New RIBA boss Andrea Brady warns Prince Charles to keep opinions to himself

Published: 06 August 2010
by DAN CARRIER

THE President of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has told Prince Charles to keep his nose out of the planning process.

Andrea Brady, in her first interview since becoming the new figurehead of the professional British architects body, told the West End Extra the Prince’s decision to criticise an application to transform the Chelsea Barracks site into flats was “utterly scandalous”.

The heir to the throne told Qatari developers their proposal for the 12.8 acre site was “brutalist”. Days later the application to Westminster Council was withdrawn.

Ms Brady said: “[The Prince’s] intervention is undemocratic. He is welcome to his opinion but when he tries to influence and change plans, it is completely wrong. It was utterly scandalous.”

The decision to scrap the 600 luxury flats project reached the High Court with a claim for £68million following the break in contract.

The judge said Prince Charles’s intervention was “unwelcome” and the Prince was criticised for using his sway to stop a development.

Ms Brady also said it was important for architects to promote green buildings, and wants the government to introduce tougher penalties on those that don’t.

She said: “We have the technology – we just need the clients. We can have a large say in shaping the future and we have a moral duty to recognise that and respond to it. 

“I hate to see high glass buildings with air conditioning in Abu Dhabi – it is just crazy. We know huge glass skyscrapers are harming the world.”

Ms Brady said public authorities like Westminster Council need to become trailblazers, adding that the Conservative Government’s decision to scrap the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) project would “hit the bigger architect’s firm very hard”.