An interview by Hugh Pearman first published in RIBA J on 16/08/16 – https://www.ribaj.com/culture/civic-strategist. Croydon’s development director, Colm Lacey, is a man known for getting things done. Could his ambitious programme create London’s third city? Croydon is the south London borough that, with its mainline trains and its trams, its famous skyline and leafy, hilly …
First published in Architecture Today, February 2016 – www.architecturetoday.co.uk. I left North Dublin for East London a long time ago. I left for love, thinking I would be back soon. Only my mother, sobbing uncharacteristically at the airport, knew I wouldn’t. Pre-Celtic Tiger, Dublin purred contentedly, uncompetitively. With the notable exception of Temple Bar, physical …
First published in Architects Journal 28/10/15 – https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/opinion/croydon-councils-colm-lacey-why-we-set-up-our-own-architectural-practice. Colm Lacey, director of development at Croydon Council, says the authority’s new in-house architectural practice will share the guiding principles of the ‘fabled council architects departments’ Change is definitely afoot in Croydon. The primping and preening of land trading has given way to a more considered and …