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Lisa Pontecorvo at the square |
Book hails battle to save square from developers
Once semi-derelict and forgotten, it now hosts art and games
CAMPAIGNERS who fought to stop a semi-derelict square in King’s Cross from falling into the hands of property-hungry developers are celebrated in a new government book on the urban environment.
The inspiring story of Edward Square, off Caledonian Road, is featured in a book, It’s Our Space, by the Commission for Architecture in the Built Environment (CABE), published this week.
For 30 years, the square lay semi-derelict and under-used until residents decided to take action. In 1999, thanks to a £300,000 charitable grant and support from Islington Council, a new public open space was created and opened by Poet Laureate Andrew Motion, who lives locally.
Today, the square is a focal point for the community, with colourful wall murals and children’s art hung from railings, and spaces for games and public entertainment. The square recently won a much-coveted government Green Flag for excellence in the urban environment.
Lisa Pontecorvo, secretary of the Friends of Edward Square, said: “Originally, it was a typical Georgian square and contained one of the first public gardens in London, which opened in 1888. But in 1963 everything was removed as part of slum clearance and it remained semi-derelict and wild for 30 years.
“Our message is that residents can beat the developer. We were lucky with our designer and with council planning. Everyone was committed to the idea that nothing but the best would do. If we hadn’t have acted when we did we would have lost the square.”
Ms Pontecorvo, an archive film researcher, and the square’s landscape architect, Johanna Gibbons, spoke at a CABE conference yesterday (Thursday).
The 115-page It’s Our Space: a Guide for Community Groups can be downloaded free from www.cabe.org.uk
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