Guest Blog: Phil Ryan, Director - City Futures, Global Insight, JLL
As an urban planner by background, regeneration and improving the built environment to meet not only the needs of today but also tomorrow is at the heart of what drives me in the property industry. It’s certainly the case for those who presented at and attended “Unlocking Urban Potential: The Next Phase of UK Regeneration” on a sunny May morning at The Savoy. It was also one of the most aligned groups of people across areas of the industry I’ve ever experienced, underscoring how clear the opportunities and challenges are for improving our cities.
What struck me the most about the consistency of rhetoric was that it all boiled down to something that we all understand and continue to grapple with: demand for successful places has never been higher, but the ability to deliver continues to be constrained by myriad factors, whether they be macroeconomic or policy in nature. These challenges, though, are problems that successful cities such as London routinely rise to meet. They won’t necessarily be solved overnight, but as Deputy Mayor Jules Pipe mentioned at the start of his keynote address, reinvention is the story of London. No matter the crisis, we bounce back.
Importantly, speakers and panellists ensured that just as much of the discussion was about solutions as it was about the reality of the headwinds that the industry faces in its quest to turn potential into places. From a policy perspective, Jon Neale from Montagu Evans’ analysis of the history and current status of regeneration across the UK underscored how value capture and mayoral development corporations could finance and push forward a coordinated approach to infrastructure provision and cohesive planning. Equally as important were social value benefits, as Aviva’s Sophie White emphasised with the creation of key worker housing as part of the wider investment into the £1 billion London Cancer Hub in Sutton.
Still, it’s equally clear that we need a framework that enables all players in the regeneration ecosystem to thrive. Leo Shapland, the CEO of the Kings Cross Group, noted this first and foremost in his comments, and I doubt that anyone present would disagree with his conclusion that stability, clarity and consistency are prerequisites for getting capital to buy into urban regeneration and longer-term investment. Rob Sloper from Landsec complemented those thoughts by highlighting that public officials’ vocal commitment to transformation and a clear vision has been an essential ingredient in maintaining the confidence of the private sector to deploy resources in cities such as Manchester, which is now entering a new phase of reimagining its city centre with Mayfield and other schemes.
The discussion about the form that regeneration will take was also of particular interest to me. We have a long history of successful and somewhat less-than-successful schemes, both of which are informing how we create new places as well as repair existing ones. Concepts such as activated street-fronts and permeability were brought up by multiple panellists as examples of the detail to which schemes are being considered with respect to the human experience, while the success of Canary Wharf in pivoting to become a holistic destination for not only working but also leisure through concerted and strategic investment stood out.
As insurmountable as this converging set of issues can feel, I came away from the session more confident than before, seeing how clearly so many people in various areas of focus in our industry understand what needs to be done and are actively thinking outside of the box to clear these hurdles. What makes London special is that there are so many plans and visions in nearly every form imaginable and so many of us are committed to making them happen. Whether they be crafting a new story for Oxford Street or harnessing the connections provided by HS2 at Old Oak Common, a future shaped by collaboration between public officials, developers, capital partners, institutional anchors and community leaders will make London an even more dynamic city and global leader in a new era of urban regeneration.
