Comments on: Landscape architecture on the march http://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/2008/07/12/landscape-architecture-on-the-march/ News and debate from Gardenvisit.com Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:15:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Tom Turner http://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/2008/07/12/landscape-architecture-on-the-march/comment-page-1/#comment-6 Tom Turner Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:26:23 +0000 http://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/?p=27#comment-6 Thank you for the comment. Ted Hollamby was a generous and civilized man. When the Red House was opened to the public in his lifetime visitors were allowed to wander unaccompanied through rooms filled with family possessions. Now that the house is almost bare, guides are in constant attendance. He loved the house and restored it but the built-in furniture in the room he used as an office is Scandinavian-modern and it seems to have been this aspect of his taste which governed his leadership of the London Docklands Development Corporation. Filling the area with modern buildings was the main thing. 'Landscaping' was something which he expected good architects to supply as settings for their buildings. Thank you for the comment. Ted Hollamby was a generous and civilized man. When the Red House was opened to the public in his lifetime visitors were allowed to wander unaccompanied through rooms filled with family possessions. Now that the house is almost bare, guides are in constant attendance. He loved the house and restored it but the built-in furniture in the room he used as an office is Scandinavian-modern and it seems to have been this aspect of his taste which governed his leadership of the London Docklands Development Corporation. Filling the area with modern buildings was the main thing. ‘Landscaping’ was something which he expected good architects to supply as settings for their buildings.

]]> By: Robert Holden http://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/2008/07/12/landscape-architecture-on-the-march/comment-page-1/#comment-5 Robert Holden Sun, 13 Jul 2008 10:02:35 +0000 http://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/?p=27#comment-5 In response to Tom Turner's suggestion in 1982 the then Chair of the SE Chapter of the Landscape Institute did indeed attempt to lobby the London Docklands Development Corporation. As Peter Fischer and myself (as SE Chapter chair) met Peter Wright, when newly appointed LDDC Landscape Architect. Brian Clouston and I also met Reg Ward, the LDDC chief planner (1982-87). We argued for a landscape strategy plan. Reg Ward's response that it was Ted Hollamby who would decide and intimated it was not likely to happy. Eventually this lobbying led to Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe writing a judicious letter to The Times arguing for a landscape strategy. This effort was not successful in leading to an effective strategy for landscape, however, it did lead to more employment of landscape architects and to tree planting. My explanation for this failure is that the 1980s were a decade fundamentally influence∂ by the Thatcher governments which believed in the free market (hence initiatives like the Enterprise Zone in the Isle of Dogs which was a temporary ending of planning controls). The LDDC was staffed by ex-GLC and London Borough local authority officers who did not know how to effectively deal with such a political agenda and ditched strategic planning. They followed their political masters orders. It is ironic that in the 1980s it was the private sector who were the champions of effective masterplanning in the Docklands most especially in Canary Wharf for solid commercial reasons. Robert Holden (chair SE Chapter LI 1982) In response to Tom Turner’s suggestion in 1982 the then Chair of the SE Chapter of the Landscape Institute did indeed attempt to lobby the London Docklands Development Corporation. As Peter Fischer and myself (as SE Chapter chair) met Peter Wright, when newly appointed LDDC Landscape Architect. Brian Clouston and I also met Reg Ward, the LDDC chief planner (1982-87). We argued for a landscape strategy plan. Reg Ward’s response that it was Ted Hollamby who would decide and intimated it was not likely to happy.

Eventually this lobbying led to Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe writing a judicious letter to The Times arguing for a landscape strategy.

This effort was not successful in leading to an effective strategy for landscape, however, it did lead to more employment of landscape architects and to tree planting.

My explanation for this failure is that the 1980s were a decade fundamentally influence∂ by the Thatcher governments which believed in the free market (hence initiatives like the Enterprise Zone in the Isle of Dogs which was a temporary ending of planning controls). The LDDC was staffed by ex-GLC and London Borough local authority officers who did not know how to effectively deal with such a political agenda and ditched strategic planning. They followed their political masters orders.

It is ironic that in the 1980s it was the private sector who were the champions of effective masterplanning in the Docklands most especially in Canary Wharf for solid commercial reasons.

Robert Holden (chair SE Chapter LI 1982)

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