By far the biggest limitation on architecture is space. Land is scarce in many large cities and popular suburban areas, creating challenges when it comes to keeping up with demand for homes, public buildings, and space for commercial and leisure activities.

One thing that doesn’t help the matter is developers avoiding taking on challenging sites such as those that have been left-over following other projects. Many of these are undeveloped because the accessibility is tricky, the land is not flat and ready for use, or a myriad of other issues. These challenges tend to detract from the potential on offer.

The strange thing is that generally there are no obstacles that good design can’t overcome. All of the best architects in London understand this and can put their full effort into producing the best results for any kind of site, even left-over ones.

Developing these challenging sites can have a huge impact on the sustainability of cities and suburban locations. Instead of seeing them grow outwards or lose green spaces, disused sites can be regenerated. This will provide the new properties needed whilst preserving other locations.

With the above in mind developers actually have power to improve cities and suburban settings if they take on the right projects and put the effort into designing suitable solutions. By taking a few more risks with these selections and creating innovative designs the challenging sites can become a sustainable part of the location.

A second benefit is that typically even challenging sites can be developed much faster than a new settlement can be created. This means that developers could respond quicker to demands if only they were willing to take more risks on site selection.

At Coffey Architects in London we would like to see more left-over sites being developed. With great design they can be used to create new buildings that will meet a myriad of needs.