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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

In Milton Keynes to look at housing archives and to give an introduction to new towns history at a Gardens Trust conference on new town planning and landscape design, alongside excellent papers & discussion from @lucaknorr.bsky.social @jossdurnan.bsky.social @demetrius-art.bsky.social and others.

A building with reflective glass, with the sky and clouds reflected. The sky is blue and the sun is out. Some greenery is intruding on the picture on the right.

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

If the mooted shakeup of Scottish regional authorities brings back a Greater Glasgow regional authority, I hope not only that it's called Strathclyde but also that it revives the brilliant and still contemporary 1975-96 logo.

A squared-off outline of Scotland, with a black lined edge and white body, with the area of the (former) Strathclyde Regional Council coloured black

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Reposted by Alistair Fair

Liverpool University Press @livunipress.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

New Towns Mark One by the late Elain Harwood, ed. @alistairfair.bsky.social provides the first detailed architectural survey of the ‘mark one’ new towns. ➡️ Read the interview with Alistair about the book on the LUP blog: bit.ly/HE-NewTowns @c20society.bsky.social @geraintfranklin.bsky.social

A blue background of a blue and white tiled building fascia with a clock on a blue sky background. The text on the image reads 'Charting the architectural history of Britain's initial post-war new towns: the so-called 'mark one' new towns.

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Excellent day yesterday discussing all things New Towns in a @c20society.bsky.social event, & launching the late Elain Harwood's history of the 'mark one' generation of towns founded in the late 1940s plus Cumbernauld (book pictured here with an inquisitive reader). Work is ongoing on the sequel...

A small cat peering at a copy of the book New Towns Mark One, which is propped up against a door

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

New Towns Mark One - by Elain Harwood edited by me - exists! Obligatory unboxing pics. Launch on 10/9: secure.c20society.org.uk/Default.aspx.... Book link: www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....

Some books on a table, wrapped in bubble wrap, with a box and scissors behind

Unwrapped copies of the book New Towns Mark One, on a table

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Reposted by Alistair Fair

Modern British History Journal @mbhjournal.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

This year's Duncan Tanner Prize is now open! If you're a PGR/ECR working on an article on modern British history do consider entering! Deadline Sept 1st. #skystorians 🗃️ academic.oup.com/tcbh/pages/e...

academic.oup.com

The Duncan Tanner Prize

The Duncan Tanner Prize recognizes outstanding scholarship amongst postgraduate research students in Britain and abroad. Entrants submit an article manuscript.

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Buddleia would not be my plant of choice for the garden (though it has a fascinating history, as @moacarlsson.bsky.social has written about: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....). The butterflies do love it, however. A dozen were counted yesterday afternoon while I had a cup of tea.

Purple/pink buddleia flowers, and green leaves, with various butterflies on the flowers.

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

International Cat Day! New book cover + uninterested cat.

A cat sits to the left of a computer monitor, on which is the cover of the book New Towns Mark One, by Elain Harwood (edited by Alistair Fair). The cat is looking out of the window, and ignoring the computer.

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

I've just finished (and enjoyed) @archhistdarling.bsky.social's excellent new book on the architecture of Broadcasting House which explores how in the 1920s/30s the BBC and its designers collectively used architecture and design to forge their identity in a modern world #20s30s

Cover of the book 'Palace of the Ether' by Elizabeth Darling. The title is in large letters over a monochrome image of BBC Broadcasting House in London

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Very exciting news that 'Building Modern Scotland' has been shortlisted for the @thesahgb.bsky.social's Alice Davis Hitchcock award alongside excellent titles by @holsmith.bsky.social @matthewwhitfield.bsky.social @rproctor.bsky.social and others! www.sahgb.org.uk/features/202...

A small tortoiseshell cat and a copy of the book 'Building Modern Scotland'

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

'New Towns Mark One' by the late Elain Harwood, edited by me, is now available for pre-order at £32 via www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10..... It explores the origins of the new towns programme & the 'mark one' towns begun in the 1940s, concluding with Cumbernauld, the first mk 2 town.

liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk

New Towns Mark One | Home

Architecture and Planning in Post-War Britain

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

A brief stop at Worcester Shrub Hill yesterday offered a chance to see the (listed!) K8 phone box on the station platform. This reminded me that @c20society.bsky.social was trying to get some of the next generation KX kiosks listed - I wonder if anything came of that?

A red K8 phone box on a station platform. The K8 is the simplified, cube-like 1960s design with big glass windows and little ornamental detail, which distringuish it from its 1930s predecessor.

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

I've co-organised a symposium with @c20society.bsky.social on 10 September to mark 80 years of the New Towns Act, and the launch of Elain Harwood's final major book, 'New Towns Mark One', which I edited (and the sequel to which I'm now writing). Details here: secure.c20society.org.uk/Default.aspx...

Market clock at Harlow on a building with blue and white striped tiles. To the right is a tower block

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Almere - a new town in the Netherlands, now 50 years old. Visited during my recent holiday. These photos show the De Werven area, one of the first, with clusters of houses backing onto communal gardens plus cycleways and a busway.

Brick houses with external stairs to an upper entrance, and lush trees around

A terrace of housing to the right, while the street to the left is marked for cycle priority and has a sign proclaiming it a Woonerf, i.e. shared zone for play, chat, cars and bikes

Cycle route crossing a busway. There is a set of traffic lights on the cycleway, with a green bicycle showing. The sign says 'Give way - Busbaan [busway]'.

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Quick trip to Newcastle for work. The Premier Inn was built in 1932 as a Co-Op dept store and it's nice to see some original features survive

A staircase with vertical windows to the left hand side, and stone cladding

A stone building with two towers (external photo from my previous visit April 2026)

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Cat halts my attempt to read the 1968 Central Borders study.

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Spotted last weekend, a sculpted stone panel at the National Hospital for Neurology in London #20s30s

A sculpted stone panel titled 'RESEARCH' with images of scientific apparatus and an open book with a quotation from Horace Mann: 'Every Addition to True Knowledge is an Addition to Human Power'

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Reposted by Alistair Fair

Elizabeth Darling @archhistdarling.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Adding to this feature in the new @c20society.bsky.social magazine, that listing is also for social value. Given the current full-blown onslaught against culture/the humanities let’s celebrate SBAC as a vision of state support for culture & architecture. See also. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

The Festival Hall is 75 years old this year. I was pleased to be asked to contribute to a new book which explores its history, architecture and life (shop.southbankcentre.co.uk/products/roy...)

Cover of the book 'Royal Festival Hall: a living icon', showing the angled boxes of the Festival Hall auditorium

Two book pages. That on the left shows a cafe bar at the Festival Hall, with 1950s furniture, that on the right has text and another photo of the Festival Hall interior

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Now out, an Open Access article on Essex's 1973 "Design Guide", which fundamentally shaped the design of housing in England: doi.org/10.1080/0266.... Thank you to @rproctor.bsky.social @osaumarezsmith.bsky.social & others for encouragement & comments, and @britishacademy.bsky.social for funding

An image of a contextual streetscape with houses faced in brick, render and boarding with tiled roofs

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Thank you to @geraintfranklin.bsky.social for this review of Building Modern Scotland: well-timed for the paperback edition, which is out now!

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

As I slowly piece together a book about the 1960s new towns (currently working on Washington and Skelmersdale), my glamorous assistant has decided to take an interest in the details of development corporation finance discussed in the book I was attempting to read...

A cat sitting on a book, on a desk. The text in the book includes a chapter heading saying 'Finance'. In the background can be seen a laptop and screen.

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

A little jaunt this morning for a tour of the Bernat Klein studio with some of the Architectural History placement students.

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Publication day for the paperback edition of 'Building Modern Scotland'. Pictured here in Blackwells Edinburgh! It's a social & architectural history of Scotland's post-war new towns, collaboratively written by a @leverhulme.ac.uk funded team from @edincollegeofart.bsky.social and @glasgow.ac.uk

The book 'Building Modern Scotland' on a shop bookshelf, between other books. The cover shows the title, the subtitle ('A social and architectural history of the new towns, 1947-1997') and the authors' names. The image shows some new town housing. A group of boys is gathered with their bikes. One is mending a flat tyre. A smaller boy watches on, perhaps wanting to be part of the group.

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

From a time when building control was resourced to pay close attention even to a modest cottage modernisation project, the report of a site visit by the local authority inspector in 1983.

A typewritten report which spells out in amazing detail the progress of work on a building site

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

Dropped in to Paisley Abbey earlier. Much of the east end was reconstructed in the early C20th by Lorimer et al, with some lovely results.

A stone communion table with engraved crown of thorns, wheatsheaf, Agnus Dei, grapes, and crown, and the word Sanctus three times. Behind there is a wooden screen

A stone vaulted ceiling and Decorated Gothic stained glass windows

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

A very niche question, but does anyone know anything about this typeface? Was it created by a specific make of typewriter? It appears every so often in the archives and I've long thought it elegant.

Part of a document written on a typewriter

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

Currently writing about Essex County Council's 1973 'Design Guide for Residential Areas', which advocated contextual materials (though not necessarily revivalist forms) plus shared-space 'mews courts' and went on to have a massive influence on late 70s/80s new housing

A drawing, in colour, showing the entrance to a mews court. Two buildings, of irregular form, frame the entrance, with various materials including brick, boarding and render. Trees are artfully and asymmetrically placed. A person is standing at the corner.

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Just delivered by the postman, this substantial new collection edited by @osaumarezsmith.bsky.social @petermandler.bsky.social and Simon Gunn with a stellar lineup of contributors. I'm looking forward to diving into it over the next few days.

The cover of a book, entitled The Modern British City 1945-2000. The cover picture shows a pair of redbrick Victorian houses with Sheffield's concrete Hyde Park flats (from the 1960s) behind

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

Lunchtime perambulation around the University of Glasgow. The (former) Modern Languages building (now Law?), by Walter Ramsay, 1958-59, showing the often gentle modernism of the 1950s. Perhaps now overshadowed by the brutalism of the adjacent Queen Margaret Union, but I'm quite partial to it.

A stone-clad modernist building in the sun

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

My colleague @milesglendinning.bsky.social is the latest recruit to Bluesky. Follow him for insights on the architectural history and heritage of global mass housing

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

Stir-up Sunday. 7 hours down, 1 hour to go. (This is the pudding; the Christmas cake and mincemeat were made in September and are maturing in the cupboard.)

A steamer pan with a glass lid, on a hob, with a wall of orange tiles behind

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

Excellent news for the end of the week as @thesahgb.bsky.social recognises the monumental efforts of the Buildings of England/Scotland/Wales/Ireland team over several decades.

A complete set of the Buildings of Scotland series

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

Disappointing news about the non-listing of the Brunton Theatre, despite it being deemed list-able by HES. A replacement building will cost £50m+, replacing the roof was estimated at £22m... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Theatre at demolition risk over Raac loses listed building bid

East Lothian Council has said it has little option but to demolish the Brunton Theatre building.

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Alistair: let's de-centre the architect in architectural-historical writing. Meanwhile Duolingo:

A screenshot from Duolingo for (Scottish) Gaelic, which translates as 'I need a new house, I need an architect'

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Archive-based teaching this afternoon, on the post-war reconstruction of central Coventry.

Cover of the Architectural Review, 1950, showing a drawing of the proposals for central Coventry

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

End of week reading. @samwetherell.bsky.social's excellent new urban history of post-war Liverpool.

A tortoiseshell cat, sitting on curled up human legs, on which a copy of a book is also visible. The human to whom the legs belong is sitting on a carpeted floor, and is in increasing discomfort due to not being very flexible.

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

Yesterday - teaching @edincollegeofart.bsky.social Architectural History students in the archive. Drawings of Coventry Cathedral from the Basil Spence archive, as well as many other items that showed the collaborative process by which the cathedral was designed and built.

Three drawings on a table. That on the left is a 1951 perspective of Coventry Cathedral, in colour. The two on the right are quicker sketches in Spence's hand which explore massing and lighting.

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

First day of the new academic year @edincollegeofart.bsky.social. This semester's teaching includes my course on architecture in Britain 1919-56.

An image of the character 'Mr Therm', dressed in a school cap and with a satchel, in front of a photo of a school. Caption: Mr Therm goes to the newest schools. This was an advert for gas-fired hot water and central heating

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

New towns stuff! It was very good to talk to @charlielynch.bsky.social for this feature. The book is still available - in print but also as an open access (free!) e-book at www.bloomsburycollections.com/monograph?do...

bloomsburycollections.com

Building Modern Scotland

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

Recently @vawright10.bsky.social and I were interviewed for a podcast about the Scottish new towns book which we recently co-wrote (and which is available Open Access for free download via bloomsburycollections, though you can also buy a copy in print if you wish!)

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Northampton Guildhall extension - 1991 by Stimpson Walton Bond. Contextual Gothic to echo the adjacent Victorian Gothic.

A projecting oriel window in polychromatic stonework, with part of two pointed arches below

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Malcolm Inglis building, Northampton (1900). Built for a leather and hide factor. A piece of Glasgow especially in the carving above the entrance, where we have St Mungo and the two salmon from the city's coat of arms.

A building with a decorated stone facade including carved lettering saying 'Malcolm Inglis and Company, Glasgow'

A concave arch above a doorway with the words 'let Glasgow flourish' and a carving of St Mungo plus two salmon

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 31/08/2025

Important message from today's Duolingo session

A Duolingo screen saying 'There is not enough Gaelic in the world', in English, then 'chan eil Gàidhlig gu leòr anns an t-saoghal' which is the translation into Scottish Gaelic

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Working on Northampton new town. Today's discovery is that a promotional record about the town was issued as a single in 1980. It had a version of the song with lyrics about aliens on the A-side with the promotional version, '60 Miles by Road or Rail', on the B-side. www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7ZQ...

youtube.com

Linda Jardim - (60 Miles by Road or Rail) Northampton

YouTube video by EvenThisNameTaken

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

Former Debenhams/Bon Marché store, Gloucester: the early 1960s part of the building very like the Festival Hall's original 1951 elevations, especially the small windows to the left which echo those which originally illuminated the RFH's side fire escape stairs.

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

A morning of course admin and intranet stuff for next semester. Luna has appeared to offer moral support.

A small tortoiseshell cat sleeping on a beige carpet

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

Changed trains at Birmingham New St y/day. This is part of the station's Navigation Street entrance and footbridge, built in the early 1990s and now looking a little grubby. I do like this era of railway architecture.

A glass and metal structure, part of a building. The glazing bows outwards towards the photographer. Above, the metal and glass roof rises to a point. It all looks a bit grubby.

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Alistair Fair @alistairfair.bsky.social · 03/08/2025

Sad news overnight of serious damage by fire to St Mungo's church, Cumbernauld - designed by Alan Reiach 1963-64. Its dedication echoed Glasgow cathedral & recognised the Glaswegian roots of many early residents in the new town, which had been begun a few years before

A modernist church, with a grey brick wall and pyramidal roof with standing seam cladding, above which rises a further small pyramid on slender posts

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