London’s deputy mayor for business and growth said the capital’s real estate industry is overdue praise, as a new plan for economic expansion was mapped out.
At an event launching the London Property Alliance’s Good Growth for Central London report, Howard Dawber championed the “heroic” role of real estate in the UK’s economy and called for it to be given more recognition.
“We believe that it’s time to be celebrating London’s built environment professionals, from architects and developers to property agents to environmental consultants,” said Dawber, who spent almost 20 years at Canary Wharf Group.
“You guys build everything people love, from the art galleries to the homes to workplaces. If it wasn’t for you, it wouldn’t happen.”
But he added: “People never see a hero property developer. If you grew up like me in the 1980s and you watched The A-Team and Knight Rider, there was never a heroic property developer. They were always trying to buy the family farm and needed to be stopped. But there is something heroic about the role.”
Dawber set an intention to collaborate with the industry and help it grow, with the aim of attracting young talent in the process.
“If you go into a school today and say, ‘Who wants to be a quantity surveyor?’, you won’t get a lot of people raising their hands. Most of them probably won’t know what it is. And yet there are some amazing jobs and amazing careers there. We want to inspire the next generation to get involved in the built environment.”
Dawber’s speech kicked off an event focused on the LPA report, which highlighted the benefits of “balanced” pro-growth planning policy.
He praised the timeliness of the report, considering the recent election of the Labour government – even if the unexpected general election did somewhat disrupt his plans.
“My plan was to spend summer relaxing somewhere properly on a beach, thinking great thoughts, assimilating lots of important reports, and producing something around about November to time with the election of a new government,” Dawber said. “But that has not – unfortunately – turned out to be what happened.”
Nonetheless, Dawber said unanimity among decision makers and business leaders enabled him to work fast and recommendations for a new London growth plan have already been sent to the government. He said that, if enacted, these would empower local government through ongoing devolution and encourage collaboration with central government.
“I don’t think I’m giving anything away by saying that the most exciting potential bits of devolution are where central government just stops treating London like a pariah and becomes more collaborative,” he said, criticising the past administration for discouraging foreign businesses from settling in London in the name of “levelling up”.
“If they stopped doing that sort of thing and became, dare I say it, a little bit boring, a little bit predictable, a little bit dependable, that will make a massive difference to London. That will help us go much further.”
Get it right and London has an opportunity to become “the capital city of planet Earth”, Dawber said, “one of those great cities where the world comes to do business”.
The new mayoral plan would focus on issues, including the need for more energy investment; social and affordable housebuilding; access to opportunities to upskill or retrain; support for growing businesses beyond the start-up level; and transport infrastructure.
This could create 150,000 new jobs, environmental and economic sustainability, and geographically inclusive development across London, Dawber added.
He said the real estate sector has a key role in delivering growth.
“Really, it is all down to you guys in this room and the business community more widely in delivering growth – and we really understand that,” he said. “We want to create and deliver the plan in partnership with you.”
The LPA’s report, produced with consultancy Arup, argued that a growth-oriented planning policy could unlock 407,000 jobs and 55.7m sq ft of commercial floorspace in central London by 2045, worth £101bn to the economy.
Charles Begley, chief executive of the LPA, said: “It is highly encouraging that the new government is putting planning reform at the heart of its agenda for growth.
“Our analysis lays bare the profound impact of planning decisions on growth, particularly in relation to attracting investment to ensure buildings are sustainable and fit for purpose.”
Photo © Christina Solomons
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