architecture news + design news in the uk
is modern architecture still all stumps and carbuncles?
Posted today by oube | Comments (0)
Most buildings are the creation of talentless people just doing their jobs, says Roger Scruton; but Alain de Botton warns of succumbing to kitsch nostalgia. It would be foolish to deny that there are beautiful modern buildings. But the complaint issued against modern architecture, by the Prince of Wales and many others, concerns the ordinary buildings springing up in our towns which seem designed not to fit in but to stand out. Full story...
Mayor pledges £60m to tackle London’s empty homes
Posted today by oube | Comments (0) | London
A £60m initiative to tackle the problem of London’s high level of empty homes was announced today by the mayor, Boris Johnson. The scheme aims to help deliver Johnson’s manifesto commitment to reduce long-term empty homes to 1% of London’s total housing stock. The capital at present contains 84,000 empty homes, of which 67,400 are privately owned and 10,000 are council housing. Full story...
plans for Scotland's tallest tower struggle to get off the ground
Posted today by oube | Comments (0) | Scotland
Plans for the tallest tower in Scotland have been mothballed following the collapse of City Lofts, the developer behind Conran & Partners' £120 million Elphinstone skyscraper in Glasgow. On Friday (4 July) it was confirmed that residential big-hitter City Lofts had gone into administration, meaning the future of the 134m-tall mixed-use project in Vincent Street looks increasingly bleak. Full story...
Glenn Howells and McDowell + Benedetti scoop JCB masterplan
Posted today by oube | Comments (0) | West Midlands
Glenn Howells Architects and McDowell + Benedetti are to develop the masterplan for the redevelopment of JCB's Heavy Products site in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire. The two practices saw off competition from Bauman Lyons, DEGW, Letts Wheeler Architects and Robert Adam Architects to win the commission. Full story...
focus on fight to save Salford Lads Club
Posted today by oube | Comments (0) | North West
Salford Lads Club has long been a mecca for Smiths fans - and now it's been used as a mosque. The listed landmark took on a religious setting for a re-make of the classic 1970s BBC series Survivors. The red-brick building at the corner of Coronation Street and St Ignatius Walk is popular as a location with filmmakers. Full story...
new Sheffield office scheme
Posted today by oube | Comments (0) | Yorkshire
Developed by Tower Investments, Parkway Edge is a new grade A office scheme set to stand on a key position in central Sheffield. Overlooking the main ring-road that cuts through the city centre it is surrounded on all sides by carriage ways, a position that makes it a perfectly situated gateway building for a company looking for new headquarters, namely financial firm Capita Hartshead that has chosen it as their new centre of operations. Full story...
Skylon redevelopment moves forward
Posted today by oube | Comments (0) | London
Fans of the retro architecture icon, Skylon, will be in for a treat as an almost life-size image of the structure will be projected onto the side of the Shell's Upstream Building opposite the London Eye for four days from the tenth of July as part of the London festival of Architecture. It's been organised by Jack Pringle, with Atkins and Gleeds who are amongst the team who are leading the efforts to rebuild the iconic structure. Full story...
Anna Liu wobbles her way to jelly architecture win
Posted yesterday by oube | Comments (0)
Tonkin Liu founder Anna Liu has beaten Foster + Partners, Will Alsop and Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners to bag the prestigious ultimate jelly architect accolade. Up against more than 100 wobbly entries, Liu's Fresh Flower Jelly, which is based on the practice's moveable pavilion designed with Corus for the London Festival of Architecture (LFA), won the LFA's Architectural Jelly Design Competition. Full story...
City Lofts goes into administration
Posted yesterday by oube | Comments (0)
Northern flats developer City Lofts has been taken into administration, the firm revealed today, becoming the most high-profile developer casualty of the credit crunch. The directors of the developer, behind a number of flagship residential schemes in Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and Liverpool, have appointed Ernst & Young to “review the position of the two holding companies”. Full story...
£30m for Manchester's Northern Quarter
Posted yesterday by oube | Comments (0) | North West
A £30m plan aims to make the Northern Quarter a Manchester version of London's trendy Camden Lock. The project, which could be delivered as soon as 2010, would secure the future of the area as the city's creative centre - attracting independent businesses including shops, bars, restaurants and designers. Full story...
plans to spend £4m transforming Cheapside
Posted yesterday by oube | Comments (0) | London
The City of London is to unveil plans to help transform Cheapside into a major shopping district. The local authority said it would launch an exhibition and public consultation on 15 July, setting out proposals for the £3-4m “environmental improvement” scheme. Full story...
Redcar Seafront competition announced
Posted 04 Jul 2008, 06:41 by oube | Comments (0)
The launch of a two-stage Open Design Competition for the regeneration of Redcar's Seafront Zone has been announced. Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council, working in partnership with the Environment Agency, invites design professionals to generate ideas for the public realm improvements associated with a new coastal defence scheme at Redcar. Full story...
‘Creative’ Alsop designs may be used for Titan prisons
Posted 04 Jul 2008, 06:35 by oube | Comments (0)
Will Alsop’s designs for vertical “creative prisons” could be used as a blueprint for the government’s Titan facilities, it has emerged. The Stirling prize-winning architect has been working with Capita Architecture and Wates on preliminary designs for the giant prisons, each of which will hold 2,500 prisoners. Full story...
Dominique Perrault at one with nature in his first UK project
Posted 04 Jul 2008, 06:33 by oube | Comments (0) | South East
A historic market town in London’s commuter belt is the unlikely site of Dominique Perrault’s first project to be built in the UK. The French architect designed the Priory Park Pavilion in Reigate, Surrey, which officially opened on 12 June. Full story...
credit crunch threatens Gehry's Hove scheme
Posted 04 Jul 2008, 06:32 by oube | Comments (1) | South East
Frank Gehry's controversial scheme for the Hove sea front has been thrown into doubt because of the credit crunch. Karis, the developer of the £290 million scheme to build 750 apartments and a leisure centre, admitted on Tuesday that the economic downturn could scupper the project. Full story...
Government delays eco-town design competition
Posted 04 Jul 2008, 06:30 by ric | Comments (0)
Government plans for a competition to “set the design standards” for its eco-towns programme have been delayed by at least a year amid mounting hostility to the 10 proposed developments. The contest, announced last October by then housing minister Yvette Cooper, was set to involve “leading creative thinkers” in architecture and landscape design, as well as a so-called citizens’ panel. It was due to name winning proposals early this year. Full story...
Lubetkin's Finsbury Health Centre put up for sale
Posted 04 Jul 2008, 06:28 by ric | Comments (0) | London
Berthold Lubetkin's Grade I-listed Finsbury Health Centre in north London faces an 'uncertain future' after being put up for sale. Described by Pevsner as 'one of the key buildings to demonstrate the relevance of the Modern Movement', the 1935 building has been put up for sale by the Islington Primary Care Trust (PCT). Full story...
new tower planned to partner Balfron near Canary Wharf
Posted 04 Jul 2008, 06:27 by ric | Comments (0) | London
As part of the planned regeneration of the area by Poplar HARCA Housing Association around the famously brutal Balfron Tower, PRP Architects has drawn up plans for a new mixed use tower containing residential and office space. Sited on what is currently a car park bounded by Willis Street Hay Currie Street about half a mile north of Canary Wharf in north Poplar, the proposals will see a tall building similar in scale to the Balfron Tower standing at almost 80 metres in height. Full story...
Flint promises design quality at Housing Design Awards
Posted 04 Jul 2008, 06:19 by ric | Comments (0)
Housing minister Caroline Flint has promised to be 'uncompromising' on design quality as the government strives to meet its target of building three million new homes by 2020. Speaking at the Housing Design Awards ceremony in London's Banqueting House yesterday (3 July), Flint cited the overall winner – ShedKM's Chimney Pot Park in Manchester – as a glowing example of how the ambitious target could be met. Full story...
pH+ Architects' Tudor-inspired scheme goes in for planning
Posted 04 Jul 2008, 03:15 by oube | Comments (0) | London
pH+ Architects has submitted this mixed-use development in Hoxton, East London, for planning. The scheme will provide nine residential units above a ground floor of commercial space. Full story...
