Monday 30 July 2012

Matt Brook of Broadway Malyan-Architect of World Heritage Vandalism.

The Architect of Mann Island in Liverpool's World Heritage Site Matt Brook.
If there is a bigger crime against architecture then we don't know of it.
To obscure the best views in a World Heritage Site should be a punishable offence.
He should have his practising license removed by RIBA and made a example of.
He should be held up as an example of how not to build a set of modern buildings in a World Heritage Site. 
To destroy a heritage asset that is comparable with the Taj Mahal and the Pyramids and the Great Wall of China he should be at least struck off.
There should be laws against Architects who leave the public with such ugly monstrous carbuncles and then bugger off somewhere else.
The picture on the right is what we in Liverpool had before Neptune Developments employed Matt Brook of Broadway Malyan to vandalise it.
Graham Fisher of the Victorian Socirty said at the planning committee meeting in 2006, "It is a miracle that such a wonderful vista has survived".
Then Doreen Jones passed her casting vote and sent it off for approval. Someone shouted at her "Shame on you Doreen"
She had no shame and never will have her and her dodgy property developing husband who knocked down the last ships chandlers in Liverpool.
The English Heretics are not without blame for this.
 If someone who lives in a listed building will know, you need a letter from the Pope to change your windows but here in  a World Heritage Site........A Conservation Area and next to, and adjacent to several Listed Buildings that had covenants protecting them they plonk Three Black Coffins that are so bad that they make the city a laughing stock, unless you are Peter Brown of the Merseyside Civic Society that is who taught (sic) Matt Brook at Liverpool University.   


So lets take a look at what he did to such fantastic views in a World Heritage Site, click on the picture below if you cant quite see the cupola of the Port of Liverpool buildings and the Liver Buildings towers.
This is almost the same view. The picture below that shows the New Museum of Liverpool last years Carbuncle Cup Award runner up......to Peel Holdings Media City.


One of the Three Black Carbuncles at Mann Island should be named Matt Brook House so every one in the world will know he is the architect of World Heritage Vandalism.
Broadway Malyan the company he works for should be fined for leaving us with three carbuncles in the WHS.

Announced as a contender for The Carbuncle Cup Award last year they escaped by claiming that it was not finished.
Just how did they do this in a WHS.

But this year they are primed to take poll position in the Carbuncle Cup and quite rightly so they have been shortlisted.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/mann-island-shortlisted-for-carbuncle.html

A Crime Against Architecture.






Typical Architects profession though they give him more responsibility, you couldn't make this up
Broadway Malyan's Brook named on RIBA council


1 Jul 2009, 14:27

Matt Brook, director of Broadway Malyan's Liverpool since it opened in 2007, has been appointed to the Royal Institute of British Architects' National Council on a three-year term.
The RIBA National Council sets strategic policy for the institute and spearheads its work to promote design excellence.
Brook, a Liverpool John Moores University graduate, is the youngest director at Broadway Malyan, a practice with offices across the UK, Europe and Asia. He designed the Mann Island development for Neptune and Countryside on Liverpool's waterfront, and recently unveiled plans for an office development in the city at 30 Pall Mall.
Brook said: "One of the great things about RIBA is that the Council has strong regional representation. It's recognition that innovation and excellence are not just things that happen in London. There has been a fantastic architectural renaissance in the North West.
"I want to repay the confidence that has been put in me by RIBA members, by advocating for the North West and ensuring that what is happening here is recognised and promoted."
RIBA North West regional director, Belinda Irlam-Mowbray, commented: "We have always aimed to ensure that this region plays an active and influential role at national level, and with Matt representing us that is sure to happen. He is one of the new generation of North West architects who has been transforming the physical fabric of our towns and cities with innovative and exciting buildings. I think he will be a great advocate for the region."
Brook was also recently reappointed to the Northwest Design Review Panel, run by Places Matter, consisting of experts from a range of fields, including architecture, planning, development, urban design, civil and structural engineering, the historic environment, landscape design, and sustainability.


http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/riba-to-send-its-drawings-collection-to.html
Here is what we thought of it.

 

This is what he said in March. in The Architects Journal
Matt Brook, director of global architecture, urbanism and design at Broadway Malyan

http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/daily-news/dc-cabe-to-refresh-design-panels/8627185.article
There are two potential paying audiences for design review: local authorities and private developers. Paying for external design reviews would be a very cost-effective way for resource-strapped local authorities to bolster their in-house design advice. For developers, paying for a design review service would help ensure that their product is the best possible in a very competitive market, while also helping fast-track the planning process.



To become a more effective tool for clients, potential failings need to be addressed. Review teams must remain consistent for repeat reviews and have good local knowledge. However, the key aspect of design review that needs to change in the UK is its planning status. Design review needs to at least become a material consideration. It also needs to happen at an early stage, before applications are made.





Friday 27 July 2012

English Heritage Blue Plaque Scheme

The English Heritage Blue Plaques team has published an online register of commemorative plaque schemes throughout England. With information on around 250 schemes run by local history societies, civic societies, community associations and local authorities, the register will act as a hub of information for anyone interested in plaque schemes across the country. With links to individual websites and contact details for each scheme where available, the register makes it possible for people to approach organisations, get involved in plaque schemes, and suggest historical personalities, events and sites to be commemorated. English Heritage hopes the register will make it easier to locate various schemes throughout England and identify those best able to provide local advice on the intricacies of running a plaque scheme.




As well as developing the register, English Heritage is active in developing guidance for those individuals or organisations interested in putting up plaques. Such groups are encouraged to contact English Heritage’s Blue Plaques team, especially where the register reveals there is no active scheme near them, for their comprehensive advice and guidance document, Celebrating People and Place.



You can visit http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/discover/blue-plaques/register  to view the register



Monday 23 July 2012

Liverpool On Unesco In Danger List-The Official Report-Exclusive

Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City (United Kingdom of Great Britain and



Northern Island) (C 1150)


Decision: 36 COM 7B.93


The World Heritage Committee,


1. Having examined Document WHC-12/36.COM/7B.Add,


2. Recalling Decision 35 COM 7B.118 adopted at its 35th session (UNESCO, 2011),


3. Acknowledges the information provided by the State Party in regard to the state of conservation of the property and welcomes the progress made in the implementation of the recommendations from the 2006 joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS reactive monitoring mission;


4. Notes the results of the November 2011 reactive monitoring mission, including the evaluation of the current conditions of the property, and encourages the State Party to implement its recommendations;


5. Also notes that the Liverpool City Council is inclined to grant consent to the application submitted by the developer and expresses its serious concern at the potential threat of the proposed development of Liverpool Waters on the Outstanding Universal Value of the property;
Decisions report – 36th session of the World Heritage Committee (Saint-Petersburg, 2012) page 133


6. Urges the State Party to reconsider the proposed development to ensure that the architectural and town-planning coherence, and the conditions of authenticity and integrity of the property are sustained;


7. Considers that the proposed development of Liverpool Waters constitutes a potential danger to the World Heritage property and, therefore, decides to inscribe Liverpool –Maritime Mercantile City (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) on the List of World Heritage in Danger, with the possibility of deletion of the property from the World Heritage List, should the current project be approved and implemented;


8. Requests the State Party to develop, in consultation with the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies, a proposal for the Desired state of conservation for the removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger and a set of corrective measures, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 37th session in 2013;


9. Also requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2013, a report on the state of conservation of the property and on the steps taken to implement the above-mentioned recommendations Also requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2013, a report on the state of conservation of the property and on the steps taken to implement the above-mentioned recommendations for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 37th session in 2013.



This is the document that slams home the reality that Liverpool is set to lose its WHS status unless the city leaders stop behaving like a bunch of clowns by pandering to Peel Holdings.

This leads to the conclusion and because of the gravity of the situation that a public inquiry is imminent, no matter what the local press do, or do not tell us.

What a disgraceful state of affairs to be put on the " Unesco In Danger List" like a third world city.


Mann Island-Shortlisted For Carbuncle Cup Award

They got away with it last year by claiming it was not finished but this year it has been shortlisted for the Carbuncle Cup Award run by Building Design Magazine.
http://www.bdonline.co.uk/news/carbuncle-cup-2012-the-shortlist/5040098.article
 BD says
Our list also boasts two wrist-slashingly awful housing schemes: the dismally proportioned, thinly detailed and grimly utilitarian Firepool Lock in Taunton and the Mann Island development in Liverpool, a scheme that completes the desecration of that city’s once great waterfront.



http://www.bdonline.co.uk/buildings/carbuncle-cup-nomination-%E2%80%94-mann-island-by-broadway-malyan/5038739.article
Last year the new Museum of Liverpool http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/museum-of-liverpool-runner-up-in-2011.html was runner up to Peel Holdings Media City.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/peel-holdings-win-carbuncle-cup-what.html
Dont forget the 2009 winner the godawful Termunal Ferry Carbuncle  http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/liverpool-wins-carbuncle-cup.htmlhttp://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/liverpools-pier-head-and-its-new.html and One Parked Here Without Our Say So the infamous One Park Worst on Mann Island came 4th. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/one-park-west-voted-one-park-worst-by.html
Liverpool is now on the World Heritage In Danger List and we are constantly  told about how the city is Regenerated.
You couldnt make this up.

A reminder of the "Before and After" and the crime against architecture and the principles of World Heritage that has taken place




Friday, 8 July 2011


Mann Island Nominated For Building Designs Carbuncle Cup Award.



Its that time of the year again when Liverpool's Binge Builders wake up with a hangover and cringe.
http://www.bdonline.co.uk//buildings/carbuncle-cup/


 click here



Matt Brook the poor excuse for an Architect. He of World Heritage disaster at Mann Island will have to accept the prize there can be no other more worthy winner for the 2011 Carbuncle Cup award than the atrocious Three Black Coffins built by Broadway Malyan for Neptune Developments.

They promised us Iconic and give us Ichronic, an anachronism of bad design plonked bang slappo in the world heritage site despoiling the best views of Liverpool, cherished views, they turn Liverpool's World Heritage Site into World Heritage S*ite.

There is no other way to describe it.

It is like giving a pretty girl a black eye and then knocking her teeth out and then saying now you cant smile anymore.

The Terminal Ferry Building was well accepted as a worthy winner in 2009. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/03/ptolemy-dean-talks-about-liverpools.html


Is it just my opinion, I think not.

http://badbritisharchitecture.blogspot.com/2009/07/pier-head-ferry-terminal-liverpool-by.html


http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/mann-island-nominated-for-building.html






http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/08/liverpool-wins-carbuncle-cup.html

This is what we said last year