Live building projects are to be reintroduced as part of the architecture course at London Metropolitan University.

In the 1960s and 1970s, several schools of architecture ran projects to give students direct experience of designing and managing the construction process, but the system eventually proved too difficult and costly to manage.

Anne Markey, who runs the university’s project office, said: “We favour schemes with a clear social purpose particularly in areas subject to social deprivation and political change.”

Feasibility studies are under way on a pavilion for a community trust in Hackney, east London, and the regeneration of the village of Castelmola in Sicily.

Both projects are being carried out with Chora and UFO, local practices run by architects who teach at the university.