The rebuild vs refurb debate is attracting ever greater attention, amplified by the extensive media coverage around M&S's proposed re-development of its flagship store on Oxford Street - called-in by Michael Gove in the summer. 

The outcome of that public inquiry is due next month. As Peter Bill says in this excellent, no nonsense comment piece in Architects' Journal: "The inquiry will prompt wider questions about development to come. Conservationists will wield carbon-edged knives to demand ‘make do and mend’ must be the first-choice option. Re-builders will shield the right to build afresh by asking you to imagine the stultifying effect of curbing new build". 

Bill hits the nail on the head. Yes, as he says, the "world needs saving". But what about the developer's profit line on the basis that, as Bill explains, refurb "cramps" the ability to add floorspace? 

How far will the rebuild/ refurb balance shift - perhaps driven by occupier demand (see this previous blog, "Second-hand please"), perhaps driven by regulatory change (e.g. an Embodied Carbon Bill)? 

Developers are surely watching with much interest.