what we were witness to 'the consultation' is the council ticking a box to say they have given us our right to speech. from what i understand is HLM (the architects) have been assigned to produce a concept to see what we think, these are very professional people that know how to present and sell ideas, they were not allowed to talk about the existing buildings, there historical value or anything, it was not their role, they may not be the 'architects' of any proposal.

what was ironic was that they had a quotation from Sir Norman Foster mentioning FH as a unique place in London, or something along those lines, but this is when the pools are still in use.

the proposals are far from final it is still concept stage, the building shown is a nominal object to help demonstrate the concept. the 'concept' of option two is best suited, with full facilities of swimming and a series of dwellings to pay for it with still part of the money coming from the council.

where the concept in option two fails is the disconnection with the existing library, having turned its back on it and the disconnection with the rest of its environment, the shops across the road and the rest of dartmouth road. the idea that FH central is the only focus is wrong and out of touch for a community building.

these points are very important if you want a building to work and if it doesn't work it gets trashed.

and i still want to see an option four, where the facades are used.