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It does seem appropriate on the 10th Anniversary of the opening of the Hall for Cornwall to recall that the Cornwall Lecture was one of the first events in this theatre (between a rock concert and a pantomime I recall!) this was when Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, the architect of the Eden Project gave us an insight into the genesis of that enormously significant project here on this stage.
But, why The Cornwall Lecture at all? Why have we invited some 15,000 people to take part in this event so far and why have some 10,000 people already enjoyed this annual occasion?
It all started in the mid 1990’s during In Pursuit of Excellence when Sir John Banham, a well known Cornishman suggested that we needed to expose Cornwall to new ideas; bringing people from outside the county to stimulate public discussion on issues of social and economic importance and that we should create a vehicle for such debate.
Another Cornishman, the late Roger Keast, then managing partner of Stephens and Scown obviously thought so too, believing that the general public should have an independent forum in which to take part in such discussions; as he said to me, “by raising the profile
of issues and involving people in the discussion we could make a difference.”
Cornwall is Changing.
To look more closely at these changes we established the Cornwall Lecture Workshops earlier this year. These introduced professionals in Cornwall to others from outside the county to work through the issues in detail and today we have brought you, our guests, people from all walks of life and from many disciplines to look at the built environment and the influences affecting it and to look at ways whereby quality design and professional management of our landscape can encourage and support social aspiration and the sort of society we want to live in, now and in the future. And we want you to take part in our debate later in the evening.
Our countryside attracts people from all over the world. But for the people of Cornwall it is their home, a place to live and work. Our towns, villages and coastal settlements give us what people call ‘a sense of place’.
The countryside and the built environment, however, is now facing significant pressure from development. Even measures being taken to protect our heritage are seen by some as an obstacle to progress. Climate is changing and the Met Office and the Environment Agency tell us to expect more storm surges and rising sea levels, expectations of considerable consequence to a maritime county. The Convergence Programme to be launched next year will leave a legacy of new open spaces and buildings for business and living in. The imperative for the future will be that we use less energy. We will need to design and build a sustainable future through our built environment which supports not only our social aspirations but meets the need for economic growth.
This was the background to our first workshop at the Met Office. This brought together local architects, planners, designers and policy makers in regional and local government to discuss the future with experts in climate, water management, energy conservation, renewable energy and design. A clear message emerged – we need to listen, communicate and educate, or as Tony Juniper of Friends of the Earth so eloquently put it, “to set our knowledge free”.
Jonathon Davis looked at the correlation between the quality of a built environment and the quality of life; “we must all be involved if we are to achieve the highest quality design standards” he said, “there are too few examples of good sustainable development about; we need more inspirational schemes on our doorstep. Robin Nicholson, one of the UK’s leading architects and a champion of climate change will be looking at the importance of design later on, my role is to look back at the workshops and show you some examples of sustainable development on our own doorstep. Examples which demonstrate that with the support of the RDA and private investment we have started to move in the right direction.
First to St Austell, to The Village, a housing scheme with energy conservation, water management and renewable energy at its heart which received a Building for Living award. It sits near to The Brunel Business Park. Once the home of the Great Western Railway the buildings have been restored and kitted out for modern business life with sustainable credentials. On Bodmin Moor, at Blisland, a new centre, traditional on the outside, but housing a GP’s consulting room, business units and a shop is heated by a ground source heat system.
The housing associations in the county have taken the lead in sustainable development. Penwith Housing Association was one of the first to use ground source heat pumps, the system a product of Cornish research into geothermal energy.Cornwall Rural Housing Association has built homes in Delabole and Tremeer with heating services provided by Cornish companies such as Geoscience and Kensa Engineering.
The range of examples goes wider. Schools such as Camborne and health centres like The Isles of Scilly are both further examples of ground source heat systems, but in this case offering cooling as well as heating. But not only is Cornwall changing, times are changing in general too. Systems that were considered appropriate in the past are now seen as inappropriate, as oil heating systems are being stripped out from rented housing, taking out ‘unaffordable warmth’ and being replaced with alternative and more cost effective systems.
Together with grey water gathering facilities, photo voltaic tiles and such, sustainable development is becoming more the norm. Older people are also benefiting from the sustainable development approach to construction as Cornwall Care at Cedar Grange in Launceston introduces such measures into their new buildings programme.
Steve Noyes, a director at the Met Office told us that there was more than one scenario, but one thing was certain, weather is changing with more extremes of rainfall, storm surges and dry hot periods.
He emphasized the need to future proof our building designs. Arguing that in building houses for the 2050’s we needed to think about how the climate will be like then and to build houses and business premises for the future. Most of all it was about making these cool and comfortable in the summer and not simply responding to the Government’s preoccupation with keeping heat in. And it is not just about reducing the carbon imprint but quality design which must optimise comfort as well. That is the challenge for the designers of to-day.
Brian Hooper from Waterwise talked about managing water. “Water will become of paramount importance in the future as our seasons change,” he said, “We need to store water.” He told us that people think the UK has plenty of it, more than Spain, Italy and Greece. But the answer was stark, we haven’t! And in the near future, as well as seeking lower energy use, government will expect compliance with regulations that achieve an average use of 105 litres of water each day, a great reduction from our current usage of 130 litres.
But reassuringly, he said that was achievable illustrating this with a demonstration of things we could fit into our kitchens and bathrooms – at low cost mainly – which would either re-use or use much less water, some of which we could even use in our gardens. In this way we can manage our water more efficiently and even reduce our water bills as well!
The workshop finally addressed the issues of renewable energy and energy conservation. One of the most exciting developments, possibly since the industrial revolution itself, is the building of the Wave Hub off the coastline of Hayle. This Cornish town was once the home of the engineering industry in Cornwall and will again be the centre of another revolution -the energy revolution!
More information about this RDA sponsored development was included in NewsLink, the Stephens & Scown Newsletter, which was sent to those of you who applied for tickets tonight. For those who are here as guests, copies are available as you leave the theatre. The final session was with Mark Scibor-Rylski who introduced delegates to exciting new house building systems which were both affordable and energy efficient.
Redruth is a key site in the recently inscribed UNESCO Cornish Mining World Heritage Site. Not since miners left for South Africa and other parts of the world, founding a new engineering and mining industry across the earth, has the legacy of the life and soul of generations of Cornish people been so deservedly celebrated.
Our second workshop in Pool looked at the World Heritage Site in Camborne, Pool and Redruth. In the company of experts from English Heritage, Cornwall County Council and Kerrier District Council we toured one of the sites; Robinson’s Shaft, now the cornerstone of the Heartlands Project and recently awarded nearly £30 million pounds to create a new social heart for the community of the area. As a catalyst for growth not only in the immediate area, but Cornwall as a whole, it cannot be underestimated. CPR Regeneration, Scott Brown, and his team, must be congratulated for their imagination, tenacity and hard work.
The workshop looked closely at the possible dividend to be gained from investment in historic environments. Many people see conservation and planning as obstacles for growth, and they can be, but well managed with imagination and goodwill the investment can bring enormous returns for the community and the business world. Planning is key to successful development and an early partnership between developers, English Heritage and the planning authority was essential. A hard hitting speech on planning was given by Ian Lamond, Head of the Planning Team at Stephens and Scown. His paper is summarized in Newslink and more details appear on our web-site www.thecornwall-lecture.com
Conservation and restoration work is already taking place in many of our towns and is often cited in case studies and publications across the UK. Redruth has just won a national award for its public realm works and similar projects have been done, or are being done, in towns across Cornwall. Alyson Cooper, Conservation Officer at Carrick District Council, took us on a virtual journey through Falmouth and Penryn, highlighting the enormously important regeneration projects which through the restoration and conservation of the building fabric of these towns is making them better and safer places to live in, and bringing increased confidence, employment and business to the area.
And now to our public lecture tonight. We are particularly fortunate to have Robin Nicholson as our Chairman for the evening. Robin is a CABE Commissioner and a member of their Enabling Panel. He is a champion of their Climate Change Group and is a board member of the NHBC. He is a senior director of Edward Cullinan Architects, one of Europe’s leading practices in sustainable development. He has been a Vice President of the RIBA and Chair of the Construction Industry Council. I first met Robin when I worked with him on a project in North Cornwall; I came to learn that Robin is not only an exceptional architect, but a warm human being.
Please welcome Robin Nicholson who will speak about the design of our built environment and introduce Matthew Taylor as our main speaker…
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