Ladbroke House in Highbury

• THE proposed major works at Ladbroke House, in Highbury Grove, are a gallant attempt by an architect to transform a derelict former factory into a sixth-form college against all the odds.

As widely anticipated, the submitted plans merely accentuate, through a series of desperate design solutions, the inappropriateness of this site for a school, (Any architect would struggle with this brief given the constraints imposed by the existing structure and its location).

In particular, being forced to locate cycle stores and refuse bins on the front and side elevations where they would be most conspicuous, in a conservation area opposite Highbury Fields, reveals the constraints of the footprint of the existing building.

This visually inelegant solution would cause serious traffic-flow issues for pedestrians and cyclists at peak times in the narrow forecourt.

Overall, the extent of the required works reflects the ill-considered nature of this project from the outset and the scandalous waste of taxpayers’ money that it represents.

Based on flimsy educational grounds, together with the fundamental inappropriateness of the building and its location, this project should never have got to this stage.

The flaws regarding fitness for purpose of Ladbroke House to accommodate 1,000 student aged 16 to 18 will become even more apparent with successive attempts to produce “acceptable” design solutions. Perhaps this project is Islington’s equivalent of the Garden Bridge across the Thames.

ROY PRENTICE
Highbury Crescent, N5