Built environment sector leaders gather at Guildhall to debate & discuss the future of cities

The London Real Estate Forum (LREF) took place this year on the 17th September at the Guildhall complex, where leaders from the built environment sector gathered to attend round tables and panel discussions focussed on the theme of partnership. Forum organisers New London Architecture (NLA) believe that addressing the biggest urban challenges of our time and delivering the best outcomes for all stakeholders will require deeper partnerships between those planning and managing our built environment. We attended sessions featuring speakers from Tenderstream member companies, including Arup and WilkinsonEyre, that explained how partnerships between public bodies and private companies in the built environment sector are adapting in response to ever-evolving technological, economic and social demands.

An ambitious plan to define the built environment sector

First, we headed to the NLA headquarters in the West Wing of the Guildhall - complete with its impressive scale models of London - for the launch of a significant new report, The Built Environment Sector. Created by NLA with Greater London Authority Economics and the London School of Economics, the research piece captures the full value chain of industries and professions that design, finance, construct, manage, and maintain our cities. 

Adam Yousef, head of economics at Greater London Authority, explained that the aim is to expand the definition of the sector and put numbers to it that can be readily understood, thereby achieving what the UK financial sector managed when it became a global success story by properly defining the industry to influence policy makers in the 1980s. Another example is the creative industry, which was defined in a similarly comprehensive way to include film, fashion, and music, which had previously been excluded. This process ultimately led to the UK Government’s Creative Industries Strategy.

The idea of story making, backed up by statistics, emerged throughout the discussion as an essential way to bring about change. Matt Mason, head of innovation & urban skills at The Crown Estate, said that most people might immediately think of jobs on site requiring a hard hat when they think of the construction industry, but roles could also now include consultants to embed sustainability principles into projects, or work with communities to help realise social value. This understanding of the scope involved in the built environment would be important not only to influence policy on a large scale, but also to attract young people to consider a career in the sector.

Joanna Rowelle, Director at Arup, stated that the launch was a gratifying moment, signifying that the sector was going to be properly understood, with the interconnectedness between the different aspects of the industry becoming ever more important. She mentioned the changing nature of procurement, which we have noticed in our work at Tenderstream. Where tenders once might have called for services from a single profession, such as an architect, now complex problems often involve social and environmental factors that must be solved by bringing many hands to it. 

Integrating cybersecurity into the design process – mind the gap!

Next, we attended a panel discussion which neatly demonstrated the ever-evolving nature of work in the built environment sector as outlined in the NLA report. With London positioned to become a hub for innovation, the panel examined the role of real estate in fostering secure, smart infrastructure through the integration of cybersecurity into the design process.

Brahm Lategan, Digital Buildings Lead at Buro Happold, began by presenting a video from the head of the NLA, welcoming the delegates and introducing the topic. Brahm then revealed that the video was, in fact, a deep fake, which contained misleading information. After this effective demonstration, the panel discussed how technology is rapidly changing in a way that creates just as many new threats as it does opportunities. It only takes one person to be fooled by an attempt to gain access or gather secure information for a whole network to be compromised.

Yasmin Al-Ani Spence, director at Tenderstream member WilkinsonEyre, highlighted the importance of educating design professionals and clients alike so that they could analyse the inherent risks when creating smart buildings. Going further, she stated that just as we consider carbon footprints, so we should also take data footprints into account in the design process. She raised the question that smart features might not always be necessary and could be making us more vulnerable.

Session chair Emily Wright, an editor and journalist, noted that this session was more sparsely attended than others concerning more tangible topics such as retail developments, which was unsurprising but perhaps demonstrated the problem of attracting attention to the topic. The issue of cyber security is ever more newsworthy, with cyberattacks on various businesses being one of the main headlines during the week of the conference. This thought-provoking session highlighted that while tech giants tend to push ahead with changes and worry about the unintended consequences later, end users must contend with real-world scenarios and often play catch-up when learning how to mitigate against risk.

The Thames: the lifeblood of London

A fast-paced interactive session led by Jo Negrini, Director of Cities and Planning Design at Tenderstream member Arup, considered how to unlock the potential of London’s greatest natural asset - the River Thames, which has long shaped the city’s identity, but has yet to realise its full potential for locals and visitors. The Environment Agency's TE2100 project, is setting out a long-term plan for building climate resilience. The session considered how aligning placemaking with this scheme could present an opportunity to create inspiring, inclusive, and adaptive waterfronts.

After an introduction to several aspects of riverfront development by the panellists, delegates were invited to embellish a map of the Thames with ideas to improve the areas around it. It was notable throughout the presentations and the ensuing round-table discussions that small-scale interventions could make a great difference: for example, daylighting tributaries to make local areas of the river accessible could increase a sense of ownership over the waterfront for locals and attract visitors. Jenna Browning, associate director of water at Arup, explained how a long-buried culvert under a highway in South Korea was transformed into a linear park, bringing both people and nature back to the riverside. 

For economic potential, Gunjan Parik, director of the transport programme at C40 cities, cited Amsterdam’s use of canals for the ever-increasing demands of freight delivery, while Katie Stewart, executive director of the environment at the City of London Corporation, mentioned an initiative to decarbonise heating by moving waste heat along the River Thames in thermal batteries carried on barges.

Realising the vision for West London’s future

Focusing on a specific development, we attended a session discussing London’s largest brownfield regeneration opportunity, a thriving new urban district planned around the Grand Union Canal and local transport hubs. Last year, we circulated information about the scheme to Tenderstream members, when The Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC) sought to notify the development and investment market of its plans. 

The OPDC was established by the Mayor of London to secure the regeneration of the Old Oak Opportunity area, which will include more than 8,000 new and affordable homes and 2 million sq ft of workspace. The new neighbourhood spans land in three boroughs – Ealing, Brent, and Hammersmith & Fulham - situated in the only place where HS2 meets Crossrail. With an illustrative masterplan and clear planning policy in place, most of the land assembled, and a CPO underway, OPDC is preparing to launch the procurement process to select its private sector delivery partner. 

The event’s overriding theme of partnership was emphasised during this session, as OPDC outlined what it is seeking from the joint venture. Any prospective partner will need to demonstrate the will to be part of the long-term scheme from 2029 to 2050.  Flexibility is required to cope with such a time frame, during which regeneration benefits will flow year on year, delivering for communities. Marianne Brook, development director at OPDC, highlighted the positive attitude towards collaboration demonstrated by the three landlords involved in the scheme. Notably, Imperial College has ambitions to create affordable lab space for new companies looking to scale up and manufacture prototypes, maximising the area's economic potential.

Collaborative approaches to high-density, mixed-use development

Building on the previous session, a discussion on the main Guildhall stage explored the high-density, mixed-use developments pivotal in shaping our cities, which require joined-up placemaking for long-term success. This panel delved into the complexities of urban regeneration, focusing on balancing commercial viability with community integration. 

Fred Pilbrow, founder and partner at Pilbrow + Partners, provided the example of Imperial College – also mentioned in the previous session – for their ongoing innovative developments that will bring widespread benefits, both economically and socially. Pilbrow + Partners completed a masterplan for One Portal Way to deliver 1,300 homes, and flexible workspaces designed to attract innovative technology and life science businesses in North Acton, while the vision for Westmont will create a landmark for the White City urban quarter, delivering over 500 homes alongside 10,000 sq ft of public-facing facilities.

Joanna Rowelle, Director at Tenderstream member Arup, said that she has witnessed a shift towards partnerships and working together in her 25 years in the industry. She stated that local authorities should not expect developers to assume all the risks of associated with a long-term scheme, and that all parties must be honest and intentional about their motivations and outcomes. 

Councillor Stephen Cowan, leader of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, acknowledged that the industry faced demands to create safe, regulated housing while inflation levels are high, seeking returns on schemes that will take a generation to build. He emphasised the importance of conversations with speculators and developers, creating and communicating a vision for the borough and the local economy, while also engaging with the public to sell that vision as a viable solution.

Building connections for the future

The thought-provoking forum highlighted the evolving relationships between the many different public and private bodies involved in the built environment, delving into how their partnerships can adapt to meet the ongoing challenges inherent in large-scale and long-term schemes in an era of increasing regulation, requirements to mitigate against threats such as climate change, and high inflation. 

Speakers and delegates alike brought a broad range of perspectives to the discussion, spanning all aspects of the built environment sector. The event itself demonstrated the central points of the NLA report launched at the forum, which seeks to fully define the sector to lobby for it as a whole. It is hoped that this attempt to not only define the professional roles connected to the built environment, but also to explain the relationships between them, will reach a wide audience to facilitate further understanding and bring about positive change. 

Lucy Nordberg
Tenderstream Head of Research

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