It was my birthday yesterday, so what better way to celebrate than scraping every London borough's website to create an interactive map showing the winning candidate for every ward (apart from Newham, which has failed to publish its numbers, for some reason). Enjoy! smallsites.london/Election2026...

Why is it that only Brent and Newham have failed to release the number of votes cast for each candidate in Thursday’s election?

Canal cat

Astonishing London night. I love this city.

More golf course shenanigans, this time in this weekend’s @financialtimes.com—online now, and in print tomorrow. Looking forward to another social media pile-on this weekend! www.ft.com/content/1380...

Fairway or driveway? Coverage of my ongoing research into the potential for golf courses to make way for housing in this BBC In Depth article, published today. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I’ve been asked to deliver the annual lecture for the Planning Officers’ Society in a couple of days’ time, so if you want to learn more about our research into suburban intensification and the strategic potential of small site housing, see here 👇🏻 www.planningofficers.org.uk/events/pos-a...

www.thetimes.com/travel/inspi... How about "valuable new development unlocked" as a better characterisation?

Why do local campaign groups always turn out to be NIMBYs? Why not campaign for improvements to local infrastructure that will help the local community, rather than against every-fucking-thing?!

"With several other European nations reeling from the fresh surge in oil and gas costs, ​the UK's wind-heavy power system may act as a blueprint for other countries also seeking to reduce fossil fuel exposure". www.reuters.com/business/ene...

After 40% of the city was destroyed by allied bombing, Terni built back some really extraordinary buildings—many by Roman architect Mario Ridolfi, whose fountain in Tacito Square preceded the war.

Micropenis sufferers are easily identifiable by the four interlocking circles found on the front and rear of their cars. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

I've learned everything I can about this chart and what it means for planning for more houses in cities. The report is out tomorrow! You can watch me talk about the chart and more at the launch event tomorrow, 2pm. Sign up here: www.centreforcities.org/event/what-b...

Is this where Trump tears a youngster from his family and drags him thousands of miles away to an unfamiliar, foreign land?

"It looks like you're a bit of a racist. Would you like me to suggest some clip art?"

Homelessness is increasing, and the financial and human costs are climbing. We have all the tools we need to solve it...so why aren't we using them? I've written an article for @news.architectsjournal.co.uk on the collective action we now need to take. www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/fast-ho...

Assassin's Creed: Buon Anno edition

Lovely Todi backstreets

Absolutely amazing chart from @peterkellner.bsky.social's piece in @thenewworldmag.bsky.social today: www.thenewworld.co.uk/peter-kellne...

Lisbon is such a feast for the eyes

If divorced dads whose kids don't see them could go back to dressing up in superhero outfits and climbing up buildings instead of ushering in fascism I think we'd all be better off quite frankly.

Architects have reacted with cautious optimism to the government’s plan to automatically approve housing applications near train stations

How do you like them apples?

Quite the restoration job 👇🏻2018 2025👇🏻

Slight detour while in Croydon for a client meeting yesterday to swing by @anfurman.bsky.social’s exquisite tiled facade at Croydon Colonnade. You just want to rub your hands all over them. Delicious.

Great post from @russellcurtis.com I've been banging on about this 1 - Para 84 comes from gummers modern mansions - retained in NPPF. Result: only self builds going are > 200m2 monsters with super big budgets. 1/n russellcurtis.com/2025/10/18/g...

Someone paid a lot of money for this

"Despite numerous difficulties including securing Planning Consent, consents from the Environment Agency and United Utilities, as well as other statutory bodies, a scheme was agreed in 2019 and the footbridge laid in place in 2020." Here's the infrastructure project that required these permissions:

"There are other questions the CPRE does not ask. Chief among them: if there is so much brownfield land available in the middle of a housing crisis, then why on Earth aren’t we already building on it?" Everything continues to be awful so I've returned to my comfort zone.

Difficult to believe my suggestion didn’t make the cut, but here it is anyway: a recommendation for a series of new settlements on the train line between London and Cambridge, including Ashwell & Morden…the most isolated—but well-connected—station in England. russellcurtis.com/2024/11/10/g...

Our Highgate Newtown Community Centre for Camden Council—including 41 beautiful homes for refugee families and a 2,000 sqm community facility—is shortlisted for the New London Awards. nla.london/projects/hig...

We’ve been here before, right? The halfwits’ moral panic seems to work on a 25 year cycle.

I’m not sure we’re in for a good night’s sleep.

We really enjoyed being part of this fantastic collaboration between design team, contractor and manufacturer. Full integration, from strategic planning policy to turnkey installation. www.bdonline.co.uk/home/rcka-in...

The alabaster windows at Orvieto cathedral really are something.

Allotments have been in the news this week, so I've done a bit of mapping work to understand whether building homes on them might help solve the housing crisis. (Spoiler alert: it won't). russellcurtis.com/2025/08/09/g...

Very useful analysis from Seattle of the prices charged when one home is replaced with one or more new homes. A 1-for-1 replacement results in a home nearly three times as expensive, but replacing one home with 9+ new ones involves average prices that are around half the original.

RCKa has submitted an application for a new ‘kit of parts’ 2,200m² adult education college on Sutton High Street, south London

Aah, this is lovely—well done wonderful RCKa team.

Went to Nansledan today. It was...odd. Poorly built (paint already peeling; grubby render), rather too twee, and felt like it was trying to be a quaint coastal town without any of the intimate car-free streets that make proper Cornish villages so delightful.

I don't know why I bother, but this is piss poor from the Grauniad (and IPPR, who should know better). www.theguardian.com/politics/202... The landbanking contention was disproved by CMA and the data used to derive the 1.4m figure is specifically caveated as not being appropriate for that use

We need a revival of the 1970s 'loose-fit, long-life' architectural movement where buildings can be easily and cheaply repurposed as residential or commercial space depending on demand.

The Greens consistently aligning themselves with the tweed-clad misopedists at the CPRE is a terrible, terrible look.

RCKa's exploration into the potential for England's rural stations to deliver new homes and our longlisting for this year's #DavidsonPrize both feature in this week's @bigissue.com.

Really not enamoured by this printed throw seen in a shop window in Hitchin.

Lovely to be asked to judge the #AJ100Awards again this year, and a special privilege to be helping decide which firm gets the coveted Practice of the Year prize. Should be fun!

Highest earners from A+U Framework revealed

Housing Associations and council clients have to take some responsibility here. Poor value engineering practices and accepts of cheapest tender price for design and construction led to the use of substandard materials. They only have themselves to blame.

We talked to director at RCKa, Russell Curtis, about his practice’s #modular concept that looks to use meanwhile sites as a place to build for those looking for #temporaryhousing.