Dan Stewart on a refurbishment rehash

Over on a steamed colleague, Dan Stewart’s blog, there’s some RIBA kicking.

The Building architecture correspondent doesn’t think much of the Institute’s plan for using refurbishment to extricate architects for recession, particularly as outlined by Building Design. His criticisms are twofold. Firstly, the idea is ‘at best aspirational and at worst fanstastical.’ Secondly, he says, it has been a longstanding Building idea as laid out in the 99% Campaign and “key RIBA policy for at least as long.” Nothing new there, then.

But the so-called 99% problem is like that; its solution is vital to tackling emissions yet it is seemingly intractable. It is hardly more convincing to use it to solve another pressing issue, that of widespread layoffs within the architectural sector.

I wonder as well whether expensive architects are the right people to carry out this work, anyway? Or do we need to train a new type of specialist labourers possessing a particular skill set to carry it out?