img(height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=2939831959404383&ev=PageView&noscript=1")

Happy New Year! Let us celebrate the ties that bind...

Where people live
Where people live

Raise your objections – I mean glasses – and toast planning applications gone by with the traditional song All Land’s Mine.* 

I am a major landowner,
Yes all this land is mine.
I own half of this town and now,
I’m dreaming of pound signs.

CHORUS:
For all land’s mine, my dear,
Yes, all the land is mine,
I shall have my design my dear,
For all land’s mine.

I am a brilliant architect,
It’s at last my time to shine.
I’ve landed this important client,
now I shall have my design.

CHORUS

I am a planning officer, 
If you want my endorsement,
don’t beat your breast, pitched roofs are best,
to guarantee consent.

CHORUS

I engage the community,
I love a questionnaire.
For equal opportunity,
is my duty of care.

CHORUS

I am a local resident,
this plan’s too avant garde.
Yes, everyone I represent,
Says not in my backyard.

CHORUS

I am an endangered species, 
and my family lives on site.
You cannot cut down all these trees, 
you’ll extinguish us outright.

CHORUS

I’m funding two per cent of this,
I should have the final say.
My money’s worth ten times his,
so build it yesterday.

CHORUS

I am a wily journalist, 
I see tensions running high.
I’m positive, if I persist, 
I’ll catch someone in a lie.

CHORUS

I am a local councillor
I might grant, I might decline.
I’m not much of a gambler,
I’ll just vote on party lines.

CHORUS

I chair the local planning committee,
I’m fed up and bemused.
You’re all a bunch of nincompoops,
Your planning is refused. 

 

*Sung to the tune of Auld Lang Syne

Maria Smith is a director at Studio Weave

Latest

These precision engineered flush-to-floor shower systems for timber floors are insulated for minimal heat loss

Specify insulated flush-to-floor shower systems for minimal heat loss

Paint range of 180 shades and 4 finishes gives architects a full spectrum of tools for creating beautifully robust designs for hardworking spaces such as kitchens

Robust and beautiful paints for hardworking spaces

A controlled access solution at AHMM's state-of-the-art office development in Salford achieves a delicate balance of sleek aesthetics, choreographed traffic control and robust yet discreet security

The controlled access solution at AHMM's state-of-the-art office development in Salford

Technology has long reshaped the possibilities of architecture. Now, new digital design tools are transforming how structures are imagined and built

New digital tools are transforming how structures are imagined and built

The second edition of a report on life cycle assessments shows the impact of improved specification on four dwelling types in an effort to meet or exceed Climate Challenge 2030 targets

Building clarity and a calculation methodology for meeting/exceeding Climate Challenge 2030 targets