All articles by Thomas Lane
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Building StudyA cauldron on the Mersey: how Everton built their new stadium in just five years (Manchester United take note)
Manchester United has an ambitous plan to rebuild Old Trafford within the same timescale. Everton and BDP Pattern have already done this and delivered its new, £760m stadium on budget and on time with careful planning and extensive use of MMC and digital tools, reports Thomas Lane
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FeaturesCan Allies and Morrison’s Canada Water masterplan match King’s Cross?
The former Daily Mail printworks has been stripped back to its structural frame ready for conversion into an office and conference facility. It will also incorporate a nightclub called Printworks which was a former, successful meanwhile use
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TechnicalDigging deep: The radical engineering underpinning Stiff + Trevillion’s 65 Holborn Viaduct project
A disused railway station below half of a central London site meant conventional piling was out of the question. The team that built a five-storey basement under Claridge’s hotel while keeping it open were drafted in to come up with a radical solution
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FeaturesMaterial passports: the key to carbon reduction, greater component reuse and more sustainable construction
Logging the details of the products and materials used on projects so they can have a second life after demolition has been discussed but never practised on a large London construction project – until now, Thomas Lane reports
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OpinionIs it time to stop building in the wildfire affected areas of California?
The recent fires in the hills around Los Angeles are the most costly in US history. Does it really make sense to live in these heavily wooded places?
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OpinionWA100 2025: Western Europe leads on net zero
This year Gensler, the world’s biggest practice, saw the number of architects it employs drop below the 3,000 mark, the milestone which it broke through in 2023. The second-placed firm, Arcadis, also saw numbers fall. But these drops mean little when measured against the wider profession; our ...
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NewsBDP usurps Fosters as UK’s biggest architect
Foster & Partners’ five year reign at top of UK rankings over, according to BD survey of world’s largest practices
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Building StudyHow Bennetts Associates transformed a Victorian hospital into a forward-focused university department
The refurbishment of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh adapts a listed Victorian hospital to house a multidisciplinary hub for postgraduate study
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Building StudyMidland Metropolitan University Hospital: Inside the long, costly journey to deliver Birmingham and Sandwell’s new £1bn ‘super hospital’
West Birmingham’s new super hospital has just opened, six years later than planned following the failure of Carillion in 2018. Thomas Lane visits the new building to find out how the team overcame multiple problems, and report on the finished project
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FeaturesNot just another brick in the wall: How earth bricks helped reduce the carbon footprint on a Bennetts life sciences scheme
London’s life sciences boom is driving innovative construction at Tribeca, featuring cutting-edge earth bricks that reduce carbon emissions and set a new standard for sustainable development. Thomas Lane reports
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FeaturesHow Oxford Architects set about saving Arne Jacobsen’s RAAC-riddled masterpiece
All the roofs at St Catherine’s College were recently condemned thanks to the presence of RAAC. Thomas Lane reports on how the team came up with a solution that didn’t affect the historical significance of the Arne Jacobsen-designed campus
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OpinionWill Labour’s proposed planning changes really deliver more homes?
This week has been dominated by housing policy including a new towns task force and proposals to build more homes in more places including the green belt
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Building StudyA decade in the making: Norton Folgate’s controversial redevelopment unveiled
Blossom Street was the focus of a vitriolic planning battle. But an architectural team led by AHMM has confounded the fears of Spitalfields residents by sensitively restoring many of the old buildings
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FeaturesThe making of Egham: how AHMM helped to pull a town centre up by its bootstraps
Allford Hall Monaghan Morris and Runnymede council have delivered a mixed-use scheme that aims to reverse the slow decline of this busy Surrey town. Thomas Lane reports
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FeaturesIt’s M&S’s Oxford Street neighbour – and it’s being refurbished, not demolished
The former House of Fraser store is just half a mile from the M&S flagship which the retailer controversially wants to knock down and rebuild. Thomas Lane meets the team to find out how they are making the refurbishment work
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Building StudyLondon College of Fashion strikes a pose with new campus by Allies & Morrison
The London College of Fashion has brought its six separate sites under one roof for the first time in more than 100 years. Tom Lane reports
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NewsFirst home in UK built from modern version of cob completes
The house in Norfolk was designed by Hudson Architects and was built from a mixture of subsoil, straw and hemp
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OpinionTo retain or rebuild? M&S case shows the industry needs rules
The High Court ruling overturning Michael Gove’s decision to deny M&S permission to redevelop its Oxford Street store shows that a framework setting out the conditions for redevelopment is urgently needed
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Building StudyHow Corstorphine & Wright are reimagining Bloomsbury's Victoria House as a life sciences hub
The grand former headquarters of the Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society is being converted into a state of the art life sciences laboratory. Thomas Lane reports on an unlikely reinvention
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OpinionWA100 2024: Back to reality for the world of architecture
After a big bounce in optimism in last year’s survey, thanks to pent-up post-pandemic demand, we are now seeing a more measured outlook – but it’s still optimistic