Briefing – Page 2
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FeaturesAs 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
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FeaturesWho 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?
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FeaturesHow 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
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Features5 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
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FeaturesQuestioning everything: Gort Scott’s living architecture
Oriana Fernandez explores how Gort Scott’s eclectic practice embraces uncertainty, using architecture to ask difficult questions
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FeaturesHTA 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
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FeaturesAnna 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
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FeaturesNansledan: 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
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FeaturesWill 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 ...
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FeaturesDesigning 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
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FeaturesDesigning 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
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FeaturesBuilding 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
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FeaturesUrsula Bowyer, 1925–2025: from émigré to architect and campaigner in postwar London
Architect and heritage advocate Ursula Bowyer, who has died aged 99, pursued a career in postwar London and contributed to the conservation of Greenwich and Blackheath. Ana Francisco Sutherland reflects on a life shaped by resilience and civic engagement
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Features‘I want the most beautiful and future-ready buildings in the country’… The City’s new planning chair shares his vision for the Square Mile
Tom Lowe sits down with Tom Sleigh for his first media interview after his appointment to one of the UK’s most high-profile planning roles
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Features5 minutes with … Chris Pollard at Fereday Pollard
The 30-year-old firm’s founder and managing director on improving the design quality of transport and infrastructure projects, the frustrations of the consents process, the importance of perseverence and his love of pizza
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FeaturesDesigning for every body: Jos Boys and the radical potential of disability-led design
Architectural activist, teacher and campaigner Jos Boys has spent decades questioning who architecture is really for. In this profile, Mary Richardson explores how her latest work reframes access as a political, creative and collaborative practice
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FeaturesWhy the real carbon cost of our homes lies in how we build them
Thomas Lane asks whether the Future Homes Hub’s plan to tackle embodied carbon in housebuilding will have real impact
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FeaturesThe regulator steps into the spotlight
Ben Flatman meets Hugh Simpson, chief executive of the Architects Registration Board, to discuss education reform, CPD and the future of regulation – and why he is happy for ARB to be an “activist regulator”
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Features‘We’re like the Borrowers, nobody knows we’re here’: How Populous’ new Man City stand will be built without the fans noticing
The contactor has been busy working behind the scenes at the Etihad. This summer the team will finally get their time on the pitch - and will have to make it count
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FeaturesWhy Nicholas Boys Smith’s ideas still matter in the age of Keir Starmer
Mary Richardson speaks to the founder of Create Streets about popular taste, the design challenges facing Labour’s housebuilding push, and why architects still struggle to engage with what ‘normal’ people really want