Perceptions of built environment companies have always been key to winning either more work or the admiration of the public and their peers alike. And very often that can make all the difference in securing the go-ahead for significant projects or raising the profile of design across the board. All of this can be applied to Heatherwick Studio as it prepares to enter a new phase, with a new King’s Cross home that embraces connecting with the public in a way that centres of design did in decades gone by. A Marmite practice? You decide.

Buckley Gray Yeoman’s profile, too, is on the rise, with 25 years of practice behind it and more to come for its popular, contemporary aesthetic as it ‘moves on up’ with succession and legacy in mind. Louise Rodgers profiles the firm in our New Teams feature.

Another established practice, this time with 33 years in the business, is Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, which features in this issue with its well-considered, Rachael Whiteread-influenced retrofit at The Rowe in Whitechapel. The sustainable decision to maximise the potential of the existing building might have been straight out of the Webb Yates playbook. We profile that firm of engineers as it too looks to a new phase, with co-founder Andy Yates moving on and the rest of the team progressing their highly creative and collaborative work as equals in the design process. As a ‘place review’ feature, we also take a close look at the firm’s Henge Pavilion, a collaboration with Stanton Williams as part of this summer’s London Design Festival.

There’s so much more, of course. We reflect on the themes explored during LREF, talk to Robert Evans about the ‘London bond’ idea he floated at the event, get the latest thinking on housing as it affects the capital from Yolande Barnes, and ask what key names across the sector would wish for on a Christmas list for London.

In the end — and with NLA itself moving in Spring to open The London Centre for the Built Environment in the Guildhall’s West Wing — it’s all about perceptions.

Enjoy the issue!

David Taylor
Editor

FEATURES
New Londoner 16
David Taylor talks to Heatherwick Studio in its new, public-facing offices
The new teams 28
Louise Rodgers profiles Buckley Gray Yeoman on its 40th anniversary
Profile 34
Engineers Webb Yates talk to David Taylor about succession and the future
London Real Estate Forum 48
Missed LREF? Read the essay charting its highlights
Interview 54
David Taylor talks to Argent’s Robert Evans on his London Bond idea and chairing NLA’s Sounding Board
 Building review 74
AHMM’s The Rowe building gets the building review treatment

REGULARS
Need to know 4
The quarter — our summary of all the key news events this term
Viewpoint 8
We ask: what is the best Christmas present London’s built environment could wish for?
Murray Mint 14
Peter Murray looks at a trend for architecture books dealing with process
 Opinions 26 | 44 | 46
Opinions this time on safer streets, using cognitive data, and indoor air quality
Columnist 62
Yolande Barnes on why London needs nuanced and local policy responses to the cost-of-living crisis
Coffee break 92
Georgina Rizik, executive director at SC1, London’s new life sciences innovation district, answers the questions
My London 140
Grounded CEO and former leader of Croydon’s small sites programme Chloë Phelps on the Hallfield Estate

PLUS...
Portfolio 6
New London Awards overall winner, the Britannia Leisure Centre in Shoreditch
Walkabout 40
David Taylor takes a tour of the Earls Court development site with ECDC CEO Rob Heasman
Best of the web 60
David Taylor meets Brazilian-born proptech entrepreneur Joy Nazzari
Briefing notes 64
Our regular round-up of conferences and events at NLA
Place review 86
Stanton Williams principal director Alan Stanton reflects on the practice’s Henge Pavilion
Technical explainer 90
Max Fordham director Gwilym Still looks at Passivhaus
 Market essay 96
Shabab Qadar of Knight Frank writes about flights to quality