Heritage Schmeritage

Photo: Margate Architecture

Those of you who've been following me on Twatter will know that I've been laid low with the lurgy yet again. Must be something in the Thanet water.

However, I'm still dragging myself to the computer at least once a day to bring you the latest news nibbles and frankly yes I do deserve at least a medal if not a flaming knighthood. Through the paracetamol haze, I see the excellent Margate Architecture blog is reporting yet more unauthorised destruction of Thanet heritage by a cowboy developer. The historic buildings in Reeves Yard, owned by local estate agent Roger Crittenden and the oldest industrial buildings in Margate, have been demolished without so much as a 'by your leave'. Quite how our beloved council let's people get away with this type of behaviour is beyond me. One can only imagine it's down to gross incompetence, or brown envelopes stuffed full of fifties changing hands.

Today's news is reminiscent of the way the Marina Restaurant met its maker here on Ramsgate front. On which topic, my spies tell me that the owners now have until the end of November to restore the building otherwise it'll be compulsorily purchased by TDC. A new design for the extension has been submitted which is much more in keeping with the building's Grade II listed status (see below), but it has yet to go before the planning committee. Why is it that I get the feeling it'll still be a pile of rubble in twenty years time?

Click here to go to UK Planning website (application L/TH/09/0052)

Turnip 2.2

I see architect David Chipperfield, still glowing no doubt from receiving the RIBA Stirling Prize less than a fortnight ago, has presented revised plans for Margate's proposed Turnip Centre.

The previous design was criticised in some circles for resembling a power station. But the lad's now really pulled out the stops, and his latest effort looks more like a bus station. He's quoted as saying:

If you do a good project, if you make a good institution where you get the architecture, the idea and the role in the community right - then you can be guaranteed that people will come and look at it.

Well, David, for £25m of our taxpayers' money (so far), I'm sure we'll all want to come and gawp!

Full story

Grow Your Own Turnip Centre

Holy Sewells! It's all gone a bit arty-farty on the isle of blogs today!

Cliftonville Chronicle devotes 17 pages to the unsurprising news that T S Eliot found inspiration for The Wasteland by sitting on a bench in Margate for a couple of months.

And Turneround Margate has a glowing paeon of praise to that chap from the circus who's been entrusted with designing the Anthea Turner Centre. The great man is quoted as saying:

“I think that the point of being an architect is to help raise the experience of everyday living, even a little… None of this means designing funny shapes or getting politicians to go ‘wow’ or making the media think you’re the new thing. It takes a lot of patience, a lot of experience, and a lot of unfashionable thought”.

Right. So let me get this straight. We're spending £17.4m (plus £8m wasted on the previous effort) on a building that will have the 'wow' factor deliberately designed out of it, that will be unfashionable, and will not be regarded by the media as anything new. And that's going to attract lots of people down from London to marvel at it, is it?

So being the da Vinci style genius I am, I thought I'd rustle up my own design (above) which definitely does have the 'wow' factor, and is certainly at the cutting edge of 'fashionable' and 'new'. I've never seen anything like it, that's for sure. Bentleys all round!

PS: Please don't let on that I designed my Turnip Centre in three minutes using that free Google SketchUp thingo, otherwise my £2m fee might be jeopardised. Thank you.