A busy week of learning and networking at two Manchester conferences: Education Estates and the Place NW Resi.
Education Estates ® is the largest UK conference for educational environments, covering schools, colleges and universities across funding, design, build, maintenance and management. The discussions on schools were much about how to build, rather than what to build. Lots of questions were asked, but not a lot of answers were found. By contrast, the HE discussions seemed much more focused on finding solutions. Lots of talk across all sectors about de-carbonising the existing estates, plus the occasional mention of RAAC. Lovely to meet new contacts in the sector, as well as catch up with some familiar faces.
The latest Place North West conference focused on the residential sector. Opening with a discussion with the leaders of Manchester and Liverpool City Councils, it was clear how much both are committed to working towards delivering great things for their cities. The new Liverpool Leader was keen to promote the renewed professionalism in the Council and overturn past stigma. In terms of policy, he set out that the Council was not anti tall buildings, something it has often been accused of, and also that they were encouraging more student accommodation into the city centre. Manchester acknowledged that not every development needed to meet all the housing needs of the city and acknowledged that other benefits – such as schools, healthcare and parks – are just as important. Quote of the session, in the context of the lack of certainty and leadership from Westminster: “Local government has the opportunity to be the grown up in the room!”. Later discussions centred on housing outside the city centres, in the surrounding towns and suburbs, and the direction of future housing policy. The formalities of the morning were bookended by breakfast and lunch, along with some great conversations with new and existing contacts from the north west property and development world.
