Seeing London's Architecture
- class trip to the Central St Giles construction site
On Wednesday 22nd April 2009, NYU in London's Seeing London's Architecture class visited the construction site of 'Central St. Giles' – the first UK project by the celebrated Italian architects Renzo Piano Building Workshop. The trip was initiated and led by Mr Benedict O'Looney:
"We had a remarkable afternoon. It began with a lunch in an enormous portable canteen built to feed the 500 construction workers building this project. We next found ourselves an extensive changing area where we gathered the necessary boots, safety glasses, vests and helmets required for visiting a construction site. Then, like something in a children’s story, we were shown to an unassuming door, beyond which was all the clatter and action of a tight and busy inner-city construction site.
We came at an ideal time with the main structure almost complete, concrete floors poured and the brightly colored German ceramic cladding beginning to be fixed. We asked our host Bovis a number of questions, assuming that that was our last chance to learn about the project, but there was more to come:
Following our site visit we were brought up to the project office at the top of the Centrepoint building where the senior members of the design and construction team were waiting for us. We met the construction manager of Bovis, a director of Legal and General, Stanhopes, the project architect, executive architect, and the project engineer from Arups. In turn, each gave us presentations on what exactly they do. We learned how together they are building this £170 million project and what each party's priorities and conflicts are and how they resolve them.
Over the course of 3 hours our group was given a thorough insight into how such a dense and complex building is planned, engineered and constructed, from early negotiations and the formation of a brief with Camden and the GLA, to the tricky engineering over the proposed Crossrail tunnels under the site in recent weeks. We had a fascinating afternoon that far exceeded my expectations. Bovis and Legal & General were great hosts and there was certainly something for each of the students".
