The Guardian critic used Florian Heilmeyer’s new book, Celebrating Public Architecture: Buildings from the Open Call in Flanders 2000–2021, as a means of introduction to the system that was first enacted in 2000. Heilmeyer’s aim is to advance the notion that it “prove[s] that public architecture can actually be daring, thought-provoking, cooperative, and well-done at the same time.” Wainwright thoroughly concurred with the assertion, adding his own opinion that a shift towards a more democratic process could benefit the health and safety of his own country.

“It’s not hard to see why, given the current state of UK procurement culture,” he wrote of the controversial British way of awarding public procurements. “As the Grenfell inquiry has made all too clear in week after depressing week, the process through which public authorities procure building work has become riddled with lethal incompetence and institutionalised negligence.” Wainwright adds: “It is a process of contractual buck-passing that sees a project divided into numerous separate 'packages,' from which the maximum number of consultants can profit — while the public loses out on quality, safety and value.”