"There’s always room for improvement within any organisation," says new Royal Institute of British Architects president @Muyiwa_Oki. What does that mean for the institute? Read Building Design's full interview here: shorturl.at/mvxV3

Architectural education is a seven-year process of "indoctrination", according to Thomas Heatherwick, which is partly why cities have become "engulfed by soulless and depressing buildings". "We all know it. But no one’s talking about it." bdonline.co.uk/who-are-we-des…

“We come up with a vast list of excuses that people give themselves for not trying harder with projects.” Thomas Heatherwick explains why he thinks the built environment has become "soulless and depressing". Full interview here: ow.ly/E4lf50PZiLA

What will happen to M&S's Oxford Street plans now? The retailer can't swing the wrecking ball yet. The government will need to revisit the decision and could still refuse planning for a second time. My analysis here: bdonline.co.uk/news/what-does…

I spoke to @TomLoweBuilding of Building Design about the technical and more importantly ethical challenges of reconstructing this historic building

"Is it old fashioned 20th century thinking to think we have a disposable built heritage that we can knock down at will?" Fascinating debate here about retrofit first vs retrofit-only 👇Report by @TomLoweBuilding #construction #retrofit building.co.uk/focus/who-woul…

The Notre Dame of Himley #CrookedHouse

Rebuilding the #CrookedHouse pub will require “masons where this is the last big job of their career. People who 100% know what they’re doing and who are at the peak of their craft," Donald Insall Associates's Matt Vaughan says. Is it worth it? bdonline.co.uk/briefing/like-…

.Foster + Partners are working on plans to refurbish the #Gherkin, Building News and Building Design can reveal. The scheme will upgrade the Stirling Prize-winning City tower to bring its energy performance up to modern standards. bdonline.co.uk/news/fosters-w…

After we all made 1000s of objections Sellar say they are altering their plans. The substantial demolition of parts of the station and the construction of a tall building supported through and cantilevered over a listed building remain non-negotiables for us.

Compliance issues with City climate policy have hiked the cost of work to fix leaking issues at the Barbican from £12.5m to £20m, an increase of 60%. bdonline.co.uk/news/climate-p…

This is a dramatic revamp of Canary Wharf's HSBC tower. Big parts of the building would be carved out to create terraces and outdoor spaces, exactly what top tier office occupiers are looking for these days. bdonline.co.uk/news/canary-wh…

Big news for Wimbledon fans - proposals to treble the size of the tournament's grounds have been approved by City Hall after spending almost a year in planning limbo. Story here: bdonline.co.uk/news/relief-fo…

Need a better way to build elevator shafts? Here's Schindler's R.I.S.E in action, drilling holes for brackets at BentallGreenOak and Skanska UK's 105 Victoria Street development in central London. There are only five R.I.S.E units in the world. This one is called Emma