Yes in my back yard

Three months after Sir Terence Conran aimed his ire at Grant Shapps’ slow progress on housing, the topic is hotting up, with George Osborne calling for ‘imaginative thinking’ around green belt development, and a general consensus that the housing shortfall has become a housing crisis.

Terence criticises the Coalition’s lack of progress on housing in May

Moving day at Green Man Lane

Green Man Lane is a Conran and Partners-designed housing development in Ealing, that will eventually consist of over 700 new homes, including 338 affordable rentals, as well as parks and community facilities. (More info here.)

A few weeks ago, Phase 2a of the project was completed, and the first families picked up the keys to their new homes, ate some cake, and cut the ribbon!

Inspiration for architects: Jason Hawkes’ aerial photography

Paul Zara, head of Conran and Partners Brighton, just brought to our attention the wonderful photography of Jason Hawkes.

© Jason Hawkes

Friday Tip: Make your own kind of Munich

The Olympic flame will shortly be wending its way through Kent. To mark the occasion, UCA Canterbury is holding a very special exhibition of graphic design.

Will London’s legacy be this pretty?

This week’s tip comes from Paul Zara, head of our Brighton architects.

Bright Light city

Our latest architectural project, The Light in Brighton, has just been given the go-ahead.

The project will turn the former ice rink in Queen Square into The Light ApartHotel, featuring sumptuous guest rooms, serviced luxury apartments, a café and a restaurant. It will be a further boon to Brighton’s tourist industry.

Introducing the Rural Modernists

In last Friday’s Times, Harry Mount penned a piece about the Modernism that is beginning to infuse rural architecture.

Typically, the countryside has been architecturally staid, with new properties cleaving firmly to the styles of old: thatched cottages, brick piles and Tudor mansions. But this is beginning to change.

The Welcome Trailblazers

The Love Architecture festival has been entertaining Brightoners all week, and last night it was our turn. Conran and Partners’ Brighton office held an exhibition of Jim Stephenson‘s photographs of their architectural projects around the world. Entitled Collaboration, the exhibition was accompanied by an essay by arts commentator Cara Courage.

A great evening was had by all.

Thanks to Jim, Cara and Gem Barton, who has curated the Welcome Trail of exhibitions as part of Love Architecture, for their hard work, and thanks to everyone who came along!

Love Architecture? Love collaboration.

As part of Brighton’s Love Architecture festival, which is taking place right now, arts commentator Cara Courage has put together an exhibition of Jim Stephenson’s photography of Conran and Partners’ architectural projects. The exhibition, entitled Collaboration, explores one of the many collaborations that typify architecture: between photographers and architects.

© Jim Stephenson

Hoverhauling Brighton

Excuse the pun, please.

The head of our Brighton architecture office, Paul Zara, took to The Argus recently to talk about Brighton and Hove’s acute housing crisis, and his opinions on how to solve it.

Pinspiration

Pinterest has been adding a healthy dose of pretty to our office lives for a while now. We love its clean, simple interface and great use of portmanteau.

So far we’ve been quiet observers, but today we’d like to introduce Conran on Pinterest. We have experts in branding, products, interactive and digital, architecture, interior and retail, and our boards are curated by all of them.

Conran Studio are hunting out their favourite brands, and Conran & Company their favourite products. Conran Singh and Conran & Partners are picking the best from the worlds of digital design and architecture.

At the moment, Vicki Conran is at Chelsea Flower Show (read more about her Artisan Retreat here), and she is kindly sending through her Chelsea highlights.

More to come soon – including a board of Terence’s personal picks…