About Isabel Allen
Isabel Allen is the Editor of Architecture Today and the Editorial Director of BEAM (Built Environment and Architecture Media), founded in 2021 to provide the construction industry with a multi-media platform for interdisciplinary learning and collaboration. Highly experienced in her field, Isabel was previously editor of the AJ and has spearheaded the launch of numerous initiatives including the Architecture Today Awards for buildings that stand the test of time and the Regenerative Architecture Index launched in partnership with Architects Declare. Alongside a career as an editor, curator and critic she also co-founded HAB Housing, which delivered low-cost housing using natural materials and innovative models of procurement, land ownership and finance. She is an Honorary Fellow of the RIBA.Dispatches from UKREiiF: Ed Murray, Studio Moren
Isabel Allen2025-05-22T13:03:08+01:00AT chats to Ed Murray from Studio Moren about the haunting echo of value engineering and the joys of designing high end hotels.
Dispatches from UKREiiF: Kirsty Angerer, HLW
Isabel Allen2025-05-22T12:24:00+01:00AT chats to Kirsty Angerer from HLW about the role of the professional ergonomist, the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor, the pressing need for strong leadership and the tension between innovation and human needs.
Dispatches from UKREiiF: Al Scott
Isabel Allen2025-05-21T15:43:03+01:00AT chats to Al Scott from IF_Do about socially purposeful architecture and the role of collaborative design as a means of combatting inequality across the UK.
Dispatches from UKREiiF: Mairi Laverty and Nicola McLachlan of Collective Architecture
Isabel Allen2025-05-21T13:36:59+01:00AT chats to Mairi Laverty and Nicola McLachlan from Collective Architecture about the upsides and downsides of operating as a collective.
Dispatches from UKREiiF: Rob Wheaton
Isabel Allen2025-05-27T11:12:50+01:00AT chats to Rob Wheaton from Stride Treglown about Tai ar y Crd – a pattern book for the efficient delivery of housing using local materials and skills.
Dispatches from UKREiiF: Jerry Tate
Isabel Allen2025-05-20T17:18:52+01:00AT chats to Jerry Tate about tracking down brilliant clients, taking advice from Joe Morris and why UKREiiF is more fun than MIPIM.
Dispatches from UKREiiF: Mellis Haward
Isabel Allen2025-05-20T17:18:52+01:00AT chats to Mellis Haward from Archio about finding the formula for healthy competition, housing nerdery and organised fun – and the secret of a good pub quiz.
Dispatches from UKREiiF: JJ Lorraine
Isabel Allen2025-05-20T17:18:52+01:00AT chats to JJ Lorraine from Morrow + Lorraine about persuading the GLA and local authorities to divert S106 budgets towards trainees, the joys of 'plug-and-play' and 'desk-to-bed' and submitting ideas to paper in the middle of the night.
Principles for Responsible Timber Construction – and a call for entries for Built by Nature’s 2025 Prize
Isabel Allen2025-05-16T16:07:07+01:00Anna Lisa McSweeney, UK Network Lead at Built by Nature, introduces the Principles for Responsible Timber Construction and calls on architects to submit their projects for BbN's new global prize.
National Gallery Sainsbury Wing
Isabel Allen2025-05-12T14:15:10+01:00Selldorf Architects' controversial reworking of the Grade I-listed Sainsbury Wing by Venturi Scott-Brown was always going to be controversial. But did it have to be so polite?
Dock Side Story
Isabel Allen2025-05-06T10:32:16+01:00The success of British Land and AustralianSuper's Canada Water regeneration scheme rests on its ability to tempt corporate tenants to an untested part of town. As the project's first commercial building opens for business Isabel Allen asks whether the gamble has paid off.