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Don't Butcher Smithfield
"In any place less philistine than the City, Smithfield would be protected. Nothing has damaged the City's case to stay a local planning authority than its guardianship of Smithfield" Simon Jenkins in the Evening Standard, 26th February 2004
"As unlisted buildings in a designated conservation area, [the General Market buildings] make an outstanding contribution to the character and appearance of Smithfield and possess enormous townscape value" Sir Neil Cossons, Chairman, English Heritage, letter to The Times 29th March 2004
In February we launched our report 'Don't Butcher Smithfield: The Threat to Britain's Finest Group of Market Buildings' which highlighted the threat to Sir Horace Jones' General Market buildings at Smithfield. The reaction was immediate and vociferous: these buildings must not be demolished. The Corporation of London has leased the buildings to Thornfield Properties for them to redevelop as a 10 storey office block, completely at odds with the scale and character with the historic Smithfield area, the built heritage of which dates back to at least the 11th century. The group of market buildings proposed for demolition has been empty for four years, in spite of attempts by ourselves to convince the Corporation that reuse is a viable option, and indeed in spite of a report by Urban Space Management, compiled at the invitation of the Corporation, showing that the buildings could be economically reused as, surprise surprise, market buildings.
The General Market is a handsome red brick building with white stone dressings, two storeys high (with an attractive French style attic storey) around the edge of the central market space with shops facing out on to the street, and a glorious central dome. The annex is a playful variation on the theme struck by Jones in his earlier market buildings in the complex, and the Red House cold store is a powerful part of the townscape. The diminutive lavatory block keeps the faith, using a similar vocabulary with tall white stone chimneys.
In spite of four attempts, the three blocks of buildings remain unlisted, although they are in a conservation area, specifically designated to protect them from precisely the sort of development proposed. They were included in the conservation area as the last act of Ken Livingston's GLC Planning Committee in 1986. In spite of the growing support for the preservation and re-use of the buildings, including importantly HRH The Prince of Wales, Mr. Livingston has not declared his hand. We remain convinced that if they were in any other town in the UK they would be listed: the General Market and its annex are high quality Victorian buildings by a fine architect, and were innovative in their construction through the use of the "Phoenix Column", the technology that made the construction of skyscrapers possible in the USA. Only one other building in the UK uses these.
Press coverage of the issue to date has been good, with the first shots fired by the Evening Standard and the Guardian, followed up with strong pieces in the Evening Standard and the Times. London Tonight has also picked up on the story, as have various London radio stations. Our report, Don't Butcher Smithfield: The Threat to the UK's Finest Group of Market Buildings' is available from the SAVE office for £4 to Friends of SAVE and £5 to everyone else.
In this campaign, every bit of help we can muster will make a difference and so we would ask those of you that feel suitably riled to put pen to paper expressing your concerns.