Foster says London is ‘coasting’ on planning heritage

Norman Foster has spoken of his concerns for the future of architecture in London and condemned the government’s decision to cancel the expansion of the High Speed 2 rail network to Manchester.

The Foster & Partners founder and three-time Stirling Prize winner said he feared the built appearance of the capital was at risk of becoming “repetitive” unless the quality of decision-making in relation to planning improved.

Foster’s comments came in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, coinciding with the launch of his Norman Foster Institute for Sustainable Cities.

He was asked directly about 2020’s Living with Beauty report, by the government’s Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission, which among other things accused modular urban development of resulting in “bland, clumsy and placeless” buildings.

Foster said blandness was a result of town-planning failure.

“If you plan well and involve the community, which we can now do very effectively, then you can create the most desirable environments,” he said.

He added that the capital was at risk of becoming “repetitive” without a step-change in decision-making.

“London is, in many ways, coasting on the heritage of an extraordinary background of good planning,” he said. “The Abercrombie plan at the height of World War II, with its promotion of neighbourhoods and its reinforcement of the green belt, has served extraordinarily well.”

The plan steered the reconstruction of bomb-damaged London, identifying four “rings” for the capital’s growth: inner urban, suburban, green belt and outer country.

Foster added: “I’m a passionate traditionalist for the street, the square, the preservation of the countryside, from learning from tradition and history.”

He also used the interview to criticise the government’s October 2023 decision to cancel phases 2a and 2b of HS2, which would have extended the under-construction high-speed rail line from Birmingham to Crewe and Manchester.

Under the revised proposals – badged by prime minister Rishi Sunak as freeing up some £36bn for more localised transport infrastructure projects, HS2 trains travelling north from Birmingham will join the existing West Coast Main Line at Handsacre in Staffordshire.

HS2 Ltd executive chair Jon Thompson recently told MPs that the changes were likely to result in slower services with reduced capacity.

Foster said ministers had displayed a “total lack of foresight” in relation to the decision, cancelling “the greatest equaliser for levelling up” in the process.

“HS2 was not about moving an elite about the country and saving a few minutes,” he said. “It was about taking stress off the existing networks so they could better serve regionally in terms of shorter commutes. It was short-termism in favour of building more roads and consuming more countryside and more potential for urban sprawl.”

Last week Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and West Midlands Mayor Andy Street met with transport secretary Mark Harper to discuss proposals to improve rail connections between the West Midlands and Manchester in the wake of October’s decision.

Last month Foster & Partners maintained its position as the UK’s biggest architecture practice in Building Design’s WA100 ranking, and rose to No.20 in the world, up from No.22 last year.