Newsletter

From the Master

Spring term is obviously 'lecture term'. I have attended five other Companies' lectures and given one of them. It is apparently very unusual for a Master to give his own Company lecture, but the reaction was very positive, judging by the letters received and spontaneous responses. If you have not read the 2006 Milo Lecture, 'The Future of the Architectural Profession, a Question of Values', it is on the Company website in text form. Building Design newspaper attended and chose to quote me as against the art content of architecture, rather than the more subtle idea of my reservations about the profession becoming unbalanced between its artistic and professional values. As the press has been partly responsible for the growth of the star-system and its art-led agenda, they naturally wanted to obscure my criticism. One fifth of all Livery Company masters attended the Milo Lecture, a very good response which will raise our Company's profile. The City Guides' lecture had the director of the Museum of London explain the remodelling now in progress. The Plumbers' Lecture put the case for the trade as being a public health service, one which should have lifted the calling to the professional plane. This is an argument for which I have sympathy. The World Traders asked Sir Mark Moody Stuart, former chairman of Shell, to muse on the impact of pressure groups. The Chartered Secretaries and Administrators had Sir Robin Butler being very amusing and acute on the evolving roles of the civil servant and the executive, pointing out that 'Yes Minister' had been deadly accurate. The City University invited Charles Clarke, then Home Secretary, to talk about the challenges of role he played, which he did impressively. On Shrove Tuesday the Guildhall Yard echoed to the sound of Liverymen being silly for charity, running pancake races organised by the Poulterers. We were one of 25 companies claiming some link to pancake making, in our case the design of kitchens. Each had to field its Master, a liveryman (Junior Warden Ian Head), a woman member (Charlotte Harrison) and a Mad Hatter, the costume category (Past Master Michael West). We were organised

Issue 4 - May 2006

by non-playing coach Deputy Master Alan Downing. Whilst we were forgettable at the running part, our Mad Hatter excelled himself in a gold suit and hat with Temple Bar decorations, winning the 'best dressed' award.

How could they not win?

Having won the teapot for the best dressed team member, Past Master Michael West seeks a quick evaluation of the trpohy from the Antiques Road Show Man

The Modern Livery Companies, those profession-centred companies formed since the revival of interest in the Livery in the 20th Century, meet for dinner at Master and Upper Warden level every six months to increase mutual awareness and build relationships which are helpful in playing our roles to the full. This March the Solicitors hosted, at Wax Chandlers' Hall. The modern companies are in many ways the dynamic part of the Livery now and are increasingly looked to for future Aldermen and Lord Mayors. The City needs ambassadors who are masters of its core business. Our Livery Banquet on March 27th went off very well, with Alderman and Sheriff John Stuttard representing the Lord Mayor and RIBA Immediate Past President George Ferguson in red-trousered form as principal guest. A strong turn-out from the Salvation Army HQ team, winners of the
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New City Architecture Award and teams from our Commendation projects helped push up numbers. Later the same week the Lord Mayor entertained all Masters at Mansion House with pomp only he can command. The spectacular United Guilds Service at St Paul's, addressed by a very droll Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, and followed by two company tables at Plaisterers' Hall for lunch, rounded out a full week. My role at the RIBA continues to serve the Company. The emerging education policy, discussed at the March Council, favours much closer links between practice and academe, with student mentoring as we do it now recognised as desirable. I foresee a shift to practice-based study for Parts 2 and 3. The concept of the 'teaching practice' is being debated and a new vision is beginning to emerge of the role of the architect in the next decade, about which I shall say more next time. The quarter ended with the Accounts Court and a special Court Lunch attended by the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress, together with their Swordbearer and the Masters of the Paviors, Information Technologists and Water Conservators Companies. The Lord Mayor, having been unable to be at our Livery Banquet because of his travels, made a very generous gesture in attending our lunch. David Brewer was in excellent and relaxed mood and spoke warmly of the civic contribution of the company and of several of its liveryman in other capacities. He is well aware of the significance of architecture in representing the City to the world; he has commissioned fine models of Temple Bar and the Mansion House frontage to be his gifts to the forty or more high level dignitaries he will meet around the world in his year. He has also agreed to find time this summer to present the New City Architecture Award at the Salvation Army HQ, on a date to be arranged which I hope you will suit most of you. Our Company is held in high esteem.

to extend the range of people to whom Freedom of the Company should be available. More details of this will be made available as progress is made. The Accounts for the year to 30 June 2005 were approved and showed a satisfactory outcome to the period. Income had balanced outgoings; a generous contribution towards the cost of the furnishings in the Upper Chamber of Temple Bar had been covered by donations made in memory of Stuart Murphy with the balance coming from general funds and functions had been run reasonably satisfactorily. At a time when the Companys profile in the City is increasing, we find ourselves having to repay hospitality to other Companies who kindly entertain the Master at their functions.. In order to do this, we have to cover the extra costs. This we have been able to do, but we do need to have more members at functions if we are to keep ticket prices at realistic levels. The Charitable Disbursments for the coming year were also agreed and support is to be given to the Teambuild Competition, the Student Travel Award, the RA Drawing Prize at the Summer Exhibition, The Lord Mayors Appeal, The Sheriffs and Recorders Fund, ABS, Architects for Aid and a modest selection of other educational causes involving City schools and those in neighbouring boroughs. The Master was please to install no less than five new Freemen of the Company - their details are set out below. Having already taken out her Freedon of the City, Azar Djamali was then admitted as a Liveryman. All five joined members of the Court for the Lunch with the Lord Mayor. Azar Djamali MBA MA DipArch (Hons) RIBA MAPM FRSA

New Members
Azar obtained her qualifications from Greenwich University and Post graduate qualifications from the Bartlett and the Universities of Hull, South Bank and East London. She studied Fine Arts at Eastbourne College of Arts and Exhibition Design at Hastings College of Art. Her current practice as an architect and urban designer involves her in the Strategic Schemes and Premises Development Plan for the Ealing Schools and for the 137 hectare regeneration of Bankside in Southwark. She has worked as an advisor to Tower Hamlets, on the Edgware Community Hospital and other regeneration projects. Earlier experience was gained in Australia. She is currently President of CLAWSA and has been a Vice Chairman of the Urban Design Group and was a member of the Citys 2

News from the Court

The normal business of the April Court meeting - at which the Companys accounts for the relevant year are discussed and approved - was enlivened by discussions which led to approval, in principle at least, to a proposal that the Company should seek leave from the Court of Aldermen

Conservation Advisory Committee in 2005. She has written many papers and, in her own words, endeavours to use architecture, urban design and management as tools to liberate mind, shift perception to create freedom and happiness. Richard Brindley B Sc. Hons. Dip Arch RIBA MInstM. APM Richard has been, since 2003, the Director of Practice at the RIBA and is responsible for the delivery of professional practice services and outreach for the Institute. This makes him responsible for a range of activities including technical guidance, business skills, CPD and training, PI Insurance Agency, dispute resolution, and professional conduct etc. He qualified at the Bartlett and has additional post graduate training in business and project management. He worked primarily in the private sector specializing in residential design, urban regeneration and practice management with Eric Cole & Partners, Prowting Homes, Boyer Design Group before joining Llewellyn Davies (1990-99) and setting up a London office for Clague (199-2002). Richard has been Chairman of the North West London Society of Architects and RIBA London Region and served on RIBA Council - he was Honorary Treasurer (2000-02). Karen Rogers BArch BSc (Hons) RIBA Karens training was at the Welsh School of Architecture and her work experience has been substantially in the commercial sector. Since graduating she worked with Jestico and Whiles, Reeves Bailey Architects, Burrell Foley Fischer and Richard Hartley Partnership before joining Sheppard Robson Architects (1993-2000) and working on a selection of interesting projects ranging from site office experience (in conjunction with Herzog & de Meuron) on the Tate Modern development to Master Planning at the University of Bahrain. Since 2000 she has been with BDP where she is an Associate. Here she has been involved with projects including the Wood Wharf Development in Docklands , works on the Royal Festival Hall, work for RBS in Southend, and Kings Cross and the fit-out of a new office and store in Fenchurch Street for Marks and Spencer. Karen finds time to serve on RIBA London Region Council and is a member of the RIBA Practice Commitee. She is also Treasurer of Women in Architecture. Her husband is also an architect. Philip Lancashire MA RIBA

Philip took a BA Hons at Durham University, a MA at the Bartlett and, after qualifying, joined the Louis de Soissons Partnership who at that time were completing the refurbishment of the Nash terraces around Regents Park. It was a period when there was widespread demolition of Victorian buildings going on in city centres and after a spell in private practice he set up a number of regeneration partnerships with local authorities and private developers. The aim was to save so-called 'redundant' buildings by adapting them to meet the needs of start-up businesses. That meant offering simplified forms of tenancy and rents that were low, but sufficient to make the projects pay their way. In those pioneering days such projects were called 'Workspaces' but the idea caught on and now there is scarcely a town of any size without its 'Business Centre'. His companies now concentrate on the rescue of threatened listed buildings. Other interests include yacht racing, heli-skiing in the Rockies, shooting clays and bee keeping. Peter McMullan-Bell DipArch RIBA ARIAS B His career, started with the British Army. With the Royal Engineers he worked on rocket-proof accommodation in Forkhill and Crossmaglen, bridging in Italy and mine clearance in both Cyprus and Northern Ireland. After leaving the army in Peter worked for Elsom Pack and Roberts Architects on commercial projects around London including Victoria Plaza above Victoria Station and Hammersmith Roundabout. After a short period with Falla Associates he returned as a Design Associate in epr Design. He then joined Pentar Architects before establishing his own practice. He was Consultant Architect to Lewisham Council on the design and construction of various educational buildings. He then moved to Fitzroy Robinson where he worked as a Project Architect on two business parks and as IT Manager. In 1998 Peter joined Gensler as a Design Manager, working on the new GCHQ in Cheltenham, the headquarters of EMTV in Munich and many law firm fit-outs in the City of London. Peter joined Yeoman McAllister (London) as an Associate in July 2000 and became a Partner the following year. He ran the award winning project at Netherne-on-the-Hill, a village development of 400+ houses on a former mental hospital site which won special mention in the ODPM report on sustainable development, as well as many other residential developments in the South East.
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Recent Events
The Annual Livery Banquet was held at the Mansion House on 27 March and was marked by a lively response to the Toast to the Guests by George Ferguson PPRIBA and the presentation of the New City

Architecture Award and Commendation Certificates by Alderman John Stuttard.

Shown below is the official party comprising (from left to right): The Clerk, David Cole-Adams, RIBA President Jack Pringle, Mrs Ann Head, The Junior Warden Ian Head, Mrs Anne Saxon, George Ferguson PPRIBA, Alderman and Sheriff John Stuttard, The Master, Mrs Lesley Stuttard, The Upper Warden John Millard, Mrs Cristiane Millard, The Junior warden Jonathan Ball, Mrs Victoria Ball. Mrs Mary Kearney and Sheriff Kevin Kearney

The Cuban Lecture at the RIBA, which was sponsored by the Company and a number of those members of the party who visited Cuba last year, was finally held on 27 April. Professor Isabel Rigol had no sooner arrived in the UK than she was whisked off to the Court Lunch with the Lord Mayor. Following this she was off to Leeds where she gave a public lecture the following evening organized by Jaki Howes before returning to London for rest and some architectural tourism, a workshop with a group of students from London Metropolitan University who had visited Cuba and were working on projects set in Old Havana and her lecture at the RIBA. The lecture was, happily a virtual sell out and the Master who, chairing the evening, went to great pains to highlight the

Companys initiative in bringing what had been an excellent and popular lecture to the RIBA. Such initiatives do the Company credit and this lecture in particular did much to bring a glimpse of the very vibrant architectural heritage of Havana to an interested audience who had many questions at the end.

Coming Events
The Master notes that, with the London Architecture Biennale and the wider Architecture Week (16 -25 June and the City of London Festival (26 June to 13 July), there is little need or space for the Company to organize other events during June and July. The Master commends both of these festivals to you and advises that details can be found on the following websites: www.architectureweek.org.uk www.londonbienalle.org.uk www.colf.org. 4

Regardless of that advice, your attention is drawn to the the Companys Annual Service at St Lawrence Jewry and the Election Court Dinner which is to be held at Armourers Hall on Monday 3 July. The Company has often used this venue in the past and the return there is a welcome one. At this dinner we entertain two Coxswains from our link regiment - the RNLI and we also present the Companys ABS Award to the person or organization that makes the most significant contribution to the ABS in the qualifying year. A calling notice is enclosed with this newsletter and an early response is recommended for this popular event. Also enclosed is a form for those wanting passes for Common Hall on both Monday 26 June and Friday 29 September. There will be a lunch following the June gathering at Furniture Makers Hall at a cost of 45 per head - please advise the Clerk if you wish to attend when you return the form. There will be a lunch following the September Common Hall - more details will follow. Other events in the planning stage are as follows: Open House Week-end - 16 -17 September - if anyone is able to give Stephen Wagstaffe any help in stewarding one of the City Churches please return the attached form to Stephen or contact the Clerk. Installation Court Lunch - Monday 18 September at Trinity House. Lord Mayors Show - Saturday 11 November - the Company is taking part in the Lord Mayors Show with the Modern Companies. It is likely that lunch will be available following the outward leg of the procession at Plaisterers Hall but details will follow later. In the meantime, those needing tickets in the Grandstand are asked to contact the Clerk Tickets will cost 23.00 each (incl of VAT), including a copy of the official programme, and applications need to be made soon.

Their report is as follows: Judging took place on Wednesday 18 January. As is traditional for this annual judging event, it rained. Fourteen buildings were eligible to be considered; the judges long-listed nine, which were visited during a threehour walking tour of the City. Three buildings were shortlisted for the awards, which are for the contribution a project makes to the streetscape of the City. The results are as follows: A special commendation was awarded to Temple Bar. While not new architecture, indeed quite the contrary, the judges wished to commend this project for the sensitivity to placement which had been exercised, resulting in an excellent relationship to St Paul's Cathedral and to the obelisk in Paternoster Square; and also for the way in which book-ending of the gateway had been resolved. As one judge put it, this was the celebration of a Romantic dream, where juxtaposition of ancient and modern could, nine times out of ten, have failed. Here it succeeded admirably, providing continuity and variety. The team responsible were the City of London Corporation Department of Technical Services in collaboration with architects Freeland Rees Roberts.. The Client was the City of London Corporation and the Contractor was Cathedral Works Organization. A commendation was awarded to Plantation Place, Fenchurch Street. The judges found much to admire about the way in which this very large office complex had been handled, particularly at ground level, where retail and other uses contributed to the street context. Crisp detailing and confident use of materials created a feeling of calm in walking round and through the building; the second phase, with its own distinct faade treatment, nevertheless felt part of the whole. The judges particularly liked the new alley between the phases, in which lighting and paving artworks had been used to excellent effect. The client was British Land, and the architect Arup Associates. The Contractors were Bovis Lend Lease Ltd. This year's winner was in some ways unexpected, since the Headquarters for the Salvation Army, on Queen Victoria Street, would not have been an obvious candidate. The judges were extremely impressed with this building, and the process which brought it about; client advice by Andrew Chadwick resulted in the headquarters being provided with enough site space left for an adjacent lettable building, which will help pay for the headquarters. In urban design terms, it extends good architecture by the
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New City Architecture Award

The Assessors decision for the 2005 New City Architecture Award was announced at the Livery Banquet, The Assessors were: Paul Finch OBE(Chairman), Richard Saxon CBE, Master, Jonathan Ball MBE, Renter Warden, David Falla, Frank Duffy assisted by David Cole-Adams, Clerk .

same practice, along Queen Victoria Street, which was considered in last year's awards. More importantly, it makes an excellent contribution to the 'string of pearls' route from St Paul's Cathedral, across the Foster & Partners Millennium Bridge, and on to Tate Modern. It could have been a blank frontage, like some of its neighbours; instead the building has a cleverly placed canopy entrance, reinforced by a projecting chapel above, a glazed exterior revealing robust structural columns and enlivened by graphic design, and most impressively a visible lowerground floor caf. This well illuminated space, which is open to all, provides an inviting face to the passing public. This is bespoke architecture, but delivered with an evident and pleasing economy of means, and was the judges' unanimous choice as winner of the 2006 award. The client was the Salvation Army, the architects Sheppard Robson. The Contractors were Bowmer and Kirkland.

was John Studdart, Sheriff and forthcoming Lord Mayor and acting host at the Companys last annual banquet. Freedom of the new Guild is open to those who have been active in education for at least five years, not only as teachers or lecturers, but also as administrators (eg Vice Chancellors or bursers), governors, the providers of services (eg publishers or librarians), or as guardians of educational or training standards(eg the Quality Assurance Agencies). The Guild can claim to be the only organization in education that possesses such a wide remit of affiliation that is free of individual sector or party political interests. Roger was due to follow Sir Roderick Floud as Master in 2006, but had to withdraw on account of family illness. As Chairman of the Membership Committee he has presided over an increase in the Guilds ranks to 120 Freemen in the Guilds first five years - almost half its allocated compliment. Even so, he remains the only member of the built environment professions on the Court so architecture now has a voice in this new realm of educational activity in the City of London.

Obituary
It was with great sadness that the Company learned of the death of Patrick Barry Garnett on May 4. Patrick was a keen supporter and a Senior Steward of the Company His had been an interesting career. He was a founding Partner of Garnett Cloughley Blakemore whose work included the revolving restaurant on the Post Office Tower, a number of high profile Kings Road boutiques and a selection of hotel developments.They were appointed house architects to the RIBA in 1974, worked on the refurbishment of the Palace of Westminster and were employed by British Airways on projects in the UK and around the world. In the early 1980s Patrick left the Partnership and set up his own Covent Garden based practice whose work included the refurbishment of the Trocadero in Piccadilly. A full obituary was published in the Daily Telegraph on 13 May. Patrick is survived by his wife Derry and two sons and two daughters.
The Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects 82A Muswell Hill Road, London N10 3JR

the winning building

Pictured here are Mr Graham Twist of the Salvation Army, The Master and Sheriff and Alderman John Studdart at the presentation of the Award Certificate.

Master of Students
Our Master of Students, Roger France has been actively involved in helping to further the educational interests of the City. In 2001 he was a Founding Court Member of the new Guild of Educators; its sponsoring Alderman

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