Sustainable squatting in Bonnington Square
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/video/2010/jul/06/sustainable-squatting-bonnington-square
Two towers plan for Vauxhall
An
artist's impression of the Vauxhall Cross towers
Sam Masters
DEVELOPERS
have revealed £170million plans for two towers in an
area where community campaigners have bitterly fought
high-rise developments.
The project at Bondway in the heart of Vauxhall Cross
is being funded by the chief executive of Middle
Eastern oil company FAL Oil.
Developers Kylun Ltd own the site, and have financial
backing from the United Arab Emirates-based company
director.
The development will see a 42 and 31-storey tower
erected with views over the Thames.
But community campaigners have fought previous
applications to build high-rise apartments in the area.
In March, residents demanded a Lambeth council planning
committee reject the Octave Tower development in
Bondway.
They said the high-rise buildings would
“condemn” Vauxhall to become like Manhattan
in New York.
Jane Michelson from Bonnington Square, Vauxhall said:
“We are going to fight developments like this all
the way, right down the line.”
The Octave application was rejected by councillors.
The new “elegant” design has been created
by architects Squire & Partners. Michael Squire,
from the firm, said:
“Our proposals are designed to deliver a new
focal point for Vauxhall connected to bus and train
stations.
“We are focusing on improving the ground-level
environment and providing new animated retail and
restaurant frontage.”
The project would create 310 apartments and a 180-bed
hotel with a “sky bar” open to the public
on the 14th floor.
The developers said the scheme would create more than
450 new jobs in Vauxhall.
Adrian Owen, from property consultants Montagu Evans
which is representing Kylun Ltd, said:
“This key site has previously been neglected.
“In its current state, it does nothing for the
local community aside from being an eyesore as you
emerge from the Tube station.
“We hope to be able to deliver a scheme that
reinvigorates this part of Vauxhall.”
* A public exhibition will be held at Vauxhall City
Farm today from 2pm to 8pm and tomorrow from 10am to
3pm.
Planning applications for the development are expected
to be submitted to Lambeth council this summer.
via
http://www.southlondon-today.co.uk/tn/news.cfm?id=18176&headline=Twin%20towers%20plan%20for%20Vauxhall
Eco Eatery Review: Bonnington Cafe
The Bonnington Cafe by Ewan Munro
Nudged
into action by the launch of the
Sustainable Restaurant
Association,
Londonist embarks on an eco eating
crawl.
The bohemian Bonnington Cafe started life as an
Eighties squat and is now run as a co-operative,
sitting prettily in the leafy surroundings of
Bonnington Square in Vauxhall. Run by member cooks,
with no single person in charge, it obviously aims to
operate sustainably, while the decision to exclude fish
and meat makes it a good choice for the eco conscious
eater.
Dinner
at the Bonnington Cafe isn't simply a matter of turning
up. First you have to contact the chef and see if they
will have you. Different people cook every night, each
with their own specialities and eccentricities. We
wanted to dine on a Saturday night which meant we were
to be cooked for and served by Margarete. We sent her
an email, swiftly followed by a text (in an over keen
moment), and our minor bombardment concluded happily
with an 8pm table reservation.
We
ended up arriving a little early, still over keen,
which was, Margarete assured us in a rather stern
voice, better than being late. It's BYO - the communal
corkscrews hang near the piano - so we cracked our
bottle open and settled down to look over the short
menu that offered two starters (£3), two mains (£7) and
two cakes (£3), all suitably healthy sounding, except
perhaps the cake.
We chose chickpea tagine with two salads, followed by
coffee and cake. The stew arrived fast and was piled
high. It was hearty vegetarian fare, all brown rice,
quinoa, pulses and leaves. It was good, fresh and
homemade, which made the distinctly unglamorous
presentation forgivable, but it definitely didn't look
or taste gourmet. The coffee and cake that followed was
alright, nothing special.
The food wasn't amazing the night we visited but it was
wholesome and incredibly cheap, and actually we fell a
little bit in love with this place as it danced with
shadows in the candlelight. It has a lovely atmosphere
and interesting history. We'll definitely return, to
try out different chefs' cooking and see how it changes
with the seasons. Summer must be wonderful when the
gardens are at their best, while in winter there's the
promise of a roaring open fire.
The
Bonnington Cafe,
1 Vauxhall Grove, SW8 1TD
via
http://londonist.com/2010/05/eco_eatery_review_bonnington_cafe.php
Green Gym Day
Also save the date 5/6th June!
Let's move to Vauxhall and Nine Elms, south London
If you believe what you read in the property pages (I wouldn't), Vauxhall and Nine Elms are where all the cool young daddios are. There's still a cluster of nightclubs hunkered under the viaducts, and the gay village remains thriving. But now the swanky apartments have moved in, for how long? To cap it all work begins soon on America's new fortress – sorry, embassy – complete with moat. Vauxhall is not for the faint-hearted. Still, all its hideousness equals good value, especially for its location, by the Thames, opposite Tate Britain. And hunt behind the roaring roads and you'll find secret nooks of peace: Vauxhall Park, the grand terraces of Fentiman Road, Oval cricket ground, the Portuguese delis of South Lambeth Road, and the little community utopia of Bonnington Square, proof that even in the harshest of habitats, life can thrive.
The case against
Less a place, more a circle of hell. An unrelenting urban experience. Thundering roads as wide as the ocean. Trains overhead. Viaducts beneath. Blades of grass and trees rare as hens' teeth – those nine elms are long gone. Patches can be unsafe after dark, even with MI6 in the 'hood. New development's not much improved it: the incomparably ugly St George's Wharf will be in your eye sockets every day.
Well connected?
Tremendously. Vauxhall is on the Victoria line (zone one), and has trains to Waterloo and Clapham Junction (both five mins, every three/four minutes) and farther south. Super bus station, too.
Schools
Primaries a mixed bag: Wyvil, Ashmole, St Mark's CofE and St Anne's Catholic all "good" says Ofsted. Secondaries better: Archbishop Tenison's "good", Lilian Baylis "good" with "outstanding" features.
via The Guardian
Squatters' rites
Originally founded by a disparate crew of travelling hippies and wandering anarchists, many from New Zealand, who brought their DIY communal ethos to London in the early 1980s, it soon blossomed into a fully fledged artistic community. The square was originally owned by the Inner London Education Authority, and around the time the squatters arrived had been condemned to be bulldozed into a car park. The squatters fought back to save the square, forming a housing co-operative and eventually buying it from the council.
Thirty years on and the square is as alive as ever, except that there aren't any squats or squatters any more. The co-operative dissolved in the late 1990s and everyone became a homeowner. Many of the houses are now worth in excess of £1m, and there is a communal "pleasure garden" with an exotic mix of bamboo, mimosa and bananas.
"We may have been anti-Thatcherite, but we were definitely the children of Thatcher's regime," says Andrée Wilson, one of the three founding members of the co-operative, when I sit down for coffee in her newly decorated former squat. "None of what we did would have been possible were it not for her." Thatcher's deregulation of the housing market was what made it possible for these people to claim this square as their own.
"Because we'd saved the buildings, we felt free to do whatever we wanted with them," says Wilson, who is now in her 50s. "I painted mine in what I called Australian desert colours, so when it got cold during the winter you were at least visually warm." They soon added a nightclub and a cafe, part of the ethos of making everything as cheap and accessible to the community as possible. "We used to rock. The police were afraid to come down here in the early days," she says, with a wry smile.
via The Guardian
AGM
BONNINGTON SQUARE GARDEN ASSOCIATION
AGM
on
Wednesday 10th March
starting at 7.59pm
in the
Bonnington Centre.
Please come along if you value the garden and would
like to contribute to its “management” or
just if you’ve got something to say.
BSGA 2-12 Bonnington Square, London SW8 1TQ