Construction industry
HS2 already billions over budget with work ‘just over halfway done’, says rail boss
July 9, 2025HS2 construction contracts priced at £19.5bn have already cost £26bn despite being “just over halfway done”, the boss of the high-speed rail project has told MPs. Civil engineering to build tunnels and cuttings for the 100-mile line should be almost finished but is closer to 60% complete, while only a third of the wider project […]
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London residents win £550,000 compensation in cladding defects case
June 7, 2025Residents of a multistorey development in London have received £550,000 in compensation from a housing association for cladding defects in a case they hope will set a precedent for other claims. Notting Hill Genesis (NHG) and the contractor United Living have also completed large-scale works at their own cost to remedy the buildings in the […]
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Planning bill is bad for developers and nature | Letters
May 14, 2025The mayor of London is right to redouble his efforts to tackle the capital’s housing crisis, but there is no reason this should come at the expense of protecting nature (Sadiq Khan to announce plans to build houses on London green belt, 9 May). We must create good-quality and affordable homes, alongside green spaces that […]
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Sadiq Khan to announce plans to build houses on London green belt
May 9, 2025Sadiq Khan is announcing plans to build on parts of London’s green belt, in a dramatic shift in housing policy aimed at tackling “the most profound housing crisis in the capital’s history”. In a major speech on Friday, the mayor of London is expected to say the scale of the challenge, which could need about […]
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Grenfell Tower to be demolished, Angela Rayner confirms
February 7, 2025The remains of Grenfell Tower, the west London tower block in which 72 people died in a fire, are to be demolished over a two-year period starting after the eight-year anniversary of the 2017 disaster. The housing secretary, Angela Rayner, formally announced the decision on Friday after informing bereaved families and survivors earlier this week. […]
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Court clears way for ‘the Slab’ office block to be built on London’s South Bank
December 21, 2024The building of a controversial 25-storey office block nicknamed the Slab on London’s South Bank is to go ahead after the high court upheld a decision by the former communities secretary Michael Gove to approve the development. Mr Justice Mould dismissed a legal challenge by the Save Our South Bank group, which has been fighting […]
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Antony Gormley joins fight against ‘destruction’ of historic King’s Cross site
August 31, 2024Sir Antony Gormley, the artist who created the Angel of the North, is among King’s Cross residents objecting to proposals that could see Coal Drops Yard, a grade II-listed industrial site, divided into streets of shops and “grab-and-go” food retailers. Gormley and his artist partner, Vicken Parsons, who live in the nearby Gasholders building, said […]
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From the archive: Penthouses and poor doors: how Europe’s ‘biggest regeneration project’ fell flat – podcast
February 21, 2024We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2021: Few places have seen such turbocharged luxury development as Nine Elms in London. So why are prices tumbling, investors melting away and promises turning to dust? By Oliver […]
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Duke of Northumberland loses fight to build on green space in west London
December 12, 2023Local campaigners fighting to preserve a 1.2-hectare space in west London that is under threat from one of Britain’s oldest aristocratic families have landed a victory in a long-running saga to turn the green space into flats. Development plans to pave over much of the Park Road allotments in Isleworth were rejected again by Hounslow […]
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Luxury London tower near remains of Shakespearean theatre opens
November 6, 2023When excavating the foundations for London’s latest luxury residential tower, archaeologists made an unexpected discovery behind a Shoreditch pub: the remains of a 16th-century Shakespearean theatre. The remains of the Curtain theatre, which opened in 1577 but was lost from historical records in 1622, was found during the building of a £750m complex of 412 […]
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