Judge Portelet when it is finished
Thursday 21st April 2011, 3:00PM BST.
From Sir Richard MacCormac.
I WROTE an article for Country Life (20 years ago!) with the title, ‘Tyranny of the Familiar’.
It set out to question why the familiar, in every age, seems more acceptable and beautiful than the new. The outrage provoked by the appearance of St Paul’s, Wren put down to the fact that the unfamiliar design could not satisfy what he termed ‘customary beauty’.
So I am sorry but not at all surprised by some of the reactions to Portelet. It was never going to satisfy expectations of the ‘customary’ but it is a serious commitment by an exceptional
design team which includes a world-class landscape designer and a renowned artist.
Portelet is currently a raw construction site without landscaping. We are not afraid of robust criticism but ask that judgments are made when the project is complete.
MJP Architects, London
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Comparing himself to Sir Christopher Wren and comparing the Portelet development to St Paul’s Cathedral. How does this man expect to be taken seriously?
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What are you going to use for landscaping?
I would suggest camouflage netting
They are huge glass towers rearing up out of a coastal landscape.
The only things that dominate the landscape to the same degree are the German gun observation towers at Noirmont and L’Etacq.
Damian Hirst is a reknowned artist but I would argue that dead animals floating in tanks of formalin are not art and certainly not beautiful.
More to the point, I notice that the exceptional design team have not stuck this particular bit of hubristic display in their own backyards but deposited in a place far away of which they know nothing and seem to care little
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MJP Architects, “London”. Not Jersey but London. I rest my case.
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Absolutly agree
Jersey….stop moaning. Join the 21st century.
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“MJP Architects, London”?
So again no local Architects, again another loss of a site of beauty.
At least its not on your doorstep.
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I have not had the opportunity to view this development as I no longer live in Jersey but from pictures I have seen and from what I have been told by residents it is not particularly the project that is unattractive but it is simply not suitable for the surroundings.A building can look attractive and appropriate in one setting yet stand out like a sore thumb in another.Don’t blame the architect -blame the person/committee who actually live in Jersey for allowing it!
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Sir Richard MacCormac and Mr Cohen are looking at the buildings,rather than where they are situated.
Portelet, one of our most beautiful bays, is being desecrated by their constructions.
I’m sure that they would be perfect in London or Tel Aviv. Not here.
The future legacy of these two persons will be appalling.
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As they said in profumo, “he would say that, wouldn’t he”.
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Sailed past on a boat the other day, my two kids aged 12 and 16 both commented without any prompting from the adults how awful these buildings were and how they ruined the bay. They are brutal and stark and wholly out of proportion for their setting and have 100% RUINED THAT BAY FOR EVER. No amount of landscaping will ever change this (unless they plant 100ft trees in front of them)
Peter green – its not about the architecture or style of the buildings, its about the setting of them, they might look good in a built up area, but on an isolated headline,aboce a (once) beautiful bay, never, perhaps you havent seen them from the sea in the flesh, im sure you would change your mind. I voted for Cohen last time, never again, how can one man override a committee. Lets hope plemont doesnt go the same way.
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it could be landscaped by being demolished
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Let’s get this straight. St Paul’s cathedral looks good. The portelet development looks awful. To see a professional person seek to draw a comparison between the two entities is laughable indeed. It’s a little like comparing an old toilet bowl with the finest dresden china.
No amount of architect’s smoke and mirrors, sleight of hand or other nonsensical and self-serving spin will change that fact. We are stuck in efeective perpetuity with a monument to ministerial weakness and with something which closely resembles a failed first year undergraduate project from a third-rate technical design student.
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Wren’s design for St Paul’s was based on St Peter’s in Rome – the work of Michelangelo. The dome of St Paul’s was more or less copied from Brunelleschi’s design for Florence Cathedral.
Does this gentlemen seriously believe that the work of MJP Architects can be compared to the works of Michelangelo and Brunelleschi?
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You have to bear in mind that St Paul’s Cathedral was completed around 1711 so it has stood for around 300 years.
Will the Portelet development be still standing after a similar amount of time?
Maybe the architects and Dandara would like to offer the purchasers a guarantee!
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Listen…. the buildings are terrible and all that has happened is your company, the developer and the owner of the site have made a real financial killing, with no regard for people living in Jersey. This project is all about GREED and poor decision making by one Minister
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No matter how much you try to conceal the facts, the fact is: it is a disgusting mess. We acn see that now, so why wait until it is finished?
If you see a crime being committed, do you step in or do you wait until the foul deed is done?!
This is all about money and writing pompous letters won’t fool anybody. You must think we were all born yesterday!!
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Having kayaked several times around Portlet in recent weeks, I have finally found an angle where the development looks OK.
That would be with my back to land looking out to sea.
It’s the same on the North Coast. Great monstrosities sticking out of the landscape like big shiny beacons of desecration.
I saddens me so much that this has been allowed to be done to our island without so much of a protest from the locals. Myself included.
Is it time we stood up and voiced our feelings, or is it too late. Or whilst happy to have a good moan, we can’t be bothered to actually do anything about it.
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“Is it time we stood up and voiced our feelings, or is it too late”
More reason to support the Field 528 campaign in St Saviour.
Parish Hall meeting may 3rd St Saviour Parish Hall 7.30pm stop this one now & help others in the future.
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9. At least now navigating the south coast will be simpler. Not that it was particularly tough.
People arriving from the UK on the ferry / private vessel must wonder where the hell they are coming to, first Portelet, then the Radisson, then the Incinerator all lining the approaches to St Helier.
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Clearly none of the contributors here understand plain English.
At no time has Sir Richard MacCormac compared the works of Sir Christopher Wren’s St.Pauls with that of Portelet. He has compared the reaction of the populace and drawn a parallel between the observations of Wren at the time he proposed St.Pauls and his (MacCormac) own views now.
I also believe that all the contributors here lack the imagination to picture the completed article in their own mind and can only see it as it stands with no landscaping softening the lines. Wait until it is complete and matured for a year or two and you will all have a different view (but alas none will ever admit it)
What was there before, even in its pomp was esthetically shocking, but not being around when it was built I cannot comment on the reactions of the populace at the time. I do not, however, recall outrage being expressed about its appearance at its continued existence whilst a viable money making enterprise. It only began to be an issue in the public mind when an alternative was being discussed.
Whilst I do not know if any of you support the retention of the Old Odeon building I do find it perplexing that on one hand members of the community will strive to preserve an ugly, run down concrete box thus preventing the regeneration of the surrounding area and on the other hand be outraged at the building of esthetically pleasing homes, which in time will blend into the coast line.
There are some who will always view it and not like its appearance and that will simply be down to personal taste which is perfectly valid once the whole is complete. Then there will be those who, no matter what, will be outraged simply because they choose to be. It is the latter of whom I have no doubt whatsoever that if offered the keys to one of the flats, apartments or houses free of charge would jump at the opportunity and suddenly fall in love with the place.
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As a long term residence I would not touch them with a barge pole.
One of my favorite walks is from Noirmont to Portelet, have a drink at the Portelet Inn and then walk back so I have been up there in the winter and it is pretty exposed.
The Germans built out of military grade concrete and steel to withstand bombing and shelling. A testament to the quality of their materials is the amount of stuff still lying about over sixty five years later.
I suspect that Dandara do not build to anything like the same standard and I suapect that like the holiday camp the development will be looking distressed fifty years down the line.
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Caroline 19
Most people nowadays accept the ‘unfamiliar’ almost instantly, as long as it is pleasing to the eye.
If this weren’t the case, the billion dollar fashion industry would not exist!
Re: “…offered the keys to one of the flats, apartments or houses free of charge would jump at the opportunity and suddenly fall in love with the place.”
As for giving away flats, apartments and houses free of charge, well, that will never happen…so, alas, you will never know!
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The buildings themselves may well have merit in their own right but, as others have written above, only in an urban or built up environment. Having seen the growing development my principal concern is the extent to which it seems to have “slipped down” into the bay relative to the site of the former development, which seemed well above and hence “out of” the bay, capable of being ignored by a sweeping eye. Perhaps the intention is that the “offending” lower parts of the new development will be entirely shielded from view (from Noirmont and the sea) by newly planted, high coniferous trees – frankly that would be the very best outcome – but will that be acceptable to the potential buyers of those bottom flats/properties who must, one assumes, be expected/expecting to pay a premium for a sea view luxury property BECAUSE IT HAS A SEA VIEW? Hopefully those frontal properties are on multiple floors such that the owners could still have a view from their top floor and wouldn’t mind such screening.
It is deeply ironic that the very destruction of the site’s natural beauty and the controversy surrounding the new development will very likely put many people off buying these (too numerous) luxury dwellings. All at a time when prestige property sales have come to a virtual standstill in any event. The developers really risk shooting themselves in the foot by over-scaling.
The only way to recover any semblance of this beautiful bay’s former glory (and probably the only way units will shift) will be to shield those lower sections from view with newly planted, thick and high coniferous trees.
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Why not turn St Ouens bay into St Benidorm while you’re at it!!
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Sometimes its embarrassing to be a Jerseyman – how can anyone really comment until its finished and the landscaping is done? The old holiday camp was hideous, I remember being anchored in Portlet on countless occasions and discussing that as a child 30 years ago. Its wishful thinking to compare it to the bay without a simlar size development unless we are prepared to pay to buy the site at market value (same goes for Gronez).
I love Jersey but don’t people WHINGE ! And I’ll bet half these critics have ruined their old Jersey houses with plastic windows…
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Pip yes the Germans built things to last and in a very short time frame. No worries about their buildings falling down for another 100 years or so.
Also their bunkers are well disguised and are not a blot on the landscape due to the sympathic blending in with National Trust land.
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Once it’s finished, the money’s changed hands! they want leaving alone until that stage then we can moan all year long to no avail! Protests are made BEFORE not AFTER!
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Of course the architects can accept “robust criticism”, they’ve been paid.
This development is a perfect example of the wealthy sticking it to the plebs.
They want a cliffside perch and Cohen etc.is happy to provide.
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Why is there so much concern about Portelet, it is a glass boxed building with some element of design, unlike the hideous box shaped incinerator built on the coastline of Havre-des-Pas.
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Crikey
‘Why not turn St Ouens bay into St Benidorm while you’re at it!!’
There are plenty who would like it turned into Newquay, That could be just as bad.
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FlyMaybe, #18.
‘People arriving from the UK on the ferry / private vessel must wonder where the hell they are coming to, first Portelet, then the Radisson, then the Incinerator…’
You left out Corbiere. Is that glass and concrete headland more to your taste?
Come to think of it, the first carbuncle visible from the boat is the airport.
Caroline, #19.
‘It is the latter of whom I have no doubt whatsoever that if offered the keys to one of the flats, apartments or houses free of charge would jump at the opportunity and suddenly fall in love with the place.’
They would have to throw in the service charges as well. These tend to be crippling and totally at the whim of those who are in the position of being able to impose them.
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Poor old Sir Richard he is as deluded as the rest of them if he thinks that world beating landscaping will improve anything on this disaster. Does he expect us to believe that the whole site will be hidden behind trees, bushes and fantastic gardens – why the hell will people pay millions for a flat on the top of a cliff and then have the view blocked by bloody trees!!!
Sadly we are stuck with another Dandara monstrosity fully backed by the establishment. It would be too much to hope and dream for that this could go the way of the old station house at Corbiere and see the developer go bankrupt and the flats unsold. I might fall off my chair and wake up soon!!!
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Judge it when it’s ready? I think not; it’s already quite execrable and totally out of place!
The only way to “improve” this development would be to install a thick ring of poplar trees around it…
Stick to your guns, folks!
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When it’s Finished….! it’s finished now and you finished it…award winning my arse, bugger off and ruin somewhere else you’re not welcome here.
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24 jerseryboy …methinks you are no more a Jerseyman than the man in the moon.who do you think you’re kidding except yourself.
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A few hardy shrubs and maybe a couple of concrete seagulls could work wonders!
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Wait until you all see the houses that are going to be built soon smack back on the coastline of St. Ouen.
I’m not even joking.
Go check out the former Milano Bars site if you don’t believe me and see the barrier that’s been put up around the car park in preparation.
That’s got to be one of the most beautiful and unspoilt and open stretches of coastline in Jersey and far more visible than the devlopments at Plemont ever were!
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CAroline @ 19 – Your surname is no tMacCormack by any chance is it?
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L’Etacq has been pretty much marked off for creeping sacrifice.
There is a row of houses just below Faulkners, the ones on the Lobster Pot site, the old quarry and Le Relais.
The Milano site will be next and after that the car park opposite Treasures Of The Earth
Just fill in a few fields after that and it will be a hamlet!
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Sir Richard MacCormac is without doubt a first class architect who is obviously defending his teams decisions to back Freddie in this awful development, he is also no doubt responding to the scathing critisism that he has been subject to on here, and I for one applaud that however….
perhaps our distinguished architect would like to tell us where the local relevence is in the Portelet development how he feels it blends in with the rugged landscape to which it so aggressively blights, how he has taken into account the Islanders inheritance when drawing up such monolinith buildings which from the exterior most teenage school children could have done.
Sir Richard I am not doubting your skills as an architect what I am doubting in this instance is the clear and undeniable fact that the buildings that will bear YOUR name on our coatsline are without question out of proportion, out of keeping with the local environment and will forever be known as a scar on our landscape.
I once lived in England and when I came to the channel Islands I was told that they were different, of course I brushed that statement aside, but they are very different, we (I now class myself as local) are very protective of our home, no matter where you build in Jersey you are building in our home, so we take things very seriously, we do not always get it right, but we are passionate about it, fanatical maybe in instances but because we care.
It is widely believed that Freddie brought in world renowned architects like yourselves so if it all went wrong (like it has) he can say that you said it was good and you are a leader in your field and who is he to question your judgement.
Sir Richard for the sake of your own company don’t be Freddies puppet in the future, if you are going to work here again do it jointly with a local architect who understands us and what we expect, we are not all against developemnt we just want it to be in keeping with our home, and clearly neither you or your team understand our home.
This is not a personal attack on you or your company just a statement of facts that have come about as a result of your involvement with our dear planning minister
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Re L’Etacq, Pip, the low lying parts there will be the most vulnerable place in Jersey if ever there is a tsunami caused by seismic activity in the mid Atlantic or the predicted massive land/seaslide in the Canaries!
Tsunami phobia is a 21st century fact of life, thanks to improved awareness through worldwide media. Property sales in coastal areas around the world are being hit. It won’t affect the Portelet development, however. They will just have to relax immigration further for those properties to sell.
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