place anytime before August 2024, whether under permitted development rights or following the granting of planning permission by the City’s own Planning and Transportation Committee. But all our energies are focussed on stopping the seemingly relentless cycle of demolition and new build.
The Twentieth Century Society’s significant announcement is a clear warning to the City that their plans will be carefully scrutinised at national level and major objections will continue to be made from a wide range of expert sources.
At the same meeting, renowned architect Ian Chalk gave valuable insight into the growing trend to refit and refurbish existing structures, using the successful re-purposing of the brutalist style Camden Town Hall extension (which was also on the Twentieth Century Buildings at Risk Register) as a case study. It was clear from how the developer approached this project and what was achieved, that the City has never seriously investigated with due diligence the potential to refit and re-purpose Bastion House and the Museum of London.
The demolition of Bastion House and the MoL will release 45,000 tons of C02 into the atmosphere – a huge and entirely avoidable contribution to the climate crisis and one which directly flies in the face of the City’s net zero policy for the Square Mile.
Videos of the presentations by the Twentieth Century Society and Ian Chalk will be available on the BQA website in the coming days.
Revised proposals from the City for the LWW scheme are expected in the next two months and BQA will of course keep everyone aware of any news or developments and will continue to do everything possible to make the City stop and re-think their ill-conceived plans.
RECLAIM EC1 
This was a hugely significant meeting not only because of the decision by the Twentieth Century Society but also through the case study of the old Camden Town Hall building which has been transformed into a hotel. This was a local authority agreeing to a new use for one of its own buildings which had become pretty disliked but which with creative architectural intervention, has a new life. IE local authorities can be constructive and creative in what they do with their buildings from both a climate emergency and an aesthetic point of view.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Totally agree and clearly the existing building is the greenest one, even if it needs retrofitting. Very pleased with the involvement of 20th Century Society too. In this instance I don’t see why Bastion House shouldn’t continue to be used as offices but if it is converted then social rent homes would be an excellent use for the building. Likewise, given “Destination City” the obvious use for the old Museum of London building is as a museum, so little need for retrofit. The building is a great museum space and I don’t buy into the argument it wasn’t good enough for the museum that was in it…. however, since it has been partially moved out already, what better place than the City of London to establish a Museum of Money Laundering & Disaster Capitalism? The building is perfect for this and many other museum and gallery uses. The square mile could also do with a museum dedicated to the horrors of slavery and colonialism, but the Guildhall would be the best place for that given the decision of the council not to remove the William Beckford statue from its chambers (with Chris Hayward playing a leading role in pushing this poor choice)…..
LikeLike
Another thought…I am an Open House and City of London guide. Last year I did a walk called ‘Melting City’ looking at how the City and its businesses are responding to climate emergency. The focus was on Golden Lane insultation followed by Bastion House and recycling and ending with the refusal go grant planning permission for the Tulip. Do you think there would be interest in a guided walk that focused on the City’s history of links with slavery and colonialism?
LikeLiked by 1 person
There have been some City slavery walks already – not sure if they’re still taking place but there certainly was demand for them in the wake of BLM protests a couple of years ago…. This Bishopsgate Institute tour was run as a workshop and actual guided tour before being placed online as a self-guided tour. It had more of a slavery focus before being posted as self-guided, that seems to have shifted in the wake of feedback – we know several people who suggested in their feedback it needed to include locations such as The Guildhall if it was about slavery. https://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/stories/vanishing-empire-take-the-tour
LikeLike
A very interesting piece but demolition in itself won’t release 45K tonnes – the carbon content of the existing buildings has already been “released”. The 45K tonnes is the embodied carbon in the structure and transportation etc of the proposed new buildings.
Ironically, as an attendee pointed out on Tuesday, the home of the London Museum will be based on the restored Smithfield General Market,. But this will include new office space above the Red Building.
The current Certificate of Immunity was granted in 2019 despite the initial, 2015 one not expiring until 2020. So there’s no reason why there can’t be an application for a further Certificate, as, if granted, it would take the pressure off the rush to destroy. Unfortunately, in 2015 there was little case for listing either building. Although 20th Century Society made a one for listing Bastion House, it acknowledged the significant changes to the MoL over the years prevented its listing on architectural grounds. Unfortunately no account was taken of the historical context of the MoL though.
Applying for a new Certificate now would allow a case to be made in opposition which, if successful, would probably lead to a listing. With listing applications for both Alban Gate and Ironmongers Hall in the system, the outcome would be interesting. However, the failure to include this area in the Barbican and Golden Lane Conservation Area is as perverse as ever.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Totally agree about the failure to include these buildings in the Barbican and Golden Lane Conservation Area was perverse, it was clearly designed to allow undesirable development to impinge on the fringes of both CPB estates… but then Fleet Street Conservation Area didn’t save it from utter destruction at the hands of the “Justice Quarter”. Decided not to comment on what’s going on at the Guildhall and how that could play out in relationship to this on this post – thought BQA have done a great job and beyond some praise to open with wanted to let their voice and views come through without drawing other things in, which can be done later….
LikeLike