EDDW

Ko Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Dulwich Hospital was the last remaining > pavillion-style hospital in England. > > The Dulwich Society were involved in trying to get > English Heritage to list it (on two occasions I > believe). > > There were options to keep the onion towers AND > have the modern hospital, options which may have > been financially viable, but the PCT wanted to > take the easy route and just demolish it ASAP. > > Unfortunately, it was all about politics, rather > than what could have been the best result > all-round. It reminds me a bit of what is > currently happening with the Harris Boys Academy. > > However, at the end of the day we should get a > good modern hospital. Its just that they could > have had this AND kept more of the historic > building. A real waste. Two points: 1. Haslar Naval / Military Hospital is also a pavilion hospital and very grand it looks. Sadly about to be lost to the military and probabaly also to the local community as an NHS facility which is what is has also been for many years. 2. As someone inviolved in the hospital refurbishment / replacement programme for 15 years I have to tell you that it is unfortunately a fact that refurbishing an old Victorian building costs as much as, if not more, than knocking it down and building a brand new facility on the same site. Economics drives the decision makers not sentiment. Add to this economic fact the additional fact that building new allows staff to develop new models of care. delivery and provides more flexibility - beautiful Victorian buildings with long narrow corridors, small rooms, poor natural light and lousy energy efficiency just don't work for modern healthcare - and you can see why old is not cool for the NHS. A better deal for the Dulwich Hospital if we wanted to retain the architecture would have been yuppy flats / alternative business uses with a new building funded from the proceeds of the sale.

Plus Borough Market / Covent Garden / Camden Lock - which have kept my teenage sons happy over last couple of years. London Walks (website but not sure where) is alo good once the initial whinges are done (Jack the Ripper was best!).

I have just ead a very poor review of this restaurant in the South London Press. Have always wanted to try it but now not sure. Should I give it a go - or is it as bad as the review made out. Slow / indifferent service, poor food, high (relative to quality) prices.

TimJM Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > We could engage in a debate about the relative > merits of various LEAs (and I think if we > disparage the state education system we'd have to > compare the same systems in Europe) but in this > case it's whether an unelected, unaccountable > private 'academy' that is intent on taking ?30 > million of public money, should engage in > consultation with the community. > > Harris academies may appear like Victorian > philanthropy but why is the space allocated per > pupil so far short of those in other schools and > so far short of the Dept of Education's > recommendations? > Despite the government's enthusiasm for private > academies is there a number of pupils per acre > that they would consider unacceptable and would > step in to limit overcrowding? Are people happy to > hand over public money to unaccountable private > companies in every instance or should people be > declaring their vested interests? And what is so accountable about Southwark Borough Council? have you ever tried to engage them in a debate where the outcome will depend on the quality of the debate rather than their already prepared position?