Garrison Estate Purfleet
September 26th, 2009
UPDATE: Bi-monthly meetings -> Purfleet on Thames Community Forum
Whilst looking for a cheap ex local authority flat to buy in or near London I came across the Garrison Estate at Purfleet and went down to have a look one sunny Saturday.
Click for larger image
Sunlight study – Vue2
September 25th, 2009
I did some examples on Vue2 in Bletchley MK. Pictures linked from the table below:-
From August 17th 2008 until April 20th 2009 the sun never rose within sight of Vue2 NNW facing flats.
Where does the sun rise between those dates? Let’s take halfway, say 136 days from 17/8/08 to New Year then 109 days from New Year to April 20th. 136+109 = 245. Half that is 122.5. 136 – 122 = 14 so 14 days before the end of 2008 is our halfway point. This is about 17/12/2008, showing the sun rising to the South-East nowhere near the NNW facing flats.
The picture is taken at noon showing the arc of the sun sweeping South from sunrise SE to SW on setting at this time of year.
For only 365-245=120 days does the sun rise within sight of the NNW facing flats, and then only remaining visible for a short time
On Midsummers day the NNW facing flats would get just two hours of sunlight 0440-0640 from the East at a time when many people will be asleep, but that afternoon they will get five hours of sunlight from 16:23 to sunset at 21:29.
On 11-11-2009 the sun sets along the alignment of Vue2 and for two months it is not to be seen from the west, until 11-1-2010.
| 17/08/2008 | 17/12/2008 | 20/04/2009 | 11/11/2009 | 11/01/2010 | 21/06/2010 |
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Click individual photos above for larger versions
Here’s the sun calculator, you drag the pointer around then zoom in to your house and change the date to winter or summer.
https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/grad/solcalc/
This is the old one which no longer works
https://www.iesmith.net/tools/solarcalc.html
If you use it please be aware of the following to get the best out of it.
01) Open it up
02) Type in the name of a town and click the Go button
03) Zoom in with the vertical slider on the left or click the + button repeatedly.
04) Drag the red pointer to your street (note in Firefox the map started scrolling on its own so I switched browsers)
05) Drag the map across and drag the point separately to get the black X on your window
06) Switch from terrain to satellite (Map | Satellite | Terrain) to get a better view, zoom again and drag the pointer again
07) Once you’ve settled on the location click the calendar, set a date and tick the Daylight saving box if it’s the summer
08) Click calculate
09) At the point the map will probably switch to “We’re sorry etc . . . ” click the satellite button and you’ll have your picture back
10) Look at the sun position and sunrise and sunset positions for the date you chose
A2Dominion Woods House planning documents
September 24th, 2009
06_07098_FULL-DESIGN___ACCESS_STATEMENT-1131238.pdf
06_07098_FULL-ACOUSTICS_REPORT-1131223.pdf
06_07098_FULL-S106_LEGAL_AGREEMENT-1546259.pdf
Go to https://idoxpa.westminster.gov.uk/online-applications/ and enter the planning ref 06/07098/FULL for remaining documents.
I recommend you download the D&A at the top link above. The document is a masterpiece of marketing doublespeak and obfuscation turning night into day and black into white.
The two major points of interest are:-
1) the reduction in apartment size from the consented scheme leading to visible columns in the living rooms and bedrooms of Woods House pages 6, 7 and 8.
2) the reduction in ceiling heights in Woods House as compared with Bramah next door owing to the developer inserting an additional floor without increasing the permitted building height and taking the loss off all the existing floors by reducing their ceiling heights. See page 11.
Sir Parker Morris
September 23rd, 2009
Sir Parker Morris (1891-1972)
Set the standards for housing design Although Sir Parker Morris’ seminal government report, Homes for Today & Tomorrow, was published in 1961 it was only by the end of the decade that the impact of its generous space standards for housing was felt.
The so-called Parker Morris standards only became mandatory for housing in new towns in 1967 and it was another two years until it was compulsory for all council homes. Morris, who had been a town clerk for Westminster council, argued that people needed to be guaranteed better quality homes to match the improvement in living standards.
Among his conclusions was that there should be at least one toilet in dwellings with up to three bedrooms and that there should be heating systems for kitchens.
As a result, slum housing that failed to meet the standards was demolished. Unfortunately, in a government measure to lower public spending, the standards stopped being mandatory in 1980, and little of the public housing built in the quarter of a century since meets all of Morris’ aspirations.
Jon Rouse, chief executive of the Housing Corporation, says: “It is a remarkable testament that despite the passage of 40 years, the space standards conceived by Parker Morris are still regarded widely within the affordable housing sector as a benchmark to be strived for. Parker Morris was perhaps the first to sow the seeds of what we now call sustainable housing.
In his own words: “This approach … starts with a clear recognition of these various activities and their relative importance in social, family and individual lives, and goes on to assess the conditions necessary for their pursuit in terms of space, atmosphere, efficiency, comfort, furniture and equipment.”
From Homes for Today & Tomorrow. Three key dates: 1960 Co-founded housing development agency, the Housing Association Charitable Trust 1961 Publication of Homes for Today & Tomorrow 1969 Parker Morris standards made compulsory for all council housing.
The 1961 report that made Sir Parker Morris’ name synonymous with improved housing standards