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I can't believe I missed this thread.
I have so many good memories of SB; from skating the little banks on my brand new Death deck I purchased from Cide, to watching it flood and still have a bmx jam go off down the seven.
Every single time I go to London to ride bmx Southbank has been either the warm up spot or the place to chill at the end of the day before getting the train home, and I can't imagine London without it.
The idea that SBC can place a monetary value on a public space and state that the skaters have to raise £17million if they want to keep it disgusts me. How can you justify removing all of that organic culture for the sake of retail space?
This video talks about some of the history of the spot and the on going fight to save the space. Please watch and share, it's not just about skateboarding, it's about a preserving a part of history.
Long Live Southbank: The Bigger Picture - YouTube
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And here's an interview with Henry Edwards-Wood about the situation.
http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/southbanks-undercroft-is-more-than-a-skatepark -
So it looks like they're going to play dirty.
We warned you that the Southbank Centre wanted us out of the Undercroft at any cost. Their request for more time to ‘consult’ with communities was a ruse to buy more time for the design of their new programmable space under Hungerford Bridge and misinform people into supporting the Festival Wing plans.
Now is the time for action. We need you to not just like this post but to share and to write to your MP and Lambeth Council to raise your concerns and objections.
We need you to watch the Southbank Centre and the Undercroft closely over the next 3 days.
The Southbank Centre resubmitted their plans for the Festival Wing redevelopment and the Hungerford Bridge Southbank Centre programmable space on Friday 29th November.
It is no coincidence that the Southbank Centre has also stated they wish to close the Undercroft in order to “deal with a significant backlog of work” from Monday the 2nd December to Wednesday 4th December.
Structural engineers and building maintenance experts have been consulted and those that visited the site have all stated that they can find no reason for a closure of the Undercroft for the proposed work.
Our inside sources have informed us that the Southbank Centre intend to board the Undercroft up and create a health and safety reason for why they need to keep it closed for longer.
This would potentially be a forced eviction crudely disguised as routine maintenance job.
Our lawyers contacted Lambeth Council on the 11th November to raise our concerns. Lambeth Council have yet to reply.
Despite enormous opposition to the destruction of the Undercroft space, the Southbank Centre refuses to listen to anyone on the matter of Preservation.
Read their ‘revised’ plan here. As you can every conceivable area has been identified for business and commercial purposes – something they omitted from their promotional materials:Planning permission is sought for alterations and extensions to the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery including a 'pavilion' above the Hayward Gallery and Purcell Room (a triple height building at level 7 to 9) and the creation of a 5 storey high 'foyer' beneath (level 2 to 6), a 'liner building' parallel to Waterloo Bridge (three storeys at level 4 to 6) and infilling of ground floor undercrofts.
Providing an increase of circa 9,100sqm arts/cultural/leisure use (Class D2), circa 1,000sqm arts/cultural/leisure use (Class D2) and/or business use (Class B1), circa 500sqm arts/cultural/leisure use (Class D2) and/or shops (Class A1) and/or restaurants and cafes (Class A3) and/or hot food takeaways (Class A5), and circa 4,200sqm shops (Class A1) and/or restaurants and cafes (Class A3) and/or hot food takeaways (Class A5). Together with refurbishment of the existing venues, relocation of servicing, creation of public realm between Belvedere Road and Queens Walk, provision of roof gardens, external hard and soft landscaping, plant and associated works.
Listed building consent is sought for provision of new links to Waterloo Bridge and associated works (reference: 13/02016/LB).
Revised plans have been received showing amendments to elevations and appearance, including; a set back to the front (north-west elevation) of the 'liner building', alterations to the appearance of the Belvedere Road elevation, alterations to 'festival steps' (linking the new public realm to the proposed foyer) and the location of the lifts, alterations to the glazing to the corner of the Queen Elizabeth Hall foyer at level 2; and removal of A4 (drinking establishment) uses from the proposals.
Keep Preserving!
Picture and text shared from the LLSB facebook page. -
They're now stopping people from photographing the Undercroft.
Welcome to your 'friendly' 'open' 'charity' art institution... but no photographs, no filming, no looking for too long.
People taking photos of the most famous and photographed spot on the Southbank Centre sight are now being stopped from taking images and filming.
What is there to be worried about? Isn't the slogan 'more art for more people'?
...or is it; more-of-the-art-we-tell-you-you-can-have - for SOME people. You decide. The evidence is out there...
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^^ I think this is brewing. They stated it would be closed for "maintenance" until tomorrow so if they continue to have it shut off then something is going to happen.
As it stands I think the skaters are trying to take the moral high ground by doing everything by the book, breaking in and chaining themselves to the pillars is the final move once everything else has failed.
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True fax! You're seeing the big picture as well. The skaters had a smart platform from the get go. Start with grass roots movement and go on from there. Starting shit now will only fuel the pretense that skaters and BMX'ers are rogue youfs and all that shit, which would work in Southbanks favour to spin a negative image.
Alas, whether that tactic works or not remains to be seen. Ultimately, Southbank has far more money to lose than those in favour of keeping it as it is. I think they would rather sabotage their plans and image as open minded liberal organization than lose.
Public image can always be "recovered" with more Mulled wine stalls and santa hats.Dollar dollar bill 'yall!
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^ I wouldn't be shocked in the slightest if they were trying to get a raise out of the skaters/bmxers/graffiti artists for this exact reason.
Your 'friendly' art institution of Secrecy and Lies
For months we have taken on the chin an extremely aggressive and underhanded campaign run by a place that calls itself 'world class'.
Whereby we have been constantly praised by the public, politicians, local residents and tourists alike for the dignity, integrity, humility, honesty and articulation of our campaign, we are relentlessly called 'aggressive', 'angry', 'abusive' by the institution who says we "refuse" to talk to them, while knowing that the statements they make are wholly untrue. We are thousands of people who are passionate about our home. Who would not be passionate about a place they love, especially while under the threat of eviction?
What is important here is that we are the same people both in front of cameras and behind cameras, both in the public and behind closed doors. We are not trying to trick anyone, we are not trying to hoodwink anyone. We represent an immensely diverse group of people - a diversity of people that the Southbank Centre could only dream of achieving. We are what and who we are - and we wear our hearts on our selves.
We have encountered a very different Southbank Centre to the one that is portrayed in the public eye. To be clear though, we are not speaking of the majority of the staff, many of whom have spoken to us of their support of our campaign and our objective of Preservation. When the magnifying glass is used, it reveals that only a handful of senior staff are responsible for the current campaign of cultural destruction and cultural divide and conquer.
What has been the most shocking and disturbing revelation to us is depth of secrecy and lies that hide behind the glass offices of the institution that has paraded carefully selected images of youth, predominantly of children of non-white backgrounds, in its heavy-handed campaign to win over public support. An institution that wishes to be responsible for teaching our young people and those that they deem are 'marginalised'.
That an institution is unafraid to vilify young people it selects as a target and embark on a campaign of passive aggression, manipulation and bullying is extremely worrying. It is even more worrying that this institution is hailing itself as fit to be responsible for the welfare of 'thousands of young people', especially those that are vulnerable.
The question is not only the protection of one of London's most valuable cultural landmark's, but the protection of us as a community from those that will use us in their campaign of self-gain and self-interest.
The time has come for us to reveal our experiences and the many experiences that many of you have had that you have shared with us.
It is not only us that are concerned about how the Southbank Centre have executed their campaign, it is their own staff, politicians, journalists, students, contractors, artists and performers. We know this because we are constantly contacted by them and you.
This is not about skateboarders, this is about us, the community, and what an institution is willing to do to us to get its own way.
Preservation
Construction WITHOUT Destruction -
This shit makes me foam at the mouth. The same institutions that should be the vanguard for the Arts and Humanities in a country that seems to have turned its back on this field and its core, are now acting like the slimey, corrupt and underhanded "developer" corporations acting in the "benefit of the community".
Fuck, how the hell are those that don't know how to wipe their own arses meant to know what the community requires. Their views extend as far as those 3D £ signs floating just past their noses that they use to dig into every vulnerable institution, rendering any swathe of land as further glowing numbers.
Sometimes I think the pitchfork is the better alternative to bureaucracy of paper, but do that now, and the publicity teams will have nothing left to do but sit back and watch their work being done for them.Vilify a whole generation, there will always be more.
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They took the heart out of southbank years and years ago. 2004 to be exact. When they put those hoardings up during the renovation of RFH - they said they needed the space for construction stuff. This was the first time spraycan art was actively encouraged by SBC. To take your attention away from the fact that they took away all that space from us. And it made it look more aggressive and 'street' which in turn has allowed them to view skating as a problem outsider activity. IMO.
Before that they:
turned off the lights
put up fences at the foot of the big mellow banks
put up a fence at the foot of the bank-to-wall
gouged strips out of the concrete near the three steps at the south end
set large pebbles into the banked risers to the 'loading bay' that was on the approach to the bank-to-wallI'm not sure in what order all these things were done to the undercroft. But I reckon the last one was the earliest. I reckon this last step took place about 1990, or about that time. So they've been doing all this for a looooong time.
I'm filled with anger at SBC. But for some reason I reckon it's all too little too late. Winstan Whitter made a film called Save The South Bank, made in about late 2004, and in it we raised all these questions about why a cultural institution didn't see street stuff as part of culture. That was the time to do something.
It's all too late.
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It's never too late. Having seen and skated SB before they blocked off little banks and allowed graffiti I would agree whole heartedly that it isn't what it once was, but that doesn't mean that the space cannot continue to inspire many others, nor does it detract from the history of the place.
One can hope that they fail to get funding for this £120M scheme and give up on the idea before they block it all off for good. This isn't the first time similar proposals have been made, and I think the lack of enthusiasm from the neighbouring National Theatre and the Haywood Gallery may help in this ongoing battle.
All of this history is touched on in the video I posted further up the thread, I'd definitely encourage everyone to watch it when they get a spare 15 minutes.
I'm not giving up yet. Here's another survey and the Hungerford Bridge planning application to show your objections.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9DNCRKK
http://planning.lambeth.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=makeComment&keyVal=MWX1IYBO03F00[
](https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9DNCRKK) -
Nah, it's a crap spot. Forget it.
If SBC can't work it out that skaters reclaimed that place from the rough sleepers, made it habitable again, made it cool, played a big part in making it a tourist attraction, then leave them to their shit anodyne shopping experience. They don't deserve people as excellent as skateboarders there giving them cred.
I say ignore the hungerford bridge spot, it's bound to be shit, and just move on. It's over.
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Nah, it's a crap spot. Forget it.
If SBC can't work it out that skaters reclaimed that place from the rough sleepers, made it habitable again, made it cool, played a big part in making it a tourist attraction, then leave them to their shit anodyne shopping experience. They don't deserve people as excellent as skateboarders there giving them cred.
I say ignore the hungerford bridge spot, it's bound to be shit, and just move on. It's over.
As much as I understand your cynicism (At least that's how I feel about the whole affair anyway), aren't some things worth fighting for? As in, I don't use it or near enough go anywhere near the park for me to make a difference, but for other people, it's their daily. It's their weekend, and it could even end up being the most memorable part of their youth. Sure, move along and forget it anyway, but you know what they say, "give them an inch...etc etc".
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To give it up would be playing right into their hands.
I've been visiting London for 12 years to skate and bmx, and almost all of these times I've ended up at SB at some point during the day. I've met some amazing people there and seen some amazing tricks get pulled.
As a bmxer it's slightly limited as a spot as I follow the skaters wishes to leave the blocks alone despite having plastic pegs. But where else in London is there a spot that's almost always occupied by another skater/rider, is undercover and not 5 minutes from the mainline trains. I love the vibrancy of the place, and the feeling of looking out over the river on a lovely summers evening after a good session.
London wouldn't be London without it.
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It doesn't actually say what the Mayor said, but I imagine we'll hear that reported soon.
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^ Here you go. http://www.london.gov.uk/media/mayor-press-releases/2014/01/mayor-supports-skate-park-rethink
I'm sure this is more of a PR stunt for Boris after seeing how negative a reaction it has received from the public, but this could be the kind of thing that helps preserve the space and allow future generations to appreciate it.
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''The Southbank Centre hope to extend the building by Waterloo Bridge and construct a ‘Festival Wing’ and glass pavilion to accommodate new and improved arts and cultural space.''
kinda sums it up really.skating not an art or culture. chuh
if it dont make dollars it dont make sense
calebs
biarittz
bmxed
hp93
Federal
Chak
Skülly
Oliver Schick
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About
Save the Southbank
Posted by
@TM
I was surprised not to find a thread for this here.
https://www.change.org/petitions/lambeth-council-southbank-centre-boris-johnson-arts-council-england-stop-the-relocation-of-the-southbank-skate-park