Category: Counter Propaganda

This week Architects for Social Housing met with Adrian Dobson, Executive Director for Members, and Maxine Mckenzie, Executive Director of Communications, to discuss ASH’s protest against the RIBA’s nomination of Trafalgar Place for this year’s Stirling Prize. First of all we got security out of the way. We asked them to speak to the police and … Continue reading ASH meeting with the RIBA

A lot has been written already about Friday’s decision by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid, to accept the Government Inspector’s recommendation not to confirm Southwark Labour Council’s Compulsory Purchase Order on the homes of leaseholders on the First Development Site of the Aylesbury Estate regeneration. But in the understandable … Continue reading Financial Compensation for Human Rights: The Aylesbury Estate

Northwold Estate, in the London Borough of Hackney, was recently informed that the Guinness Partnership, one of the largest housing associations in Britain, and which took over the running of the estate from the Labour Council seven years ago, were now looking at options for its regeneration. These are: Infill, building new flats on unused … Continue reading The Future of Northwold Estate

The first man who, having enclosed a plot of ground, took upon himself to say ‘This is mine’, and found people naïve enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society. How many crimes, how many wars, how many murders, how much misery and horror, would have been spared the human race if … Continue reading Land Values: A Short History

In October 2012, Lambeth Cabinet agreed the development of a Lambeth Estate Regeneration Programme, according to which any council estates meeting one or more of the following criteria would be eligible for demolition: 1. ‘Where the costs of delivering the Lambeth Housing Standard would be too expensive and would not be good value for money.’ … Continue reading Criteria for Estate Demolition: ASH response to Lambeth Labour Council

ASH nominations for the Time Out guide to the ‘Best Buildings in London’. Boundary Estate, Shoreditch, designed by London County Council, 1900. The first council housing in Britain was built on the demolished ruins of the Old Nichol slum, but the new homes were priced at rents beyond the reach of 95 per cent of … Continue reading Time Out: London’s Best Buildings

The Social Production of Art In his conference paper The Author as Producer, which he delivered in 1934 at the Institute for the Study of Fascism in Paris, the German critic Walter Benjamin argued that the political tendency of a work of art is not determined by the author’s personal ‘attitude’ towards the social relations of the time, but by the place … Continue reading In Defence of Our Homes: The Art of Resistance

  Your Ref: LS/H/ADV/AM Our Ref: ASH 8 June 2016 Ms. Alison McKane Lambeth Legal Services Dear Ms. McKane I acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 26 May 2016 regarding Lambeth Labour Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on 9 May 2016, which was called by Green Party Councillor Scott Ainslie to review the Cabinet … Continue reading Bleak House: Open letter from Architects for Social Housing to Lambeth Legal Services

London’s housing crisis is at a crossroads. The Conservative Government’s Housing and Planning Bill has passed to an Act. We have a new Labour Mayor, elected on a manifesto promise to build 50,000 new homes a year on demolished council estate land. David Cameron will soon launch his Blitzkrieg campaign on 100 so-called ‘sink estates’ … Continue reading Resistance Begins at Home: The Housing and Planning Act