Studio 54 partner Charles Thomson tells me that he thinks the collective name for a group of architects is 'a pride'. I suggest it's 'a murder,' but Jestico + Whiles' director Heinz Richardson nails it with 'an envy'. I happily defer to their knowledge and experience -along with Peter Barber Architects they have been collaborating for the best part of eight years on the Grahame Park masterplan in London's northern suburb of Colindale and, over the course of the project's gestation, have had plenty of time to get to know each other's strengths and foibles. Completed this July, Barber's development of 70 flats, retail and parking at the southern tip of the estate is, in a way, the figurehead of a £550m, 18-year regeneration by Barnet Council and the Genesis Housing Group of the 1970s former Greater London Council estate and turn it from one blighted with social problems into the de facto centre of the Colindale area, complete with retail, further education college and community facilities.
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