RESIDENTS are up in arms after plans to replace the windows of a “brutalist” 1960s high-rise block were put forward.
Leaseholder Freshwater penned the proposal which would see the sliding design of the 1960s building’s windows switch to a ’tilt-and-turn’ style on the estate in Margate, Kent.
As a result, the frames will be “slightly thicker”, satisfying complains from some Arlington House residents who say the current windows are too draughty.
However, not everyone has backed the proposal.
World-famous artist Tracey Emin, who owns a flat inside Arlington House, slammed the “inappropriate” would-be change – adding the fresh frames would ruin the building’s brutalist aesthetic.
More than 200 other objections have also been filed.
Advertisement
Councillors were scheduled to vote on the plans at a meeting yesterday.
“Arlington House is a historic building in Margate. At the time of its construction, Margate was booming, and it was an emblem of the future,” Emin wrote on TDC’s planning portal.
“In the last few decades, it’s been left to go to rack and ruin without care or respect for its monumental brutalist architecture.
“Freshwater understood this responsibility when taking on this building.
Advertisement
“They cannot get away with replacing the originals with cheap, badly styled, inappropriate windows.
“As a flat owner in Arlington House, I’m totally opposed to their proposal. In short, these are wrong for this building.”
I was sleeping in bush shelters at 16 but won a place to Oxford University – posh peers STILL call me ‘council estate Chloe’
Resident Simon Pengelly, 75, added he would try to electrocute anyone who tries to replace his windows.
“To replace them with tilt and turn would give a totally bizarre appearance from the outside, totally out of character with the design of the building,” he seethed.
Advertisement
“It would give it different reflections from all different angles.
“My windows will not be replaced. I will connect live mains to them if they try.
“They will not change these windows. So at least one flat will look different to the rest anyway.”
Other locals hailed the switch up, stating the current windows are an ear sore during choppy conditions.
Advertisement
“None of them fit properly and they’re all draughty. The wind howls through them,” resident Lyndon Brand said.
“They’re just terrible. They rattle and shake.
“There are many windows in the block that have had seagull strikes and cracked.
“In the summer, the heat distorts the frames and cracks the glass.”
Advertisement
They cannot get away with replacing the originals with cheap, badly styled, inappropriate windows
Tracey EminResident and artist
In planning documents, Freshwater argued the new frames will be safer than the current design.
Meanwhile, in a report ahead of the planning committee hearing, a TDC officer wrote: “Overall, the proposed works would see the upgrading of the windows within the tower block to create a more thermally efficient building, with improved acoustic performance and safe openings that meet building regulations and fire safety requirements.”
She continued: “The site is neither listed nor does it fall within the conservation area, but it does lie within close proximity of the historic environment.
“Although there is a general dislike within the community for the new design of the windows that have been chosen, evidence has been submitted confirming that like-for-like replacement sliding windows would not meet current building regulations.
Advertisement
“The proposed tilt and turn design will generate modestly wider frames, but otherwise, the glazing bar arrangement will appear in keeping with that of the existing windows.
“The proposed works will ultimately have a less than substantial impact upon the significance of the setting of the conservation area and listed buildings, which is considered to be, on balance, outweighed by the public benefits of the proposal.”
Last week JPMorgan made headlines by announcing it planned to cap its junior bankers’ working week to 80 hours (“High pressure, long days, crushing workloads: why is investment banking like this?”, FT Alphaville, FT.com, September 13).
The media and most western professionals and other workers will see that figure as extraordinarily high — but the small print makes clear that the cap will not apply when junior bankers are working on “live” deals.
The 80-hour working week, it seems, is the routine baseline expectation.
Former investment banker Craig Coben, author of the FT Alphaville piece, outlined the history and factors that make the long-hours culture a seemingly intractable fact of life across the investment banking industry — and other related sectors such as Big Law.
Advertisement
As investment banking is a bespoke service the work cannot fit into a standard nine-to-five schedule. The question is: does this bespoke service require regular “all-nighters”?
Is this really the most efficient approach? Research shows that working long hours does not improve productivity. Studies document diminishing returns after a certain threshold — typically around 50 hours per week.
Coben also pointed to the mega-salaries junior bankers earn. In the end, there is no such thing as a free lunch in life.
They know what they are getting themselves into. The reality may not be as glamorous as it seems. Assuming an entry salary of £90,000, as indicated in the article, an 80-hour working week for 47 weeks a year — admittedly a very basic calculation — junior bankers would earn a higher hourly rate by doing private tutoring!
Advertisement
Yes, this is partly down to the nature of the business but it is also a self-perpetuating culture that is blocking efforts to at least mitigate its worst excesses.
Addressing this could, in fact, positively impact productivity as well.
Sonia Falconieri Professor in Corporate Finance, Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), London EC1, UK
“We asked for a thorough investigation,” says Olivia.
Advertisement
“That’s definitely what they’ve done as it’s been a while now.
“I hope the FA do the right thing.
“It’s important we don’t skim over what happened.”
Regardless of the outcome, the 25-year-old says there’s no way things can stay the same in women’s football.
Advertisement
“I’d like to think that after what’s happened to my sister, there’s no way there can’t be any change.
“Maddy ultimately lost her life and her spirit to football and it’s important that nobody else goes through that.”
Maddy’s family has launched a foundation in her name to support women and girls in football and hopes to be a voice for them too.
“You can’t bury your head in the sand,” says Olivia.
Advertisement
“You need to stand up for these girls and stand up for Maddy ultimately as well.
“We just really wanted to find what was missing and give these girls a voice.”
They recently hit a £50,000 milestone, something Olivia says she “never even dreamed of”.
“It made me really proud,” she says.
Advertisement
“I thought, we could really change the game here and change young girls’ lives.”
‘I’m going to be like Maddy’
Some of the money raised goes towards supporting girls like eight-year-old Neveah, who idolised Maddy.
Neveah’s mum, Beth, tells Newsbeat the love started when she was assigned the same number football shirt.
Advertisement
“She’d see Maddy play and say, ‘Mum that’s me – I’m number eight, I’m going to be like Maddy’.”
Last year, Neveah was a mascot for Sheffield United and chose to walk out with Maddy, which Beth says helped to “grow her love of football”.
When Maddy died, Beth says Neveah “took it really hard” and, in December, the foundation offered to pay for her to have new boots – something the family had done for Maddy every Christmas.
Since then it has also sponsored her kit.
Advertisement
“She was very touched by that,” Beth says.
“We always get in touch with the family because she likes to tell them how many goals she’s scored for Maddy.”
Although Neveah is sometimes the only girl on the pitch, she is generally supported and encouraged in the sport, says Beth.
But she knows that might not always be the case, and that is why the work of the foundation is so important.
Advertisement
“[Girls] need to know that support is available for them,” she says.
“I just hope Neveah’s journey through football, however long it is, continues to be positive.”
Olivia says her sister was “loved and adored and an inspiration to so many”.
“My main focus with the foundation is to carry that on for as long as I can and to bring her to life for as long as I can as well.”
Advertisement
There will be a vigil for Maddy later and she will also be remembered at a match between Sheffield United and Derby County – the club Maddy supported – on Saturday.
“She would’ve been there for sure,” Olivia says of her big sister. “With a beaming smile.”
A spokesperson for Sheffield United told Newsbeat they were pleased to mark the anniversary with the match.
“The thoughts of everyone associated with Sheffield United Football Club remain with the Cusack family, as well as Maddy’s friends, colleagues and team-mates,” they added.
Advertisement
The FA said it would not be appropriate to comment while it was still investigating.
If you’ve been affected by the issues raised in this article, help and support is available via BBC Action Line.
Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays – or listen back here.
No publication has bettered the FT for the coverage of Boeing’s downward and tragic flight path resulting from putting financial engineering (sic) before real engineering. Rereading John Gapper’s piece about the revival of Rolls-Royce’s fortunes (Opinion, September 13) I was surprised to see no words of caution about the possible consequences of too much “squeezing” of a product that must work perfectly throughout its life, and no warning on the potential for a Boeing outcome.
For me, I am always reassured when I look out from a window seat to see the classic black and silver RR logo on the engine housing. Long may this continue.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login