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History has been made in England, where the Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners-designed Sainsbury complex in London has become the country's first historically-recognized supermarket. Sainsbury’s supermarket in London. Image courtesy of © Historic England DP251196 Built between 1986 and... View full entry
Boris Johnson has a mammoth task on his hands as soon as he enters No.10.
Brexit, climate change and ensuring the UK has a safer, high-quality built environment must be priorities.
— RIBA
The assumption of Boris Johnson to the prime ministership of the United Kingdom has come with no honeymoon period, it seems. This week, as Johnson's selection was formalized, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) issued a pointed and lengthy list of concerns facing the nation's building... View full entry
With the increase in festival events and attendance, one company strives to fix the waste problem these highly attended festivals make. Based in Christchurch, Dorset, Above All C6(n) is a sustainable technology company that is using recycled plastic water bottles to create sustainable alternatives... View full entry
Every year, a host of lists emerge ranking architecture schools around the world. For some, they serve as a useful guide to choosing where to pursue their studies. For others, the lists are subjective and have little real value. The Complete University Guide, which ranks university courses... View full entry
Stanton Williams completed a new design extension for the Cambridge Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge. The £21.5 million expansion utilized the existing site's potential in creating The Simon Sainsbury Centre. The Centre will serve as a versatile hub in providing flexible... 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
Britain’s homes could be lit and powered by windfarms surrounding an artificial island deep out in the North Sea, under advanced plans by a Dutch energy network.
The radical proposal envisages an island being built to act as a hub for vast offshore windfarms that would eclipse today’s facilities in scale. Dogger Bank, 125km (78 miles) off the East Yorkshire coast, has been identified as a potentially windy and shallow site.
— The Guardian
Plans by TenneT, the Dutch power grid, aim to build a power hub potentially at Dogger Bank, a site in the North Sea, at a scale that far surpasses current offshore sites. A long-distance cable would send energy to the UK and Netherlands, with other countries possibly added later. Early studies... View full entry
Gavin Stamp, the architectural historian, who has died aged 69, was “Piloti” who wrote the “Nooks and Corners” column in Private Eye magazine; a television presenter of great charm and humour; a conservationist who personally saved one of the finest Arts and Crafts buildings in London; a photographer, draughtsman and writer of prodigious talent. — telegraph.co.uk
The architecture community lost historian, writer and broadcaster Gavin Stamp on December 30 2017 due to prostate cancer. Stamp had an immense impact on British architecture and authored several important architectural history books. He was also a television series presenter, co-founder of... View full entry
Architectural historian Charles Jencks has agreed to turn his house into a museum, according to BD. Located in London's Holland Park, the early Victorian stucco villa has interiors designed by Michael Graves and other alterations by Terry Farrell. An important example of post-modern design, the... View full entry
Confidence in the future prospects of UK architects falls as 2017 comes to a close. RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) released their Future Trends Workload and Staffing Indexes for the end of 2017 and the numbers are not looking good. The Workload numbers dropped dramatically just over... View full entry
Temple Works, a former flax mill in Leeds, has been listed for sale, in the Pugh auction on December 7th, with a starting price of just one pound according to the Yorkshire Evening Post. The Egyptian-influenced industrial building is one of the city's oldest and most cherished, and is the only... View full entry
The government will abolish stamp duty for all first-time homebuyers on homes under £300,000 in a move that will save home purchasers up to £5,000, but the government's spending watchdog warned it could push up house prices. — Business Insider
Philip Hammond, the conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer, has announced stamp duty changes in the 2017 Budget that would abolish the tax for all first-time buyers on homes under £300,000. The move is seen as an effort by the ruling Conservative party to win over younger voters, many of whom... View full entry
In a speech made at the Conservative Party conference today, UK Prime Minister Theresa May pledged an extra £2 billion to be spent on affordable housing. This is in addition to the government's existing £7 billion affordable housing fund, which awards grants to local governments, housing... View full entry
Due to popular demand, the 2017 Serpentine Pavilion will now remain open for an additional six weeks, through November 19th. This year's installation was designed by Diébédo Francis Kéré and inspired by the community tree of his native Burkina Faso. The award-winning architect from Gando... View full entry
The Abu Dhabi-owned developer won planning approval for the 268-home mixed-use redevelopment of the Metropolitan Police’s HQ site in April 2016....Since then developer BL Developments has sought to increase the total number of homes by 27, from 268 to 295, with no increase in the number of affordable units or payment in lieu, meaning the level of affordable housing fell further still to only 3%. — Construction Enquirer
BL Developments, who bought the site back in 2014 for £370m, had submitted an initial proposal to transform the former Metropolitan Police headquarters into a mixed-use scheme. The plans, which involved tearing down three existing buildings to clear the way for six residential-led buildings... View full entry
