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The UK’s Architects Registration Board (ARB) has announced its intent to issue major overhauls to its registration process for non-UK architects wishing to pursue work within the country. The organization is now in the process of pursuing a public consultancy that will seek to eliminate... View full entry
Over seven years after fire engulfed London’s Grenfell Tower killing 72 people, a public inquiry into the disaster has released its final report. The Grenfell Inquiry’s report has uncovered a chain of failures across government and the private sector, including an architecture firm, beginning... View full entry
More than 80 people had to be evacuated after a major fire broke out in east London early Monday, fire officials said. The blaze brought back painful memories of the Grenfell Tower fire that killed 72 people in the city in 2017.
The Dagenham building had “a number of fire safety issues” officials said. Notably, the mixed-use building had “noncompliant cladding,” according to a 2023 application for construction work.
— The New York Times
Responding to the Dagenham fire, the Times reported Grenfell United as saying, "This highlights the painfully slow progress of remediation across the country, and a lack of urgency for building safety as a whole." In a truly painful precursor, the yearslong criminal inquiry into the deadly... View full entry
A brand new apprenticeship opportunity will grant aspiring workers in the UK's architecture industry the chance to learn professional model-making skills in an initiative chaired by Foster + Partners in collaboration with a group of other British universities and design firms. The three-year... View full entry
A recently completed project in Oxford, United Kingdom has earned distinction as the first-ever in the country to obtain a 100% BREAAM score for its environmental credentials. Image: courtesy CMP Architects The 43,745-square-foot scheme from CMP Architects created valuable lab space for research &... View full entry
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. — The New York Times
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... View full entry
The Tower of London’s status as a world heritage site may be at risk due to the influx of new skyscrapers in central London. UNESCO has requested that the UK government submit a State of Conservation Report that addresses the historic site’s preservation and the threat of increased high-rise... View full entry
Researchers at the University College London have put forth a new argument in favor of a simple solution to combating the issue of extreme heat in cities without air conditioning. The so-called “cool roof” method they found had the best mitigation performance metrics over others surveyed... View full entry
The British government’s plans to construct a new two-mile underground tunnel near the Stonehenge UNESCO World Heritage site have been called off in what’s being framed as a major victory for preservationists. The BBC has more on the late budgetary decision, which ends a yearslong legal... View full entry
The plan from Kohn Pedersen Fox for a major redevelopment of the 42-story Norman Foster-designed 8 Canada Square tower in London (opened in 2003 and currently leased by HSBC) has gone public for the first time. The project, which commences in 2027, is expected to be realized at 1.1 million... View full entry
UK mainstay Grimshaw has announced the launch of a new online platform that will help accelerate the decarbonization of buildings. It follows a two-year development phase that relied on the support of 20 other industry organizations, including the World Business Council for Sustainable... View full entry
The unfortunate "winner" of the UK’s Carbuncle Cup, which annually celebrates the country’s most detested new architecture, has been announced as the 2019 Liverpool Lime Street redevelopment scheme from Broadway Malyan. The contest, which is presented by the London-based magazine The Fence... View full entry
London's annual Serpentine Pavilion is gearing up for its grand opening on Friday with a first preview of this year's completed design by Korean architect Minsuk Cho. Envisioned together with his Seoul-based firm Mass Studies, the 23rd annual summer pavilion, titled Archipelagic Void... View full entry
The big beasts of London’s Elizabeth line and King’s Cross redevelopment loom large, but newly announced regional contenders for this year’s prize should include a classy Cambridge dining hall, an all-timber office block and a wheelchair-friendly rural retreat — The Guardian
While the official announcement of the annual Stirling Prize for the best new building in the UK is still months away (find the results here in October), architecture critic Rowan Moore just published his customary hot take on the contenders that have been released so far. Picking from a... View full entry
No criminal charges will be filed against defendants in the ongoing Grenfell Tower fire investigation until at least late 2026, according to the latest from the BBC and other UK outlets. London's Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service, which is responsible for administering criminal... View full entry
