Five years on from Grenfell with Pooja Agrawal

Five years on Grenfell survivors say they are still waiting for justice. A toxic culture spanning decades at London’s most famous architecture school. Campaigners warn Right to Buy’s revamp could worsen the housing crisis. And a new inquiry into American sweet shops flooding Oxford Street.

This week Rachel is joined by Pooja Agrawal. Pooja is the co-founder and CEO of Public Practice and is also the co-founder of Sound Advice.

The Londown is recorded and produced at the Open City offices located in Bureau. Bureau is a co-working space for creatives offering a new approach to membership workspace. Bureau prioritises not just room to think and do, but also shared resources and space to collaborate. To book a free day pass follow this link.

The Londown is produced in association with the Architects’ Journal. If you enjoyed the show, we recommend you subscribe to the AJ for all the latest news, building studies, expert opinion, cultural analysis, and business intelligence from the UK architecture industry. Listeners can save 15% on a subscription using this link.

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Open City is a charity dedicated to making architecture and built heritage more open, accessible and equitable.

Providing you with essential listening, inspiring voices and built environment insights – the Open City Podcast covers news and current events as well as in depth studies of landmark buildings, and cities around the UK and world.

At the centre of our line-up is our flagship show The Brief – an award-winning review of the big stories in architecture, planning and housing news – hosted by Sahiba Chadha and Fran Williams on a fortnightly basis.

Alongside this is Deconstructed – a monthly podcast hosted by Matthew Lloyd Roberts taking apart the architecture of individual buildings and InterCities – a monthly podcast hosted by Owen Hatherley exploring municipal transformation around the world. 

All three shows profile new, expert and diverse voices from across industry, journalism, academia and beyond. The Open City Podcast is produced by Hunter Charlton and Paige Reynolds. The commissioning editor is Merlin Fulcher. 

The Open City Podcast is supported by Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture app and produced in association with the Architects’ Journal, London Society, C20 Society and Save Britain's Heritage. 

The Open City Podcast is recorded and produced at the Open City offices located in Bureau. 

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Photo credit: Owen Hatherley portrait © Antonio Olmos

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