Archinect - News

Are New Towns really the best new hope for ending the UK housing crisis?

2024-08-19T17:45:00-04:00

Last month, the [UK] government announced a task force to develop a strategy for new towns — settlements of more than 10,000 homes — and make recommendations for their locations within a year. The government has not set a target for the number of towns and acknowledges that they will take a long time to deliver.

Britain, short on more than four million homes, is mulling a revival of its post-war New Towns after a decisive Labour Party victory vaulted progressive leadership into power with a mandate to combat its ongoing housing crisis. Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently told the BBC that he is a self-identifying YIMBY who wants to "bulldoze" planning rules and overrule local-led resistance to get it done. The strategy, which preceded a new plan central to Kamala Harris’ Presidential campaign, could still regrettably wind up hemmed in by a notoriously parochial planning process which, nevertheless, gifted the world with Milton Keynes and other important architecture.

His deputy Angela Rayner says the list of sites to be developed won't be revealed until the end of this year. RIBA's President Muyiwa Oki has said at the outset that their plan "offers overarching solutions, but lacks critical detail on delivering social housing and futureproofing existing homes."

Chris Williamson elected as RIBA President

2024-07-02T13:39:00-04:00

Chris Williamson has been elected as the next RIBA President. The co-founder of London-based practice Weston Williamson + Partners prevailed over fellow presidential candidates Funmbi Adeagbo and Duncan Baker-Brown.

From a total of 4,462 votes from RIBA members, Williamson received 1,760 votes in the first round of the election, while Baker-Brown secured 1,502 and Adeagbo 1,200 votes. With Adeagbo eliminated and her votes redistributed in the second round, Williamson edged out a small advantage with 2,008 votes over Baker-Brown, who gathered 1,898 votes.

When asked about his top three priorities by The RIBA Journal during the election campaign, Williamson outlined: "Communications: Our members represent many of the world’s best architects. Increase influence, positioning the profession’s knowledge centre stage; Advocacy: Better support for all practices -helping all Members in their businesses; Education: Make the letters R I B A mean something: provide a real competitive advantage ...

New RIBA manifesto urges lawmakers' action for better practices in the built environment

2023-10-04T16:54:00-04:00

A new "Manifesto for a Better Built Environment" has been published by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), calling on the country’s policymakers to make more urgent priority of the need for better safety, quality, and sustainability in the design and construction of buildings throughout the UK.

The publication was made in advance of the country’s political party conference season, saying that improved regulations, job training, and environmental standards are needed to help boost the national housing stock and achieve other benchmarks governing the whole-life carbon footprint of construction projects and retention of highly-qualified staff in local planning offices.

New RIBA President Muyiwa Oki said: "Well-designed buildings and places enrich our lives, positively impact the environment, and strengthen our communities. Our manifesto highlights the need for conscious and concerted policy action to deliver a built environment that meets peoples’ needs, both now and in t...

'All architects need to be agents of change': Muyiwa Oki takes office as RIBA's youngest and first-ever Black President

2023-08-31T20:16:00-04:00

Muyiwa Oki has officially taken office as the first-ever Black President of the Royal Institute of British Architects, marking the end of Simon Allford’s tenure and heralding a new way forward for the 189-year-old organization as it aims itself toward a more progressive agenda.

The historic feat is added to by Oki's status as the youngest-ever architect to hold the title. The 32-year-old University of Sheffield graduate and Senior Architect at Mace Ltd was swept into office last year on a platform of change, including a mandate for compensation oversight, students’ mental health, and other pushes tied to his campaign promise of being a “drama-free president who enacts positive, ethical, and progressive change.”

Oki used his newfound platform to call for “a fundamental shift” in architecture, adding that the profession “must go further and faster on innovation and change, considering the scale and complexity of the challenges in society” in order to “demonstrate its relevance and imp...

RIBA announces Valerie Vaughan-Dick as its new Chief Executive

2022-11-02T11:57:00-04:00

A void had been filled at the top of one of Britain’s oldest professional organizations after the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) announced the appointment of Valerie Vaughan-Dick as its new Chief Executive.

The current head of the Royal College of General Practitioners comes to the position in the midst of substantial organizational changes that include the recent election of early-career architect Muyiwa Oki as its youngest-ever President.

Her predecessor, Alan Vallance, stepped down last April after leading RIBA through difficult economic straits and towards a “leaner, more focused and relevant” organization was run on an interim basis by Adrian Dobson and Pamela Harding.

Vaughan-Dick has a Ph.D. in management from the University of London and will bring what the organization called “extensive experience in the built environment” to the position owing to her prior experience at the NHS and London's Wandle Housing Association.

Earlier on Archinect: Early-career archi...

Early-career architect Muyiwa Oki elected as RIBA President

2022-08-02T11:30:00-04:00

Muyiwa Oki has been elected as the next RIBA President. Oki, who was supported by a grassroots movement seeking an early-career architect for the role, overcame opposition from Ecologic Studio’s Sumita Singha and Allies and Morrison’s Jo Bacon, to become RIBA's youngest and first Black president.

Of the 6,020 first preference votes by RIBA members, Oki received 2,456, representing 40%. Bacon received 2,317 (38%), while Singha received 1,247 (20%). When Singha’s votes were excluded and redistributed in the second count, Oki finished with 2,967 (49%) to Bacon’s 2,733 (45%), deeming him elected.

Turnout for the election was 12.4% despite calls by the current RIBA President for greater participation. By comparison, the previous presidential election attracted a turnout of 13.2%, which UK outlet Building Design noted was the lowest turnout for more than a quarter of a century.

Oki ...

Where the RIBA presidential candidates stand on key issues

2022-07-19T12:13:00-04:00

On July 26th, voting closes for the election of the next RIBA president. When the winner commences their two-year term as president on September 1st, 2023, they will be confronted with a list of burning issues across the UK’s architectural profession; and will be expected to publicly lead a response.

Some issues are specific to the UK context: a turbulent national political landscape, the soaring cost of indemnity insurance, and the implementation of new or upcoming UK laws on planning, construction, and emissions, to name a few. Other issues are specific to RIBA itself: an institution which has seemingly lurched from crisis to crisis in recent times, be it on accusations of inadequate diversity, election rule changes, or just this week, questions over a “buried” internal report on bullying.

These UK-specific issues aside, many of the challenges facing the UK professi...

RIBA releases new finalist questionnaire ahead of its controversial 2022 presidential election

2022-06-21T15:28:00-04:00

As the organization continues the vetting process for a new President, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has today published a new questionnaire with the three final candidates vying to replace its current leader Simon Allford.

Allford’s tenure is coming to a close, with quite a bit of controversy surrounding the election of his replacement. In May, the organization changed the rules governing that election to exclude members who joined RIBA after April 23rd from voting altogether. This led to accusations of voter suppression from the consortium of the grassroots organizers pushing RIBA to install a younger architectural worker at the top to properly address exploitation within the industry. Perhaps ironically, Allford himself recently lamented an organizational culture in which “too few of our members vote and even fewer stand.”

The three candidates each answered the same four-question prompt, which asked them first to name their top three priorities, followed by an ...

RIBA sparks outcry from activists by tightening election voting rules for new members

2022-05-12T11:48:00-04:00

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has changed its election rules for the 2022 Presidential election, meaning those who joined the institute after April 23rd are not able to vote. The move, first reported by the Architects' Journal this week, has sparked outrage from a grassroots campaign to elect an architectural worker to the role, who describe the move as an exclusionary tactic.

In the previous RIBA Presidential election, held in 2020, the election rules stated that “the electorate shall comprise the current Members of the RIBA in all categories (save for Honorary Fellows).”

This therefore allowed RIBA chartered members (qualified architects), RIBA associate members (with a Masters qualification in the UK or EU), RIBA affiliate members (with an Undergraduate qualification in the UK), and RIBA student members (currently studying at university), to all cast a vote.

'Architectural worker' Muyiwa Oki chosen to challenge for RIBA presidency

2022-05-06T14:59:00-04:00

Oki, a qualified architect at global construction company Mace, has been chosen by an informal collective of early-career architects, students and architectural activists keen to shake-up the institute and move it beyond ‘empty slogans and self-serving initiatives’.

The campaigning collective behind Muyiwa Oki’s nomination includes grassroots organization Future Architects Front (FAF), past and current RIBA Council members, and RIBA’s Future Architects members.

As previously reported by Archinect, the group announced in March its intentions to put forth a “drama-free RIBA president who enacts positive, ethical and progressive change” as well as someone who would better address issues such as employment rights and climate change. This, the collective believes, would come from an early-career architectural worker who is likely to be more active and connected to these concerns.

Previously on Archinect: A group of UK architects is pushing for youth movement at the top of RIBA’s leadership

Oki, who obtained his Bachelor and Master of Architecture from The University of Sheffield, with previous experience at Grimshaw, will challenge for the position left by current president Simon Allford when his term ends in 2023.

However, he still needs to acqui...