Should development in the UK be regulated on the principle of “retrofit first” or “retrofit only”? This was the question discussed at a Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) panel debate last week. 

It could not have been better timed – one of the biggest planning stories of last year, Michael Gove’s rejection of Marks & Spencer’s plans to demolish and rebuild its Oxford Street store was about to be overturned. Just two days after the debate, the High Court quashed Gove’s decision, reopening questions around how the planning system should handle demolition schemes and to what degree retrofit should be prioritised.

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