Place Podcast

Accelerating the delivery of buildings of all shapes and sizes is imperative if our towns and cities are to thrive and a piece of software developed by VU.CITY is doing just that. 

Claire Locke, commercial director at VU.CITY, sat down with Place North West senior reporter Dan Whelan to explain how Site Solve, the firm’s generative design tool, works. 

They were joined by Dave Lee, director at Clarion Housing Group, who talked about how the tool is helping the housing association’s development arm Latimer streamline its processes. 

Constant tinkering with the planning system and a volatile economic landscape are two of the biggest issues contributing to the housing crisis. That was the view of Winkworth Sherwood partners Colette McCormack and Lindsay Garrett, who discussed the sector’s challenges during Housing 2023. 

McCormack and Garrett were joined by Jackie Sadek, director at Urban Strategy and a former government advisor, to reflect on a frank and honest discussion with industry leaders that law firm Winckworth Sherwood hosted during the Chartered Institute for Housing’s annual conference. 

On this episode of the Place North West podcast, hosted by senior reporter Dan Whelan, the participants discussed the industry’s biggest gripes, why the planning system should be left alone, and what the future of housing delivery might look like. 

Replacing Section 106 contributions with a single community infrastructure levy could severely impact the delivery of discounted homes, according to Rob Loughenbury, director of strategy at Onward Homes.

Hosted by Place North West senior reporter Dan Whelan, this podcast delves into the implications of scrapping S106, and the continued politicisation of the planning system, and offers up solutions that might better support the affordable housing sector.

Having completed one of London’s smartest office buildings in recent years, MiddleCap’s innovations director Miloš Halečka dives into how his team puts tech at the heart of development.

Southworks, MiddleCap’s first development in the UK, completed in 2021, bringing 70,000 sq ft of tech-enabled, BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ office space to the market. Now, the developer is looking ahead to its second UK project – Seal House – which aims to push the boundaries of tech even further.

Sharry's country manager for the US and Canada, Kevin Wilhelm and LinkedIn's senior director & head of global design and build, Victor Sanchez, join Paul Unger, editor of PlaceTech, to discuss... What do we mean by workplace experience?

Kevin, Victor and Paul delve into the trends, what clients want and how software can support the workplace experience.

Gecina is a French real estate company which owns and operates €20bn of real estate assets, 97% of which are located in the Paris region.

Takeaways

• ‘When we are at the beginning of the journey the most difficult part is spreading the innovation mindset, framework, and skills across the organisation’
• ‘The challenge is to deploy innovation at scale through our portfolio in operation where it makes sense’
• ‘Data management is the next big revolution for real estate. If you look at other industries and benchmarks you can easily realise that real estate is quite behind on this transformation’
• ‘The problem is not about technology, which is already available. The difficulty is the upskilling we have to do to be able to produce value with data’

Ever thought about growing leafy greens in your basement? On this episode of the Place North West podcast, Chris Bowie-Hill of Hydrock and Chris Lloyd of Glenbrook discuss new and interesting ways to generate income from retail assets.

From dark kitchens and last mile logistics to battery storage and EV charging, there are countless ways in which surplus space in a single building or entire shopping park can be used to increase a property’s money-making potential.

As retail declines and the high street continues to change, landlords are looking at how they can maximise their assets in a way that responds to societal and environmental shifts.

Get inside the US National Association of Realtors’s property tech ventures with Dan Weisman, director of emerging tech trends; Natasha Terinova, director of accelerator programme Reach UK; and Tyler Thompson, managing partner of its investment fund Second Century Ventures.

With 1.3m members, the NAR is the largest trade organisation in the US. On this episode you can hear how a 100-year-old organisation got into digital transformation and its significant progress to date.

One of the leading players in ESG data for real estate globally, Matt Ellis was a sustainability adviser at CBRE before he set up Measurabl in 2013.

Craig O’Donnell, group innovation director of the global property developer, talks to Paul Unger about future-proofing businesses and testing out new ideas.

Hear invaluable insight from directors Michael Tsourounis and Roger Poirier of Toronto-headquartered Hazelview Investments, exploring their dual approach to backing the right tech solutions and embedding them across the group’s portfolio.

In this PlaceTech podcast, Tanguy Quero, investment principal at JLL, and Kingma Ma, head of UK at venture capital firm Proptech1, join Paul Unger to delve into the relationships between venture capital firms and their property investment partners.

In this episode, Copper Consultancy director Annabel John and strategic director Tom Morrison break down the intricacies of effective public consultation. They share key mistakes to avoid and outline best practices.

The episode even looks at a consultation in practice – examining Copper Consultancy’s work with HyNet and how the company has turned a complex topic into something the public can easily engage with.

The rise of life sciences and biotech has put a premium on laboratory space. In this episode, Fairhursts Design Group managing director Mark Adey and director Laura Sherliker walk us through the ins and outs of crafting commercial science spaces, breaking down key things you’ll need to know as well as sharing lessons learned from past projects – including the award-winning GlaxoSmithKline Centre for Sustainable Chemistry in Nottingham.

David Hodges, director of eco-i, Phil Marsden, director of project management at Muse and James Thomas, head of smart buildings and technologies at Wates, join PlaceTech deputy editor, Karl Tomusk, to share experience and advice on getting a building ready for smart-status.

Alan Robson and Max Meadows of Project Four Construction Safety joined Julia Hatmaker, deputy editor at Place North West, to discuss, in depth, the latest on the building safety bill.

Marcus Ginn, founder and CEO of Edozo, joins Paul Unger, editor of PlaceTech, to discuss the problems Edozo sets out to solve within the property industry, trends within the market, Edozo's product roadmap, why they have joined the Reach UK Accelerator Programme, and much more.

In this episode of the PlaceTech Podcast, Tom Willcock, director of innovation at Hollis, joins PlaceTech editor Paul Unger for a quick-fire walkthrough of some of the biggest trends in real estate innovation.

In this special PlaceTech podcast episode, Jeremy Hinds, planning director at Savills, joins Paul Unger, editor of PlaceTech, to talk about how predicted weather patterns and changes in climate will shape how we plan and design our future cities.

As we push for sustainable development, more and more attention is being paid to building materials. Stephanie Palmer, head of sustainability at Wienerberger UK joins Place North West to talk about brick's green credentials as well as what the company is doing to mitigate its carbon footprint.

Do heritage properties help or hinder efforts to revitalise a community? In the latest Place North West podcast, we zoom in on Rochdale to see how history is shaping the future.

Rochdale Development Agency heritage director Emma Birkett and Donald Insall Associates director Simon Malam share how they’re tackling the challenges of heritage-led regeneration and the rewards such projects bring.

The UK’s electrical grid infrastructure is in dire need of an dire upgrade if the country is going to meet its renewable energy goals by 2035, says Pegasus Group in the latest Place North West podcast episode.

Building more wind and solar farms can only go so far when it comes to transforming the nation’s energy system. Without the proper infrastructure in place, we cannot truly maximise the potential of clean energy. So how bad is the issue?

We recruited experts from Pegasus Group, senior director Simon Tarr and senior acquisition surveyor Ben Thompson, to find out.

On this episode of Place North West’s COP26 podcast series, HBD and Cundall discuss why some developers are taking it upon themselves to get ahead of the curve in terms of sustainability, while government legislation on the issue lags behind.

Lee Treanor, director at HDB, and Paul Kenyon, partner at multi-disciplinary practice Cundall, also explore how the term ‘net zero’ is being used and misused and what more can be done to help people tell fact from fiction when claims about a building’s carbon credentials are made.

Could a single, formalised framework like Nabers provide the development community a clearer, more defined path towards net zero? Will brown discounts and green premiums become a reality in the future as many predict?

Healthcare developer Assura delves into the challenges it faces in creating sustainable medical facilities, and how it's overcoming them, in this episode of our COP26 podcast series.

By their nature, healthcare properties are energy-hungry with their need to support specialist equipment at all times. So how can we construct new facilities in a way that helps the UK meet its net zero carbon goals?

We recruited Assura chief executive officer Jonathan Murphy and senior development manager Ashley Seymour to share what they’re doing to craft sustainable buildings.

Electric vehicles are on the rise as the UK pushes for net zero, which means more and more EV charging stations are needed. But before you add an EV charging unit to your scheme you need to answer two very important questions:

• How will it be powered?
• Where will it go?

Pegasus executive director and environmental planner Andrew Cook delves into each question to propose solutions that will help your scheme maximise its sustainability credentials.

Engineering consulting firm WSP delves into the ins and outs of retrofitting beyond just housing, tackling how commercial projects need to get on board to help the UK meet its net zero ambitions in this episode of Place North West’s COP26 podcast series.

Given that 80% of the buildings that will exist in 2050 are already built, retrofitting is no longer an option but a necessity. Kate Dougherty, WSP’s head of net zero and sustainability for building services, gives a crash course on best practices for retrofitting.

Regenerating brownfield sites surrounding transport infrastructure is the key topic in this podcast with Rochdale Council and Broadway Malyan.

As we push for more brownfield developments, creating communities around areas like train stations seems like a no-brainer. Using the Rochdale Rail Corridor as a jumping-off point, Broadway Malyan’s Danny Crump and Rochdale Council’s cabinet member for economy Cllr John Blundell give a crash course on maximising the potential of these transport infrastructure hotspots.

In this episode, we explore the ways in which public authorities are working towards Greater Manchester’s net-zero carbon target of 2038 and hear about the drivers and the challenges involved.

To discuss this our host Paul Unger was joined by Sarah Holland, programme and policy lead for energy at Greater Manchester Combined Authority; Dmitri Korolenko, lead sustainability & physics engineer at SI Sealy; and by Matt Pickford, technical director at SI Sealy.

As the impacts of climate change worsen, it’s more important than ever that we try and build in a sustainable fashion. Civic Engineers directors Paul Morris and James Bruce share how engineers can help projects boost biodiversity and reduce carbon footprints.

Civic Engineers is a civil, structural and transport engineering practice focused on having a positive impact on the environment and enabling people to lead happier and healthier lives. Its 135-strong team delivers projects that help to create and transform buildings, neighbourhoods, and cities, bringing significant economic, social, and environmental benefits to those places for all that live, work, and visit there.

There are concerns within the social housing sector about how they will afford technologies such as air source heat pumps and if tenants will accept them.

And while housing associations go about putting plans together for retrofitting programmes that could cost hundreds of millions of pounds, private homeowners need to be encouraged to do more to make their homes fit for the future.

In this episode, Laura Dunlop, founder of GLD Technical Consulting, and Sandy Livingstone, executive director of property at Onward Homes, discuss what solutions are available to housing associations and private homeowners alike, and the financial implications of such interventions.

Bruntwood Works is aiming to create the first carbon neutral commercial building in the country. In this latest episode of Place North West’s Cop26 podcast series, we ask how it can be done and, more importantly, if it can be replicated at scale.

The UK Green Building Council is pushing for all buildings to be net-zero by 2050. If the development community is going to achieve that, a blueprint on how to create truly sustainable new-build offices needs to be worked up.

As one of the country’s largest landlord/developers, Bruntwood is hoping to play a key role in creating that blueprint, and sharing its knowledge.

Wind energy is the future of sustainable power, so how can we maximise its potential? Pegasus Group executive planning director Chris Calvert and environment director Dale Turner join Julia Hatmaker to weigh in on the opportunities and obstacles surrounding wind energy in this episode of Place North West’s COP26 podcast series.

In this latest episode of Place North West’s COP26 podcast series, TLT legal director Joseph Meredith takes us through the nuanced world of landlord/tenant relationships in the net-zero era.

The drive for net-zero is not going away and there are thousands of commercial buildings across the country that need to be brought in line with changing legislation and expectations.

But who should foot the bill for this work, those who own the buildings or those who use them?