Lord Foster to speak at the NLA Awards 2026

Wednesday 21 October 2026

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Lord Foster to speak at the NLA Awards 2026

Norman Foster © Matt Holyoak

Lord Norman Foster will join us at the NLA Awards Lunch and Ceremony at Guildhall on Thursday 19 November to receive the NLA Londoner of the Year 2026 award and give a speech following its presentation.

Presented this year as a lifetime achievement honour, the award recognises one of the most influential architects of our time. It celebrates his sustained contribution to London’s built environment, his work on cities worldwide and his role in establishing the capital as a globally leading centre for architecture.

From the Gherkin to the Millennium Bridge, Foster’s work has helped shape contemporary London. Out of its base in the capital, Foster + Partners designs stations, towers and masterplans across the globe, reflecting the international reach of London’s architecture and city-making expertise.

He joins previous NLA Londoner of the Year recipients including Zaha Hadid, Georgia Gould, Sir David Higgins, Sir George Iacobescu and Jerome Frost.

London’s influence on a global practice

To mark the award, Lord Foster has recorded an in-depth interview reflecting on how London has shaped his global practice and outlook. He considers where the city has thrived, where it can learn from others and the role London and the UK can play in shaping a more sustainable urban future.

The award comes as NLA makes the case for greater recognition of the built environment’s contribution to national life. Research from NLA, GLA Economics and LSE found that the sector contributes almost a quarter of UK GVA (£568bn) and supports one in eight jobs. NLA’s follow-up report, Connected Capital, which featured Foster + Partners, showed that the sector accounts for a fifth of UK exports (£168bn).

These findings underpin NLA’s One Built Environment campaign, calling on government to recognise the sector as a national growth industry and support it with a ten-year Built Environment Industrial and Investment Strategy.

Foster’s career reflects the global influence of the expertise concentrated in London, and its contribution to shaping cities at home and internationally.

NLA Awards Lunch 2026

The presentation of the NLA Londoner of the Year award, followed by Lord Foster’s speech, will be the finale of this year’s NLA Awards Lunch and Ceremony, bringing together more than 650 leaders from across London’s built environment at Guildhall.

Spanning public life, planning, design, development, construction and investment, the lunch is a moment for our community to celebrate this year’s award-winning projects and people, and the contribution our sector makes to London and beyond.

Join us at Guildhall on Thursday 19 November to celebrate the projects and people shaping London’s built environment.

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