Russell Curtis
@russellcurtis.com
I'm a professional cynic but my heart's not in it.
Director of RCKa, but everything here my own. Barnet, London & Europe. Chair of Barnet QRP. Spatial research 🌆, planning 🗺️, pro-housing 🏘️ & yimby 👍🏻.
https://russellcurtis.co.uk
Director of RCKa, but everything here my own. Barnet, London & Europe. Chair of Barnet QRP. Spatial research 🌆, planning 🗺️, pro-housing 🏘️ & yimby 👍🏻.
https://russellcurtis.co.uk
Quite the restoration job
👇🏻2018 2025👇🏻
👇🏻2018 2025👇🏻
November 9, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Quite the restoration job
👇🏻2018 2025👇🏻
👇🏻2018 2025👇🏻
Slight detour while in Croydon for a client meeting yesterday to swing by @anfurman.bsky.social’s exquisite tiled facade at Croydon Colonnade. You just want to rub your hands all over them. Delicious.
October 30, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Slight detour while in Croydon for a client meeting yesterday to swing by @anfurman.bsky.social’s exquisite tiled facade at Croydon Colonnade. You just want to rub your hands all over them. Delicious.
Someone paid a lot of money for this
October 26, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Someone paid a lot of money for this
They clearly had so much difficulty gaining the consents they dedicated a whole paragraph to it on the information board.
October 8, 2025 at 9:21 PM
They clearly had so much difficulty gaining the consents they dedicated a whole paragraph to it on the information board.
"Despite numerous difficulties including securing Planning Consent, consents from the Environment Agency and United Utilities, as well as other statutory bodies, a scheme was agreed in 2019 and the footbridge laid in place in 2020."
Here's the infrastructure project that required these permissions:
Here's the infrastructure project that required these permissions:
October 8, 2025 at 5:29 PM
"Despite numerous difficulties including securing Planning Consent, consents from the Environment Agency and United Utilities, as well as other statutory bodies, a scheme was agreed in 2019 and the footbridge laid in place in 2020."
Here's the infrastructure project that required these permissions:
Here's the infrastructure project that required these permissions:
We’ve been here before, right? The halfwits’ moral panic seems to work on a 25 year cycle.
August 21, 2025 at 7:12 AM
We’ve been here before, right? The halfwits’ moral panic seems to work on a 25 year cycle.
I’m not sure we’re in for a good night’s sleep.
August 20, 2025 at 10:43 PM
I’m not sure we’re in for a good night’s sleep.
The alabaster windows at Orvieto cathedral really are something.
August 20, 2025 at 10:00 AM
The alabaster windows at Orvieto cathedral really are something.
They just posted this
July 16, 2025 at 6:04 AM
They just posted this
The charity shouldn’t be at risk because the trustees are, presumably, responsible and will have to pony up the cash personally?
June 16, 2025 at 3:31 PM
The charity shouldn’t be at risk because the trustees are, presumably, responsible and will have to pony up the cash personally?
Went to Nansledan today. It was...odd. Poorly built (paint already peeling; grubby render), rather too twee, and felt like it was trying to be a quaint coastal town without any of the intimate car-free streets that make proper Cornish villages so delightful.
June 9, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Went to Nansledan today. It was...odd. Poorly built (paint already peeling; grubby render), rather too twee, and felt like it was trying to be a quaint coastal town without any of the intimate car-free streets that make proper Cornish villages so delightful.
RCKa's exploration into the potential for England's rural stations to deliver new homes and our longlisting for this year's #DavidsonPrize both feature in this week's @bigissue.com.
April 22, 2025 at 6:00 PM
RCKa's exploration into the potential for England's rural stations to deliver new homes and our longlisting for this year's #DavidsonPrize both feature in this week's @bigissue.com.
Really not enamoured by this printed throw seen in a shop window in Hitchin.
April 19, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Really not enamoured by this printed throw seen in a shop window in Hitchin.
The pic on the left shows the appalling state of temporary accommodation that families are forced to live in (it's a mockup from the #NewHomesInNewWays exhibition). On the right is the interior of our prototype home. There's no reason why we should accept one when the other is easily achievable.
February 18, 2025 at 7:21 PM
The pic on the left shows the appalling state of temporary accommodation that families are forced to live in (it's a mockup from the #NewHomesInNewWays exhibition). On the right is the interior of our prototype home. There's no reason why we should accept one when the other is easily achievable.
This plan shows the simple arrangement of space inside the home. Two bedrooms, bathroom and separate kitchen are accessed from the living and dining room in the middle module.
February 18, 2025 at 7:15 PM
This plan shows the simple arrangement of space inside the home. Two bedrooms, bathroom and separate kitchen are accessed from the living and dining room in the middle module.
Here's the apartment part way through installation. As well as generous internal dimensions it has a ceiling height of 2.9m, far exceeding that even of conventional housing.
February 18, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Here's the apartment part way through installation. As well as generous internal dimensions it has a ceiling height of 2.9m, far exceeding that even of conventional housing.
Just over a week ago we installed a prototype modular home outside the Building Centre in central London. Delivered on three lorries and installed in three hours, it provides a 63sqm 2bed apartment for just £100k that can deployed for temporary accommodation as a meanwhile use.
February 18, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Just over a week ago we installed a prototype modular home outside the Building Centre in central London. Delivered on three lorries and installed in three hours, it provides a 63sqm 2bed apartment for just £100k that can deployed for temporary accommodation as a meanwhile use.
I was at the Houses of Parliament tonight in support of the latest #HomesForBritain pamphlet launch, where I advocated for emergency permitted development rights to deliver temporary accommodation on brownfield land.
February 10, 2025 at 9:54 PM
I was at the Houses of Parliament tonight in support of the latest #HomesForBritain pamphlet launch, where I advocated for emergency permitted development rights to deliver temporary accommodation on brownfield land.
Our prototype module is currently being installed outside the Building Centre in London's Store Street, and will be here for a month. Drop me a line if you'd like to know more.
February 7, 2025 at 7:12 AM
Our prototype module is currently being installed outside the Building Centre in London's Store Street, and will be here for a month. Drop me a line if you'd like to know more.
Homelessness is a human tragedy and a national scandal.
I'm going to be speaking at the Houses of Parliament on Monday evening about some ideas we've had for granting emergency powers to local authorities to house those in need, as part of a @thefabians.bsky.social housing debate.
I'm going to be speaking at the Houses of Parliament on Monday evening about some ideas we've had for granting emergency powers to local authorities to house those in need, as part of a @thefabians.bsky.social housing debate.
February 6, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Homelessness is a human tragedy and a national scandal.
I'm going to be speaking at the Houses of Parliament on Monday evening about some ideas we've had for granting emergency powers to local authorities to house those in need, as part of a @thefabians.bsky.social housing debate.
I'm going to be speaking at the Houses of Parliament on Monday evening about some ideas we've had for granting emergency powers to local authorities to house those in need, as part of a @thefabians.bsky.social housing debate.
Great to see the £132m that TfL spaffed away on Old Street Station has resulted in such a transformation for passengers.
January 16, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Great to see the £132m that TfL spaffed away on Old Street Station has resulted in such a transformation for passengers.
Aside from the £4m that London boroughs are spending each day on temporary accommodation, the housing crisis is, at its heart, a human tragedy.
I'm going to be speaking the @buildingcentre.bsky.social #NewHomesInNewWays conference next month about some ways we might start to right this wrong.
I'm going to be speaking the @buildingcentre.bsky.social #NewHomesInNewWays conference next month about some ways we might start to right this wrong.
January 16, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Aside from the £4m that London boroughs are spending each day on temporary accommodation, the housing crisis is, at its heart, a human tragedy.
I'm going to be speaking the @buildingcentre.bsky.social #NewHomesInNewWays conference next month about some ways we might start to right this wrong.
I'm going to be speaking the @buildingcentre.bsky.social #NewHomesInNewWays conference next month about some ways we might start to right this wrong.
I hope the inevitable failure of this spurious legal action costs the anti-development brigade a lot of money.
You lost. Reason won. Get over it.
You lost. Reason won. Get over it.
January 6, 2025 at 5:47 PM
I hope the inevitable failure of this spurious legal action costs the anti-development brigade a lot of money.
You lost. Reason won. Get over it.
You lost. Reason won. Get over it.