The Architects’ Journal Architecture News & Buildings
How Westminster City Council plans to put retrofit first
New policies in the pipeline will make it clear that retrofit is the best solution for the vast majority of buildings in the borough, says Westminster councillor Geoff Barraclough
Tag: Climate crisis
Why is Keir Starmer ignoring the concrete and steel elephant in the room?
The Labour leader’s macho posturing on housebuilding ignores the 60 megatonnes of upfront carbon that building 1.5 million new homes would produce, writes Alice Moncaster
To green up British cities we need a ‘right to plant’
Street trees are a wonder drug, aiding public health and the battle against climate change. Yet urban greenery is in decline. How can we turn this around? asks Eleanor Broad of Create Streets
A call to arms: mass timber extensions can help pay for a retrofit revolution
We can make retrofit the norm by making it more profitable, adding storeys to existing buildings made of renewable low-carbon timber, argues engineer Kelly Harrison
Handling the Heat part 2: how masterplanners are designing for a hotter climate
With scientists predicting a 30 per cent increase in ‘uncomfortably hot’ days in the UK, Anna Highfield looks at how masterplanners are changing their design approach to reduce overheating in cities
Architecture needs a ‘rinse and repeat’ approach
We should move away from the idea of architecture as a finite product and instead embrace ongoing maintenance for our creations, argues Toko Andrews
Islands at the Design Museum embraces sustainable exhibition design
MSOMA Architects has designed the exhibition with sustainability and circularity in mind, creating a display that will naturally biodegrade after use
What Anders Lendager can teach Michael Gove about the circular economy
The government’s headline-grabbing rejection of Pilbrow & Partners’ M&S Oxford Street plan highlights how far off the UK is from producing circular economy projects like those of Danish architect Anders Lendager, argues Peter Murray
Michael Gove has been bold over M&S Oxford Street. But it’s not enough
The government urgently needs to join the dots between its landmark verdict on Marks & Spencer’s demolition proposal and the policy vacuum on limiting embodied carbon in construction, writes Will Hurst
M&S Oxford St is about embodied memory as well as embodied carbon
As Michael Gove prepares to announce his verdict on the proposed demolition of M&S Marble Arch, let’s hope he has considered our memories and understanding of the place we know as Oxford Street, writes Simon Henley