Top architect Harley Sherlock slams ‘cheap and nasty’ work carried out on Popham estate

Published: 27th May, 2011
by PETER GRUNER

AN award-winning Islington architect this week attacked the “cheap and nasty” quality of workmanship currently being undertaken on an estate which he himself designed half a century ago.

Harley Sherlock, 82, who received the MBE last year in recognition of his design skills, had accepted an invitation from residents to look around the Popham estate at Angel.

The residents are embroiled in a battle with housing agency Homes for Islington (HFI) over “trunking” work, in which contractors install “unsightly” utility cables and wires along walls and ceilings of walkways and corridors.

More than 70 residents have signed a petition against the work, which they say makes their estate resemble a warehouse.

Asked to comment, Mr Sherlock said: “I sympathise with the residents. If this sort of cabling work had been carried out in the 1950s and 1960s it would have been considered cheap and nasty.

“In the old days wires and cables were buried underground or behind walls. That’s where they should be. 

“To have them draped over walls and ceilings is a terrible deterioration of standards.”

Mr Sherlock, who also helped design Blenheim Court near Archway, and Southwood House in Highgate, said Popham was built in the 1950s with a proviso it was to be kept low rise. 

He added: “Islington rightly didn’t want a tower block scheme – they wanted low rise flats with gardens and walkways. I think that despite all the problems there is still a good sense of community on the Popham estate.”

Residents’ association secretary Martin Rutherford said: “Our residents are proud to live here but the rewiring work is being done on the cheap and quite frankly looks a mess. We’re glad that Harley agrees with us.”

Mr Sherlock has written two highly influential books – Cities are Good for Us (1991) and An Architect in Islington (2007) – which taught a generation of architects that you don’t need to build tall to achieve high densities in urban areas.

Mr Sherlock, who lives in Canonbury, is a former chairman of the green transport group Transport 2000 (now the Campaign for Better Transport), and ex-president of the London branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England.