ADD2572 City Hall Film and Good Growth by Design Advocate Organisation

1.1 The Greater London Authority (GLA) moved its headquarters to the former Crystal building in the Royal Docks to make significant savings that will be used to protect front-line public services.

1.2 The move creates a new civic space and economic anchor at the gateway to the Royal Docks that will act as a catalyst for the regeneration of the area. This is set to deliver 25,000 new homes and create 60,000 new jobs within the next 20 years and is further supported by the arrival of the Elizabeth line.

1.3 The Crystal was opened in 2012, having been commissioned by Siemens as an exemplar of sustainable design. Its redesign to accommodate City Hall achieves the most stringent standards for sustainable design – see appendix for further details.

1.4 The GLA intends to commission a new film to explain the background to and benefits of City Hall’s move to the Royal Docks, including the building’s design and environmental credentials and its role in supporting the wider regeneration of the area. This will be accompanied by other explanatory materials and activities to set the new City Hall in the context of the wider regeneration programme. The film will be developed by Open City and made available in time for the 30th anniversary of the Open House Festival.

1.5 Open City’s mission is to empower communities to learn about, experience and have a role in shaping architecture where they live. Open City collaborates with people from diverse communities to widen access to spaces, neighbourhoods, knowledge and careers they are often excluded from. It does this by creating educational and cultural programmes discussing, celebrating, and opening up historic and contemporary architecture.

1.6 Open City delivers the Open House Festival, London’s largest and most inclusive celebration of noteworthy buildings and neighbourhoods. Open House is viewed as a London innovation and major success which has been emulated around the world. Even during the pandemic, it drew hundreds of thousands of people from across London and beyond to explore and learn about London’s contemporary and historical places and spaces.

1.7 The Open House Festival offers people of all backgrounds genuine opportunities to explore, experience, celebrate and question their urban landscape. The festival helps create a better city – one in which all citizens have the power, the platforms, and the knowledge to take part in meaningful discussions about its future. Social impact studies and visitor surveys that the charity has undertaken exploring the Open House Festival and its value to individuals and communities show that:

• the Open House Festival has seen 8m visitors since it was founded in 1992
• around 7.5m people say they have learned something new about London and its architecture as a result of attending the Open House Festival since it was founded
• more than 1.5m people have visited a London borough they have never been to before as a result of taking part in the Open House Festival
• 4.68m people feel the Open House Festival helped them learn new things that have changed the way they view the city
• almost 900,000 people say they will revisit a borough they had never been to before as a result of the festival
• Open House volunteers in London have contributed over 300,000 hours of time to civic activities in the community through the festival.

1.8 What began as a small celebration of neighbourhoods in just few London boroughs has grown to an international phenomenon, with 50 festivals around the world – everywhere from New York to Lagos. The London festival attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors across all 33 boroughs.

1.9 Alongside the proposed film, the Royal Docks team is working with Open City on a destination promotion campaign that will help showcase the huge programme of regeneration under way in the Royal Docks. This separate, but complementary agreement between Open City and the Royal Docks will be funded by the Royal Docks Enterprise Zone.

1.10 Good Growth by Design (GGbD) is the mayor’s programme to promote quality and inclusion in the built environment to support good growth. It recognises the role of design in improving development and delivering quality of life in an ever-denser city.

1.11 The programme is supported by Mayor’s Design Advocates (MDAs) and Advocate Organisations. The MDAs – independent and impartial built-environment experts – provide advice and expertise on London’s built environment. The Advocate Organisations are built-environment-facing organisations that have synergies with the programme and significant platforms with sector-facing audiences. The MDA cohort has recently been refreshed as have the roles and responsibilities of Advocate Organisations. There are currently six Advocate Organisations: Architects for Change, New London Architecture, the London Festival of Architecture, Public Practice, Future of London, and Urban Design London

1.14 Following an exercise of mapping respective priorities and identifying further partner organisations it is proposed to invite Open City to be an additional GGbD Advocate Organisation. In addition to the immediate activity of preparing the City Hall film and exhibition Open City will work alongside existing Advocate Organisations to encourage alignment and debate around the key issues affecting London’s built environment.

2.1 It is proposed to commission Open City to tell the story of City Hall, including as an exemplar of sustainable design, and its role in the regeneration of the Royal Docks, along with accompanying materials and activities.

2.2 The film will highlight the GLA’s work in the Royal Docks and help launch City Hall as a new civic space, gateway to the Royal Docks and catalyst for wider regeneration, targeting an engaged and diverse audience.

2.3 It is proposed to support this activity with a grant award investment of £20,000 from the Good Growth Directorate budget, to develop a new short film tour explaining the background to and benefits of the relocation of City Hall and its role in the regeneration of the Royal Docks. Open City produces beautiful and accessible short films, which have been watched over 100,000 times since their launch. The film tour would be presented by a relevant MDA; include a piece to camera from the Mayor of London and a London Assembly member; and take viewers inside City Hall to be inspired by and learn about its design and purpose in a friendly and clear way. The film would be scripted in partnership with GLA officers and will set the relocation in the context of the changing area of the Royal Docks. Once complete, the film would be published by Open City across its online audiences and distributed to Open City’s 70,000 email subscribers and as an online component of the 2022 Open House Festival in September. The GLA’s External Relations team would also have a copy and have access to raw footage to share across the Mayor of London’s social media channels and it can reside on London.gov

2.4 Alongside the film, Open City will provide accompanying materials such as tour maps or guides to the Royal Docks setting the new City Hall in the context of the wider regeneration of the area. These will be made available in time for the launch of the Open House London Festival in September 2022, in which new City Hall will participate.

2.5 The GLA will, in accordance with the GLA Contracts and Funding Code, provide a grant award of up to £20,000 (revenue) from the Good Growth Directorate budget to fund the City Hall film and associated materials as part of the Open City cultural programme and associated public engagement.

2.6 It is also proposed to allocate a base grant of £1,500 from the GGbD budget to each of the 7 Advocate Organisations including Open City to support collaborative working, platform sharing, advocacy, impact assessment, learning and dissemination.

3.1 In line with GLA and GGbD programme ambitions Open City seek to promote inclusive approaches to city-making and, in turn, new diverse and inclusive opportunities to participate in the city. It is not anticipated that the programme will have a negative impact on any groups identified under the Equality Act 2010. The programme is being delivered in compliance with relevant Codes of Practice, and in line with the requirements of the public-sector equality duty to ensure that the following issues have been considered:

• the film and accompanying materials will draw on the wider engagement taking place between the Royal Docks team, Open City, and the local community to highlight the diverse communities living and working around the Royal Docks.
• the participation of City Hall in the Open House London Festival will meet planning and Building Regulations requirements in terms of accessibility, to ensure we minimise disadvantages suffered by people who share a protected characteristic and/or disability
• the visual language of any print/digital material, documents and reports produced will consider different audiences and provide accessible and inclusive information. They will comply with Mayor of London branding guidelines, based on guidance from the Royal National Institute of Blind People.
  

Key risks and issues

4.1 Risk register

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

4.2 The wider GGbD programme and the specific activities promoted here support key Mayoral policies including the following:

• Recovery: GGbD programme informs and provides support to the recovery effort and the recovery missions through programme engagement and expertise provided by MDAs
• Good Growth: Having developed a suite of guidance, and piloted best-practice innovations in the first Mayoral term, the current term will provide the opportunity to focus on implementation, delivery and testing of programme principles and practices
• Green New Deal: the programme addresses how a well-designed built environment can play a role in supporting access to nature and open space, which contributes to addressing social/racial injustices and public health problems). It also provides guidance on the role of sustainable design in responding to the climate emergency
• Supporting Business, Jobs and Growth: the wider programme addresses the role of the built environment in supporting economic resilience, including safeguarding space in the city for industry and business; understanding how work has changed and how workspace design can respond; and championing the design and built-environment sector, showcasing London on an international stage
• A New Deal for Young People: the programme addresses how we can engage more young people in city-making processes; how our public realm can make a more child-friendly city; and how social infrastructure can be prioritised to support social integration and provide support services.

4.3 There are no conflicts of interest to note for any of the officers involved in the drafting or clearance of this decision form.

5.1 Grant funding of £20,000 is required to support a short film and accompanying materials, to be prepared to support the participation of City Hall in the Open House London Festival at City Hall and set its relocation in the context of the wider regeneration of the Royal Docks. The grant recipient will be Open City who will carry out the exhibition design, filming, editing, research and scripting.

5.2 Moreover, this decision also seeks approval of expenditure of up to £10,500 on the Good Growth by Design Advocate Organisations on collaborative working, platform sharing and advocacy work. The Authority currently has 7 of these organisations in a pool having recently additionally included Open City. The expenditure will be drawn upon when required and budgets approximately £1,500 for each entity.

5.3 The £20,000 grant will be funded by the Good Growth Executive Director budget whilst the £10,500 expenditure on the Advocate Organisations will be funded by 2021-22 Good Growth by Design carry forward held within the GLA’s reserves.

Appendix 1 - Environmental credentials of City Hall

City Hall retains a BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology) ‘Outstanding’ rating. BREEAM is a globally recognised certification system and ‘Outstanding’ is the highest rating that can be achieved. City Hall is currently being assessed by the BRE for the fit out works and an ‘Outstanding’ certification for this work is expected.

Other key environmental credentials include:

• The building has a tilted façade which was designed to reflect solar gain in the internal office space and absorb in the café and restaurant. Only 30% solar energy is absorbed internally, lowering reliance on air conditioning. Glazing is triple-glazed to maximise thermal control and prevent heat-loss.
• Ground source heat pumps are the main source of heating and cooling in the building.
• The building incorporates 1,580m2 of photovoltaic panels covering two-thirds of the roof.
• The building is all-electric, and the energy tariffs will be 100% green energy.
• The lighting system has been upgraded to high energy-efficient LED lamps.
• The glazed facade allows for 70% natural daylight, reducing the reliance on internal lighting.
• A 60,000-litre rainwater harvesting tank provides an alternative water supply to serve irrigation and toilet flushing.
• It is anticipated that the upgrades made will reduce the building’s carbon emissions. The building has 50% less carbon emissions in comparison to a similar benchmark building.

In addition, the GLA have re-used significant amounts of furniture and equipment from the previous City Hall and, to comply with certification requirements, new fittings have a recycled content such as the office carpets (recycled fishing nets).