Back in the centre here are a few tips to take in and appreciate the riches of this building construction variety:
- Just walk or cycle the streets! But stop frequently and look up. (It is difficult and possibly dangerous to walk or cycle and look up at the same time.)
- Take a red London double decker bus and sit upstairs at the front – looking up, down and sideways.
- Take a river trip and observe the diverse buildings on both banks and close behind.
- Look for the tower cranes – track down the construction sites – observe the efforts on tight site pitches, with difficult accesses, going down into the ground, and rising into the sky; with the public passing immediately adjacent.
- For the very latest and recent completed exemplar buildings there are the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Awards, the British Council of Offices (BCO) Awards, Civic Trust Awards and others – as well as previous finalists and winners.
- There are also the Open House London opportunities to visit a wide range of available properties, premises, installations, gardens and facilities from many eras for a weekend in September each year.
- The Building Centre on Store Street – with an impressive model of London and for everything that goes into buildings – with talks and events.
These days there is virtually no new build on fresh “green field” sites. Everything is on reclaimed “brown field” sites or is refurbishment or change of use or regeneration.