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Where health meets planning – lessons from Wales
As the new government tries to reconcile how to grow the economy by accelerating investment in new housing with a commitment to public...
Jul 29, 20244 min read


Private finance, public infrastructure
Our new government has pledged to limit tax rises while at the same time promising to invest in our NHS, education and energy...
Jul 16, 20245 min read


Supermarkets and Healthy Placemaking
Earlier this month, Asda unveiled plans for a “transformational Mixed-Use Redevelopment of its ten-acre Park Royal site in North West...
May 29, 20243 min read


The cost of adversarial practice
Earlier this month, the Home Builders Federation revealed that over the last three years, more than £50 million of taxpayer money was...
May 17, 20243 min read


Vulnerable in the city
“Vulnerability” comes from the Latin word for wound – vulnis. It’s the state of being open to injury, or appearing as if you are. Feeling...
Apr 25, 20243 min read


Infrastructure First
Along with wet weather, April came in with a blast of Nimby v Yimby hot air. So far this month, we’ve learned that Keir Starmer has...
Apr 12, 20245 min read


Notes from a Blue Zone
I spent last week in Singapore which, along with many other accolades, has been designated the world’s sixth Blue Zone, and the world’s...
Mar 4, 20244 min read


Life in a parallel universe
A parallel universe, also known as an alternate universe, parallel world, parallel dimension, or alternate reality, is a hypothetical...
Feb 16, 20244 min read


Improving Health through the Built Environment – panel discussion at the NHS ICS/ICB Congress
The GIANT Health event, now in its tenth year, took place earlier this week, and I was invited to convene a panel for the NHS ICS/ICB...
Dec 8, 20234 min read


Borrow some medical practice to build healthy homes and places
This past year has seen real progress in demonstrating how our built environment - the homes & places where we live – impacts our...
Oct 12, 20234 min read


Connecting generations through houses & places
Earlier this week I came home to find on my doormat a “special invitation” from Audley Villages to visit a newly developed “luxury...
Sep 29, 20234 min read


We need to talk about Toilets
When I wrote over a year ago about the need to rethink public toilets, a journalist I know told me that the issue would not attract wider...
Aug 24, 20233 min read


First, do no harm
Anyone involved in medicine and the provision of healthcare will recognise this phrase and its origins in Hippocrates – it embodies the...
Aug 9, 20232 min read


The Stag Brewery regeneration –a planning test for our time?
A planning application to redevelop the Stag Brewery in Mortlake was approved by Richmond Council last week. The largest regeneration...
Jul 26, 20235 min read


The coalitions are coming
Just when I thought it wasn’t possible, not one but two coalitions of Built Environment organisations have announced their arrival in the...
Jun 23, 20234 min read


When dots don’t connect
Earlier this year when Secretary of State for Levelling up Michael Gove suggested that a rethought approach to planning education could...
Jun 9, 20234 min read


Translating knowledge & bringing clarity to Londoners
An interview with Leanne Tritton, chair of the London Society As Chair of the London Society, Leanne Tritton has developed a formidable...
Apr 17, 20236 min read


Health services must be prioritised in communities undergoing regeneration
Some recent events in Kent illustrate a disconnect between planning for new housing development and providing essential health services...
Apr 6, 20234 min read


Show me the Evidence
The recent consultation on the National Planning Policy Framework (now closed) has brought forth diverse opinions from across the...
Mar 27, 20233 min read


Everybody’s talking about planning
“There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about”, said Oscar Wilde, “and that is not being talked about”. Events in the...
Mar 7, 20234 min read
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