Ash Sakula Architects

Join us at Temple Bar, for a talk by Cany Ash! Event: Profitable Neighbourhoods: From Isolated Estates to Sustainable Communities When: Mon, 3 Feb 2025 18:25 Where: Temple Bar, EC4 7DX Time's up on ‘product’— we need proper neighbourhoods! https://lnkd.in/eGpu2yfh The UK is embarking on a big investment programme, housing once built is not to be shifted so we are not talking products we are talking systems. An upward spiral of wealth is within reach, but a poverty inducing system of isolated or semi isolated estates is currently the only game in town. What are we doing? Hear how we might: - embrace our intricate heritage, building high density townscapes - rediscover and fund our SME talent, the can-do culture we are ignoring - place the detail of daily life for the next 100 years at the top of our the ladder of concern Are Profitable Neighbourhoods so described pie in the sky? No they are common sense. Housebuilding in large chunks is not as profitable as assumed; at the start of 2025 the largest housebuilders announce weekly alerts blaming planning systems, slow supply chains and even their internal organisation. Smaller sites often get delivered in two to three years, and could become the norm. We just need more parallel working, and a level playing field for smaller investors on public land and easy to apply for grants for communities. If you’re in housing, planning, policy, urban design, or construction, come and join the conversation about creating homes that connect, inspire, and thrive. #ProfitableNeighbourhoods #SusainableCommunities #UrbanDesign #HousingCrisis #FutureCities Lucy Bullivant PhD Hon FRIBA Amy Burbidge Henrietta Billings Jonathan Ashcroft Paul Belfield Theodore Michell Anna Rose Jonathan Smales Xavier Smales Joanna Yarrow Jan Kattein Jeremy Walker Mike Derbyshire Simon Ricketts Martyn Evans Hon FRIBA Jackie Sadek John Long Zafar Bhunnoo Rachel Fisher Sara Davies MBE Leo Hammond Mary Duggan Anna Liu ARB RIBA FRSA Nick Cuff Indy Johar Daniel Lovatt Emily Harris, FCA Joanne Preston Tina John Richard Meier Yolande Barnes Gary Higson Euan Mills Rob Cowan Brendan Geraghty Tyler Goodwin Liane Hartley FRSA David Roberts Richard B. Keir Regan-Alexander

So happy that Norwich will be 'backstitched' with help from Homes England and lots of hard work from Norwich City Council. Rethink triggered by Historic England and Save employing Ash Sakula Architects to create a vision rejecting a further stiffening of the car-dominated ringroad landscape, and instead extending the walking city... As Pauline Schaffer says "Anglia Square is an example of Norwich City Council’s ambition to revitalise the city centre and repurpose brownfield land into new homes for the local community... it has the potential to have a huge transformational impact on the city....this shows how investment from Homes England is helping to unlock new homes and thriving places people can be proud of." https://lnkd.in/ehMM-YYf

So happy that Norwich will be 'backstitched' with help from Homes England and lots of hard work from Norwich City Council. Rethink triggered by Historic England and Save employing Ash Sakula Architects to create a vision rejecting a further stiffening of the car-dominated ringroad landscape, and instead extending the walking city... As Pauline Schaffer says "Anglia Square is an example of Norwich City Council’s ambition to revitalise the city centre and repurpose brownfield land into new homes for the local community... it has the potential to have a huge transformational impact on the city....this shows how investment from Homes England is helping to unlock new homes and thriving places people can be proud of." https://lnkd.in/ehMM-YYf

We're #hiring a new Housing Architect / Experienced Part 2 in London, England. Apply today or share this post with your network.

We’re Hiring: Design-Led Architect. Do you care deeply about the future of housebuilding? Are you passionate about creating tight-knit mixed-use profitable neighbourhoods where everyone can thrive? We are looking for an experienced designer to join our team and help shape the future of our practice. Ash Sakula is looking for a bold, proactive team member to join our agile, creative studio in London. If you’re enthusiastic, politically minded, and ready to bring fresh ideas to a forward-thinking architecture studio, please read on. About the Role: This multi-faceted studio-based role blends urban design knowledge, social creativity, technical expertise, and strategic thinking. You’ll contribute to master planning, architectural design, and visual communication daily, using new materials and your interest in emerging technologies to create innovative solutions. Your deep understanding of the UK’s housing politics and development economics will guide projects that challenge the status quo while delivering impactful results. What We’re Looking For: - A qualified architect or experienced Part 2 with at least 3 years post-masters experience at all job stages. - A proven track record in visual narration and storytelling. Excellent communication skills – verbal, written, interpersonal, and visual. - A confident self-starter who thrives in a ‘just do it’ culture, where initiative and learning from mistakes are valued. - Tech-savvy, with proficiency in AI technologies and a readiness to learn new tools on the fly. A strong grasp of emerging technologies and their applications in architecture, design, and their environmental impact. - A passion for creating architecture at micro and macro scales, drawing up and imagining neighbourhoods that reflect and enhance car-light, people first, local economy boosting diverse lifestyles. - A team player with a collaborative mindset, focus, and assertiveness. What We Offer: Ash Sakula is an agile and self-directed studio committed to shaping the future of housing and architecture. We embrace personal goals and interests, offering the freedom to explore ideas that align with the practice’s vision. To apply, email info@ashsak.com with both your name and “Joining Ash Sakula in 2025” as the subject. Please indicate your ideal start date and salary expectations and availability for in-person interviews in your message. Applications close 6th January 2025. We’ll be in touch with shortlisted candidates by 13th January 2025.

🎄✨ Ash Sakula Advent Calendar: 24 Days, 24 Verbs ✨🎄 This December, over on our Instagram @ashsakulaarchitects, we’re sharing our 24 ways of working, designing, and thinking, inspired by Richard Serra’s list of “actions to relate to oneself, material, place, and process.” Each day, we’ll explore a new verb that captures an idea, a story, a snip, a sketch or a process that shapes who we are as a practice! Follow along on our instagram! https://lnkd.in/e5WeTWXY Day 01: to adapt Day 02: to gather Day 03: to extend Day 04: to sit out

The Urban Taskforce established in 1989 by #JohnPrescott should be brought back. Its report Towards an Urban Renaissance made over 100 recommendations, as Ben Flatman writes in Housing Today “Key proposals included prioritising brownfield development, increasing housing density, reforming planning systems to engage local communities, and investing in public transport and design quality. The task force sought to shift development away from car dependency and suburban sprawl.” These ideas became muddled up with the pavement café as snobbish and unenlightened. But walkable places are a step toward climate care—while everything else is a step in the wrong direction—so still very relevant today. It is strange that, despite these good ideas, Prescott also championed the Housing Market Renewal, a very wrong-headed idea focussed on resisting falling house prices, even if it meant erasure of culture and neighbourhoods. It favoured ‘executive’ new build homes which looked extremely cheap, over offering opportunities for creative retrofit and affordable space. It was the Liverpudlians who stepped in to protect their homes, after areas were turned into wasteland. Never has there been such a weird appetite for demolition; whole streets of all-stone terraced houses in Lancashire mining towns were buried under steep grassy mounds like our lived heritage was a shameful secret. What are the lessons? To think a few chess moves ahead; to think beyond the car; to spin new tales over existing fabric and trust walkable neighbourhoods. This is where the real profit lies. https://lnkd.in/eq3qgQhg  #profitableneighbourhoods 

"Give me some Place!" Last night’s #NegroniTalks with Fourthspace Ltd, had us diving into the dualities of Yimbyism and Nimbyism. So, what’s a NIMBY really? Are they just objecting for the sake of it, or are they standing up for community and character? Leo Hammond nailed it with his take on "cowpat" housing – you know, those soulless, disconnected clumps of housing that pop up in the middle of nowhere. No shops, no public transport, no life – just a splodge of housing with no sense of place. Density brings all the good things. #Profitableneighbourhoods Leo Hammond knows that people can sense authenticity—they know when a place is real, and when it's just a line item on someone’s spreadsheet. Patricia Brown MBE, Hon FRIBA Phineas Harper FRIBA Daisy Froud Hazel Joseph Robert Fiehn Steve Sinclair Huw Anwyl Williams

Robert Sakula attended the SPAB conference yesterday 'New Ideas for Old Buildings'. As part of the conference, he was particularly delighted to see Tonkin Liu's work in progress York Minster Centre for ancient crafts. You can see more of the project here: https://lnkd.in/eQ4TcHAU

Those of us who fight within our means in our various corners for carbon sanity are, despite all fortelling, horribly winded by the US landslide. So now what? We need in our own ways to contain anger and keep going to make the world kinder.