Development of John Jones Site / Sketch House

kreuzkav · March 2014

@ Miss Annie. Your post a few back was bang on. What is this development for? JJ already employ people and fair enough if they refurbish their premises to make it more environmentally friendly. But knocking down and building what looks like a horrible building from the back that blots out the sun as you approach it from Chartris road is hardly architectural nirvana. Having some sterile Oxo type building housing boutique shops and another building housing overpriced student accommodation is hardly progress. Instead the government and local authorities should help housing associations buy out existing terraced housing and provide it to low income long term residents.

andy · March 2014

@dion - this is all your fault,

[Deleted User] · March 2014

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dion · March 2014

@andy - i did find something on twitter about a cranky IT guy (not it guy, ha ha) but then it disappeared. can you delete stuff on twitter nowadays?<div><br></div>

Kate Jones · March 2014

We were offered a lot of money by a large housing company who wanted to maximise the return they could get on our site. We could easily have sold out and spent the rest of our lives on a luxury island surrounded by palm trees (because we do like trees). We didn't as we have a business we love in (we have been in F Park almost 30 years) and what we do is important to us. I am sorry some of you would have preferred the site to remain as the old warehouse site for the sake of the trees but we hope one day you'll see the benefit of the changes we are making - whether you are bothered by what we do or not. Progress is a part of life and I appreciate that change can make people uncomfortable and angry. I am signing out of this thread now as we have a lot of work to do but for those who are interested, by the end of april we will have information on our website about our building, arts project space and free talks/ workshops. Any questions regarding the student housing development should be directed to the developer Spiritbond and the construction company Watkin Jones. Thanks again to those of you who have offered support and constructive feedback, I hope you'll come and say hello in April!

miss annie · March 2014

Hmmm, Dilly's Dad made a point of saying that he wasn't opposed to the development but would have preferred it too have included the trees. Up until this last couple of posts I had thought that the Jones family's response had been very reasonable. Not so much now. And although every question about trees has been shut down, by 'just stop moaning, we are doing this for you' there is still no reply to the question of what sustainainable or environmentally friendly aspects there are to the new development. Yes @dion, some people merrily say all kinds of weird, spiteful and rude, never mind passive aggressive things on twitter and then delete when someone picks them up on it. I'm of the mind that if you are going to write something in public then you should have the courage of your convictions and just leave it there. Otherwise just don't write it in the first place. I ardently wish that twitter would abolish the delete function to expose people for what they are.

Brodiej · March 2014

John jones do not have to talk about this if they don't want to. They engaged with people and have made good efforts to answer queries and address negative feedback. The site was theirs to do as they wished, they didn't owe anyone anything. Let people have their views on the trees. But when the time comes, the politicians and local power players will all want to tell you what a positive impact john jones has had on the community rather than ask you politely whether you're carbon neutral. @missannie and misscara. Probs best sort this one out over a coffee rather than in cyber world.

dion · March 2014

I thought this was the place on the internet to be mean, spiteful and rude! Wow, maybe I should buck up my act and get on twitter and start soaking up the vitriol!

dion · March 2014

As for starlings and plane trees (not plain trees, ha ha, though they are quite plain planes are, a mon avis), wells terrace isn't the place to see them, the best place is, drumroll, tension etc etc<div><br></div><div>BRENT CROSS FLYOVER and for once i am not kidding, the flyover lampposts are a veritable wildebeest ridden plain of starlings. It is like a hitchcockian nightmare at 6pm on a dull friday afternoon - a true menace, you can barely see the john lewis and holiday inn for them</div>

dion · March 2014

(i think i am turning into chang)

Mirandola · March 2014

@Dion - where's the best place to see birds on Hornsey Road?

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dion · March 2014

Sorry, the only things to recommend hornsey road are:<div><br></div><div>Steve the tailors</div><div>Steve the barbers</div><div>The tesco delivery lorry blocking the whole street</div><div>Ajanis</div><div>Hornsey baths</div><div>the alexandra coffee tavern</div><div>the old wrought iron on the posque (mixture between pub and mosque)</div><div>the firestation</div><div>the hornsey diver</div><div>factory gym and dance</div><div>the plough coach entrance</div><div>john hitch seating</div><div>the butchers</div><div>the wiggle</div><div>the helter skelter park</div><div>islington boxing club</div><div><br></div><div>the now closed: north london model shop, always thought it was a brothel, but actually sold models</div><div>the fireplace shop, for the bourgeois gentrification elite to posh up their houses, now closed</div><div><br></div><div>I have never seen a bird on hornsey road, sorry</div>

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Mirandola · March 2014

The wiggle?

dion · March 2014

You know - the wiggly bit upwards from the carpet shop

dion · March 2014

And everyone should know that none if this is actually Andy. Andy is David's puppet. Though we haven't heard from him for a while. Perhaps he is bored of the poor quality of discussion nowadays. It used to be a duumvirate. Alas no longer. Shady stuff.

miss annie · March 2014

David went to the same school out in Essex as me and my sisters. Shady forces of the Old Towie Club :-) This is a joke. Obvs.

Idoru · March 2014

I can't claim to be a tree expert, but I have looked into this a bit for our reporting on the government's biodiversity offsetting. <div><br></div><div>Basically it takes decades for habitat to develop and unfortunately only minutes to destroy it. Animals that can fly can obviously go find somewhere else. It's the ones people don't think about so much that suffer - insects, spiders, the larvae of flying critters. These will just die out, and planting saplings won't help them because it'll be years before the trees are big enough to sustain such colonies. Even planting mature trees won't help that much because they can't just wait around while whomever's responsible for the planting gets round to it. <div><br></div><div>And as for those flying creatures, it's not quite so simple for them either. They have to find somewhere else that can sustain them and that isn't already occupied or itself earmarked for removal. Clearly this isn't the only development in the city and as more areas of habitat are destroyed, more insects die, the birds that feed on them starve and then we have no wildlife.</div></div><div><br></div><div>This is obviously hugely melodramatic. And actually there is a case for 'if you build it, they will come'. A wildlife garden on the John Jones premises would definitely help offset the removal of the trees. Planting mature trees and plants, along with perennials and annuals would provide shelter and food for all kinds of animals. You could even get the local community involved with building and planting the garden. </div>

Papa · March 2014

I liked the trees, I don't understand why they were the wrong trees etc. it would be better if they were still there.<br><br>But what I would say is that considering we live in an inner city area - and while you might think only zone 1 counts as that, I would say on most urban to rural measures we live in inner city - there are a lot of trees round here.<br><br>It's a shame to lose some nice big ones when you don't need to, but I think what with all the street trees, the trees in gardens, the park, the parkland walk and the railway embankments etc, the wildlife round here does pretty well for an urban area.<br><br>As far as trees go we are good. As far as the old John Jones site went it was crap.<br><br>I think this may be an evolution of the point the cranky IT guy was trying to make.<br><br><br>

Toddlesocks · March 2014

<div>Maybe we need to set up a keep SG green group to help try preventing things like this in future, and encourage SG to be wildlife friendly ( unless there is already one) ?</div><div><br></div><div>Idoru's idea , appealing to JJ putting in a wildlife garden, would be a good start.</div><div><br></div>

Ali · March 2014

More wildlife more game for Cats !

JoeV · March 2014

<div>This is a bit of a pile on. I hate to see any tree cut down and I hope that the ones around the development can be saved somehow, but where's the discussion of and outrage over homeowners who pave over their front gardens for parking or build extensions that block air and light? Who leave rubbish in the front of their houses and in the gutter? </div><div><br></div><div>And their cats! their cats who kill!!</div><div><div><br></div><div>I pass environmental outrages everyday and no one says peep about them. Methinks JJ is becoming an easy target for all the ills of the neighborhood and I'm almost feeling sorry for them. </div></div>

ChangN4N6 · March 2014

Jonty and me are going to chain ourselves naked to 2 trees tomorrow at 830 as a protest. Please buy me a tea or bacon sarnie. Chang

Arkady · March 2014

I don't usually rise you to your fiction Chang, but... isn't 'Jonty' supposed to be your mother-in-law? I mean... what?

Sutent · March 2014

Arkardy Jonty is Changs other half. Mother in law is going out with Hassan

ChangN4N6 · March 2014

Your thinking of Dorcas. She has not been seen naked since 1963 . unlikely to do so now even for trees . Chang

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krappyrubsnif · March 2014

I looked at the trees today and I have to say I hadn't realized how much of a massacre this will be. I'm with Dion, I don't see why they have to go. Shame.

Sutent · March 2014

Your right misscara.

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