13 industry news
New lease of life for parish centre after arson attack
before Easter 2011. An accelerant was used resulting in substantial damage to the roof and throughout the interior. The centre was closed after the fire, meaning that parish and community had to find alternative accommodation until it reopened shortly before Christmas. Director of Cassidy and Ashton,
ractive new look thanks to Chester- based Cassidy and Ashton building surveyors and architects. The leading North West firm was appointed from the Archdiocese of Liverpool’s partnering framework to survey the damage at Our Lady Queen of Martyr Social Club, Croxteth, and design a new-look interior. The fire was started on the roof of the building on Stonebridge Lane just
A
Liverpool community centre that was destroyed by fire has been reopened with an att-
Dave Owen, said: “Our brief was to repair and restore the club to its orig- inal condition, while bringing a more modern look and feel. The finished project looks great and will be some- thing that the community can be proud of for many years to come.” Club manager, Julie Gannon, said
the new centre looked fantastic. “It is great to have the club back up
and running and we have had lots of lovely comments from visitors about the modern new look,” she said. Work on the 800 sq m building took around 15 weeks to complete.
Defra launches SuDS standards consultation
T
he long-awaited draft National Standards for Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) have
just been issued for consultation by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Early response from the trade association, Interpave, raises concerns about a loophole enabling developers to avoid SuDS for cost reasons. The draft National Standards have
been developed to meet the require- ments of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, which makes SuDS effectively mandatory. They stress the importance of source control, water management near the surface, cost-effective operation throughout design life and integration of public space with SuDS. These are all areas where concrete block permeable paving makes an invalu- able contribution, signalling the mainstream use of this important SuDS technique. As part of the consultation pro-
cess, Defra proposes working in con- junction with other organisations over the next few months to develop more detailed guidance than the National Standards offer. Interpave has already indicated its willingness
to be a part of this process and has in place a wealth of information on permeable paving and SuDS on its information resource website. Interpave will also be discussing the draft Standards in more detail during the consultation period. However, Interpave is particularly concerned about a proposed ‘get-out clause’ within the draft National Standards. In its current form, this will allow developers to avoid ‘full com- pliance with the Standards’ where a SuDS scheme ‘is more expensive than an equivalent conventional design.’ This move could significantly
reduce our ability to defend against a repeat of the widespread flooding events seen in recent years, where increased urbanisation and climate change have led to the sewer net- work being overwhelmed. Mandatory SuDS is seen by many
as an essential component in the fight against repeats of these flood- ing events and their cost in both financial terms and human suffering. The move could also be seen as
unnecessary given the cost-effective- ness of SuDS schemes, particularly those incorporating concrete block permeable paving.
Hackney Council ready to open brand new library in Dalston
D opened its doors on 23rd
alston C.L.R. James, the first new Council library to be built in Hackney for over 20 years, January.
This brand new, state-of-the-art
facility is one of the largest public libraries in the UK, and twice the size of the C.L.R. James library that it is replacing. Hackney Council’s cabinet mem-
ber for health, social care and culture, Cllr Jonathan McShane, said: “The Council is committed to ensuring that in Hackney we continue to improve our libraries for the benefit of all resi- dents. We want this brand new library to be a community hub, some- where that all residents can make use of whether it’s for books, study space, the free use of computers or to hold community meetings and events.” The Council has been investing in
its libraries to provide a first class service for the people of Hackney. The new library is spread over three floors, covering 2,964 sq m and fea- tures separate adult and children's sections, a teen zone and a quick picks area. Each section is colour coded to make it easier for people to find their way around. The quick picks area is designed for people with only a few minutes to spare so they can pop into the library, select a best seller, issue it to themselves using the state of the art self service technology and be on their way. This area on the ground floor also means people can return books easily at times that suit them. With over 32,000 items in the new
library there is something for every- one to choose from. For younger readers there are over 9,500 books and over 17,000 for adults. People also have a choice of over 1,600 free CDs and DVDs and over 200 talking books, study materials and online ref- erence sources. There is strong demand for study
space and computers at all Hackney libraries, which is why Dalston C.L.R. James includes 20 dedicated study spaces in the study area and two meeting rooms. The library has 57 computers available to use for free – ten in the children’s section; ten in the adults section; 22 in the study area; three in the Teen Zone, two in Quick Picks section and ten laptops for use the meeting rooms. The library, like all other Hackney
libraries, has free wi-fi throughout. The library will have a cafe, as this is something that customers said they would like to see in Hackney libraries. It will be managed by a local café owner and is set to open shortly after the library. Hackney Archives is currently
moving its collections, including over 20,000 historic photographs, original records of Hackney Council and other local organisations, and what are thought to be the oldest docu- ments in the collections – a bundle of property records relating to land in different parts of London dating back to 1,356, to their new home. The searchroom opened on 23rd January, along with the rest of the library, to provide access to some of the local studies collections, includ- ing microfilm copies of the Hackney Gazette from 1869, maps, digitised copies of photographs and local history publications. The full archives service, providing access to the unique historical documents in the archives, will open soon after the new library.
...searchable information archive at
www.adfonline.eu
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