NLA on location at King's Cross and Euston - 20/7/2010

NLA relocated to King’s Cross and Euston today for the third in our series of ‘on location’ events, bringing together key developers, occupiers, architects and other stakeholders to examine ambitions for the area, future challenges and opportunities, and progress to date.

Speakers included Roger Madelin Joint CEO of Argent, Ian Fry from Network Rail, James Danby from British Land, Fred Pilbrow from PLP, Dr Will Bridge from University of the Arts and Harry Handelsman from Manhattan Loft.

The area has been largely shaped by its Victorian industrial heritage, and at the 67-acre King's Cross Central site, 20 historic buildings and structures such as the Granary Complex and gas holder frames are being refurbished and re-used in the overall masterplan, which includes 50 new structures, 20 new streets and 10 public spaces.

Other key developments include the refurbishment of the King's Cross Station, which is set to complete in time for the Olympics, the new UKCMRI, refurbishment of St Pancras Chambers, and the final stages of the Regent's Place masterplan by British Land. 

Ed Watson from LB Camden, noted that the proposal for High Speed Two to terminate at Euston Station is an opportunity for large-scale transport and public realm investment to once again play a major role in shaping the future for Camden. However, a key challenge will be to ensure that surrounding communities at Somers Town can benefit fully from such large-scale developments.

In the afternoon, delegates had the opportunity to go on development site tours of King’s Cross Central with senior representatives from Argent, Regent’s Place with British Land and Terry Farrell + Partners, and King’s Cross Station with Network Rail and John McAslan + Partners.

A pocket park has popped up at NLA! - 29/6/2010

NLA's We Love Store Street pocket park has popped up in Store Street's South Crescent as part of LFA2010.

Designed by Moxon Architects and incorporating temporary structures by local engineers Price & Myers and Ramboll as well as temporary planting from Pocket Habitat, the park has been configured to cater for a range of overlapping activities, from open-air theatre to simply having a space to sit, relax and interact. The installation also tells the story of Store Street with an outdoor exhibition drawing on the history of the Street and the ambition its various stakeholders have for it.

Events have been taking place every day, and will continue throughout the week, including weekday tai chi each morning and afternoon, lunchtime 'soapbox' talks and open-air Shakespeare by RADA this Saturday, with performances of Othello, Macbeth and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Bring a picnic each weekday lunchtime to hear Love Your Street 'soapbox talks' or why not have five minutes on the soapbox and have your say about London's public realm. Confirmed speakers include Eugene Dreyer from Terry Farrell & Partners and Sarah Gaventa from CABE Space.

We Love Store Street has been designed though collaboration and experiment and it is hoped that the same spirit will continue to influence how the Crescent is used in the longer term. NLA's ambition is to see parking permanently removed to create a public space that could be used by shoppers, workers and residents in the locality as well as for temporary outdoor exhibitions, talks and events, whilst still allowing for deliveries and access to the buildings on the Crescent itself. 

NLA's pocket park is open from 26 June to 3 July.

The housing tower is dead; long live the street... - 11/6/2010

NLA invited Ed Jones from Dixon Jones, and Ian Bogle from BFLS to take part in a breakfast talk debate: 'The housing tower is dead; long live the street…’.

Ed Jones, one of the masterplanners for the Chelsea Barracks site, and Ian Bogle of BFLS, architects of the Strata tower which reached practical completion today, debated the place of tall buildings in the city, and discussed the contribution that different housing types can make to London’s urban fabric. The event was chaired by Ben Derbyshire of HTA.

Delivering London's Homes - 8/6/2010

A full-day event on 'Delivering London's Homes' took place at NLA this Tuesday with headline speakers Richard Blakeway, mayoral advisor on housing and David Lunts, regional London director of the HCA, as well as a host of high-level representatives from the LDA, CABE, Barratt Homes, CBRE, Land Securities, Savills, Pocket Living, PRP Architects, Arup and the London boroughs.

A reduction in available public funding as well as developers' caution over taking financial risk has resulted in a need for new innovative delivery and funding mechanisms to bring housing delivery forward, and to cater for an expected population growth of around one million people over the next 20 years, as well as the third of a million households on the waiting list for social housing. Richard Blakeway discussed how the Mayor is giving the London boroughs greater control over their housing delivery, looking to improve existing stock through private financing, encouraging a greater proportion of family homes, and creating a 'single pot' for housing investment that would give the GLA greater flexibility over their housing investments. 

The HCA has also been party to a series of funding cuts, with £230m cuts already confirmed by the Chancellor and £610 uncertain until the announcement of the budget. David Lunts described how the organisation is working to encourage less reliance on grant and greater investment in the sector, either through the institutional sector or using taxpayer's money to generate a return. Despite the fact that new starts are falling away quite significantly, we have seen nearly 13,000 affordable housing completions in 09/10 and are still on track to deliver the Mayor's target of 50,000 by 2012.

David Lunts was followed by a series of public and private sector partners who demonstrated how they are working to deliver housing in this uncertain economic and political climate. Jennett Siebrets from the CBRE discussed the opportunities and barriers to investment in the Private Rented Sector (PRS). Sue Foster of the LB Enfield talked through how the borough is trying to be more creative with housing delivery through estate renewal, self-build projects, facilitating opportunities through partners, and better use of existing stock. Peter Bishop of the LDA described how public land is their most significant asset, particularly in the Royal Docks, where they are working with LB Newham to agree a common vision for the area and remove developer uncertainty.

In the afternoon, delegates had the opportunity to attend one of three seminars, looking more specifically at social housing delivery, innovative funding and delivery and design standards.

Delivering London's Homes was in association with the HCA, Barratt London and Arup, and sponsored by Austin-Smith:Lord.

The Way We Work: Designing for the modern office user - 26/5/2010

As part of NLA’s focus on the workplace this month, a series of six architects and design professionals were given just five minutes each to present their thoughts on designing for the modern office user at an NLA morning Speedtalk event.

Simon Allford, Allford Hall Monaghan Morris; Darren Comber, Scott Brownrigg; Karen Cook, PLP Architecture; Andy Mackenzie, ttsp; Dexter Moren, Dexter Moren Associates; and John Silver, BFLS, all presented their views on the future of workplace design.

With new technology, cloud applications, sustainability and a greater emphasis on achieving work-life balance all having an impact on expectations for the modern office space, speakers discussed creating loose-fit, flexible spaces, bringing in volume and light, encouraging spontaneous communication, greater density of use and new benchmarks for assembly and deliverability.

Re-launch of Major London Issues - 28/4/2010

NLA’s Major London Issues exhibition was re-launched last night with a private view for NLA supporters and their guests. The new permanent exhibition studies twelve sectors that play a part in development and construction in London, and will be updated as government policies and developments progress.

The evening also marked the extension of the Transforming the Boroughs exhibition, with new displays for Ealing and Newham, as well as the launch of a new permanent display of the venues for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Where There's Muck There's Value - 15/4/2010

The publication of the Draft Waste Strategy in January proposed ambitious targets for dealing with London’s waste, with the aim to work towards ‘zero waste to landfill’ by 2031, and to manage as much as 80 per cent of London’s waste within London by 2020. A half-day conference, in association with SITA UK, examined the challenges and opportunities this presents for London, as we address the need to build new waste facilities within the urban realm, and alter our approach to waste as a resource.

Andrew Richmond, Policy and Programmes Manager for Waste at the GLA set out the scale of the task; with 20 million tonnes of waste produced in London in 2008, a wide range of measures are going to be required, including prevention of waste, an emphasis on re-use, higher recycling and composting rates, and the use of waste as an energy source.

New technologies for dealing with our waste are emerging, including the proposed plans for Brent Cross Cricklewood, presented by Jonathan Joseph of Brent Cross Cricklewood Partners, which will include a new CHP plant that creates fuel directly from waste. The Green Enterprise District in Dagenham is also trialling new forms of waste facilities, including closed-loop recycling for plastics and proposals for a 120,00 tonne capacity gasification plant.

However, convincing people to accept waste facilities within their communities poses a significant challenge – next week, a breakfast talk at NLA will examine how waste facilities can be designed and engineered to fit within London’s densely populated urban realm.

Retail-led Regeneration - 31/3/2010

Speakers from Westfield UK, Sainsbury’s and Jones Lang LaSalle debated and discussed the future of retail development in London at an NLA conference this morning.

Dame Judith Mayhew Jonas gave the keynote speech, highlighting the value that retail brings to London, and the important role that London BIDS can play in establishing a vision for retail in an area. She was joined by Jonathan Daniels from Westfield UK, who presented progress at Westfield Stratford City and the impact this is set to have on London’s retail landscape, and Guy Grainger, Head of Retail for Jones Lang LaSalle who gave a strategic overview of retail in London, and discussed what retailers and developers can expect in the coming year.

The event covered a broad range of topics within retail development, including a discussion of the impacts of PPS4, the value of town centre management, supermarket-led regeneration and the importance of transport for retail centres within outer London.

The Changing Face of Retail - 12/3/2010

Two leading experts in retail trends and design spoke at an NLA breakfast talk on the changing face of retail this morning.

Nick Morris, founder of global trends service Canvas8, and Simon Threadkell, Creative Director of the London studio of Fitch, spoke about the impact of the recession on retail and design, new and innovative store concepts from London and abroad, and emerging retail technologies.

A decade of 'hard retailing' came to a dramatic halt with the onset of the recession and people now increasingly seem to be looking for handmade and homemade authenticity in an age of greater austerity. People are also becoming increasingly judicious, as better access to information allows us to make more informed decisions on value. Retailers are responding to this with stores that demonstrate personality, integrity and responsibility, such as Starbucks at 15th Avenue in Seattle, which places the store at the heart of the community with local artwork and message boards.

Technology is also becoming an increasingly important and integrated part of the retail experience, as online and physical retail brands converge, and the ‘third screen in our pockets’ revolutionises the way that we can receive information.

You can see the presentations by clicking here.

NLA's retail conference looking at 'Retail-led regeneration' is taking place on 31 March. Last few remaining spaces are still available to book online...

Bob Neill speaks at NLA Nights - 11/3/2010

Bob Neill, Shadow Minister for Local Government, spoke at this month's NLA Nights event on the Conservative Party's recently-unveiled plans to reform England's "broken planning system''.

He spoke on Conservative plans to encourage planning decisions at a more local level, including breaking down regional planning areas, creating more incentives for local councils to encourage development, and the process of making a more symmetrical rights of appeal system.

Bob Neill was elected as the Member of Parliament for Bromley & Chislehurst in June 2006, in 2008 was made Shadow Local Government Minister and Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party, and in January 2009 took over the shadow planning brief.