Architect lobbies minister as Robin Hood Gardens’ D-Day approachesZahaHadid has personally petitioned architecture minister Margaret Hodge tosave Robin Hood Gardens in a letter describing the estate as “a seminalproject of socially responsible architecture from the era of utopianthinking”.Hadid also pointed out to Hodge, in the final week forfeedback to the Department for Culture, Media & Sport, that AlisonSmithson “still remains one of the few built female architects”.Pulling out all the stops, she drew on links with Sarah Brown, wife ofthe prime minister, whom she knows through the Maggie’s Centrescharity, to focus attention on the building’s future.Theimpassioned plea came as an assessment by one of the world’s mostrespected cost consultants, Davis Langdon, suggested that refurbishingthe estate should not be more expensive than demolition and rebuilding,and could even prove cheaper. Hadid wrote: “I understand thatreports now detail the economic benefits of renovating Robin HoodGardens over demolition. I urge you to seriously consider listing thebuildings for future generations, as it would be a tragedy to lose thisnational landmark.”All hopes are now resting on the architecture minister Margaret HodgeTowerHamlets Council and English Partnerships — which are aiming to bulldozethe Smithsons-designed estate and replace it with up to 3,000 new homes— have repeatedly claimed that demolition is the most economic option.Buta like-for-like comparison, carried out by Davis Langdon on behalf ofBD, found that the demolition and new-build option would cost around£34 million at current prices, compared to £28 million for a majorrefurbishment of the 15,700sq m development. “{This shows}there is no major difference in cost between refurbishment and newbuild,” said architect John McAslan. “But to reuse what already existsmakes sense because you can control the cost of refurbishment far morethan new build. Most of the embodied energy is also embodied in thesubstructure and superstructure, so reusing that… has environmentalbenefits.”Tower Hamlets declined to comment, but EnglishPartnerships regional director Stephen Oakes pointed out the DavisLangdon figures were based on a number of assumptions.“Our ownexpert consultant, Capita Symonds, carried out a robust costing ofheadline refurbishment costs to bring the two blocks and associatedgarages up to a decent standard,” he said. “The preliminaryfigures of more than £20 million accounted only for basic buildingworks, not major structural work nor works which would significantlyimprove the poor environmental performance of the buildings, nor costsfor decanting the existing residents out of their homes duringrefurbishment works.”
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