Comments for zero carbon house

Comment on RETROFIT REIMAGINED by Tim Weller

Tim Weller — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 10:09:00 +0000

In reply to John Christophers. YES! Brilliant John Christophers & Co. THANKS!

Comment on RETROFIT REIMAGINED by John Christophers

John Christophers — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 09:16:14 +0000

@LouiseRadice YES! – Sat 18 May and Sun 19 May 2025 – we are planning events in Balsall Heath as part of Birmingham Retrofit Action Week – save the date – details to follow….!

Comment on RETROFIT REIMAGINED by Louisa Radice

Louisa Radice — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 00:05:56 +0000

Is Retrofit Reimagined taking place in 2024?

Comment on Social or Affordable Housing? by Mary Keating

Mary Keating — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 17:13:59 +0000

Tim,
We are not perfectly clear either. Trying to get to the bottom of the machinations and the negotiations around affordable housing is very difficult. This was the best stab we could make with the information we could access.
Yes indeed committee members voted for affordable housing because no social housing is being offered in these plans ….it is not normal for developers to offer social housing which is generally only offered by those who will manage it, ie the local authority or housing associations. The Save Smallbrook alternative plans have not been developed to the point where the kind of housing is detailed. Social rents equate with social housing so as the plans stand at present there are no flats available for social rents, only ‘affordable’ rents.
There are no plans for schools, medical facilities or other infrastructure. Scary isn’t it.

Thanks for responding
Mary

Comment on Social or Affordable Housing? by Tim Weller

Tim Weller — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 17:20:10 +0000

This is a most helpful piece by Mary. I’ve been struggling for years to try and get my head round the difference between social and affordable housing. Mary has made it clearer for me – thank you but I’m still not perfectly clear!
She also explains the complications over percentages and negotiations which will take place in the future , so changes cannot be foreseen now.
I hope I’m of average intelligence but certainly not much more. Therefore, I feel I may be like one of the councillors on the Planning Committee who can easily be bamboozled by clever arguments over figures. And councillors do change from year to year through both elections and leaders changing committee members. Sometimes, no sooner has a councillor understood his/her brief than he gets moved to another committee or is no longer an elected councillor. Hence, Mary writing, “Were councillors misled by these figures since the reality may well be very different?” I certainly would have been misled!

Therefore, …
Did the committee vote for more affordable housing than social housing that is the greater urgency? And this is what the officers were recommending members to vote for?
Am I right in thinking that our Save Smallbrook Ringway’s plans will ensure more social housing than affordable?
I am, of course, on your side anyway but, with my declining brain power, I would like answers to these questions please to help my understanding.
IN ADDITION:
When Mary wrote,
“Even if the flats in the tower blocks planned for Smallbrook Ringway Centre were available
at social rents, would they be suitable for families? Families need ready access to green
spaces, schools, doctors’ surgeries, a whole raft of services and infrastructure that is not
accommodated in these plans.”
Do “social rents” equate with social housing or affordable housing or both, please?
If the urgent need is for more social housing because of more families than there are singles and couples, will our plans include plans for new schools and health centres and where, exactly?

Comment on Save Smallbrook by Michael Kenna

Michael Kenna — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 21:57:25 +0000

Similar sweeping facade outside Manchester Piccadilly station. Although not a great admirer of most modern buildings, I believe Smallbrook Ringway is quite a fine example (and different) of modern architecture.

Comment on Save Smallbrook by Jo Ind

Jo Ind — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 14:17:50 +0000

Thank you Nicholas. That is really well put. We agree – of course!

Comment on Save Smallbrook by Nicholas Johnson

Nicholas Johnson — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 11:27:59 +0000

Too many Brutalist buildings in Brum have been butchered. Instead of going with the revisionist flow, we need to assert our city’s very special place in the vanguard of Modernist building and explain why Brutal is beautiful and not the eyesore it is often claimed to be. For example, I don’t think many people understand Roberts’ vision for the Sentinels, the Ringway and the Rotunda- I didn’t until very recently. Also, people should be aware that many Brutalist/Modernist projects have been allowed to fail for lack of funding. If Paradise Circus had been properly developed, with the concrete meeting greenery, it could have become our Barbican. As more people opt for living in the city centre, it’s essential we don’t allow Birmingham’s obsession with moving ‘forward’ to be seen as a green light to the bulldozers. I was born in Derby; a lot of the citizens there deeply regret the eradication of historical sites in that city. I don’t want that to happen to my adopted city of Birmingham.

Comment on Last chance to save Smallbrook Ringway Centre by Richard Thompson

Richard Thompson — Mon, 09 Oct 2023 09:07:57 +0000

I’d like it to be saved, it’s part of my youth from when I used to go to the city centre in the early 1980s

Comment on Save Smallbrook Ringway! by Say no to the demolition of the Smallbrook Ringway Centre – build public support and put pressure on the Council decision-makers | Birmingham Against The Cuts

Sat, 12 Aug 2023 17:31:18 +0000

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