The feedback was great, we’re delighted with all of the positive comments we’ve received; thanks to all who have contributed so far. The design is developing nicely, and we’re on track to get our planning application submitted in the autumn.

As well as the exhibition, the winners of the TNG competition were announced. Launched back in May, the competition was open to young people from across Lewisham to design a new logo for the venue, now renamed TNG (The Next Generation). The winning designer will be working with graphic designers Bleach to develop the branding for the centre.

• Saturday 3rd July 2010 – Wells Park Road / Coombe Road – Public Consultation
• Saturday 10th July 2010 – Mountsfield Park, Catford – Lewisham People’s Day

The report identifies that, despite a huge number of people being interested in building their own homes, there are only around 6,000 plots available on the market, and many of these are in unfavourable locations.

By making more plots available to the general public, the government could provide both stimulus to the ailing construction industry as well as going some way to providing much-needed homes. NaSBA’s recommendations include:

• The release of public-sector land holdings which could provide in excess of 2,000 plots for self builders almost immediately
• Each of the government’s proposed Eco-towns should be required to make provision for 500 self builders
• Every local authority in the UK should zone sites for a minimum of 30 self build plots within planning policy
• Developers could be requested to provide self build plots as part of Section 106 planning agreements
• Private owners of “land banks” should be encouraged to investigate the viability of releasing land to self-builders

Up to 20,000 people per year are building their own home, and with the above initiatives, this figure could be doubled if the sites were available.

RCKa are fully supportive of NaSBA’s report, which can be downloaded here: www.nasba.org.uk/Content/Reports.aspx

This has also been covered in Building, here: www.building.co.uk.

Monteporreiro is a satellite town near Pontevedra, Galicia. Its local amenities are disparate and as such it does not have a centre compared to its more successful neighbour. Consequently, its considered by many to be a suburb of Pontevedra and plans are afoot to improve the public transport links between the two.

We believe that unless this infrastructure is well defined there is real danger that this will lead to the further decline of Monteporreiro’s identity and as a result, community cohesion will suffer.

Our goal is to redefine Monteporreiro’s identity as a means to transform the town centre into a more vibrant and independent hub serving a more sustainable community.

A paper on the subject of ‘identity’ will be available soon on the RCKa website.

Workshops will be held at the Building Centre in Store Street, London, between 11am and 5pm on Sunday 18th may 2008. Places can be pre-booked in advance through the Des Res website, or on the day at the Building Centre.

The show will be running for nine days, from 3 – 11 May 2008 at London’s ExCel Centre. We’ll be there for the whole of Saturday 3rd May.

RCKa are currently working on a number of projects that have started with consultations at Grand Designs Live. These include Halfacre Cottage, which is due to be submitted to planning in spring 2008, a pre-fabricated house extension in Derby which has just started on site and a contemporary house extension in Highbury which is due for completion in a few weeks.

The children developed designs for their playground in fortnightly design sessions, and then produced scale models of their proposals using recycled materials. The finished work formed part of an exhibition at the RIBA in Portland Place, London, during Architecture Week 2007 where the RIBA President, Jack Pringle, presented a series of awards for the work.

Thanks to Suzanna Prizeman of Our Hut for help with this project.