From Alastair Best.
TWO weeks ago the Franco-British Union of Architects held their 79th reunion in Jersey. Events included a presentation, by Jim Greaves of Hopkins Architects, of their proposals for the Esplanade Quarter. It culminated in a gala dinner held in the Great Hall at Victoria College.

Afterwards, I passed round a questionnaire to try to find out exactly what the delegates had thought of the Hopkins Masterplan. There were a few who condemned it out of hand (‘banal’, ‘désastreux’, ‘vive l’argent’), but almost everyone welcomed the plan’s big idea of burying the road.

Some wondered whether Jersey had researched other people’s waterfront solutions (Oslo, say, or Barcelona), and, if so, whether they might have produced a different brief for a different architect.

There were several objections to Hopkins’s application of a grid plan in St Helier. Too monolithic, said one: ‘There needs to be a greater recognition of hierarchy’. Another suggested that Hopkins should invite other architectural practices ‘to enrich the scheme’.

A common concern was the impact of the Hopkins plan on the economic and social life of St Helier, and its perceived failure to reflect the street patterns of the existing town. Another was its failure to acknowledge the sea. ‘Where is Elizabeth Castle? Where is St Aubin’s Bay?’ asked a delegate.
Answer: Hiding behind the Radisson Hotel.
Holland House,
52 Val Plaisant,
St Helier.