At the twilight of the twentieth century, John Major and Tony Blair’s administrations sought to recapture the reformist, modernist energies of the 1851 Great Exhibition and 1951 Festival of Britain through an intensive campaign of architectural patronage. Billions of pounds raised by the newly established National Lottery were disbursed to a trio of arms-length governmental bodies – the Millennium Commission, Heritage Lottery Fund, and Arts Council – to finance hundreds of ambitious architectural projects across Britain.

My research is focused on historicising this period of dramatic change in British architectural culture and production, and situating these changes in their broader political, social, and economic context. In the process, I am examining the global embrace of “iconic” architectural projects as catalysts for regeneration, shifting attitudes to the city, the relationship between popular science, technology, and architecture, and the emergence of sustainable architectural approaches.