Royal Greenwich has one of the highest concentrations of Victorian and Edwardian domestic architecture in London. The long streets of Charlton, Plumstead and Woolwich, the terraced villas of Blackheath and the dense rows of Eltham and New Eltham represent an enormous stock of solid, well-built homes that could, with the right investment, perform far better than they currently do.

Check out the latest edition of our newsletter where we share what we've been up to over the past few months, projects new and old and what's on coming up.

Getting planning permission for a home extension in Greenwich is more demanding than in many other London boroughs. The World Heritage Site designation, the extensive conservation areas and the Royal Borough's active planning department create an environment where applications are scrutinised carefully and where the quality of the argument matters as much as the quality of the design.

A result of changing work patterns post covid is there’s now more empty office space than ever. This has been exacerbated by sluggish growth in the economy, and a period of pause, ‘waiting to see’ with the prospect of a change in direction from a new government - now passed.

Briefing an eco architect is not fundamentally different from briefing any architect. You need to communicate what you want, what you need and what matters to you. But there are some questions that are particularly worth asking when sustainability is a genuine priority, and some answers that will tell you quickly whether the practice in front of you is genuinely oriented toward eco design or just using the language.

James is back from the inaugural ‘Emerging Discourses on African Architectural Practices’ conference in South Africa where he presented his paper: ‘Post colonial collaborative practice: building from the earth at the 32° East Arts Centre’.

Here we write about our proposal for the Net Zero Neighbourhood masterplan, which was the winner of the Max Fordham Archiboo Architect’ Pitch, itself inspired by the Max Fordham House - UK’s first-ever verified net zero carbon home.

London's Victorian and Edwardian housing stock is one of the city's most underappreciated environmental assets. Millions of solid-walled terraced houses, built between roughly 1870 and 1914, represent an enormous quantity of embodied carbon that is already in the ground, already in the walls and already part of the city's fabric. The question is how to make what already exists perform better.

Greenwich's commercial and creative sector has grown significantly over the last decade, the borough is now home to approximately 6,000 creative and digital jobs . The creative industries cluster around Deptford and New Cross, the growing residential population across the borough and the investment in transport links have together created real demand for good quality, flexible, characterful workspace.

It is a fair question and one that is harder to answer than it should be, because the term ‘eco architect’ is applied to practices with very different levels of genuine sustainability commitment. Here is what a serious eco architect does that distinguishes them from a conventional practice with green aspirations:

Our Garden House Nursery project was approved for planning at committee, with a unanimous decision.

We’re delighted to have gained approval from Dorset Council for our low carbon gallery space for Weymouth College which will be made from recycled and reused construction materials.

The phrase eco architect gets (over) used a great deal in London. It appears in practice profiles, on website homepages and in planning statements with a frequency that has, if anything, made it harder to know what it means.

There’s much in the press about reaching ‘net-zero’ and the role the construction industry has to play. Something that is less often in focus is ’embodied carbon’.

Lovely to get some coverage in Taiwan. We're featured in 'La Vie' magazine in their Architecture with Nature special this month. Alongside some really wonderful projects - take a look!

We’re in FX Magazine, in the workplace feature all about changing workplace architecture in response to changing work patterns, post the 2020 pandemic. A big thanks to Veronica Simpson for the write up.

Join our talk at Futurebuild on Thursday at 3pm-3:45pmACAN Stage (Stand D40) Building from the earth: rammed earth and earth bricks at the 32° East Arts Centre.

NMB Meets with Gus Zogolovitch: we chatted about custom build homes, embodied carbon and what needs to happen to grow the self build market.

With rising energy prices and a greater emphasis on the climate we’re finding our clients are looking more and more for how they can build their home extensions more sustainably. Here we take a look at how to build sustainable home extensions with a case study of a recent completed project in London.

Here’s the first of our new series: NMB meets. We will be meeting brilliant industry folk, innovators and futurists to discuss their views on what makes great sustainable buildings and places. In turn, helping us shape better buildings and places in response to the climate emergency.