Lord Rogers’ major regret over his involvement with the Chelsea Barracks development is that his practice did not “come second” in the original architectural competition.
The architect was speaking at an entertaining BPF Movers and Shakers’ Breakfast at the Dorchester hotel in Park Lane this morning.
In answer to questions about any regrets he may have had about his proposals for a redevelopment of the 12.8-acre site, currently the focus of a legal battle between original partners Christian Candy’s CPC and the Qatari Royal Family, Rogers said: “I would most have wished we had come second in the original architectural competition.
Referring to Prince Charles’s intervention that resulted in the Qatari Royal Family abandoning the Rogers-designed scheme, he said: “The scheme was working perfectly until about three days before it went in for planning.”
Rogers added that the Candy Brothers had proved “good clients.”
He continued: “The only other thing I will say on the matter is I would like to live in a democratic society not a feudal society.”
Elsewhere Rogers was upbeat about the legacy the Olympics development will leave for east London.
“I’m optimistic about it. Beijing was about an Olympics for television with little feeling of community between the buildings. Barcelona set the gold-standard for redeveloping the city, connecting the city to the sea.
“At London we are to trying to impact the quality of life in east London. At the park the concept is not just buildings for heroics … we are finding ways to make buildings useful after the Olympics.”
Rogers said the principal method for ensuring this was designing buildings that could be dismantled in part after the Games.
“At the aquatics centre and the stadium pieces that are not needed afterwards by east London can be taken away. That way what you create will not just be a mermory of the past.”
paul.norman@estatesgazette.com
