cv57_9

Issue no 57

N E W S

A N D

K E Y

I S S U E S

F O R

T H E

C I T Y

O F

L O N D O N

July 2006

cityview

City elections

register to vote employment in the Square Mile

training for 21st century needs

other options for City waste

space is running out

2 C I T Y V I E W

cityviewmagazine Welcome to cityviewmagazine

C O N T E N T S C I T Y

I N F R A S T R U C T U R E

WiFi while you work

3

cityview is the magazine of the City of London Corporation, provider of local government services for the Square Mile.

T H E I N T E R V I E W

ambitious range of responsibilities C I T Y

4

W O R K E R S

feedback forum C I T Y

6

E L E C T I O N S

register your interest C I T Y

7

E N V I R O N M E N T

what a load of rubbish E C O N O M I C

8

D E V E L O P M E N T

skills for the future A R T S

Unless otherwise stated in individual features, more information on both the magazine and online articles is available from the Public Relations Office below.

10

F O C U S

history gets a facelift visionary living R E T A I L

12 14

D E V E L O P M E N T

shoppers’ paradise

15

...and finally

16

The magazine is available to download from www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/cityview.

If you would like a summary of this publication in your language or in an alternative format such as large print, Braille or audio tape, please contact The Public Relations Office City of London PO Box 270 Guildhall London EC2P 2EJ 020 7332 3099 pro@cityoflondon.gov.uk www.cityoflondon.gov.uk We welcome, and value, feedback but regret that correspondence cannot be individually acknowledged.

MAILING ENQUIRIES cityviewmagazine PO Box 3014,

Registered at Stationers’ Hall

Romford

Designed by Raphael Whittle

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01708 37 35 32

environmentally friendly paper

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C I T Y V I E W 3 C I T Y

I N F R A S T R U C T U R E

WiFi while you work From July anyone wanting to access internet applications can do so ‘on the move’ when wireless networking begins to be introduced to the Square Mile.

The City of London Corporation and The Cloud – Europe’s leading WiFi network operator – have partnered to give users greater freedom when accessing the internet, providing businesses in the Square Mile with the ability to securely extend their corporate IT infrastructure using WiFi. This initiative is one of the most advanced citybased WiFi deployments in the world, and will reinforce the Square Mile’s status as a technologically advanced world financial business centre. This technology means that City workers, residents and visitors will be able to use wireless broadband to work more effectively. Business people can also stay in touch with their office systems using hand-held and laptop devices while not in their offices.

devices to access the internet in streets and in open spaces (including a trial project at several of the City’s resident estates offices), with 95% outdoor coverage across the Square Mile within six months.

Users will be able to access ■ voice-over internet protocol ■ video tele-conferencing ■ streaming media ■ remote user services.

Users will still need deals with internet service providers. Service providers that will sit on the network include Vonage, Skype, O2, BT Openzone, Boingo, IPASS and Nintendo.

More information on the City’s WiFi network

The Cloud will use state of the art technology, installed on street furniture such as lamp posts and street signs, allowing those with WiFi enabled

0207 332 1910 steve.bage@cityoflondon.gov.uk www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/wifi

O N L I N E

O N L I N E

cityviewonline

liverylivedigest

July Cemetery celebration

May Finance for the future

The Goldsmiths’ Company

Members of the Glovers’

online directory can help find that

Company visited its adopted ship

150th anniversary marked by

Report shows challenges facing

special piece of jewellery.

HMS Cumberland and presented its

August Open Day

EU finance and insurance sectors

020 7606 7010

captain with a pair of ceremonial

The.clerk@thegoldsmiths.co.uk

gauntlets. 020 7622 2167

www.whoswhoingoldandsilver.com

gloverslondon@aol.com

Mansion House message

Start me up

Lord Mayor pushes the need for

New project enables unemployed

competitiveness

to set up own business

June Retail therapy

April Top marks

www.thegloverscompany.org The Worshipful Company of Framework Knitters organised

The Guild of Air Pilots and Air

the 2006 Inter-Livery Sail Day

Navigators will host The Sir

on Rutland Water in July.

Frederick Timms Memorial Lecture

Have your say on retail future

City pubs rewarded for putting

01451 821898

on Wednesday 27 September.

of Cheapside

safety first

fionabluck@onetel.com

Sir Ralph Robins, former CEO of Rolls Royce, will be guest speaker.

Mapping out the future City street maps get a face-lift

Have your say Call for residents to represent

020 7404 4032 gapan@gapan.org www.gapan.org

their community

www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/cityview www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/liverylive

4 C I T Y V I E W

T H E I N T E R V I E W

Peter Riddell of The Times talks to Mary Reilly, Chair of the London Development Agency

ambitious range

of responsibilities Partnership is a word that comes naturally to Mary Reilly. It has been a central theme of her career at Deloitte, as chair of the London Regional Council of the CBI and, now, as chair of the London Development Agency.

The LDA is one of the most important, but least understood, players on the London economic scene.

Described as “The Mayor’s Agency for Business and Jobs”, the LDA has a budget of about £400m a year and controls one of the largest landholdings in the capital.Within its responsibilities, the Mayor’s strategy and its own corporate plan, the LDA works around four basic themes – investing in places and infrastructure; investing in people by reducing barriers to employment and encouraging training; investing in enterprise by supporting and helping new businesses; and investing in the marketing and the promotion of London as “the principal UK gateway for tourism, education and investment”.

Faced with this ambitious range of responsibilities, Mary Reilly freely admits that the LDA not only has to be selective where it intervenes but also has to work with others, whether central government, London boroughs or the private and voluntary sectors – hence the stress on partnership. Its apparently big budget is, she says, merely a “drop in the ocean in London”.Talking in her riverside office in St Katherine’s Dock, she says that one of the LDA’s main roles is as a strategic leader working with partners to leverage more money.

The LDA’s highest profile involvement is with the 2012 London Olympics.The agency already owns a lot of land in the area and is assembling more under a compulsory purchase order. She hopes that legal procedures will be completed by late summer so that firms on the site can be relocated, with suitable compensation.

The Olympics is absorbing a large slice of the LDA’s budget. Originally, the agency’s board decided that no more than an average of 25 per cent should go toward it. But more is needed to back regeneration projects and the average is expected to be around 32 per cent over the life of the development.

The LDA is not just concerned with physical regeneration or what happens up to 2012. It has been closely involved in helping smaller businesses and training workers, locally and throughout London, to gain contracts and jobs to do with the Olympics. Moreover, Mary Reilly is very keen on “legacy”, encouraging associated development which will last beyond 2012. Her vision for the area is a tourist destination, but also on other projects such as catering, a hospital and new commerce.

The Olympic Village will be used to provide good quality affordable housing, an important objective for the LDA. The LDA’s other major project is the Thames Gateway.This is a huge scheme which involves south-east and east of England development agencies, central government and affected boroughs.

She looks to big City institutions and financial services to do more... to promote training and skills improvement.

C I T Y V I E W 5

local further education colleges to raise skills and training levels to encourage an expansion of local businesses in a deprived area).The LDA is also a major player in the redevelopment of Park Royal in west London, at the massive King’s Cross project, at revamping the sports facilities at the rundown Crystal Palace site and around the City’s fringes.

Many of its other activities are London wide: particularly working with boroughs and employers to reduce barriers to employment and promote diversity among disabled, older people and ethnic minorities.This is notably via skills training, where Mary Reilly is keen to involve employers, large and small, more. One such project of which she is very proud is providing £1m to the British Library to make its vast intellectual property library of patents more accessible – of great help to small and medium sized businesses.

Another route is by backing the child care provision.

In each case, the LDA itself does not deliver the service but helps others do so.The agency has also been helping new businesses by directing them to where they can find advice on, say,VAT registration and other business links.

The Mayor’s plans assume that the main growth of London will be eastwards, in part on LDA-owned brownfield sites. Mary Reilly talks of “massive opportunity”with the building not only of 50,000 homes, but also of associated infrastructure, and particularly transport links. She stresses her close cooperation with Transport for London (TfL). One of the LDA’s aims is to link the creation and expansion of business with a skilled workforce on the doorstep so as to reduce pressures on an already stretched transport system.

But this is not just a physical project. She emphasises the right mix of jobs, which brings in the LDA’s other roles of investing in people and in enterprise, as well as promoting London. She gives the example of Chinese investors who are interested in design and high technology manufacturing.

Mary Reilly points out that, despite these two large developments, the agency is involved throughout London. It has a role in Woolwich, (where 22 listed buildings have been refurbished into industrial units and office space), and around the new Wembley stadium (not only working with TfL but also with

With her own background at Deloitte, Mary Reilly says she is a “tremendous admirer”of the City and of the City of London Corporation’s role in helping a lot of projects on the fringe which overlap with the LDA’s work. She looks to big City institutions and financial services to do more to work with the capital’s many universities and further education colleges to promote training and skills improvement.

But given this diversity, how should the work of the LDA be judged? Mary Reilly says that, for her, the key benchmark is improving the quality of life for most Londoners – and making a difference in job creation and promoting diversity.This is apart from the formal targets under the Mayor’s strategy and its own corporate plan.The LDA has met most of its targets, which, she says, means that the targets should perhaps be set higher.

The LDA will practice what it preaches in September by moving across the river to an area of regeneration in Southwark.The agency, she says, is leading by example by working with developers to install the latest renewable energy technology into its Palestra building fulfilling two of its aims of regeneration and promoting renewable energy.

Peter Riddell is Chief Political Commentator of The Times

6 C I T Y V I E W

C I T Y

W O R K E R S

feedback forum Every day the City of London Corporation works to provide the highest quality services for the Square Mile. But it can only do this if it knows what people think about the way it serves the City as a whole.

It’s no surprise therefore that consultation forms a major part of the City’s work.There are a series of consultation meetings and fora throughout the year for people to express their views, with the latest residents meetings having been held in June. March saw the City gauging the view of another key stakeholder group – City workers.

More than 1,000 workers from across the City take part in the panel.

For more information or to join 020 7332 1403 consultation@cityoflondon.gov.uk For a full copy of the survey report, visit www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/consultation

The City Workers Consultation Panel is vital to the City. More than 300,000 workers come into the Square Mile, Monday to Friday, and help keep it at the forefront of business.With 1,200 workers on the panel, representing a cross-section of people in terms of age, ethnicity and gender, the panel is an important way in which the City of London and City Police understand the needs and priorities of workers.

The key findings from the latest survey conducted with the panel were that ■ There is a high level of satisfaction among workers with the City Police, and they feel crime levels are decreasing

■ Workers feel safe in the City, although one in three say they are very worried about terrorism – this figure is, perhaps not surprisingly, up from last year ■ Almost nine in ten workers express satisfaction with the City as a place to work ■ Accessibility to and from the City by public transport is a primary consideration for workers when deciding to work here ■ Workers think that bus services to and from the City have improved over the past three years ■ But, workers would like to see more done to make footways and highways friendlier to pedestrians and cyclists - even if this is at the expense of road space and other traffic ■ Two in five workers are happy with the opportunities they get to express their views on services in the City, such as street cleaning and policing.

The City Police will take these views on board as it develops its approach to tackling crime and antisocial behaviour in the Square Mile for the future.

The views on planning and transportation will also help guide decisions on development, transport and the environment in the area over the next 10 years. In fact, since the survey, more than 60 panel members have been invited to take part in discussions about the City’s new long-term plan for the Square Mile called the Local Development Framework.

C I T Y V I E W 7

C I T Y

E L E C T I O N S

register your interest ‘If you value it – register to vote for it’. That’s

“Like the Square Mile itself, the City of London

More information

the slogan the City of London Corporation will be

Corporation can’t take its position for granted. When

0800 587 5537

using when it begins its annual electoral registration

people register to vote, even if there aren’t full

electoralservices@cityoflondon.gov.uk

canvass in August.

elections for several years, it means that they can still

www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/voting

influence how the City is run through Aldermanic and As in previous years, the focus will be on getting

By-elections and by contacting their Ward Members.”

newly qualified firms to register to vote in City elections and getting residents and firms already

More than 62% of eligible firms have already

registered to register again.

registered to vote and of that figure 77% of the possible total number of voters has been appointed.

But this year there will also be a push to get

But the City is keen that those numbers get as close

those firms already signed up to use their full voting

to 100% (for both firms and voters) as it can. It will be

entitlement.

launching a communications programme from August targeting Square Mile firms to remind them

The City of London devotes a lot of time and effort

to return their registration forms and wherever

into the canvass because it wants to ensure that it

possible to use their full voting entitlement.

accurately represents the interests of the Square Mile. Opening up the voting system to businesses

It is also looking at ways it can reward people for

was seen as the best way to achieve this – reflecting

registering early or for using their full voting

the makeup of the City (about 8,000 residents to more

entitlement.

than 300,000 workers) – and a Parliamentary Act was passed in 2002 to allow the voting franchise to be

Registration forms will be sent out in

widened. Residents were always, and continue to be,

August but anyone who feels their company could be

automatically eligible to vote but this act allowed for

missing out on its full voting entitlement can visit the

wider representation among business.

City’s website for more details or call the Electoral Registration Office.

Michael Snyder, Chairman of the Policy & Resources Committee, believes that a lot has been achieved since then but “We must not be complacent. We have had a good response to registration since the new system was introduced but we can’t rest on our laurels. The City wants to be able to show that people have appreciated being able to have more of a say.

8 C I T Y V I E W

C I T Y

E N V I R O N M E N T

what a load of rubbish It’s hard to avoid the issue of waste at the moment. Posters, adverts and leaflets are urging people to reduce, reuse or recycle.

There’s been London Sustainability Week, World Environment Day and television programmes such as It’s Not Easy Being Green.

With all this evidence, few would argue against the case that we produce far too much waste or that available space for disposal is fast disappearing.

London produces 17m tonnes of waste per year.

Each borough, and the UK as a whole, has to meet recycling targets set out in the Government’s Waste Strategy 2000.These include recycling or composting 30% of household waste by 2010.

But as this is for households only – there are no government-set targets for business waste reduction as yet – it doesn’t address the Square Mile’s particular issues.

As in so many cases, the City of London Corporation is different when it comes to waste.The Square Mile produces about 45,000 tonnes per year.This figure is much less than other London boroughs, because of its small size, but in a reversal of the usual situation, commercial waste accounts for 91% or 41,000 tonnes of its waste.

All waste collected by the City is taken to the Walbrook Wharf riverside waste transfer station.

Upgraded in 1995 at a cost of £4.5m, it has become one of the most modern such stations in the South East.The waste is then transferred via barge to a landfill site in Essex and by using the river avoids more than 10,000 lorry movements each year.

But the current landfill site is due to close at the end of December 2007. So while the City is looking at different options for the years to follow, including the new energy-from-waste incinerator due to be built at Belvedere, the pressure is also on to encourage businesses to reduce their own waste as much as possible.

Over the years, the City of London Corporation has become a ‘one stop shop’ for waste removal and advice. It now handles ■ general waste ■ recycling ■ hazardous waste ■ gives advice on managing and reducing waste.

■ and will soon introduce confidential waste.

Confidential waste will be a new service which will involve taking away and shredding companies’ confidential material.This has been introduced ‘by

90.5% (41,000 tonnes) commercial

6.6% (2,950 tonnes) household

2.9%

(1,310 tonnes) street cleansing

City’s waste

C I T Y V I E W 9

public demand’ and also reflects companies’ general preference of having a single service provider – the City’s flexibility allowing it to retain its customer base.

The City is also the first local authority to recycle the material it picks up in street sweeping – whether it is litter, through manual sweeping, or grit and aggregate, through mechanical sweeping, which can then be reused in new streetworks.

TOP TIPS FOR WASTE REDUCTION

Another major initiative has been the introduction of a single bin solution for firms’ recycling which the City collects and then sorts out into different ‘streams’ for recycling. Since the landfill tax was further increased in April, it now works out cheaper

Set printers and photocopiers to print both sides of paper. If all City businesses did this then theoretically almost 25% of waste could be reduced 2 Avoid unnecessary printing of emails 3 Use re-usable items rather than disposable, eg china cups, metal cutlery, propelling pencils and refillable pens.

4 Collect and recycle old toner cartridges and mobile phones 5 Recycling aluminium cans saves 95% of the energy needed to make a new one 6 Switch to using rechargeable batteries 7 Turn any scrap paper into notepads 8 Avoid over-packaged goods. Speak to suppliers to see if they will take packing waste back 9 Buy goods made from recycled content 10 Distribute and file documents electronically to save on paper usage

for companies to use the City’s all-in-one recycling service than to dispose of material as general waste. It can also save companies valuable time and demonstrate their commitment to recycling without major cost.To prove how serious the City views waste management, two companies have been taken to court and been given substantial fines for littering the highway.

In terms of advice, the City’s Cleansing team are experts in the field.The Clean City Awards team operate like a free consultancy and give impartial guidance to businesses. Launched in 1994, the scheme encourages and rewards firms, large and small, that can demonstrate they have good waste management practices and comply with legislation.

More than 1,200 sites representing over 800 companies are registered to take part.

1

The team also works with other organisations to promote environmental issues and effective waste management.These include Envirowise –offering businesses free, independent advice and support on ways to increase profits, minimise waste and reduce environmental impact;Wrap – creating efficient markets for recycled materials and products, while removing barriers to waste minimisation, re-use and recycling; and London Remade –promoting business recycling and green procurement.

Above all, the team is keen to stress how easy it is for companies to reduce waste and how little it can cost in terms of money or effort.And if Square Mile businesses are to make a real difference in cutting down on their waste then the City of London’s Cleansing team may be their best port of call.

More information 020 7606 3110 www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/recycling

2% metal 2.5% fines (mixed particles) 5.2% misc.

11.5% plastic

12.9% glass

16.7% putrescibles (food etc)

of which:

49.2% paper and card

45,260 tonnes

10 C I T Y V I E W

E C O N O M I C

D E V E L O P M E N T

skills for the future Readers of The City News Monitor e-newsletter may have seen a story in May on the results of a survey of London companies which highlighted the lack of suitably qualified or skilled recruits available. The survey revealed that this issue has overtaken transport as London firms’ number one concern.

The City of London Corporation is committed to making sure that the Square Mile has everything it needs to flourish. Michael Snyder, the City’s Chairman of Policy & Resources, believes that the area will only continue to prosper “if its people continue to be equipped with the best and most up to date skills. City businesses need to ensure they can attract and retain the best staff, able to meet the complex skill needs of the 21st century.”

As part of this commitment and with one eye on its neighbouring boroughs in the City fringe (the boroughs of Camden, Islington, Hackney, Lambeth, Southwark,Tower Hamlets and Westminster), the City’s Economic Development Office (EDO) is keen to contribute to meeting the City’s skills needs by ensuring routes into City-type work are promoted to local residents and that perceived barriers to working in the Square Mile are broken down.

Through various initiatives and partnerships, it has been ensuring that the City fringe has a pool of available and appropriately skilled people upon which City businesses can draw.

One example is The City Business Traineeship Programme - a work placement programme that links ‘A’ level leavers from the City fringe with placements of between 6-13 weeks in Square Mile companies. It focuses on typical City jobs such as financial services, business administration, insurance, law and recruitment. Last year, 27 companies took part.

This is not a ‘coffee-making’ type of work placement trainees are paid at the going rate for a variety of tasks

that help the smooth running of the company. Most placements centre on ‘high flyers’ - A*,A and B grade students although companies can offer placements to students with Bs and Cs if this is more appropriate.

Trainees are invited to register their details and preferences as to their preferred type of placement.They also attend workshops on CV preparation and interview technique. Potential candidates are shortlisted by the Brokerage Citylink, which runs the scheme on the City’s behalf, before being referred to the company for interview. Last year, 75 students gained placements this way.The achievements of participating trainees and companies are recognised at an annual celebration event. Last year UBS (Sean Taylor) and Royal Bank of Canada (Gareth Hughes) won the awards of Employer of the Year and Employer Newcomer of the Year respectively.

Companies interested can contact the Brokerage on the details opposite.

The City is also piloting a programme for larger groups of younger students called Careers Open House.This allows groups of up to 50 students aged 14-15 to visit a large City firm, giving a taster of a City environment to young people who more often than not do not have any links to the Square Mile.The visits show them the reality of working for such

C I T Y V I E W 11 The City Business Traineeship awards ceremony 2005

opportunities at entry level (ie non-graduate) within Financial and Related Business Services (FRBS).

Improving the sector-specific skills of these residents is of key importance. Main activities are to ■ ensure students have appropriate qualifications ■ raise awareness and the perception of vocational qualifications amongst employers ■ improve ‘soft’ skills eg communication or interpersonal ■ increase awareness of the FRBS sector and its recruitment practices ■ improve students’ ability to perform successfully at interviews and selection days ■ target students at ‘niches’ where employers currently struggle to recruit.

As Lord Mayor, Alderman David Brewer will be presenting

companies, give them an overview of the variety of careers on offer and let them know the routes and qualifications needed. Following a presentation on the Square Mile, its history and types of businesses, students are taken on a tour of the host company.

They are shown a wide variety of environments, such as personnel, legal, operations, the trading floor mail room and security desk.

the awards at this year’s annual CBT celebration event.

More information on general contact / hosting visits for students 020 7332 1268 david.pack@cityoflondon.gov.uk receiving City News Monitor shaun.curtis@cityoflondon.gov.uk City Business Traineeship scheme Brokerage Citylink 020 7628 9904 local recruitment in financial and related business services 020 7332 3077 tracy.williams@cityoflondon.gov.uk Employer Engagement Manager FSSC Skills Bill 020 7216 7468 faye.chua@fssc.org.uk online survey at www.fssc.org.uk/skillsbill

Pilot sessions are being delivered by Inspire!, the Education Business Partnership for Hackney, hosted

by UBS, and feedback has been very positive. 61% of students agreed or strongly agreed with the statement that they could see themselves working for a City-type firm.The programme will be rolled out across the boroughs of Hackney, Islington, Southwark and Tower Hamlets in the autumn.

Another part of the programme,‘City 4 A Day’ gives smaller groups of students (13-14 year olds) the opportunity to spend a day learning about the City and the careers on offer in depth.The schools targeted are those in the City fringe with the poorest GCSE results.As well as seeing a presentation on the City, students get to visit a company, talk with employees about their jobs and participate in various exercises, including a skills game. In 2005/6 17 tours were run with 234 students taking part.

Following research published by the City of London in 2005, EDO is working with the London Development Agency, Learning and Skills Council and Financial Services Skills Council to look at how City fringe residents can take advantage of the many

Alongside this, the City’s Employer Engagement Manager, funded under the European Social Fund’s EQUAL programme, is looking at key issues for employers, their reasons for employing or not employing local residents and how best to promote local recruitment.The Manager will also focus on how employers can work with the many local training initiatives that deliver sector-specific skills in the City fringe.

The Financial Services Skills Council is also currently undertaking a UK-wide research programme – the Skills Bill – to uncover specific skills issues within the financial services industry. Following extensive employer involvement, it will aim to provide solutions to skills issues affecting the performance of businesses in the FRBS sector.

These initiatives are designed to ensure that the City has the best skills resources to call upon and that school/college leavers and graduates have the best opportunities to succeed in an increasingly competitive labour market.

Regeneration Partnerships The City supports and contributes to the work of various regeneration partnerships, all of which address skills and training issues in some way.

These include

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

City Fringe Partnership Pool of London Partnership Cross River Partnership East London Business Alliance Thames Gateway London Partnership Central London Partnership

12 C I T Y V I E W

A R T S

F O C U S

history gets a facelift Everyone has their own personal milestones in their life but Londoners are now being offered the chance to record where and when they took place while at the same time contributing to a refurbishment of one of the City’s major cultural landmarks.

The Museum of London, which the City of London Corporation co-funds, is to undergo its first major redevelopment since it was created making it fit-for-purpose for the next 30 years.

Work on the £18m project is expected to begin next year and be completed in 2009 and Professor Jack Lohman, Museum Director, believes the development is needed to bring the Museum up to date.“Since we opened in 1976, the fabric of London and visitors’ expectations have evolved.We aim to increase access to our nationally important collections, expand the learning and outreach programmes and present

The new project is part of a 10 year development and its main aims are to ■ create 25% more display space on the lower floor ■ create world-class galleries telling the story of London from 1666 to present day (it currently only goes to 1914) ■ increase collections on display by more than 60% (there are more than two million items in the collections) ■ create a new information zone allowing visitors to find out more through other resources ■ make the Museum more visible by creating a new glass frontage looking on to London Wall.

The work will cover four main elements – the Modern London Galleries, a Learning Centre, a refurbished theatre and an information zone with coffee point.

The Lottery Heritage Fund has agreed £11.5m towards the cost and another £3.6m has already been

Museum of London most popular highlights 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The Lord Mayor’s coach Victorian walk Roman kitchen and dining room Cromwell’s death mask Nelson’s sword The Plague Bell 1960s Ford Cortina

ourselves as a relevant, dynamic cultural forum for the 21st century.”

The Museum of London is the largest urban history museum in the world and was established by merging the London and Guildhall Museums – becoming London’s first new museum since the Second World War. It was opened by Her Majesty The Queen in 1976. More than 380,000 people and 70,000 school children visit each year while its website reaches more than one and a half million and it is hoped that numbers will increase further once the new work is complete.

raised through patrons.As both a novel and fun way of raising the additional funds needed, the Museum has launched The Great Sale of London.This allows Londoners to record their most memorable London moments online and gives supporters the chance to ‘buy’ their favourite year in London history.

An entire year of London’s history can be bought for £5,000, starting with 1666 (the Great Fire of London ) and going forward to London’s Olympic Year of 2012.Already several companies have bought into the scheme choosing dates that are important to them. Lloyd’s of London has bought 1688, Royal Mail

The Museum of London is the largest urban history museum in the world

C I T Y V I E W 13

has bought 1809 and the John Lewis Partnership has a stake on 1864. Individual plaques will be created to commemorate the buyer of each year and they will be incorporated in a new timeline of London’s history.These will also include key historical moments such as the first London Olympic Games in 1908; women gaining equal voting rights in 1928;The Queen’s Coronation in 1952; and England’s World Cup win of 1966.

For those of more modest means, the London Moments website will allow people to recognise their own uniquely personal London moment for just £5.

Visitors will be able to state what their particular moment was and when and where in London it took place.

This is also in line with the growing importance the Museum is placing on social history.To make sure its material is relevant to today’s audiences it is looking to speak to people directly by including greater coverage of issues such as council housing, refugees and London’s wide cultural diversity.

More than 380,000 people and 70,000 school children visit each year while its website reaches more than one and a half million

“Cities,”Professor Lohman believes “are at the heart of civilisation.They are places of constant change and rooted communities. Celebrating London’s past and present diversity is to make sense not just of one city, but of Britain and communities that connect us to the globe.”

If you are one of

the Tea for One set, which cleverly

the privileged

warms your cup while your tea

few who can

brews. cityview readers can get

actually hear the

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sound of the Bow Bells, you might

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be interested in the Museum of

by bringing their copy to the

London’s new range of Cockney

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Selected products also

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“Lollipopping” for shopping.

www.museumoflondonshop.co.uk

Highlights are the bone china

or call 020 7814 5600

teapot and saucers and particularly

to place an order.

14 C I T Y V I E W

A R T S

F O C U S

visionary living started from scratch, we adapted an existing collection from France’s FRAC (Fonds Regional d’Art Contemporain du Centre) Centre.

We refined and extended it so it was more comprehensive and had more of a global emphasis.”

A lot of the architecture on display is purely experimental – known as ‘paper architecture’ – with only about 30% actually built. But that doesn’t make these designs any less important “Because they are visionary, conceptual and Architecture at its most

published their theory of a sloping

experimental is on display at

city which was intended to

the Barbican Art Gallery until

stimulate and encourage human

September.

social activity.

Billed as ‘Experiment and Utopia in

The subject of experimental

Architecture 1956-2006’, the

architecture was chosen because

Future City exhibition features

the Barbican would like to “continue

around 70 ground breaking projects

to highlight the most exciting work

that have inspired generations of

that has happened in architecture

architects across the world.

and design in the post-war period,” according to Gallery curator Jane

From basic pencil sketches to

Alison. “As it would have been

complete models and film footage,

impossible to cover the breadth of

Future City invites visitors to look at

material in Future City if we had

radically new ways of living in cities.

The exhibition is split into different themes, with titles such as New Babylon, Inflatable City, Delirious Metropolis and Experimental Living, that challenge people to think about what it would be like to choose extraordinary living over the every day. The Metabolists published a booklet in the 1960s connecting the metabolism of living creatures with that of architecture and the city while in the same decade Architecture Principe

experimental they are often

C I T Y V I E W 15

R E T A I L

D E V E L O P M E N T

shoppers’ paradise With Cheapside undergoing major

would like the area to develop. This

Another renovation building visually centred work at

“The will then Thames allow in uscentral and theLondon has

exhibition present, the isdevelopments now running at offer the

alandowners seven metre involved, tidal range to create and itanis in

Museum inaDocklands. practically clean slate for Using the vast City

the overall enclosed retail strategy spaces for flooded buildings as

panoramic of London Corporation images, Unquiet to develop

alternately they are completed with lightand andmake with the water

Thames a retail strategy shows the for this mysterious, and

that area Imore havesuited concentrated to people’s my needs.”

watery adjacentworld streets. hidden Withbeneath this in mind,

attention,” explained Crispin.

London’s City workers bridges. and residents are

Two of the first developments

being asked what retail outlets,

“Most to be completed of these places will bewere One not Wood

It restaurants features 18and pictures, other each services over

designed Street in summer to be seen 2007 by and the general Bow

two theymetres would wide like to and seetaking in theinarea.

360

public Bells House at all…Thousands in Bread Street of people in

degrees by stitching together eight

walk autumn about next above year. them December’s every day

separate In previous digital years, images. the lack They of were

not issue knowing of cityview that beneath includedtheir the feet

taken shopping by photographer facilities in theCrispin Square Mile

lurks design this drawings strangefor amphibious another large

Hughes was a major and show drawback the underbelly for City of

architecture.” retail and office development known

the people. capital’s Sincefamous then there landmarks. has been

as One New Change, opposite

the change of use for the Royal

There St Paul’s is aCathedral. £5 annual entry fee to the

Shades Exchange of light to anand exclusive dark, differing retail

Museum in Docklands for adults but

precursors to real buildings. They

design has been listed in the last

tides, outlet debris and the and creation amalgams of the of new timber,

bring The amount along this of new copybuildings of cityview being

help spark off ideas that give rise to

few years.”

steel House and of concrete Fraser store are explored, near

and youwill created canmean get two a net tickets increase for the of

the final product,” said Alison.

complemented Monument. Butby with a soundtrack Cheapside still

price of about 25% one! extra Kidsspace get infor free. new

With all the many examples on

featuring being reserved the lapping for retail of water. use people Both

facilities. These will be joined by

And it seems appropriate that the

display does Jane have a favourite?

elements can now have combine theirto say give onboth whata

improvements to the area’s street

Barbican, such a radical and utopian

“The Deconstruction works are my

surprising types of other viewfacilities of the Thames they would and an

environment, through schemes such

design in its own day, should host

favourite. Projects like Morphosis,

unsettling like to see.atmosphere.

These could cover chain

as the City of London’s Street Scene

the exhibition. “There is often a

Malibu Beach House and Daniel

stores, supermarkets, independent

Challenge, that will make Cheapside

time lag in design and architecture.

Libeskind’s Berlin City Edge are

retailers and cafés and would help

and its surrounds a more pleasant

When these ideas first emerge they

very strong.”

shape the nature of the area for the

and enjoyable experience for

years to come.

shopping and dining.

are scoffed at but then 20 years later they become the norm. Indeed

Whether they excite or repel, the

the Barbican’s own ground breaking

designs making up Future City are

“We have a great opportunity to

If you have any ideas get in touch

sure to be talking points.

redefine Cheapside,” said Chairman

with your comments and

of Policy & Resources Michael

suggestions by calling

More information

Snyder, “so it’s important that we

020 7332 3493 or email to

0845 120 7550

have people’s views on how they

michelle.kears@cityoflondon.gov.uk

www.barbican.org

16 C I T Y V I E W

N E W S

I N

B R I E F

...and finally keeping the pressure up A new campaign for Crossrail has been launched bringing together London’s Mayor, leading business figures, and trade union leaders and the City of London Corporation.

The City has been one of the project’s strongest supporters over the years

“Never forget: financial services is

This message was reinforced by

expected population expansion

the Lord Mayor, Alderman David

in the Square Mile expected in the next 10 years.

and its Chairman of Policy &

an industry that can move

Brewer, at the annual dinner for the

Resources, Michael Snyder,

elsewhere. To make sure it

bankers and merchants of London

welcomed the new campaign.

doesn’t, our public transport

in June attended by Chancellor

Transport for London anticipates that

“Crossrail is absolutely essential if

must be modern and efficient so

Gordon Brown.

Crossrail will add a net benefit of

The City believes Crossrail will help

over 60 years and contribute £12bn in tax revenues.

London is to maintain and build on its

we can retain and attract

competitive edge in financial services.

international firms to London –

£30bn to UK Gross Domestic Product

I warmly welcome the new campaign

and maintain our reputation as

solve overcrowding on the

and I will work with Mayor Ken

the best place in the world to

underground network and build in

Livingstone to ensure it is a success.

do business.“

additional capacity to meet the

Art spans the water

September is Open House weekend

The history and science of London’s

Lock in the west with the City of

river bridges is celebrated at a new

London responsible for five (Tower,

exhibition in Guildhall Art Gallery.

Last year’s event saw an estimated London will be turned into a living

360,000 visits to private residences,

London, Southwark, Millennium and

exhibition for 48 hours during

government buildings,

Blackfriars).

September when 500 architecturally

contemporary offices, historical

significant (and often private)

houses, arts spaces and Institutions,

Among the best-known pictures to

buildings will open their doors to

City banks, medical centres and

held by the Guildhall Art Gallery,

feature in the exhibition are

the public.

schools. All access is free of charge.

Guildhall Library and Museum of

Clarkson Stanfield’s The Opening of

Drawn mainly from collections of paintings, prints and watercolours

London, the exhibition looks at

London Bridge by William IV, and

Open House London Weekend

The full Buildings Guide and the

artists’ continuing fascination with

WL Wylie’s The Opening of Tower

takes place 16-17 September and is

City-specific guide will be available

the Thames.

Bridge, which both capture the

the capital’s biggest architectural

from mid-August by visiting

excitement of the occasions.

event, offering the chance to see,

www.openhouse.org.uk

The exhibition runs until 15 October.

architecture, engineering and

Elizabeth II Bridge at Dartford to the

More information 020 7332 3700

design.

end of the tideway at Teddington

www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

There are now 33 bridges spanning the Thames from the Queen

experience, explore and understand

As before many of the City’s own memorable contemporary and historical buildings will be open on the weekend, celebrating design excellence.