A Place for all People by Richard Rogers & Richard Brown

Author:Richard Rogers & Richard Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd

The article I wrote for The Times in July 1989 was provoked by Prince Charles’ persistent attacks on modern architecture and architects, and his refusal to debate or discuss these in public.

When we were first telephoned by Stuart Lipton, who was running the Paternoster competition, he told us we had won, but that we should work with Arup Associates, who had proposed a more classical approach. Then we got another call saying that actually it would be Arup who would lead the project. And after that, our role seemed to get lost in the fog; Arup’s scheme was also abandoned, then a neoclassical scheme foundered, and a master plan by William Whitfield was eventually implemented more than 15 years later. A great opportunity had been lost.

As I wrote in a long piece in The Times (‘Pulling Down the Prince’, 3 July 1989), it is a terrible misuse of privilege, or the royal prerogative even, to intervene in public affairs in this way, speaking loftily from the throne but refusing to allow your views to be tested and challenged, while promoting whimsical preferences for decomposed classical columns, pediments and cornices like a modern day Louis XIV. The Prince’s outbursts affect people’s careers. Ahrends, Burton and Koralek never quite recovered from the Prince’s attack on their National Gallery scheme; one of England’s best modern architecture practices was held back from completing more of their carefully considered buildings.

Perhaps even worse than the public pronouncements are the private discussions, the whispers and hints, which take place behind the scenes. As well as at Paternoster Square, the Prince may have lost us work at Stag Place in Victoria, and on the rebuilding of the Royal Opera House, where we were congratulated on a brilliant response but told we were ‘too risky’ and ‘had enemies in high places’.

The Prince’s intervention was most public in relation to the Chelsea Barracks scheme, which was funded by the Qatari sovereign wealth fund. We had prepared a master plan for the site, for 500 apartments with high levels of affordable housing. To our delight, there was support from most local groups, national consultees and even from historical institutions like the Royal Hospital. But a small local opposition group had emerged, and the Prince of Wales rallied to their cause.

At first, the developers and their Qatari backers stood firm behind the scheme, but shortly before the planning application was considered by the elected local authority, where the arguments on both sides could be aired democratically, Prince Charles intervened. He contacted the Qatari royal family privately to express his concerns and ask for an alternative plan. The Qataris pulled the plug. After two-and-a-half years, we were sacked from the project and the planning application was withdrawn a few days before it was due to be considered. Years of work were wasted, and we had to lay off staff owing to the sudden loss of such an important job.

On this occasion, the Prince’s intervention was discussed in some detail in the court cases that followed, but in many other cases, his influence is more shadowy.

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