SOUTHBANK UNDERCROFT Cultural & Heritage Assessment Report

SEPTEMBER 2014 QUOTES

“The skate park is the epicentre of UK skateboarding and is part of the cultural fabric of London. It helps to make London the great city it is” Boris Johnson, Mayor of London

“The Open Spaces Society considers that the Undercroft is of immense value as a public open space, in the heart of London” Kate Ashbrook, General Secretary, Open Spaces Society

“Retaining the Undercroft signals that, as a culture, we are still able to respect those relationships, even when they are different to our own” Dr David Webb, Lecturer in Town Planning, Newcastle University

“Preserve the integrity of Southbank, a sanctuary for skateboarders, and an important part of London history” Tony Hawk, World Champion Skateboarder

“Skateboarding use brings a unique visual and cultural interest to this part of the South Bank” Catherine Croft, Director, Twentieth Century Society

“The Undercroft – that symbol of edginess and counter-culture that the Southbank Centre is lucky enough to have embedded at its very core” Dr Matthew Barac, Research Leader for Architecture, London South Bank University

“The Undercroft has brought together people from various backgrounds, created a vibrant public space and added real value to the lives of many young people” Prime Minister Gordon Brown (2008)

“The issue of the Undercoft below the Queen Elizabeth Hall has proven to be a salient reminder of the need to understand not just the design of modern spaces but their historic and evolving use” Sara Crofts, Deputy Director, Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings

“It’s fun and friendly for tourists to come across and maybe for the average person to mingle with skateboarders on common ground” Mark Gonzales, Skateboarding Pioneer

“This is a culturally and historically important area of the South Bank” Kate Hoey, MP for Vauxhall

“For those people, it is not only a source of identity but also distinctiveness, social interaction, and coherence” Simon Hickman, Inspector of Historic Buildings and Areas, English Heritage

"The Undercroft is a free space for people to express themselves on a site of real significance to a global youth culture. It is part of what makes our capital city brilliant" Catherine Harrington, Director, The National Community Land Trust Network

“This site has built up organically from the skateboarders themselves, generations of skateboarders, going back decades” Ben Bradshaw, MP for Exeter

“The skate area already attracts marginalised young people; it already allows them to form diverse communities around a shared common interest” Dr Oliver Mould, Lecturer in Human Geography, University of London

“Because of their potency and endurance it is hard to question the validity of the skaters on the South Bank” Sharon Ament, Director, Museum of London

“In the case of the Undercroft, it is quite plain that future generations will have an interest in youth and street cultures” Dr William Gallois, Cultural Historian, Exeter University

“Not only is the Undercroft iconic, it is a fantastic urban example of public recreational space and how these spaces can help bring people together” Helen Griffiths, Chief Executive, Fields in Trust CONTENTS

AUTHORS Paul Richards Creative and Educational Director, UpRise Bonnie Kitching BSc MArch DipArch RIBA AABC, Architect Steffan Blayney BA (Hons) MSt (Oxon), Researcher, Long Live Southbank Contributor Louis Woodhead, Long Live Southbank

1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

2.0 INTRODUCTION 2.1 Description of the Existing Site 2.2 The Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room 2.3 Description of the Proposals for the Festival Wing Site

3.0 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 3.1 The Site in Context 3.2 Origins of Skateboarding

4.0 STATUTORY LEGISLATION & GUIDANCE

5.0 EXISTING DESIGNATIONS & POLICY SIGNIFICANCE

6.0 THE UNDERCROFT: ASSESSMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE 6.1 Statement of Significance – Evidential Value 6.2 Statement of Significance – Historic Value 6.3 Statement of Significance – Aesthetic Value 6.3 Statement of Significance – Community Value

7.0 THE UNDERCROFT: ACTIVITY 7.1 Recreational and Cultural Uses 7.2 Cardboard City 7.3 Attitudes of the Owners 7.4 Proposed and Unbuilt Developments

8.0 THE UNDERCROFT: LONG LIVE SOUTHBANK 8.1 Long Live Southbank 8.2 Statement of Need 8.3 Restoring the Original Undercroft 8.3 A Way Forward

9.0 STATEMENTS OF SUPPORT

APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1: LISTING DESCRIPTION APPENDIX 2: QUOTES FROM UNDERCROFT USERS APPENDIX 3: QUOTES FROM MEMBERS OF PUBLIC

Southbank Undercroft 1970s. Image © Brian Gittings Southbank Undercroft

1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Southbank Undercroft Cultural & Heritage Assesment Report is an in depth look at the importance of Southbank Undercroft; an exemplary manifestation of something that occupies the space where Cultural Heritage and Intangible Cultural Heritage merge, and then extends its branches far deeper into both areas, giving a contemporary understanding of how we view and interpret culture in an ever-changing world.

It illustrates the evolution and adaptability of a community and physical expression which is inextricably linked to the physical environment in which it resides; a ‘found space’ on the ground level of the Queen Elizabeth Hall brutalist building constructed on the South Bank of the Thames between Waterloo Bridge and Hungerford Bridge in 1968.

Southbank Undercroft is distinctively different from all other creative practices in the Southbank Centre complex of buildings which are, in one way or another, formalised, programmed, structured with routine, granted permission, and reliant upon commission, finance and audience. The very organic nature by which the culture and community came into existence, and continued to evolve and grow, despite changes in the management and physicality of the buildings it is situated in, sets a precedent and makes it a solitary and unique case without counterpart.

The intention of this report is to provide a deeper insight into the historical, cultural and emotional significance which resonate both within and beyond the specific site. It also looks at ensuring a fully-formed understanding of what honest and integral preservation means, in order to create the basis and framework by which the culture is allowed to continue to evolve by its own direction, free from external influence, alteration and direction. The campaign group, emanating from and initiated by the Undercroft community, unites skateboarders, locals and supporters from around the world who are dedicated in protecting the Southbank Undercroft in its current form.

As the historical resident community, existing for over 40 years, users of the Undercroft are keen to actively engage as a community group and have a voice and be involved with the key decisions about the spaces immediate and long-term future. For the past 17 months thousands of members of the community, led by skateboarders, have actively engaged in the campaign to protect the space and over 150,000 people have signed up to a statement of preservation. Statements of support for preservation of the tangible physical and architectural space as well as the organic cultural intangible heritage have come from a large number of significant contributors from across the areas of architecture, planning, academia, politics, culture and the arts.

There is a compelling argument for the sympathetic restoration of the complete Undercroft as per the original design. Particularly when considering it also realises the original architects’ intended vision and plan. This sets a president for an arts centre which can work in synergy with the creative and cultural energy that makes the space what it is, and provides a leading example of what can be achieved by considered community collaboration.

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2.0 INTRODUCTION

This Heritage Assessment has been prepared in order to support the preservation, in its current form, of Southbank Undercroft (hereafter, ‘the Undercroft’). The Undercroft is situated in the supporting structures beneath the Queen Elizabeth Hall, which form part of the Southbank Centre complex, on the South Bank Estate in the London Borough of Lambeth, between Waterloo Bridge and Hungerford Bridge.

In the first instance, research and physical analysis has been undertaken of the Undercroft space as the supporting structure of the overall building to establish the significance of the space in terms of evidential, historical, aesthetic and communal quality, this baseline information and assessment is used to prepare a series of design parameters which fully consider the heritage significance of the site. This report has been written to information and policies detailed in The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and other relevant guidelines.

The aim of the report is to give an overview of the history of the site and its uses, to show how they have developed over time and to give a statement of significance to indicate why the building is important in heritage terms. The report gives an overview of the significance in terms of cultural value, artistic value, recreational value, community value, social value, health and well-being.

2.1 Description of the Existing Site

Southbank Centre comprises the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall (located above the Undercroft) and the Purcell Room, and the Hayward Gallery. Beyond the Southbank Centre itself, the South Bank area is regarded as a cultural quarter and comprising the independently managed National Theatre, British Film Institute (National Film Theatre 1951-2007) and the BFI IMAX cinema.

Graphical representations of Southbank Centre site. Images from public domain

2.1.1 Ownership and Management

In 1985 when the abolition of the Greater London Council (GLC) was announced, the Arts Council took over responsibility for the South Bank Centre and the then Deputy Secretary-General, Richard Pulford began work setting up the South Bank Board. 1 year later the South Bank Board took over

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control of the concert halls from the GLC, as a constituent part of the Arts Council. The South Bank Board took over the running of the Hayward Gallery, National Touring Exhibitions and the Arts Council Collection from the Arts Council in April 1987, becoming an independent arts organisation and one of the "big five" flagship arts companies alongside the Royal National Theatre, Royal Opera House, Royal Shakespeare Company and English National Opera.

View of South Bank area. Image from public domain

2.2 The Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room

The Queen Elizabeth Hall has over 900 seats and the Purcell Room in the same building has 360 seats. The concert hall is an excellent example of brutalist architecture with its powerful forms and austere materials. The designers’ intention was to demonstrate the separate elements of the building, in order to avoid competing with the scale and presence of the Royal Festival Hall of 2500 capacity. The building tests form and demonstrates the capabilities of concrete, which was the forerunning technology at the time.

2.2.1 The Undercroft

The Undercroft is one of three architectural elements, the other two being the Foyer and the Auditorium. Built by Higgs and Hill, the construction is an excellent example of a twentieth century post war public building. It used minimal decoration and was designed to allow circulation at multiple levels around the building. The focus was primarily on the internal spaces, intimate scale and subtle use of materials with a terrace overlooking Queen’s Walk. There is limited fenestration,

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except for a deeply inset sweep along the river frontage of the foyer building. The original arrangements provide circulation above and below the foyer (which is now restricted in access, although parts of roof terrace have been opened periodically in 2011 and 2014), right around the sides and rear of the two auditoriums and also a bridge link to The Hayward Gallery.

Shuttering

The Undercroft topography consists of flat spaces at different height levels with angled banks and steps, and features distinctive octagonal ‘mushroom’ support columns throughout the space. Made of raw concrete, the pillars, walls and roofs were created using the technique of shuttering. The shuttering process used wooden planks to create temporary containment structures which were then filled with setting concrete to secure the forms in place. Once the concrete had set and the temporary structures removed, the finished result create forms and features which retain the markings and texture of the wood it was held within.

The majority of the pillars which were part of the original walkway which extended from the Queen Elizabeth Hall to Hungerford Bridge, on the riverside frontage of the Royal Festival Hall, are now enclosed within retail spaces and no longer visible as part of the intended building design.

2.2.2 The Foyer

The V shaped foyer is situated at the first floor level and is supported on octagonal reinforced concrete columns, with the Undercroft below. The arms of the V shape link to the auditorium by

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cast concrete tubes. The provision of only two entrances causes congestion and slow exit for audiences, this problem is compounded by all the foyer facilities located on a single level. There is a descent required to the auditorium and steps are required up the Purcell Room. The foyer is irregular in shape to accommodate the change in angle between the lines of Waterloo Bridge and the north east of the Royal Festival Hall.

QEH and Undercroft 1970s. © Davie Wilson QEH and Undercroft 2000s. © N Chadwick

A refurbishment of the foyer was undertaken in 2006, which enhanced original features of the bar and glazed central void area where the use of concrete, glass and marble is demonstrated to good effect.

The main entrance to the foyer is from walkway level near the north end of the terrace of the Royal Festival Hall. In later years, colour has been introduced into this space with poster boxes, a name board, roof and wall panels, painted external stairs and external light fittings. The entrance originally would have been minimal in the form of a horizontal slit in a concrete structure with six pairs of aluminium doors.

A smaller entrance is provided at ground level, intended for visitors by car (it was possible for traffic to approach before construction of the Museum of the Moving Image in the 1980s) or coming from the car park under The Hayward. This entrance also appears to have led to the Undercroft but access is now blocked off. An internal stair leads to the foyer level from this lower entrance, past the original box office area. There are large amounts of underutilised space on the walkways and ground floor circulation. The provision of only an external staircase to the roof terrace is restrictive.

The Hayward Gallery roof terrace and bridge have recently been reopened, with the creation of an external gallery, roof garden and café in partnership with the Eden Project in Cornwall. This is the most interesting pedestrian circulation space and is reached by the external concrete staircase at the west corner on Queen’s Walk near to Festival Pier, which also leads to the lower level and the route to Festival Square.

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Original design plan featuring elevated walkway and undercroft as viewed from Westminster

Image of the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Hayward Gallery featuring original public walkways

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Main Entrance to Queen Elizabeth Hall. © Morley von Sternberg

There is a crude disabled ramp, of block and brick that has been added to the walkway between the Queen Elizabeth Hall entrance and The Hayward Gallery.

2.2.3 The Auditorium

The Queen Elizabeth Hall auditorium is a separate building from the foyer, the stage is parallel to Waterloo Bridge and the seating cantilevered towards the foyer, supported by a huge column with the emergency stairs at the rear. The North West façade by Waterloo Bridge is suffering from pollution and rain water, however, its form is a very good example of the massive concrete structures of the 1960s British Brutalist architecture. There is a raised area facing Waterloo Bridge which may have been intended for outdoor performances.

A concrete air conditioning duct in located along the auditorium roof level towards the Thames. There is a walkway below that is on the roof of a plant room. Ventilation is provided from a plant room on the roof of the Purcell Room through a massive concrete duct leading to the Queen Elizabeth Hall roof.

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2.3 Royal Festival Hall

The Royal Festival Hall project was led by London County Council’s chief architect, Robert Matthew, with construction starting in 1948. After taking 18 months to complete, the building was opened in 1951. It is a Grade I listed building, the first post-war building to become protected (in 1981).

Exterior Image of the Royal Festival Hall

2.4 Proposals for the Festival Wing Site

On 6 March 2013 Southbank Centre announced the Festival Wing scheme and plans in a press release titled ‘Southbank Centre Unveils Plans To Transform Festival Wing And Create World-Class Cultural Centre In London.’

The original Festival Wing Plan was a £120m proposal, developed internally since 2011, if not earlier, and presented to the public in March 2013, to double the size of Southbank Centre. Much of the existing arts centre was to undergo extensive refurbishment, including the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, Hayward Gallery and the outdoor terraces. The proposals, by architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, also included 3 major new builds. A glazed foyer space was planned between the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room. On top of this was planned a ‘floating’ glass box, designed as rehearsal space for orchestras and to play host to corporate events. A three story liner building, designed to run parallel to Waterloo Bridge was also planned for both commercial, artistic and educational uses. The plan also included the infilling of the Southbank Undercroft, the historic home of skateboarding and street arts in the UK, and the replacement of this with coffee shops and restaurants.

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3.0 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

3.1 The Site in Context1

The Undercroft is situated within the South Bank Estate, at the centre of the capital and at the heart of arguably the nation’s most important cultural destination. This overview history is designed to place the Undercroft’s significance in its proper historical context.

Early History: Lambeth Marsh

The area now known as the South Bank was for several centuries little more than undeveloped, rural marshland. At the northern tip of the ancient parish of Lambeth, the legacy of ‘Lambeth Marshe’, first recorded in medieval taxation records of the fourteenth century, can still be seen today in the names of ‘Upper’ and ‘Lower Marsh’ streets, at the back of Waterloo Station. Until the eighteenth century, the south side of the Thames, in contrast to the expanding city across the water and technically a part of Sussex, remained mostly undeveloped countryside, with London Bridge the only permanent river-crossing until 1750.

In the sixteenth century, Lambeth Marsh, free from the restrictive laws and taxes of Westminster and the City, became a popular entertainment destination for Londoners, with a number of theatres – including Shakespeare’s Globe at Bankside –bear-baiting arenas appearing along the river. Samuel Pepys’ diaries recall seventeenth-century Lambeth as a favourite late-night drinking spot. In 1718 a house called Belvidere was opened to the public by Charles Bascom as part of several public pleasure gardens which were opened along the South Bank in the eighteenth century. In 1785 water works were established on the southern part of the garden.

Industrial South Bank

By the mid-eighteenth century, much of the marsh had been drained, and transport links with the north bank were improved by new bridges from Westminster and Blackfriars, with the first Waterloo Bridge completed in 1817. The onset of the industrial revolution saw the South Bank become the location of some of London’s more unsightly or malodorous industries – at a safe distance from the City. Vinegar distilleries, tallow factories and Lambeth Waterworks all appeared along the river, before the iconic Shot Tower and Lambeth Lead Works and the Lion Brewery were erected in 1826 and 1836-7 respectively. The arrival of the railway at Waterloo Station in 1848, linked by Hungerford Bridge to the new Charing Cross Station in 1864, saw the South Bank becoming increasingly integrated with Central London.

1 Partly adapted from S. Blayney, ‘The History of the Southbank Site’, in E. Parnavelas (ed.) Long Live Southbank (London: Long Live Southbank, forthcoming 2014)

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The twentieth century saw the completion of County Hall (opened in 1922 and now a Grade-II* listed building) built to house the London County Council, facing the Houses of Parliament at the south end of Westminster Bridge. Up until the Second World War, however, the South Bank would remain predominantly an industrial wilderness, all but cut off from the social and cultural life of its northern counterpart.

The South Bank, Hungerford Bridge and Charing Cross 1921. Plan of the Lion Brewery Image ref: EPW006152 Ref: British History Online

The area was heavily affected by German bombing during the Blitz, and when J.H. Forshaw and Patrick Abercrombie came to drawing up the County of London Plan for the post-war reconstruction of London in 1943, they described an area that was ‘depressing,’ ‘semi-derelict,’ and ‘lacking any sense of that dignity and order appropriate to its location at the centre of London.’

1951: The Festival of Britain

In 1948 it was decided that the South Bank would play host to the flagship exhibition of the Festival of Britain, being planned to celebrate both the centenary of the 1851 Great Exhibition and the beginning of a new post-war era. The wharves and warehouses that had defined the industrial character of the site were cleared in 1949, along with the Lion Brewery and a number of Georgian residential buildings, in order to make room for the Exhibition and the Royal Festival Hall building. The outlook of the Festival was self-consciously modern, with the South Bank Exhibition housed in a number of mostly temporary halls and pavilions showcasing the latest in British design. Among the most memorable structures on display were the huge ‘Dome of Discovery’ pavilion - the largest aluminium structure erected to that date and largest dome that had ever been built – and the 300ft

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‘Skylon’ sculpture, a futuristic ‘cigar-shaped’ steel spire, suspended in an upright position by a network of cables and appearing to hover above the ground.

Shot Tower, Lion Brewery, Hungerford Bridge 1948. © A London Inheritance

Undoubtedly the centrepiece of the Exhibition, and its lasting legacy on the South Bank, was the brand new Royal Festival Hall, built between 1948 and 1951. The bombing of the Queen’s Hall in 1941 had deprived London of its principal concert hall, and the context of the Festival was seen by the LCC as an opportunity to provide a permanent replacement. Designed by Robert Matthew and Leslie Martin, the Festival Hall (now a Grade-I listed building) was the first major public building in Britain to be built in the modernist style.

Image of the Festival of Britain

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Despite the popularity of the Festival, the new Conservative government elected in October 1951 decided against extending the life of the temporary exhibits on the South Bank. The entire site was cleared, with many of the most striking exhibits – including the Dome of Discovery and Skylon – demolished and sold for scrap. Among the survivors were the Telecinema (reopened as the National Film Theatre in 1952 before moving to its current site under Waterloo Bridge) and the Festival’s Riverside Restaurant, as well as the Festival Hall.

Aerial Photograph of the Festival of Britain Plan of the Festival of Britain

The 1960s and 1970s

With demolition work completed by 1952, the Festival site remained empty for a number of years. In 1961, after years of protracted negotiations with the LCC, the Shell oil company began the construction of a new office complex, facing the river from Belvedere Road. The new Shell Centre comprised a collection buildings either side of Hungerford Bridge and was dominated by a large tower block, at the time of its completion in 1963 the tallest storied building in Britain and the largest office building, by floor space, in the whole of Europe.

By the time the Shell Centre was erected, plans were already underway for a major transformation of the South Bank site. In the rush to complete the Festival Hall in time for the Festival, plans for a second smaller concert hall originally included in the architects’ brief had been abandoned due to constraints of space and time in the build-up to the Festival. In 1955, the LCC decided that they would indeed add a second concert hall, as well as an art gallery, on the Festival site. The first drawings, by lead architect Norman Engleback, were submitted in 1957, but it was not until 1961 that the plans, which now also included an additional smaller recital room, were completed. The nineteenth-century Shot Tower was finally demolished to make way for the new buildings, while

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work also began on extending and renovating the Festival Hall. In 1963, construction finally began on what would eventually be named the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery.

The new buildings were designed in an uncompromisingly Brutalist style, displaying exposed concrete panels, with few windows and minimal decoration. Reflecting the contemporary preference for the separation of vehicular and pedestrian traffic, the new buildings were built on multiple levels, with the halls and gallery raised above the ground and linked – to each other and to a newly-refurbished Festival Hall – by elevated walkways. The stark angular designs were originally opposed by Hubert Bennett, replacing Leslie Martin as the LCC’s chief architect in 1956, who wanted to see the new buildings conform to the smooth lines of the Festival Hall. However, the threat of mass-resignation by Engleback and his team, many of whom would go on to join the radical Archigram collective, meant that the new buildings would remain – in their own way like the Festival structures that had preceded them – a bold and principled statement of the latest in architectural modernism.

The new buildings ahead of their 1967 opening. © London Metropolitan Archives

The Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room opened in March 1967, with the Hayward opening in the summer of the following year. In 1976, the ensemble was complemented by the new National

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Theatre on other side of Waterloo Bridge, completing the impressive collection of mid-twentieth- century architecture on the South Bank. Jubilee Gardens opened on the former Dome of Discovery site in 1977.

The 1980s and 1990s

In 1983 the Greater London Council introduces the 'open foyer' policy. The foyers of the Royal Festival Hall were then opened to the public all throughout the day, seven days a week. The policy included the development and provision of free activities including exhibitions, lunchtime concerts and evening performances. Previously, the upper levels of the hall remained closed to the public until a few hours before concert performances.

The 1980s and 1990s saw a number of large-scale development proposals for the South Bank fall by the wayside (see below). It was not until the turn of the millennium that any major changes took place. 1999 saw the arrival of the London IMAX, boasting the largest cinema screen in Europe, on the site of the former ‘Bullring’ roundabout at the end of Waterloo Bridge.

The London Eye was erected in 1999, on the river next to Jubilee Gardens, and opened to the public in March 2000, and has since become the most popular paid tourist attraction in Britain, with over 3.5 million visitors annually.

In May 2000, the Tate Modern gallery opened a little further along the river in the former Bankside Power Station, adding – along with the recently reconstructed Globe Theatre (1997) – to the cultural significance of the South Bank to the capital and to the nation as a whole.

The new Millennium Bridge was permanently opened in 2002 (after a false start in 2000), connecting the South Bank to the City of London.

In the summer of 2005, the Festival Hall closed for a major programme of refurbishment, reopening two years later along with a new office building for the Southbank Centre on the ‘Festival Terrace’ between the Hall and the railway bridge, as well as new shops and restaurants at the front of the hall facing onto the river. A multi-million pound redevelopment of Jubilee Gardens was completed in May 2012.

3.2 Origins of Skateboarding

Skateboarding originated in California in the late 1940s and early 1950s, created as a way for surfers to keep occupied during times when the waves were flat. Surfers on the West Coast often found themselves waiting for days or weeks for suitable waves, leading to the idea of recreating the act of surfing on land. Initial skateboards were fabricated from materials and parts which were

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already available, such as wooden shapes cut from tables and doors with the wheels of roller-skates attached underneath. When emptied of water, swimming pools designed with curved surfaces were the initial surfaces found closest to replicate the shape and form of a barrelling wave. This soon followed with the search to find similar surfaces in architecture, street objects and in the urban landscape.

Some surf manufactures in the USA began to manufacture purpose-built boards in the 1960s, but these often had hard clay wheels. It was not until 1972, with the invention of polyurethane wheels, allowing for greater durability and manoeuvrability, that skateboarding began to enjoy widespread popularity on both sides of the Atlantic.

3.2.1 Skateboarding in London and the UK

Skateboarding was practiced by a select group of people during the early 1970s, but it was the summer of 1976 which saw the beginning of the first major craze in the UK. The South Bank was one of a number of venues in London where large numbers of young people would congregate to skateboard, with Greenwich Park and Kensington Gardens Broadwalk being examples of other popular sites. Very quickly, however, the South Bank, and the Undercroft in particular, became the primary London skateboarding spot, and the symbolic home of skateboarding in the UK as a whole.

While a number of local authorities put measures in place to ban or deter skateboarding (including at Kensington Gardens), the Greater London Council reported that it had made available six areas in public parks and open spaces as ‘designated for casual skateboarding’, the most popular of which was at the Undercroft on the South Bank. ‘The latter has been inundated with skateboarders at fine weekends,’ reported the Council, ‘with numbers ranging up to 1,000. The area under the Queen Elizabeth Hall has been barriered off and skateboard use is now only permitted in this area.’2

Waterloo Railway Station to South Bank route 1970s

2 GLC, ‘Skateboarding’, London Topics 24 (February 1978), pp. 4, 6

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3.2.2 Skateboarding on London’s South Bank

Since Skateboarding culture grew rapidly in the 1970s, it has been a fixture on the South Bank of the Thames. Many skateboarders in London see this area as its ‘spiritual home’. Whilst Southbank is considered the most important spot in this area, a number of others are also worthy of mention and highlight the cultural connection between skating and the area.

Increasingly from the 1980s, other areas along the South Bank became regular skate spots, including ‘Mellow Banks’ beneath Hungerford Bridge, and the concourses surrounding the Shell Centre, although the Undercroft remained the focal point of the area. The areas of Waterloo and the South Bank have been skated for over 40 years and the route from Waterloo Railway Station to the South Bank is a well-used route, with hundreds of skateboarders now using it every week.

Southbank Undercrofts

Unlike skateparks which are designed and built with skate tricks in mind, street spots are buildings, architecture and objects which are interpreted by skateboarders to exercise their craft.

Original Undercroft beneath Royal Festival Hall

The unused Undercoft spaces built in 1968 were first populated by skaters in 1973 when they found the topography and layout to be ideal for practicing and developing tricks. All the Undercoft flat and gradient spaces beneath the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Royal Festival Hall were utilised, as well as the surrounding slopes, banks, stairs and walls.

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South Bank Undercroft freestyle jam circa 1990

The Southbank Undercroft spaces have been skated for over 40 years making it the oldest continually skated space in the world. Since skateboard events started at the Undercroft in 1976, including the UK Slalom Championships, there have been hundreds of ‘Jams’ and ‘Demos’ where professional skateboarders and BMX riders from around the world have skated at Southbank Undercroft as part of their world tour. These include teams from renowned skate companies such as; Plan B, Chocolate, Cliché, Girl, Emerica, Zero. Blueprint, Nike, HUF, Vans, Thrasher, REAL, and BMX companies such as Curb Dogs and BSD.

Slalom skateboarding at Southbank Undercroft 1970s 2014. © Simone Sarchi

These free events are part of skateboarding culture to show skills and inspire and encourage the next generations of skaters. They are also an opportunity for young skaters and everyday skaters to

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skate together alongside professionals - something not seen in any other sport activity. Skaters see themselves in terms of generations with approximately 10 years covering each generation. The 5th generation are the young people skating at the Undercroft today with the toddlers being the 6th.

The following transcriptions exploring the theme of Southbank Undercroft generations is taken from the 2005 film Rollin’ Through The Decades and features skaters from the 80s and 90s;

Chris Linford: In the 70s it was just a place to skate but in the 80s we became the South Bank Guys.

Floyd Reid: I remember guys saying to me god this place called South Bank, get down there. It was just like there’s big banks, small banks and it was free to skate, no pads, no security, no nothing and I was one of the new kids just getting in to that, knocked around by the older guys.

Dan Brown: The thing about South bank it was like the meeting point from all over England for our people just to catch up on what’s going on with Skateboarding.

Yogi Practor: Everyone kind of had their local spots but South Bank kind of brought it all together and it brought together this whole mix of skaters. You know.

Bod Boyle: I mean South Bank has always has its crew.

Chris Linford: I think people like Jeremy Henderson and people like that would call me second generation, as they started a few years earlier, they established South Bank for what it was.

Dobie: You'd see Henderson, Sinclair and all that lot and after that the next generation would come along.

Dan Adams: The crews kind of mutated every few years. People come in, the young kids come they get older, there has always been that crew, if you could take a photograph every 30 days of that corner spot, by the big dish there, you'd get the most amazing time frame motion of 30 years, people in London skateboarding.

Bod Boyle: Whoever built South Bank, it’s almost like they had a crystal ball for what each generation of skateboarders would want to ride. It seemed like every generation of skateboarders, I call a generation of skate boarders ten years. You know every ten years its evolved with skateboarding, maybe it’s helped skateboarding evolve, I don't know.

Mike McCart: Certainly the architects of 1967 created a perfect skateboard area, its dry, it’s lit and it’s a good challenge for people to learn their tricks.

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Southbank Centre

The Southbank Centre is renowned in skateboarding as having numerous locations around the site which have been skated in many different ways over the decades, as skateboarding abilities and possibilities evolved.

Terraces with Lucien Clarke. Image © Henry Kingsford Stairs. Image © Sam Ashley

At present Southbank Centre security guards stop skateboarders from using any other part of the architecture which feature as part of the complex of buildings other than the Undercroft area. However, there have been numerous successful tricks which are well known in the skate word. Many of these have featured on the front cover of magazines.

©Andrew Horsley Winstan Whitter. © Andy Simmons Neil Smith. © Sam Ashley

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Shell Centre

Shell Centre comprises of a collection of buildings constructed in 1961 which occupy part of the area cleared for the 1951 Festival of Britain.

The naming of the Shell Centre buildings perpetuated the split of the Festival site into distinct ‘Upstream’ and ‘Downstream’ areas, separated by the railway viaduct approach to Hungerford Bridge. The public realm of the Upstream Building has been steadily degraded over the years, with the generous space between the columns of the entrance from York Road enclosed to enlarge the foyers.

The open square in the middle of the complex, with its abundance of flat spaces and stair sets, was used extensively by skateboarders throughout the 1980s until the 2000s when anti-skating measures and textured paving were put in place to deter rough sleepers and skateboarders.

© Jenna Selby Shell Centre square 2004. © Old School Paul © Winstan Whitter

Skate City (Southwark)

Skate City was a three acre site opened in 1977 as the first large commercial skateboard park in London. Built in six weeks at a cost of £100,000, it was situated on derelict ground on the South Bank, between Tooley Street, London Bridge and HMS Belfast.

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Skate City by HMS Belfast. © REXSCANPIX

The park consisted of a freestyle area, a 50 metre slalom run, a half pipe and several bowls. During its time it was the UK's premier skatepark and held the Nationwide Championships.

Hungerford Bridge

Built in the late 1800s, Hungerford Bridge combines a railway bridge and footbridges which have gone through a number of design and structural changes. The support structure on the South Bank was a skate spot named Mellow Banks (more commonly referred to as ‘Bird Shit Banks’), and was used by skaters until 2004, when Southbank Centre removed the banked edges.

Hungerford Bridge Mellow Banks. Illustration © Andy Smoke Hungerford Bridge 2014

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Hungerford Bridge was used more of a skate route from Shell Centre to Southbank as the space was restricted by noise from the overhead train lines and railway maintenance work. Skating ceased once Southbank Centre had removed the banked edges and steps to stop skateboarding in the area. Skateboarder Michael Stride recalled of Hungerford Bridge; ‘We often skated over the footbridge from Embankment en route to the Undercroft, but never once did we stop. The Hungerford Bridge, 'Bird Shit' banks area was only ever a small 'spot', not a destination in itself. Various spots around Waterloo were used in various ways and you can see the anti-skate street furniture blocks in many places.’

Hungerford Bridge is more famously known now for the ‘Skateboard Graveyard’ on its downstream foundation platform closest to the South Bank. The bridge is part of the route from the Undercroft space to the UK’s oldest skate shop, Slam City Skates, in Covent Garden and some skaters started throwing their broken boards on the flat surface of the structure, which is only accessible by river, since around 2007.

Hungerford Bridge Skateboard Graveyard 2013. © Olaf Olgiati

Whites Grounds

Whites Grounds is a plaza style skatepark situated under a railway arch close to London Bridge, which was initiated and financed by Southwark Council, and opened in April 2007. The skatepark was created in response to high levels of demand for skateboarding facilities in the area. However, the design failed to resonate with many skateboarders and the gated and fenced enclosure and frequent closures and restrictive opening times led to low levels of usage. A three phase proposal to regenerate the arches into a new youth facility were scheduled for the summer of 2009, but

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never completed. Whites Grounds is still often closed and unlike other skateparks, never generated a local or resident community of skaters and is doesn’t feature on the skateboarder map of London.

House of Vans

The House of Vans in London is an indoor skatepark opened in August 2014 which is located in the tunnels below Waterloo railway station and adjacent to the Leak Street graffiti tunnel. The space was designed and built by Marc Churchill and 1Skateparks and the 30,000 square foot site combines music, cinema and artwork areas along with skateboard areas which feature a skater built and designed concrete bowl, mini ramp and street course. It is anticipated that the addition of the skatepark will bring another surge of skateboarders to the SE1 area and London’s Southbank, and complement and continue the tradition of skateboarding in the area.

3.2.3 Skate-stoppers and Anti-skating Devises and Architecture

Often referred to as ‘hostile architecture’, anti-skateboarding devices and architecture first came to surface in the 1990s in urban design as a method of public-space management. Often created at the design concept stage, and deployed by private corporations and local authorities, the aim is to use design features and studs and stoppers to reshape individual and group behavior and discourage skateboarders from using a particular public or semi-public space.

Lorraine Gamman, professor of design at Central St Martins, commented that ‘Spikes are part of an outdated fortress aesthetic not welcome in communities, where there is recognition that urban design needs to be inclusive.’3 After several decades of anti-skating designs and devices, there is a growing movement towards developing more socially-inclusive and economical building designs and structures using durable materials which can accommodate skateboarding.

Anti-skateboarding devices and architecture 2013. Images © Marc Vallée

3 The Guardian, Anti-homeless spikes are part of a wider phenomenon of 'hostile architecture’ (13 June 2014) http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/jun/13/anti-homeless-spikes-hostile-architecture

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4.0 STATUTORY LEGISLATION AND GUIDANCE

4.1 National Planning Policy Framework

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), published on March 27th 2012, is the overarching planning policy document for England. Within Section 12: conservation and enhancing the historic environment are the government’s policies for the protection of heritage. The policies advise a holistic approach to planning and development, where all significant elements which make up the historic environment are termed ‘heritage assets’. A heritage asset is: ‘A building, monument, site, place, area or landscape identified as having a degree of significance meriting consideration in planning decisions, because of its heritage interest.‘

These consist of designated assets (such as listed buildings or conservation areas) non-designated assets (such as locally listed buildings) or any other features which are considered to be of heritage value. The policies within the document emphasise the need for assessing the significance of heritage assets and their setting in order to fully understand the historic environment and inform suitable design proposals for change to significant buildings.

4.2 The London Plan

The London Plan is the overall strategic plan for London, and it sets out a fully integrated economic, environmental, transport and social framework for the development of the capital to 2031. It forms part of the development plan for Greater London. London boroughs’ local plans need to be in general conformity with the London Plan, and its policies guide decisions on planning applications by councils and the Mayor.

The current London Plan was published in 2011 and amended by the Revised Early Minor Alterations in October 2013.

On 15 January 2014, the Mayor published Draft Further Alterations to the London Plan (FALP) for a twelve-week period of public consultation.

In the Foreword to the London Plan, the Mayor sets out his vision for London as the best big city in the world.

London must also be among the best cities in the world to live, whatever your age or background…The local and distinctive have to be treasured. Our neighbourhoods must be

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places where people feel safe and are proud to belong…Fundamentally, we must pay attention to quality as well as quantity, and protect the things that make London London.4

Policy 7.8 relates to heritage assets and states that ‘Development should identify, value, conserve, restore, re-use and incorporate heritage assets, where appropriate […] Development affecting heritage assets and their settings should conserve their significance, by being sympathetic to their form, scale, materials and architectural detail.’5

4.3 Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG)

As part of the London Plan 2011 Implementation Framework, the Mayor’s ‘Shaping Neighbourhoods: Character and Context’6 sets out recommendations for planning and development. The foreword by the Mayor states:

It explains the fundamental importance of getting an understanding of a place before taking decisions on its development – how it has come to be the way it is; the things about it that people who live, work, visit or just travel through value or want to see changed; the economic, social and other forces driving change […] its about an approach to encouraging development that changes what needs changing and makes a contribution to London’s overall success – but which also protects the things that are essential to an area’s individual character and perhaps makes the best of previously hidden strengths […] It emphasises the importance of engaging with communities and others with an interest or something to contribute from the earliest stages. Following this structure approach should help ensure quicker and better-informed planning decisions and the kind of high quality buildings and urban realm that will be valued by local residents and users alike.

Chapter 3 of the Policy Context (2014) states:

3.11 People create places. How places have evolved, their function and the activities they support (both past and present) are pivotal to any understanding of the character of a place. This involves having an understanding of the activity, use and movement within and through a place and its connections and linkages to its surroundings.

4 Greater London Authority, The London Plan: Spatial Development Strategy for Greater London [RTF Version] (2011), p. 6 5 Ibid., p. 224 6 Greater London Authority, Supplementary Planning Guidance: Shaping Neighbourhoods: Character and Context [https://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/planning/publications/shaping-neighbourhoods-character- and-context]

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4.4 Lambeth Local Plan

The current Local Plan is made up of the Core Strategy (2011) and the borough’s saved Unitary Development Plan (UDP) policies, and is designed to co-operate with the policies set out in the London Plan.

Since April 2012, Lambeth Council has been developing a new Local Plan. On 28 March 2014, the Lambeth Local Plan Proposed Submission was submitted for independent examination. It is anticipated that the examination will take approximately six months. The council aims to adopt the Lambeth Local Plan by early 2015 and it sets out the spatial strategy for the borough until 2030.

It is a strategic objective of the Local Plan to ‘Create and sustain distinctive local places through excellent design of buildings and the public realm, valuing heritage, identity, cultural assets, the River Thames and the natural environment’ as well as to ‘Maintain and develop Lambeth’s strength in arts and culture and the role of the South Bank as one of London’s leading international cultural and tourist destinations.’7

4.5 Lambeth Local Development Framework - Core Strategy

Strategic Policy S1 of Lambeth’s LDF Core Strategy8 refers to Delivering the Vision and Objectives and requires ‘Encouraging and supporting sustainable development that enhances the local distinctiveness of neighbourhoods’, ‘Safeguarding and improving essential physical, green and social infrastructure’, ‘Safeguarding and improving community premises in order to meet identified demand for community meeting spaces, including provision for faith groups, and seeking the development of new facilities where there are identified gaps in provision’ and ‘Helping to promote and maintain mixed, balanced and diverse communities within neighbourhood.’

4.1 Measures to achieve local distinctiveness and local regeneration objectives are set out in Section 5 – Places and Neighbourhoods.

4.3 […] Social infrastructure includes facilities for the delivery of essential services including […] health and social care; […] children’s play; primary, secondary, further and higher education; youth services; culture and sport […] It also includes community meeting spaces and facilities to meet the needs of faith groups and community groups. Green infrastructure includes open space and nature conservation and other green areas.

7 London Borough of Lambeth, Lambeth Local Plan: Proposed Submission (2013), p. 34 8 Lambeth LDF Core Strategy – Section 4 - Strategic Policies, p. 39-56

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Strategic Policy S5 of Lambeth’s LDF Core Strategy refers to Open Space and requires the ‘Protecting and maintaining existing open spaces and their function’ and ‘Improving the quality of, and access to, existing open space, including the range of facilities available and its bio-diversity and nature conservation value and heritage value, through various means including the implementation of the Lambeth Open Spaces Strategy. Where appropriate in major developments, financial contributions will be sought towards improvements in the quality of, and access to, open space in the borough.’ stating:

4.29 Existing open space includes Metropolitan Open Land, Common Land, historic parks and gardens, district and local parks, nature conservation areas, play areas and adventure playgrounds, outdoor sports facilities, allotments, cemeteries and burial space, amenity land within housing estates, communal squares and gardens, front and back gardens and the River Thames Foreshore and Thames Path in accordance with London Plan policy.

Strategic Policy S9 of Lambeth’s LDF Core Strategy refers to the Quality of the Built Environment and covers the Council’s overarching general policies relating to the Townscape and Built Environment stating:

(a) The Council will improve and maintain the quality of the built environment and its liveability, in order to sustain stable communities {…} particularly where this contributes to local distinctiveness, enhances the existing built environment and heritage, reflects the cultural diversity of the borough and creates new high quality areas of public realm. (b) Safeguarding and promoting improvements to the borough’s heritage assets including appropriate uses and improvements to listed buildings, maintaining a local list of heritage assets, carrying out conservation area character appraisals and management plans, and making appropriate provision for assets of archaeological value.

4.42 National planning policy sets out the requirements for the protection and enhancement of listed buildings, archaeological heritage and the character and appearance of conservation areas.

Saved Policy 33 Building Scale and Design states that ‘all development should be of a high quality design and contribute positively to its surrounding area’. The policy specifies that for development affecting conservation areas or listed buildings (or their setting), protecting or enhancing their character and appearance takes precedence.

4.6 Waterloo Opportunity Area Planning Framework

The Waterloo OAPF reiterates a previous iteration of the GLA’s Cultural Strategy (from 2004) to achieve a world class cultural quarter and ensure that the residents of Lambeth enjoy the benefits of the culture-led regeneration of the area.

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4.7 Heritage Guidance

This report will follow the guidance for conservation and heritage assets set out by English Heritage in the following documents.

Conservation Principles, Policies and Guidance for the Sustainable Management of the Historic Environment (2008)

Conversation Principles defines significance as ‘the sum of the cultural and natural heritage of a place’. A comprehensive framework for the sustainable management of the historic environment is provided under six guiding principles:

Principle 1: The historic environment is a shared resource Principle 2: Everyone should be able to participate in sustaining the historic environment Principle 3: Understanding the significance of places is vital Principle 4: Significant places should be managed to sustain their values Principle 5: Decisions about change must be reasonable, transparent and consistent Principle 6: Documenting and learning from decisions is essential9

Conservation is defined under Principle 4.2 as ‘the process of managing change to a significant place in its setting in ways that will best sustain its heritage values, while recognising opportunities to reveal or reinforce those values for present and future generations.’10

Heritage values are arranged in four groups, which may be attached to places. These are:

Evidential value: the potential value of a place to yield evidence about past human activity. Historical value: the ways in which past people, events and aspects of life can be connected through a place to the present – it tends to be illustrative or associative. Aesthetic value: the ways in which people draw sensory and intellectual stimulation from a place. Communal value: the meanings of a place for the people who relate to it, or for whom it figures in their collective experience or memory.11

9 English Heritage, Policies and Guidance for the Sustainable Management of the Historic Environment (2008), p. 19-24 10 Ibid., p. 22 11 Ibid., p. 27-32

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The Setting of Heritage Assets: English Heritage Guidance (2011)

The significance of a heritage asset not only derives from its physical presence but also from its setting and the surroundings in which it is experienced. The setting of heritage assets provides guidance on managing change within the setting of a heritage asset.

In a letter submitted to Lambeth Council in 2013, English Heritage stated ‘It also appears that there is insufficient understanding of the communal value of the undercroft area […] we feel further analysis of the communal value of the undercroft is necessary to ascertain the impact of recent cultural heritage.’

4.8 National and Local Legislation and Guidance

Section 66 of The Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 requires that decision makers shall have special regard to the desirability of preserving a listed building (Royal Festival Hall, Grade 1) or its setting or any features of special architectural or historic interest which it possesses, when considering whether to grant planning permission.

Section 66 of the Act requires that decision makers shall have special regard to the desirability of preserving a listed building or its setting or any features of special architectural or historic interest which it possesses, when considering whether to grant planning permission.

Section 72 of the Act requires that, in the exercise of their planning functions, local planning authorities shall pay special attention to the desirability of preserving or enhancing the character or appearance of conservation areas.

Paragraph 135 of the National Planning Policy Framework deals with non-designated heritage assets and advises that the effect of an application on the significance of a non-designated heritage asset should be taken into account in determining the application. In weighing applications that affect directly or indirectly non-designated heritage assets, a balanced judgment is required having regard to the scale of any harm or loss and the significance of the heritage asset, always bearing in mind that these are not listed buildings.

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5.0 EXISTING DESIGNATIONS & POLICY SIGNIFICANCE

5.1 Statutory List

The Queen Elizabeth Hall, of which the Undercroft is an integral part, is not included in the Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. However, the Southbank Centre complex, comprising the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery, has been nominated for listing on several occasions since 1991, with the strong support of the Twentieth Century Society and English Heritage.

The 1988 Royal Festival Hall listing certification NGR: TQ3079780223 states:

Building has significant group value with other public buildings along the twins, and specifically with South Bank 'cultural' buildings to its north, with which it is linked by the 1960s terrace system. Additions of 1963-4 were conceptually linked with the Hayward Gallery of Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Whilst not individually listed, the Royal Festival Hall Grade-I listing description (see appendix one) and the identified conceptual and physical link to its ancillary Queen Elizabeth Hall buildings – of which the Purcell Room, Undercroft and Hayward Gallery are inextricably linked – provides evidence that as a component, the Undercroft, should be considered as a group listing in any reference and in context of any development proposals.

The Southbank Centre complex is neighboured by the Grade-I listed Royal Festival Hall (1951) and Grade-II* listed National Theatre (1976). Also adjacent to the site is the Grade-II* listed Waterloo Bridge (1945), while the Grade-II* County Hall (1922) sits just to the southwest, along the riverfront.

The Undercroft therefore is situated in the immediate setting of a number of listed buildings and heritage assets. According to Section 66 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990:

In considering whether to grant planning permission for development which affects a listed building or its setting, the local planning authority or, as the case may be, the Secretary of State shall have special regard to the desirability of preserving the building or its setting or any features of special architectural or historic interests which it possesses.12

Most recently, in 2012, a bid for listing was turned down by architecture minister, John Penrose, going against the advice of English Heritage.13 At the same time, the complex was given a Certificate

12 Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, p.41 13 Certificate of Immunity Summary http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1410372

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of Immunity from Listing, preventing any new attempts to list the buildings for a period of five years. This was granted further to an application by the Southbank Centre to ensure that it would be able to pursue development plans without interference.

In a recent letter to Lambeth Council’s planning department concerning the proposed Southbank Centre development, English Heritage described the ensemble of Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, Hayward Gallery and National Theatre as ‘Britain’s finest collection of post-war public buildings, as impressive and consistent as the Royal Hospital at Greenwich is an English Baroque composition.’14

5.2 Local List

The Southbank Centre complex is included by the London Borough of Lambeth on its Local List (‘buildings of Local Architectural or Historic Interest’). It was listed on 22 March 2010, under the general criteria A, B and C as follows:

A - Architecture The architectural style, decoration and detailing, materials, craftsmanship and plan form may give it special interest if these features are of particular note - above the ordinary in their design and execution, and reasonably intact. This criterion can include the best works of architects who were active locally. In some cases altered buildings may still be worthy of inclusion, especially if by an architect of importance.

B - History Buildings and structures that reflect the diverse aspects of the social, economic, and physical development of Lambeth may be of interest. If the building type is reasonably common – houses, pubs, churches - only the best examples will be added to the list.

C - Close historical association Connections with people or events that are acknowledged as of being of borough wide / national importance may make some buildings worthy of inclusion. Building materials of clear local interest […] may be considered in this category.15

As a locally-listed site, the complex, including the Undercroft is a non-designated heritage asset for the purposes of paragraph 135 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). As such, the

14 Merlin Fulcher, ‘English Heritage slams FCBS’s latest Southbank revamp plans’, Architect’s Journal (29 Jan 2014) [http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/daily-news/english-heritage-slams-fcbss-latest-southbank- revamp-plans/8658165.article] 15 London Borough of Lambeth, ‘Locally Listed Buildings – Guide’ [http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/planning-and- building-control/building-conservation/locally-listed-buildings-guide]

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heritage value of the buildings should be given special consideration by the local planning authority:

The effect of an application on the significance of a non-designated heritage asset should be taken into account in determining the application. In weighing applications that affect directly or indirectly non designated heritage assets, a balanced judgement will be required having regard to the scale of any harm or loss and the significance of the heritage asset.16

5.3 South Bank Conservation Area

The Undercroft is within the South Bank Conversation Area. The Conversation Area was first designated by the London Borough of Lambeth in 1982, before being extended in 1993. It is adjacent to both the Lambeth Palace and Waterloo Conservation Areas. In addition, the Lower Marsh, Roupell Street, Mitre Road & Ufford Street Conservation Areas are all close by. From across the river, the Southbank Centre buildings of which the Undercroft is a part can be viewed from a number of the heavily concentrated conservation areas of Westminster and the City.

Section 72 of the Planning Act requires that, ‘with respect to any buildings or other land in a conversation area […] special attention shall be paid to the desirability of preserving or enhancing the character or appearance of that area.’17 In addition, paragraphs 137, 138 and 144 of the NPPF make provisions for the consideration of Conservation Areas in planning:

Local planning authorities should look for opportunities for new development within Conservation Areas […] and within the setting of heritage assets to enhance or better reveal their significance. Proposals that preserve those elements of the setting that make a positive contribution to or better reveal the significance of the asset should be treated favourably.

[…] Loss of a building (or other element) which makes a positive contribution to the significance of the Conservation Area […] should be treated either as substantial harm […] or less than substantial harm […] as appropriate, taking into account the relative significance of the element affected and its contribution to the significance of the Conservation Area […] as a whole.

The Conservation Area Statement (2007), which was prepared by the London Borough of Lambeth after widespread public consultation, makes specific reference to the Undercroft and its uses:

16 Department for Communities and Local Government, National Planning Policy Framework (Mar 2012), p. 31 17 Planning Act 1990, p. 43

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The undercroft of the Queen Elizabeth Hall complex is regularly used by skateboarders and BMX bikers who attract crowds of onlookers and generate graffiti.

[…] The area that makes up the South Bank Conversation Area is a popular leisure and culture destination for Londoners and tourists alike offering a wide range of daytime and night-time activities […] Outdoor activities also bring the public realm to life. These include […] the skaters and BMX bikes beneath the Hayward Gallery [sic].18

It is clear, therefore, that the Undercroft and the activities carried out therein are important factors in the ‘overall character and appearance’ of the area as described by the Planning Act, making a ‘positive contribution’ and crucial to the ‘significance’ of the Conservation Area within the terms of the NPPF.

5.4 Archaeological Priority Zone

The Undercroft falls within the North Lambeth and Lambeth Palace Archaeological Priority Zone, as designated by the London Borough of Lambeth. Paragraph 128 of the NPPF states that:

Where a site on which development is proposed includes or has the potential to include heritage assets with archaeological interest, local planning authorities should require developers to submit an appropriate desk-based assessment and, where necessary, a field evaluation.

Despite Long Live Southbank contacting Lambeth to ask that the appropriate archaeological assessment be carried out, at no time was any provided by Southbank Centre as part of their ‘Festival Wing’ planning application.

5.5 World Monuments Fund

The Southbank Centre complex was included, as part of ‘British Brutalism’, on the 2012 World Monuments Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites by the World Monuments Fund (WMF). Founded in 1965, with its global headquarters in New York, WMF is a private, international, non- profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic architecture and cultural heritage sites around the world through fieldwork, advocacy, grant-making, education, and training. Every two years, WMF publishes a World Monuments Watch List to draw international attention to cultural heritage sites around the world threatened by neglect, vandalism, armed conflict, commercial development, natural disasters, and climate change. The sites are nominated by international and

18 London Borough of Lambeth, ‘South Bank Conversation Area: Conservation Area Statement’ (2007), p. 13, 20

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local preservation groups and professionals, including local authorities. Sites of all types, including secular and religious architecture, archaeological sites, landscapes and townscapes, and dating from all time periods, from ancient to contemporary, are eligible. An independent panel of international experts reviews and selects the sites that make up the list.

The WMF 2012 report titled ‘World Monuments Fund Announces 2012 Watch, Encompassing 67 Threatened Cultural-Heritage Sites Across The Globe And 7 Key Sites Across The UK’ states:

London’s Southbank Centre, Coventry Cathedral and Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire were today named amongst 67 threatened cultural heritage sites from around the globe. The UK features heavily in the 2012 World Monuments Watch list of sites in need of assistance with seven prominent locations up and down the country.

Upon its completion in 1976, London’s South Bank Centre was deemed a visionary combination of performance spaces and an art gallery, but it continues to be denied heritage status.

Despite recommendations by English Heritage for national listing, none of the three has achieved protective status. With two scheduled for demolition, there is an urgent need to raise awareness, appreciation, and local pride in the significance of brutalist architecture in general.

The 2012 entry for ‘British Brutalism’ specifically cited the Southbank Centre complex, along with Preston Bus Station and Birmingham Central Library. The WMF provided the following information:

The term “brutalism” is derived from the French “betón brut,” meaning “raw concrete,” and refers to a style of late modernist architecture that emerged during the second half of the twentieth century. The inclusion of three British buildings on the Watch underscores the risk to modern architecture around the world, especially to the underappreciated legacy of brutalism. Characterized by bold geometries, the exposure of structural materials, and functional spatial design, brutalist architecture was an expression of social progressivism and became a favored style for public architecture of the time. Often monumental in scale, these structures symbolize an era when government had both the resources and the political will to contribute major civic buildings to the public realm.

When it opened in 1976 [sic], London’s South Bank Centre was deemed a visionary combination of performance spaces and an art gallery, but lack of heritage status puts the architectural complex at risk. The Preston Bus Station is a daring concrete structure housing an integrated car parking, bus, and taxi facility. Upon its completion in 1969, it was the world’s largest bus station. Birmingham Central Library is a monumental hub in the civic center of the city and the largest non-national library in Europe. Both the station and the library are threatened by demolition due to re-development schemes.

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These three buildings, dramatically sited, are uncompromising in their stark use of concrete and powerfully sculptural forms. They brought a sense of the monumental to the British urban landscape at the time of their construction and remain architectural icons. Over the past decade the Twentieth Century Society has been a constant advocate for these three buildings, but none has achieved protective national status. With two scheduled for the wrecking ball, there is an urgent need to raise awareness, appreciation, and local pride in the significance of brutalist architecture in general and in the value of these particular sites. It is hoped that inclusion on the Watch will prompt a dialogue about protection and alternatives for adaptive reuse.19

After a campaign to save the building, Preston Bus Station was awarded Grade-II listed status in September 2013. Birmingham Central Library was closed in June 2013 and is scheduled to be demolished in 2014.

5.6 Asset of Community Value

A Department for Communities and Local Government policy statement on ACVs states:

"The fact that the site is listed may affect planning decisions – it is open to the local planning authority to decide that listing as an asset of community value is a material consideration if an application for change of use is submitted, considering all the circumstances of the case."

On 12 July 2013, the Undercroft was listed by the London Borough of Lambeth as an Asset of Community Value (ACV) within the meaning of section 88 of the Localism Act 2011.

The listing was challenged by Southbank Centre on 5 September 2014 citing;

(1) The recreational use of the Undercroft is an ancillary use; (2) The use of the Undercroft does not benefit the “local community”; (3) The current use of the Undercroft cannot in reality continue; and (4) The proposals to relocate the facilities at the Undercroft.

On 28 February 2014, Lambeth Council ruled in favour of upholding the listing. In the ‘Review of Listing as an Asset of Community Value: The Undercroft, beneath Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank,

19 World Monuments Fund, ‘British Brutalism’ (2012) [http://www.wmf.org/project/british-brutalism]

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London, SE1 8XX’20 summary, Corporate Property Manager and Reviewing Officer, Sophie Linton MA MRICS, concluded;

‘whilst arts and cultural activities do take place in the Undercroft and other parts of the estate, both indoors and outdoors, the skateboarding park could be considered, in the officer’s opinion, as a separate entity, as it is not wholly dependent on the Southbank Centre. […] As I understand it, the Undercroft was not specifically designed or built as a skateboarding park with a pre-determined use, but the use grew organically (albeit with further modifications to enhance it) and I believe that the significance of the Undercroft as a meeting point for skateboarders is because it has this ‘home grown’ quality by a reasonably defined group of urban users. […] if the SBC were to close its doors tomorrow, the skateboarders would in all likelihood continue to use the Undercroft. [...] it seems wholly reasonable to me, on the balance of probabilities, combined with common sense and local knowledge generally, that some of the skateboarders and observers must come from the London Borough of Lambeth and so to that end, their social interests are supported by the actual current use of the Undercroft.’

It was subsequently stated by Southbank Centre Chief Executive, Alan Bishop, that another appeal would be launched.21 The First Tier Tribunal, part of the HM Courts and Tribunals, is set for September 2014.

On 10 October 2013, Long Live Southbank was invited to attend a meeting of the London Assembly’s Planning Committee to highlight the Undercroft matter, and discuss the importance of the Localism Act’s Assets of Community Value scheme. Assembly Member and Committee Chair, Nicky Gavron, concluded; “You’ve had a lot of support around the table from members. In fact, you’ve had total support from members.”22 Following the meeting, the committee agreed to Long Live Southbank’s invitation to visit the Undercroft.

The committee conducted a site visit upon invitation by Southbank Centre on 18 November 2013. Campaign organisation Long Live Southbank was not invited to or notified of the visit, and a result, not in attendance.23 The Planning Committee has yet to take up the written invitations of 11

20 London Borough of Lambeth, Review of Listing as an Asset of Community Value [http://www.llsb.com/press-release-lambeth-council-upholds-southbank-undercroft-as-asset-of-community- value/] 21 Adam Branson, ‘Council upholds Southbank ACV status’, Regeneration & Renewal (3 March 2014) [http://www.regen.net/news/1283015/Council-upholds-Southbank-ACV-status/] 22 Greater London Authority, Agenda Reports Pack p. 57 [http://www.london.gov.uk/moderngov/documents/g5041/Public%20reports%20pack%20Thursday%2028- Nov-2013%2010.00%20Planning%20Committee.pdf?T=10] 23 Greater London Authority, Agenda Reports Pack p. 64-68 [http://www.london.gov.uk/moderngov/documents/g5041/Public%20reports%20pack%20Thursday%2028- Nov-2013%2010.00%20Planning%20Committee.pdf?T=10]

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October 2013 and 17 March 2014 by Long Live Southbank inviting members to visit the Undercroft and its community.

5.7 Town or Village Green

On 8 May 2013, Long Live Southbank applied to register the Undercroft as a Town or Village Green under the Commons Act 2006.

On 20 September 2013 Lambeth Council declared the application invalid, on the grounds that four ‘trigger events’ had taken place, within the terms of new legislation introduced by the Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013, with no corresponding ‘terminating events.’

This decision was appealed by Long Live Southbank, with a judicial review hearing taking place at the Royal Courts of Justice on 6 and 7 March 2014. On what was to be the final day of the hearing, Ms Justice Lang determined that the drafting of the 2013 legislation was not clear enough to make a decision. The hearing was subsequently adjourned so that Ms Justice Lang could invite the Secretary of State to explain the legislation to the High Court. The hearing will now recommence on 22 September 2014.

5.8 Central Activities Zone

The Undercroft falls within the Central Activities Zone (CAZ) as defined by the London Plan. The CAZ is recognised as the cultural and economic heart of the capital and area of national significance. The London Plan states the area has:

‘a unique character and feel across its hugely varied quarters and neighbourhoods, which the Mayor is committed to protecting and enhancing.’24

5.9 South Bank Strategic Cultural Zone

In addition, the Undercroft falls with the South Bank Strategic Cultural Area as defined by the London Plan:

With their rich heritage and unique offers, the strategic cultural areas are identified as London’s major clusters of visitor attractions.25

24 Greater London Authority, The London Plan: Spatial Development Strategy for Greater London [RTF Version] (2011), p. 53 25 Ibid, p. 122

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It is a strategic aim of the London Plan to ‘promote, enhance and protect the special characteristics of visitor attractions including those identified in Strategic Cultural Areas.’26

5.10 Cultural Metropolis 2014

Cultural Metropolis is the Mayor of London’s cultural strategy for the city. It was first published in 2010, and an updated version was released in 2014.

In a section on ‘Informal Culture’, the 2014 version makes specific reference to the cultural and heritage value of the Undercroft and its significance for London, as well as the threat posed by development:

London derives its unique character from a delicate balance of culture, heritage and development. This is a city where skateboarders can be found weaving in and out of brutalist architecture […] This informal culture – difficult to quantify, or even define – is often temporary, youth led, and at the margins rather than the mainstream. The value of informal culture and how it can acquire its own heritage value, or even become mainstream, is under-recognised. As a result informal culture can struggle to co-exist with new development.

London’s buzz and its reputation as a vibrant, youth friendly and exciting city are crucial factors in attracting businesses and their employees, as well as students and tourists. Edgy spaces with a sense of the spontaneous – that are led not by formal organisations but by people themselves – help make a city exciting and ‘alive’.

[…] Over time, such informal activity can acquire a heritage of its own.

In the London Plan, the Mayor recognises that ‘The local and distinctive have to be treasured… Fundamentally, we must pay attention to quality as well as quantity, and protect the things that make London London.’ He understands the importance of informal culture and the capital’s newer cultural ‘heritage’ and will make sure the capital maintains its unique blend of the new and the old, the informal and the formal. Working with partners such as English Heritage, the Mayor will continue to make sure cultural and planning strategies work in tandem. He will also champion the economic and social value of less formal cultural activities in order to promote London as the most exciting city in the world.27

26 Ibid. p. 121 27 Mayor of London, Cultural Metropolis: The Mayor’s Culture Strategy – Achievements and next steps (2014), p. 94

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6.0 THE UNDERCROFT: ASSESSMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

The following is intended to provide a summary of significance for the Undercroft, Southbank. The assessment of significance follows guidance from the Heritage Lottery Fund on Conservation Management Planning (2008) and English Heritage’s Conservation Principles, Policies and Guidance (2008). The assessment is based on the values set out in Conservation Principles, which are defined as follows;

- Evidential Value: This derives from the potential of a place to yield evidence about past human activity.

- Historical Value: This derives from the ways in which past people, events and aspects of life can be connected through a place to the present. It tends to be illustrative (visual) or associative.

- Aesthetic Value: This derives from the ways in which people draw sensory and intellectual stimulation from a place.

- Communal Value: This derives from the meanings of a place for the people who relate to it, or for whom it figures in their collective experience or memory. Communal values are closely bound up with historical (particularly associative) and aesthetic values, but tend to have additional and specific aspects. It can be commemorative, symbolic or spiritual.

The significance of the Southbank Undercroft is assessed using a number of significance ratings. The ratings take into account historic fabric survival, survival of historic plan form, quality of reproduced elements, continuation of historic function and architectural quality and survival. The significance ratings are described below;

- High: A theme, feature, building or space which is important at national or international level, with cultural value and important contribution towards the character and appearance of the building. Large scale alteration or removal of features of this level is likely to be strongly resisted.

- Medium: Themes, features, buildings or spaces which are important at regional level or sometimes higher, with some cultural importance and some contribution towards the character and appearance of the building. Efforts should be made to retain features of this level, though a greater degree of flexibility in terms of alteration would be possible than for those items of high significance.

- Low: Themes, features, buildings or spaces which are usually of local value only but possibly of regional significance for group or other value. Minor cultural importance and contribution to the character or appearance of the building. A greater degree of

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consideration is needed for alteration or removal for items of high or medium significance, though a low value does not necessarily mean a feature is expendable. Plan form and architectural features should be respected where possible.

- Neutral: These themes, spaces, buildings or features have little or no cultural value but do not detract from the character of or appearance of the building. Alteration is likely to be possible.

- Intrusive: Themes, features, buildings or spaces which detract from the values of the building and its character and appearance. Efforts should be made to remove or enhance these features.

6.1 Statement of Significance - Evidential Value

The Southbank Centre was built in 1951 as part of the Festival of Britain. The Undercroft of the Southbank Centre has been subject to moderate scale modification over the last 63 years resulting in some damage and concealment of original features and built fabric. A large area of the Undercroft has been boarded out in more recent years, historic fabric survival beyond these boarded screens is likely but difficult to ascertain at present without a fully accessible survey. There are photographs, videos and personal accounts that provide documented evidence of the previous changes making interpretation of the exposed fabric easier.

Image of Exterior of The Royal Festival Hall and former Shot Tower retained for the Festival of Britain

As a result of the potential for the recovery of historic material behind boarded out areas, a medium evidential value is attributed.

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6.2 Statement of Significance - Historic Value

Southbank Centre is part of the ambitious 1948 plans announced by the Labour Government to hold the Festival of Britain. It was declared to be a ‘Tonic to the Nation’ following the Second World War. Southbank Centre was a new concert hall to be built amongst the temporary domes and pavilions of the Festival, to be a permanent centre for the musical life of London. The site between Waterloo Bridge and Hungerford Railway Bridge on the south bank of the Thames were cleared of derelict warehouses and factories to make way for the beginnings of arguably the most significant masterplanned complex of C20th public buildings. Enhancing historical significance, Southbank Centre remains an excellent example of post war design demonstrating advancing concrete technologies of the time and was the first major concert hall to be built in London following the destruction of the Queen’s Hall by an incendiary bomb in 1941.

Southbank Centre comprises of:

- Royal Festival Hall - London County Council's contribution to the Festival of Britain opened in 1951 by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. The architects are Sir Robert Matthew and Dr Leslie Martin.

- Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Purcell Room - two more concert halls adjacent both opened by Her Majesty the Queen in 1967, the former locates the Undercroft and stands on the former site of a Shot Tower, built as part of lead works in 1826 and retained for the Festival of Britain.

- Hayward Gallery - opened by Her Majesty the Queen in 1968.

The central location of Southbank Centre on the banks of the Thames has given the complex a highly visible presence in London.

As a result of the Undercroft being an integral built element of the Southbank Centre a high historic value is attributed.

6.3 Statement of Significance - Aesthetic Value

The Undercroft space is formed by large structural octagonal reinforced concrete columns, supporting the foyer floor concrete structure overhead. The sides of the Undercroft were originally open to the east, north and south.

The Undercroft space has been partially boarded out over recent years, which has been progressively reducing and restricting the space available to community user groups. It is believed that if the boards were removed, the entire space would retain its original form of octagonal

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reinforced concrete columns. It is unclear of the existing condition of this concealed fabric, however, there are records that demonstrate that Undercroft space has suffered from damage by the Southbank Centre who have undertaken detrimental works to the fabric in efforts to try and restrict the use of the space by skateboarders and other community members (examples include dumping of aggregates and slabs broken up within areas).

Image of the Exterior of the Queen Elizabeth Hall in the 1970s. © Davie Wilson

The original decorative scheme was minimal barefaced concrete which has been covered with graffiti over most surfaces over the last thirty years. It is known that the use of plastic paints, in the long term, will inevitably have maintenance and built fabric issues. However, there is a recognised value within the graffiti itself as an artwork, which is becoming a more common place thought form with some council’s even protecting certain works. Although the graffiti was not intended within the Undercroft within the original design, there is a recognised potential value with the works. The value of the graffiti within the Undercroft would require separate analysis and research into the individual works that have been undertaken before making judgement. There is a photographic archive of the graffiti which can be found at The Graffiti Archaeology Project.

The space is not thought conventionally attractive with its brutalist form and aesthetic, however, the structure is unique and honest in design and demonstrates the advancing technologies of the time. The aesthetic value of the Undercroft has been negatively impacted by damage undertaken and the boarding out of areas to restrict use.

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Image of Southbank Undercroft. © Sam Ashley

It is fortunate that these actions are both reversible and repairable. An intrusive aesthetic value is therefore attributed.

6.4 Statement of Significance - Community Value

The presence of the Undercroft at a key and prominent location of the Thames holds a significant communal value to visitors and neighbouring buildings. Dennis Crompton, one of the original architects involved in the design of the Hayward Gallery, said in 2013;

“I remember my excitement when, in 1960, I was invited to join the team of architects at the LCC, who were working on the design of the proposed new concert hall and art gallery on the South Bank. The following year, when the project had its public launch, one member of the group expressed our ambition that there should be other facilities on the South Bank, so that it becomes alive ... rather than just a cultural centre.‟

The Undercroft has been popular with skateboarders since the early 1970s and it is widely acknowledged to be London’s most popular skateboarding area. The area is used by skateboarders, BMXers, graffiti artists, taggers, filmmakers, photographers, videographers, musicians, buskers and performance artists amongst others. The Undercroft is an informal space in public use, where accessible, and is part of a vibrant streetscape sharing the environment with residents, community, national and international visitors to the iconic location.

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Indirectly, the diversity of community user groups who use the space have organically created a distinctive feature at Southbank Centre for activity, social and arts scene. It is a community space that is enjoyed by the user groups which has now become a fixture in the cultural landscape of the River Thames and an attraction enjoyed by spectators.

40 years of cultural significance by community use of a space have articulated a world class skating arena in the Undercroft, a space designed within the most important post war master planned complex of twentieth century public buildings. The sense of place and ownership by local skaters is unprecedented on a national scale. The place currently provides support, community engagement, camaraderie, cohesion, learning, and identity of place, culture, sport and the arts.

Image of some of the community who inhabit the Undercroft 2013. Image © LLSB

The existing fabric has been cherished and loved by the users but little money has been spent on it by the owners and it has been left it in a deteriorating condition as a result. Records of the owners causing damage to the fabric have been reported and documented in an attempt to prevent the skaters utilising the space. The existing fabric would benefit from a condition survey of the accessible and inaccessible areas to understand the extent of repair works required to the existing fabric.

Southbank Centre released a scheme to redevelop the site as part of a £177 million proposed Festival Wing development, with plans to insert retail units and cafes with the Undercroft space. It is noted that Time Out, in August 2008, reported that the Prime Minister released a statement in support of the existing Undercroft uses. In January 2014, The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, indicated support for the redevelopment of Southbank Centre but only if the skatepark is retained in situ within the Undercroft.

The international recognition of the Undercroft for skateboarders and the diversity of community user groups that are attracted to the space create a highly significant sense of place and one that has a high communal value.

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7.0 THE UNDERCROFT: ACTIVITY

7.1 Recreational and Cultural Uses

7.1.1 Southbank Undercrofts

When the 1960s complex was first built, the Undercroft had no clear purpose. It has been convincingly argued that the architects deliberately left the space undefined, in order to facilitate the organic development of unexpected uses by visitors.28 It was a principle of Archigram (the collective which many of the original LCC architects would go on to join), as later expressed by founder member Peter Cook, that architecture should ‘take advantage of the potential of different and scattered elements congealing together in a random way.’29 Over the years, the ideas of the architects, concerning the site’s potential for improvised activities in an urban landscape, have been realised by skateboarders, and later on BMX riders, graffiti artists, free runners, and many others.

The first skateboarders to use the Undercroft arrived as early as 1973. The topography of natural ramps and undulating banks and the close proximity to the River Thames instantly drew people with an interest in surfing and skateboarding. The smooth pavements, ramps and banks left by the LCC architects providing the perfect venue for skateboarding.

There are three main kinds of skateboarding connected to Southbank skate area as described by Winstan Whitter; ‘Street skaters carve the banks, use the stairs and stuff. Slalom skaters weave around cones and other obstacles and freestyle skaters are like BMX freestylers. They stay on the flatland and do tricks.’

Since the 1970s the Undercroft was referred to by skateboarders as ‘South Bank’ and later ‘Southbank’. Increasing international coverage of Southbank through skate videos and magazines, and later via the internet, saw the spot firmly established in the imagination of skateboarders across the world. Already established as a compulsory stop on most pro teams international tours, the Undercroft now also became a site of pilgrimage for all kinds of skaters from around the world. By the mid-1980s, other urban creative activities were also taking place, with the spot becoming central to the emerging sport of BMX, as well as to the hip hop subcultures of breakdancing and

28 Ellie Herring, ‘The Southbank: An Invitation to Participate’, Occupation: Negotiations with Constructed Space: Proceedings of the Conference Held at the University of Brighton (2009) [http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/research/office-for-spatial-research/news-and-events/occupation/conference- papers] 29 Peter Cook, Archigram (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1999), p.25

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graffiti. More recently, the Undercroft likewise became a key site for the new urban activities of parkour and free-running.30

While the nineteen-sixties arts buildings at the South Bank were not always popular with the public – Daily Mail readers voted the Queen Elizabeth Hall ‘Britain’s Ugliest Building’ when it opened in 1967 – and the concrete walkways and undercrofts often seen as confusing or uninviting, many saw this new spontaneous use as a positive development for the area. As early as 1977, press reports were describing the South Bank as a ‘haven for young skateboarders,’ while many commentated that the new use had culturally enlivened a previously unused or unwelcoming area:

That godforsaken waste-land is good for little else. Is there anywhere, outside a Soviet industrial centre, such a collection of gloomy and soulless buildings as stands between the London Weekend centre and the Hungerford Bridge? Skateboarding would seem to be one of the few rational purposes for those vistas of concrete and paving with curious hidden recesses and – for the skateboarder – challenging ramps […] as I walk to the concert, huddled against the wind, I hear the rattle of the boards, some small evidence of human life. 31

While the popularity of skateboarding nationwide was declining by the 1980s, the Undercroft remained continually in use, and was arguably central to keeping the activity alive in the UK. The already-established status of the South Bank as the home of skateboarding meant that, as numbers dwindled, it became the one place where the remaining skaters could be sure there would be other people skating. A 1988 newspaper report on the return of skateboarding’s popularity described the Undercroft as ‘the free-skater’s Mecca’, ‘the home of London street-skating and the one venue constantly in use for more than a decade.’32

The reputation of the Undercroft as an internationally significant site for urban arts and culture, and skateboarding in particular, has continued to grow into the twenty-first century. The Undercroft has been used as a location for countless skateboarding and BMX films and magazine shoots over the years, and more recently has been featured in the American video game Thrasher: Skate and Destroy (1999) as well as in the hugely successful Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 (2002) and the latest release; Tony Hawk's Shred Session (2014). The space is regularly used for skateboarding and BMX demonstrations, attracting professionals from around the world, as well as numerous tourists and spectators.33 As the designations listed in this report above, and the statements of

30 ‘Building in leaps and bounds’, The Times (6 January 2004); ‘One giant leap for mankind’, The Independent (25 August 2004) 31 ‘Wanted… Those heels on wheels’, Daily Mirror (4 June 1977); Geoffrey Wheatcroft, ‘Busk Off’, The Spectator (24 February 1979); See also: Gilian Linscott, ‘A walk on the Jubilee wild side’, The Guardian (13 June 1977); Alan Hamilton, ‘Britain takes to a new sport and its jargon’, The Times (17 October 1977) 32 ‘Skate City grows up’, The Observer (20 November 1988) 33 LLSB, ‘You can’t move history: Four decades of Southbank demos’ [http://www.llsb.com/you-cant-move- history-four-decades-of-southbank-demos/]

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support collected below, demonstrate, the Undercroft is today widely recognised as an important centre of urban culture in London, particularly for young people, and an important asset for the local community.

Skater Emmanuel Mayele jumps Southbank Undercroft famous ‘7’ stair set 2014. © Sam Ashley

The Undercroft was never built with skateboarding in mind, but spontaneously appropriated by users. The formation of communities and cultures at the Undercroft has been inextricably linked to the space itself. Over time, users have continually stressed the importance of this aspect in terms of the Undercroft’s cultural significance and heritage:

‘Surfers are getting to grips with a natural force, the sea – we have to get to grips with another natural force, the land – paving or roads – we don’t want special parks for it… Skateboarding is the first adrenalin sport that gets to the city – parts that people own but no one possesses – like the South Bank. Architects would have it called a car park – it was a place where tramps went and drank meths, but now it’s our place.’ - Steve Kane, interviewed in Skateboard! (Jan 1978)

‘With new skate structures appearing almost every week, mourning the loss of a dimly lit, mellow banked concrete precinct may seem pretty funny to some, but for many the atmosphere they skate is just as important as how or what they skate. The South Bank is

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skate heritage: it oozes roots – everyone has a South Bank story, it’s part of every Pro’s European tour, all have fond memories of sessions past.’ - ‘South Bank – What’s going on?’, R.A.D (July 1988)

The press release issued by Southbank Centre on 6 March 2013 stated ‘New undercroft venues - under-used space from the undercrofts will be reclaimed for artistic and cultural uses; including a new venue for gigs, dance, cabaret, music and spoken word events and a space for young people.’

This contradicted the research commissioned by Southbank Centre which was carried out by Central Saint Martin’s {CSM} under the name ‘We Are Southbank Undercroft’34 during April 2013, which showed that the Undercroft spaces were in fact, active and vibrant spaces already full of artistic and cultural uses and populated by large numbers of young people.

The CSM research concluded35;

Depending largely on season and weather, we estimate that anywhere between 250 and 1,200 active individual participants make use of the existing undercroft space in a typical week (excluding spectators and passers-though). The primary active continue to be skating (including skateboarding and some rollerskating), BMX and Graffiti and Street Art.

Other users such as social groups of young people, parents/guardians with children, photographers, musicians, dancers, other artists and many spectators, also form an important part of the space and use it in different ways.

Approximate frequency and time spent at the site collected from onsite observations, counts and the conversations we had with people who currently use the Undercroft:

65-70% Skate 5-10% BMX 5-10% Graffit/Street Art 15-20% Other uses combined – including photography, modelling, dance, parkour, scooting, parents with children playing, others spectating.

Skaters are main regulars to the spot, male and aged between 11-45 but commonly more teens than any other age. The groups of friends who visit the site socially with skaters but skate less include more females.

Those who use the space for BMX are less frequent and less in number but are also mostly regular, and some long term London-based users of the space.

34 We Are Southbank Undercroft http://www.southbankundercroft.com/ 35 Provided by CSM

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The graffiti writers and street artists are commonly visitors from other parts of the UK and internationally, who have heard about the Undercroft space and want to make their mark there. While they are prolific - each 2-3 weeks, every wall in the Undercroft is re-painted.

During the Festival Wing campaign, Southbank Centre and CSM incorrectly promoted that the Undercroft was exclusively male. In actuality, skateboarding is the fastest growing physical activity among young women and girls and the Undercroft reflects this in its community and users, and is a great example of somewhere that is both a safe and welcoming environment and upholds equality as standard practice. 36

Images © Jenna Selby Southbank Undercroft 2013. Skater Lucy Adams

In reference to the Southbank Centre’s intention to ‘replace’ Southbank with a purpose-built space under Hungerford Bridge, the Undercroft community has vigorously stressed the irreplaceability of the Undercroft and the importance of the space’s heritage to its resident communities and visitors.

7.2 Cardboard City

In addition to the recreational and cultural uses of the Undercroft, it is also an important site in the history of homelessness in London. There has been an identifiable homeless community at the South Bank since at least the late-1970s. From the mid-1980s, the ‘cardboard city’ at the South Bank, referring to the makeshift shelters erected by rough sleepers from cardboard boxes and other materials in the Undercroft and at Waterloo’s Bullring roundabout, was one of the most visible and culturally significant representations of the plight of the homeless in the UK.

36 ‘Why They Should Save Southbank, The UK’s Most Iconic Skate Spot’ by Jenna Selby (6 December 2013) http://cooler.mpora.com/features/why-they-should-save-southbank-the-uks-most-iconic-skate-spot-by- jenna-selby.html

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The visibility of the homeless community at the South Bank, its central London location, and its proximity to ‘high’ art and culture, meant that ‘cardboard city’ was often a focus of national political debates on the issue of homelessness – a growing problem in the 1980s. ‘Cardboard city’ was often used as shorthand for the wider issue in political debate. The challenge of Liberal leader David Steel to Margaret Thatcher in 1987 to ‘take the time to go and look at the cardboard city on the south bank’ was a common refrain in Parliament in late-1980s and 1990s. In Kate Hoey’s debut House of Commons speech as MP for Vauxhall on 27 June 1989, she likewise set out to ‘remind the House that every night in my constituency, and within a mile of this Chamber, between 1,000 and 2,000 men and women sleep out in cardboard city on the south bank.’37

The cover of the Undercroft provided a spot for homeless people to shelter at night. Jeremy Swain, Chief Executive of Thames Reach, a London-based charity working with the homeless, recalls that in the 1980s ‘under the Queen Elizabeth Hall on London’s South Bank around 120 homeless men and women slept rough and there were many more scattered around Waterloo station.’38 Skateboarders of the time recall co-operation with the homeless community: ‘We had a little system between us, which was, not to skate through the back area from the Big Banks to the four stairs after 10pm, which was fair enough because they lived there!’39

When the South Bank Centre took over from the GLC in the mid-1980s, installing private security, many of the homeless community who had used the Undercroft moved to the nearby ‘Bullring’ Roundabout at the end of Waterloo Bridge, where between 200 and 500 people could be found sleeping rough each night. The Bullring was temporarily closed for repairs in 1991, and its homeless occupants evicted, although many soon returned. In 1994, planning permission was granted to the BFI to build the IMAX on that site. In 1998, Lambeth Council won a court order to evict the remaining homeless people from the Bullring so that construction could be completed.

7.3 Attitude of the owners to uses of the Undercroft

The GLC was initially accommodating of skateboarders at the South Bank, specially designating the Undercroft as a space for skateboarding in 1977.40 However, there were some tensions caused by noise from skateboards disrupting concerts and the activity was occasionally prohibited during certain events.41 The possibility of prohibiting skateboarding was discussed in 1978 although this

37 http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1989/jun/27/football-spectators-bill-lords#1989-06- 27T18:38:00Z 38 http://jeremyswain.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/sentimentalising-peggy.html 39 Winstan Whitter, notes on the history of the Undercroft for LLSB (unpublished) 40 GLC, ‘Skateboarding’, London Topics 24 (February 1978) 41 Open Spaces and Recreation Committee: Report by the Chief Officer of the Parks Department: Skateboarding (14 July 1977) [GLC/DG/PRE/136]

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was never carried out, probably in part due to a natural decline in the numbers using it after the passing of the initial skateboarding craze.42

Stone scattering at Undercroft to deter skating. Image © Winstan Whitter

When the South Bank Board took over from the GLC in 1986, private security was installed and skateboarding discouraged. Southbank regulars from the period have described tactics such as ‘throwing stones, pouring water all over the place and having security guards there to kick us out’.43 Skateboarders were often refused entry to the Southbank Centre buildings and the South Bank Centre attempted to impose a 7pm curfew on skateboarding in the Undercroft.44

Multimedia street artist D*Face who skated the Undercroft during the 1980s stated; ‘Skateboarding then was a different thing to now. And it was then that you weren’t allowed to skate here at all. You’d get chased off. But it’s one of the few dry spots in London to skate so we’d always come here. It wasn’t the same place in the 80’s. It was a desolate place. And now it’s a much more vibrant interesting place and skateboarding has done that. […] It was ‘88 at the time it was like they were going to bulldoze the Southbank, they were going to get rid of the banks. And didn’t seem surprising because the security had already been trying to chase us off, they’d prized up the paving slabs there, you know they’d tried to stop skaters from skating that area, so when the said they were going to bulldoze it, it seemed very real and very likely they were going to do that. The smell of death jam was organized, just done by word of mouth […] it was packed from front to back with people who

42 Memorandum to the Director of South Bank Concert Halls from the Clerk of the Recreation and Community Services Policy Committee (15 May 1978) [GLC/DG/AR/15/1] 43 Winstan Whitter, in Long Live Southbank, Long Live Southbank (forthcoming, 2014), p. 133 44 ‘South Bank – What’s Going on?’, R.A.D. (July 1988)

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were there to show support for what this place was to skateboarders and still is today. Again the security went against us and they were trying to break up the paving slabs and all they did is just made more objects to skate and made it into a better event than it would have been if they’d just left us alone. I think the show of force and the strength of numbers of that event got them to think actually there’s something more to it and for whatever reason the plans were halted and it became a skateable spot.’45

UK skater Nick Zorlac amongst Southbank Undercroft destruction. Image © David Steel

While there was initially some co-operation between the users of the Undercroft and the Southbank Centre, with tacit agreement that skaters would not use areas at certain times, in the 1990s, the relationship became more antagonistic. In 1991, the Southbank Centre installed – without any prior consultation – large metal bars in front of the Undercroft’s banks to deter skaters and BMX riders. In the summer of 1992, these were removed by users of the Undercroft. Subsequent attempts to replace them were met with a similar reaction. In 1993, Southbank Centre began to switch the lights off in the Undercroft. While claiming that there was a technical fault which was being looked into, this situation continued for several years.46

45 D*Face, Long Live Southbank Paint Attack (2013) 46 Winstan Whitter, in Long Live Southbank, Long Live Southbank (forthcoming, 2014), p. 173

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During interviews for his film Rollin’ Through The Decades, Winstan Whitter captured recollections from skaters who frequented the spaces between the 1970s and 2000s. Southbank Centre commercial director, Mike McCart, was also interviewed and recalled that the ‘GLC was abolished in 1986 and the taken over by South Bank Board, which was then a subcommittee, if you like of the arts council’. Skater, Davross’, own recollection was that ‘Immediately the south bank management decided that they didn’t love us anymore, well they never did, but because of the GLC they had a problem getting rid of us because it was declared an official skate spot, but then the GLC went bye bye. Next thing you know we’ve got holes being drilled din the floor, gravel all over the place’. Chris Linford added ‘They started angle grinding all of south bank, putting railings up so you couldn’t skate some of the banks. They were sprinkling stones everywhere. Chopping the run out that we used to use at the end of the slalom run.’ followed with Nancy Sands stating ‘Then I think they turned the lights off for a while in the evening.’

Flooring destroyed by drilling to deter skating. © Winstan Whitter

Damaged flooring. Image © Jay Podesta Image © Jay Podesta

These additional comments on the atmosphere of the 1990s, based on the structural changes and barriers placed in the Undercoft by the owners, are taken from Rollin’ Through The Decades;

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Ben Wheeler: That kind of threw everyone off a bit. No one knew really where to go. Things started splitting up a bit then.

Matt Stuart: That was like the ultimate disappointment really.

Nancy Sands: It totally killed it and I think everyone was at a loss, people still went down in the hope that they were going to take them [barriers] down, I thought they were going to give it to us.

Davross: You could feel the atmosphere, you know you come down here some days, you got a major vibe and atmosphere and other days and it’s death you know. Nobody wants to be here, that’s how it got. It just wasn’t fun to skate here anymore.

Nancy Sands: And I think that’s when I stopped going, because I couldn’t jump the barriers.

Paul Shire: That sort of cut of a whole load of people who could skate, cos that’s where they skated every day of their lives, and then suddenly all they’ve got is a flat ground spot.

Matt Stuart: It changed the dynamic because you couldn’t skate the whole of South Bank you couldn’t do a circuit.

Simon Evans: Nothing really worked, like; skating would just evolve over it.

Yogi Proctor: It would always just push the skating. People started ollying over bars and it’s like you can’t really stop that stuff.

Tony Luckhurst: It gave us a new challenge.

Matt Stuart: You know, skating over the bars probably pushed skating to another level, made it more difficult made it more of a challenge. Ben Jobe was the barmeister.

James Read: Ben Jobe came down here and ollied the bars with no shoes on, you know what I mean, things like that.

Ewan Bowman: It was almost like magical, like he was Gandalf the wizard or something, seriously that was like the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen in skateboarding, one love Ben Jobe.

Through the late 1980s and 1990s, as the South Bank Centre attempted to push through major redevelopment schemes, there was little consultation with the users of the Undercroft, with

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Southbank Centre officials openly stating that skateboarders, as well as the homeless people who slept in the Undercroft, would have to be moved on.47

Australian skater Andrew Brophy and Southbank Undercroft rubble. © Dom Marley

In the 2000s, the South Bank Centre began to develop a more harmonious relationship with the Undercroft communities and the skateboarders. Efforts to deter skateboarders were relaxed, and permission was given for street artists and graffiti writers to lawfully use the Undercroft.

In 2004, in collaboration with the art collective Side Effects of Urethane, the Southbank Centre placed five movable objects as ‘skateable sculptures’ in the Undercroft, under the title ‘Moving Units’. The then chief executive of Southbank Centre, Michael Lynch, stated he was ‘delighted to be

47 ‘Site development: Farrell Scheme’ (1988) [ACGB/75/80]; ‘Repelling boarders’, The Guardian (20 March 1989)

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developing relationships with skateboarders who visit the Southbank Centre every day,’ and that, ‘We are trying to give access to what seems to be almost an ancestral ground for skateboarders.’48 The commercial director, Mike McCart, added ‘A lot of people enjoy watching the skateboarders and the tricks they perform. They have found a very good use for a space we had not been able to find a use for, and we are very happy for them to use that location.’49

Floor plan of the Undercroft and proposed ‘Moving Objects’ during the Festival Hall refurbishment

In 2005, however, a large area of the Undercroft (approximately two thirds of its original size) was closed off to temporarily house Southbank Centre employees displaced by the refurbishment of the Festival Hall. This was done without consultation of Undercroft users, who were only notified after the event. Promises to reopen ‘as much of the undercroft space as possible’ on the re-opening of the Festival Hall in 2007 were never acted upon.50

48 ‘Skateboarding sculptures welcomed’, BBC News (7 August 2004); ‘Southbank embraces skate culture’, The Guardian (5 August 2004) 49 ‘Official: Skateboarders welcome on South Bank’, Evening Standard (9 August 2004) 50 ‘Southbank Centre newsletter for skateboarders’ (2005)

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During a 2005 interview with Winstan Whitter, Mike McCart stated; ‘We are now involved in phase one of our refurbishment and redevelopment, and this really revolves around the refurbishment of the royal festival hall and this is a huge building that has a square footage the same size as centre point and we are closing the building for 18 months and we have to move a lot of different items out of the building and we are utilising some, not all of the undercroft. We are keeping for example available for skating, the well under the undercroft. The other section and work has already started. We are sectioning part of that off for storage.’

Reduced-sized Undercroft with ‘Moving Units’ sculptures 2005. Image © Sam Ashley

He continued; ‘We know it’s the Mecca of skating in the world. Where do you go for skating its South Bank, I think it’s something that has dawned on this organisation. The question is instead of being something that they should feel hostile about we need to look at it as an asset, I think skating is part of the history of South Bank and we need to look at that to address it retrospectively when we are telling future generations about the South Bank and the role it plays in London.’

Despite this, Southbank Centre continued to enjoy a reasonably good relationship with the Undercroft communities, stating that ‘they regard skateboarders as an important part of the

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creative community’ and were keen to develop ‘a closer relationship between skaters and the many creative opportunities within the centre.’

Chief executive Michael Lynch was quoted in 2007 saying explicitly that the skateboarders ‘will not be moved on and their graffitied undercrofts will stay.’51 It was publicly reiterated in 2008, in response to skaters’ concerns that the Undercroft might be under threat, that ‘Southbank Centre has no immediate plans to redevelop this part of its site.’52

Illustration of the reduced-sized Undercroft by David Steele 2013. © Long Live Southbank

In 2011 Julia Sawyer and John Gray of Southbank Centre hosted a meeting with Undercroft users. Local skater, Henry Edwards-Wood reported:

‘This Wednesday (23rd February 2011) saw what will hopefully be the first of many Southbank user meetings at the Royal Festival Hall. The meeting was organised by the Southbank Centre and its aim was to open communications between themselves and the skateboarding community who use the Undercroft area.

Before the meeting I was fearful that we would be told that Southbank was going to be shut down or we were to be relocated to some crappy skate park somewhere else, a fear shared by my fellow SB locals and London skateboarders alike. However the other meeting attendees and I were pleasantly surprised. It seems as though Southbank is here to stay for

51 ‘The rest of Southbank Centre joins the Royal Festival Hall in celebratory mood this weekend’, The Times (9 June 2007) 52 ‘Southbank Centre Statement on Skateboarding’ (7 February 2008)

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the foreseeable future, and what’s more the SB authorities have said they will work closely with the skaters to improve the space.

Other topics that were discussed were better lighting, replacing the original railings and adding barriers to separate the public, more bins, the temporary beach that will be opposite the Undercroft in the summer and CCTV that will be installed. They also said that they would provide us with squeegees and other equipment for us to dry the floor when it is wet down there, which is a result.

These meetings will now be held quarterly and there is talk of setting up a page on the Southbank Center website to allow for the skateboarding public to be kept up to date with the goings on in the Undercroft. Some changes will be almost instant, some will be more long term, but the bottom line is that Southbank isn’t going anywhere!

Overall this is a massive result and a good start to what will hopefully become a strong alliance with the Southbank Centre authorities.’53

Finnish skater Tuukka Korhonen on sculpture 2000s. Image © Richard Hart

No further meetings or follow-ups with Undercroft users were organised by Southbank Centre. On 6 March 2013, the Southbank Centre announced its designs for the new ‘Festival Wing’ redevelopment scheme, which involved the infilling of the Undercroft with retail units. The Festival Wing plan and the subsequent announcement were made without consultation or engagement with the Undercroft community and users.

53 Henry Edwards-Wood, ‘Does Skateboarding Have a Future at Southbank’, Crossfire (26 February 2011)

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UK skater Nick Jensen, barrier as obstacle 2006 US skater Robbie Brockel jumps barrier 2014 Image © Sam Ashley Image © Ben Stewart

Skater Jim Slater and crew 1970s. Image © Skater Jim Slater and crew 2013. Image ©

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7.4 Proposed and unbuilt developments affecting the Undercroft

In addition to the changes that have taken place on and around the South Bank Estate over the years, there have also been an unusually large number of large-scale development schemes which have been proposed but – for a variety of reasons – never executed. Some plans have focused directly on the Undercroft; others, focusing on the site as a whole, have included the Undercroft within their scope.

In 1974, the GLC Arts and Recreation Department established a working party to look into ways to make artistic or commercial use of the Undercroft.54 The various proposals put forward ranged from a children’s theatre or play area to a public house, while a 3D cinema, aquarium, exhibition centre and Japanese garden were also considered.55 By 1976 however – perhaps as the result of the huge influx of skateboarders – these plans had been quietly abandoned. With the initial skateboarding craze cooling in 1978, the GLC once again began to consider the possibility new commercial uses, although no plans were ever formally drawn up.56

On 23 February 1983, the GLC announcement that the architect Cedric Price had been hired to bring about a ‘South Bank Renaissance’.57 In January of the following year Price produced an initial report for the GLC. However, by the summer, the prospect of abolition meant that the plans were dropped. It is unclear what impact Price’s plans would have had on the Undercroft from the few details that were released at the time, although a GLC official was quoted as saying that ‘there was no question of altering any of the existing buildings.’58

In October 1985, the newly founded South Bank Board announced plans for their own major overhaul of the area, with Terry Farrell appointed as consultant architect. Between 1985 and 1993, Farrell proposed three separate schemes for redevelopment, none of which came to fruition. All plans focused on the sixties complex of the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward, and significantly all would have put an end to the uses of the Undercroft.

The first scheme, developed from 1985-1986 involved demolishing the concrete walkways to create a ground level development, which would be topped by a vast glass roof, although planning permission was never submitted.

54 ‘Queen Elizabeth Hall – Undercroft’ (August 1974); ‘Note of a meeting held to at the Royal Festival Hal to discuss proposals for improving the undercroft at the Queen Elizabeth Hall’ (7 August 1974) [GLC/DG/AR/7/26] 55 ‘Note of a meeting to discuss the future of the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Undercroft at The County Hall’ (24 April 1975) [GLC/DG/AR/7/26] 56 ‘Memorandum to the Director of South Bank Concert Halls from the Clerk of the Recreation and Community Services Policy Committee’ (15 May 1978) [GLC/DG/AR/15/1] 57 GLC Press Release: ‘South Bank Renaissance’ (23 Feb. 1983) [GLC/DG/PRB/35/040/113] 58 ‘Brighter South Bank planned by GLC’, The Times (26 Feb. 1983)

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The second plan, announced in 1989, would have seen the Hayward, Purcell Room and Queen Elizabeth Hall, including Undercroft, ‘wrapped’ within a whole new building, to be filled with new shops and restaurants. These proposals met with resistance from the skateboarding community in the Undercroft, which received some coverage in the national press.59 The plans attracted resistance from community groups concerned about over-commercialisation, and the lack of attention paid to children and local residents. Lambeth Council expressed similar concerns.

The third plan, in 1991, called for the entire demolition of the sixties complex, to be replaced by new buildings on the other side of Hungerford Bridge, although the collapse of the property market with recession in the early nineties eventually put paid to the redevelopment.

In 1994, a new plan, this time with Richard Rogers as lead architect was put forward. The centrepiece of his design was a giant glass canopy enveloping the sixties complex and Undercroft to create a ‘South Bank Crystal Palace’.60 However, in 1998, when the South Bank Centre failed in their attempt to secure National Lottery funding from Arts Council England, the Rogers plans also fell through.61

Richard Rogers’ plan for the Southbank Centre. Image © Flickr User CC dalbera

59 Martin Pawley, ‘Repelling boarders’, The Guardian (20 March 1989) 60 ‘Rogers gets his chance to bring arts in from the cold’, The Guardian (9 Sep. 1994); Simon Tait, ‘South Bank in Crystal’, Illustrated London News (5 Dec. 1994) 61 ‘South bank “glass wave” scrapped’, The Guardian (11 Mar. 1998)

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In December 1998, new plans were announced by Southbank Centre for the sixties arts complex to be demolished and replaced.62 The Twentieth Century Society led opposition to the proposals.63 Eventually, a brief was drafted for a new masterplan which included the option of retaining the buildings.64

Original raised walkway between Belvedere Road and Royal Festival Hall

In May 1999, Southbank Centre appointed Rick Mather as the new masterplanner. Rick Mather Architects were ‘unanimously chosen from over 70 international practice's submissions to masterplan the 12 hectares (30 acre)’ and the masterplan intended to deliver ‘a framework for the improvement and extension of existing cultural facilities and public realm at this important central London site.’65 While he announced his intentions to keep the sixties buildings, he stated his intention to remove the complex’s walkways and fill its undercrofts.66 Though he initially announced grand plans, including the tilting of Jubilee Gardens to make room for three stories of new commercial buildings and two new 10-storey office blocks towering over the neighbouring arts buildings at either end of the site, the Southbank Centre has since opted for a gradualist approach to site development. The latest Festival Wing plans are claimed by the Southbank Centre to be the latest stage of the implementation of the Mather plan.

62 ‘UK South Bank overhaul’, BBC News (8 Dec. 1998) [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/231168.stm] 63 ‘Smith urged to intervene in South Bank demolition plans’, Architects’ Journal (17 Dec. 1998) 64 ‘Latest South Bank brief could save the Hayward’, Architects’ Journal (11 Feb. 1999) 65 Rick Mather Architects 66 ‘Master builder’, The Guardian (18 Feb 2000)

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Festival Wing

On 14 February 2013 Southbank Centre announced plans it stated would ‘Transform Festival Wing - the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery complex’, having appointed Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios (FCBS) as lead architect in October 2012. It stated ‘The Festival Wing project is the next stage of the masterplan’ and that ‘The design brief was to ‘refurbish and renew the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery, as well as explore a more ambitious project, which aims to reclaim unused and underused space to transform the whole of this complex.’ 67

The Rick Mather masterplan stated it ‘provides a framework for the improvement and extension of existing cultural facilities and public realm at this important central London site, including the Royal Festival Hall, the Hayward Gallery, the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Purcell Room, and the British Film Institute (comprising the National Film Theatre, the Museum of the Moving Image and the BFI library).’

The draft designs, including the first images of the proposed new Festival Wing, were presented at a public exhibition on 7 March 2013 in the Royal Festival Hall.

Festival Wing design illustration 2013. Fielden Clegg Bradley Studios

In was stated the project would ‘include the refurbishment and renewal of the existing 1960s buildings and the creation of major new arts spaces including a new glass pavilion, a new central foyer and a new liner building. The proposals will enable Southbank Centre to realise its vision to deliver a larger and more ambitious arts, educational and cultural programme across the site for all its visitors to enjoy.’ 68

67 Southbank Centre press release (14 Feb. 2013) 68 Southbank Centre press release (6 Mar. 2013)

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Southbank Centre stated the ‘Glass Pavilion will be a new world-class venue ‘floating’ on top of the Central Foyer. This flexible, flat floor space, with first-class acoustics, is designed to hold a full orchestra of 150 and choir of up to 250 plus small audience. The scale will attract the greatest orchestras and performers across the art forms to rehearse and perform in this new space. It will also be able to host national and international corporate events.’

The Festival Wing Plan was widely criticised by a large number of bodies including both English Heritage and Twentieth Century Society. English Heritage repeatedly criticised the overbearing dominance of the new developments both over Southbank Centre’s original buildings and also over the National Theatre. Twentieth Century Society objected for similar reasons, criticising the scale of the development and the lack of deference shown to the existing brutalist buildings.

On 14 September 2013 at the ‘Festival Wing Open Space Forum’, Artistic Director, Jude Kelly, stated that Southbank Centre had considered the complete demolition of the Queen Elizabeth Hall and adjoining buildings as one of the Festival Wing development options.

The Festival Wing scheme caused controversy and generated opposition over 2 main issues;

1. Lack of public consolation 2. Volume of commercial space

Public Consultation

Southbank Centre’s press release of February 2013 stated ‘public consultation will commence in March 2013.’ Meetings weren’t held with Underctoft users until the 2 April and 26 April and led by a group of individuals from Central Saint Martins – University of the Arts London.

The introduction of a ‘We Are Southbank Undercroft’ information structure, adjacent to the Undercroft, proved confusing to both Undercroft users and the public alike, who initially perceived it to be the official voice of the Undercroft community. The Central Saint Martins ‘We Are Southbank Undercroft’ team actually consisted of no members of the Undercroft community, past or present. This led in part to the skateboard community galvanising their own group, which in turn led to the establishing of Long Live Southbank as the definitive and official voice of Southbank Undercroft resident community and past and present users.

On 13 May 2013 the Undercroft user group attended a meeting at Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios where a selection of designs were presented which featured options retaining elements of the Undercroft for skateboarding. Similar designs featured on the We Are Southbank Undercroft website. Undercroft users questioned Southbank Centre as to why they were being shown these designs when the planning application, featuring no skateboard area in the Undercroft area, had already been submitted on 10 May. At the meeting, the architect from FCBS stated he had not been informed about the skaters concerns nor that there was an issue with the Undercoft space.

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Proposal for Undercroft space

The public consultation process was deemed confusing and misleading by user groups and local residents and a number of Southbank Centre data analysis and statistics were called into question. Many thought the meetings to be merely a formality and that their views were not being taken into account. The lack of public consultation caused the Festival Wing application to be withheld twice.

Volume of Commercial Space

Public meetings with local residents in June 2013 highlighted concerns of increased commercial retail units as part of The Festival Wing scheme with unanimous opposition at Waterloo Community Development Group and Coin Street Neighbourhood Centre meetings.

In this case the Application Site lies within the South Bank Conservation Area which has an allocated Land Use designation as a cultural use. The supporting Planning Statement, prepared by Gerald Eve, on behalf of SBC, provides a detailed justification for the proposed level of commercial space to be provided within the development in the context of UDP Policy 30(b) which states:

‘Protection of Theatres and Arts and Culture Facilities - Planning permission will not be given for a change of use of buildings built as theatres to a non-theatre use. Commercial developments associated with arts and cultural uses will be permitted where they are ancillary and complementary to the arts or cultural use, and where there is a clear and lasting benefit to the arts or cultural use. In addition, the Council will support unrelated commercial development at the Southbank Centre only if it can be shown to meet all of the following criteria:

(i) That it is essential to the development and/or the retention of arts and cultural facilities;

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(ii) That its development would not undermine the primary character and function of the South Bank Centre as an arts and cultural quarter; and (iii) That the proceeds of any such development are applied exclusively to support and enhance the South Bank Arts and Cultural Centre.’

Southbank Centre’s application documents make clear, ‘the statutory provision is satisfied if the development preserves or enhances the conservation areas, and there will be cases where proposals will do both. Character relates to physical characteristics but also to more general qualities such as uses or activity within an area. Appearance relates to the visible physical qualities of the area. The meaning of ‘preservation’ in this context is the ‘avoidance of harm.’’

During pre-application discussions between Southbank Centre and Lambeth officers it had been said that an appropriate parentage of commercial space that could be justified to be included as part of the redevelopment would be around 20% of the total floor space. The Planning Statement indicates the total floor space of 33,930 m2, 26,900 m2 will be for arts and cultural uses therefore providing the intention to deliver 20% of other commercial uses as part of the scheme.

Festival Wing and Hungerford Bridge plan layout

Whilst this level of commercial space might be considered to be acceptable for this development, it is unclear whether a wider assessment had been undertaken to understand the implications of maximising the level of commercial space within the development on the achievement of other improvements to the arts and culture offer in the remaining part of the Southbank Centre complex.

In stark contrast, 5.8% was agreed for total commercial use in 2002 in the re-submitted plans for the Royal Festival Hall refurbishment. Public opinion was decidedly against creeping commercialisation and an increase of commercial and retail space which seen a continual growth since 2008.

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8.0 THE UNDERCROFT: LONG LIVE SOUTHBANK

8.1 Long Live Southbank

Origins

Adopting a name that had already been in use by Underroft locals, Long Live Southbank (LLSB) is a not-for-profit organisation set up by the Undercroft community and users, the purpose of which is to protect the Southbank Undercroft and its resident community and unique culture, and to ensure it remains in its present location, free from external influence and alteration. The community created a preservation campaign, galvanising a diverse and passionate group, consisting of skaters, other Undercroft users, as well as people from the wider creative community and people who enjoy observing the Undercroft activities.

LLSB believes Southbank Undercroft’s cultural and historical status, which organically-evolved in this found space, to be irreplaceable, and that its unique architecture and the vitality of the thriving Undercroft community, which are inextricably linked, should be saved for future generations.

Long Live Southbank has a system of membership whereby people who support the campaign have the opportunity to join officially. Each person signs up to the statement;

I wish to become a member of Long Live Southbank, the purpose of which is to protect the skate area at the Undercroft, South Bank.

Background

The organisatiuon and campaign was set up in response to Southbank Centre’s announcement in early March 2013 that it intended to redevelop the site with its £120 million ‘Festival Wing’ scheme, a plan which featured the replacing of the iconic Southbank Undercroft skate spot with commercial retail units.

The organisations first principles were to preserve the community and culture in its current and traditional location, and oppose the proposed relocation to a space at an alternative site under Hungerford Bridge. Southbank Centre initially allocated £100,000 from its £120 million scheme as a budget to redevelop the empty Hungerford Bridge site into a programmable space which would feature a design with skateable elements. Long Live Southbank’s campaign explained why the culture and community could not simply be picked up and moved and that the Festival Wing scheme would mean the end of a historical space with 40 years of evolution and progression, and that any new site would have to start its community and culture from scratch. It also explained the symbiotic relationship between the Undercroft space and its users and why that inextricable link

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meant that a ‘migration’ would not be something that would happen, regardless of what was proposed for an alternate site.

Southbank Undercroft is known as ‘the birthplace of British skateboarding and internationally renowned both within the skateboarding scene and beyond. It is also known as the ‘oldest continuously skated spot in the world.’ People visit the site from across the globe as a form of pilgrimage to what is regarded as a skateboarding ‘mecca.’

The campaign created straplines which explained and reinforced its first principles including;

You Can’t Move History Preservation NOT Relocation Construction WITHOUT Destruction

Membership Long Live Southbank membership currently stands at over 150,000 people.

Legal Long Live Southbank are represented by legal firm King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin.

Council Long Live Southbank are provided advice by UpRise, an equality campaign managed by arts collective, BrazenBunch.

Achievements

During its 17 month existence, the Long Live Southbank campaign has amassed a number of significant achievements. These include;

- Securing the Undercroft’s listing as an Asset of Community Value by Lambeth Council.

- Over 150,000 members who have signed up to the preservation statement.

- Collected the largest number of planning permission objections in UK history; 14,000 delivered to Lambeth Town Hall on 4th July 2013 27,286 delivered to Lambeth Town Hall on 2nd January 2014 6,644 delivered to Lambeth Town Hall following 2nd January 2014

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- Forced the withdrawal of both the Festival Wing planning applications.

- Kept a campaign table presence outside the Undercroft every day for over 17 months, almost without exception.

- Reached out to the UK and global skate scene with the most notable companies, individuals and organisations supporting Long Live Southbank campaign.

- Mobilised hundreds of young people on event days. On January 2nd around 100 young people skated the planning permission objection forms on a 3 mile journey from Southbank Undercroft to Lambeth Town Hall in Brixton.

- Ran a successful online social media campaign without any PR or marketing company.

- Managed to engage, and gain support from, a wide spectrum of the public, despite no real mainstream media support, and negative campaigning from Southbank Centre.

- Secured the support of the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who released a statement in favour of the campaign, recognising the Undercroft as ‘part of the cultural fabric of London’ and stating that ‘redevelopment should not be at the detriment of the skate park, which should be retained in its current position.’

- Case study for numerous student dissertations, final projects and course work.

Additionally, Long Live Southbank have been awarded ‘engagement campaign of the year’ at the annual Change Opinion Awards and was the choice of ‘Great comms campaigns I wish I'd done’ by the head of communications of Friends of the Earth at a seminar organised by CharityComms.

Skater Thomas TG jumps objection form boxes Southbank Undercroft objection delivery day 2014. Images © Sam Ashley

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First objection delivery at Lambeth Town Hall Second objection delivery at Lambeth Town Hall July 3013. Image © Long Live Southbank January 2014. Image © Sam Ashley

Educational Engagement

Long Live Southbank has engaged with over 200 students from schools, colleges and universities from around the UK. The campaign has been contacted by numerous schools, supplementary schools, colleges, universities and education-focused community groups, with whom LLSB has collaborated with or provided assistance to.

Examples include; - Dammy Fasoranti - Masters Student of Sociology University of Manchester - travelled all the way to London to speak to local skaters - Theo McInnes - PhD Student from Leeds writing on unconventional occupation of public space and how it is reclaimed and remade in contemporary cities - Sara Kazuro - Architecture student from Central St Martins who received a First

School engagement at D*Face visual art 2013. © Long Live Southbank

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School students. © Jamie Rothwell Geography undergraduates 2014. © LLSB

Supporters

In addition to the international skateboarding scene, people from across the arts and beyond, and from countries around the word, have committed their support to preservation signing up to the following statement:

For the past 40 years skateboarders, BMXers and graffiti artists have inhabited the space under the Queen Elizabeth Hall, an organically appropriated environment which is the oldest of its kind in the world. For the duration of its existence it has been prolific in giving rise to some of the UK’s most respected leaders in the creative industries.

The Southbank Centre’s plan to redevelop facilities by transforming the Undercroft into retail space neglects to recognise the space as an integral part of the riverside’s cultural history and identity. The displacement of the resident community to a contrived, purpose built skate park under the Hungerford Bridge would destroy a crucial hub of learning, diversity and inter-generational interaction, denying this thriving, natural, collaborative space to future street culture pioneers.

We urge you to reconsider the plans for the Festival Wing so that any redevelopments include the iconic Undercroft skate area in its present and traditional capacity as a celebrated part of London’s cultural offering.

Though not used to lead the campaign, Long Live Southbank has received active support from politicians, academics and people from all walks of life and life experiences, as well as high profile people from sports, the arts, entertainment, music, theatre and film.

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8.2 Statement of Need

Southbank skate spot is a found space that by nature of its design was found to be the perfect architecture and topography for the art of skateboarding. It has influenced generations of skaters as part of a continual narrative and has achieved legendary status on the international skateboarding scene. Though the size of the space has been reduced in the past decade, for over 30 years the entire spaces of the original Undercroft was explored and use to develop more and more complex tricks and physical possibilities by the resident skateboarders.

The essence of Southbank is that if you can visualise it, you can realise it.

There are many tales of tricks achieved by skaters from across the world spanning decades which have become folklore and part of a common practice of oral history. Many of the physical effects of achievements are etched into the Undercroft stonework. Southbank is one of the world’s most famous skate spots.

Lines carved in stone. Image © Sam Ashley 40 years of skateboard tricks. © Sam Ashley

There is a tradition of elders mentoring younger generations in terms of Southbank Undercroft history, skateboarding general ethos and values, and engaging with wider society in general. The space is self-managed and self-regulated with new visitors, and those establishing themselves as new locals, provided an insight into etiquette and best practices for sharing the space respectfully with others.

The space is a training ground for creative expression with many people citing Southbank Undercroft a the environment which helped hone and develop their skills and talents including; Professional skaters, BMX riders, visual artists, photographers, filmmakers, graphic designers, animators, clothes designers, musicians and creative writers. These include people who are well- respected high profile people within these fields.

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The inextricable connection between the people and the physical space cannot be replicated, replaced, reproduced. There is a profound relationship with has developed over the decades. The intangible heritage this generates creates an ongoing legacy which continues to inspire each wave of new skaters. Equally in reverse, past generations of skaters continue to be inspired at the challenging new possibilities which are conceptualised and realised at the Undercroft.

The ambience and the atmosphere of Southbank Undercroft is vibrant and energised with an effervescent and ethereal quality that is the manifestation of years of passion and love for the space, by the thousands upon thousands of people who feel so emotively connected to it.

The relationship extends beyond the traditional spaces of the Undercroft and to the wider local environment, including the other areas of the immediate brutalist architecture and other objects and structures along the South Bank as well as the Hungerford Bridge graveyard, which are all connected to the historical storyline. Another integral part of this interconnected cultural narrative is the riverside fence and kerb, used for over 40 years as a communal place to congregate.

Riverside fence. Image © Jamie Rothwell © Alec McLeish © Finn Andres

The existence of this endurance of expression resonates with the hundreds of thousands of people who come to observe this symbiotic creative event. Some of whom catch merely a glimpse, some who stay and watch for long periods, and the many who are repeat visitors. There are many examples of 3 and even 4 generations of families who come specifically to the South Bank to watch the skaters. Millions of ordinary people are exposed to an exciting and energetic art form and culture. It also one of the few examples of somewhere the public are able to watch people honing their craft through relentless practice, and where ‘failure’ is not seen as something negative, but as part of an endurance and commitment to the advancement of attaining that elusive skateboard tick - both by attempting signature tricks achieved by others, and by creating never-before-done ticks of a skaters own creation.

In order for this culture to continue and to evolve, it requires the opportunity to continue its own life, and breathing space to explore new interpretation and possibilities. In order to achieve true

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preservation, this would mean no outside or external influence, interruption, regulations or restrictions. This is to allow the organic evolution of the space and the community to continue by self-determination, as has been for over 40 years.

The space would need to remain free and open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year as it used around the clock, all year round. It is a place of pilgrimage and, almost daily, Southbank is visited by skateboarders from all areas of the UK and internationally. Throughout summer in particular, skaters arrive from all over the world to skate at Southbank. As a place of learning, the local community expand knowledge from a mutual exchange of skateboarding style, culture and life experiences, and grow as people because of new interactions and understandings. This stems from a huge variety of things: the 40 years of history, the huge number of famous tricks that have been landed there, the aesthetics, the architecture, the graffiti, the street art, the riverside location, the collective creativity of the locals, the acoustics of the place, the locals who don’t skate, the influence of the homeless on the scene, the history of persecution of skating at Southbank, the fact it has its own existence and free from the regulated establishment which surrounds it.

The Undercroft community and users would welcome a new paradigm for the future of the space and its community and culture, one that see a productive synergy and relationship with the managers and custodians of the Southbank Centre site, one that creates a new and positive chapter in the history of the space.

8.3 Restoring the original Undercroft

When first built 1967, the unique Undercroft architectural design was much larger in size than it is today, filling the entirety of the space beneath the Queen Elizabeth Hall. It contained unique architectural features which gave the area a distinct look and feel.

Original Undercroft space west section facing north © Richie Hopson

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In the summer of 2005, during the refurbishment of the Festival Hall, however, the accessible area was decreased – with no prior warning, consultation or planning permission – by approximately two thirds.

The Southbank Centre issued a statement explaining the move:

The undercroft area has been temporarily reduced in area for skateboarding to accommodate some staff displaced following the closure of the Festival Hall. […] It is intended to release as much of the undercroft space as possible in the Spring of 2007 when the Festival Hall is due to be re-opened. But some parts of the undercroft may still be required in the medium term.69

However, to this day, and despite opening new offices alongside the refurbished Festival Hall, Southbank Centre have refused to release any of the ‘temporarily’ closed area. In 2008, the Southbank Centre stated that it had ‘no immediate plans to redevelop this part of its site’.

Recently, it has become clear that the Southbank Centre has abandoned the prospect of ever reopening the space for its original uses, but has instead earmarked it as a potential site for further commercial and artistic uses.

Original Undercroft space east section facing north east to east

69 ‘South Bank Centre Newsletter for Skateboarders’ (2005)

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In the summer of 2012, Southbank Centre released a press release stating that ‘disused space under the Queen Elizabeth Hall’ had been transformed into the ‘Festival Village’, a new arts and exhibition space which also included a new bar and café.70

From 2012 to 2014 the space renamed and Festival Village has seen limited use and is often closed for long periods of time. Sporadic usage has included; a bar, exhibition space, meeting room, children’s play area.

In the ‘Festival Wing’ planning application, which intended the infilling of the currently open Undercroft space with retail units, Southbank Centre identifies the additional Undercroft spaces beneath the Festival Wing. Southbank Centre stated its intention to reopen further Undercroft spaces ‘that are either inaccessible or unusable…This will provide a range of new cultural and retail spaces, including spaces dedicated to children and young people, and the potential for a Heritage and Archive centre focussed on the heritage of the Southbank centre.’

According to Policy 7.8 of the London Plan, ‘Developments should…restore, re-use and incorporate heritage assets.’ Given the long history of the Undercroft as a site for skateboarding and other urban creative arts – stretching back to the 1970s – and its relatively recent reduction in size, it is clear that the heritage value of the site covers not only the currently open space, but extends to the wider area closed off in 2005. Particularly in light of Southbank Centre’s recent plans to re-open and re-connect the former Undercroft spaces (albeit for different uses), there is therefore a strong case to be made for its holistic restoration as an important heritage site with distinctive architectural features.

Original Undercroft 1987. Images © Tim Brown

70 Southbank Centre press release: ‘Disused space under the Queen Elizabeth Hall at Southbank Centre transformed into new ‘Festival Village’ arts hub’ (August 2012)

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If the Undercrofts are to be re-opened and re-connected, then under Policy 7.8 of the London Plan, there is an argument for their restoration back to the original skate spaces as first discovered in 1973, and first publically documented in 1976. The architectural and cultural restoration would reinstate an internationally recognised landmark in its entirety, and reignite the full potential of the found space.

1976. © Brian Gittings Main Undercroft area 1990s. ©

8.4 A way forward

It is recognised by Long Live Southbank, along with many other significant and pertinent individuals and organisations, that the Undercroft is an important component within the overall master- planning of the site, but in order for the Southbank Centre to receive support with any planning application, radical redesign is required. Any proposal directing the Undercroft should be developed from scratch by formulating a brief which would meet the needs of all community groups. A transparent process is required that would involve in depth consultations throughout all significant work stages with all key stakeholders of the space. This would initiate a way forward involving all community groups who would work together to develop proposals to ensure that any new design regarding the space will meet the needs of the individual community groups.

In the first instance, any plan affecting the Undercroft spaces should feature preliminary discussions with the Undercroft community representatives. Any decisions should be by agreement of the Undercroft community and the landowners, Southbank Centre and the Arts Council.

The landowners, Southbank Centre and the Arts Council, or any subsequent landowner or change of managerial structure must ensure they fully understand the needs of the Undercroft community and the resonance the community and its practices have on the local community and visitors to the site.

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Preservation of the community and its culture and expressions and practices must be in situ and incorporate the traditional and historical spaces.

Preservation must be with complete honesty and integrity and free from external influence and without alteration or corruption from third parties or those outside of the established community.

The landowners, Southbank Centre and the Arts Council, should ensure a permanent and secure future for the physical space and structures, and the resident community and their traditional and evolving practices.

The preservation of Southbank Undercroft must be in the form of a legal guarantee securing the space’s future, free from regulation, so the culture and artforms can continue to emerge and evolve organically, safe in the knowledge that the community and users will no longer have to fight for its survival.

The Undercroft community and users wish to form a new relationship with Southbank Centre, one that is built on mutual trust and respect.

The Undercroft community and users also wish both parties to exchange a deeper understanding to the respective contributions both make to London’s cultural landscape, and the UK’s artistic identity on a global stage.

This would signify the opportunity to create a new symbiotic chapter in the Southbank Centre history, where all those who have a connection to the site, can benefit from working with each other’s commonalities and differences, to create an eclectic creative tapestry.

On a practical level, in return for the number of visitors the skate spot directly brings to the area, the Undercroft community would expect to receive appropriate lighting and maintenance that is afforded to other areas of the site.

The beginning pages of this report explored the history of the site and how many significant buildings and aspects of the area have been removed or lost, many decisions which were later considered to be regrettable.

The endurance of Southbank Undercroft and its community is a testament to foresight and exemplifies why something so unique can, and should, be preserved.

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9.0 STATEMENTS OF SUPPORT

A number of high profile organisations and individuals have spoken out in favour of the Undercroft’s preservation. This section collects together statements of support for preservation from a number of respected authorities and experts in the fields of heritage, preservation, architecture, policy, town planning, social cohesion, community wellbeing, culture and the arts.

English Heritage

English Heritage is the Government's statutory adviser on the historic environment. It has supported the statutory listing of the Queen Elizabeth Hall, of which the Undercroft is a part, as well as the adjacent Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery.

“The skate area in the undercroft of the Queen Elizabeth Hall is strongly valued by those that use and engage with it, who consider the space to be part of their cultural and social identity. For those people, it is not only a source of identity but also distinctiveness, social interaction, and coherence. In addition to this evident communal value, the undercroft has some historic value as a place used for skating in the early days of a sport which has gone on to be a significant influence on fashion and culture.

“In terms of the historic value, the undercroft has a three-sided concrete bank which mimicks the form of a wave and may very well be the reason the undercroft was first colonised by skaters. Although skating is now restricted to the Queen Elizabeth Hall's undercroft area, it once took place across a much wider area of the South Bank.”

- Simon Hickman, Inspector of Historic Buildings and Areas, English Heritage

Twentieth Century Society

The Twentieth Century Society (C20) exists to safeguard the heritage of architecture and design in Britain from 1914 onwards. Its main activities are campaigning for the preservation of buildings and educating the public on their significance.

C20 has repeatedly called for the listing of the 1960s Southbank Centre complex. C20 has consistently opposed the Festival Wing scheme and supported the campaign by Long Live Southbank to preserve the Undercroft. In October 2013, C20 released designs for an alternative Southbank Centre redevelopment scheme that would preserve the Undercroft.71

71 http://www.c20society.org.uk/news/press-release-c20-society-unveils-alternative-south-bank-centre- scheme/

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“Along with English Heritage, The Twentieth Century Society has repeatedly called for the listing of this ensemble, constructed by the LCC’s / GLC’s Architect’s Department between 1963 and ‘68. The Southbank Centre sits in the Southbank Conservation Area, between the National Theatre (Grade II * listed) and Royal Festival Hall (Grade I listed). The complex showcases some of the best and most important architecture from this period in the country.

“We feel that the skateboarding use brings a unique visual and cultural interest to this part of the South Bank that draws in a large audience to the site in its own right. This allows a diverse audience to appreciate the sculptural form of the concrete mushroom columns of this undercroft space.”

- Catherine Croft, Director, Twentieth Century Society

Open Spaces Society

The Open Spaces Society (OSS) was founded in 1865 as the Commons Preservation Society. It is Britain’s oldest national conservation body. Over the last century OSS has worked to preserve commons for the enjoyment of the public. It has also been active in protecting the historical and vital rights-of-way network through England and Wales. OSS has been a strong supporter of Long Live Southbank, and intervened at a judicial review hearing in March 2014 to support the attempt to register the Undercroft as a village green.

“The Open Spaces Society considers that the Undercroft is of immense value as a public open space, in the heart of London, where people may enjoy a variety of activities. It is a skateboarding centre, social hub, and much more. Such spaces cannot just be re-created elsewhere, they take decades to develop and are crucial to the Southbank community as well as to visitors from near and far.”

- Kate Ashbrook, General Secretary, Open Space Society

The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings

The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) was founded by William Morris in 1877 to counteract the highly destructive 'restoration' of medieval buildings being practiced by many Victorian architects. Today it is the largest, oldest and most technically expert national pressure group fighting to save old buildings from decay, demolition and damage.

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“The SPAB has followed the recent debate concerning the proposals for the redevelopment of the Southbank Centre with some interest. Although we generally concentrate on responding to listed building consent applications relating to pre-1720 buildings, we chose to support our colleagues at the Twentieth Century Society by objecting to the planning application for alterations and extensions to the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery essentially because we were concerned by the lack of overall understanding of the heritage significance of the site.

We highlighted what we perceived to be a fundamental flaw in the vision for the redevelopment project. Projects such as the emerging scheme for the neighbouring National Theatre by Howarth Tomkins and the acclaimed refurbishment of the Royal Festival Hall, completed by Allies and Morrison in 2007, demonstrate that a conservation- led approach to the redevelopment of modern buildings can deliver much needed change without damaging the special qualities and interest of the original architecture. The issue of the Undercoft below the Queen Elizabeth Hall has proven to be a salient reminder of the need to understand not just the design of modern spaces but their historic and evolving use as well as their connection with the local community. The key to success is making sure that the significance of the existing place is fully understood to begin with, and then ensuring that there is consensus as to the elements that should be protected and those areas that may be capable of beneficial change. This process is vital to each and every redevelopment project whether the building is of great age or is a more recent work of architecture, such as the Southbank Centre.

Interestingly, the high profile media debate that has arisen over the current proposals demonstrates just how difficult the challenge of identifying, articulating and safeguarding the value and significance of modern cultural institutions can be. Ironically, if the Southbank Centre had taken a more positive stance towards the question of listing the building then the insights revealed as part of the assessment exercise might have been used to develop a scheme acceptable to all the many user groups.”

- Sara Crofts, Deputy Director and Head of Casework, SPAB

Fields in Trust

Fields In Trust (FIT), founded as the National Playing Fields Association in 1925, works throughout the UK to safeguard and improve outdoor recreational spaces for sport and play for future generations.

“Outdoor recreational spaces are a vital resource that help to create stronger and healthier communities. The mental and physical health benefits provided by such spaces are well

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documented along with the opportunities they provide for young people to develop essential skills.

Not only is the Undercroft iconic, it is a fantastic urban example of public recreational space and how these spaces can help bring people together.”

- Helen Griffiths, Chief Executive, Fields in Trust

The National Community Land Trust Network

The National CLT Network is the national body for Community Land Trusts in England and Wales.

“The National Community Land Trust exists to represent and celebrate people who are fighting out of love to nurture a place or way of life that they care about. The skating community at the Southbank Centre are a fantastic example of this. The Undercroft is a free space for people to express themselves on a site of real significance to a global youth culture. It is part of what makes our capital city brilliant.”

- Catherine Harrington, Director, National CLT Network

Museum of London

“At the Museum of London we are redefining our approach to content - from what we collect to the stories that we tell of London. The tradition of skateboarding in London runs through our content themes of Creative Capital and Iconic London. Despite our collections exceeding 3 million artefacts, there is little trace within our record of London of skateboarding culture.

The depth of feeling and the sense of identity that has coalesced around the issue of the Southbank Undercroft leaves me considering how we can rectify that. Certainly when I review our collections we can see the past record of many people and groups who through their actions, beliefs and sense of identity have been intrinsic to the life of London. Because of their potency and endurance it is hard to question the validity of the skaters on the Southbank, almost as much as it’s hard to question that of buskers or street artists.”

- Sharon Ament, Director, Museum of London

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Greater London Authority

In October 2013, Long Live Southbank was invited to attend a meeting of the London Assembly’s Planning Committee to highlight the plight of the Undercroft and discuss the importance of the Localism Act’s Assets of Community Value scheme. After a positive and constructive discussion, Assembly Member and Committee Chair, Nicky Gavron, told Long Live Southbank representatives, “You’ve had a lot of support around the table from members. In fact, you’ve had total support from members.”

Written support has also been given by London Assembly Members; Caroline Pidgeon MBE, Darren Johnson, Jennette Arnold OBE and Jenny Jones.

Mayor of London

In January 2014, the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, spoke out in favour of preserving the Undercroft. The Mayor told a preliminary planning meeting at City Hall:

“I wholeheartedly support the principle of enhancing the world-class cultural facilities at the Southbank Centre and am encouraged by many of the aspects of their plans. However, redevelopment should not be at the detriment of the skate park, which should be retained in its current position.

“The skate park is the epicentre of UK skateboarding and is part of the cultural fabric of London. This much-loved community space has been used by thousands of young people over the years. It attracts tourists from across the world and undoubtedly adds to the vibrancy of the area – it helps to make London the great city it is.”

Prime Minister Gordon Brown (2008)

In 2008, in response to a petition started by campaigners to protect the Undercroft and delivered to Downing Street, the then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown issued a statement in which he recognised “the importance of the Undercroft in bringing together skateboarders from across the UK and the value that the skateboarding community has brought to many young people and the South Bank area itself.” The statement continued:

“Any activity that engages and develops young people can have a very positive impact on society and the skateboarding community that has grown up around the Undercroft has brought together people from various backgrounds, created a vibrant public space and added real value to the lives of many young people.”

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Kate Hoey MP

Kate Hoey has been the MP for Vauxhall, the constituency in which the Undercroft is situated, since 1989. In June 2013, she delivered a petition to the House of Commons opposing the Southbank Centre’s Festival Wing plans and seeking to protect the current uses of the Undercroft:

“I have great pleasure in delivering to Parliament and presenting a petition of 40,000 signatures in support of retaining the skateboarding area in the Southbank Centre in my constituency […]This is a culturally and historically important area of the South Bank. The Southbank Centre has some very new plans, which everybody wants to see happening, except that it has not engaged with and involved the skateboarders, and it wants them to move to an area which would not be one that they had built up themselves. The Centre wants to have its restaurants where the skateboarders are, but many people feel that the restaurants could be where it wants to take the skateboarders. Whatever the situation is, my petition is very clear: some 40,000 people, and many more, want to retain skateboarding in the South Bank.”

Ben Bradshaw MP

Benjamin Bradshaw has been the MP for Exeter since 1997. He was the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport from 2009 to 2010:

“I know that they’ve offered an alternative site but in a way that misses the point because this site has built up organically from the skateboarders themselves, generations of skateboarders, going back decades.

I can think of countless examples in other areas of culture and art where something that somebody tries to give you or impose on you doesn’t actually end up being that successful or very creative or very new or very exciting. Whereas something that has grown up from the grass roots, from the bottom, organically ends up being of real cultural value.”

Dr Oliver Mould

Dr Oliver Mould is a lecturer in human geography at Royal Holloway, University of London. He has researched and written widely on city space and urban subcultures.

“The South Bank's proposed Festival Wing plan in its current incarnation represents a broader development process occurring across many of the world's cities. Using 'culture' as a byword for consumerist and economic development, the South Bank is essentially valorising one kind of culture over another; namely a consumerist, economic version over an

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‘alternative’ and subcultural version. The Southbank Centre in London is no doubt one of the country’s most famous and important cultural ‘centres’, but the expansion into the Festival Wing (and associated eradication of the Undercroft skate spot) is actually narrowing the current culture of the area. It is doing so by encouraging consumption and spending on a specific type of culture, one that makes money for the investors. Anything that doesn’t form part of that narrative, such as the Undercroft, is being displaced. As such, the cultural offerings that the Festival Wing plan foretells seems to narrow the provision of culture, rather than the ‘culture for all’ that their tagline suggests. If the South Bank Centre really is committed to broadening the cultural offerings, then the preservation of the Undercroft, and the (sub)cultural community it represents, is paramount. The skate area already attracts marginalised young people; it already allows them to form diverse communities around a shared common interest; it already promotes social interaction, healthy living, and cultural engagement. The desire for saleable retail space is simply not reason enough to destroy a place-based community that already performs the benefits the plans are attempting to promote.”

Dr William Gallois

Dr William Gallois is a cultural historian and Senior Lecture in Modern Middle East History at Exeter University’s Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies. He has supported the preservation of the Undercroft, and written to English Heritage to oppose its current Certificate of Immunity from Listing.

“The simple test which English Heritage ought to apply in such cases is one in which we imagine that we find ourselves one or two hundred years in the future and speculate as to whether our descendants will regret the manner in which we erased significant aspects of our own built culture. In the case of the Undercroft, it is quite plain that future generations will have an interest in youth and street cultures of the late twentieth century and the twenty-first century, most especially where existing urban spaces are re-used and transformed, as has been the case here. The experiences of living in the city which sites such as the Undercroft describe will be important to later generations of historians and citizens, who seek to understand how we lived our lives.”

Dr David Webb

Dr David Webb is a lecturer in Town Planning, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape at Newcastle University.

“Sometimes we are faced with making decisions about buildings and urban spaces that require us to step back and re-appraise our established ways of doing things. Planning is

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used to thinking about the way places look, the function they perform and whether proposals for change will contribute to wider objectives. It seeks to make a balanced decision about what is in the public interest. The proposal to redevelop the Undercroft challenges this mindset.

The Undercroft’s importance is not about its contribution to leisure provision or to the global image of London as an economic centre. It raises important questions about our willingness to understand the different ways in which people relate to the city, and points of principle about people’s right to use it. Retaining the Undercroft signals that, as a culture, we are still able to respect those relationships, even when they are different to our own. Redeveloping it would be a worrying signal of our dependence on short-term economic thinking.”

Dr Matthew Barac

Dr Matthew Barac is Research Leader for Architecture at London South Bank University. He is a chartered architect with a background in professional practice and academia and his doctoral research won plaudits including the RIBA President's Award for Research and the International Bauhaus Award.

“It has been interesting to watch this debate unfold and mutate because, rather surprisingly, it seems to be the case that no one saw it coming. This is particularly ironic in the case of the Southbank Centre. In recent times the Centre has actively addressed the project of reconceptualising itself with a view to engaging with new audiences: with those who are younger, who are ethnically and economically diverse, who do not necessarily see themselves as ‘cultured’ or part of an intellectual elite. In their efforts to rethink and rebrand their offer they have, quite brazenly at times, adopted edgy or ‘counter-culture’ tropes – such as covering the buildings in graffiti seemingly transplanted from Shoreditch, or turning the promenade into something resembling Notting Hill market.

These strategies suggest that the institution wants to embrace (and even appropriate) the forms and values of those who have traditionally been, or at least felt, excluded from what it stands for. And yet, when push comes to shove, the Undercroft – that symbol of edginess and counter-culture that the Southbank Centre is lucky enough to have embedded at its very core – appears to be expendable. It is beyond belief that nobody at the top of the Southbank Centre managerial tree appreciates the irony of setting out to destroy it when it is the one that makes the institution credible to an audience that has, for so long, been beyond its grasp.

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Dr Tim Snelson

Tim Snelson is a lecturer in media history at University of East Anglia. He has written widely on youth culture and media and is currently working on a research project on the Long Live Southbank campaign and youth political engagement.

“We are bombarded with media and political rhetoric stating that young people are politically disengaged and disregard community and environmental concerns. The forty year struggle to preserve the Undercroft as the physical and emotional hub of British skateboarding demonstrates that young people are passionate and committed about politics and heritage when it is relevant to their creative and emotional lives. Displacing the generations of young people who have worked tirelessly and collaboratively to create and preserve the Undercroft sends out a message that their interests and concerns have no place in British political and cultural life.”

Dr Paul Sweetman

Dr Paul Sweetman is a Senior Lecturer in Culture, Media and Creative Industries, King’s College London. He was previously a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Southampton and has a PhD in Sociology and MA in the Sociology of Contemporary Culture from the University of York.

Dr Michal Garapich

Dr Michal Garapich is a social anthropologist, lecturer and Research Fellow at CROMM (Centre for Research on Migration and Multiculturalism) at the University of Roehampton, specialising in the issues of migration, ethnicity, nationalism and multiculturalism.

Sxip Shirey

Sxip Shirey is a composer and producer from New York City, and Music Director for LIMBO at the Southbank Centre and in Syndey, Bogota, Paris and Brooklyn.

“There are places in every city that the residents bemoan don’t exist anymore. Places that made the city unique and special. The story is always the same, they were razed to create more apartments or commercial space or a new building that is not as functional as the old. The people who destroyed them look like historical idiots. The question is always ‘Why did we let them take that away from our city?’ The Southbank skate spot is one of those places.

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When I went to London for the first time and then to South Bank, it was the skate spot that impressed me. The fact that the Royal National Theatre and the skate park were right next to each other said something great about this city. Great art evolves from the street first and this was a beautiful nod to just that.”

INTERNATIONAL SKATEBOARDING SCENE

Andrew Brophy Professional Skateboarder, Australia “Southbank has been the birthplace of many great skateboarders and to take that away would be like taking a chunk of London’s sporting history. Preserve and persist for the future of skateboarding in London.”

Andrew Reynolds Professional Skateboarder and Founder of Baker Skateboards, USA “It’s just a legendary skate spot that’s a big part of skateboarding, it has a lot of history in skateboarding.”

Arto Saari Professional Skateboarder, Finland “Southbank is one of those few places left in the world that’s been around for a long time and has a lot of history in skateboarding and in the purest form. Southbank is one of the original skate spots that’s bred some of the best skateboarders in the world.”

Ben Powell Co-founder and Editor of Sidewalk skateboarding magazine, UK “This place is imbued with so much history and culture that if you get rid of it, all of that echo goes. Culture is more important than money, and culture can’t be bought, it can’t be sold, it just is. That’s 50 years of culture. Generation upon generation upon generation. Just go and stand at the railings for 5 minutes and tell me that that’s not a culturally important thing that’s happening there.”

Benny Fairfax Professional Skateboarder, UK

Blondey McCoy Sponsored Skateboarder, UK “I came here first when I was 11. Everyone’s mainly here for the vibe and the environment that's developed over 40 years. It’s the heart of British skateboarding. When you come here,

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you feel like you’re literally part of the history of it, which is a massive deal. I’ve grown up here. I’d hate to imagine an 11 year old that didn’t have this opportunity”

Caswell Berry Professional Skateboarder, USA

Chad Muska Professional Skateboarder, USA “Southbank is a must when you come to London! It is just as important as Big Ben or any other iconic landmark in the city. I love that place and it is the last of a dying breed of natural streets spots that skaters can turn to. I remember seeing it in a magazine and being like woah that place is rad. It’s one of those spots, when you see it it just sticks out, you just want to find out where it’s at.

If this place is taken away from the kids, you know they’re not going to have this place, they’re not going to have this inspirational place where young kids can come and see a pro skate or see another guy rip and all this stuff and give them the inspiration to go ‘hey man I just skated with this pro here maybe someday maybe I could become pro someday’. To me this is like the epitome of skateboarding and what it represents to us is going on down there every single day. Skateboarding is Southbank. It’s the kids coming together, pushing themselves, having fun, enjoying life and doing something positive.”

Chewy Cannon Professional Skateboarder, UK

Chima Ferguson Professional Skateboarder, Australia

Chris Pullman Skateboarder and Manager of Slam City Skates skate shop, UK “It’s a free spot and it’s a natural spot where kids can come here and see people who are going to be role models in a lot of ways. They are going to see people who are going to inspire them to get off their arse and do something, they are going to inspire them to push themselves, they are going to inspire them to maybe try and make skateboarding a job which is perfectly possible, or if not they are going to be out and they are going to be fit, they are not going to be sitting at home playing X-Box.”

Davis Torgerson Professional Skateboarder, USA “Every big city that has a skateboarding scene has a spot that everyone can recognise […] when you think of London, you think of Southbank immediately. An Iconic spot like Southbank is important because maybe you’re a kid that lives like 20 minutes outside the

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city […] and you immediately want to come here because this is what you see in videos. When you think of skateboarding you think ‘oh yeah I saw someone do a tailslide on this ledge at Southbank and now I want to try and do that’.”

Dustin Dollin Professional Skateboarder, Australia

Ed Templeton Professional Skateboarder and Artist, USA

Eric Koston Professional Skateboarder and co-owner of Fourstar Clothing and skate website The Berrics, USA

Gareth Skewis Owner Palace Skateboards, UK

Geoff Rowley Professional Skateboarder and Founder of Flip Skateboards, UK/USA “It’s one of the most iconic skate spots in the whole world, as far as the cultural significance in Europe, there is nothing that comes even close to Southbank. Places like Southbank are so important for young kids. It’s a really positive thing for kids to do. Skateboarding is the fastest growing pastime in the world. It’s really vital that the city acknowledges that.”

Greg Finch Professional Skateboarder, UK

Guy Mariano Professional Skateboarder and co-owner of Fourstar Clothing, USA

Henry Kingsford Skate Photographer, UK

Javier Sarmiento Professional Skateboarder, Spain

John Cardiel Professional Skateboarder, USA

Joleon Pressey Professional Skateboarder, UK

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Justin Brock Professional Skateboarder, USA “I think we need to keep Southbank around. I mean look at how many people walk past and stop just to watch skateboarding and skateboarding has turned this spot that wasn’t built for skating , look a now and look at how many people enjoy it. ”

Keith Hufnagel Professional Skateboarder and Founder of HUF streetwear, USA “It gives kids like a family. They are able to express themselves in art, in design in whatever they see going on and it gives them a learning experience outside of the house.”

Kevin Parrott Marketing Manager Volcom

Dr Lee Bofkin Co-Founder and CEO globalstreetart.com

Lucien Clarke Professional Skateboarder, UK "Southbank has had a massive, massive influence on me. I pretty much grew up there. The amount of shit I've learnt from hanging around and skating at that place is unbelievable! We would be down there every day, rain or shine, just having a good time."

Mark Gonzales Skateboarding Pioneer, Professional Skateboarder and Artist, USA “It’s a place where skaters from all around the world can go and meet other skaters from other countries and it’s always been a great place for skaters to unite. It’s fun and friendly for tourists to come across and maybe for the average person to mingle with skateboarders on common ground. It’s got a lot of historical value”

Marshall Taylor Owner Slam City Skates, UK

Marten Persiel Filmmaker, Germany

Nick Jensen Professional Skateboarder and Artist, UK “It’s shaped me. I grew up skating here and it’s brought me so many good memories. It’s free, you can have fun for free and I’ve made loads of friends because of it and I’ve travelled

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a lot because of skateboarding and skateboarding wouldn’t have developed if it wasn’t for somewhere like Southbank. It’s so important for a city to have an area like that”

Paul Shier Professional Skateboarder and Director of ISLE Skateboards, UK

Peter Randometta Professional Skateboarder, USA “It’s rad because it wasn’t made for skating but it seems perfect for it.”

Rob Ashby Secretary UK Slalom Skateboarding Association

Rob Smith Professional Skateboarder, UK

Robbie Brockel Professional Skateboarder, USA “I’ve seen it in videos since I’ve been a kid growing up so it’s always been somewhere in my mind that’d be cool to skate.”

Sam Ashley Skate Photographer, UK

Spike Jonze Filmmaker, USA

Stevie Williams Professional Skateboarder, USA “Southbank! The OG spot, all roads end at Southbank pretty much. It's really good knowing the history of skating in London. I got the feel. It's like Love Park, EMB, Pulaski, Pier 7. It's good to see new skaters still skating a piece of history. That's how I look at it. Even before I started skating Southbank was there. It's great to get to skate there and be a part of it.”

Tas Pappas Former World Champion Skateboarder, Australia “Southbank, it wasn’t even meant for skating but it’s perfect for skating. Most skate parks around the world copy places like this. Big money thinks they can come in and just take over, do what they want, put this place to sleep ‘cos that’s what they want. They don’t think of the soul of skateboarding or the soul that this place has, the attachment people have because it’s been here for a long, long time. You wouldn’t go bulldoze the Acropolis.”

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Tim Leighton-Boyce Skate Photographer, UK

Tom Penny Professional Skateboarder, UK

Tony Hawk Former World Champion Skateboarder and owner of Birdhouse Skateboards, USA “It’s truly an historic feature of London street culture, and is as well known to skateboarders around the world as Big Ben or Buckingham Palace. Preserve the integrity of Southbank, a sanctuary for skateboarders, and an important part of London history.”

Vaughan Baker Skateboarder, EU skate marketing and Team Manager for SUPRA Footwear & KR3W denim

Wig Worland Skate Photographer, UK

Southbank skate community of support. Poster illustration by Rob Mathieson. © Long Live Southbank

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APPENDIX 1: LISTING DESCRIPTION

Description: Royal Festival Hall

Grade: I Date Listed: 29 March 1988 English Heritage Building ID: 431968

OS Grid Reference: TQ3079780223 OS Grid Coordinates: 530797, 180223 Latitude/Longitude: 51.5058, -0.1168

Location: Belvedere Road, Lambeth, Greater London SE1 8XX

Locality: Lambeth Local Authority: Lambeth Borough Council County: Greater London Country: England Postcode: SE1 8XX

LAMBETH BELVERDERE ROAD

TQ 3080 Royal Festival Hall.

GV 2/D I

Concert Hall. Built 1949-51. Major additions and alterations 1963-4, including new river and Belvedere Road fronts and recasting of side elevations. Some minor interior changes. Designed by London County Council Architect's Department as the London County Council's contribution to the Festival of Britain. Original design team headed by Leslie Martin under overall control of Robert Matthew, with interior largely the work of a group under Peter Moro; architect in charge of construction, Edwin Williams. Scott and Wilson, engineers; acoustic design by Hope Bagenal, Williams Allen and Peter Parkin.

Additions of 1963-4 designed by an London County Council team under Norman Engleback including David Wisdom, Harty Abbot, Tony Booth and Robert Maxwell.

Mass concrete foundations to a depth below 'Newlyn datum'. Basic structural concept of 'egg in a box' ie separate enclosed structure for auditorium above and within the building envelope. Main structural material reinforced concrete for all load-bearing walls. Auditorium is elevated above

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surrounding building on a forest of 'sleeved' columns (for sound insulation) and buttressed at corners by the internal stairs of the foyers. Auditorium walls consist of a double skin of concrete faced towards the outside with Derbyshire fossil marble, polished on interior surfaces facing foyers, weathered naturally on exterior of building where walls rise above surrounding envelope. Roof of auditorium is supported by a series of 120-foot trussed steel girders of bowstring shape covered with a double skin and finished with capper, with a curved profile rising fran back to front of building. Outside envelope of building is largely flat-roofed.

Outside envelope of building, largely now of 1963-4, is faced predominantly in Portland stone with passages in blue-grey mosaic and some small areas of cream-brown tiling. River (west) front takes form of gentle curve, with double-height tier of windows above 'Level 3', on top of which is a recessed terrace with five open bays in centre exposing columns of elongated form. North front facing Hayward Gallery predominantly in Portland stone with former Festival entrance left of centre and screen of glazing above; ends of this front are canted out above terrace level; three mosaic- clad escape stairs emerge to right of entrance. Belvedere Road (east) front entirely of 1963-4, with row of ten elongated columns unobstructed apart from mosaic-clad office area at ground level, and upper Portland-stone-clad portion of elevation cantilevered out at 42-foot level; thin strip of windows at a high level along front. South (Hungerford Bridge) front with slightly recessed centre of five bays in which columns show partly on outside and partly behind glass screen, as on west front. Building is entered from terrace level on south front, ground level on north front and from terrace on ground level on west front, where current ruin entrance hall with box office and cafeteria is outside main building envelope below terrace between west front and river wall.

From main west entrance, staircase rises and branches into two, having Derbydene risers and Travertine treads. Furniture of stair here and elsewhere characterised by specially designed bronze uprights and handrails, wooden side handrails and glass side screens. Main foyer is at 24-28-foot level. Central area is paved in Derbydene and Derbyshire fossil marble. The sleeved columns supporting auditorium are variously finished, chiefly in plaster in centre and with wooden strip at sides between staircases. At sides and throughout upper levels of foyers and stairs, specially designed 'net and ball' green, blue and grey carpet is laid, all facing in same direction. Main foyer at 24-28-foot level is ceiled by the underslope of auditorium with slats between lighting fixtures. At east end of building foyer (1963-4) has plainer treatment with wood floor and flat ceiling.

Higher areas of circulation space include large double-height room, formerly restaurant of 1963-4, facing river. Many details of circulation areas changed.

Auditorium, not greatly changed since 1951, is stepped to a depth of 100 feet fran slate floor in front of orchestral platform and main cantilevered balcony. Orchestral platform also stepped, with birch flooring. The hall is ceiled in fibrous plaster with openings for lighting and for acoustic system, and has a suspended curved canopy of elm over the orchestra. Sides of auditorium are gently

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canted on plan and mainly panelled with strips of elm. Boxes with fronts of curved profile are cantilevered off auditorium walls and connected by internal passages backed with red wool hangings designed by Sadie Speight. Rear wall of auditorium is canted; organ in centre built in 1950- 3 by Harrison and Harrison of Durham to specification by Ralph Downes and installed behind a screen of pipes designed by Leslie Martin. Auditorium seating in grey fabric to an original design by Robin Day.

Style of building best described as in the spirit of the Festival of Britain, amended in the 1960s in accordance with Corbusian loyalties. Structural system of both original building and additions emphasises distinction between supports and walls. Original conception strongly influenced by the architecture of Berthold Lubetlein and of Gunnar Asplund, with Scandinavian influence specially strong in the interior fittings and finishings.

The Royal Festival Hall has been Britains premier concert hall since its opening by George VI in 1951 and has been associated with countless famous musicians and others. The additions of 1963-4 completed the building by extending circulation and restaurant space at the front and adding offices at the back, instead of the 'small hall' originally intended at the back in 1951, but abandoned because of lack of time.

Building has significant group value with other public buildings along the twins, and specifically with South Bank 'cultural' buildings to its north, with which it is linked by the 1960s terrace system. Additions of 1963-4 were conceptually linked with the Hayward Gallery of Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Literature:

RIBA Journal, vol 56, August 1949, pp 431-8. Architectural Review, vol 109, June 1951, pp 336-405. Architects' Journal, 17 January 1952; 24 February 1965.

Engineering: Journal of Institution of Civil Engineers, no 7, 1950-1, 241-318.

Acoustics: RIBA Journal, vol 59, December 1951, pp 39-51. Journal of Sound and Vibration, vol 50, 1977, pp 163-82. Acustica, 1953, 3 (1), pp 1-21.

Listing NGR: TQ3079780223

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APPENDIX 2: QUOTES FROM UNDERCROFT USERS

The following quotations are from a selection of skaters between the ages of 18 and 50 who have used the Undercroft skate space during different decades spanning from the 1970’s through to the present day.

1. Evidential Value - What are the significant events over the 40 years - tricks, physical marks left behind?

Image of Southbank Undercroft 1970s and 2010s. © Long Live Southbank

Greg Conroy: Just the general video parts filmed there, Ben Jobe’s tricks in blueprint skateboards video first broadcast and Nick Jensen's opening tricks in Blueprint's Lost and Found are interesting as they show us a physical elements that no longer exists. The first trick is performed on a wall which was destroyed when the disabled access ramp that leads to the Giraffe/Wagamamas/Eat was remodelled for the revamp in the late 2000's, a second trick on the ground follows, then trick over a rail/barrier into the large bank which has since been completely cut out and removed. The physical effects are harder to pin down because they're quite transient in nature. What turns up one day might disappear the next. Maybe the most notable physical changes have been the installation and subsequent removal of the rail barrier at the bottom of the smaller banks (in the mid-90s possibly, I’m not sure, I started skating at Southbank in 2001) which

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were put in place to stop skateboarders using the banks, however it just added a new element to the spot and skaters used them to jump over and found a new way to use the space.

Henry Edwards-Wood: Skateboarding is an art form based on realising possibilities based on architectural anomalies. As skateboarders we see potential in the physical form and Southbank is one of the earliest instances of this "re-appropriative practice". Every day there are moments of inspiration added to its history - too many to mention.

As a young skater I was told stories by the older members of the community about landmark events and tricks that took place that had never been done before and thus went down in folklore. As technology developed many of these moments were captured on film, but there are many that they were just witnessed by crowds and have become the stuff of legends. As a young skater (or in fact a skater of any age) this is massively engaging and inspirational.

Jes: Since I my day, skating changed immensely. I had decks that looked like mini-surfboards; large, with little nose and a big tail. Tricks were based around grabs, grinds, wallrides and inverts. Now, they have a tail at either end, to enable a whole raft of kickflip-based tricks to be done. All the moves have evolved into myriad of variations and extreme body/deck interactions. In terms of ‘physical marks’ - do you mean on the Undercroft, or on me? There are some on both!

Jin Shimizu: In relation to tricks – new ways of skating Southbank and new tricks are performed there daily. It is commonplace for them to be recorded, either through film or photography, and are disseminated in skate videos or in magazines. This creates a history of the space - people know and talk about 'who did what trick and on what obstacle'. To see these images and be able go to the spot itself is an amazing experience and also encourages a progression, by doing something different or new there, or even finding a new way of looking at something.

Southbank changes aesthetically every single day as the walls are painted and new art appears. I think physically, the changes are subtler. The skate area gradually changes over years and years of skating - a tiny crack appears and years later it may become a slightly loose slab or a hole in the floor. So many little details are acknowledged by the skaters and become something to avoid or even to skate in themselves, even if it just a small crack. These little details are noted in the mental map of a Southbank skateboarder and become part of their intimate knowledge of the space. These details at a micro-level may not be important to most people, but have value to the users of Southbank.

Joleon Pressey: Every part feels different. The marks from trick attempts at the bottom of the stairs are interesting. Specific tricks such as nollie can heel flip down the stairs by Toby Shuall and Gonz high jump over the bar.

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Louis Woodhead: I guess I am not as concerned about the famous tricks that have gone down in the 80s and 90s as others will be. I didn’t start skating until 2008 and first skated at Southbank in 2009 so the tricks that are most significant to me are the tricks that have happened in the last 5 or so years. Especially inspiring in my view is Andrew Brophy’s front 180 up the 7 stairs. More than specific tricks and events I like to think of all the tricks I’ve seen skaters such as Casper Brooker, Chewy Cannon and Lukas do first hand over the last few years. They mean more to me than anything I’ve seen online or in a magazine.

Having said that one of the best days of my life as a little skate rat was the Emerica Wild in the Streets event on the 20th June 2010. It was an event to ‘save southbank’ from the impending shadow of coffee shops. Loads of skaters from Emerica (a big US shoe company) came down and the day started as a jam at Southbank before everyone skated through the streets all over South of central and had best trick comps along the way. I guess it summarises Southbank as a meeting point for skaters from all over England. It has always been a place to begin and end the day.

All the other most significant events there in my mind are just personal memories rather than things that would be significant to anyone else.

2. Historical Value - How important is the past and how does it influence the next/future generations?

Image of Southbank Undercroft 1970s and 2010s. © Long Live Southbank

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Greg: The past generations of skateboarding are very relevant to future generations, rumours of tricks done by local hero's and visiting professionals go down as legend and make people think about the different ways the space can be used to skate.

Henry: The most important thing about legendary spots such as Southbank is that it is a bench mark, a proving ground, somewhere where anyone can come and step up to the insanely high levels of performance certain skaters have achieved here. The history of the spot and the events that have happened here informs the future. The act of skateboarding is about progression more than anything else. We strive to do something new and original and due to the prolific number of tricks to have gone down in the Undercrofts history, this pushes us to think even more outside the box.

Kids often go home from Southbank with "homework" in the form of a watching list, usually given by older skaters who share knowledge of the space and encourage younger members of the community to watch these videos and see if they can step up the mark write their own piece of history into the space.

Jes: The UK enjoys a healthy tourist industry due to rich cultural heritage. As skateboarding edges toward acceptability, to me it would seem a great oversight to obliterate one of its old, focal points.

Jin: It is amazing to see a whole history of the spot through visual media, and to be able to go to the spot itself and see for yourself how hard the trick was and the thought processes involved in skating there is an invaluable experience. People of all generations use the space every single day and its history is made and evolves on a daily basis. I used to be look up to all the older guys that skated and made history there, and I hope I can be like what they were to the generations of kids coming through today.

Joleon: The approach of the past when reflected on, inspires the evolution of style in the future.

Louis: The past is significant and it does influence by generation at least. However for me as an 18 year old, although I do watch 80s or 90s videos a bit, the past for me is things like Hold Tight London videos which I watched as a younger skater and encapsulate Southbank and the broader London skate scene well for me. Karim’s nollie inward heel is particularly memorable.

I guess more than thinking about specific events it feels special to skate somewhere where you know people have skated for 40 years and be continuing that tradition, even if I don’t have anything near an encyclopedic knowledge of all the tricks that have gone down, I know from what older skaters have told me how significant these tricks are and so it does add to the atmosphere hugely. It also means you have to always look for new ways to approach the place to keep things

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moving forward. Skaters at Southbank, whilst being influenced by people from all the different eras, do look for new ways of skating the place all the time.

I’m also influenced the atmosphere and attitude of the place that you pick up as a younger kid. I remember the first time I went to Southbank really late, about 2 in the morning, and seeing that people were still skating there that was pretty influential.

3. Aesthetic Value - How do you see the physical form and how does the shape and topography affect/influence you?

Image of Southbank Undercroft 1970s and 2010s. © Long Live Southbank

Greg: The design of the Undercroft directly affects the techniques the styles of skateboarders who frequent it. Because the Undercroft is/was a large open space with a fairly limited amount of things that are naturally accessible to skate, people who use the area are pushed to develop new and innovative ways to further their craft. In a purpose built skatepark options are limited because everything is set out for you giving you a template of where you can go and what you can do. Southbank is a blank canvas so skateboards develop unique styles and techniques when skating there. If the space wasn’t so naturally open plan then there wouldn’t be such variety, individual characters wouldn’t be able to flourish.

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Henry: The topography of the Undercroft was and still is the key factor that drew (and still draws) skateboarders to the space. Its terrain satisfies almost every aspect of skateboarding. Over the years the impact of wheels and wood have worn in smooth grooves to the banks, at the bottom of the infamous 7 set of stairs thousands of tiny impact marks can be found. Artists have put paint and pen to the walls and gradually the place morphed from a dark concrete Underworld into a vibrant ever changing community art centre with no governing body or direction. wall-ride marks can be seen on the pillars and walls and the beam and ledges have been worn in by the hundreds of thousands of tricks and attempts that have gone down.

Jes: The physical form of the Undercroft is like a lot of other pieces of 'brutalist' architecture to me - horrible to look at, brilliant to skate on. Hooray for 45 degree walls! Why are they there? For skating on - certainly not aesthetics! Most brutalist buildings make me feel like there’s a tremendous weight bearing down on me. They make me feel small and insignificant as a human. I must be a bit of a traditionalist.

However, despite it being 25 years or more since I skated, whenever I see a smooth transition from horizontal to vertical, such as Southbank and other architecture, my mind automatically decides 'How much air I'd get from it' and 'What sort of vert has it got?'

Jin: The aesthetic value is really important for me - in a society where consumption is a driving force, I feel that there are less and less truly public and free spaces. Every high street and shopping area is homogenised and looks the same. You can see it when people first come across Southbank, they see the colours and feel the atmosphere is completely different from anything else around there, even in London, maybe even in the UK. It is so unique to have such a vibrant space like Southbank in the centre of London and I feel that it is important that this real, free, public space exists and I think this is the reason why so many people have such a great attachment to it.

Personally, I have experienced the physical form of the area diminish greatly from when I first started skating there, before they closed of a section, which is something that skateboarders did not appreciate, but the fact that we made the most of it and skate as much of the remaining area as possible is a testament to how much we love the space.

Joleon: The colours and geometries of the banks and pillars enhance the overall experience.

Louis: Southbank is far from perfect for skateboarding and feels nothing like a skatepark to skate. However it also feels nothing like your average street spot – they often have only one thing to skate with limited possibilities, or they have tonnes of security waiting to leap on you. Either way you can’t properly explore all the possibilities of ways to skate it.

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Unlike a skatepark, there aren’t that many obvious possibilities and ways to skate Southbank so you are always looking for the less obvious line. This influences people’s style of skating hugely. You can tell a SB local skating Southbank from a mile off. When people aren’t local come to skate it they usually just skate the ledges and the stair set (the obvious things), because they haven’t explored more possibilities yet.

Southbank for me is as much a place to go and chill as a place to skate and obviously aesthetically it is an interesting place to look at. Unlike some skaters I like the graffiti (probably because I grew up with it all painted up) as I find it makes it more atmospheric, along with all the architectural shapes, especially the pillars. This then influences the way I look at the world and the drawings I do.

4. Communal Value - What affect does the space have on creating values, ethos and community and a collective experience?

Greg: The space has a significant effect on the sense of community. An open space with no rules or boundaries makes for a culture which can only draw influence from itself and the individuals that make up that community. In order to see the skateboarding community progress everyone draws influence from each other and finds ways to further the progression of the skating, stylistically and technically.

Henry: The Community ethos of the Undercroft is probably the most fundamental factor in its importance. As a young kid I started going there because it felt like sanctuary. It is a linear community that does not judge people in their appearance, economic, ethnic or social backgrounds. Everyone is welcome providing they adhere to the unwritten rules which are to respect the space and respect people in the space. You learn to coexist with people you may not usually choose to share a space with, you learn to diffuse conflict through verbal diplomacy. Any trouble makers are ignored until they change their attitude or leave. Older skaters become unofficial mentors for the younger generation and as you grow older there you in tern become guardian of the space.

It is not just about skateboarding, it is about inclusivity, and we talk to each other about everything and provide a great informal support group for "the disenfranchised youth" who are often told their opinions are not valid in mainstream society. I cannot stress enough how rare, unique and important this kind of space is and how shocking it is that we as a community have had to do so much to protect it.

Jes: The first time I visited the Undercroft, we tore around excitedly for 10 minutes or so before a caretaker arrived with a bag of gravel. After spreading it liberally around, and giving us a good ticking off, he went. We sat down, all skaters from different parts of the UK, and chatted. Shortly after, to our glee, some local skaters arrived - with brooms! This was a daily occurrence for them.

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For me back then it was skating, all the way, till late; or at least until the last train back to Essex. So yes, the area has an intrinsic history of bonding, and shared experience. Does this somehow seep into the very concrete of the structure? I always have a look to see what’s going on whenever I'm on the Southbank. Take that away, and I think a piece of me might be missing.

Jin: As the area is a free space, this creates a wide ranging demographic of users, which is self- regulating. People teach each other rights and wrongs, new skills and techniques, and histories etc. 5-year-old children on scooters use the same space as a 40-year-old long boarder and everyone else in between, and this is something that is unique to Southbank.

Significantly, Southbank is not a skatepark. Although skateboarding may be the main practice there, the area is simply a free space that all types of users share with one another for whatever activities they want to do. This creates a unique collective experience, which cannot be replicated. I feel that demarcating an area as a ‘skatepark’ or ‘skateboard area’ is restrictive and creates boundaries that are not conducive to the community values that are upheld at Southbank.

Joleon: It's a free community where social barriers are broken down by expression.

Louis: Southbank is a place where a lot of skaters go when they first get to London and therefore it’s got a pretty inclusive ethos. Go there 2 days in a row and all the locals will start nodding and chatting with you. I’ve met people from all over the world there which has broadened my outlook hugely.

It is also a bit of a hub for people who don’t really fit in anywhere else, whether they be homeless people, or all manner of eccentrics. I’ve had some amazing conversations with people I would never have spoken to otherwise. A couple dozen examples have just popped into my head. I’ve spent hours and hours speaking to Jamie, a homeless alcoholic from Lancaster, someone who I would never otherwise have bothered getting to know and someone who I have learnt a huge amount about the world from.

It is a real community. All the locals chill with each other and you can make real friends there. People come together because of the atmosphere of the space: the fact that it looks the way it does, the fact that it seems outside the realms of ‘regulated’ spaces, the fact that it’s right by the river, its history, its aesthetics, the smell of the spray paint. All of these things come together to give it a unique atmosphere that attracts a certain sort of person which makes a well and truly unique community and collective experience also.

The best thing about the Southbank community is the mix of local skaters who are there day in day out mixing with the transient and sporadic people who come along as well, which keeps things fresh and interesting.

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Additional Comments

The following quotations are from a selection of users of Southbank Undercroft.

Tim Leighton-Boyce, photographer 'A key point is that these specific banks have been skated continuously since the mid-seventies. As far as I am aware, that makes the site unique in the way it allows us to see how each different generation of skaters have interpreted the same found landscape to suit their own style of skating.

I don't know of any similar spot the world which has survived so long, all the way from the seventies into an era where skateboarding has become almost established. A vital aspect of the creativity of skateboarding is the way skaters use their imagination to explore the potential of natural forms. Skateboarding in skateparks is a different thing.

Moving the South Bank skaters to a purpose built skatepark does not recognise this point. It assumes that the only need is for 'somewhere to skate in Central London'. I'm astonished and delighted by how many purpose built skateparks there are in the UK these days. But there is only one South Bank. '

Kevin Vedina Lake, 24, model 'I’ve skated here for the past seven years. I’ve learned a lot here. I’ve broken bones, and seen other people break bones but I keep coming back because I love it – skateboarding takes me to a good place in my head. It’s a kind of meditation. Some do drugs or whatever, but I skate. People come here [to skate] from all over – America, Brazil, China, everywhere. Everyone benefits from this place, not just skateboarders, so it’d be a shame for it to go.'

Finn Andrès, 24, graduate 'This place is very well known, nationally and internationally – so when I started skateboarding at 14, you just knew this was the place to go. Almost all of the close friends I have now, I met here. I have friends from very wealthy backgrounds and friends from deprived backgrounds. It’s a really good example of an unprogrammed, uncontrolled space which is left to young people to use for free. None of us are against a redevelopment of the Southbank Centre that improves access to free events. What I’m against is the conversion into retail units. It's ironic that in seeking to redevelop the centre to improve access to culture, the centre is destroying perhaps the most democratic and vibrant example of culture anywhere on the South Bank.

The proposed space under Hungerford Bridge won’t work. The shape of it is wrong – it’s too square – and it’s much smaller. We’re all just going to be hitting into each other. Also, it doesn’t have the history. The whole importance of the Southbank is that it was organic: skateboarders appropriated a disused space and over the past 40 years an entire community has flourished here. I think places

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like this are incredibly valuable to cities, especially when the general dynamic is moving more towards the commercialisation of everything.'

Biko Dadzie Issah, 32, tattooist 'I’ve been skating here since I was 15. I love it - you've got the sound of the water, the view of the city, the London Eye… people are happy to be here. It’s got vibe. I met my best friend here… he’s pretty much a professional skateboarder now, and he cut his teeth here. If it wasn’t for Southbank, he wouldn’t be what he is. It’s a training facility. Take that away, and they’ll be taking a chunk out of us. Even if they move it to just five minutes down the road, the history of the place won’t go with it.'

David Yap, 24, retail 'I was about 13 when I started skating. I used to live just outside of the city in Watford, and from meeting people here I started coming down literally every day after school, all the way from Watford. I live with four friends that I met here. You meet people from all over the world – America, Japan, Australia… If we ever want to go over to their neck of the woods, we always have somewhere to stay. It makes it feel a bit like a society. Whatever happens next, though, we’ll try to keep it positive. Just being able to skate next to the river Thames is the most beautiful thing for me and all my friends.'

Chris Bull, 24, tailor 'I'm a tailor for a company called Huntsman on Savile Row. They know I skate. I got them all to sign the Save the Southbank petition. A lot of people judge skateboarders, like, "Oh they’re yobs", but most of the people I skate with have all got normal jobs. In America, skateboarding is much more appreciated. Here, it’s still seen as a child’s sport. I’ve been coming down here for 10 years. When I used to come as a kid, I saw so much stuff done by pros you looked up to. And now I'm friends with them because I've been coming here for so long. It’s also good because you don’t get hassled. If you skate in the city, you get kicked out of everywhere. But not here. And now they want to rip it down.'

Germain Alejandro Gonzalez Diaz, 19, office manager 'I’ve been coming here four years or so. It’s made me grow up quite a bit. This place can teach you a lot that you can use in your life. When I was younger I was more in-your-face, but you learn to accept people here. You get a lot of inspiration here. When you see someone doing some crazy shit up the wall, or dropping down the stairs god knows how fast, you say, "Yeah I want to do that." It pushes you farther. I’d be distraught if they took it down.'

Mwitwa Musumali, 18, student 'This place means everything to me. It’s the only place I skate, really. I’m here about four days a week, even though it takes me two hours to get here from Hounslow. It’s the best spot in London. It’s everything to skateboarders: it’s the scenery, it’s the area, it’s the people who come here. I made a lot of my friends through skateboarding at the Southbank. I don’t see the point of them

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taking it away to build a Starbucks or something when you have those everywhere. This place is important. The day they take it away will be a very sad one.'

Ben Marsh, 25, bartender and BMX rider 'I’ve been coming here for about three years now and the vibe here’s great for BMX. Everyone’s really liberal about letting everyone have a go. You get little kids who come down and they hang about too and that’s all fine as well. It’s an important landmark in London. A lot of people from other countries know about this place from photographs online and in books. It’s known. Hopefully the replacement will be good, but nothing will be the same. It’s like if they moved the lions from Trafalgar Square.'

Pedro Emanual, 29, musician and graphic designer 'I would not say this is a skate park, I would say this is a temple. It’s a mythic place, not just for UK or London, but for the whole world. Surf pros travel to Hawaii to surf: this is Hawaii in Europe for skateboarders. This was where skateboarding was really born in London. If you could put a good spot in a museum, this would have to be there. I first came to skate here on holidays in 1997. I was living in Portugal at the time, although I’m from Angola originally. When I came to live in the UK in 2006, I had no English: zero. I started coming here to skate, and now the majority of my friends in the UK are from here. In my view, this place is not transportable: it’ll never be the same.'

Luca B, 19, graffiti artist 'I’m from Italy. I’ve been living in London for four or five months. My first day in London, I came down here. I wanted to meet new people, make friends. It’s legal to write graffiti here so lots of writers come. The walls are always changing. If you do something today, it’ll be gone tomorrow. It’s a bit less exciting here because it’s legal, but it’s cool in a way – you don’t want to take risks every day so you just get some spray cans, come here and chill out.'

Sarah Wharton, 23, freelance illustrator 'I used to skate here a bit when I was in my early teens, but the guys were all better than me so I mainly watched. It was kind of weird skating in the Southbank because you’d have lots of people staring at you and you’d be like, “I’m really not very good, stop looking at me”. There was a lot of pressure, especially for a girl. But I’d travel up from Kent just to come here. Now I’m just like any passer-by. I come to the river to chill out, but I always come by this place. You know important skaters are going to be here and it’s always going to be impressive: it’s not like going to any other skate park. I love it here.'

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APPENDIX 3: QUOTES FROM MEMBERS OF PUBLIC

When Southbank Centre submitted their Festival Wing plans in 2013, Long Live Southbank began to collect objections from members of the public concerned about the loss of the Undercroft. 14,000 individual objections were delivered to Lambeth Town Hall on the 4th July 2013, forcing Southbank Centre to withdraw their proposals. In November2013, Southbank Centre resubmitted their plans, with minor alterations, as well as a new application for a ‘replacement’ space under Hungerford Bridge. On the 2nd January 2014, a record-breaking 27,286 objections were delivered to Lambeth by LLSB, making the Festival Wing proposals the most unpopular planning objection in UK history. A further 7,000 objections were delivered to Lambeth in the week following the 2nd January.

Bojana Bajzelj, Landscape Architect The current use of the Undercroft is an absolutely brilliant coincidence, a happy marriage of brutalist architecture with an unpredicted and colourful re-purposing - skateboarding. It illustrates the understated quality of brutalist architecture, which created unique spaces for different groups of society to re-purpose.

The uniqueness of how the undercroft was organically re-purposed sets the site apart. As does the historical value of this space as the birthplace of UK skateboarding. Both the architectural importance and cultural importance mean that the skate-park cannot be moved or replicated.

For the millions of people that use, or even walk past, the South Bank Centre the skaters are a demonstration of real living democracy of culture - and set the South Bank Centre apart from any other cultural venue in Europe (World?).

It is incomprehensible that the SBC management does not realise the value of that - it by far outstrips any potential revenue that the restaurants would have.

Felicity Murphy and children, Marlena and Theodore; founder of Zioum, France 'I grew up in Hammersmith and this was always a place that I came – one of the first places I used to come to on my own in central London and just wander about. Back then, it was much greyer and there was no graffiti, but the skateboarders were there. It’s overwhelming bringing kids here. It’s just such a positive area – it’s great. It’s a chance for them to see such a variety of different people all doing their own things. I don’t know many places that are even similar'

Collected here is a selection of quotes taken from members of the public who filled in objection forms. To protect their personal information, they have been made anonymous.

- ‘The area is and continues to be a very important part of the global sub culture of skateboarding which helps to breed some of the most creative and talented people in the world which far transcends the sport itself into many other aspects of modern life and art.’

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- ‘It is part of the soul of London, that indefinable quality that makes a city a place to live not just exist and work.’

- ‘I like to watch the skaters when I walk along the south bank ....it's art in motion. I find it inspiring and uplifting. We should encourage people to follow their passions and master a skill. It promotes all kind of values that we need in this society.’

- ‘The activities are the living spirit of the Embankment. It created energy and dynamics. The area will be killed by further commercial premises.’

- ‘I lived in London many years before moving to Scotland. On every visit back to London I always go to the Southbank due to it being one of many unique cultural centres in London. The highlight for me is always the skate area where i sit for an hour or so watching people freely expressing themselves and developing their own ability in their art form, whether it be on the BMX or skate board. I have never skate boarded myself but by observing the sport you can see it is more than a board with wheels and teenage boys trying to escape - it is a culture, a culture in fact that has a long history that has never lost its following and inspired generations. I would miss this diversity to the Southbank as much as i would miss the book market under the bridge, or for that matter the commercially successful enterprises such as the London eye. Southbank is made by the sum of its parts. Take away the diversity of the Southbank and you will kill the charm. Please save the skate area. Embrace this culture, it's important to the spirit and soul of the Southbank.’

- ‘My husband & I visit the South Bank with the purpose of viewing young people enjoying this particular culturally significant space. It is not a vacant lot ripe for redevelopment but rather part of London's rich tapestry which makes it a top tourist destination as well as a fantastically diverse area in which to live. This heritage must not be ignored in planning terms.’

- ‘Skating in the Undercroft was hugely important to my son and his friends when they travelled to the South Bank from Lewes in East Sussex from the late 1990s onwards - a brilliant example of people creating a real place for themselves in the city, making friendships, animating a dead space, and connecting it with all the other excellent things going on at the Hayward, the NFT, and the NT. It would be tragic to remove this opportunity for young people in future in the name of retail!’

- ‘I am a 76 year old man and I have no connection with skateboarding. However, I can see that this is a unique and irreplaceable cultural assert, like the Tower of London or Stonehenge. This proposal, which represents nothing short of cultural vandalism, must be stopped.’

- ‘Part of the reason London is such a great city is due to it being unique, diverse, energetic and interesting: all of which are encapsulated in the skate park. Not only should this area be protected as a community and cultural space, but it is representative of London at its finest to the wider world: a talented, vibrant, interesting city that does NOT place homogenisation of our centre at the top of its priority list (or one which puts the need for a skinny moccachino over and above the

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needs of its young people). Plus, as someone who works in the local area, I gain personal pleasure from taking a few minutes at lunchtime to watch the skaters and some of the extraordinarily talented artists in action, and would argue that this is also an important tourist site. It is part of the history and vibrancy of the area and not only provides an important community function and actively demonstrates respect for all different parts of the capital's demographic mix, but adds an energy and vibrancy to the area that cannot be replaced by another panini/coffee/burger joint.’

- ‘The significance of the Undercroft skate area to skateboarders from all over the U.K and beyond is tremendous, not to mention the local skateboarders who use the spot practically everyday and keep it thriving. This significance transcends the physical act of skateboarding because of the inherent social aspect, which allows important relationships to form, and in turn helps young people develop their art form in a healthy environment. To overlook the importance of this site is frankly ignorant and its removal would be contradictory to the "artistic" ethos of the Southbank area.’

- ‘An organic, raw and human community was formed within the cold, brutalist forms of the space. This is the essence of the best elements of human nature and should not be destroyed.’

- ‘It’s a valuable space for the skateboarding community to congregate. We are from Nottingham and my son sees it as a place of pilgrimage.’

- ‘As a regular visitor to London, and the South Bank in particular, I always enjoy seeing the Undercroft in use. It is amazing how it has grown to become such a unique part of the South Bank. The way it has grown organically, responding to the needs of the users but without any overall authority in control is an inspiring example of how democracy can work. This will all be lost if it moved to an "official" site and hedged in with bureaucratic restrictions. Please allow it to continue as it is now.’

- ‘The Southbank Centre is intent on a level of managerial control that must be resisted by those that value true spontaneity and culture 'from below'. I very strongly believe that appropriation of the Undercroft for retail units would be a violent betrayal of social and democratic values. Like many thousands of people I rejoice in the autonomy, skill, responsibility and mutual support of the Southbank skateboarding community and I want its living tradition to be authentically passed on for the participation and inspiration of future generations.’

- ‘Young people have created this space for themselves over decades. It is much loved by Londoners, as well as by tourists, who are delighted by this spontaneous and free expression of youth culture, as an integral part of the more institutional arts centres on the South Bank. It belongs to all of us.’

- ‘This site has an important place in skateboarding's history. In a time where public spaces in London forbid activities of skating and bmxing, that skate spot is one of the few central places for

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young people to engage in a free, creative, and healthy activity. It has a positive effect on visitors to the Southbank who watch them.’

- ‘As a skateboarder in my early teens back in the late seventies I was aware of the undercroft as a focal point for the local skateboarding community. Today, as a 51 year old skateboarder I am amazed that after the intervening decades, with all the highs and lows of skateboarding popularity, it is still going strong. Please do not underestimate the importance of this organic spot, nor its reputation around the world. I personally cannot see the justification for discarding all the years of history tied up in the undercroft to provide more retail spaces. Skateboarding is still as exhilarating and challenging to me as it was back in the seventies, so please, please ensure that the undercroft remains the cultural centre of UK skateboarding for decades to come.’

- ‘I am a member of the Southbank Centre but don't agree that we need more commercial space, especially at the loss of the skate park. The proposed replacement is not a realistic alternative, and we need to keep what we have now.’

- ‘I live in Bradford, 5 hours away from the south bank. i wish that there was a local equivalent of the South Bank up north. What a truly wonderful grass roots community project. Whenever I stay in London I visit the south bank as a tourist. What a shame it would be to take that from the generations of kids who have used this free space.’

- ‘I have been skating in Southbank since the early nineties. I met all of my friends there, it kept me, and thousands of other kids out of trouble in a time (which has worsened now in my opinion) where youths are constantly bombarded with temptation to go down the wrong path. All of my best memories come from that place. There have been several attempts to take the Undercroft away from the skaters and I don’t understand it. I have travelled a lot and have never found a place quite like it. It’s unique and makes me proud to be from London where culture and self-expression is still encouraged and celebrated. When I was a little boy (this would have been the late 80's) my mother used to take me to the Southbank Centre to see ballet, opera and plays and it was entertaining but if given the choice, I would have only gone there for the Undercroft.’

- ‘This is a rare and unique area of London's varied and diverse cultural heritage. Festival Hall was created for all the people, the Undercroft should remain in this vain.’

- ‘The undercroft is simply beautiful architecture a fine example of London's history and culture at the time of it being built. If it were destroyed London would just be a horrible, plan emotionless city with no life in it.’

- ‘This is an internationally loved spot. It's a spot were many young people have spent their days. Many became part of an amazing community. A community were creativity and skill are promoted and encouraged. The Southbank was where this community could flourish and lead young people on to bigger and greater things. It's more than just skating tied to this spot. Taking away

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somewhere that encourages so much creative progression and replacing it with more retail outlets, is working backwards. I think the world has enough retail outlets in it.’

- ‘My children love me to take them to Southbank to watch the skateboarding, we will spend a good hour viewing all the amazing tricks, this is what is special about London that we can have cultural activities accepted and shown to the tourists. I don’t think I would bother visiting Southbank without the skaters!’

- ‘We are very regular visitors to the South Bank and National Theatre complex. Crossing Hungerford Bridge many times a year for the last 25 or more, we have always thrilled at the diversity encompassed in this area. Always proud of our young people showing their skills on skateboards as well as the musical and theatrical elite performing in hallowed halls above. Their loss will be ours and our tourist visitors. Please don't do it.’

- ‘The Undercroft is a beacon of diversity and organic community activity in a city which has otherwise been mercilessly commercialised to the exclusion of community 'breathing space'. I am not a skater and have no interest in skating, but the sight of young people coming together and taking part in a sport together in an organic community space in the middle of the city brings a smile to my face every time I walk along the Southbank. To lose this in this unique location would be a disgrace for the Southbank, and a disgrace for London.’

- ‘When I visited London this summer with my family, one of my favourite things to do was walk down to South Bank and just watch the skaters. While watching them I could tell that the place was alive, it was full of passion and it gives kids my age a place to blow off some steam and hang out. I'd sit next to the sand pit and just watch for hours.’

- ‘On my visits to the Undercroft I find people with the utmost amazing personalities and personal views. I lost my mother to cancer and didn't know where to go, I travelled the whole of London to escape the truth but I found peace and reflection easier to pursue at a place as creative as the Undercroft.’

- ‘We preserve many of the aspects of British life over the centuries but seem determined to airbrush small but incredibly powerful spaces like the Undercroft out of them.’

- ‘Although I am not a skateboarder myself I am a frequent user of the many outstanding cultural facilities on the Southbank including the Sourhbank Centre, National Theatre and Festival Hall. As a regular visitor to the Southbank and a resident of London I feel passionately that the skateboarding culture that has thrived in the Undercroft area is a vital and historic aspect of the cultural experience of visiting this world class cultural precinct. To remove, destroy or modify the Undercroft is insensitive not only to the skateboarders who use it every day but to the many thousands of visitors to the area who benefit from the opportunity to watch the skating on display

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in this unique place. I have visited the South Bank Centre frequently for many years and the undercroft area as it exists is an integral part of the site. I look for new graffiti each time I pass.’

- ‘I found this was a place to help me escape from bad things that were happening in my life. I was able to meet many people there and form great friendships. It would be a great shame to see this amazing place be ripped out and replaced for our consumerist habits. We have Oxford Street for that. The reason why people love the South Bank area is because it is filled with artistic places and this includes the skate park. It seems highly unreasonable that anyone would try to get rid of something that is not just beautiful but allows young people to have a place to go.’

- ‘This is a simple issue of protecting the parts of our culture that are created by the people themselves. We don't want spoon-fed culture by the art establishment. This is about protecting truly relevant street culture. Spaces for young people are rare and tend to be on the outskirts of communities. This skate park represents a positive presence for young people right at the heart of an important shared community space. Spaces like this are an essential part of ensuring young people aren't demonised and excluded from society.’

- ‘As a post-graduate of cultural heritage studies I am shocked and appalled that an institution such as the South Bank Centre would actively seek to destroy such a unique cultural centre and important landmark. At a time when many brands and institutions are looking to recreate lost cultural centres in order to provide sanctuary in troubled communities, it is disgusting to think that such an important site will be lost to make way for yet more commercial retail space.’

- ‘This is not just a local community asset, it is a London wide asset with an international reputation that brings huge cultural value to the area.’

- ‘The skate park provides valuable cultural diversity and has provided colour and vibrancy for decades. It helps break up a strip that can often seem a tourist driven, economically middle class and culturally elitist area. It reminds tourists and Londoners of the diversity of Londoners’ passions.’

- ‘The slogan; "You can't move history" is very appropriate. I have visited London several times over the last few years and the primary reason for each visit was to see the Undercroft (and skate it!). I have grown up watching videos of the Undercroft, reading magazine articles, looking at photos and even playing video games which feature the Undercroft. It is an absolutely vital part of British culture that truly transcends class, ethnicity, age and gender in a way that almost no other place in the UK (maybe the world) is capable of. There are not many places in London where a 28 year old northerner can turn up and chat as an equal with Southbank locals, photography students, teenagers, kids, hip-hop groups, street artists, foreign skating visitors and tourists in the way I am able to at the Undercroft. The huge crowds of people that watch the skaters every day would not spend their time marvelling at the fancy new retail units planned for the Undercroft and the knock- on effects of removing it as a free cultural space will be massive.’

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“The right to the city is not merely a right of access to what the property speculators and state planners define, but an active right to make the city different, to shape it more in accord with our heart’s desire, and to remake ourselves thereby in a different image”

David W. Harvey FBA, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Geography

Southbank Undercroft 1970s. Image © Brian Gittings

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Email: [email protected] Website: www.llsb.com Facebook: LongLiveSouthbank Twitter: Long_Live_SB Instagram: @savesouthbank

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