London’s popular mayor, Boris Johnson, has been taking advice from many quarters on his policies in respect of design quality. The elephant in the room when design is discussed by politicians is the cost, or additional cost, of commissioning excellent design as opposed to whatever the construction sector chooses to give you. Since politicians are [...]
Posts from ‘November, 2009’
Faster should mean better
News that the UK government is to ‘fast-track’ planning applications for nuclear power stations follows shortly after a New Labour commitment that communities would be given a greater say over what is built in their areas. The Conservative opposition has also indicated that it intends to give local people more of a say on planning, [...]
Letter from London
Our attitude to the past is a good guide to what we think about the present, hence the continuing interest in (and controversy over) what buildings do or do not get listed. And having been listed, what we then find acceptable in terms of alteration or even demolition, for it needs to be remembered that [...]
