Contents
March 2014
cityviewonline 7
2 cityviewonline is published by the City of London Corporation, a uniquely diverse organisation that promotes and supports the City, and provides local and policing services for the Square Mile. It also provides a wide range of extra services for the City of London and the nation as a whole.
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Capacity building Things to do
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Heath and safety Services
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Money worries? Help is at hand Things to do
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How well do you know your City? Things to do
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Don’t be afriad of the dark
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A gem of an exhibition About the City
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And finally
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cityviewonline Business
Capacity building
The Economic Impact of Short Term Airport Capacity Options SPECIAL INTEREST PAPER CITY OF LONDON CORPORATION & LONDON FIRST
While the final proposals to resolve London’s airport capacity issue are still awaited, a City Corporationcommissioned report has shown that short term improvements could boost the UK economy by more than £200m. The Economic Impact of Short Term Airport Capacity Options [.] is a special interest paper
prepared by York Aviation on behalf of the City Corporation and London First. The study examines the implications of putting into practice the short term recommendations made to the Airport Commission. It found that if measures to boost capacity were implemented they would also create up to 3,400 jobs and up to £77m in journey time savings. These measures include the introduction of mixed mode operations at Heathrow and the development of a reliever airport at Northolt. Other options include reducing delays at airports, amounting to £125m per year at Heathrow alone, or £220m per year if implemented across London airports. Redistributing flight traffic via improved rail access to Gatwick and Stansted and changes to the regulatory framework could save £76m and £53m respectively.
Mark Boleat, Policy Chairman at the City Corporation, said: “While these short-term capacity measures could provide for a small boost for the UK economy, it is also clear that these will have a limited impact on airport capacity in the South East. Longer-term solutions are needed to maintain resilience, connectivity and international competitiveness. With Heathrow already operating at 98% capacity, it is clear we cannot afford to stand still while our rivals – including Paris, Amsterdam and Dubai – build for the future.” Special interest reports are among a series of reports commissioned by the City Corporation’s Economic Development Office every year. Research Reports and Periodicals address an overarching research theme or set of issues in depth, generally involving new primary research or substantial review. Special Interest Papers look at a specific issue to generate discussion and inform debate, and our Practitioner Policy Papers focus on technical subjects of particular interest to practitioners in industry sectors. Topical Issues Papers are short pieces exploring a current issue. 1 MORE INFORMATION
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/researchpublications
York Aviation
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For thoughts, opinions, infographics and videos about current issues affecting the City economy, from our research partners and guest contributors, please visit the City of London’s economic research blog [.]
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cityviewonline Things to do
Heath and safety The City Corporation has a wide range of responsibilities that go beyond support and promotion of the Square Mile and its provision of local authority services. One of the highest profile of these is its role as a trusted custodian of London’s green spaces, having managed sites since the Victorian era.
There are more than 30 ponds on the Heath three of them big enough to be classified as large ‘raised reservoirs’. Most of the ponds are in two chains and date back several hundred years. The dams, which are made of earth, could be breached in an extreme rainstorm (the Hampstead chain of ponds was severely damaged in a heavy rainstorm in 1975).
It manages 11,000 acres (over 4,000 hectares) across the capital and South East England – including Epping Forest – and attracts 23m visits a year to its sites, most run at no cost to the taxpayer. The City Corporation has managed Hampstead Heath for 25 years, spending £6m a year of its own resources to look after London’s most iconic green space. It now attracts over seven million visits every year. This also means that the City Corporation has a legal obligation to look after it for future generations to enjoy and to ensure safety.
Highgate Pond Chain 1 Stock Pond 2 Kenwood Ladies’ Bathing Pond 3 Bird Sanctuary Pond 4 Model Boating Pond 5 Men’s Bathing Pond 6 Highgate No.1 Pond Hampstead Pond Chain 7 Vale of Health Pond 8 Viaduct Pond 9 Catchpit 10 Mixed Bathing Pond 11 Hampstead No.2 Pond 12 Hampstead No.1 Pond
The City Corporation has been advised by its Supervising Engineer that it needs to take action to minimise the risk to life, property and infrastructure (including London Overground railway lines) in North London. As a result, the organisation has spent the last 18 months consulting local people on how best to do this, resulting in two options for each chain. The consultation on these ended in February and there will also be another consultation when a detailed planning application is submitted. The proposals have been developed over the past two years with substantial involvement of local user and resident groups through workshops and meetings, taking into full account the need to preserve the Heath’s landscape and habitat. The City Corporation has used this opportunity to propose some enhancements, including new paths, viewpoints and reed-beds, as well as ways of improving water quality and biodiversity. While the proposed and necessary works will be temporarily disruptive the City Corporation believes its plans strike the right balance. If the ponds are to continue to be enjoyed by Londoners for generations to come, they need to be safe. 1
MORE INFORMATION
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/pondsproject where the full report can be downloaded YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN
Epping Forest and City gardens
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cityviewonline Services
Money worries? Help is at hand While a new financial year might be a fresh start for some, for others it offers no relief to money problems. But while debt and finances can be stressful, you don’t have to suffer alone: help is at hand with the City Advice service. The City Corporation has formed a partnership with Toynbee Hall to provide this service which offers a range of information and advice across different topics including those related to money. City Advice can help people across the City with all types of debt problems - from credit and store card debt to council tax or rent arrears or payday loans. Its advisors can provide guidance, sensitively and confidentially, to help resolve your problems and get your finances back on track.
The City Advice service helps people living, working and studying in the City of London to deal with all sorts of problems including legal issues, consumer rights, family worries and work problems. The team can advise you on your legal rights, advocating on your behalf and supporting you through difficult situations. You can speak with an advisor over the phone by calling the helpline on 020 7392 2919. This is a ‘one stop shop’ for help with basic information such as form filling and advice on accessing City services. It is available Mon 8am-1pm; Tues 12noon-5pm; Wed 12noon-5pm; Thurs 11am-4pm; Fri 10am-1pm; Sat 11am-1pm. 1
Drop in centres City Business Library Guildhall, Aldermanbury EC2V 7HH Every Monday 12noon – 2pm (Excludes Bank Holidays) Portsoken Community Centre Mansell Street Estate, 14 – 16 Little Somerset Street E1 8AH Every Tuesday 1pm – 4pm Middlesex Street Estate Office Petticoat Tower E1 7EE Every Thursday 10am – 12pm
MORE INFORMATION
www.toynbeehall.org.uk/cityadvice You can also text 07432 658 083 or email city.advice@toynbeehall.org.uk YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN
Healthwatch [.] Adult Social Care [.] and Adult Learning [.]
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cityviewonline Things to do
How well do you know your City? Whether you live or work in the City, every day you pass classic and cutting edge architecture, walk streets packed with fascinating histories and enjoy enviable views that alter every year. But chances are that your familiarity makes you take all this for granted. So why not get to really know your City by taking advantage of all that’s on offer during English Tourism Week? There’s a wide programme of free activities that will allow you to discover the Square Mile’s rich heritage and culture, including walks, talks and tours. 1
Cheapside: past, present and future walk 30 March and 5, 6 April City Guides will take you through medieval lanes, past Wren’s churches, Victorian office blocks and brand-new buildings covering 2,000 years of history. Walks are at 12pm (6 April at 2pm) starting at One New Change (ground floor by the lifts). Please register in advance by sending your name by email [.]
Free daily guided walks 31 March - 4 April Join City Guides for a themed walk covering City history, the River and Romans. Walks leave the City Information Centre at 5.45pm and places are first come first served.
Free lunch time talks at Guildhall Library 31 March - 4 April Bank of England: Curiosities from the vaults 31 March A chance to see some unusual treasures from the Bank’s vast collections, which illustrate the sheer scope and diversity of historic objects gathered throughout its history. Entry is free. For opening times see the museum website [.]
Delve beneath the surface of some of the fascinating pieces in the Guildhall Library’s collection by attending one of the talks hosted amongst the tomes of London’s history. There will also be a special talk about Shakespeare’s First Folio – one of the finest examples of the first published collection of his works. Talks take place at 1pm (and last 30 minutes).
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cityviewonline
How well do you know your City?
Free lunchtime talks at Dr Johnson's House 31 March - 4 April
Tours of the Guildhall complex 5 April
Dr Johnson's House invites you to join the curators in Johnson’s Garret for a lunchtime talk about the Great Cham of Literature. Find out more about the man known as ‘Dictionary Johnson’, who once described himself as 'a hardened and shameless tea-drinker’. Talks begin at 12.30pm.
Join a City Guide to hear about Guildhall’s history, including its survival through the Great Fire and the Blitz and notorious events that took place here such as the trial of Lady Jane Grey. Tours begin at 11.30am and 2.30pm from West Wing Reception, Aldermanbury EC2V 7HH. Email [.]stating your preferred tour time and number of places.
Free Keats Fleet half-day walks 2 and 5 April In partnership with Curiocity, the City of London invites you to trace the River Fleet from where it meets the Thames to its source at the highest point of inner London. Along the way explore the life of Keats from his birthplace in the City to his last London home, Keats House in Hampstead (free entry included). Walks start at 1pm and finish at Keats House at 4pm, with an optional extension to the source of the Fleet from 5-5.45pm. For a place please email [.]
YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN
The City Visitor Trail [.] The Clockmakers Museum [.] City of London Police Museum [.]
MORE INFORMATION
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/englishtourismweek or pay a visit to the City Information Centre, opposite St Paul’s Cathedral.
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cityviewonline Things to do
Don’t be afraid of the dark A real sensory experience is on offer at the City Corporation’s Barbican Centre until June, involving light, sound and movement.
Momentum is the work of the London-based art practice United Visual Artists, commissioned by the Barbican. It is a natural successor to their work Chorus which used eight pendulums, each with a light and sound component.
The Centre’s Curve gallery is hosting a new, immersive installation called Momentum that appears very simple but challenges visitors’ perception of the Curve’s environment. As the images show, the Curve has had 12 pendulums installed throughout its huge arc which activate light and sound. The first thing to hit you when you enter the Curve is the seeming mist and extreme darkness. Without a physical guide, and with the rhythmic sound around you, your sense of balance seems affected and the effect is unnerving.
While the work might seem simple, Momentum is the result of much research and technical
synchronisation. Each pendulum has been designed using steel, aluminium and custom electronics. Their movement has been carefully calibrated and planned (controlled by specially designed software to work individually and in sequence with each other). Likewise the sonic element is specific to each pendulum and tuned to resonate as they move within the Curve. 1
As you progress along the Curve, the sheer expanse of space hits you as you try to orientate yourself. The installation makes full use of the 90 metre long promenade and six metre high walls. Gradually, as your eyes become accustomed to the dark you begin to pick out the patterns that the lights are creating so that it almost becomes soothing. MORE INFORMATION
www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery/
f&t BarbicanCentre x BarbicanLondon “Our internal model of time, movement, mass and space is based on a lifetime of experience, perhaps even genetically encoded. What happens when we build a new model/What happens when we bend the rules?” UVA
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cityviewonline Things to do
A gem of an exhibition Whether you have already seen its magnificent Cheapside Hoard or not, the Museum of London is also offering the opportunity to view up close more recent, cutting edge and contemporary work in the field of jewellery. Made in London: Jewellery Now, an accompanying free exhibition to the Cheapside Hoard, showcases the creations and unique vision of the most exciting, imaginative and boundary-pushing jewellers working in London today. This is in recognition of the capital’s position as a training ground, workshop, market place and inspiration to a large number of jewellery makers. In the 21st century, it is not enough for a jewellery designer to create beautiful pieces. Designers have to create a unique identity and aesthetic. This exhibition explores how they have harnessed their interests to make their collections stand out, while simultaneously exploring how each is influenced by
the city around them. Jewellery designers featured in the exhibition include Jordan Askill, Husam el Odeh, Noemi Klein, Imogen Belfield, Duffy, Rachel Boston and Frances Wadsworth-Jones. Frances WadsworthJones’s section includes the quote: “I like to take something that people wouldn’t normally look at and show them that it can be beautiful.” And you can’t get something more everyday than bird droppings on statues! Images of these and others of droppings on pavements are gathered together by the designer but a sculpted dropping is also highlighted, emblazoned with jewels and boxed to show how it can appear as a thing of beauty. There is also a 3D cross section of a ring rotating 360 degrees and magnifying glasses for close up views of a series of rings. Fellow artist Rachel Boston turns her focus to animals – with examples such as jewellery-like sea creatures draped around shells and coral as though continued >
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cityviewonline
A gem of an exhibition
underwater; another couple on a beach-like texture; and several in a mini-forest in and around trees. Noemi Klein has fashioned an ornate headdress made up of what appears to be a swarm of white birds. There is also a black sculpture of galloping horses in the shape of a scorpion on a monitors and panthers knitted together in sculpture form.
drawings and sketches pinned on the wall behind and beside the work bench and also has a range of tools, books and models scattered around. Other features of interest include a pair of glass fashioned from a black comb; a watch design under glass and a dress made up of watches stitched together. 1 MORE INFORMATION
www.museumoflondon.org.uk
Perhaps the highlight of the exhibition is Husam el Olen’s mock studio behind glass. This area has
fx& /museumoflondon t @museumoflondon Made in London: Jewellery Now runs until 27 April.
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cityviewonline About the City
…and finally We’re looking for some very special people The City Corporation, as the police authority for the Square Mile, is currently recruiting volunteers to act as Independent Custody Visitors (ICVs). This scheme safeguards the welfare of those detained in City of London Police stations. As part of this, independent visitors carry out regular checks on the conditions under which detainees are kept. This is an important and valuable role in the local community, maintaining public confidence in this important area of policing.
Show some spine Young architectural professionals are being invited to come up with a solution for creating a ‘Cultural Spine’ in the City in a competition with a first prize of €5,000. The City Corporation has been working with the organisers of the Peter-Joseph-Lenne Prize 2014 (a competition for landscape architecture based in Berlin). The area between St Paul’s Cathedral and the Barbican Centre is shaped by broad streets creating significant barriers to pedestrian movement between important cultural facilities.
All change please Big changes are coming to London Bridge Station this year and workers and businesses are being encouraged to plan ahead for how they might be affected.
The main duties of an ICV are to attend local police stations on a monthly basis and inspect the cells. Each visit should last no longer than two hours. Although ICVs are unpaid, any expenses would be reimbursed, and you will be provided with all relevant training. Volunteers can be either City residents or workers and require no formal qualifications (although you must be over 18 and cannot be a Justice of the Peace, a serving police officer or civilian employee, a member of the City Corporation or a special constable).
The work is part of the ongoing Thameslink Programme which will provide much needed extra capacity on the route running northsouth through central London. This will involve 50% more through-platforms at London Bridge and easier connections to the West End and the City. However, this work will also require changes to many services up to 2018 with some trains unable to call at London Bridge.
MORE INFORMATION
020 7332 3113
The aim of the competition is to create an overall design concept promoting a redefinition of the pedestrian connections and cycle paths and a development of a multidimensional, attractive urban area, which strengthens the City’s identity as a cultural centre. The competition is specifically aimed at landscape architects, planners, scientists, architects and artists, who are less than 35 years of age.
In the immediate future, on Friday 28 March Southern services will be reduced after the morning peak and over that weekend no services will call at this station. During 23-31 August likewise no Southern services will call here, some Thameslink route services will be retimed and some Southeastern services may be altered. More information on the passenger impacts of the August 14 partial closure (on the National Rail and TfL network) should be available from the TfL website by the end of March.’
MORE INFORMATION
TFL, London Bridge Station [.] MORE INFORMATION
ThameslinkProgramme.co.uk [.]
www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de [.]
t TLProgramme [.]