When Tony Blair swept into Downing Street 25 years ago this month, there was a widespread sense of optimism, not least among many architects. The Thatcher years had been something of a rollercoaster period for the profession. 

First, the Tories had dismantled the local authority architecture departments, sending thousands of architects to the dole queues. Then there had been two calamitous recessions in the early 80s and 90s that saw many private practices go to the wall as well. Some felt architecture as a career was doomed.