Paul Finch
InsightArchitecture, planning and heritage are not always a happy mix
At a ceremony earlier this month in Lawn Road, Hampstead, an English Heritage ‘blue plaque’ was unveiled on the Isokon building, a 1934 modernist apartment block designed by Wells Coates. This now includes a museum devoted to the architecture of the period, created from garages as part of a retrofit ...
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Khan is as pro property as a Labour London mayor can get
The last Labour London mayor, Ken Livingstone, had an ambivalent attitude to commercial property. On the face of it he was a supporter of key projects, such as The Shard. But did he ever really like developers?
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Five decades on and the world of property hasn’t changed much
I was lucky enough to receive the president’s special award at the British Council for Offices dinner earlier this month, which of course got me thinking about the world of property since I started writing about it 45 years ago, as a trainee reporter on Estates Times (which eventually morphed ...
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The Garden Bridge project was a sad victim of miserable negativity
In the 1940s, one of the visionary plans for London by the town planner Sir Patrick Abercrombie contained a proposal for a bridge across the Thames with crossing points pretty much where the Garden Bridge was supposed to have been constructed.
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Clarity of thought and purpose will be crucial for the Grenfell inquiry
From the point of view of broad public protection, it will be important that the official inquiry into the Grenfell Tower disaster is allowed to focus on the critical issues - that is to say the cause of the initial fire, why it spread so rapidly and why a complex ...
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At last we can resolve disputes about visual perspectives in London
A brilliant presentation at the BCO annual conference last month highlighted the way property and technology are coming together in new ways that should lead to big increases in time and cost efficiency, with the potential to iron out disputes if there is a demonstrable correct answer.
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Getting to grips with carbon complexity is a simple matter of design intelligence
The architect Simon Sturgis also runs a carbon profiling company, SCP, which has undertaken research for clients ranging from Gatwick Airport and SEGRO to the Grosvenor Estate.
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2017 Predictions: shuffling people around won't solve the housing crisis
The former governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, describes the future as one of “radical uncertainty”.
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Sir Stuart Lipton: a knight to remember
Sir Stuart Lipton had a double celebration this week: 50 years in the property industry, marked by a reception and supper at the National Gallery on Monday, then three days later a party at Abbey Road Studios for his and his wife Ruth’s golden wedding anniversary.
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What we want is build-to-let, rather than buy-to-let
There are various reasons for the government’s decision to ‘get tough’ on the so-called buy-to-let market by removing tax advantages.
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Less regulation, yes, but expect more politicking too
Whatever happens in the world of planning and architecture during 2016, nothing will compare with the importance of the likely referendum decision on whether or not to remain in the EU.
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London developers should wake up to Zaha Hadid
Fifty years ago it was generally the case that ‘good’ architects, the ones who had redesigned Britain through work on schools, universities, hospitals and housing, did not do ‘commercial’ work.
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Housing development doesn’t create places – people and activity do
A first-time buyer today requires 10 times the deposit they did in the 1980s, according to the National Housing Federation.
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The joys of brownfield – now, where have we heard that before?
George Osborne, unique among modern chancellors, has used the Budget to flag up announcements about the planning system, hitherto thought to be the province of the Department for Communities & Local Government.
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The political loss of nerve over airport infrastructure
Two major pieces of procrastination affecting property were direct decisions by the prime minister during the last government: first to scrap a rating revaluation (which would have done something to ease the plight of retailers and town centres north of Watford); and second to delay a decision about the future ...
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How will election result affect property, architecture and planning?
My prediction to AHR Architects and their annual dinner guests a few weeks before the election - that the Tories would emerge with a small majority - looked increasingly unlikely as polling day approached.
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London housing worries travel to Cannes
In general, the atmosphere on the London stand at Mipim last week was extremely cheery.
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The London borough structure could do with reform, but reducing the number of boroughs to five is not the answer
City law firm Addleshaw Goddard garnered plenty of media exposure as a result of its report on improving planning efficiency, covered first in Property Week.
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There is no silver bullet for the housing shortage, only a series of ordinary slugs
Architects are as guilty as anyone else of thinking that they alone can devise a silver bullet to solve the problem of housing shortage in London, the South East and other parts of the country.
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Why cutting design fees is a false economy
One of the features of public procurement during the Thatcher years was “compulsory competitive tendering”.
