New home for Black Cultural Archives - Raleigh Hall
- Thread starter Nickster
- Start date
but in reality it's so true it's a 
Gramsci
Well-Known Member
Also they have been put into administration which means I guess that there is a possibility that some part of the company could be saved if bought up by another firm.
Sad really as this sounds like a longstanding medium sized business not a giant like Balfour Beatty. A lot of the smaller firms are struggling due to the economic crisis caused by the Banks.
Sad really as this sounds like a longstanding medium sized business not a giant like Balfour Beatty. A lot of the smaller firms are struggling due to the economic crisis caused by the Banks.
leanderman
Street Party: July 2
Any developments on this ill-starred project?
urbanspaceman
Well-Known Member
leanderman
Street Party: July 2
Yeah. Just saw that paper in Tesco
They blame some of the extra costs on guarding the site against squatters!
They blame some of the extra costs on guarding the site against squatters!
Brixton Hatter
Home is south London mate
cheers for the link to the story. It doesn't make clear who is funding the extra £900k. Nearly a million quid for protecting against squatters! Bloody chancers!
Still, great news the building is going ahead.
snowy_again
Slush
Hmm, heard some relatively depressing news last night that the structural engineers aren't really doing much on the project, which stops anyone else doing anything.
Rushy
basically a scrotum
What exactly are they supposed to be doing? Surely the structural specification was part of the design process prior to getting quotes?
Brixton Hatter
Home is south London mate
I just popped out on my lunch (some notable local personalities were in the Phoenix
) to have a look and take a few photos. There's no work happening at the moment and the site looks a mess. There's been no visible work to the exterior for a very long time - in fact the only external work I can see that has been done at all over the past few years is the steel shuttering of the ground floor doors & windows and some temporary wooden frames in some of the upper windows. Kilby & Gayford (the contractors who went bust) branded stuff is strewn everywhere and the builders' yellow jackets look to have been thrown on the floor in disgust, which I guess happened when the builders lost their jobs 
There's little guttering left and there's water damage on the building.This was taken in March 2011
And I took this today:
There's some plans somewhere which I'll find when I get a moment. There's a bit of info here: www.bcaheritage.org.uk but the site looks out of date. As well as renovating the hall, I think a small new building is going to be built on the corner of Windrush Square and Saltoun Road, though the foundations for that haven't even been started.
snowy_again
Slush
God knows, he was a random at someone else's party; I think he was a desk person though, rather than a contractor. I'll wrack my brains and get back to you.
urbanspaceman
Well-Known Member
LBoL: "This project has slipped greatly from the original schedule and as such, assurances needs to be obtained from the main funding contributors (HLF and LDA) for the continued use of their grant or
the project will be at risk. To mitigate this happening, continual dialogue has been taking place between ACS, CYP, LDA and HLF representatives."
Why the delay ? And how much more budget and schedule slippage will be tolerated by the funders before they pull the plug ?
Below is a ref to a LBoL PDF document dated Oct 30, recommending the appointment of Rooff as new contractor for the BHC; confirmed in Brixton Blog on the same day.
Strangely, a week or two later, in November, BCA director Paul Reid claimed in The Voice that a new contractor had not been appointed. Reid also told the The Voice. "We [presumably meaning BCA] need to perform credit checks and we will be checking their programme of work so it is well timed and fits into our time.” However Lambeth says: "Lambeth EECP team have taken on the client-side project management role for the subsequent stages which involves detailed design development, procurement and implementation of an enabling works package, procurement of the main construction works, and the construction phase to completion of the works". The PDF makes no reference to BCA being involved in any capacity in the construction stage of the project. Reid seems to be misinformed. Such confusion, the resignation of BCA Chair, Matthew Ryder QC, in February having served for only two years, and the cessation of monthly BCA newsletters in August, after months of regular publication, are troubling straws in the wind.
The "anticipated contract start date" for the new contractor was "15 November 2012", but there has been no visible activity as of today. Given Rooff's "13 month" project duration, the completion date of the BHC continues to recede into the future at the rate of about one day per day, just as it has done since the very start of the project.
List of promised opening dates
2011 (LBoL Oct 2007)
November 2011 (BCA Mar 2010)
June 2012 (BCA Oct 2010: "in time for the Olympics")
early 2013
Spring 2013
April 2013
July 2013
Sep 2013
Dec 2013 ("13 months" from retender contract award, but work has not restarted)
BCA_GW3_ODDRPBtrackedchanges.doc.pdf
http://www.voice-online.co.uk/article/more-delays-black-cultural-archives
http://www.brixtonblog.com/black-cu...ew-developers-in-brixton-windrush-square/7922
http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1zh5t/BrixtonBugle005Novem/resources/2.htm
https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/moderngov/documents/s50324/BCA_GW3_ODDRPBtrackedchanges.doc.pdf
http://www.the-latest.com/black-heritage-boss-calms-fears-over-new-centres-future
http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/moderngov/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=20978
the project will be at risk. To mitigate this happening, continual dialogue has been taking place between ACS, CYP, LDA and HLF representatives."
Why the delay ? And how much more budget and schedule slippage will be tolerated by the funders before they pull the plug ?
Below is a ref to a LBoL PDF document dated Oct 30, recommending the appointment of Rooff as new contractor for the BHC; confirmed in Brixton Blog on the same day.
Strangely, a week or two later, in November, BCA director Paul Reid claimed in The Voice that a new contractor had not been appointed. Reid also told the The Voice. "We [presumably meaning BCA] need to perform credit checks and we will be checking their programme of work so it is well timed and fits into our time.” However Lambeth says: "Lambeth EECP team have taken on the client-side project management role for the subsequent stages which involves detailed design development, procurement and implementation of an enabling works package, procurement of the main construction works, and the construction phase to completion of the works". The PDF makes no reference to BCA being involved in any capacity in the construction stage of the project. Reid seems to be misinformed. Such confusion, the resignation of BCA Chair, Matthew Ryder QC, in February having served for only two years, and the cessation of monthly BCA newsletters in August, after months of regular publication, are troubling straws in the wind.
The "anticipated contract start date" for the new contractor was "15 November 2012", but there has been no visible activity as of today. Given Rooff's "13 month" project duration, the completion date of the BHC continues to recede into the future at the rate of about one day per day, just as it has done since the very start of the project.
List of promised opening dates
2011 (LBoL Oct 2007)
November 2011 (BCA Mar 2010)
June 2012 (BCA Oct 2010: "in time for the Olympics")
early 2013
Spring 2013
April 2013
July 2013
Sep 2013
Dec 2013 ("13 months" from retender contract award, but work has not restarted)
BCA_GW3_ODDRPBtrackedchanges.doc.pdf
http://www.voice-online.co.uk/article/more-delays-black-cultural-archives
http://www.brixtonblog.com/black-cu...ew-developers-in-brixton-windrush-square/7922
http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1zh5t/BrixtonBugle005Novem/resources/2.htm
https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/moderngov/documents/s50324/BCA_GW3_ODDRPBtrackedchanges.doc.pdf
http://www.the-latest.com/black-heritage-boss-calms-fears-over-new-centres-future
http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/moderngov/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=20978
snowy_again
Slush
There was a digger working on the site this morning as I passed.
leanderman
Street Party: July 2
Yep - workmen have been in there for two weeks.
leanderman
Street Party: July 2
They seem to be making some real progress - even this largely means knocking bits of the building down.
I just hope they finish the job - however many years late it is.
I just hope they finish the job - however many years late it is.
Casaubon
Well-Known Member
I lived in Oval Hse. on Rushcroft Rd, backing on to Raleigh Hall which has been propped up by scaffolding for decades.
A couple of times one of my cats climbed into the first floor of Raleigh Hall and got stuck, and I had to climb up after him. The place was in, I thought, quite a scary condition. Stepping through an open window, the whole floor seemed to creak and sag. I coaxed the cat out with goodies, and was rewarded with some savage scratches while carrying him down.
Around '96 or '97 another resident of Rushcroft Rd, something of a businessman, approached the council offering to buy Raleigh Hall. He wanted to turn it into an 'alternative therapy' centre and cafe (yeah, I know). He offered the council somewhere around £40K for the building, with an undertaking that he'd raise all necessary money from private sources, and not seek any grants.
The council turned him down, saying that it would soon be put up for auction, and they expected bidding to start at £250K.
The council also vetoed an idea for using the public toilets at the top of Rushcroft. Apparently the complete lack of any record of what exactly is under Rushcroft/Windrush prevents any development.
A couple of times one of my cats climbed into the first floor of Raleigh Hall and got stuck, and I had to climb up after him. The place was in, I thought, quite a scary condition. Stepping through an open window, the whole floor seemed to creak and sag. I coaxed the cat out with goodies, and was rewarded with some savage scratches while carrying him down.
Around '96 or '97 another resident of Rushcroft Rd, something of a businessman, approached the council offering to buy Raleigh Hall. He wanted to turn it into an 'alternative therapy' centre and cafe (yeah, I know). He offered the council somewhere around £40K for the building, with an undertaking that he'd raise all necessary money from private sources, and not seek any grants.
The council turned him down, saying that it would soon be put up for auction, and they expected bidding to start at £250K.
The council also vetoed an idea for using the public toilets at the top of Rushcroft. Apparently the complete lack of any record of what exactly is under Rushcroft/Windrush prevents any development.
Brixton Hatter
Home is south London mate
Let's squat the toilets
Winot
I wholeheartedley agree with your viewpoint
lang rabbie
Je ne regrette les gazebos
Not as far as I know - though from that recent photo they are probably going to have to completely rebuild the corner where the downpipe got stolen and water has been running down for eighteen months.
leanderman
Street Party: July 2
I guess safety must come into it as well.
Casaubon
Well-Known Member
10 years ago I'd have said that much of the council-owned property in that immediate area (Raleigh Hall, Rushcroft Rd and Clifton Mansions) was beyond repair.
Rushcroft and Clifton weren't great to start with (knocked up by developers in search of a quick profit, who'd have thought?), and even if they'd been looked after they might be considered to be near the end of their useful lives.
As it is, decades of neglect and negligence by the council have reduced them to a dreadful state.
The cost of refurbishing Rushcroft and Clifton to any decent standard would be enormous - far more than the cost of demolition and building new housing (which could be much better quality, however you define it), even without considering that refurbishment is subject to VAT, while new-build isn't.
I think that being a conservation area will probably save Rushcroft, in some form, while Clifton will be demolished and 'redeveloped' (into a gated community? Mall?)
The only thing I'd bet on would be that political and bureaucratic fuckwitted malevolence will result in further shambles, and that the only people to gain will be 'developers'.
Rushy
basically a scrotum
Clifton has been refurbished and phase one is already let, although not yet moved into. About £520/week for a 3bed.
Not sure what property you are referring to on Rushcroft but Hereford and Rosslyn were both refurbed - part sold and part let.
Casaubon
Well-Known Member
I'm referring to refurbishment 'to any decent standard', rather than cosmetic refurbishment aimed at maximising revenue as quickly as possible.
In the mid-nineties, maybe a bit later, the residents commissioned the Evergreen Trust (I think it was) to come up with plans for refurbishment. It was a big, serious piece of work, paid for by the council (one of the very rare occasions when they did something constructive).
Their estimate was £130K per flat, for a 30-year specification. £170K per flat for a 50-year spec, with energy-efficiency extras.
Of course, there's been 15 years further neglect since.
