Follow this tag to curate your own personalized Activity Stream and email alerts.
A pair of unprecedented changes to the UK’s Architects Act 1997 has been announced jointly by the British Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Architects Registration Board (ARB), ending the reciprocal acceptance of qualifications for EU-trained architects that has been... View full entry
As the United Kingdom works to strike new trade deals with Europe following Brexit, Greek authorities are using the occasion to try and negotiate a return of the country's long-lost Parthenon Marbles (also referred to as the Elgin Marbles). Reuters reports that Greek officials have included... View full entry
I am determined not to talk about Europe in terms of crisis or anxiety. I hope that the forces that allow Europe to continue developing constructively can coalesce and collaborate. But it would be foolish to make any predictions about what will happen next. For the first time in my life I don’t understand what is going on in Britain. — Rem Koolhaas
With all the uncertainty surrounding Britain's future, Rem Koolhaas recently shared his thoughts with The Guardian on how he watched the country improve when it first became part of the European Union. In light of the EU elections to encourage people to vote, Koolhaas took part in the Eurolab... View full entry
The news of British Prime Minister Theresa May announcing today that she would move out of 10 Downing Street on June 7, following a lengthy period of political disarray over the UK's post-Brexit future as well as criticism over her handling of the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy, did not come as an... View full entry
Just like manufacturing, architecture is dependent on international trade. British architects export their services, bringing back work and revenues, while a net influx of foreign architects fills offices: A fifth of the profession nationwide is foreign, and in London, a third, according to British architect Piers Taylor. Norman Foster, who heads Foster + Partners, more than 1,000 architects strong, said, “My practice absolutely depends on talent, and much of that talent is foreign.” — Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times details responses of leading British architects, including David Chipperfield, Norman Foster, Richard Rogers, in the light of the looming March 29 deadline for the UK to officially leave the EU—if this Brexit happens without further delay. "Chipperfield has emerged as... View full entry
France’s rail operator SNCF has unveiled plans to triple the size of Paris’ Gare du Nord station in time for the 2024 Olympic Games. [...]
The project, carried out in partnership with developer Ceetrus and architect Denis Valode of Valode et Pistre, will be the largest refurbishment of the station since it was built in 1864.
When complete it should increase the capacity of Europe’s largest station from 700,000 to 800,000 people a day.
— Global Construction Review
Image: Valode et Pistre.Besides accommodating an increase in travel volume during the 2024 Olympic Games, the dramatic expansion of Paris' Gare du Nord terminus station is also preparing necessary spaces for new arrival procedures of British nationals in the post-Brexit era: (soon) no longer EU... View full entry
The UK’s largest practice, Foster + Partners, says it would consider moving its headquarters from London if Brexit meant it could no longer attract the world’s best architects [...]
Less than a quarter of the architects based at Foster + Partners’ huge Battersea head office are UK nationals – with around a half from EU countries. In total, the firm employs 1,061 staff in the UK including 353 architects.
— architectsjournal.co.uk
In an interview with The Architects' Journal, Foster + Partners managing partner Matthew Streets didn't rule out leaving London if attracting and employing "the globe’s brightest stars to maintain its position as world leaders" in a United Kingdom outside of the European Union became... View full entry
With one year left until Brexit, 2018 is a critical year for the UK architecture industry. Today, the RIBA released the latest results of their Global by Design report, a comprehensive survey of UK architects on Brexit. Although UK architects can adapt to next year's changes, RIBA describes, they... View full entry
The clown king of novelty infrastructure fantasies has once again stolen the limelight with his preposterous plan for a 22-mile bridge across the Channel. [...]
But none of this matters. In a world where Johnson got as far as flushing £37m of public money into the Thames on another fantasy project, the Garden Bridge, a great Channel crossing could easily be conjured into being.
— The Guardian
The Guardian's architecture critic, Oliver Wainwright, responds to the former London Mayor's suggestion to build a 22-mile bridge across the Channel and physically connect the European Union with the brexiting island kingdom (on top of the already existing 31.35-mile Channel tunnel). Let's just... View full entry
A major British construction company is going into liquidation after failing to secure a financial lifeline. Carillion (CIOIF), which employs 43,000 people around the world, said in a statement Monday that rescue talks with stakeholders including the British government had collapsed.
"We have been unable to secure the funding to support our business plan, and it is therefore with the deepest regret that we have arrived at this decision," Carillion Chairman Philip Green said in the statement.
— money.cnn.com
With thousands of workers in the UK and Canada, the construction company also builds high speed rail infrastructure, is involved in power distribution projects, and performs road maintenance, hospital management and other government services. Carillion has hundreds of contracts with the UK... View full entry
![<a href="[https://www.flickr.com/photos/mariaeklind/33806652861/in/photolist-TvnW6c-TAd5eY-VeQgk7-VinmRg-XzqBfY-Sqkgpu-V6Ekrr-TvnThg-SqkhN1-Sqke35-TsXiqQ-UH8o3m-TQarqR-TGSHSz-TAgwRQ-UH7e9b-VhJBPc-YA96BL-SAn7fH-U5sbZE-T4FfWc-TvnVsP-V6CSJk-VeQaQu-YRrGUD-N33PuE-N2LySp-VuidpP-SChADK-Vuh7Bi-V3Tjdh-V3UEyq-U1PgcY-NFeAZw-VhKJtT-VhJL4t-JZD8ER-Tf3gEm-L3tWLL-NrhgWF-U1Tuq3-UU8GpL-TQapip-Kby5AP-KYF3Bw-UH8m1A-UH84HL-VeLcrj-MKUkAA-VhKGXX]">[Maria Eklind/Flickr]</a>](https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/lm/lmne1q7uig5suy4u.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=514 "<a href=\"[https://www.flickr.com/photos/mariaeklind/33806652861/in/photolist-TvnW6c-TAd5eY-VeQgk7-VinmRg-XzqBfY-Sqkgpu-V6Ekrr-TvnThg-SqkhN1-Sqke35-TsXiqQ-UH8o3m-TQarqR-TGSHSz-TAgwRQ-UH7e9b-VhJBPc-YA96BL-SAn7fH-U5sbZE-T4FfWc-TvnVsP-V6CSJk-VeQaQu-YRrGUD-N33PuE-N2LySp-VuidpP-SChADK-Vuh7Bi-V3Tjdh-V3UEyq-U1PgcY-NFeAZw-VhKJtT-VhJL4t-JZD8ER-Tf3gEm-L3tWLL-NrhgWF-U1Tuq3-UU8GpL-TQapip-Kby5AP-KYF3Bw-UH8m1A-UH84HL-VeLcrj-MKUkAA-VhKGXX]\">[Maria Eklind/Flickr]</a>")
There has never been a more important time in society to celebrate what unites us rather than divides us, and that can be through culture and, more simply, through the creation of public spaces where people can come together. — CNN Style
Amanda Levete reflects on the Brexit referendum and the election of Donald Trump. She argues for the responsibility of architects to create spaces of intersections and conversations across thresholds in the contemporary political climate. View full entry
Britain’s largest architectural firm, Foster + Partners, plans to lay off nearly 100 people, and blamed the uncertainty around construction projects caused by last summer’s Brexit vote.
The company, whose London projects have included the Millennium Bridge, the Great Hall redevelopment at the British Museum and the Gherkin tower, said the cuts would mainly affect staff at its headquarters in Battersea, south-west London.
— The Guardian
The prospect of Brexit choking off the supply of EU workers is reshaping Britain's homebuilding industry, with big companies increasingly looking to factory-manufacture houses in sections that can be slotted together on-site with minimal labour.
Many of Britain's leading housebuilders, including Berkeley, Taylor Wimpey, Persimmon and Your Housing, told Reuters they were either planning new developments of prefabricated homes or considering doing so.
— Reuters
"You can almost feel the fear among the contractors and housebuilders where they've been surviving on labor from outside the country," says Mark Stevenson, a managing director of construction supplier Kingspan. "We're being pulled in a direction that customers want us to go in, from more work... View full entry
The effects of last summer's Brexit are starting to be measured within the architectural community, and they're dramatic: according to a press release issued by RIBA, in a survey of its members 40% of U.K.-based non British EU nationals are thinking about leaving the country, while 60% of RIBA's... View full entry
The last year has seen a dramatic political shift to the right in the Western world (and elsewhere), marked in particular by Brexit and the election of Donald J. Trump. Alongside the former, the Tories secured a firm grip on the UK, with Prime Minister Theresa May stepping in to fill the void left... View full entry
