Some of you may be aware that the Southbank Centre is proposing to move the skaters from the undercroft, where they have gathered for over 30 years, to a spot under Hungerford bridge. It is still at planning stage and submissions can be made to Lambeth (see link below).
http://planning.lambeth.gov.uk/onli...ail&utm_term=0_89a8f12bef-0ea8108a50-59540617
My son has really good memories of times spent at the undercroft. His friend, Louis Tingle, who passed away in 2004, virtually lived in the place at one point, such was his love for skateboarding and the friends he made there. A couple of days after the funeral, family and friends gathered there to lay flowers and see the tributes to Louis graffed on the walls. For me, its one of very few spaces in London, or anywhere for that matter, where young people can come together, do their thing AND be a source of admiration and interest to the wider community and visitors to the area. Views of a skateboarder:
Finn Andrès, 24, recent 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,' continues Finn Andrès. '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 like this are incredibly valuable to cities, especially when the general dynamic is moving more towards the commercialisation of everything'.
If anyone feels strongly about this proposed move, please send your comments to Lambeth.
http://planning.lambeth.gov.uk/onli...ail&utm_term=0_89a8f12bef-0ea8108a50-59540617
My son has really good memories of times spent at the undercroft. His friend, Louis Tingle, who passed away in 2004, virtually lived in the place at one point, such was his love for skateboarding and the friends he made there. A couple of days after the funeral, family and friends gathered there to lay flowers and see the tributes to Louis graffed on the walls. For me, its one of very few spaces in London, or anywhere for that matter, where young people can come together, do their thing AND be a source of admiration and interest to the wider community and visitors to the area. Views of a skateboarder:
Finn Andrès, 24, recent 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,' continues Finn Andrès. '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 like this are incredibly valuable to cities, especially when the general dynamic is moving more towards the commercialisation of everything'.
If anyone feels strongly about this proposed move, please send your comments to Lambeth.