The Architects’ Journal Architecture News & Buildings
RetroFirst stories: Charing Cross Road’s ‘flatiron’ building
The latest in an AJ series looking at architects who have saved buildings from the bulldozers or given them a new lease of life
Tag: RetroFirst
Fathom’s green-walled Waterloo retrofit plans approved
Lambeth Council has approved proposals by Fathom Architects for the retrofit and extension of a mixed-use building in London’s Waterloo
RetroFirst stories: how SPPARC aims to save a Gold Medal-winning hospital
The latest in an AJ series looking at architects who have saved buildings from demolition or given them a new lease of life
M&S clears first hurdle in legal challenge to Gove’s Oxford St refusal
Marks & Spencer (M&S) has been given permission to proceed with a legal challenge against Michael Gove’s decision blocking the demolition of its flagship Oxford Street store
Poor housing and Covid deaths: it’s the same damn map
Poor housing does not just reduce life expectancy, it kills people suddenly – as the Covid pandemic grimly demonstrated. The solution involves a whole-house retrofit approach to existing homes, says Tania Jennings
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
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
Chipperfield calls for new embodied carbon rules: ‘Don’t knock a building down’
Pritzker Prize-winning architect David Chipperfield has called for new RetroFirst-based planning regulations, adding he no longer likes cantilevers because of their energy cost
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
Gove’s M&S Oxford Street decision could be great for cities
Though painted as a damaging act based on resistance to change, Michael Gove’s seismic decision to stop Marks & Spencer demolishing its Oxford Street store is actually a positive move, argues Rab Bennetts