Seminars
A selection of interactive seminar sessions, providing an opportunity for delegates to explore distinct aspects of key importance to the Sustainable Communities agenda, showcasing best practice examples of innovation in delivery:
Seminar A: Sponsored by CBRE
Working Together: The Role of Private Sector Finance in Delivering Sustainable Communities
Sarah Whitney, Executive Director (Real Estate Finance), CB Richard Ellis
Visions for Sustainable Communities are all too easy to formulate, but they become rhetoric in the absence of delivery. Our communities are desperate for more affordable homes – and they must be delivered in a sustainable manner. Substantial investment programmes are going to be required to deliver anything like the numbers of targeted new homes we need in this country.
We can no longer look to just public sector funding to provide the long term committed funds to deliver these visions – we need to increasingly look at the introduction of private sector funds along side public sector money. This is now very much on the Government’s agenda (both the Sub-National Review and the Green Paper refer to new public/private funding vehicles), and we now need to focus on what needs to be done to bring these vehicles to fruition.
This seminar will focus on the range of vehicles that are currently being developed (local asset-backed vehicles, infrastructure funds, and local housing companies) and will consider the impact these funding routes can have on the deliverability of Sustainable Communities.
Seminar B: Sponsored by BDP Seminar C: Sponsored by BPF
Seminar D: Sponsored by ERM
Making the Right Decisions: Climate Change, Regeneration and Land Development
Geraint Bowden, Principal Consultant, ERM
From flooding to carbon footprinting, a range of new factors need to be taken into account in land development and regeneration projects. This will be an interactive session where professionals can share experiences and ideas on how carbon and climate change are influencing investment and development decisions on large scale regeneration and land development projects.
The session will be led by speakers from ERM who will talk about their experiences on large scale projects. Key points to be addressed include: Environmental Resources Management (ERM) is one of the world’s leading providers of environmental consulting services. We have 120 offices in 40 countries and employ over 3,000 staff. We are committed to providing a service that is consistent, professional and of the highest quality. We deliver innovative solutions for leading business and government clients, assisting them in managing their environmental and related risks. ERM provides strategic advice to many of the parties engaged in regeneration including public sector bodies, industrial property owners, developers and investors.
ERM’s approach is based upon integration of the multiple factors and stakeholder perspectives that influence the successful delivery of regeneration schemes. As an all-environmental consultant, we advocate a holistic approach to sustainable development, focussed upon social and economic criteria as well as environmental and resource benefits.
Key Services in Regeneration
Carbon Footprinting
Corporate Social Responsibility
Decommissioning, Decontamination & Demolition
Ecological survey and risk assessment
Environmental Compliance and Permitting
Environmental Construction Management
Environmental Impact Assessment
Environmental Management Systems
Environmental Planning and MasterplanninG
Health Impact Assessment
Regulatory Impact Assessment
Renewable Energy
Site Investigation and Remediation
Socio-Economic Evaluation
Stakeholder and Community Engagement
Strategic Environmental Assessment
Sustainability Advice and Assessment
Waste Management and Life Cycle Analyses
Seminar E: Sponsored by Westfield
Seminar F: Sponsored by Making Places
Making Places sustainable - the challenges of delivering sustainable communities. The panel will comprise of:
Chair – Jo Smit Editor Regenerate Magazine.
David Cowans – Chief Executive, Places for People
David Shaw – Development director, Places for People
Peter Nelson – Managing Director, Cofton
Tim Williams – Director, Navigant Consulting, ex-special advisor to David Milliband
David Lock – Chair TCPA
A persons prospects in terms of education, health and employment are inextricably linked to the environment in which they live, and creating places that are not sustainable, will only generate the social problems of the future.
But delivering truly sustainable communities is a major challenge for developers, and we need to look at how we can identify sites for development, speed up the planning process and facilitate their development.
It has been argued that mono-tenure housing has led to increased problems with antisocial behaviour, worklessness, and overcrowding and social deprivation. The industry need to be developing models that have a mix of housing tenures that people aspire to, and are comfortable living in.
We need to be providing a range of housing options to attract a mix of residents to a community and ensuring people have access to the financial products that will enable to take up these options, giving people real choice as to where they live.
It is generally accepted that the planning process is overly bureaucratic, and we need to speed this process up, and align the planning for necessary infrastructure to ensure it comes on line when necessary.
Providing the infrastructure to allow communities to grow is vital, and the provision of decent transport links, retail facilities, health centres, schools and higher education facilities is vital and facilitate the creation of a mix of employment within our communities. The role of developers in providing and managing some infrastructure is also an increasingly important issues.
And all of this has to be done whilst working toward stringent Government environmental targets, which will only be met by working together and sharing best practice to develop new technologies.
The challenge for us all is how to fund and deliver and manage sustainable communities of the future.
Making Places Making Places is a unique partnership formed to create high-quality new places, which are environmentally, socially and economically sustainable. Places where people and their families can prosper. The joint venture company will procure and prepare land for large-scale, complex developments; providing energy-efficient homes within sustainable communities.
Making Places is a joint venture between Places for People and Cofton. Cofton's expertise is in identifying and purchasing land, negotiating the planning process and providing essential infrastructure. This will compliment Places for People's experience of developing and managing mixed-tenure, mixed-use communities.
Making Places is capable of funding and delivering large-scale and complex developments within the UK. Significant funds are available for immediate land acquisition.
Seminar G: Sponsored by RENEW
Developing Leadership and Skills to Deliver Sustainable Communities: the Northwest Experience
Phil Barton, Director, RENEW Northwest
It is the aim of this seminar to showcase work pioneered by RENEW Northwest, and to provide delegates with the opportunity to learn from innovative programmes that bring together those charged with delivering regeneration and renewal from across sectors, professions and locations to learn together, share good practice and develop leadership skills.
Examples will be drawn from a diverse range of projects and programmes in the region championed or supported by RENEW Northwest, and will illustrate the innovation of individuals and organisations from all sectors in the Northwest and their commitment to delivering sustainable communities.
RENEW Northwest is the Regional Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Communities and a member of the Sustainable Communities Excellence Network, an alliance of the eight Regional Centres of Excellence established throughout England. The Network works together to equip people, partnerships and leaders with the skills and knowledge to create great places.
Seminar H: Sponsored by WWF
Sustainable Communities - The Place for Change
Rod Sterne, Director, Cities and Communities team, WWF-UK
Environmental change is a political process, often driven or bounded by power relations and economic considerations. Policy and regulation alone won’t create the level of change required if we are to achieve radical changes in lifestyles and consumption. We need different approaches to change; approaches that build capacity and resilience within communities to embrace or help create a sustainable future. WWF believes that we need to work with communities in the UK because:
- change needs to happen in the places where we live, and in the way we live our lives;
- we all need to take responsibility for the effects of modern lifestyles on the planet;
- we need to work together so change can happen in sustainable ways;
- we need to work with real people to find workable solutions to the environmental issues that affect us all;
- we need to measure the changes and provide opportunities for people to share their successes, so that we all feel – and know – that we are making a difference.
In this seminar, WWF’s Head of Cities and Communities will explore with participants the relationship between government policy and practice, and the role of citizen action in the creation of sustainable communities. If ‘community’ is the place for change – how can we best work together and what can we learn from each other?
WWF
The mission of WWF – the global environment network – is to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment, and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving endangered species, protecting habitats, and addressing global threats.
Founded in 1961, WWF is active in more than 90 countries and has been instrumental in making the environment a matter of world concern. In addition to funding and managing conservation projects worldwide, WWF conducts research, and works with governments and policy-makers, educators, communities and business to find long-term solutions to the environmental challenges we face.