LI London Branch Newsletter May – June 2009
Hello All,
So it’s been two months since we were in touch last, summer looks as though it’s starting to arrive (at least on the day of writing this!), the days are longer than the nights and peoples’ thoughts are turning to summer holidays, which for some of us may be making the most of the UK’s great assets.
London offers some of the most exciting attractions and events in the UK, if not in the world and we have tried to sum up some of the details in our section, Extra Curricular. This is by no means an exhaustive list and we would like to hear from you about anything you know happening around the region that may be of interest to others.
Other regional members’ thoughts will be turning to the upcoming P2C oral exams, in May and November. We are looking for details of P2C revision groups that you may be involved in, so please see our Pathway 2 Chartership section for further details. Good luck from all at LIL to those sitting the exam in May.
On May 6th we will be holding our AGM and this is an opportunity to have your say on what happens with LIL and for those who wish to get more involved to find out what is happening already.
Again, we hope that you find this newsletter of use. If you would like to get more involved with LIL please check out the Committee Snapshot section for details of forthcoming meetings. We would also like to hear from you about news, events and other items of interest so that we can share with regional members.
Please contact us at mail.london@landscapeinstitute.org
Regional News
Help a London Park - And the winners are...
You told us which parks you'd like to improve and you've decided the following parks would receive funding to make then greener, safer and nicer places to visit. Further Details here
Boris Johnson to slash London environmental team in half
Leaked proposals to cut 20 jobs at city hall call mayor's commitment into question
John Vidal, environment editor at The Guardian, indicate that the team in charge of London's bid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase recycling and biodiversity is to be cut in half in a major shake-up that calls into question the commitment to the environment of the mayor, Boris Johnson.
Further details here
LI London’s Chair responds;
It is of great concern that the Mayor seems to be more committed to public spending cuts at City Hall than valuing specialised staff who contribute to London’s sustainability and making it a better place to live both for now and the future. The West London extension to the Congestion Charge zone was cancelled as one of Boris Johnson’s first decisions as Mayor – surely a reward to those who voted for him rather than a benefit to all (don’t we just love those Chelsea tractors)? Money for improving cycling in London has not exactly been forthcoming, either, despite the Mayor often being pictured on his own bike.
I also noted in March 2009 that up to £200,000 has been set aside this year to enable the Mayor’s ‘Great Space’ projects – Boris Johnson’s scheme to replace Ken Livingstone’s 100 Public Spaces - to carry out feasibility or design work and to help in their promotion. This may sound like a good thing in principle: at least there’s a recognition that places need improving, but it sure doesn’t seem like a lot of money for the whole of London, even if it is indeed only for ‘feasibility’, as I’ve been reliably informed.
Exhibition of Work by Edward Hutchinson
Edward Hutchinson studied art at the Royal College and then took up landscape architecture. His drawings are fabulously varied, informative, innovative and inventive.
Friday 22nd May - Friday 5th June, 10am - 6pm, Monday to Saturday.
Canterbury Court, 1 Brixton Road, London, SW9 6DE
Pre-retirement wind-down
A small north London practice is seeking similar to take over tree surveys, to prepare Arboricultural Method Statements and to share the design work arising from old and some new contacts. If interested send practice details to;
Jim Eardley, Eardley Landscape Associates, 25 Achilles Road, London NW6 1DZ
Events
We had our monthly pub social on Wednesday 01st April at the Founders Arms outside the Tate Modern. It was great to catch up with familiar faces and there was interest from a number of interested people in getting involved with LIL
We aim to make this a regular event so please come and join us for an evening social. The nights are getting longer and there seems to be an ever increasing need to step away from the desk, so feel free to come along and bring a colleague. The social is always arranged near a cultural site, so an even better reason to leave early and look for some inspiration.
Other events coming up include:
Wednesday 6th May - AGM and 'Shared Spaces'
An introduction to case studies with Lindsey Whitelaw & Ben Hamilton-Bailie.
6:00pm - 9:00pm
The Gallery, 77 Cowcross St., London, EC1M 6EL
FreeNearest Tube: Farringdon
Wednesday 03 June - Pub social at The Harp
6:30pm
47 Chandos Place, London, WC2N 4HS
Near the National Gallery
FreeNearest Tube: Embankment.
Wednesday 01 July - CPD event on turf and climate change
6:30pm - 9:15pm
The Gallery, 77 Cowcross St., London, EC1M 6EL
£5 for licentiates, £10 for CMLIsNearest Tube: Farringdon
Wednesday 05 August - Park social outside the Serpentine Gallery
6:30pm
Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2009
Kensington Gardens, London W2 3XA
FreeNearest Tube: High Street Kensington
Pathway to Chartership
We have a commitment at LI London to help those going through the P2C process, whether you are a candidate or mentor. On the 6th March we held a workshop on ‘The Art of Pathway Mentoring’ with Alex Whittaker of the LI and all who participated took away some positives from the event.
We have also run a number of workshops for candidates aimed at key subjects in the syllabus and this is something we are continuing to develop. If you feel that as a mentor or CMLI you could present a talk for one of the syllabus subjects we would be very interested in hearing from you and working with you to arrange this.
We also receive regular emails asking about P2C revision groups in the London area. We would be very keen to hear from you if;
o You currently participate in a P2C revision group at work or privately and would be willing to open this up for others to attend
o You are interested in attending a revision group arranged, but not managed, by LIL. We can help facilitate such workshops by emailing and posting details on the website of where and when people are meeting but it would be up to the attendees to manage the structure and contents of these meeting.
o You have been a Chartered Member for at least two years and are not yet mentoring anyone. We frequently get requests from candidates who are desperately seeking a mentor. LI London would very much like to develop a database of mentors so we can match them with suitable candidates.
If you are interested in any of the above comments please contact us on mail.london@landscapeinstitute.org
Committee Snapshot
The LI London committee has begun to find its feet as a new Branch, following last year’s split from LI South East. The expanded committee structure has been a success, with less pressure on individuals, as most posts are now shared or have a deputy (we all volunteer our time on the committee, remember). It would be great if more members would come forward so this can continue to gain ground next year, so please come along to the AGM to see how you could get involved. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone on the committee for their help in making things work so well. I can’t name everyone, so please see the Committee section on the LIL website to see who they all are.
Despite financial constraints, we are achieving more, with some great events planning, and the start-up of the monthly socials is something we are particularly proud of, but want to make unmissable. We know there are lots of committed landscape architects out there, not all of them LIL members, so please pass this on to your friends and colleagues to encourage them to get involved. We welcome all ideas for future events, people to meet and talk to us, and places to visit especially those with any new or radical landscape and design ideas.
I am particularly pleased that this newsletter has started up, as it’s so important to keep members informed about what’s going on both within the London Area and with LI London’s views on what’s happening to the LI. We have started our own Policy Group, but I would like to encourage more members to make the effort to log on to Talking Landscapes and contribute an opinion. Have a look at this link to current issues sent around by Tom Turner of Greenwich University as a starter: Talking Landscapes
As you will all be aware, the LI has been deeply affected by the financial situation, with staff losses, ongoing concern about the future of the library and archive, and probably most important of all, a need to preserve and clarify the policies, overall purpose and effectiveness of the LI. The LI is currently based in London, of course. This may seem like a given, as London is the capital city, but is this the best option given the current situation?
Extra Curricular
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show, 19th-23rd May 2009, is the ultimate event in the gardening year. It sets the latest gardening trends, features the newest and most desirable gardening products and creates an explosion of colours and scents. Further details here
Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, 7-12th July 2009. Gardening’s best gets down to earth at this year's show, so be ready to make the most of your garden. There’ll be ideas on how you can grow your own, enjoy healthy outdoor living and much, much more. With something for everyone this summer, join us for a day of home-grown fun the whole family can get stuck into – and don’t forget kids go free! Further details here
Greater London: Richard Bryant's Photographic Celebration of a City; Until 31 May 2009: 10am - 6pm, FREE ENTRY. Further details here
Isa Genzken: Open, Sesame! 5 April - 21 June 2009: This is the first retrospective of a major European artist whose fusion of photography, paint, architecture and found objects into the realm of sculpture has influenced generations of younger artists. The show commences with early floor works from the 1970s and continues with a sequence of windows, rooms and buildings cast from plaster and concrete in the 1980s. Living and working in Germany and in New York, Genzken’s column structures of the 1990s draw on the vertiginous, reflective forms of Manhattan skyscrapers, adapted in 2000 into proposals for improvements to the architecture of Berlin. Further details here
Shoot London returns for 2009: A new breed of interactive entertainment –SHOOT LONDON – A NOVEL ADVENTURE. Further details here
London to Brighton Bike Ride 2009: This year, the nation's favourite 54 mile bike ride from the capital to the coast will be taking place on Sunday 21 June 2009. Further details here
Le Corbusier (1887-1965), widely acclaimed as the most influential architect of the 20th century, was also a celebrated thinker, writer and artist - a multi-faceted ‘renaissance man’. His architecture and radical ideas for reinventing modern living, from private villas to large scale social housing to utopian urban plans, still resonate today. Further details here
Picasso: Challenging the Past, until 7th June 2009: The most prolific of twentieth-century artists was as much a cultural cannibal and old-master magpie as he was a radical innovator of form in painting. See him cribbing from the best when compared with examples from the National Gallery's historic collection. Further details here
Edited by Tim Spain and Daniel Rea, contributions by Susan Lowenthal