Skylon could rise again

1:00pm Wednesday 23rd July 2008

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SKYLON, the Hereford creation that stunned the world at the Festival of Britain nearly 60 years ago, seems ready to soar over the London skyline once more.

Painter Brothers, the Hereford firm that made the original icon, is ready to do it again and talks are underway.

With a fan base built around the biggest names in British architecture, Skylon’s supporters have set up a website – rebuildtheskylon – to strengthen their campaign.

Post war Britain rallied around Skylon as a towering futuristic totem of a world beyond Blitz, blackout and ration books. The relaunch of the spaceship shaped structure – which was broken up after the festival and its parts scattered across the country as anything from ashtrays to straight scrap – is fuelled by that same spirit of optimism.

The Hereford Times first reported Skylon’s likely comeback in 2004 when Professor Philip King, then president of the Royal Academy, pitched the return of the long lost landmark as a salute to its pioneering architects Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya.

Though that project prompted plenty of interest, its practicality didn’t stand up. Now, Skylon’s fans say the time is right with support much stronger than before.

“Skylon’s influence is everywhere,”

said Jack Pringle, one of Britain’s top structural designers, surveying London’s “star” skyscrapers from the South Bank where Skylon wowed crowds at the 1951 Festival of Britain.

Having just stepped down as president of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), Mr Pringle is making Skylon 2 his mission. He hosted the icon’s ‘phantom’ return as a 300ft-tall beam projected on to the side of the South Bank’s Shell Centre – where it once stood – in a special show for the London Festival of Architecture last Thursday night.

The show launched a national web-backed campaign for Skylon’s return. Most of the audience were already converts, with the likes of Lord Rogers and Sir Norman Foster hailing it as an inspiration.

“The older generation are solidly behind Skylon as the first piece of British hi-tech architecture, the younger generation sees a classic work of design that still seems modern,”

said Mr Pringle.

Advances in lighting and virtual features are expected to enhance the all-new Skylon’s ‘wow’ factor which can be realised – on Mr Pringle’s estimate – for around £1.5 million, close to the price of many properties on sale just a short walk away from the South Bank.

Though the South Bank seems the structure’s natural home, other London sites like Battersea Power Station, St James Park, and Tower Bridge are in the running.

Wherever it goes, Mr Pringle expects Skylon 2 to be up by 2011, in time for the 60th anniversary of the Festival of Britain.

To make that happen, a number of engineering interests are on board, including the international management and construction consultants Gleeds, where senior partner Richard Steer told the Hereford Times that “stunning and iconic”

Skylon still has what it takes to make Britain feel good about itself.

At the time, Skylon’s design seemed to let the structure miraculously “hover” above its supports.

That groundbreaking work was done at Painter Brothers, where 15 Herefordshire craftsman, selected for their specific skills, had shaped a symbol for a Britain that their grandchildren would take for granted.

Now, Painter’s director/ general manager David Goldsmith said the company had been approached about constructing Skylon 2.

“We have been contacted about the project and are reviewing papers. We certainly have the capability to build Skylon again,” said Mr Goldsmith.