Development of John Jones Site / Sketch House

Arkady

Now you're flirting. Let's make it a triple bill and throw in Masked & Anonymous.

kreuzkav

If I do get to open the pub I will try to have that triple.  You and the rest of the trinity, N19 and Mark Pack would be most welcome.  

checkski

I desperately want a café with no music at all. <div><br></div><div>And a newsagents that sells LRB, TLS, and Literary Review.</div><div><br></div><div>I say all this to annoy Kreuzkav, of course. </div><div><br></div>

kreuzkav

All those papers would be allowed.  Music would only come on past 9pm.

Mirandola

Checkski, silent cafe sounds wonderful. 

conformable_kate

@kreuzkav et al: a man can dream. I worry slightly about the laughter police checking for genuineness, though. What would happen to all those first date couples? 

krappyrubsnif

They would have to whisper sweet nothings to each other.

miss annie

<p>My lovely ex Waterstones friend Farah runs Watermark bookshop, I nearly went to work there when it opened but didn't fancy the 7am starts. It's a good shop, part of a very much bigger company but they manage to make it look like a little indie. </p><p><a href="http://www.thebookseller.com/news/watermark-open-kings-cross-station">http://www.thebookseller.com/news/watermark-open-kings-cross-station</a></p>;

miss annie

Don't think any of those are quite big enough for a decent range of books are they? Weird location for anything other than convenience shops too, surely they'd only be busy in the morning rush, after office hours and weekends. I imagine that's why they are being offered as food places. Waterstones are opening small new shops but the new ones so far have been in York, Lewes and Southwold. Finsbury Park would surprise me.

Arkady

Moving in day at Sketch House. Cute to see the wide-eyed students with moist-eyed mothers and stressed fathers ferrying bags out of car boots.<div><br></div><div>Lots of interesting photos on the Sketch House <a href="https://www.facebook.com/UALSketchHouse">Facebook page</a>. The interior terrace looks rather impressive, and with the possible exception of the first floor flats (!) I imagine its rather improved the view for the folks living in Vista House above Sainsburys:</div><div><br></div><div><br><div><img src="https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtl1/v/t1.0-9/11960244_462584043914298_5390149400592822259_n.jpg?oh=6460135e5c468f31f0f571486f00ca28&oe=566DD146"><br></div></div>

Arkady

<img src="https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/11951978_462576007248435_6678488249777755215_n.jpg?oh=6512109a820a10b463220e7ecb0e4028&oe=56617A6E"><div><br></div><div><img src="https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/11222961_462575977248438_5164021537586069099_n.jpg?oh=7c4b0b98de1b2248e56a6691270d7567&oe=567F2B50"><br></div><div><br></div><div><img src="https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xta1/v/t1.0-9/11954601_462575997248436_276954811072896662_n.jpg?oh=fb99beb4d81d1d372fbc9cf8233602b9&oe=566DEA8D"><br></div>

Sutent

Am really excited about this. It should provide a huge positive boost to the area

miss annie

Astro turf?

marko

I suspect that this is only a proportion of the residents moving in today: Term for FE students - which I would assume is those doing Art Foundation - starts on Monday.   Undergrads start on the 28th.<div><br></div><div>I think it will be a massively positive change for the area.  <br></div><div><br></div><div>What is the going to be in the currently unfinished ground floor amenity space facing onto Lennox Road?</div><div><br></div><div>ION: Does anybody know who the councillors on the planning committee who voted against the scheme were (and thereby causing LBI to spend several £100,000 on legal charges when it went to judicial review?). I think it's time to name and shame.</div>

Arkady

I think it's the common room on the Lennox Road side.

kreuzkav

I haven't been to FP tube station for over a week as I cycle to work every day now.  Has everyone the right to access the astro-turf courtyard at anytime and sit on the benches?  To cut to the chase, is this inner zone public or private space?  Perhaps a  walk down tomorrow will reveal but curious for a more immediate answer.

krappyrubsnif

Ahem......so where are these new trees then?

miss annie

Hahaha! I feel a bit sorry for UAL students now. It used to be that you went to St Martins in Charing Cross Rd and lived in Soho or Camden. Now campus is in the back end of Kings Cross and you live in a generic new build in Finsbury Park. Not quite so inspirational.

miss annie

<p>Why name and shame councillors who weren't supporters of the development? They are allowed to represent a different view. I don't think the development is glorious either. I walk past the site every day and am astonished at the amount of disruption that has been allowed and not looking forward to the increase in people wanting to get on the tube in the morning  to go to King's Cross. I also think the buildings are ugly. </p><p>However, Legal & General seem to have invested in them and they do our workplace pensions, so every cloud...</p>

NorthNineteen

@kreuzkav No sign of access to courtyard but why would there be? There was never public realm there before.<br><br>@miss annie The Granary campus on Kings Cross is infinitely better than St Martins and far better equipped as a place of education, give Kings Cross another 5 (and definitely 10 years) and it will also be a better neighbourhood to be an arts student.<br><br>Walking around Sketch House on Saturday I was surprised how many of the students were white british (and many with Northern accents), in my mind I had expected most of the students to be overseas.  Likely it being Arts Foundation students is the main reason.<br>

Ali

<p>Rembering the fuss about the  11 Lime trees that got cut down during March 2014 I went back to ahve allok at waht was agreed.</p><p> </p><p>Apparently  " Martyn Thom, owner of Spiritbond, which owns the site, said they were giving the council £109,000 to pay for the planting of new trees. “As part of the redevelopment, additional land will be gifted to Islington to achieve wider footpaths on Lennox Road and Clifton Terrace,” he added."</p><p>Does anyone know if this has happend ?  I think the Pavement  is a bit wider</p><p> </p>

miss annie

No, the new campus is not better. Any of the tutors will tell you that. It is bigger but with fewer individual studios. Students have a much longer wait to book photography studios, sculpture rooms etc. I'm sure that people who designed it thought they were designing an educational paradise, and for anything other than arts it would probably be perfect, but they don't seem to have had much understanding of the needs of creative people or how much individual space is needed in the process.

Ali

correction it was 8 trees

NorthNineteen

Pavement considerably wider, it's allowed the introduction of lots more cycle parking hoops too.<br><br>@miss annie i stand corrected, I was basing it on a sample size of 1.<br>

Arkady

<span style="font-style: normal;">From what I recall, the agreement was to give the council funding to plant new trees </span><span style="font-style: italic;">elsewhere in the borough</span>. Now that the pavements have been widened so much, though, it sure would be nice to get a few in on Wells Terrace itself.<div><br></div><div>I can't comment on the usability of the Granary Building, though I'm on record as thinking that the King's Cross development is the most magnificent bit of urban renewal in the UK. What I will point out is that UAL were intimately involved with the design of the new building (which is also meant to be modular so that each room is easily redivisable), so if what they planned isn't what they actually needed then that's pretty embarrassing.</div>

miss annie

The problem has arisen from the tutors not being consulted about what resources were needed. Yes, embarrassing, but also frustrating for students and tutors.

krappyrubsnif

People will always complain. (I speak as an expert in the art.)

marko

<div>Planning committees don't always have a totally free hand in planning decisions, not can they act on whim - <span style="font-size: 10pt;"> they must operate within the legal framework of planning law.</span></div><div><br></div>As I understood it, newly elected councillors on the planning committee voted against the planning officer's advice - which in the event turned out to be all too accurate.  <div><br></div><div>Perhaps @Arkady will be able to correct me if I'm wrong on the details here. </div>

Arkady

Yep, that's a good summary Marko. Their decision to reject it was not just contrary to the advice of the planning department, who had worked very hard with John Jones and the developers to develop an appropriate scheme, it was contrary to Islington's own planning policy. One councillor in particular, since moved to a less risky portfolio, was trying to make a name for himself in my view.

Papa

So should publicly elected representatives just work on the basis that council officers always get it right and do what they are told?