Our pick of the best Building Design features from the past 12 months
Throughout the year Building Design published insightful features, from exclusive data and research to analysis of the biggest issues facing the architecture world. This includes obituaries for Nicholas Grimshaw, Terry Farrell and Frank Gehry, who all died this autumn, as well as deep-dives into regulatory changes and politics.
Nicholas Grimshaw and the optimism of British high tech
Published in September
Sir Nicholas Grimshaw has died at 85. He leaves behind a string of buildings that helped to define British high tech, derived from a design philosophy centred on structural clarity and adaptability.
He also laid the foundations for a practice that has since grown far beyond what he envisaged. Grimshaw is now much larger and more global than it had been under his leadership, yet it still draws on his ethos. The focus on how things are made and on structural honesty remains.
His family history included engineers as well as artists, and he said that he spent hours as a child making things. The boy who loved Meccano, tree houses and boats scaled up those instincts. You can trace that hands-on spirit throughout his career.
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Has the government sold out on construction products regulation?
Published in May
“I see some of it as a desperate cry for help,” says Paul Morrell. The former chief construction adviser is talking about the government’s new proposals for regulating construction products. It is fair to say this is not the reaction that ministers will have wanted from the man whose work forms much of the backdrop to the proposed reforms.
The government is currently asking the industry for its views on its proposals to tighten up the regulation of construction products. The 158-page construction products reform green paper is part of the government’s response to the final report of the Grenfell Inquiry, unveiled in February, which also included proposals for a new single regulator for the industry.
The regulation of construction products is notoriously complex. There is no exact figure for how many products are on the market, but estimates vary from hundreds of thousands to millions. Only about a third of these are regulated by standards, with the remaining two-thirds unregulated.
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What is the value for money case for and against using the private finance initiative to fund social infrastructure?
Published in May
For what is essentially a dry accounting and procurement issue, discussions around the private finance initiative (PFI) have long inspired a surprisingly fierce – almost religious – fervour. Supporters and critics alike are passionate in defence of their own revealed truth about the controversial method of financing and procuring public projects.
Since 2018, however, this is a debate that, in England at least, has been largely silent, given that the nay-sayers effectively won the argument. The Treasury cancelled the successor scheme to PFI, with then chancellor Philip Hammond declaring PF2 “inflexible and overly complex”.
But, with the chancellor Rachel Reeves understood to be looking again at how the government can bring in private finance to help fund its social and economic infrastructure plans, it is now an argument that looks ready to fire up all over again. Given this, it seems sensible to ask whether returning to this form of project delivery, used on more than 700 UK projects to date, would be a good idea.
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Sir Terry Farrell: the restless maverick who reshaped British urbanism
Published in October
Sir Terry Farrell, who has died aged 87, fits slightly awkwardly into the history of late 20th-century British architecture. His early career was closely entwined with that of Nicholas Grimshaw, with whom he was in partnership from the mid-1960s until 1980. The Farrell/Grimshaw practice was known and highly regarded for its high-tech, systematised approach to design and construction. Grimshaw was fascinated by boats and many of their projects were replete with maritime allusions.
It became clear by the late 1970s that Farrell and Grimshaw’s interests were diverging, at a time when modernism was – with the exception of high tech – seemingly increasingly adrift. Postmodernism, especially after the famous 1980 Venice Architectural Biennale, was on the rise.
The split between Grimshaw and Farrell marked a key moment in the British architectural scene. There is a strange symmetry in Farrell’s death coming just weeks after that of his former partner Grimshaw, the two architects’ careers together mapping out much of the story of British architecture in the late 20th century.
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Local expertise, global vision: Foster + Partners’ work in South America
Published in March
In a rapidly shifting geopolitical and economic landscape, British architectural practices are having to adapt quickly to maintain their international standing. For decades, UK firms have enjoyed a strong reputation abroad, particularly in the Middle East, where large-scale, high-profile projects have defined their presence. However, as political realignments and shifting investment patterns reshape the global market, the most agile and ambitious firms are constantly seeking new opportunities. Foster + Partners has long been at the forefront, leveraging its global reputation to establish a foothold in emerging and evolving markets.
In recent years, the practice has been deepening its engagement with South America – a region of economic volatility but also significant growth potential. Leading this effort is Juan Frigerio, an Argentinian architect who has played a key role in expanding Foster + Partners’ presence across the continent.
Based in Buenos Aires since 2007, he oversees the practice’s work in the region, navigating a complex business environment where international fees are constrained, close interpersonal relationships underpin success, and the political context can shift suddenly. His role is not just about securing projects but about demonstrating that high-quality design can thrive even in challenging markets.
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What the delays at the Building Safety Regulator mean for high-rise development
Published in February
Last month student housing giant Unite broke cover about what is now one of the biggest issues facing developers of high-rise residential buildings in England. In a trading update, the firm revealed that delays caused by the “new approval gateways” policed by the new building safety regulator (BSR) were forcing it to add “around six months” to project timelines.
Unite is by no means alone. David O’Leary, executive director for policy at the Home Builders’ Federation, says some of the industry group’s members have reported waits of a year or more for approval. In the construction industry, of course, time is money, and there is mounting frustration across the sector over an issue that some say is having a profound impact on the development of high-rise resi schemes.
“This is huge,” says O’Leary. “It’s right up there with the biggest issues the industry is facing.”
The delays relate to the new regime for high-rise residential buildings over 18 metres (HRBs) under the 2022 Building Safety Act. The legislation stipulates that remediation or new-build HRB schemes must seek approval from the BSR at three separate “gateway” points: planning approval; prior to construction; and prior to occupation.
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The Reform party conference: what a Farage government would mean for housing, investment and ‘net-stupid-zero’
Published in September
I am waiting for a panel discussion called “Drill Baby Drill: Abandoning Net Zero and Restoring Energy Abundance” to start when an email pops up from Reform HQ. “10 MINUTE WARNING,” says the subject line, before explaining that the leader’s address has been brought forward by three hours in a last-minute schedule change and is now not taking place at 4pm on Friday afternoon, as listed in the brochure, but at 1pm.
Cue a mad dash to the main auditorium, past crowds of attendees walking in the opposite direction who are apparently unaware – as are staff – that the conference’s main event is about to take place.
And so it is, 10 minutes later, the lights suddenly dim in the vast arena of Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre. Trumpets blare out of speakers as the surprised crowd rises to its feet.
At the back of the stage, a panel emblazoned with the slogan “The Next Step” rises upwards, revealing a dark passage filled with smoke. And, walking out, like a contestant on Stars in Their Eyes and with showbiz flair worthy of Donald Trump, is the man they had all been waiting for – Nigel Farage – dressed in a bright teal suit and a tie with a design of a staircase leading upwards – or down, depending on your perspective – surrounded by whooshing jets of sparkles and smoke, waving and pretending to point at members of the audience.
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Frank Gehry: from LA experimentalist to the architect of the Bilbao effect
Published in December
Frank Gehry, who has died aged 96, was one of the few architects whose buildings became part of global popular culture. From his own house in Santa Monica to the glinting upturned hulls of the Guggenheim Bilbao, his work reshaped expectations of what a building could look like and what it could do for a city. He turned architecture into spectacle and, for better and worse, into a brand.
Over time his language hardened into a repertoire that clients could order almost off the shelf. The architect who once wrapped a cheap timber house in chain link and corrugated metal would end up providing the global art market and luxury brands with ever more elaborate vessels for culture and consumption. Yet for all the fame and the titanium billows, Gehry’s most lasting legacy may lie in earlier, smaller projects where the work still feels close to the specifics of place.
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How the viability crunch is putting Britain’s housing ambitions – and design quality – under strain
Published in November
Britain’s housing ambitions are colliding with a stark economic reality: across much of the country, it is becoming harder and harder to make building new homes financially stack up.
The government’s target of 1.5 million new dwellings over the course of this parliament was meant to address decades of undersupply, yet developers are warning that the numbers simply do not add up. Schemes that once looked viable are being paused or abandoned altogether, not for lack of demand, but because the costs of land, construction, finance and regulation increasingly outweigh the value of what can be sold.
In the housebuilding sector, “viability” describes whether a project can generate sufficient return once all those costs are factored in. When the total cost of delivery exceeds the likely market value, the scheme is deemed unviable, and, as growing numbers of developers attest, that is now the rule rather than the exception.
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Closing the door on opportunity? The future of architect apprenticeships
Published in November
In May, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson announced that from January 2026, government funding for new level 7 apprenticeships, including the architect route, will end for anyone over 21.
Architecture apprentices typically progress to level 7, the Masters-equivalent stage, after completing a four-year level 6 architectural assistant apprenticeship. Removing funding for this stage will effectively end all public support for Masters-level architectural training and could spell the end of the qualification itself.
The decision, though long rumoured, came as a shock to hundreds of apprentices currently working towards level 6, to the 13 universities teaching level 7 architecture courses, and to the large firms that rely on Apprenticeship Levy funds to cover training costs. It is a heavy blow to a system that had only just begun to take root in the profession and win widespread support.
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