Comments on: West Park Asylum slated for housing “development”

By: Bradley L. Garrett

Bradley L. Garrett — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 15:38:02 +0000

Can’t stop the Hammer!

By: JohnONolan

JohnONolan — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 00:33:36 +0000

Hey Bradley, I can confirm that The Hammer is in fact still there! He escorted us off the property today with the very same sense of confusion as to what we could possibly be doing there.

By: jonathanlees

jonathanlees — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 20:21:04 +0000

Thanks for the comments. It was most interesting looking at your site and the photos. For clarity it is not us (Lib Dems) that have put it up for development. There has been a plan for many years for housing to be built on here as proposed by Epsom & Ewell Council and a builder has submitted an planning application for this, which is what the article refers to. For information the Council is run by the Residents Association.

By: Bradley Garrett

Bradley Garrett — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:28:13 +0000

I would be honored if you wrote about my video, thanks! If it is the 30 min urban explorers one, it will be in the journal Geography Compass with some accompanied text soon as well, I will shoot that over to you when it gets finalized.

Our Olympics exhibit will be done in June and it will be mobile so just let me know if you would be interested. Thanks again!

By: Urban Orienteer

Urban Orienteer — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 12:18:31 +0000

Hi Bradley,

Many thanks for the reply. I haven’t been over to see the Olympics site for ages…just mud and cranes at the time. It seems absurd that they are going to cover the place with drone surveillance. After the games maybe they’ll wall it off and turn it into a Running Man arena.

Since the emphasis in my project has moved away from the Olympics development, it would be good to work it back in. My current collaborators are in the process of securing a gallery space for an exhibit this summer. I can’t promise anything but we are keen to invite others to join us. If you are working on something of your own already that might be perfect. I’ll keep you posted if there is an opening.

Also, I noticed your small documentary on Vimeo. Would you be happy if I decided to base a post on it at some point in the future?

Cheers,

By: sophos9

sophos9 — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:16:41 +0000

Thanks my friend – I will keep you up to date with response from the Planning Committee output and how the discussions evolve with EH, they seem very keen at the minute however funding is an issue – if we can get the planners to fund the characterisation then EH should become significantly interested

Winch done an awesome job – great historical importance and lots of work in there

Kind regards

Dave

By: Bradley Garrett

Bradley Garrett — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:52:21 +0000

I do not Dave and I think you are right, proper historical and archaeological documentation should take place as part of the planning process if this is going to happen. I would mention though that Urban Explorers like Winch who built Canehill.org have set a wonderful example for ways in which English Heritage could do this sort of work. I am actually not from the UK and so would have no idea how to get them to begin considering this angle.

Hopefully somebody else does

By: sophos9

sophos9 — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:42:43 +0000

Bradley, Hi

Great write up. My purpose in providing a comment to the planning applications committee was not to secure derelict urban exploration view more so to provide a concise and historically correct characterisation of West Park and its contribution to healthcare in modern Britain thus the conversations with English Heritage for a full site audit and historical record.

Do you know of any such documentation documenting the historical contributions to healthcare?

Thanks my friend

Dave

By: Bradley Garrett

Bradley Garrett — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:20:39 +0000

Thanks for the comment Winch. So you think that there should be an exhibit but that it won’t really convey what we have experienced (or what the patients and staff experienced) in these places?

By: Bradley Garrett

Bradley Garrett — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:18:37 +0000

Thanks for the comment Oliver, I enjoy your blog as well. I am working on a side project at the moment about that changes London’s waterways are going through as part of the Olympic development that might coincide with what you are doing as well. I saw the Olympic village the other day for the first time and was amazed – it’s like a little city in there – they are even making their own concrete at a little factory on site!

I will keep you posted on the UrbEx research. At the risk of turning the movement into a postmodern trope, yes, the most salient characteristic of the community impetus is that there isn’t any. As with many groups that work in resistance to cultural and societal expectations, many urban explorers are not happy to be labeled (artists, local historians etc.), making the motivation behind the practice (as opposed to the praxis being exhibited) notoriously hard to pin down.

Thanks for stopping by!