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| Cherie Blair viewed proposals to replace No.10 Downing Street  Cherie Blair viewed Manchester school students' proposals for an environmentally friendly replacement to No.10 Downing Street. The students have declared that the current No. 10 Downing Street is unsustainable – a drain on energy and resources – and are lobbying the Prime Minister and senior politicians to listen to their ideas for its replacement by parking a lorry containing an exhibition of their designs directly outside the Labour Party conference on Tuesday, September 26.The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) have instigated The Green Wing project, working with a group of Year 11 students (aged 15/16) from Cedar Mount High School, a successful inner-city comprehensive in East Manchester. The students were invited by the RIBA and ICE to take part in this unique project to design an environmentally friendly Prime Minister's office and residence on Duck Island in St James's Park. The school students' proposal – illustrated in drawings, models, photographs and a film, - includes plans for an underwater cabinet room and a 'panic room', reflecting the students' concern about security. An 'Introduction to the UK room' and a 'Multi-faith room' address social sustainability and reflect the UK's cultural diversity. Other new elements, missing in the existing No.10, have been proposed such as a 'Make your feelings known room' that shows the students' desire to encourage ordinary people to participate and make suggestions at the very heart of government, while the inclusion of an organic farm and wind turbine provide ecological solutions. The students explored the idea of No.10 Downing Street as national icon and have strived to make the resulting design iconic as well as innovative and contemporary. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Construction News :: home page |