What Next For London?

Zoe Haseman, Vice President Global Sustainability at Jacobs, talked to Laura Osborne and David Lutton about the shape of a green recovery for the capital, how we can accelerate the drive to Net Zero and the importance of a just transition that tackles inequality.

Laura Osborne spoke to Liam Harrison, Market Director at Atkins, about the future of devolution, funding infrastructure and the role of cities, as we look ahead to recovery. Liam shared his experiences and insights into decision making close to the community, and highlighted the need for a more rounded approach to procurement in the future.

London First's Dr David Lutton speaks with Claire Sherwin, the Global Head of Talent Acquisition, People Services and Technology at Finastra and Leslie Benson, the Senior Managing Director in the Strategic Communications group at FTI Consulting, on the future of work.

Sarah Bentley, new CEO of Thames Water, joins Laura Osborne and Daniel Mahoney to discuss the future of the sector, its response to CV-19 and why infrastructure is in Sarah's DNA. From opening up wetlands to the public through to the balance of resilience and price rises, Sarah talks about the importance of putting customers front of mind.

We interviewed Ian Stewart, Deloitte's Chief Economist, on the UK's economic prospects, where to find the light at the end of the tunnel and the approach we should take to recovery. From the lessons of the Thatcher years, through to the prospect of higher rates of unemployment via the balance between austerity and tax rises, we covered a lot of ground.

Laura Osborne and David Lutton spoke to Robin about his experience leading 50,000 staff through the pandemic and what it has taught him about innovation, motivation and dynamism. He shares the different experiences of his customers across sectors, his take on recovery and what we can learn from the approaches taken in other global cities.

We spoke to John Batten, Global Cities Director at Arcadis, to get his take on the future of major global capitals, how they've responded to the pandemic and the new opportunities to live and work differently that are emerging. He joined us from Lisbon but with insights from Milan, New York, London, Paris, Amsterdam and more. From road pricing to vertical forests, we covered a lot of extremely topical ground.

Apex Airspace CEO Ash Bhatti and London First CEO Jasmine Whitbread talk about the role of innovation in solving London's housing crisis, how airspace development can help the capital's councils make the most of their estates and why the next Mayor needs to keep housing delivery front of mind during the CV-19 recovery.

This week, we are joined by Sir Charles Bowman and Sunil Patel, both partners at PwC, to talk about the urgent need to focus on reskilling and upskilling, which has been made even more urgent in the COVID-19 context. They share lessons from around the globe with Mark Hilton and Laura Osborne, making a clear case for a skills-led recovery across the UK.

Zoe Humphries, Director at AECOM, and Mathieu Proust, General Manager at WeWork, talk to David Lutton and Laura Osborne about the future of office. From interactive studio space, through to the value of a human connection, they discuss why rumours that the office is dead are premature and what the future of office design needs to look like to bring people back to physical collaboration spaces.