黑洞社区

Sir Stuart Lipton, who was the first chairman of Cabe when it was set up in 1999, has said the government should have revived the architecture watchdog 鈥� rather than bring in Roger Scruton to head up its new housing commission.

Asked about the appointment of the philosopher and writer to the commission called 黑洞社区 Better, 黑洞社区 Beautiful, the developer (pictured) behind the City鈥檚 tallest tower, the PLP-designed 22 Bishopsgate building going up in the Square Mile, said: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 welcome it. I welcome the government sponsoring quality, not style.鈥�

Cabe was merged into the Design Council in 2011 as part of the government鈥檚 so-called Bonfire of the Quangos but Lipton, widely regarded as an architecture patron, said it should have been revived instead of calling in Scruton, a long-standing critic of modern architecture.

鈥淚 think the government interest is great but why on earth can鈥檛 they reincarnate Cabe? Instead they go and hire a Georgian revivalist. If I鈥檇 been in government I鈥檇 have looked for somebody who was really skilled. Ask the clients, the architects. This is typical government. Somebody comes along, they want to win votes and they [hire someone who] want[s] to take us back two centuries.鈥�

Scruton, who has previously called modern architecture 鈥減retentious gobbledegook鈥� will appoint four commissioners and eight second-tier advisors by the end of the month.

The commission was announced by housing secretary James Brokenshire to 鈥渢o tackle the challenge of poor quality design and build of homes and places鈥�.

Scruton will be expected to meet Brokenshire every quarter before issuing his final report in a year鈥檚 time.