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Brick Lane Public Inquiry — Day Two (Afternoon): Heritage as Commodity

By J. W. Carradine, Mark Shaw · Oct 16, 2025

Brick Lane

Brick Lane Inquiry — Day Two: The Grammar of Power

When the morning session ended, Burrell’s restraint had become its own statement. The KC’s authority was procedural; the architect’s authority was experiential. One argued for deliverability, the other for belonging

By J. W. Carradine, Mark Shaw · Oct 15, 2025

Brick Lane

John Burrell’s Alternative Vision for Brick Lane: Regeneration Without Erasure

“To conserve,” Burrell wrote, “is to sustain the relationships that make a place thrive.”

By Mark Shaw · Oct 15, 2025

Brick Lane

Brick Lane Public Inquiry — Day One Summary

The architects’ presentations — however elegant — cannot conceal the structural truth: this is not heritage-led regeneration; it is displacement by design.

By Mark Shaw · Oct 14, 2025

People

Architects for Social Housing: Repair, Not Erasure

If demolition is the architecture of finance, ASH’s work is the architecture of resistance.

By Mark Shaw · Oct 7, 2025

Campaigns

Saving Station Street: Who Benefits When Britain Erases Its Own Memory?

Station Street contains all the ingredients of sustainable urban life: density, walkability, mixed use, and heritage that anchors community identity. What it needs is maintenance, not obliteration.

By Mark Shaw · Oct 4, 2025

Planning & Policy

Building New Towns, Letting Old Ones Die: How UK Housing Policy Betrays Finance, Culture, and Community

When the Labour government announced plans to build 12 new towns as the flagship answer to Britain’s housing crisis, the headlines

By Mark Shaw · Sep 29, 2025

Campaigns

Peckham: Development or Regeneration?

If London is to remain a city of neighbourhoods rather than a market of assets, Peckham must be allowed to follow the path of restoration-led regeneration.

By Mark Shaw · Sep 24, 2025