Event Summary
MIPIM | Exploring the ‘how’ of delivering regeneration visions
Stronger partnerships, being willing to take more risks, and adopting off-site manufacturing at scale were all posited as ways the North can deliver better schemes at pace at a Place North panel session on the UK Stage at MIPIM.
The discussion, which feature public and private sector leaders explored how the North’s town and cities can become magnets for development and investment.
From left: Wigan Council’s Aidan Thatcher; Salford City Council’s John Searle; Gateshead Council’s Anneliese Hutchinson; Place North’s Dan Whelan as chair; Trafford Council’s Cllr Tom Ross; WSP’s Dale Sinclair; igloo Regeneration’s Insiyah Khushnood
The recurring theme of the discussion was partnership. Salford City Council’s director of place John Searle explained how the city’s new regeneration forum would speed up development and forge strong relationships with the private sector.
“We are trying to move away from the procurement word, the nasty ‘P’ word, into partnership, and partnership is the way you deliver long-term growth, long-term vision,” he said.
In the first instance, the forum features Muse and Peel Land, with whom Salford have worked with closely for decades. However, Searle said the plan is to add more developers to the mix down the line.
“The idea is to start rolling this out to some of the bigger players so that we can really quantify that delivery,” he said.
Dale Sinclair, WSP’s head of innovation, explained WSP’s kit-of-parts approach to construction. The vision is to move construction off buildings off-site and into factories. The thinking is that this could solve a myriad of problems including limiting the disruption traditional construction projects have on local areas, speeding up delivery through standardisation, and the creation of jobs in the manufacturing facilities themselves.
Sinclair appreciates this would be a fundamental shift for the industry but is convinced of its efficacy.
Some people think this is the future of how we’re going to construct buildings and other people are quite reticent,” he said.
“It’s not the faint hearted but we are seeing the mindset shift that’s needed to move industry into a much cleaner, greener future.”
From a private sector developer perspective, Igloo Regeneration’s senior development manager Insiyah Khushnood had a simple request.
“I think the private sector needs funding to be perfectly honest,” she said.
“We all recognize that to create really good places there’s a gap in viability, and without that being supported by the public sector, it is really hard for the private sector to motor on.”
Anneliese Hutchinson, strategic director for economy, innovation and growth at Gateshead Council, agreed.
“As a local authority, you probably need to be less risk averse and less paternalistic, allowing everybody to play their part,” she said.
Hutchinson added that simplification of the planning system would be welcome.
“We need to make sure planning sticks to the knitting. What’s happened over a number of years, for good reason, is that things have been added on to the system. What we need to do is get back to basics.”
Aidan Thatcher, director of place at Wigan Council, said making publicly-owned land assets work as hard as possible is key to unlocking opportunities for development and “deliver growth”.
“If you’re using your assets which then allows you to recycle that money into the future, you’re going to create a platform which continues that growth further on,” he said.
He gave the example of the interventionist approach Wigan has taken to deliver infrastructure needed to free up land.
“We’ve had a long, long ambition to have a new east-west link road across the borough,” he said.
“The road has now been delivered, which Thatcher said has “pump primed” nearby land.
“We’ve now got the site called Westwood Park, which is out to market.”
The plan is to sell that land and recycle the capital receipt to pay for further regeneration.
Cllr Tom Ross, Leader of Trafford Council, is determined that his authority can play an instrumental role in the delivery of the regeneration of Old Trafford and the surrounding 300-acre Wharfside area.
“As we look ahead with our strategic partners we will be looking to support the regeneration of that area,” he said.
“We have a housing crisis in Trafford so it is a huge opportunity for us to see significant houses in the area.”
