Ian Ritchie and Jocelyne Van den Bossche will be participating in the RSC International Council Meeting 10-12 September in Stratford - upon - Avon.

Ian Ritchie will again be contributing to President Lee Bollinger’s Manhattanville Ad Hoc Committee in October and November which is critically reflecting upon the evolving Renzo Piano’s Masterplan which was commissioned by Columbia University for its significant expansion north into Manhattanville, a neighbourhood bordered on the south by Morningside Heights on the west by the Hudson River, on the east by Harlem and on the north by Hamilton Heights.

Ian Ritchie will be giving lectures in Scotland - at Aberdeen University and Edinburgh University during the coming academic year.

Forthcoming lectures being given by Ian Ritchie include the annual key note lecture at USC Los Angeles.
"This Land is OUR Land... GREENING Architecture, Ethics and the Environment"

A Key-Note Lecture exploring the pioneering work of our practice and to provoke meaningful reflection among USC students and professionals.It will be given in the USC Boavard Auditorium to an audience of 1200 on January 21st 2009.

Poïesis in Architecture
This exhibition captures the essence from 20 international projects of Ian Ritchie Architects through poetry, drawing, photography, models, components, materials and books. The exhibition is at the University of Liverpool, Department of Architecture, Leverhulme Building, Abercromby Square from 3rd October 2008 to 16th January 2009. Opening night party is 2nd October.

Purfleet, Cory’s Wharf, a 700 metre long Thames-side mixed use development, was granted Reserved Matters Approval by the Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation. The approved scheme, which we have designed for Taylor Wimpey UK Ltd., and consists of extensive public landscape and play areas, and a riverside walk surrounding buildings from 3 storeys to 18 storeys tall which contain 502 residential units and 1398 square meters A1 / A3 use.

A related full planning application proposing a further 157 residential units at the eastern end of the site is expected to be decided by the Development Corporation in the very near future.

Site works have commenced on this project which is scheduled to be largely completed by September 2010 for a construction cost of £17million. The project involves the renovation of Leonard Mannasseh’s original Grade II* School in Penfold Street, and adding new nursery, primary and secondary teaching spaces and dance/performance facilities.

The station, on the Hammersmith & City Line opposite the BBC’s main entrance, is now in its final weeks of construction and is schedule to open to the public this autumn. It makes extensive use of stainless steel for the walls and gold anodised aluminium for platform and ticket hall ceilings. The design team has been led by Gordon Talbot, with Mark Baggueley and Stefan Lengen with Waterman Burrow Crocker. The contractor is Costains.

Ian Ritchie Architects helped launch this initiative in 2006 alongside The Ove Arup Foundation, The Happold Trust, Hoare Lea, DSSR, and The Royal Academy of Engineering.

It is a programme that is proving itself very successful at the first three universities to receive this sponsorship - Cambridge, Bristol and Sheffield. The programme will expand to further universities this year and over the next few years.

This industry led initiative seeks to direct bright engineers to consider building services as a career option. It achieves this through interaction with senior industrial practitioners who are appointed as Visiting Professors at universities. Each uses their knowledge, skills and experience to inspire, develop and deliver course material, mentor project work, provide careers advice and involve themselves in other related activities at their host university. The initiative has a particular emphasis on achieving sustainability in the built environment, and seeks through a holistic approach to foster a clear understanding of energy efficiency and the key interdisciplinary relationships between engineering systems, envelope and structure, that are at the heart of sustainable building performance and architecture.

Further information on this initiative can be obtained from ian.bowbrick@raeng.org.uk