Urban Forecast

In this episode we speak to Steve Gilchrist; Project Director at Grosvenor; Author of Steve’s Newsletter and organiser of the Circular Steel Event, which focuses on the current challenges and possible solutions to steel reuse.Steve specialises in sustainability and innovation and his experience in Contracting, Civil/Structural Design and Project Management make him another great guest to talk about how the cities of the future should be designed and which role the Circular Economy will play in the planning process.

In this episode we speak to Steve Smith; Founder and Director of Urban Narrative, which he set up following extensive experience working on large-scale master planning projects across the globe. Urban Narrative specialise in the very first part of a project, which Steve believes is the most important stage; setting the brief. Steve is an expert in urban research and interactive design and his experience working on projects across Europe, Asia and Australia makes him the perfect guest to talk about how the cities of the future should be designed and what matters when working with clients on setting the direction of a project, and how successful projects should be measured. 

In this episode we speak to Mark Hallett; Development Director at Igloo Regeneration, Board of Pobl Group and Non-Executive Director of the Design Commission of Wales.Mark has an incredible track record in housing, development and architecture.His extensive experience in delivering Large Scale Urban Regeneration projects that act as catalysts for wider redevelopment means that he is the perfect guest to discuss what is required to build more Sustainable Cities in the Future.

2022 is the year where Co-living has really established itself as the new kid on the Purpose-Built Rental Sector block.With the end of Covid, and the recognition of the Sector within the New London Plan, investors are looking to Co-living to give them returns that a flat residential market is failing to do.Much of the charge is being led by Halcyon, who spun out of The Collective and have delivered 2 of the projects that were in The Collective’s pipeline at the time when it entered administration.We recently sat down with Harry Manley and Russ Beresford of Halcyon to discuss how they’re pioneering the world of co-living and what it could mean for the cities of the future.Listen to the episode to learn what Russ and Harry think about:How big the opportunity for the sector isWhat the planning context is for delivering schemesHow to build a community that worksWhat the optimum room size isHow the sector can deliver solutions to both the cost of living crisis, and the climate emergency

In this episode we speak to Gaia Vince; Guardian journalist, Scientist, Author, and Broadcaster.Gaia spent 2 years researching her first book, Adventures in the Anthropocene’ by travelling, largely in the global South, witnessing the impact humanity has had on the world.In her latest book ‘Nomad Century’, Gaia sets out how we need to start planning now for the impact of climate change on global migration, as many parts of the world become uninhabitable.“Cities are the answer… by the end of the century, almost everyone will live in cities… and this is a good thing because energy, water… all of these things are more efficient”.This is a fascinating discussion about how we need to plan for a century of upheaval, and what this means for the Built Environment today.

Dan Jestico is Director of Sustainable Design at Savills Earth. In this fascinating episode, Dan shares his key recommendations for how the built environment sector can work towards a net zero world. 

Euan Mills is the Head of Digital Planning at Connected Places Catapult where he co-leads a programme of work looking at how new technology can help us plan cities better. In this episode Euan shares his insights on how digital principals will change the way our cities are planned, built and experienced. 

Today’s guest is Colin Wilson, Head of the Old Kent Road Regeneration team. Colin was working in a Local Aurthority planning department in the 1990s, and was about to give up on planning- he was sick of the adversarial relationship between developers and planners. That was when he applied to the newly formed GLA. During his time at the GLA, Colin worked on the major ‘plan-led’ renegration projects at Nine Elms, Kings Cross, and Old Oak Common. In this podcast he describes how the lessons learned from these projects have translated to his work at Old Kent Road, where 20,000 new homes and 5,000 new jobs are planned. In this wide-ranging discussion, we cover the power of drawings, how beds-and sheds have a future in London, and how to build 20,000 new homes without loosing the sense of a human scale. This podcast is essential listening for anyone who wants to understand the role of the GLA, or is interested in development in Southwark. 

It is well known that the traditional role of the Estate Agent is vanishing, and James Turford is one of those embracing this change. James is one of the co-founders of Nested, an estate agency with a difference - as well as selling the property, they will give the vendor a sizeable advance to allow them to proceed with a purchase when they are stuck in a chain. To do this, James and his team have developed innovative software to value properties, and market the property to the right buyers. In this episode we discuss the pressures and thrills of working in a startup, the potential for prop-tech to disrupt the property industry, and why buy mum doesn’t think Nested is a good idea. 

Today’s guest is Nicole Bremner, director of East Eight - a boutique development company specialising in high quality, design-led homes. However, this introduction does not fully describe Nicole - she is also an entrepreneur, author, mother, and a pioneer in the power of social media to scale up a property business. In this podcast we cover all of these topics and more, including our first  meeting on a yacht in Cannes, the future of crowd-funding, and how her plans for world domination are constantly evolving.