Back in August, Diary reported on a competition to transform the Grade II listed St Martin’s church in Brighton into something “commercially sustainable”. The Diocese of Chichester invited entries offering a “viable and practical scheme which is creative and will be the springboard to restoration”. Now, the results are in and – drum roll, please – it’s a draw!
The jury panel awarded a joint first prize (worth £8,000 each) to Arup (which seeks to “integrate a digital future within [the church’s] historical fabric” – above) and Emil Eve Architects (right), with Trewin Design Architects placing a creditable third.
Peter Field, lord lieutenant of East Sussex and chair of the panel, said: “The range of ideas and possible uses were stunning. In the end we felt the practical solutions submitted by Arup, if combined with the uplifting arts suggestions put forward by Emil Eve, would ensure the life of a beautiful heritage building such as St Martin’s church for generations to come.” A wholly sensible plan for a holy site.
Mother is the necessity of innovation
Diary would go to great lengths for its mum – but maybe not quite as far entrepreneur and developer Robin Hughes would for his. After a two-year build, we are told that Hughes has delivered his £35m vision of an urban retirement development “good enough for mum” – in his case, 85-year-old Betty Hughes. Castle Retirement Living’s first project (together with main contractor Castleoak and funding partner Octopus), Castle View Windsor, built 135 homes on time and to budget, offering facilities including a sky lounge with “stunning views of Windsor Castle”.
“For me, everything about the development from start to finish has been attention to detail in every aspect which has to be ‘good enough for mum’,” Hughes says. “It had to be right and we couldn’t be late.”
But what does Betty think? “My mother is delighted to be in her new home,” adds the proud son. One might say, an English mum’s home is her Castle View.
Norwich’s high street champion
And so to the question on everyone’s lips: what does Norwich City’s Cuba-born, German-national winger Onel Hernandez think of the Norfolk town he has lived in for the past year?
“I love the city,” he told the club’s official programme. “I like that I live next to the stadium and next to me is a Morrisons which is good so I can buy my food. And also, I had never seen an Argos before in my life. I walked inside and saw the catalogue with things you can order. You can order bikes, TVs – we don’t have this in Germany. Argos has everything and I’ve never seen this in my life before. When I need something, I buy it from Argos!”
Diary has been charting unlikely high street saviours (unicorns, vegan sausage rolls…) and Hernandez’s celebrity endorsement of traditional retail (he also notes “H&M, Costa and Boots nearby”) surely adds him to the list. We’re always being told that footballers are role models for our youth, so if this won’t get them rushing to Argos for their over-sized headphones, what will?
Happy birthday to UCEM
Hearty congratulations to the University College of Estate Management, which is celebrating its centenary throughout 2019 with a calendar of special events and activities, recently unveiled in a balloon-filled launch at its Reading HQ. Among the plans are the showpiece Built Environment of the Future event in London in May, a morning in which schoolchildren will be signposted to careers in the sector, doubling up, apparently, as a Guinness World Record webinar attempt. Closer to home, UCEM will offer a history exhibition in Reading and a public evening lecture in collaboration with homelessness charity, Launchpad, at Reading Town Hall. As well as balloons, the big kick-off offered staff a look at some of the assembled artefacts from UCEM’s history vaults. Are there any EG readers out there old enough to remember working with equipment like this?
Our kind of trade journal
A late Christmas present arrived on Diary’s desk – the 25 December 2018 issue of Built Environment News. At first glance, it’s your standard trade journal, the kind of thing one might see in the final round of Have I Got News For You. But, diligent as ever, we took a look inside, and what a pleasant surprise it turned out to be. The opening page invites readers to spot the “fake news” hidden inside – and there are some splendid candidates. Like the Lego-esque “Build the Wall” model kit (complete with Donald Trump mini-figure). Or the uncanny correlation between UK citizens emigrating to the US and people dying by falling from a ladder. Then there’s “Roberta McAlpine”, announced as the winner of 2018’s Miss Construction contest. And a top architecture prize being handed to the new European HQ of one Ernst Blofeld – complete with lasers and piranha pool, and designed by Imposter + Partners. Top marks for creativity to those responsible at Liz Male Consulting, the brains behind Built Environment News – now where can Diary subscribe?
