How to use London’s golf courses to build homes
Would London's golfers give up some exclusive courses to provide housing for 140,000 people in the city? And how would our planning system cope with such creative thinking?
Fast homes at scale: ‘We’ve all the tools we need to solve homelessness’
The solution to the UK’s homelessness crisis already exists. It just needs political will, planning nous and determination to bring it about.
We must encourage the building of urban one-home wonders
The National Planning Policy Framework includes a specific allowance for single houses in rural areas that are “truly outstanding” where they would otherwise be refused. An equivalent provision is needed in urban areas.
Raising the Barriers
How reducing the up-front planning burden on small developers could help accelerate housing delivery in sustainable locations.
Getting the UK building will need bold thinking
The Labour government's array of announcements on planning reform has been dizzying, but more ambitious action must follow if we are to see real change during this parliament.
Building Hope: A Crisis Response to Homelessness
How emergency permitted development rights could help address the financial and human cost of homelessness.
Far too many councillors are on the side of the nimbys
Some planning committee members have a mindset of ‘planning by vibes’ rather than being led by policy. No wonder the government is keen to address this.
The Grenfell inquiry missed the elephant in the room: design and build
The Grenfell report fails to grasp the wider lessons of this tragedy by ignoring the warped procurement culture that encouraged so many awful decisions.
How suburban intensification could hold the key to delivering Labour’s 1.5m homes target
Labour’s new towns plan won’t deliver the homes we need anytime soon. To boost sustainable housing sooner, we should look to our suburbs.
Small Sites, Big Ambitions
How suburban intensification can quickly deliver new homes.
Housing development in London has a new weapon: AI
Data from an AI learning model that mapped the London Borough of Lewisham suggests the capital’s targets for ‘small site’ development could be radically increased.
Britain’s Green Belt is Choking the Economy
I contributed to an article in the Economist newspaper about the state of Britain's green belt, and the potential to build hundreds of thousands of homes around rural stations.
Sadiq Khan should be bold. He should rethink the green belt
The London mayor should point out that the green belt is an anachronism and that a million homes could be built by sacrificing just 1 per cent of it.
Off the Rails
Making the most of existing transport infrastructure must be a priority for Labour - even if it is in the Green Belt.
Rural stations are the key to building 1.2m homes in the right places
In an effort to address the housing crisis, I mapped every railway station in England and used publicly-accessible data to show that 777 of them have development potential
Croydon’s Conservative Mayor has put suburban resistance before home building
In tearing up the council's innovative design guide for development at its fringes, Jason Perry has prevented the benign construction of urgently needed housing in his borough
How to use London’s golf courses to build homes
Would London's golfers give up some exclusive courses to provide housing for 140,000 people in the city? And how would our planning system cope with such creative thinking?
The removal of the small sites policy from Sadiq Khan’s London Plan is a betrayal
Placing requirements on suburban boroughs to do more to help meet the capital's housing needs could have made a huge difference.
Grenfell Inquiry has exposed design and build as our dirty little secret
The lack of oversight, ownership and liability that the inquiry has exposed is of little surprise to those of us immersed in the everyday realities of construction
The Pursuit of Quality
It is the perennial tragedy for architects that the public’s impression of their profession is often constrained to cliché; abstract notions of black polo-neck wearing elites with eccentric glasses, inhabitants of glass and steel edifices overlooking the Thames, or otherwise palatial modernist retreats in isolated countryside. There can be few occupations where such a perceptive chasm exists between its portrayal in the mass media and the day-to-day reality experienced by the large majority of its members.
Heart of the matter: Why architects need a key role in the construction process
To find an architect lamenting the erosion of the profession’s role within the construction process may elicit from many little more than crocodile tears or, to others, smack of a futile act of self-preservation when faced with challenging financial targets, shrinking capital budgets and the avoidance of risk. But while architects’ railing at the demotion […]
After Grenfell
An article written for Icon magazine reflecting on the Grenfell fire, and the lessons we failed to learn from previous catastrophes.