Edward Cullinan Architects' (ECA) Roddy Langmuir and Philip Graham turned what looked like a tortuous retreat from Libya this week into an adventure aboard HMS Albion. Following a successful series of workshops and presentations in the east of the country on ECA's Masterplan for a new town - Janoub Shahat - they found themselves stuck in Tripoli due to airspace closure over northern Europe. A flight to Madrid took them as close to the no-fly-zone as was possible and a canny decision to hire a car only as far as the French border sidestepped the car rental companies' rampant profiteering from the crisis. Following some intelligence that the Royal Navy was coming, they diverted to the northern port of Santander and talked their way aboard on Tuesday morning. Thirty hours of fascinating insight into an active warship in the company of 500 returning troops ensued, to come alongside at Portsmouth (Pompy) on Wednesday evening.
Phil
