The remainder of Day 1 passed by in a blur of meetings and stand sessions. Gareth attended the Manchester Pavilion to hear one of our clients, Ken Knott, Chief Development Officer of Select Property Group talk on the panel about ‘Embracing Community Not Development” and the importance of delivering good design for the long term. This way of thinking which puts the emphasis on good design not being just about a building but being about the place and the public realm reinforces our approach that we must create and deliver great places to live and work – healthy cities as we call them! By doing this, we can attract the best talent, air pollution will be reduced and we will create resilient urban environments. Perhaps more importantly, we will ultimately improve the health and wellbeing of those who live and work there.

It was then onto the Leeds City Region stand for their evening drinks reception. It was good to hear such positive news of how Leeds is growing so quickly, particularly relevant for us now we have a thriving Leeds studio. After Leeds news, it was off to meet team members of Forcia, a company we work very closely with. It was good to chat to some of their team who had survived the cycle to MIPIM and impressive to see that they were all still able to walk after their challenge.

The day ended with the arrival of our Founding Director Stephen O’Malley and a few drinks and some catching up in the Manchester Pavilion.

Now it’s Day 2, the sun is shining and a day of meetings / debates across the Leeds, London and Manchester Pavilions lies ahead, as well as the arrival of our third Civic Engineer at lunchtime……