Bristol’s first elected mayor, George Ferguson, is a ball of energy. He is a rapid talker and oozes confidence and charm, like a red trouser-wearing Boris Johnson. He seems at complete ease speaking in public, whether it is at an investors’ forum in London or on the Bristol stand at MIPIM.
It is easy to see how he ended up as a co-presenter on Channel 4’s Demolition programme back in 2005 and it explains the lack of visible nerves when we sat down to talk at the Cannes property show last month with a BBC TV film crew recording his every move.
Bristolians voted for, and got, to all intents and purposes, a leader. It is only early days in his tenure as mayor but he is already making a mark, being credited with turning the council away from a potentially expensive property decision (see feature, p72) and regulating when elections are held.
What is evident is that the 66-year-old architect and former RIBA president is a persuasive force. He has the ability to make you believe he can achieve great things for Bristol, which is a good thing because Ferguson wants to change hearts and minds. He wants Bristolians to love Bristol.
“I want everyone to feel pride in the city because that is essential,” he says.
Probably more surprising to those living in what is essentially an affluent southern city is that he believes lessons can be learnt from the north. He says: “I want to combine Bristol’s natural assets with the determination of a northern city.”
Ferguson has known Manchester council’s chief executive, Sir Howard Bernstein, for 10 years and the latter’s achievements with regeneration and economic development are near legend. Ferguson flirted with politics back in the 1970s, becoming Bristol’s first elected Liberal councilor, but has relinquished his political ties to take up the mayoral job.
There are not many who would disagree that politics have, at times, been a hindrance to the city’s development. Planning has not been a strong point, with some developers shying away from investing in the city because the process had become too hit and miss.
It is hoped that the mayor’s independent status will enable him to cut through the political red tape. His will have an open door policy for developers and investors, he says.
It was a policy that was tested earlier this year. At an investor forum in London, James Scott, managing director of Commercial Estates Group, which has planning permission for a £50m office scheme in the city centre, challenged the mayor over what he perceived as a lack of involvement with potential investors. In a Q&A after the presentation, Scott pointed out that he had made several attempts to have conversations with the mayor’s office and LEP but had been met with silence.
“I’ve got planning permission for 200,000 sq ft and George Ferguson and Colin Skellet [chair of the local enterprise partnership] don’t know who I am,” he said afterwards.
Difficult to resolve
It was something that was quickly rectified but Scott’s second challenge to the mayor will be more difficult to resolve – that of attracting businesses to fill CEG’s office space and that of other developers who have plans in the city (see feature, p63).
If Ferguson takes anything away from Manchester’s success, it must surely be in marketing itself to attract new businesses. The northern city has invested in public/private agency Marketing Manchester to sell the city on the world stage, while Bristol’s spending on similar marketing is minimal.
Regenerating the city centre and getting big office schemes off the ground is not going to happen to any great degree with a churn of existing occupiers.
The city has rested on its laurels and Ferguson is acutely aware of that. “I no longer want to hear that Manchester does it better,” he says.
The city’s office agents are, initially at least, warmer to what the mayor might achieve – his property background helps.
Martin Booth of Knight Frank comments: “The mayor is very energetic and has clear ideas. If the political parties don’t stand in his way he will take Bristol on a path and a very fast moving path.”
Ferguson has given himself what he calls a 2020 vision, based on seven-and-a-half years in office, should he get re-elected in 2016. Key to that is better housing – he is talking to investors and the housing minister about how that might be achieved – and a better sense of having arrived in the city.
Anyone who has taken the train to Bristol Temple Meads from London will be familiar with the derelict, graffiti-daubed, former Royal Mail sorting office that greets you.
It has been a blot on the city’s gateway for many years, but Ferguson has already had a conversation with the building’s Thai owner, offering what he describes as “friendly, but firm” advice. And he is prepared to use CPO if progress is not forthcoming.
It would certainly be a very visible achievement should he pull it off, as would the opening of a long-planned arena in the city. Ferguson is hoping to identify an operator in the next few months and then launch an international design competition.
In the meantime, he has set up a property board, which met for the first time the week after MIPIM, to discuss how best to use the council’s property assets. Commercial space aside, Bristol city council is one of the biggest residential landlords in the country with some 28,000 properties. Ferguson sees an opportunity to use that estate creatively – something he will need to do if, by 2016, he is going to get 1,000 affordable homes built a year.
Bristol is a city that for too long has failed to punch its weight, but on energy alone the new mayor appears to be ready to go a few rounds. There is already a renewed air of confidence, but it will be the next few years that determine whether the mayor can translate that into economic and environmental victories.
