He was formerly Director of the Architecture Foundation, Architecture Critic of the Evening Standard and Editor of Blueprint magazine. He is the author of Why We Build (2012). His writing has been published in several countries, and he has curated exhibitions, given lectures, taken part in conferences and debates, and chaired or participated in juries for design awards and competitions. In 2014 he was named Critic of the Year in the UK Press Awards, the first architectural writer to receive this award.