Harringay online

Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

A Freedom of Information answer has revealed that 451 (Tottenham) High Road has been converted at a cost of £181.548 into a venture called N17 Studio as part of a partnership between Haringey Council and architect firm John McAslan that also involves the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London,

The 12-month pilot will give five apprentices the opportunity to gain work experience in an internationally prestigious architect firm. More practically, it also means that local people can see for themselves the Tottenham Model that McAslan made for the council's participation in MIPIM 2014, held in Cannes earlier this year.

The venture was launched on Thursday 18th November with the leading lights of McAslan mingling over drinks and canapés with senior council officers from the regeneration team. The only councillors present were Cllr Kober and Cllr Alan Strickland. Alas, Mr John McAslan had to leave just after the start to get a taxi to go a concert.

I suspect he will be grateful for missing the speeches by Cllr Kober, Labour Leader of Haringey Council and Nick Walkley, Haringey Council chief executive. Making a rare public appearance, Mr Walkley described how John McAslan started his journey to Tottenham. “Boris invited Claire to lunch and she met John. She came back and said ‘I’ve met this bloke, I think he’s an architect.’”

Cllr Kober claimed the new building makes “tangible” the improvements to the area and that the new marketing suite not just “about the symbol but also about the practicalities”.

I also believe the shop is a tangible sign that the Developer Dementors are in Tottenham. Please see my article about the Manhattanisaton of Tottenham.

http://www.24dash.com/news/housing/2014-11-20-Opinion-Haringey-Coun...

Now the fizz of the launch party has gone flat then there are many questions to be answered.

I have asked for details of the alterations made to the old shop to equip it as N17 Studio.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/work_done_to_451_tottenham_h...

And there are wider questions about the relationship between the council and McAslan.

Why is £181.548 being spent by the council on leasing and refurbishing the shop for John McAslan? Surely the council has other priorities areas and McAslan can well afford to fund this venture?

What else is in the deal for McAslan? Are they doing any work for Haringey Council on any Tottenham regeneration scheme?

How will the N17 Studio 12-month pilot be judged in deciding whether it continues with public funding?

What is in the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the council and McAslan?

Tags for Forum Posts: McAslan, conservation, regeneration

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Shall I drop by and ask them to do me a quote for redesigning my back extension?

They're a well respected practice and seem to have a wider social agenda - Tottenham could do far, far worse. Always wise to keep an eye on why the council's doing it, though.

Why are WE subsidising 'big business' to come into an area when we should be getting them to bid ( i.e pay us) to have the right to come and profit from the development potential?
Haringey has paid to have this unit redone. It is spending massive amount of £££ on PR but basic systems are just neglected and the brunt of the cuts is yet to come.
They claim it is all inevitable and in North Tottenham there are plans to not only socially cleanse the area by stealth but they are also going to destroy the last bits of local light industry that didn't move out over the last few decades. These businesses provide very good quality, stable jobs. When they are replaced by the inevitable retail units i.e. national multiples, the 'quality' of the jobs is diminished since they are replaced by shift and part time work.
If you have time go and visit the local, independent, family run wood works/timber merchants that are under threat. They've been there for over 60 years. See the amount of work that goes on in the shops at the back, the wood waste burner that uses waste from the site to heat the place. It is under serious threat forcing us to buy from the large chains with generic corporate service.
This Labour run council is destroying a community with its rush to pander to large scale destructive regeneration. There are alternatives but the regime and the local MP are too intellectually bankrupt and/or intellectually corrupt to produce and carry them forward. They do not possess the wherewithal and some of them are too concerned with their political ascendancy to be worried about the longer term effects their ill-conceived plans will have on the local residents, workers and the community.
They are painting all of this in a very thin veneer of needed 'regeneration'.but who gains from massive development taking place when it involves massive displacement if both long standing residents and small and medium-sized shops and industry

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