Archinect - News

UK Housing Secretary issues final go-ahead for Museum of London and Bastion House demolition

2024-05-21T16:05:00-04:00

The UK's Housing and Communities Secretary Michael Gove has approved the planned demolition of the Museum of London building and Bastion House near the Barbican. The go-ahead makes way for the revised Sheppard Robson and Diller Scofidio + Renfro-led scheme that would deliver a new office block to the site following the culmination of demolition work in 2033.

The decision marks the end of a tumultuous back-and-forth between preservationists and the planning authority. Many have criticized the demolition's carbon footprint, despite the design team's promise to reuse 90% of the materials on-site in the construction of the new building, prompting Gove to issue an Article 31 order last month before casting his final approval on May 17th.

Previously on Archinect: Diller Scofidio + Renfro/Sheppard Robson's London Centre for Music replacement inches closer after planners grant local approval

Barbican Quarter Action (or BQA), the main group leading its opposition, has said to Londonist that t...

Diller Scofidio + Renfro/Sheppard Robson's London Centre for Music replacement inches closer after planners grant local approval

2024-04-30T13:45:00-04:00

The revised Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Sheppard Robson-led scheme at the Barbican in Central London reportedly gained planning approvals from the City of London’s planning body. The news came last week (April 17th) after UK Housing and Communities Secretary Michael Gove remanded an Article 31 order calling on the local committee to pause its process in light of pushbacks against the planned demolition of the existing Bastion House and the former Museum of London that is an integral part of the scheme.

Previously on Archinect: Diller Scofidio + Renfro unveil designs for London Centre for Music replacement

Yahoo! Finance UK quoted a spokesperson from the group Barbican Quarter Actiorn as saying the demolition would be “injurious to the future of people and the planet,” adding, “We continue to believe that this great City can and should do better and that it should retain and adapt these fine buildings in line with its own policies on sustainable development.”

If approved by Gove’s o...

Plans for London’s Sphere are no more as developers abandon project

2024-01-09T11:29:00-05:00

The developers behind the proposed MSG Sphere in London have withdrawn plans for the project. In a letter to the UK government’s Planning Inspectorate, developers Madison Square Garden Entertainment (MSG) said that the scheme had become “merely a political football between rival parties.”

Plans for the Sphere first emerged in 2018, with planning permission filed in March 2019. London’s mayor Sadiq Khan was originally supportive of the scheme upon its announcement, but a combination of negative feedback in planning officer reports and backlash from locals saw Khan refuse the project permission in November 2023.

The saga continued in December when the UK’s Housing Secretary, Michael Gove, asked for the plans to be personally reviewed by the Planning Inspectorate, which falls under his department. With both a UK-wide general election and London mayoral election set to take place in the country later this year, the project was set to become a major campaign issue between Gove’s ruling C...

UK Housing Secretary Gove will re-review London Sphere planning permission after Mayor's refusal

2023-12-02T03:00:00-05:00

Two weeks after London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced his refusal of planning permissions for the controversial MSG Sphere development planned in East London, the UK’s housing chief has issued a rebuke that may leave some glimmer of hope for the project’s eventual realization.

Several UK-based outlets are now reporting that Housing Secretary Michael Gove has asked the London Legacy Development Corporation to have the plans reviewed personally by his office before a final decision can be made. The countermand means another six week’s wait for the project, which has caused a torrent of backlash from critics and local residents since first being introduced in January of 2018.

James Dolan, Executive Chairman of the Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp., however, told the Evening Standard that Khan’s decision represented the “end of the line” for his company’s pursuit of the project in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Previously on Archinect: So much for the controversial London Sphere afte...

London’s landmark Marks & Spencer department store gets a new life after court ruling

2023-07-20T17:26:00-04:00

A number of prominent architects had previously voiced their support for retrofitting the century-old store ahead of the inquiry, which began last October at the bequest of Secretary Michael Gove. Gove cited a concern for neighboring landmarks in the vicinity as part of his decision to strike down the retailer's demolition scheme in addition to its potential "lifetime carbon usage."

According to a report today in Bloomberg CityLab, "Marks & Spencer Group Plc will review its future as a fixture on London’s Oxford Street after losing government backing for a plan to demolish its flagship art deco store and rebuild a modern replacement [...] The case is a major win for the campaign group, which argued the 'handsome' building should be retrofitted rather than demolished, on the grounds that it would have a much lower environmental impact."

Advocates, including SAVE Britain's Heritage, hope the ruling will establish precedents by which the future of two dozen or so other "high street ti...

UK announces massive cladding remediation mandate in wake of Grenfell inquiry

2023-01-31T11:45:00-05:00

England's housing developers have been given an ultimatum - commit to repairing unsafe buildings or be banned from operating in the market. Developers now have six weeks to sign a government contract to fix their unsafe buildings from the past 30 years. According to the government's new plan, homeowners living in buildings whose construction poses a potential fire risk will be reimbursed, and building companies who installed the unsafe cladding must pay to replace it with a safer material.

Speaking to the press on Sunday, UK Housing Secretary Michael Gove admitted “faulty” guidance was to blame for the Grenfell Tower tragedy, stating his opinion that the building industry had gone underregulated for years. Cladding manufacturers like Celotex and Kingspan were not included in the mandate. Gove said the government will be committing a total of £5 billion ($6.15 billion) towards the effort.

UK Housing Secretary Michael Gove throws his hat behind the country's traditionalism movement

2023-01-05T15:50:00-05:00

The UK’s housing chief is throwing his name into the contentious ongoing debate surrounding the role and perception of traditionalism and classical architecture in the country’s design culture and academia.

The Architects’ Journal has details on Secretary Michael Gove’s foreword to a report authored by critic Ike Ijeh for a right-wing think tank that calls for the establishment of a “School of Place” and other educational changes that would “revive” traditionalism “from the annals of obscurity to which contemporary architecture education has unfairly consigned it.”

Gove tied the cause to the country’s housing crisis while also welcoming calls for the elevation of classicism in university curricula without expressly stating that it should be mandated in either educational Part of the RIBA-administered licensure process, stating: “There is no silver bullet to solve the housing crisis, nor to transform British towns and cities overnight or instantaneously deliver a workforce imbued wit...