How the intensification of housing through retrofit, infill and neighbourhood design can best support people, place and planet.

Britain’s housing challenge cannot be resolved by new homes delivery counted in numbers alone. Intensification of housing must also involve asking how existing buildings, land, infrastructure and communities can support more people while becoming healthier, lower-carbon and more resilient. Tara and Lanre Gbolade will explore a broader definition of housing intensification: not density for its own sake, but the careful increase of social, environmental and spatial value.

Drawing on Gbolade Design Studio’s work across urban infill projects, PAS 2035 retrofit programmes covering more than 250 homes, town centre renewal and strategic masterplanning, this talk will examine how their design philosophy can operate across different scales.

Case studies will show how constrained sites can be unlocked without sacrificing liveability; how archetype-led retrofit can achieve consistency while responding to moisture risk and resident needs; and how new neighbourhoods can be structured around landscape, movement, biodiversity and long-term stewardship.

The practice’s People, Place, Planet framework combines architectural judgement with measurable evidence. Energy demand, embodied carbon, comfort, biodiversity, viability, buildability and post-occupancy learning are treated as connected design inputs rather than separate compliance exercises. The talk will address the productive tension between standardisation and specificity: where repeatable systems improve quality and delivery, and where context demands a bespoke response. Ultimately, it proposes intensification as an act of stewardship - using what already exists more intelligently, adding homes where they strengthen place, and ensuring that growth contributes to an inclusive and genuinely regenerative built environment.

Audience learning points

Following the talk, attendees will:

understand the distinction between density and place-led intensification.

be able to compare the spatial, social and carbon implications of retrofit, infill, redevelopment and new build.

understand how data, building archetypes and repeatable design systems can enable retrofit and housing delivery at scale.

Speaker bios:

Tara Gbolade is an architect, sustainability and regenerative designer, and Co-Founding Director of Gbolade Design Studio. She is a Mayor’s Design Advocate and has expertise in housing, retrofit at scale and urban design. She works across architecture, planning, design review and strategic sustainability, helping clients embed measurable environmental and socio-economic outcomes within new and existing places.

Tara has Local Authority sustainability policy projects such as the Harlow and Gilston Garden Town Sustainability Guidance and Checklist and has contributed to the LETI Climate Emergency Retrofit Guide and GLA net-zero initiatives. She is a Trustee of the UK Green Building Council and the Church Buildings Council, and a member of the British Council’s British Pavilion Selection Committee for the 2027 Venice Architecture Biennale. Her recognition includes the winning the Unlock Net Zero Climate Champions Powerlist and Inside Housing’s 40 Under 40. She is co-author of Changing the Game: How to Be a Sustainable and Regenerative Small Practice.

...

Lanre Gbolade is an architect and Co-Founding Director of Gbolade Design Studio, with expertise in sustainable residential design, retrofit, design management, offsite construction and Design for Manufacture and Assembly. He has worked with major London developers and led MMC and DfMA transformation programmes for one of the UK’s leading housing associations.

Named Offsite Pioneer of the Year in 2022, Lanre is a member of the Ebbsfleet Design Forum, Milton Keynes and Design South East review panels. He is also a Part 3 Examiner at Newcastle University and a Prescribed Examiner for the Architects Registration Board. Lanre is a founding committee member of the Paradigm Network, which champions greater Black and Asian representation within the built environment, and a Board Director at Build Studios and Naked House.

Practice bio:

Founded in 2018, Gbolade Design Studio is a London-based architecture and urban design practice specialising in housing, regeneration, masterplanning and retrofit. Emerging from a Nigerian-British heritage, the studio combines deep sustainability expertise and Placeshaping experience with cultural intelligence and data-led decision-making.

Gbolade Design Studio uses their data-driven People, Place, Planet framework to connect design quality, commercial viability, social value and environmental performance. Its work spans net-zero housing, constrained-site intensification, PAS 2035 retrofit at scale, design codes, civic buildings and regenerative masterplans. The practice was named BD Net Zero Architect of the Year in 2024 and has received recognition from the AJ Architecture Awa

Description supplied by the event organiser.