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Lord Foster Sparks Fury with Design for Electricity PylonsHe designed London's Millennium Bridge, the Great Court of the British Museum and a myriad iconic buildings, but now he has turned his attention to Tuscany's electricity pylons.
Lord Foster has been commissioned by Terna, a part of Enel, Italy's state electricity company, to design 230ft pylons that will stretch across five miles of unspoilt landscape. The 11 pylons are, says the company, part of an upgrade to the national grid system.
The company has refused to lay the cables underground, citing expense as the main issue. They will cut straight through a unique landscape in the valley of Paganico, north west of Grosseto in the newly fashionable Tuscan Maremma. Several of the pylons will be less than 150 yards from an 'agritourism' centre. Furthermore, they will destroy the view of the historic town of Paganico and its 14th-century walls.
The proposals have caused outrage among local landowners. A group of 10, led by Janet Savelli, an Anglo-Italian, and her son Luca, is fighting the decision. On the 4,000-acre Monteverdi estate that has been in the Savelli family for more than 100 years, the first they heard about the proposals was in December of last year when Terna offered €4,000 (£2,600) on condition that they immediately agreed not to oppose the proposal. All of the landowners received the same offer, and all ref
more: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jht... (137)
August 15, 2004 | Viewed 25,123 time(s)
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