During the fuss about the so-called "People's Peers", there were many suggestions that those selected would all have qualified under existing nominations by government and the political parties.
That may have been true of many of them, but not so of two who are of particular interest to people in housing, namely Richard Best and Victor Adebowale.
Adebowale is one of the youngest life peers ever created and gained his high profile as director of London homelessness charity Centrepoint. Its former patron was the late Princess of Wales who made late night visits to the centre to meet young people. He moves this autumn to drugs charity Turning Point.
Apart from this, he probably gained from a desire to ensure at least some younger appointments and more black and minority ethnic voices in the Lords.
Richard Best might just have ended up in the second chamber, though this would have been unlikely.
The work of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has ruffled feathers many times and you can be sure that there would have been many people walking the corridors of power who would have been quite ready to stick the knife in had his name been put forward in the traditional manner.
Even if he had made it, the chances are it would not have been for many years - probably when he had retired.
One thing is certain - both will continue to speak their minds. Membership of the Lords may confer no power, but is likely to open doors for both of them that little bit quicker.
Higher and higher
As the unloved and unwanted tower blocks of the 1960s and 1970s tumble around us, it is ironic that high rise is undergoing something of a renaissance.
Around the world residential blocks are getting taller and taller and they are coming to London. Mayor Ken Livingstone is backing them and plans are now well advanced for the vast Elephant and Castle redevelopment in Southwark - where the council is having the almost inevitable delays in putting the public funding into place as part of the joint venture team with Southwark Land Regeneration and planning permission will be applied for next March.
But the new "bioclimatic" towers have little in common with their predecessors apart from height, as became apparent early in May at a seminar addressed by Ken Yeang of Malaysian architect Hamzah & Yeang, the guru of eco towers.
He is collaborating on the design of Elephant and Castle with HTA Architects, part of the masterplanning team and lead architect on the housing elements.
Yeang explained that urban growth and migration from rural areas means that the only alternative to moving outwards - which destroys arable land or vegetation -is to go up. The present built environment is mostly inorganic: by incorporating organic components and optimal use of passive systems a balanced ecosystem can be achieved. Part of the aim is to "recreate ground conditions in the sky", with open parks and squares and achieve "multiple circulation".
This involves greening the buildings horizontally and vertically, and opening the building up to the outside climate to allow natural ventilation and to attract local fauna and flora. The buildings have open links - natural bridges - to the surrounding environment to assist the process.
Orientation is used to achieve cooling, reduce heating costs or heat loss and ventilation: this can include the use of sunshading and wind-wing walls which help draw in air. Rainwater can be collected and used.
Achieving this balance requires considerable research and development, ranging from computer modelling to wind tunnel testing, and studies of the local environment to include plants which will thrive in the local environment.
The aim is always to start the design from a low energy standpoint, and to achieve a minimal impact on the surrounding environment.
Some of the buildings Yeang used for illustration - most of which are in the Far East - show what can be done. Most are stunning.
But one issue that concerned some in the audience was long-term management and maintenance. One reason residential towers failed in their original purpose, was because the public sector was not prepared to pay the real costs. For instance, Trellick Tower in west London was originally designed with concierge facilities, which were dropped because of the cost.
As it is, the brief for Elephant and Castle explicitly excluded social housing from the tower - in fact anywhere with more than six storeys. High rise, it seems, also means tenure separation.
Source
Building Homes
