THE FUTURE OF REAL ESTATE: Rarely do anthropologists feature in property conferences, but as EG’s Future of Real Estate Summit found yesterday, it might be time for the industry to start collaborating with them.
Linda Thiel, director of development at Sweden-based architecture firm White Arkitekter (main image), was one of many panellists who made the case for developers to understand culture in placemaking. “Culture is what makes a place make sense to people,” she said. “It’s what makes us feel coherent in a place.”
The firm employs in-house architects who work on understanding what different communities want from their cities and what their unique features are. Thiel said: “It’s healthy to work with someone outside the box of what we do on a daily basis.”
Understanding culture ultimately has business benefits. John Griffiths, director of development at Savills, said: “It has as much to do about space as the buildings themselves. You want to draw people in. You draw people in, you create communities.” People who have a sense of community and a connection with that space are more likely to continue living there and spend money. The long-term success of development projects depends on them.
Asked whether investors appreciate the importance of culture despite its “wooliness”, Griffiths said: “Why wouldn’t the private sector embrace that? There’s nothing to lose and there’s an awful lot to gain.”
In Belfast, for example, Game of Thrones has led to a “renaissance”, Eimear Henry, culture regeneration manager at Belfast City Council, said. The city’s connection with the TV series, which is filmed there, has reignited the tourism industry and strengthened Belfast’s global presence and brand.
However, Henry warned that there are dangers. “The risk with cultural regeneration is that we’re terribly attracted to looking at what other people have and thinking ‘I want one of those.’” She said that culture-led developments that work need to take into consideration what makes the local area unique and what complements it. Nick Fleming, partner at SimpsonHaugh, later added: “Cities need to have people who live there and take ownership of that place – otherwise cities become generic and all become the same. People like to be proud of the city they live in.”
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In an earlier panel, John Tatham, senior director at GVA Investment Partners, alluded to the same issue, referring to his work on regenerating Bermondsey Square, SE1. When looking for a hotel for the area, Tatham said a brand such as Travelodge would have provided the strongest covenant, but it would not have fitted the area in the way a niche operator would have.
“Blood and sweat” was needed to convince investors that a niche operator without a strong covenant – alongside a community cinema that initially sold three tickets on a Saturday – would benefit the project more than a tried-and-tested brand such as Travelodge, Tatham said. But they were vindicated by the cohesiveness of the final product.
“Bermondsey Square became a success because we broke some of the rules,” he said.
Opportunity through collaboration
Continuing the theme of collaboration that ran through the event, Tatham argued that the North of England has an opportunity from public-private partnerships gravitating away from London’s local authorities that are perceived to be anti-development.
He said: “We’re seeing a bit of a trend in London where it’s difficult to get the private sector to get engaged. There is a suspicion of local authorities.
“There’s a huge opportunity for the North to open its doors and work with institutions that are turned off by London at the minute.”
But developers should not be suspicious of the government, Tom Venner, commercial development director for HS2, argued. “Don’t be afraid to look at government – whether it’s local, regional or national – to collaborate with to unlock your development. The agenda for economic growth at all levels of government is really high.”
Jim Taylor, chief executive of Salford City Council, agreed, saying that the success of MediaCity UK took “some public intervention to get going”, with the council intervening and subsidising the Metrolink development to make Salford accessible.
The challenge in collaboration, however, is ensuring that the partners have shared goals. “The objectives might not be the same, but they must be aligned,” Venner added. Otherwise, the project will end up stalling or collapsing altogether. But if those goals are aligned, the potential benefits go beyond the development itself.
In Croydon, Matthew McMillan, development director of Boxpark, worked with the local council to bring an active grade-A office market to the area. Instead of purely developing offices, the partners took one phase of the 1.5m sq ft scheme out and turned it into a Boxpark retail instillation.
McMillan said: “Putting something vibrant and vital right in the middle of a commercial district was really important to making the rest of that commercial district work.”
Since the development in 2015, vacancy in the Croydon office market has fallen from 700,000 sq ft to less than 100,000 sq ft. Although McMillan said the shift is not purely because of Boxpark, the company was part of a successful collaboration whose shared goal was to “give a new story to Croydon”.
A challenge for the industry
Several of the panels touched on the problem that a danger of regeneration is that it benefits only a portion of the community.
Adam Ramshaw, regional director in Birmingham and East Midlands at Lambert Smith Hampton, said developers tend to focus too heavily on the millennial market, adding that previous generations are still active at work and need to be targeted. Beyond that, cities need to have opportunities for everyone, “that there is a choice for everybody, whether they’re earning £15,000 a year or £150,000 a year”.
In Liverpool, for example, Sue Grindrod, chief executive of Royal Albert Dock Liverpool, said there is “a bit of a disconnect” between the waterfront and the local people, and the challenge is to make the area relevant to people in the city. Part of that is because of the social and economic divide in Liverpool, a city that needs 46,000 more people in work to meet the national average, according to Tracy Fishwick, managing director of Transform Lives Company and People’s Powerhouse.
Colin Sinclair, chief executive of Knowledge Quarter Liverpool, set out the challenge at the final panel of the day: “How do you make brilliant places, making people’s lives better, creating employment, but how do you get that to impact on all of society in that city?
“I don’t think anyone’s really cracked it yet.”
What are the ingredients for a successful city?
■ Cultural diversity and artistic integrity – “People don’t want to live in a soulless place. If you want to create and invest in a successful place, those are vital ingredients.” – Mike Harris, director of growth at Southampton City Council
■ Focus on little things that matter to people – “All places should aim to deliver the same things – Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – people feeling safe and secure, having shelter and being well-fed. And wi-fi is very important in Maslow’s hierarchy. It is simple things.” – Beverley Chuchill, co-founder and chief executive of Churchill Husband
■ Don’t invest in tech for the sake of tech – “You’ve really got to get under the hood of the city and see what’s happening and what really matters within your own city. Those who think it’s just about throwing a load of technology and hoping something works will rarely ever be smart.” – James Noakes, mayoral lead for energy and smart city at Liverpool City Council
■ Getting transport right – “Everyone can think of a horrible place they’ve been and why it’s horrible. It’s often about transport. While it’s not everything, it can break a place when it doesn’t work.” – Laura Shoaf, managing director, Transport for West Midlands
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