He was one of the campaigners fighting to save the Odeon, High Street Kensington, from greedy vandals.
You can read more about Guy HERE
Mr. Moylan would do well to learn about good taste from a master!
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| Guy |
Dear Dame,
I have thought long and hard about this and I do not think that the site should be sold.
Likewise, I don't think that the borough should be split up, despite its mismanagement in recent years ( but more about that later..... )
Firstly, the library and underground parking should be retained ( the latter supporting the former ).
Second, the council should retain a freehold ( say 120 years ) and then work up a scheme for a 50:50 private/ social ( key worker ) mix in an appropriate architectural language
(complimenting and not fighting with the buildings opposite) and built ON TOP of the car park.
I calculate there could be 240 units on the site planned around a central square / green space and creating a truly mixed community.
The existing council buildings are a monument to Nicholas Freeman's arrogance after he demolished the 19th C Town Hall overnight knowing that it would be listed.
These are brutal and hideously ugly buildings with Orwellian interiors and should be cleared away.
The council chamber, in particular, is like something out of 1984 or Animal Farm, with the names of previous councillors in jumbo text with a jumbo scale council coat of arms!
One of the supporting animals is, appropriately, a pig - (well a wild boar - but you get the sentiment! )
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| Vandalised by Ritblat |
Let's clear away all of that negative energy.
The council should acquire the cinema site ( where the façade and marble staircases are still intact ) and build a new mixed use arts facility with cinemas, a large auditorium and a studio theatre which would double up as a conference hall and a council chamber.
This could also house Opera Holland Park.
It would form an amazing ARTS HUB with the new design museum and become a big economic driver for our flagging High Street.
Finally, we could give over a lease so a developer could fully and sympathetically restore Holland House and use it as a boutique hotel at the centre of our glorious park.
I could get the investors and support to do that - sound like a good set of ideas ???
Let's improve our borough for everyone, not sell it off for yet more empty luxury flats
I want something better for ALL of our community and for OUR Borough and will work to make that happen.....
Let's do something positive with what we have instead of selling the family silver ( again ) dearest Dame.
Yours sincerely ( Very )
Guy Oliver
Grenfell Public Inquiry rearing today.
ReplyDeleteLizzy Dizzy: "We have got an army of people out there working 24 hours a day, seven days a week because we actually really do care, we do want to get people rehoused," she told Today.
Working 24/7? That's a bit of over statement, isn't it? Oh, it's all about looking good while on camera, to the public.
Forgot the link...
Deletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42304266
Getting back on topic, since when do we hear a developer becoming sympathetic? When there is money to be made, they don't/can't care about us.
ReplyDeleteGuy is good, we need you - thank you.
ReplyDeleteI beg your pardon? How is this any different to any other developer? "Finally, we could give over a lease so a developer could fully and sympathetically restore Holland House and use it as a boutique hotel at the centre of our glorious park.
ReplyDeleteI could get the investors and support to do that - sound like a good set of ideas ??? "
I just bet he could get investors interested. I could get investors interested with that amount of cash on offer. Holland House and the Town Hall site belong to the public - but the vultures are circling. Just because there is a veneer of sympathy does not disguise yet another developer on the make hoping for our backing so he can make a profit.
and I beg YOUR pardon! What a nasty, cynical comment to make.
ReplyDeleteGuy Oliver spent tens of thousands of pounds and as many hours in an effort to protect the Odeon.
Guy had lined up a Nordic developer with a record of executing developments which gave him little or no profit. Why? because this man had made his billions out of retail and enjoyed enhancing and preserving community assets. Not all successful businessmen operate in the way you suggest.
Guy Oliver is one of the most honest and public spirited of people. Your suggestion that he is driven by financial gain is just a bit sad and very wrong. You should apologise.
Guy Oliver is a local resident who is deeply committed to preserving and enhancing what is special about the area. He has contributed much of his private time and his own financial resources to being a force for good in both Kensington and in support of international charitable causes.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of his professional work, Oliver is one of our most notable designers, internationally renowned. I have no doubt that if he were Japanese he would be designated a "Living National Treasure".
It is a genuine tragedy that our elected Councillors failed to appreciate the importance of the art deco assets in the Kensington Odeon. They repeatedly rejected Guy Oliver's pleas and proposals to preserve the building for posterity and for the benefit of the public. That Guy is still offering to contribute a positive vision for the now largely demolished Odeon building, as well as the grotesque Kensington Town Hall is a testament to his determination to make the world a better place.
We should not allow the spirit of self-interested Councillors, such as the late Town Hall-demolishing Freeman and his living incarnations to infect our local government and make decisions which don't benefit the general public.
Oliver isn't a developer, he is visionary designer. We must not pass by the opportunity to allow him to bestow his talents on this Borough.
Guy should stand for the council so much better than Annabel M and her lot, whose only ideas seem to be raising council tax and getting European nationals to stand as councillors. . His inspired idea for the Odeon Site becoming an art centre is what we need, not more luxury flats and building sites which have ground to a halt. The Odeon site, Cinema closed for two years, is now up for sale again, what a complete waste. Thank you Daniel Moylan the most vocal anti Odeon councillor, who has now turned his attention to the rebuilding of the Boots site on Kensington High Street/Wrights Lane 'Having been in discussion with the owners of the site for over a year' the planning permission is about to be approved. Meanwhile the Odeon Site and Lancer Square his other pet projects have ground to a halt,
ReplyDeleteDaniel Moylan should NEVER be allowed to meet ANY developer without an officer being present.
ReplyDeleteDear Danny should not be allowed to meet ANYONE - he is toxic
DeleteWhat?? ODEON site up for resale? After all the nonsense and lies?
ReplyDeleteAnd Lancer Square too?
This is a disgrace.
Will stuffed brown envelopes be returned?
Yes Odeon and Lancer Square on the market again for sale. Rumour also that CAPCO is trying to offload Earls Court, or else build 3000 more homes in the site.
DeleteWe admired the Odeon Campaign and it is a tragedy to see that space on Ken High Street deserted especially when both the need for both housing and creating a flourishing high street (to sustain existing businesses and establish the ecosystem) is so important. Would love to chat. https://advancetogether.uk/ hello@advancetogether.uk
ReplyDeleteYes it is a sad to see the deserted site. Especially for those of us who actually live here and miss our wonderful cinema and having a sorting office rather than having to go to Olympia. Guys idea for an art centre was fantastic. Plenty of new homes being built very nearby on Warwick Road and of course Earls Court.
DeleteOh dear...Mr Oliver is a bit of a philistine. He should be aware that Sir Basil Spence who designed the Kensington Town Hall also designed Coventry cathedral that was voted Britains favourite building at the millennium, he is the only british architect other than Lutyens to be awarded the order of merit.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore the idea of a hotel in Holland park is totally out of order, would infuriate the Friends of Holland Park and is of course contrary to the Greater London Parks and open spaces Act 1967.
Thank goodness Mr Oliver will never be a Councillor !
14:14, you dear old dimwit! Basil Spence was a greedy old fella who loved to make money. When the hideous Nicholas Freeman came to him with his crude idea Bassa found it irresistible and got one of his juniors to knock out a plan.
DeleteDaniel Moyal, the writer of the comment, loves brutalist architecture because he's a real old brute! Coventry Cathedral is just ordinary,
Daniel Moylan is standing down next May
ReplyDeleteIs this true. if so its good news.
Deletehoorrrah.... if true
DeleteImportant event - should have a Public Holiday
ReplyDelete