Gino Spocchia

Chinese embassy decision delayed as new housing secretary takes post The new housing secretary, Steve Reed, is expected to make a decision next month on China’s contentious London embassy plans

In the AJ: New decision date. New secretary of state on China's London embassy
www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/chinese...

Grenfell memorial winner announcement is delayed Grenfell memorial winner announcement is delayed

The naming of a winner for the Grenfell Tower memorial design contest has slipped back, while, separately, the government has set out details of the tower’s deconstruction

‘Disastrous’: Landolt + Brown slams Peckham Rye station funding snub The government’s decision to pull funding for the long-awaited overhaul of Peckham Rye station in south-east London has been labelled ‘disastrous’ by its architect, Landolt + Brown co-founder Adam Bro...

Plans to improve Peckham Rye station, despite the project team being ready to go, have been stalled by a government funding pause.

Unsurprisingly, the architect behind the £40m project has been among the voices to criticise that decision, here:

Exclusive: Herzog and de Meuron working on all-new rival Liverpool Street plans Herzog & de Meuron is working on all-new proposals for redeveloping Liverpool Street Station as a rival proposal to ACME’s current Network Rail-backed scheme, the AJ can reveal

When there's a will, there's a third way...

Herzog & de Meuron have been working on another rival scheme with Sellar for overhauling Liverpool Street station

Will this eclipse Herzog's own 2023 application and Network Rail's ACME scheme, validated just last month? Time will tell

LGBTQ+ nightlife is going back to its counter-cultural roots Pushing back against Covid’s decimation of British nightlife, queer architects, designers and campaigners are taking LGBTQ+ nighttime back to its counter-cultural origins. Gino Spocchia reports

Enjoyed this by @ginospoc.bsky.social for @news.architectsjournal.co.uk

Unless you're a corporate megafestival feels anyone in nightlife, especially LGBTQ+, has been having a tough time. So great to read success stories from across the UK

www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/please-...

RIBA ‘committed to inclusivity’ after Supreme Court gender ruling The RIBA has joined other built environment bodies in expressing a commitment to inclusivity following the recent UK Supreme Court ruling on gender

Writing in an open letter addressed to LGBTQ+ architects, planners, engineers and others, which was shared exclusively with the AJ, the UK’s largest built environment institutions said they acknowledged concerns raised over the court’s decision last month:

Liverpool Street station replacement scheme submitted for planning Liverpool Street station replacement scheme submitted for planning

ACME has submitted long-awaited proposals to overhaul London’s Liverpool Street station following the departure of star architect Herzog & de Meuron from the job last year

Are you a budding news reporter? Do you want to work with me and the lovely AJ team? @news.architectsjournal.co.uk Then have a nosey at this:
www.emap.com/job/reporter...

Mr Doodle: Dungeness holiday bungalow by Hollaway Studio OK’d Mr Doodle: Dungeness holiday bungalow by Hollaway Studio OK’d

Hollaway Studio’s proposals to convert a seaside cottage in Dungeness into a holiday home for cartoonist Mr Doodle have been granted planning consent.

MIPIM 2025: a sneak peek at the world’s largest property show The annual international property jamboree, MIPIM, kicks off in Cannes today (11 March). The AJ's Gino Spocchia takes a first look at what the attendees can expect to find

MIPIM kicks off in Cannes today – the AJ's @ginospoc.bsky.social takes a first look around. www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/mipim-2... #MIPIM2025

Glasgow’s Threesixty replaces Foster + Partners on Buchanan Galleries plans Glasgow-based Threesixty Architecture is drawing-up fresh plans for the Buchanan Galleries shopping centre — replacing Foster + Partners on the job

AJ Exclusive: Landsec does a 'Threesixty' on its earlier redevelopment proposals for Glasgow's 26-year-old Buchanan Galleries, with local architects replacing Foster + Partners on the job

Tory peer brands ‘discredited’ Adjaye’s Holocaust memorial ‘grotesquely ugly’ David Adjaye’s Holocaust memorial design has been slammed as ‘grotesquely ugly’ and the architect described as ‘descredited’ by a shadow minister in the House of Lords

This week's Lords debate on the Holocaust Memorial Bill, featuring a comparison of Adjaye and Arad to... Pablo Picasso

Hundreds protest against dRMM-led Peckham regeneration scheme Hundreds of people have demonstrated against Berkeley’s dRMM-led plans to redevelop Peckham’s Aylesham Centre, protesting over the lack of affordable and social housing

Peckham isn't happy about Berkeley's plans for the 1980s Aylesham Centre, drawn-up by dRMM

The scheme has just 77 proposed social and affordable homes out of 877

In 2023, Berkeley told the AJ that its scheme would have a ‘hugely positive impact; Particularly the hundreds of affordable homes'

London School of Architecture becomes part of online university The London School of Architecture (LSA) is set to become a part of online university the University College of Estate Management (UCEM)

Another Friday, another AJ scoop:

The LSA becomes part of the University College of Estate Management (UCEM), an online university

Happens 3 months after the LSA had its validating partnership with Uni of Liverpool terminated, and 3 weeks after the departure of its leader, Neal Shasore

Single post-Grenfell construction regulator confirmed by Rayner The construction industry will have a single regulator, the deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has announced as part of the government’s full response to the Grenfell Inquiry

NEWS | Single post-Grenfell construction regulator confirmed by Rayner www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/single-...

Zaha Hadid Architects wins Naples regeneration competition Zaha Hadid Architects’ (ZHA) has unveiled its vision for a new headquarters in Naples for the Campania region, comprising two swooping towers and an urban park

NEWS | Zaha Hadid Architects wins Naples regeneration competition
www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/zaha-ha...

Inquiry closes on Chipperfield’s Chinese embassy plans The six-day-long inquiry into David Chipperfield Architects’ (DCA) controversial proposals for a 2.4ha Chinese embassy at Royal Mint Court ended this week

Hard perimeter you say?

David Chipperfield Architects told the inquiry that the openness of a proposed cultural centre and forecourt was 'fundamental' to its hugely controversial designs for a new China embassy at Royal Mint Court.

Rayner will now make a decision on the scheme.

you heard it here first

Khashoggi’s widow challenges architects to raise his brutal murder with Saudis Talking to the AJ from her apartment in Washington DC – where she has been granted asylum since Dece...

‘Mr Foster, this case has not been closed. There is one victim still alive, which is me’ — Hanan Khashoggi in @news.architectsjournal.co.uk

important to add that removal of Peckham Arch is a Southwark Council decision following an unseen structural survey - not the decision of the architects, I am told

Peckham Arch gone in Graeme Massie and Scott Whitby revamp plans Designs went on display this week showing the long-awaited plans to revamp the square facing Peckham...

They're the third design team to take on the job of transforming Peckham Square in a decade

here's what Graeme Massie and Scott Whitby have in store - and say goodbye to McAslan's Peckham Arch in the process

bound to be controversially locally

RIAS warns of ‘tragedy’ over tech hub plans for Mackintosh’s Lighthouse The centre in Mitchell Lane, which opened in 1999 and is run by Glasgow City Council (GCC), shut its...

Half a decade after Scotland's national architecture centre shut during the pandemic, plans emerge for a tech hub to take its place

the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland says the loss would be a 'tragedy'

Competition launched for St Pancras reconfiguration The company – which has a 30-year concession to run the 109km rail line between St Pancras Internati...

COMPETITION | Competition launched for St Pancras reconfiguration
www.architectsjournal.co.uk/competitions...

nice little AJ credit in a very long long-read on the big man himself

Surprise rejection for A IS FOR_’s Folkestone harbour plans Councillors on Folkestone & Hythe’s planning committee narrowly turned down the London-based...

Councillors in Folkestone say 'no' to A IS FOR_'s highly anticipated, ambitious, simplified and divisive proposals for 410 homes on the Kent seaside town's harbour

makes a joke about shockwaves

LA fires destroy Modernist landmarks Fires that spread through the Los Angeles suburbs of Palisades, Altadana, and Sylmar last week burne...

NEWS | LA fires destroy Modernist landmarks
www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/la-fire...

Revealed: Populous leading on Saudi World Cup stadium at the Line Although it is understood Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) delivered an earlier concept, it is unclear whet...

An @news.architectsjournal.co.uk exclusive:

Populous is understood to be leading on designs for the 2034 Saudi Arabia FIFA World Cup stadium in the Line, in NEOM.

The London-based, global sports specialists are officially working on four other arenas. And possibly a few others to boot...

Foster + Partners expands to Battersea Power Station to handle overseas work The AJ100-topping practice said yesterday (6 January) that it had agreed to occupy three floors at 5...

The AJ100's largest practice is unleashed, or should I say, leased

Foster + Partners is snapping up office space at Electric Boulevard, right next-door to Battersea Power Station, to support its global domination

Zaha Hadid Architects must keep paying to use name, High Court says The AJ100 practice’s directors had sought a legal declaration that it should be able to give 12 mont...

NEWS | Zaha Hadid Architects must keep paying to use name, High Court says
www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/zaha-ha...

‘Retrofit-first’ council approves five demolitions in one scheme Open City · Episode

For the point of not conforming with 12 choices, here's 11th pick from the year

A stellar line up of news featured on my debut stint on Open City's podcast in August, including a Chippo Chinese embassy, Retrofit controversy, and redevelopment of Old Trafford. Talk about a hat-trick