Breakfast talk at the NLA

The Nicholas Hare Architects' sponsored event at the NLA attracted huge interest with every seat taken.

There were stunning images from Peter Murray capturing the excitement that the opening of these new buildings created and an explanation by our Carol Lelliott of why that same optimism and confidence led to the very specific problems that these buildings face.

Julian Robinson, Director of Estates at the LSE, made the case for the demolition of the worst performers on the grounds that a very high performing replacement - DEC A - would compensate for the embodied carbon of the existing structure in the long-term.

The emerging debate was very much about thinking long-term so that the very real investment needed to deal with these challenges could be justified.

Bill Hunt of London Met introduced the importance of student satisfaction and explained how he was using his RGF grant to transform the learning environments in their extensive sixties estate.

The third strand of the debate focused on soft landings and the importance of involving users in the re-design of these buildings to maximise their potential and close the gap between predicted and actual performance. Carol explained how such a process - involving a bespoke sustainability assessment method - was being trialled on our renewal of the Arup Building for the University of Cambridge.