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AYA 2025 shortlists: Education Architect of the Year
In a series celebrating BD’s Architect of the Year Awards finalists, we look at the Education (nursery - 6th form) Architect of the Year shortlist
AYA 2025 shortlists: Creative Conservation Architect of the Year
In a series celebrating BD’s Architect of the Year Awards finalists, we look at the Creative Conservation Architect of the Year shortlist
AYA 2025 shortlists: Best Architect Employer of the Year
In a series celebrating BD’s Architect of the Year Awards finalists, we look at the Best Architect Employer of the Year shortlist
Finding new ways to open up the city … Meet the woman behind London’s Open House festival
Mary Richardson caught up with Manijeh Verghese, the recently appointed chief executive of Open City, for a preview of some of the buildings in this year’s Open House festival
What does the appointment of Steve Reed as new housing secretary mean for housebuilding?
Angela Rayner’s replacement held the shadow housing brief in 2021 and now he returns to the role in government. But although he has promised to ‘build, baby, build’, Reed lacks the influence on Keir Starmer that his predecessor had
The long road to regenerating the Carpenters Estate
In 2018, a new mayor tasked Newham’s housing company with building more affordable homes. Seven years later, it’s getting ready for its biggest scheme yet. Daniel Gayne headed east to find out more
UK Design Capital of the Year: How Manchester is setting the pace for regeneration and urban living
Manchester, shortlisted for UK Design Capital of the Year 2025, stands out for the speed and scale of its reinvention
How a transport investment shortfall threatens to scupper housing delivery in London
After setting out a vision for development centred on public transit links, the mayor of London came out of the spending review empty handed. Can London build 88,000 homes a year without new infrastructure? Daniel Gayne reports.
As his RIBA presidency ends, Muyiwa Oki reflects on milestones and unfinished business
Ben Flatman speaks to Oki about his term in office, from launching a workplace wellbeing taskforce to defending the Elizabeth Line’s Stirling Prize win, and why access to the profession remains a pressing concern
UK Design Capital of the Year: How Glasgow is setting new standards for sensitive regeneration
The city is one of four shortlisted for Building Design’s new award recognising the best places in Britain for architecture and urbanism. The Design Capital of the Year Award looks beyond individual buildings to celebrate cities showing strategic ambition in shaping their built environment, from long-term masterplans to bold urban ...
Who is Amy Rees? All you need to know about new Homes England chief
MHCLG’s pick to lead the government’s delivery agency came out of left field. So what do we know about the new quango boss? And what does her appointment tell us about Homes England’s future?
UK Design Capital of the Year: How Cambridge is planning for a denser, more connected future
The new UK Design Capital of the Year award recognises cities leading in architecture, placemaking and regeneration, with Cambridge the first of four shortlisted places examined for how projects and partnerships are shaping its transformation
How will government amendments to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill impact development?
Plans to water down environmental protections have been tweaked in an effort to stem another backbench Labour revolt. Two lawyers on either side of the debate give their views on the implications for development as the bill works its way through Parliament
5 minutes with … Brian Connolly at HOK
The firm’s regional leader for science and technology in London on hearing about scientific breakthroughs made in HOK-designed buildings, keeping work and home life separate, why his decades-old bike will never be stolen and his love of local food festivals
Questioning everything: Gort Scott’s living architecture
Oriana Fernandez explores how Gort Scott’s eclectic practice embraces uncertainty, using architecture to ask difficult questions
HTA Design: Building the case for better housing
As part of Building Design’s Designing Tomorrow’s Housing campaign, Ben Flatman visited HTA Design to hear how one of the UK’s most experienced housing practices is responding to today’s complex challenges
Anna Heringer on sustainable architecture, rammed earth, and what the Global North can learn from the Global South
Mary Richardson explores Anna Heringer’s sustainable philosophy and her mission to bring traditional materials into mainstream architecture
Nansledan: can design codes and long-term stewardship deliver better housing?
As part of Building Design’s Designing Tomorrow’s Housing campaign, Mary Richardson visits Nansledan, the Duchy of Cornwall’s urban extension to Newquay. While its traditional architecture divides opinion, she finds that the project raises important questions about stewardship, planning and designing new housing at scale
Will the Building Safety Regulator overhaul be enough to tackle the delays?
The government has promised to speed up approvals for high-rise residential schemes which have been languishing for up to a year in the new building safety regime. The industry’s reponse so far has been muted. With patience running out and costs mounting, Tom Lowe speaks to the people caught up ...
Designing Tomorrow’s Housing - meet the campaign’s advisory panel
As part of Building Design’s Designing Tomorrow’s Housing campaign, Ben Flatman introduces the expert advisory panel whose breadth of experience will help guide the discussion on how to raise housing quality while delivering the homes the country needs
Designing Tomorrow’s Housing: Putting quality at the heart of 1.5 million homes
Ben Flatman introduces Building Design’s new campaign, which asks how we can raise the quality of housing while meeting the government’s pledge to build 1.5 million new homes
Building faith – Britain’s mosque architecture as cultural resistance
Oriana Fernandez reflects on the ideas in Shahed Saleem’s new book, The Counter-Architecture of the British Mosque
Interviews
Creating communities for all: Jenny Buterchi on PRP’s vision for age-inclusive living
As part of BD’s Boomers to Zoomers series, Mary Richardson went to talk to Jenny Buterchi, partner at PRP and lead of the firm’s Later Living team, to learn more about her vision for design and placemaking that better serve the needs of an ageing population
Adjaye London CEO Lucy Tilley: ‘We’ll work even harder to carry on our legacy. We’ll keep going’
New London CEO talks about her vision for the future, the allegations that threatened to bring the practice down, and the resilience that she says helped it survive
Inside Gbolade Design Studio: A new era of architecture where the only way is ethics
Ben Flatman talks to Lanre and Tara Gbolade about setting up their practice and their vision for architecture as a tool for social and environmental change
Chris Williamson: ‘I think we can do a lot for young architects – they need all the help they can get’
Ben Flatman talks to the founder of Weston Williamson + Partners about the role RIBA has played in his career, the importance of lifelong learning, and why he wants to help the next generation of architects get a leg up in the profession
Joe Morris: What’s wrong with the planning system and why we must take a stand against hostility in the workplace
Ben Flatman talks to Joe Morris about the complexities of the planning system and the importance of workplace civility
Jonathan Smales: ‘I love the tangibility of building. I like the fact it’s got a beginning, a middle and an end’
From running Greenpeace to creating the UK’s largest timber neighbourhood, Jonathan Smales is a developer who doesn’t follow the herd, writes Ben Flatman
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More interviews
Alex Ely: ‘Architecture is so central to our culture - it’s a pity it doesn’t seem to gain the traction it deserves’
The founder of the Stirling Prize-winning Mae Architects shares his influences and inspirations with Ben Flatman and concludes that his profession still has much to offer
Let’s talk about a brighter future for our towns and cities
How can we create thriving communities and places that people enjoy and want to live in? Ben Flatman spoke to four key industry figures to find out
Henley Halebrown: ‘We are genuinely interested in how people use buildings’
Simon Henley and Gavin Hale-Brown met at the University of Liverpool in 1986 and have been friends ever since, forming their award-winning practice together in 1995. Here Ben Flatman discusses their early influences, design philosophy, and commitment to improving access to the profession
‘Nobody believes them anymore’… HOK’s Daniel Hajjar on what is wrong with UK politics and the planning system
After 20 years in the Middle East, Daniel Hajjar moved to the UK, where, eight years on, he finds the political ‘flakiness’ of the country has made it an infuriating place to build. Thomas Lowe reports
Interview | Eleanor Jolliffe talks to Nick Temple
In this interview Eleanor Jolliffe discovers how the opportunity to study in Rome changed the course of a renowned academic’s life
Building Talks Creating Communities podcast: In conversation with David Rudlin at BDP
Episode 3: David Rudlin talks about the importance of urban design and why planning needs to rediscover its capacity to create good quality places
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