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Through regular and customised briefings and events, we help to navigate through what can be a confusing and fast-changing landscape.
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The Accelerator
Expert insight, intelligence gathering and knowledge sharing is in LCA’s lifeblood and ensures that our clients receive the highest quality strategic advice and counsel.
With our passionate understanding of politics and public policy, together with the societal and economic trends that shape the built environment, we provide unparalleled advice to our clients.
Through regular and customised briefings and events, we help to navigate through what can be a confusing and fast-changing landscape.
Our blog
Can social housing meet the 2030 deadline
Going green: Can social housing meet the 2030 deadline?Director04 February 2026The Government recently announced the first statutory minimum energy performance requirements for England’s social rented housing stock that will make the next four years challenging for...
After the AI hype, people want places they can trust
For years, the language of placemaking has been dominated by intelligence: seamless journeys, frictionless experiences, and data-driven optimisation. Technology promised to make places work harder, faster and more efficiently for the people moving through them.
A Five-Party Capital?
With just twelve weeks to go until the May 2026 local elections, London’s political landscape could be on the cusp of a significant shift.
What’s in store for the built environment in 2026?
Labour’s approach to the built environment in 2025 was defined by both ambition and uncertainty. The Government introduced a swathe of reforms – including the Planning and Infrastructure Act, Renters’ Rights Act, and a consultation on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework.
London, Actually: Resilience, renewal and the reality beneath the noise
Over the Christmas break, watching Love Actually offered an unexpected moment of reflection. It evoked a Britain of two decades ago – confident, outward-looking, and culturally assured.
Who is the BBC for anymore?
For a long time, the BBC didn’t really have to explain itself. It was “for everyone” and that answer carried weight. Most people accepted it. Today, it doesn’t land in quite the same way.
There’s no place like Brick Lane
In recent years, pop culture has been spilling into our cities in increasingly physical ways. What once lived on the big screen and within fan communities, now appears on pavements, high streets and public spaces.
4 media shifts set to shape 2026
After another whirlwind year of global headlines, political shifts and cultural comebacks, the media landscape feels more fluid – and more fragile – than ever.
Budget Backlash: Reeves in the Firing Line
Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered her second Budget Statement last week, returning to raise taxes and pushing the tax burden to a record high.
If we build new towns for the young, we’ll fail our future
When the government unveiled its shortlist for the next wave of new towns – Enfield, Greenwich, Tandridge among them – the imagery was familiar: families cycling through green corridors, children playing in sun-lit parks, and young households finally finding the homes they’ve been priced out of elsewhere.
Bringing places to life: The power of digital storytelling
Video has become one of the most powerful ways of communicating what a place is, and what it could become. Once seen as an add-on or a nice-to-have, it should now be considered as a central tool to how…
Where behaviour leads, retail follows: the quiet evolution of Christmas shopping
The golden quarter – retail’s long stretch from early October through Black Friday and into Christmas – has long been seen as the industry’s safe bet, the moment when tills ring louder and the sector hopes for a late-year reset.
Budget Break
Normally, ahead of Budgets, I advise not reading too much into the speculation and waiting instead for the actual statement from the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Over the years, I’ve seen many policy kites flown on copious amounts of hot air, only to crash to earth.
Beyond the Turnstiles
FC Barcelona returned to the Camp Nou this weekend. Backed by 45,000 fans in the terraces the Catalan side played host at their usual home for the first time in over 900 days.
Decarbonising London
Last week I attended The London Conference – the flagship annual event hosted by Centre for London – which brought together figures from business, the third sector and local government to discuss one of the capital’s most urgent challenges.
How not to launch a new political party
Beset by infighting, confusion and even allegations of sexism, the launch of Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana’s new party provides a masterclass in how not to start a new movement.
Capturing the chaos
In recent years, rave culture has found its way into the gallery. Once the soundtrack to underground nights and hidden warehouses, it is now the subject of exhibitions, installations and retrospectives.
The Affection Deficit
In an age of efficiency and automation, human connection has become the new luxury. Discover how design and storytelling can rebuild our sense of belonging.
Student cities re-imagined
A recent Times column warned that unless universities reform, students may start to “downgrade” them – opting for more flexible or cost-effective routes through higher education.
From editors to algorithms
A study recently published by Ofcom has taken the communications and media ecosystem by storm. The study reveals that people spent 4% less time watching broadcast TV in 2024 than the previous year, with average viewing time dropping to 2 hours 24 minutes a day.
Gen Z and the myth of the ‘sober’ generation
There’s been a whole lot of media noise lately about the ‘sober generation’: the idea that Gen Z are turning away from alcohol in favour of run clubs and skincare routines.
