FUTURE CITIES FORUM

Image from architects BDP: Merrion House, home of the customer services hub for Leeds City Council, re-opened in 2018 after an 18 month refurbishment. We are delighted that Councillor James Lewis, Leader of Leeds City Council will be joining our levelling-up discussions at the offices of international law firm DLA Piper in May. Cllr Lewis was first elected as a Labour councillor to represent the Barwick and Kippax Ward, now the Kippax and Methley Ward, in 2003. He has held nu

Bruntwood's Head of Strategy, Jessica Bowles, will be speaking at Future Cities Forum's event in Leeds on May 11 which is dedicated to debate around the UK government's levelling up agenda. Jessica holds firm views about the importance of devolution saying that it is a 'mission critical to ensuring the Government's investment in the recovery is effective and long-lasting.' She commented: 'Many city regions, like Liverpool, Greater Manchester, Leeds and the West Midlands, have

Image above: the gold aluminium and glazed facade of BDP's new entrance to Queen Street Station for Network Rail in Glasgow has helped modernise the historic building and is part of a long term plan to provide greener transport options. Future Cities Forum visited Glasgow this week to look at BDP's new Queen Street Station development and assess the much talked about priorities for improving place in the city. Emerging from the station, we walked round George Square, into th

Bruntwood SciTech's campus at Alderley Park, Cheshire (Image from BDP) Future Cities Forum discussed the importance of skills development in the UK through new university projects, how investment can produce more flexible sites for start-ups to grow and the design of innovation centres to focus that growth towards sucsess for the economy of the country. Bruntwood SciTech, BDP, BioMed Realty, Anglia Ruskin University and Grimshaw all took part in the debate. Dr Kath MacKay, He

CGI of Kings Square regeneration in Gloucester (from George King Architects) Future Cities Forum is running another in its series of 'New Districts' discussions, which look at the investment and development of new areas of economic and visitor interest in cities. Leader of Gloucester City Council, Cllr Richard Cook will be joining us to discuss new developments in the city which provide for leisure as well as technology work opportunities for those living in the region. Const

Panel on historic landscapes and place (from left): Alice Midmer of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, Tony Calladine of Historic England, Heather Fearfield of Future Cities Forum, Simon Payne of Lamsbsquay Consulting and Nicola Longland of LDA Design Can Historic England protect the medieval heritage of Cambridge and its historic landscapes in the face of new housing and infrastructure development? An interesting panel discussion took place at our Cambridge 'Scien

Image above courtesy The British Library: Jamie Andrews, Head of Culture and Learning The potential for expanding The British Library physically into the City of Leeds, will be discussed by Jamie Andrews, Head of Culture and Learning from The British Library, when he joins Future Cities Forum which is holding a discussion event in May in Leeds at the offices of the international law firm, DLA Piper. In Leeds, a new district is being created to the South of the city (Leeds Sou

Image: opening panel discussion at Newnham College (from left): Hon Matthew Bullock of Cambridge Ahead, Ellie Evans of Volterra Partners, Heather Fearfield of Future Cities Forum, Dr Araminta Ledger of Cambridge University Health Partners, and John McElgunn of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (with RSHP's British Library extension at King's Cross on screen) Future Cities Forum’s first panel discussion at ‘Science Cities’ looked at the levelling-up agenda and how this affects t

Part Two of our ‘Infrastructure and transport 2022’ forum gave a focus to the issue of sustainability and tackling net zero this February. Future Cities Forum was delighted to welcome Amber Infrastructure’s Principal Peter Radford to talk about the Mayor of London’s funding of 'green' taxis, Stephen Barratt, Partner at Roger Stirk Harbour + Partners, to speak about sustainable airport design and Tom Foxall, Regional Director at Historic England, to comment on the protection o

Image: Fred Pilbrow with model of the Hills Road Cambridge site with one of the forum workshop teams We were very pleased that the Founding Partner of Pilbrow and Partners, Fred Pilbrow led our recent 'Science Cities' forum workshop, setting a real site brief on Hills Road close to the centre of the city on land owned by Cambridge University. Fred explained: 'The 1.1 hectare site we are looking at is at the entrance to the city core, and is at a pivotal location on Hills Roa