ASH Press Release: St Raphael’s Estate Saved from Demolition

ASH is happy to announce that, a month after we published and delivered to Brent Council our report on the design alternative to the demolition of St. Raphael’s estate — which demonstrated among other things the financial unviability of demolishing and redeveloping the 760 homes — Brent Council has agreed with us and called off … Continue reading ASH Press Release: St Raphael’s Estate Saved from Demolition

The Alternative to Demolition: Design Proposals for St. Raphael’s Estate

Architects for Social Housing is pleased to announce the publication of our report on the design alternative to the demolition of St. Raphael’s estate in Neasden, in the London Borough of Brent. The result of two years’ work with residents, the report includes ASH’s proposals for the refurbishment of the estate’s 760 existing homes, the improvement … Continue reading The Alternative to Demolition: Design Proposals for St. Raphael’s Estate

The Impact of Lockdown on UK Housing

This text was originally published by the Academy of Ideas at University of Buckingham in the People’s Lockdown Inquirer, a book-length report documenting the impact of lockdown restrictions on UK government, media, health, care homes, social work, education, schools, universities, children, the economy, work, industries, housing, prisons, transport, culture, arts, sport, society, rights and freedoms. The … Continue reading The Impact of Lockdown on UK Housing

In Our Defence: Freedom of Speech in the UK Biosecurity State

‘The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.’ — Milan Kundera In January of this year, ASH received a letter from the Architects Registration Board (ARB), a body created by The Architects Act 1997 to be the regulator of UK architects. It’s job is to enforce The Architects Code: Standards of … Continue reading In Our Defence: Freedom of Speech in the UK Biosecurity State

March for Freedom: London, 29 May, 2021

On Saturday 29 May, up to a million people from all over the UK (the march took 2 hours to pass a given point) marched from Parliament Square, up Whitehall, through Trafalgar Square, up the Charing Cross Road, along Oxford Street and out through West London to Shepherd’s Bush, where (after a few wrong turns in Acton) we peacefully … Continue reading March for Freedom: London, 29 May, 2021

Behind the Mask, the Conspiracy!

1. The Conspiracy within the Conspiracy Last week I watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind for the first time. Like everybody else, I was familiar with images from the film — Richard Dreyfuss making the iconic mountain out of a plate of mashed potato, the mothership (from which Parliament Funk unfortunately doesn’t descend) in … Continue reading Behind the Mask, the Conspiracy!