Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Ally Pally - See its future
Over the past few months the Trustees of Alexandra Palace have been developing a plan for the future use of Ally Pally. There is a public exhibition to share the plans running this week.
The exhibition is open from 10:00 to 5:00 in the Londesborough Room (Palm Court).
Apologies for the late notice on this one, but it seems to have been poorly advertised.
But, don't worry if you can't get down there, I've also included some pictures on this post to give you the general idea. You can also download their summary of the "six big ideas" or read the full conservation plan and add your response to a consultation exercise on a special area of Ally Pally's website.
(This post was originally published uner the title "TODAY & TOMORROW: Ally Pally - See its future". Both title and exhibition information in the post have been changed following an update by the organisers)
Tags for Forum Posts: alexandra palace, ally pally
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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Anything that brings people to the palace. Certainly places to eat & drink. We have one of the best, one of the few, great views over London. It's madness not to use that. At the moment there is nothing that takes advantage of that view except a god awful pub. I have always thought that balcony would be perfect for dining. And yes this area desperately needs a decent hotel as the little available around here at the moment is truely appalling. The plans look very positive. Seems like the current manager (having come from Wembley Arena plc) has really got things going at last.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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For the record, although all Harringay hotels seem to be on the ragged side, there are some other good hotels nearby. See our hotels page and inked reviews by HoL users.
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Thanks but there's little choice there. Strange, considering we live in London and only 30 minutes by tube into town. Entrepreneurs missing a trick?
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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Thanks for posting this Hugh.
A note in the snail mail yesterday from an architect friend said:
"Ally Pally
- Alter entrances (to)
- Promote heritage facilities,
- Add a hotel (south west corner)
Sound familiar? "
The thing is that most of these things were recommended over a long period and repeatedly.
The waste of money over the years on PR, lawyers, consultants and misconceived sale attempts has been enormous. What was lacking for 20+ years was a sense of vision and possibility.
At last things AP seems broadly to be moving in the right direction.
But the political grip is still there; I would like to see at the bare minimum, an independent chairman and preferably some independent trustees and ideally a majority of independent trustees, rather than local politicians.
I'd encourage residents (i.e. the Trust's beneficiaries and legally, the owners) to respond to the consultation.
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Permalink Reply by doug on
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The plans look great. As mentioned above a better selection of drinking/dining facilities would be a welcome addition.
I agree it's important that as many local residents as possible take a couple of minutes to fill out the consultation form. I've just completed it, but the comments section would only allow two and a half lines of text - anyone else had the same problem or is it just my computer?!
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Permalink Reply by Maddy on
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I certainly think tackling the road/racetrack that effectively cuts off the palace from its park would make a vast difference. It all looks great on paper (or screen), but I do wonder where the money is going to come from.
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Yes, the current road is a barrier.
It's also roughly the opposite of what the Victorians originally intended.
The main entrance and the railway line were at what is now the 'rear' (north) side. Like a big Victorian country house, the entrance was at the front and expansive gardens were at the back, as a nice surprise for visitors. Now, we get our surprise right away and its the roadway and the W3 bus.
Re. the money, I think the correct sequence is to get the concepts right first and then the other things will eventually fall into place.
For 20+ years, there's been no vision and concern only with current cash (i.e. lets flog it for whatever we can get).
Paradoxically, the chronic fixation on the short-term has led to big long term waste. To cite one example, my best estimate of the monies paid from our Charity to one firm of solicitors in the last seven years, is approx £1,000,000. That is only a part of the total bill for lawyers, which in turn is a fraction of the total waste.
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Permalink Reply by michaela rourke on
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The plans do look impressive - it's all the stuff we always say when we go there, needs some good quality food and drink places (hopefully not awful chains) and always a shame to see it looking so run down outside. What about having a few small shops too? Craft/deli style places of good quality or stalls that local businesses could rent. Have always wondered what it might take to get a small train running round the grounds, I think there was one in the past of some sort, might help get people using more of the park. It would be amazing if they get the theatre restored, there's such potential there. Most importantly, Haringey need to bring the fireworks back!
Had problems adding more than a line to their feedback form too, which is a shame.
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This Public Consultation hasn't been much publicised. Thanks to Hugh's post and having some interest in the subject, I went along yesterday. I had a good chat with the head of regeneration, Mark Hopson.
According to this AP web page, the exhibition is open until this Friday (10 to 17:00). (the display panels and models are in the Londesborough Room)
I think the broad outline of what is proposed is fine. It is a great pity that this wasn't put forward five, ten, 15 or even 20 years ago. But better late than never.
If anyone has some particularly clever ideas that they would like to contribute to what is, after all, our facility (it being a Charitable Trust), then now is the time to do it.
Two of the key documents (2 x 7 MB PDFs) will remain downloadable on this blog.
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I understand that the six week consultation runs from the 18th of May i.e. this is just the first of six weeks. Last night I observed the joint meeting of the AP Statutory and Consultative Committees and it seems that in some respects, the consultation has got off to a fitful start.
One of the points made by the Chairman of the Trust Board was that, although formally the consultation runs for six weeks, because these are grand scale plans and nothing will be happening overnight, the Trustees will listen to ideas after that date too.
IMO, the spatial masterplanning that has been put forward for comment is by far the most credible, realistic, lawful proposal since the fire of 1980. I would just add that they can probably be advanced more rapidly if external experts can be brought onto our Trust's Board.
Its important that this outline has public support. As a sometime critic of the council's performance over AP in the last five years, I have to say that these plans deserve exposure and comment and IMO, support. No one has a monopoly on good ideas and some resident may come up with something that hasn't been thought of.
Once again, thanks for publicising Hugh.
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Don't seem to include any reference to its history as the birthplace of British public tv broadcasting. Shame. Am I right in thinking there is some sort of exhibit there at the moment. Maybe they could expand this into a whole new museum.
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Cartiledge: this aspect is being downplayed currently and the short term ambitions are modest, indeed little more than what we've got at present. In the long term, the Trust Board has adopted the goal of UN World Heritage site for the SE wing. I and others will be pushing for this.
If you look at page 68 of the excellent Conservation Management Plan (7MB PDF), you will see the following:
"The status of Studios A and B, as the birthplace of public broadcast television is immense, and the surviving studios are the best tangible reminders, together with the transmitter mast, of this.
(Donald Insall Associates)
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