Construction industry
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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Call to sanction cladding suppliers that made £7.5bn profit since Grenfell disaster
February 5, 2023Cladding and insulation manufacturers whose products were involved in the Grenfell Tower fire face calls for sanctions after failing to pay into multibillion-pound funding schemes to fix the country’s unsafe residential blocks. The building supply firms Saint-Gobain and Kingspan have reported more than £7.5bn in global profits since the fire in June 2017 in west […]
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Griff Rhys Jones rails against plans to ‘smother’ Liverpool Street station
February 3, 2023Griff Rhys Jones is leading a coalition of conservationists against what he describes as plans to “smother” Liverpool Street station under 109 metres (350ft) of new offices, shops and a hotel. The comedian, writer and broadcaster has been appointed president of the revived Liverpool Street Station Campaign (Lissca), a post held in the 1970s by […]
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