Paul Finch
Architects' Journal
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Past articles by Paul:
In his latest book, Jonathan Meades has served up a mighty feast
In 1995 The Architects’ Journal held a centenary dinner in the very English St John’s Restaurant in Clerkenwell, taking over the entire premises for the → Read More
Making demolition more difficult might be a simpler route to green construction than VAT reform
Ever since the oil price crisis of 1973, when dire warnings were issued predicting the imminent exhaustion of fossil fuels, there have been calls for tax → Read More
Protesting architectural assistants should think about what they have to offer practice
No sooner does the RIBA recruit a diversity director than the sort of problem to be tackled becomes only too apparent. The mass protest by Part 1 and Part → Read More
‘Poundshop Versailles’ row could be repeated up and down the land
Suffolk is receiving new attention as a result of The Dig, the Netflix film about Sutton Hoo. Elsewhere in the county, aesthetic warfare appears to have → Read More
Let’s make procurement work for design post-Brexit
There has been a general welcome for the government’s announcement of post-Brexit procurement reform, now that we are unbound from OJEU rules. Some → Read More
Tall buildings policies can do without political hypocrisy
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has modified the draft London Plan to declare that boroughs ought to identify sites where tall buildings would be acceptable, the → Read More
Working for nothing is a mug’s game
Cambridge City Council, as reported by the AJ, has had second thoughts about running a selection process which guaranteed no payment to the winning → Read More
Design will inform the future of a world turned upside down
The final column of the year is, naturally enough, the moment for any columnist to try to take stock of the previous 12 months. As far as the world of → Read More
RIBA Council should be debating real world issues such as building safety
The small group of reporters from the professional press admitted to RIBA council meetings where shocked and pleasantly surprised when, decades ago, a → Read More
Major architectural projects form the background to the fascinating history of the Lyons catering company
One of the few consolations of lockdown is the opportunity (once Netflix is exhausted, which doesn’t take long) to do more reading. As readers may recall, → Read More
What’s special about the ‘special relationship’?
The US election reminded me of the excellent book by Joe Kerr and Murray Fraser, Architecture and the ‘Special Relationship’: The American → Read More
Architecture – the inescapable backdrop to our lives
The new book by Ferdinand Mount, Kiss Myself Goodbye*, is part memoir and part detective story. It is a brilliantly written page-turner, based on → Read More
‘Build, build, build – but not in my constituency’
First the prime minister objects to a residential scheme in his own parliamentary constituency. Then up pops Michael Gove, opposing a modest development → Read More
Oxford Street would be massively improved by replacing buses with travelators
Almost everybody is in favour of the maximum number of people being able to move about the city in a speedy and convenient way. Just because some → Read More
When will Boris Johnson realise that Jenrick is a dud?
As readers of this column will know, I do not think Robert Jenrick is fit to be a cabinet minister responsible for the planning system, because his → Read More
Sometimes it’s Mayor Khan-do, sometimes it’s the Great Khan’t
As London continues to grind to a halt, Londoners have to put up with propaganda from Transport for London and the mayor, in the form of their ubiquitous → Read More
Grenfell shows it’s time architects took back authority for inspecting construction works
Standing up for science is no easy matter. Understanding science and scientists is, you might say, not an exact science. For every epidemiologist with one → Read More
Robert Adam raises critical issues about tradition and modernity in his latest book
Because he is a Classical architect, and proud of it, Bob Adam has never been everyone’s cup of tea in the UK profession. The style wars of yesteryear are → Read More
Competence, insurance and planning: the big questions facing practices
Of course, there are issues that affect architecture and everything else: the effect of the pandemic, climate change, diversity and so on. However, there → Read More
Who can take on Richard Rogers’ role in public life?
Tributes to Richard Rogers on his retirement from the practice he founded (after many months of absence due to ill health) have tended to focus, naturally → Read More