Glass-House Annual Debate 10/03/10 This year's Glass-House debate is entitled Duty to Involve: What it Means to Community Led Design. Legislation introduced in April 2009 calls for all local authorities to involve local people in decisions that affect them. One year on, has this mandate made a difference to how local authorities engage with communities around physical regeneration? Is it leading to more participative design processes? 5th Studio will be joining other design professionals to talk about their experience of top-down, bottom-up regeneration. Debate from 3-5pm at Toynbee Hall, Commercial Street, London, E1 6LS, Tuesday, 16 March from 2.30pm. Free Entry - but click on the link above to find out more and book your place.

Tom Holbrook appointed to the CABE National Design Review Panel 22/02/10 Tom Holbrook has been appointed to the CABE National Design Review Panel. The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment is the government's advisor on architecture, urban design and the public space; the panel consists of over 40 expert advisors drawn from England's architectural, built environment and creative communities.

Double Bubble 29/01/10 Recently completed projects by 5th Studio are reviewed in two journals this week: Ellis Woodman reviews the George V pavilion in Building Design, while Keith Bradley writes up our graduate hostel for St Catharine's College, Cambridge in the Architects' Journal. Both articles are available to download from our website

Lea River Park wins prestigious international award 28/01/10 The project to create the Lea River Park has won the prestigious International Urban Landscape Silver Award. The Lea River Park is the ambitious project putting park space at the heart of the Lower Lea Valley's regeneration. The park will consist of six new public spaces between the Olympic Park and the River Thames, linked by the Fatwalk - a six kilometre linear parkland with footpaths and cycleways, new bridges and towpaths. It is one of the Mayor's Great Spaces and is part of the East London Green Grid. The International Urban Landscape Award 2010 honours groundbreaking, newly built or redeveloped urban architecture such as housing estates and recognises initiatives, concepts or designs on sustainable urban development. The award is supported by Eurohypo and Topos magazine. The Lea River Park was one of five international projects shortlisted for the award. London Development Agency (LDA) Group Director for Design Development and Environment Peter Bishop said: Winning this prestigious award bring international recognition to our plans for east London, building a lasting Olympic legacy before the 2012 games. The Lea River Park will be an exciting new park which draws on the Lower Lea Valley's industrial landscape and heritage and will be a central part of the area's regeneration. The park development is being led by the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation, in partnership with the Design for London and the LDA, the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, and the London Boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Newham. The project has been defined by the Lea River Park Design Framework and was developed by a team led by 5th Studio. The Award was made last night in Frankfurt. The award comes with €15,000 prize money for the project.

Festive Footage 21/12/09 Current work on the Lea River Park appears in the 2009/2 issue of the Dutch landscape and urbanism magazine 'Scape, with an article by CABE's Peter Neal on Eco-cities (beware the erroneous image captions!). Meanwhile Creative Exchange appears in Korea's architecture journal c3.