Category: Factual
& Arts TV
Date: 06.05.2004
Printable version
His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales will share his
ideas on how Britain can preserve its historic sites in BBC TWO's Restoration
- The Story Continues… on Saturday 8 May at
9.30pm.
Restoration returns later this year to throw another
lifeline to Britain's endangered historic buildings.
As part of this Saturday's launch show for the series
Prince Charles is shown round the world famous Smithfield Market - London's
main meat market for over 800 years.
Alongside him are presenter Griff Rhys Jones
and architect Ptolemy Dean.
The market is a masterpiece of Victorian architecture
designed by Horace Jones (the architect of Tower Bridge) and is described
as one of the few remaining 'commercial cathedrals'.
Walking through the huge complex of buildings the Prince
is clearly amused by Ptolemy's lively enthusiasm for the "lovely
loo block" and its "wonderful Piranesian stone flues for removing
slightly whiffy odours in the summer".
It's not all laughs however - Smithfield's loo block
is one of a number of old and deteriorating buildings on the site whose
future remains uncertain because of plans for a possible redevelopment
by the Corporation of London.
Some experts fear that these plans may involve demolition
of some of the architectural heritage.
However, the Corporation, which recently spent £80m
refurbishing other parts of the market, states that it is exploring
commercial possibilities for the buildings, such as retail, leisure
or office use.
Sharing his ideas on the subject Prince Charles expresses
the view that the best way to save historic buildings is by finding
new practical purposes for them.
He has set up his own charity – The Phoenix Trust –
dedicated to this idea.
The Prince cites naval dockyards, army barracks and
19th century mental hospitals as examples of "enormous historic
sites" that had previously been neglected.
He tells Griff and Ptolemy that it seems important to
him to establish a programme for discovering new uses for redundant
buildings such as these, which may otherwise face dereliction and vandalism
or even demolition.
Restoration - The Story Continues… marks the return
of the series which last year saw 2.5 million BBC viewers vote for their
favourite building at risk to be rescued from ruin.
A total of £3.5m was raised for the winning building,
Victoria Baths in Manchester, and is going towards restoring its Turkish
baths.
Saturday's one hour launch programme will unveil a further
21 threatened architectural gems across the UK whose fate will be in
the hands of viewers when the series returns in the summer.
Seven one hour programmes will each be devoted to an
area of the UK and focus on three properties at risk in that region.
As with last year's series, presented by Griff Rhys
Jones with Ptolemy Dean and Marianne Sühr, every style will be featured,
from country houses to gothic castles, from follies to factories.
While Smithfield is not one of the sites that viewers
will be able to vote for in the summer, it is included in the launch
programme as one of six examples highlighting the complex issues surrounding
the preservation of our architectural heritage.
The programme will also feature information on how viewers
can support their own local buildings and start their own campaigns.
Restoration is an Endemol UK production for BBC Scotland.
