Shop Talk

London’s housing market is under relentless pressure and homes are becoming ever more unaffordable, pricing out some of the key demographics that the city so desperately needs to keep growing. Enter The Collective, a new concept for the UK aimed squarely at young professionals, bridging the gap between University and family homes, the Collective is taking the market by storm and becoming a property flagship of the sharing economy. We talk to Ollie Spragley, Planning and Design Manager about how Co-housing is challenging the market and the planning system.

Broadcasting from Munich at BAU 2017, Michael Hammond is talking facades with Ben Tranel, Principal at Gensler (left) and Professor Thomas Auer, Head of Technology (right).

Demand in the London property market is rocketing which is making it difficult and in some cases impossible for key workers to get a foot on the property ladder. Some commentators are now predicting a perfect storm as financial, social, planning and technology sectors align creating a building boom to meet this demand. This is good news for the housing gap but will architects get moved further down the chain of influence in the rush to build high volume housing projects? Here, WAN Editor in Chief, Michael Hammond talks to Chris Darling of Darling Associates who responds to the recent Government White Paper on Housing…

Today’s guest is one of the best known figures on the London Architecture circuit. His journey through the world of architecture started at the age of seven. Now in his seventies, his joint passions for cycling and the built environment have been harnessed in a relentless campaign to reconfigure the streets of London and provide a vision for cleaning up transport in our cities. Incredibly, Peter Murray has never practised architecture. In our exclusive interview, Peter explains how he manages to influence design through communication.

Last Wednesday, World Architecture News hosted a fascinating panel discussion at UK Construction Week on the hot topic of the day: concrete. Chairing the discussion was Michael Hammond, WAN’s Editor in Chief, and sharing thought-provoking observations and opinion from the panel were experts in the field, Simon Anson, Associate at Arup Associates; Robert Fry, Managing Director – International of Aukett Swanke Architects; Jason Parker, Partner at MAKE Architects, and Elaine Toogood, Senior Architect at The Concrete Centre.