FUTURE CITIES FORUMTM

Image: courtesy of Sheppard Robson, student housing, University of York Future Cities Forum will be holding its student housing discussion event this February looking at best practice in planning and design, and how new UK government rules may affect investment appetite in the sector. Some real estate advisers believe that student housing is still a major sector for developers but what impact will the Renters' Rights Bill have this year? In February 2025 the FT reported that

Image: Jenny Gardner - courtesy ARC Group Future Cities Forum is delighted to announce that three more female leaders will join our Winter Awards 2026 panel of judges. They are: Jenny Gardner, Director of Development & Construction at Advanced Research Clusters (ARC), Federica Buricco, Studio Practice Leader Master-Planning and Vice President, HKS Architects, and Liz Sparrow, Architect, Partner and Science Sector Lead at built environment consultancy Ridge and Partners LLP. J

Image: The Ray Dolby Centre, University of Cambridge - courtesy Jestico + Whiles Future Cities Forum is delighted that Jude Harris, Director at Jestico + Whiles, will be speaking at our 'Science Cities' discussion event this month in Jesus College, Oxford. Jude is a director at Jestico + Whiles, having joined the practice over 25 years ago after a period of postgraduate research and teaching. He leads across several key sectors for the practice – science and technology, educa

Above: CGI of EXOq, the proposed research and innovation compute environment, which intends to build on Oxford’s international reputation, set within parkland on land owned by Exeter College in Cherwell District, adjacent to Kidlington and Oxford Parkway Station (Courtesy EXOq / Exeter College Oxford / Burrell Foley Fischer) Future Cities Forum is delighted that Ian Boll, Executive Director of Place & Regeneration at Cherwell District Council will be joining our January discu

Image: The offices of Oxford Science Enterprises on the Banbury Road - part of Keble College's newly developed H B Allen Centre, designed by MICA Architects (courtesy MICA) Future Cities Forum is delighted that Pete Wilder, Head of Property and Operations at Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE), will be contributing to our 'Science Cities' discussion event at Jesus College, Oxford this January. Pete leads on property strategy at Oxford Science Enterprises, managing OSE’s own port

Image: Inventa, purpose-built office and lab space on Oxford West End (courtesy OWA for Mission Street) Future Cities Forum is delighted that Artem Korolev, Founder and CEO of Mission Street, will be contributing to our Oxford 'Science Cities - Oxfordshire and the Growth Corridor' discussion event this month in the Cheng Kar Shun Digital Hub at Jesus College.. Artem founded Mission Street in 2017. Building on extensive track record across investment, development and finance,

Image :courtesy of Mowat & Co - Morpeth Road, Hackney Our all-female judging panel will be assessing three nominated housing projects for awards this January. The projects are all small housing developments - less than 20 homes - and include homes in Hackney London, Horfield Bristol and Grantham, Lincolnshire. It has been a challenge for UK councils and social housing companies to deliver genuinely affordable new homes in 2025, but these represent three successfully built pr

Image: courtesy of Westminster City Council Westminster City Council’s Cabinet has approved the appointment of McLaren Construction Limited as the main construction partner for the second phase of the Ebury Bridge redevelopment. Through the contract approval, the council has agreed a phase two budget worth £229m for the overall construction of the development and the delivery of the next significant milestone for the scheme.  Enabling works for phase two are expected to begin

Image: The National Gallery, London - courtesy BDP A recent announcement has confirmed that BDP, working in collaboration with Kengo Kuma & Associates (KKAA) and MICA, will provide technical and delivery expertise to the team shortlisted to design the National Gallery’s new wing as part of Project Domani - the Gallery’s most significant transformation in two centuries. BDP confirms: 'Selected from an international field of 65 submissions, the team will now develop proposals f

Image: Ed Hayden - courtesy Ridge & Partners LLP Future Cities Forum is delighted that Ed Hayden, Partner and Architecture lead for Science and Research at Ridge will be joining Future Cities Forum's 'Science Cities' discussion event this coming January. Ed is a Design Architect with a background in engineering  who has built a reputation for driving innovation and championing zero-carbon design. His portfolio in the last 24 years has focused on science and technology, where