Quite rightly all three main party leaders have focused upon on Economy, Education, Crime and Immigration, very little time has as expected been given to the arts, public spending, infrastructure and transport projects.
By now only the last remaining Londoners are strolling down to the Ballot box to place their vote, from 10 o’clock onwards every radio station, television channel, website & blog will be updating you with just what is happening across the Country. When the decision is made and life returns to normality just what effect will a change or continuation of government have on Architecture and the built environment in London?
Unlike New York City where Mayor Bloomberg has control over transport, Mayor Boris Johnson does not. Not one person who considers themselves a Londoner can fail to have missed the mass demolition happening around Tottenham Court Road and Soho. The crumbling art deco facade of the legendary Astoria theatre was demolished last year to make way for a new era of rail travel, Crossrail.
Funding in place, buildings turned to dust, and construction underway does not confirm Crossrail to be speeding Londoners across the capital anytime soon. In the pipeline for over 20 years, this project is mammoth in size and ambition, Labour party under Tony Blair and Ken Livingstone helped move the wheels of progress into motion and Gordon Brown has committed to continuing with Crossrail until completion in 2017 and has allocated full funding in the next budget.
David Cameron on the other hand has not, and will not confirm that should the conservatives come to power. Mayor of London Boris Johnson seems to think differently and has promised to support Crossrail for the good of Londoners. Supporting a project in theory is somewhat catastrophically different to committing to much needed transport infrastructure. Without trying to sound like a spokesperson for Crossrail, it is vital to London’s prosperity in Business, Tourism and improving the basic standard of living. Cancelling Crossrail would not only damage the economy it would create false economy.
Sightlines have also become a tenacious issue in London as David Cameron poses the idea of “protecting” (whatever that means?) the Tower of London and other world UNESCO sites. Further sightlines restrictions ultimately lead to compromised architecture. London is not Manhattan and I for one am thankful that London has its own style, however it is inevitable that to sustain our current lead in world finance that further Skyscrapers will be built. As was seen in the Sixties and Eighties, if companies are unable to build a singular office to house their entire company they will simply move to somewhere that will.
Of course it was under the Conservative Government of Margaret Thatcher that Canary Wharf first headed for the skies. Shining gorgeously in the sunset the metallic facade of Canary Wharf tower was and still is an iconic Landmark for the strength of business and enterprise in London.
Since 2000 Mayor of London Ken Livingstone has worked hard alongside a team of experts including Sir Richard Rogers and Sir Norman Foster to raise the bar on contemporary architecture in the Capital, examples include the Gherkin (St Marys Axe), the Shard (London Bridge Tower) and the pedestrianisation of Trafalgar Square.
Key Cultural projects such as the Tate Modern extension and the new BFI film institute proposed to be built next to the London Eye are key to securing London’s future tourism and cultural status. I fear that cutting key projects like this will return us to a London of the mid eighties, where investment in the built environment declined significantly resulting in damaged streetscapes, no sense of pride and architectural scaring of our City.
Whoever walks up the path to 10 Downing Street on Friday will face an enormous task in reducing the deficit whilst maintaining and continuing to improve upon the standard of living for all, but cutting costs in vital development and infrastructure projects is one loss we cannot afford.
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