FUTURE CITIES FORUMTM

Image: courtesy APT from CyrusOne's consented hyper-scale data centre project in Ealing, West London on the former Honey Monster food factory site Introduction Future Cities Forum's recent discussion on 'Data Centres - strategy, district integration and sustainability' looked at the impact and opportunities of the growth of data centres in the UK, mainly located in the south of the country near London. Contributors to the discussion were: Leader of Hertsmere Borough Council,

Image: North Manchester General Hospital, courtesy of Sheppard Robson - part of the UK government new hospital programme. Future Cities Forum is releasing its report on the new hospital programme, looking at current projects involved in the programme and reflecting on its gathering of research and contributions to its hospital programme discussions last year which took place at the recently restored spaces at the historic Barts North Wing in London. There has been a recent an

Image: Courtesy of Buro Happold Transport for London's former Advisor and Developer of Clean Energy, Mobility & Infrastructure | Head of Energy & Electrification, Alex Gilbert will be contributing to our 'Data Centres - strategy and sustainability' discussion event this week. With over eight years of experience as Head of Energy & Electrification at Places for London (TfL's Property Company), Alex has lead the curation, commercialisation and delivery of transformative energy

Image: courtesy of MICA Architects MICA's redevelopment of Wolfson Court for St John's College, Cambridge has received planning approval, paving the way for a new generation of sustainable collegiate accommodation within the West Cambridge Conservation Area. Following an invited design competition in 2024, MICA was appointed by St John's College to reimagine the Wolfson Court site, delivering more than 400 student bedrooms in a sustainable, accessible and contextually sensiti

Image: Oxford's Bonn Square, near to Oxford Castle opposite the Queen Street entrance to the Westgate shopping centre Oxford City Council reports that it has secured £1 million of funding from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to continue work developing proposals for inclusive and sustainable growth. This work follows recommendations in the Oxford Growth Commission’s interim report. Future Cities Forum has invited David Butler, Director of Pl

Image: Brabazon city green - courtesy YTL Developments Future Cities Forum is delighted that Seb Loyn, Director of Planning and Development at YTL Developments, will be joining our 'Innovation Cities' forum in October at the University of Bristol's innovation hub next to Temple Meads Station. Having trained in both Architecture and Planning, Seb has spent a career at some of the property industry’s most innovative developers, starting out at Urban Splash, Skanska and Studio H

Image: courtesy of MVRDV Construction is underway on the MVRDV-designed Bihailou Art Village, a mixed-use cultural and commercial centre that forms an eye-catching focal point for the community in Shatoujiao, just a stone’s throw from the Shenzhen-Hong Kong border. Dutch architect MVRDV describes the project: 'With its multicoloured stack of irregular shapes, the design is based on the concept of the Vertical Village. Underpinned by this concept, the project gains much more t

Image: View looking west over housing and business parks in east Oxford and Headington fringes - courtesy Advanced Research Clusters Future Cities Forum is delighted that David Butler, Head of Planning at Oxford City Council, will be speaking at our 'Science Cities' forum at the Cohen Quad, Exeter College, Oxford, this September. Oxford City Council has announced that the seven councils in the region will be re-organised into three unitary councils by 2028, with each council

Image: CGI from RKD of data centre campus development in Hertfordshire at South Mimms (courtesy Equinix) Leader of Hertsmere Borough Council, Cllr Jeremy Newmark, is joining Future Cities Forum's 'Data Centres - planning, district integration and sustainability' forum this month, to discuss the Council's approved £4bn project to build one of Europe's largest data centres within the London commuter belt. Hertsmere Borough Council has described its project as one which will lea

Image: 4000 Discovery Drive, Cambridge Biomedical Campus - courtesy Scott Brownrigg / Prologis GSK plc has announced plans to establish a major new global R&D centre in Cambridge, UK, as part of the company’s plan to accelerate its R&D pipeline. The new 300,000 square foot site, on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in the heart of the UK’s life sciences “Golden Triangle,” will be home to GSK’s R&D operations in the UK and more than 1,000 GSK scientists. The Cambridge Biomedical