This new NLA Insight study proposes four recommendations for the UK Government and Mayor of London to ensure the future resilience of London’s built environment industries and their international profile. These recommendations are supported by an extensive showcase of international projects, including over 220 projects currently being delivered across 65 countries.

A product of extensive research, including roundtables, viewpoints and interviews, as well as a survey of the NLA membership of over 500 organisations, this Insight Study also forms an exhibition in the NLA galleries, on display until 12 July 2017.

London risks losing its crown as the global capital of built environment expertise and we stand with other industry leaders in our concerns regarding the impact of a hard Brexit on the industry’s contribution to the UK economy and culture. In the coming months we will continue to draw these concerns to the attention of the Mayor of London and to the Government.

London is the world’s global capital for creative design and construction skills. Just as the City of London became the financial capital of the world, so London has benefitted from its history, its location, its legal and education systems to create a hub of built environment skills that are in demand around the world. It is the first city to have so converted the exporting of professional skills into a truly global business. The construction industry, from medieval masons on, have always been peripatetic – they go where the work is. But the means of managing that work has changed dramatically in the digital world. 

Interest in overseas work intensifies when work at home dries up. Things were very different when the world economy took a nosedive in 2007. If an architectural practice wanted to work overseas all they needed was a plane ticket and a laptop. Design work could be carried out in one place, drawings in another with everything coming together in the Cloud. No longer did you have to relocate. The mechanisms for global working were all in place; architects of record and local design institutes did good business.

The skills that London has to offer today are hugely enhanced by the capital’s diverse population and breadth of expertise, it is essential that this is understood by the UK government as it negotiates a Brexit deal. We support the Mayor’s #londonisopen campaign and look to him to fight the corner for this important sector of the capital’s economy both in Whitehall and in Brussels. 

Forewords
By Sir David Adjaye, Architect, Adjaye Architects and Peter Murray, NLA Curator-in-chief

Chapter one: London’s global position
An insight from what makes London a global city to how London’s built environment industries have become a global brand.

Chapter two: London’s global solutions
With global challenges and solutions.

Chapter three: London’s global challenges and opportunities
The opportunities deriving from London’s position in a fast-moving world.

Chapter four: London’s global future
Recommendations to ensure London’s global future.

Project showcase
With schemes in different continents.

Practice directory
With key contact details.

Published may 2017
242 Pages
ISBN 978-0-9956144-2-0