It is often said that an architect’s best buildings remain on the drawing board.

Milton Keynes has a rich history of proposals that never appeared in built form for one reason or another – Jim Stirling’s designs for Olivetti and BT, Norman Foster’s German Auto Centre and Milton Keynes Development Corporation’s enigmatic City Club amongst them but not forgetting smaller items, such as an all-encompassing proposal for street furniture by Butler Isherwood Bartlett.

Tim Skelton, Chair of Milton Keynes Forum, has undertaken extensive research into the history of the development of Milton Keynes and this particular subject.

Illustration © Milton Keynes Development Corporation, Crown Copyright public sector information issued under the Open Government Licence v3.0