Dalston's £63million bus stop sold for £7.50 at public auction.

An auction of Dalston's £63million bus stop, which has been built on The Slab over Dalston Junction station, took place at an OPEN public event on 16.9.10. The event was packed with Dalston residents for an evening which included literature, poetry, music, local news and satire. The politico-cultural soiree was delivered, almost without exception, by performers from our local creative community who live within walking distance of the venue.

If you missed the OPEN event at St Barnabas Church then here is your chance to listen to podcasts of what took place ( go to the OPEN podcast site here).

David Garrard of English Heritage told us how the Grade II* listed St Barnabas church ("the building I should like to be remembered by") was designed by the architect, Charles Herbert Reilly. And how the pre-modernist 1911 brick and concrete Byzantine basilica had been softened by a core of vivid colour and decoration, much of it provided by the Liverpool sculptor Tyson Smith.

St Barnabas Church, Shacklewell Row. Photo courtesy of English Heritage

On the night of the event the church had been lit to stunning effect using Arcola's carbon free hydrogen lighting, which created an atmosphere of intimacy and enchantment.

Event lighting and photos courtesy of Arcola's David Salter.

Also from Arcola Theatre its producer and playwright Leyla Nazli, and Arcola Energy's Dr Ben Todd, told us of the 10 year history of building Arcola's national reputation in Dalston and its public appeal for £150K to help their current move to the Colourworks in Ashwin Street, Dalston.

A recent street party in Ashwin Street in front of the Reeves Printhouse and Colourworks

Antony Gormley, who has donated an artwork for auction, and designer Katharine Hamnett have joined forces with the Arcola Theatre to support its ambitious fund-raising efforts

Also at the event was writer, poet and filmaker Iain Sinclair who read from, and talked about, his latest work - and touched on the world of virtual money, anomally cancellation, the disappearance of £millions from the 2010 Olympic site in clouds of radioactive dust and the make do and mend austerity Olympics of 1948 ( hear him on the OPEN podcast here). The Worship of Mammon by Evelyn de Morgan, 1909. From super-hero to sub-zero, 2009


During the evening we had two sets of music from local musicians The Dulce Tones. They were also joined by the next generation, two local youngsters, for a rendition of The Pink Panther.

Then there was the presentation of the Ceausescue Golden Spoon Award to Mayors Jules Pipe and Boris Johnson (regretably in their absence) by Steve Butters of Capacities Ltd. Winning the most public votes for the least popular development, the Golden Spoon award recognises the overbearing presence of the authorities' bulldozed scheme, Dalston Square. Lord Low of Dalston, OPEN's Patron and local resident, also spoke briefly on behalf of OPEN Dalston members who were presented with a certificate in tribute to their inspirational campaign and vigorous opposition to historic Dalston's obliteration and aspects of its redevelopment (hear their speeches on the OPEN podcast here).

Another highlight of the event was Michael Rosen, broadcaster, poet and former national Children's Laureate, who performed "Regeneration Blues" accompanied by improvised music from The Dulce Tones. You can hear the performance on the OPEN podcast here. It will be broadcast by the BBC later this month. Look out for more poetry and jazz events in Dalston in the future.And finally, to round off the evening, the only bus stop which will be used on The Slab at New Dalston's £63million Transport Interchange, was sold by public auction. Local people heard how the cost of The Slab, to build The Bus Stop on, had risen from £26million to £39 million and is now estimated to cost £63million.

But there was little enthusiasm for the project amongst the auction bidders. The bus-stop was snapped up, for just £7.50, by a Clapton resident who happened to be walking home past the auction venue in Dalston. He heard the auctioneer, Michael Rosen, describe how the 488 route is to be extended from Clapton to Dalston Junction. The 488 is the only bus which will use the new £63million Transport Interchange which has been built on The Slab above the station.
"It'll be really handy for getting the train to Croydon" said the purchaser from Clapton, who preferred to remain anonymous, "but I do agree that a £63million Transport Interchange seems a lot for the public to pay just for my convenience".
(£7.50. It' s a start! Only another £62,999,992.50 to go to pay for The Slab. Ed)

Don't miss this OPEN public event at St Barnabas: 16th September at 7.30pm

An OPEN public event will take place on Thursday 16 September beginning at 7.30pm in the evening. It will feature music, literature, history, satire and local news.

It will take place in Dalston at the St Barnabas Church and Hall, Shacklewell Row E8. Although partly in a church, the event is not religious and is open to people of all beliefs and none.

The church is Grade II* listed built in 1910 in the Romanesque style. A secret gem of a building and only now being brought back into full use .

David Garrard, from English Heritage, will give a short talk about the building and its history.

The writer, poet and film-maker Iain Sinclair will read from his new, yet to be published, book and may range freely across issues of local and national interest.

Michael Rosen, poet and broadcaster, will perform Regeneration Blues and other work - accompanied by The DulceTones ( Dalston musicians, including some of international repute and local notoriety).

OPEN’s Patron, Lord Low of Dalston and Lady Jill also hope to attend the event.

The building will be lit by Arcola Theatre - using a low carbon portable fuel cell - an invention of one of its Directors, Dr Ben Todd. Arcola will also present plans for their forthcoming move to The Colourworks in Ashwin Street, Dalston, and plans for an new carbon-neutral theatre in Dalston.

Another highlight of the evening will be to hear Steve Butters describe the fierce competition to win the Ceausescu Golden Spoon Award which has been won by the Dalston Square development - a public/private partnership scheme between Hackney Council, the Greater London Authority and volume house-builder Barratt. Phase2 of Dalston Square is now being built on The Slab.
A night time view of the City with The Slab in the foreground - a huge 1 hectre, three metres deep concrete raft spanning over the Dalston Junction station railway cutting. Photo © EXYZT

This architect's model shows Dalston Square completed.Phase 2 of the development at Dalston Junction is now under construction by Barratt and, like Phase 1, is being marketed for off-plan sales in the Far East.

The main cheerleaders, and financiers, of the Dalston Square scheme were the Mayor of Hackney, Jules Pipe, and the ex-Mayor of the Greater London Authority, Ken Livingstone, who has since been replaced by Boris Johnson. Boris Johnson and Jules Pipe have both been invited to receive the award (although the presentation may have to proceed in their absence).

Boris Johnson who succeeded Ken Livingstone as Mayor of the Greater London Authority

The authorities argued that The Slab was necessary to build a bus/rail Transport Interchange above the station - but now TfL say that only one bus will in fact use it. The cost of the Slab has risen from £18m to £26m to £39m and is now estimated to cost £63 million. Following the presentation Michael Rosen will hold a public auction of Dalston's £63million Bus Stop.
Barratt Homes has now begun constructing Phase 2 of Dalston Square - a further nine blocks on The Slab, rising up to 20 storeys and comprising 330 flats. All for private sale. What will local people be prepared to bid for Dalston's £63millon Bus Stop? (Well... they wont be able to afford the flats. Ed.)

An artist's impression of Phase 2 of Dalston Square - 330 private flats and national brand stores. What the authorities' consultants, Drivers Jonas, described as a necessarily "high revenue generating scheme" to pay for The Slab.

Throughout the evening there will be opportunities for discussion, heckling and other forms of dissent.

Various items will be available to buy including the authors' books and a DVD “Save our Heritage” (a 35 minute film by Winstan Whittar documenting OPEN's battle to save Dalston 's Theatre and Georgian houses - now demolished)

The event is a fundraiser and there will be a £5.00 admission charge, £2.00 for unemployed, OAPs & students showing ID.

The Eastern Curve Garden. Can you dig it?

Yes you can!

The recent story of the Eastern Curve spans 150 years. And now, once again, it is attracting a lot of attention as you can see here and here.

The Eastern Curve Garden and the pavilion - a new public space in the heart of Dalston

The Eastern Curve was where the old railway line from Dalston Junction station tunnelled under Dalston Lane in 1865 and joined up with the North London Overground line running east to Stratford.


A train arrives at Dalston Junction from Broad Street in 1865

But trains haven't clattered along the Eastern Curve in living memory. For decades it has been a forgotten wilderness where the kestrels nesting in St. Marks tower would forage for prey. The deserted building on the development site next door was discovered by a group of graffiti artists who created their contemporary frescos.



But, in more recent years, it had became a site for predation by fly-tippers, dealers and pimps. A land of dereliction and lost souls - with police reporting that people were sleeping in the tunnel and in the derelict, and now demolished, Ashwin Street houses which backed onto the land.

Then, last year, the Eastern Curve became the site for the temporary Dalston Mill designed and built by EXYZT along with a recreation of Agnes Denes' 1982 work; "Wheatfield - A Confrontation".


You can see more of the activities at the Dalston Mill here. photo © Exyzt

After these events, the mill was dismantled, the wheat dug up and taken to landfill and public access was gone. But not forgotten.

Since OPEN Dalston was first formed in 2004 we have campaigned for desperately needed public green space to be created in the centre of Dalston. With plans afoot to re-open the Eastern Curve we pressed,in alliance with other local associations, for community management of the space. Now, after months of planning, of negotiation with landowners and funders, of confidence building between partners, the vision is being realised. The Eastern Curve is becoming a haven for local people and for nature.

First came the excavations when a decade of fly-tipping was unearthed, sorted and the ground landscaped and laid out.

photo © Exyzt

Then work started on creating the pavilion, a covered wooden structure, to host events. Designed by EXYZT, this photo (above) shows some of the team of local people employed to build it.

Then came the planting and those involved revealed to others the wonders of the natural world. Here a local child helps Marie Murray, of OPEN Dalston, plant up herbs in boxes recycled from Ridley Road market.

photo © Exyzt

And now the Eastern Curve Garden is open to all. A place where people meet plants. A place for growth, creativity and solace amidst the hustle and bustle of Dalston Town centre's redevelopment.

The entrance is through the door at back of Dalston's Peace Mural Square. Don't miss out - just go to the Dalston Eastern Curve Garden to see what's happening.

Speak up! They're not listening.

There are young people occupying the last surviving fragments of Dalston's Georgian houses. They know the sad history of our local heritage. They have something to say.

This year, after OPEN Dalston's long campaign, the Council finally bought the Dalston Lane houses back from the slum landlord which it sold them to at auction in 2002. But will the Council now carry on listening and responding to the local community?

The Council has started possession proceedings to evict the occupiers. The occupiers have offered the Council unrestricted access to carry out surveys and prepare refurbishment plans. But the Council has so far refused to let them stay until it's plans to restore the houses are ready to be implemented.

The occupiers are keeping the houses wind and watertight. They are protecting the houses which could otherwise be firebombed and vandalised, as happened previously to these 1807 houses at numbers 62-66 Dalston Lane.
Once empty the houses could then be left to decay until, like these, they had to be demolished by the Council at a further cost of £400,000 to the public purse.

And, if left empty, they could they be desecrated and vandalised like these 1825 houses in Dalston Lane.


You can read the Dalston Lane story here and here


The Council says it is the champion of our local heritage and responds to its commuities. We hope this time it will keep to its word.

It didn't last time

Dalston's Olympic bus stop may cost £63 million

Last week we reported the uproar about the latest figures for the costs of Dalston's Olympic bus stop here.

You can see what Andrew Boff said in his TV interview, which caused the uproar, here (Clip2).

This is what it said in the London Development Agency's minutes dated 24.9.09 which Andrew Boff referred to:
"2.11 The podium slab works, undertaken by the East London Line Project, are currently running over the originally anticipated final cost of £39m due to engineering conflicts at the north end of the site between the East London line route and the safeguarded route for Cross Rail 2 (The proposed Chelsea/Hackney tube line - Ed). Our cost monitoring information shows that the anticipated final cost for the slab is likely to be £62.9m. The LDA's underwriting commitment towards the cost of the podium slab is capped at £19m, therefore the additional costs (£31.8m) of the slab will be covered by TfL".

On 27.4.10 TfL told Lord Low
"The final cost of the Dalston scheme is a commercial matter under discussion with our contractor. However I can confirm that the budget for the entire Dalston scheme is £39m. (Note 'budget' not actual cost - Ed) This figure includes the additional project management costs, the bus facility, the podium slab and railway costs resulting from the roofing over of the station."

So how much will the final bill be for Dalston's Olympic bus stop? And why did the estimates rise from £18m to £26m to £39m to £63m?And how much will it cost Hackney taxpayers?

Watch this space - the scandal which has emerged so far is just the tip of the iceberg.

Andrew Boff finds it. Jeanette Arnold loses it

Andrew Boff, local resident and Conservative spokesman at the London Assembly on East London & the Olympics, has found minutes from September 2009 recording that the total cost of Dalston's Olympic bus stop could be £62.9 million, not £40million. £23 million over budget. See the minutes here -para 2.11.
He gave an ITV news interview on Wednesday and raised a question regarding the issue with Boris at GLA Mayor's question time yesterday. Also present was the Labour representative for Hackney and east London, Jeanette Arnold - a cheerleader for TfL's Dalston Olympic bus stop . She seemed to take it all a bit personally.








Jennette Arnold AM, former Chair of the London Assembly is pictured with Denis Oswald, Chair of the IOC Coordination Commission (left) and Sebastien Coe, Chair of the London Organising Committee.

You can watch the politicians discuss the issues on the GLA webcast here (scroll though to 01:47:00) but, in summary, it went something like this:
Boff: Can it possibly be true that The Slab in Dalston cost not only Dalston's heritage buildings but £62.9 million of public money? It says so in the LDA's minutes.
Boris: I will just read parrot fashion what I've been told to say. But £40million seems a lot to me for a concrete slab. I will ask questions of TfL today.
Arnold: The Dalston demolitions and The Slab are quite seperate. You're confusing my constituents... Bugger off Andrew...You can't tell me anything about Dalston Mr Boff. Go away! Go away!
Chair: Jeanette you're out of order. That's enough. Settle down please.

Ms Arnold suggests that The Slab had nothing to do with the demolition of Dalston's heritage buildings. But a letter from the GLA London Development Agency's Chief Executive, Manny Lewis, dated 29.11.06, to Lord Low (OPENs Patron) stated that, on the advice of it's architects ARUP (which designed the Barratt's tower blocks to replace them), "the buildings fronting Dalston Lane make very little contribution to the streetscape" and that "the provision of the over-station slab is reliant on a viable development scheme on the Dalston Lane site".

The LDA also wrote to the High Court judge to say The Slab scheme was in danger of collapse and urged him to lift OPEN's injunction which was preventing the demolitions.

The LDA repaid Hackney the cost of the demolitions.

This 1898 architect's drawing is of the entrance to Dalston's Theatre of Varieties, which was at 12 Dalston Lane. It was built in front of the original 1886 circus entrance ( the earliest surviving example in the UK - designed by Alfred Brandreth). An urban gem. These buildings were described by the LDA's Chief Executive, as "making very little contribution to the streetscape". Shortly afterwards the buildings were demolished.

Four slow deaths on Ashwin Street. And a burial.

As we reported last week, after decades of squatting and then dereliction, Hackney are now hell bent on demolishing rather than retaining anything of its four charming old houses at 2-8 Ashwin Street.

This is how the facades of 2-8 Ashwin Street looked in 2003, after 20 years of Hackney ownership.

Following extensive public consultation last summer, in which OPEN led a detailed community response, Hackney's draft Dalston Area Action Plan acknowledged the importance of the old houses to the Ashwin Street Character Area.

This is what the Plan says:
Development at 2 – 8 Ashwin Street: Any redevelopment and/or refurbishment of Nos. 2 – 8 Ashwin Street is encouraged to consider the retention of the existing buildings and/or existing building façade. However, if full or partial retention is not viable, and is clearly demonstrated that demolition is the only practicable option, its removal will be considered as part of any proposals to develop the properties for a landmark exemplar building that will contribute positively to the character of Ashwin Street and Dalston Park.

So why is demolition proceeding now? Particularly when it is not part of any proposal for a "landmark exemplar building" to replace the old houses?

This is how 2-8 Ashwin Street looked today with demolition well under way

OPEN has now heard back from Hackney's solicitor who informs that the decision to demolish was made by it's Chief Executive "to maintain public safety" following "police reports". The houses have fallen into a dangerous condition.

We have also received a copy of Hackney's recent structural engineer's report following an external inspection. His report commented on distortion to the front walls of the houses, worsened by fire damage, and that "to ascertain the exact extent of wall sections worth retaining, would require a full... survey". But, it appears, no such full survey was undertaken. Hackney has refused OPEN's specialist engineer access to provide a second opinion. Hackney are proceeding to demolish the lot.

Ashwin Street on the morning when Number 8 was gutted by fire on 31.7.08 . The facades of the old houses frame the view of the locally listed Reeves Printhouse.

Where a building has become unsafe due to dereliction there is an exception to an owner's right to demolish. It is designed to prevent the mischief of owners using their own neglect or vandalism as an excuse to demolish residential houses without planning control. In those cases the owner must apply for full planning permission - unless it can show the building can not practicably be made safe or temporarily supported.

In the present case there already is shoring supporting the houses. And Hackney's engineer has described what would be needed to retain part and rebuild the remainder of the houses' facades. But no advice was given about what is needed to make the houses safe. But, despite ignoring that requirement, Hackney claim there is no need to apply for planning permission to demolish them.

2 Ashwin Street today, half demolished, with a glimpse of the Dalston Lane Peace Mural in the background.

Regular readers of this blog may now be experiencing of sense of deja vu. When Hackney sought to justify demolition of Dalston's circus buildings and locally listed Georgian houses in 2005 it also referred to fires (whereas there had been none), that its surveyors had inspected all the buildings (which they had not), that they were all beyond repair (which they were not) and that they did not need planning permission to demolish them (but a High Court Judge agreed with OPEN that they did).

But then Hackney went on to grant itself planning permission and destroyed them anyway. And now Ashwin Street follows on.

If you believe what Hackney says of itself ("We are the champions of the historic environment") then why is Building Design magazine this week publishing accusations by national and local amenity societies of Hackney's "cultural vandalism" ?

The former site of Dalston's Circus and Georgian houses destroyed by Hackney Council with the approval and agreement of Transport for London, the London Development Agency, the Greater London Authority and the Secretary of State, to fund Dalston's £40million bus stop.

The Vandals: an eastern Germanic tribe which earned notoriety by sacking Rome in the 5th century but which was defeated by the Goths.
Vandalism: the gratuitous anti-social destruction of the environment and artistic creations.
Municipal vandalism: the destruction of our cultural heritage by corporate ignorance, deliberate neglect, vanity and greed all in the name of progress.

How did it happen?
Read the posting "The story that was never told" for a more detailed history.