Why we don’t like the word ‘masterplan’

3. Over the years we have learned that a consideration of the histories and textures of a place allows people to share in the story of renewal from an early stage.

4. Creating rich stories for future places often entails acknowledging what resides within a site and whether any structures can be reused. Our work on Park Hill and more recently the Balfron Tower highlights the vast potential to give second lives to buildings.

5. Sensitivity towards crafting places rests on an understanding of our place in time, acknowledging that everything built must retain a capacity for change. There should be unfinished spaces in the city where unpredictability can occur – meanwhile is definitely worthwhile.

6. We believe the future of urban living rests on the creation of flexible and resilient neighbourhoods. Driving industry out of the city results in areas where ground floors are left vacant and mono-cultural use persists.

7. The sustainable solution is to find ways for light industry, fabrication spaces, homes, schools and retail to cohabit. We are lucky to have a number of projects in Hackney Wick, Fish Island and the new neighbourhoods of Eastwick and Sweetwater adjacent to the Queen Elizabeth Park, where we are weaving existing and new communities together. Nurturing the co-living and co- working models of informal ’warehouse living’ represents part of the solution to the housing crisis.

8. Debate around our cities’ rapidly changing skylines and the pros and cons of tall buildings will inevitably continue to rage.

9. We have learnt that replacing a singular tower proposition with a collection of more aggregated forms can assist taller buildings to be more closely knit into their surroundings and that softening the edges of buildings can have a positive effect upon the massing of large-scale projects. Our Bath Western Riverside and Vicarage Field proposition in Barking are two good examples.

10. Aligned to this, it’s increasingly apparent that if we turn up the density of inhabitation then we should equally amplify the density of nature. Enriching increasingly dense and complex mixed-use urban developments with natural life enables the careful balance required for urban living.

Perhaps the most important thing we have concluded is that to fully translate a ‘good growth’ agenda as the mayor of London is asking for, architects and urban designers need to empower good design and delivery leadership by channelling the energy of the widest team.