lets find a way

Humans are pack animals and urban centres are a hub for interaction, so with a ‘post-COVID’ world looking uncertain, and tiered lockdowns further threatening the vibrancy of our urban centres, our response in terms of high street regeneration is becoming more and more critical. 

If the fundamental requirements of our urban centres are to host and sustain these delicate ecosystems of interaction, is their inherent social value uppermost in our thoughts? If it is, where do we now see the opportunities for maximising it through every move we make, as we look to ‘Build Back Better/Greener’ and revive these spaces for the long term? How do we ensure that the delicate balance of society and its role in placemaking is installed for the benefit of our town centres? We bring together panellists Dr William Bird, Intelligent Health; Paul Hanegraaf, Milligan and Shain Shapiro, Sound Diplomacy, Planning Associate and High Streets Task Force Expert, Nicole Roe and Partner Stephen Tucker (chair) to discuss. 

The Government has firmly positioned the development industry as the saviour of this potential economic crisis. But in so doing, do they, perhaps unwittingly further reinforce the negative connotations of the industry as fat cat money makers? We know that development is about so much more than simply stimulating or delivering economic opportunity, so how can we change perceptions and the conversation? How can we tackle our UK wide reputation better to ensure these are reflected in the public’s view, politics, the mass press, etc? We bring together Daisy Powell-Chandler, The Reputation Coach; Tony Cosgrove, Masgroves; Matt Bell, Grosvenor; and our very own Business Development Director, Jenni Montgomery and Partner, Robin Shepherd (chair) to discuss.

Housing and unmet need has once again hit the headlines and lit political touch papers this month, following the government’s White Paper (Planning for the Future) proposals for centrally established housing targets. For our new term, we convened a statistician - Dan Usher, Barton Willmore, political and planning lobbyists - Catriona Riddell, Catriona Riddell Associates and Jonathan Werran, Localis, a legal wrangler - Zack Simons, Landmark Chambers and importantly a practitioner Iain Painting, Barton Willmore, to discuss the challenge and realistic routes for addressing it on this podcast. We discussed the need and challenge of this need number, it’s central role in this new system, and the politics that influence it. Listen in to hear our conclusions on the role this number plays and how it may be better utilised as a stick and carrot in planning and importantly economic recovery.

Following the publication of our recent report exploring the future of DCO's with Womble Bond Dickinson, Copper Consulting and Hannah Hickman of UWE, this podcast drives a lively debate. Joined by Andrew Taylor of Countryside Properties, Simon Ricketts of Town Legal, Ben Copithorne of Camargue, as well as authors Hannah and Ben Lewis our Infrastructure and Energy Director, the discussion focuses on what the problem is that we’re trying to fix and how we might balance an approach which sets top down need driving whilst still enabling bottom up localism. There's a huge amount of much encouraged butting in on this one as its such a hot and divided topic. Listen in and see where you land - could DCO's be used for new settlements?

COVID-19 has been a fast and effective stick for change, and the locus and radius of our lives has rapidly changed and this has had a huge impact on the regard we have for our homes. In this session, we were joined by designers, a social motivator and modal shift champion, to discuss how our homes specifically will change in response to this.

Our guests; Noha Nasser, Mela Social Enterprise, Adam Tranter, Fusion Media and Cycling Mayor of Coventry, Martin Prince-Parrott, Blackswan Properties joined our Urban Design Director, Luke Hillson and Partner, Iain Painting. Thoughts ranged from: 

• The fundamentals of how we invest in homes and ‘land’
• Transforming driveways and streets themselves into pocket parks
• The opportunities for communal/common space provision
• The challenge of open plan within our homes
• The granularity and variety of ‘need’ becoming even more apparent across generations.

Listen in for more detail on each of these and more, and their rallying and very motivating call for us to grab the opportunities that lie ahead!