Planning
The new London Plan is now in force
The capital's new "Spatial Development Strategy" - better known as the The London Plan 2021 - has finally come into force, after protracted exchanges between City Hall and Whitehall.
National Trust lambasts PDR planning reforms, warning of ‘stagnant and characterless’ towns & villages
Europe's biggest conservation charity "believes that the scale and pace of planning reform in England is increasingly becoming a cause for real concern."
Westminster defers Cundy Street decision
Westminster Council has deferred making a decision on Grosvenor's controversial redevelopment of the "Cundy Street Quarter" in Belgravia.
Keeping Up Appearances: An architect’s guide to façade retention projects
With two significant retained-façade projects currently under construction in London, MSMR's James Bell explains the history of façadism and practical considerations for developers of today’s methods...
Green light for Regal’s Hackney Road mixed-use scheme
Regal London has secured approval for revised plans to build nine apartments and a hotel in Hoxton.
Jenrick calls in the Kensington Forum development
The Housing Secretary has waded into the long-playing planning battle for Queensgate and Rockwell Property's Kensington Forum scheme...
Government’s new national design code & Office for Place aim to ‘bring back beauty’
The Government has published a new set of national design standards for property developments, formally introducing the word "beauty" into planning rules for the first time.
Green light for M&G’s mixed-use project in Fitzrovia
The Stiff + Trevillion-designed redevelopment of 247 Tottenham Court Road will deliver eight new apartments and lots of office space.
Jenrick signs off Mayor Khan’s London Plan; calls on Boroughs to go further
"You still have a very long way to go to meet London’s full housing need," Housing Minister Robert Jenrick told London Mayor Sadiq Khan, "something your plan clearly and starkly fails to achieve."
Outer London’s top 10 retail-to-resi development hotspots
Planning changes have opened the door to the creation of over 16,ooo new homes across the capital's various "town centre" locations, says estate agency KFH, as it identifies London's top 10 areas for retail-to-residential…
Green light for Hampshire’s biggest mixed-use development project
Covering some 1,000 acres just north of Fareham, proposals Welborne Garden Village have moved a large step closer to reality.
A hole of your own: The lowdown on building basements in the post-iceberg age
Figures out earlier this month suggest the days of the mega-basement are behind us in Prime Central London, but what should those still intent on attempting a subterranean project know?