All articles by Joe Holyoak
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Opinion‘Green’ places are not always the most sustainable. Can Labour square the circle on green space and urban density?
Labour’s pledge to release green belt for new housing raises important questions about the balance between density and sustainability, writes Joe Holyoak
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OpinionBirmingham’s vision for its future is already looking out of date
The city’s fixation on demolition and failure to embrace retrofit risks repeating the failed planning policies of the past, writes Joe Holyoak
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OpinionCan bankrupt Birmingham afford its vision for a greener future?
Birmingham’s latest public realm improvement brings with it some expensive maintenance liabilities, writes Joe Holyoak
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OpinionAnother irreplaceable slice of Birmingham’s architecture and history is at risk
The city’s disregard for its own heritage threatens one of the country’s oldest cinemas, a theatre once graced by Olivier, and the pub that hosted the first Black Sabbath gig, writes Joe Holyoak
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OpinionThe loss of Birmingham’s Ringway Centre is bad news for heritage, net zero and the wider city
Far from showing signs of sophisticated local government decision-making, Birmingham seems more lost than ever, writes Joe Holyoak
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OpinionFrom Le Corbusier to the Sea Cadets: Why ships provide such powerful architectural inspiration
An unusual architectural commission reminds us of the power of incongruity in the English landscape, writes Joe Holyoak
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OpinionThe beauty of creative reuse is that it can bring hope back to the most unlikely places
Bringing life back to the most challenging sites requires hard work, inspiration and a leap of faith, writes Joe Holyoak
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OpinionWhile Sheffield embraces its rich heritage, Birmingham once more shoots itself in the foot
Reuse of once unfashionable modernist buildings is increasingly favoured by developers, but one British city persists in demolition and rebuild, writes Joe Holyoak
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OpinionBirmingham used to know how to undertake community partnerships. It needs to relearn… quickly
The value that local authorities bring is partly in their institutional memories. But if a council forgets what it once used to do well, then it’s in trouble, writes Joe Holyoak
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OpinionThe Crooked House is gone. It can’t be reinvented
Any attempt to rebuild the Crooked House would merely produce a ‘worthless fake’, writes Joe Holyoak
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OpinionCan Birmingham learn from past mistakes by keeping more of its old buildings?
Two separate campaigns to save Birmingham buildings tell the story of how conservation and attitudes to sustainability have evolved in the city, writes Joe Holyoak
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OpinionIs Birmingham’s vision for a greener, high-density city centre achievable?
Birmingham’s Our Future City vision raises as many questions as it answers, writes Joe Holyoak
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OpinionBirmingham’s tall buildings policy is in danger of becoming a free-for-all
The city’s unquestioning love of high-rise development is related to its long history of seeing tall buildings as totems of prestige, writes Joe Holyoak
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Building StudySpringfield Campus by Associated Architects: a building that absorbs history itself
A project by Associated Architects for Wolverhampton University reminds us of the value of ‘persistent architecture’, writes Joe Holyoak
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OpinionLendlease’s Birmingham Smithfield masterplan risks failure if it seeks to micromanage
A masterplan that thinks it can predict and control how people use a space is likely to fail, writes Joe Holyoak
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ReviewHorror in the Modernist Block: The dystopian underside of the modernist vision
Contemporary artists shine a light on the haunting aspects of building design, writes Joe Holyoak
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OpinionRetrofit and conserving our architectural heritage can go hand in hand
Efforts to retrofit older homes can run into conservation concerns, writes Joe Holyoak
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ReviewReview | Birmingham: The Brutiful Years
Joe Holyoak welcomes a new book on Birmingham’s modernist architecture, but despairs at a civic culture that fetishises the wrecking ball
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OpinionCan the BBC and creator of Peaky Blinders help save Digbeth?
Joe Holyoak ponders whether Birmingham can save one of the last remnants of its small-scale industrial urbanism
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OpinionWhere was the architecture in Coventry’s year as City of Culture?
Why has Coventry turned its back on its rich 20th century architectural heritage, asks Joe Holyoak