Planning Powerhouse

I can't pretend that this is a good shot or even a particularly fine building, but there's a lot going on inside. Anyway it's too hot to go very far and I can see this bit of my One Street from my balcony! It is the office of Alan Baxter & Associates, a leading design consultancy. Their recent clients include the National Gallery, St Martin's in the Fields, the Palace of Westminster and St Paul's Cathedral. Alan was the first engineer and designer to move to Clerkenwell in 1979 when it was a run-down area of bacon-smokers and meat-packers - a man with great vision and foresight!

The photo shows a small portion of a group of buildings on the south side of Cowcross Street, which house over 70 organisations all involved in some way with the built environment. To the right of the gateway you can see a long list of the organisations, such as the Association of Art Historians, the Garden History Society, Mausolea and Monuments Trust, Smithfield Trust and the Twentieth Century Society, plus many architectural practices and urban designers. Alan thought it would provide a rich working environment as they all inhabit open plan spaces. I'm sure they have fascinating conversations over the coffee machine!

The building itself is one of the few inter-war buildings in the area, built in 1921 as a warehouse for W H Smith. By 1935 it has been swallowed up by the Danish Bacon Company who installed the original green metal Crittall windows that are quite trendy again now.

There is a gallery on the lower ground floor. My camera club exhibited there a couple of months ago. It's also used for meetings. The last meeting was the Ocean Liner Society discussing "Japanese Ferries".

It'll be nice to leave the heat of London this evening and drive back to the farm.