December 2010 Archives

Clearing the decks now and, before I adjourn for my end-of term glass of champagne, one more thing to report: UKR had a great meeting with some of our best friends the other day, our old "Connect Associates" network. What a joy to see them all. They sat down with us for an intensive three hours and offered a combination of tough questions about how to deliver, and a huge range of new ideas (thanks guys).

The serious practitioners are clear: UKR needs to be a new sort of organisation, taking everyone's ideas on board, and deliver quickly. Our sector is in dire trouble and we need a radical new body which really serves its needs.

But we must consolidate now before momentum is lost (and regeneration as a sector disappears altogether), so we won't be seeking to get everything right before we get going: we will be looking to launch the organisation within a very short space of time.

First and foremost, we are seeking to foster a learning and knowledge culture. We need to "fix" regeneration in the UK, where we have been accumulating anecdotal evidence across the country of widespread alienation and disengagement among community and voluntary sector activists (alienation and disengagement that is so wrongly described by many professionals and policy advisors as "apathy"). We need to re-energise the sector and truly share best practice.

Most of us find ourselves on the home stretch for Christmas now, although, of course, I am suffering from the double-whammy of trying to get everything done in time for the holiday; and tying up loose ends, as I change jobs and offices. I have a multitude of people to thank, and a lot of work to despatch or redirect. All very disruptive and - like all of us, I guess - I'm a bit exhausted from it all.

Clearing out the in-box, I see that one of my senior local government officer moles has forwarded me the e-card he received from Eric Pickles at CLG. He comments: "Eric's Christmas cheer leaves me speechless! I'd like to think the choice of a Shelter card is at best well intentioned, or even to demonstrate he has a sense of humour. Sadly, it just comes across as snide and nasty."

Oh dear, oh dear. People are seriously in a huge amount of pain. This communication just made me feel very sad.

But, cheer up, Vicar (as the great Joyce Grenfell would say)! On the upside, messages of support and assistance for UKR continue to flood in. We are almost becoming victims of our success with this project (which is, believe me, a rather nice place to be in, after all these months of agony). All of a sudden, nothing is off-limits and there is all to play for. The only way - seriously - from here, is up.

Regular readers will know that my friend Shawn Riley, formerly at DTZ Birmingham office, but now happily ensconced as the partnership manager of Evesham Market Town (at the heart of Wychavon District Council), is one of my major correspondents on all matters rural and market town. I first met Shawn in the early 1990s when he ran two greengrocers shops in Brierley Hill (I'd been brought in to run the Brierley Hill Regeneration Partnership on behalf of the owners of Merry Hill, the then-Chelsfield) and I have tracked Shawn's career journey through local government, regeneration agency, then real estate consultancy, to his current position in Evesham; which builds on all his various experiences. 

Shawn is a text-book case of building capacity in promising individuals in regeneration localities if ever you saw one; there's nothing you can teach our lad about injecting vitality into high streets, or on laying the foundations for local economies generally, and I watch his trajectory with some pride.
 
Now, I often compliment Wychavon District Council on its "can-do" attitude and, blow me down, if it hasn't done it again! Wychavon District Council's Development Control Committee approved an outline planning application last week for the relocation of Bosch Thermotechnology from its existing site in Worcester to a new location in Wychavon adjacent to the M5 at junction 6. Fantastic stroke of inward investment for this go-ahead rural authority.

I have been a little overwhelmed in the last couple of days with messages of support, offers of assistance, and a wealth of good ideas, to take into my new incarnation as chief executive of UK Regeneration.  It would seem that there is a massive appetite out there to rebuild the regeneration sector form the grass roots up, and it is most heartening I can tell you.

My thanks to all who have written, hopefully we can harness all of what you offer and suggest, for the future good of the regeneration sector and the UK economy.  You're a lovely mob really. I am truly grateful.
 
One of the things we are going to have to make some serious inroads on is the fraught issue of public sector procurement. One of my colleagues summed up the British attitude to procurement as "bordering on obsessive", and "colluding to achieve the worst possible outcome" and the fact that 50% of all OJEU submissions come from the UK would certainly bear this out. 

OJEU procurement was of course introduced to ensure that organisations using public funds ensure fair competition, probity and value for money.  But it is met with widespread fear and loathing (and if the Scandinavians can find a way through without compromising on integrity of process, then I'm not clear why we're so stuck in the mire). 
 
One of my loyal correspondents tells of me he has identified a specific issue relating to the Buying Solutions Framework (the old OGC) described as the National Procurement Partner for UK public services. Just as with OJEU, this framework certainly seems to disadvantage SMEs.  The main reason for its use by many public sector bodies is that it avoids the need to follow an individual OJEU route for procurement and instead allows public sector procurers to tap into an existing arrangement which is already OJEU-compliant, thus saving time and money in procurement.  His contention is that this framework operates against the interests of SMEs, who in practice find it impossible to secure a places on the framework for contracts.  It would be invidious to name names here, but UKR is compiling a dossier of such examples where SMEs have applied in force, but the analysis of the lists of approved suppliers would confirm their absence. 
 

Well, it's official. And it's all been announced. And everybody has been so very kind and supportive. And I feel very emotional about it all (and, no, that is not a euphemism). I am leaving CB Richard Ellis at the end of this year.

I've got to put my money where my mouth is, and forego the warmth and safety afforded by the bosom of Adrian Bunnis ("The Bunnii") and his team (Bunnis & Black: that well-known seaside double act) and never forgetting the formidable organisational skills of Scary Ange (whom I will so so so miss) to sail choppy waters of uncharted uncertainty, as I become chief executive of UK Regeneration. Hurrah! (er ... steady now...).
 
So... my mission to resuscitate regeneration for the UK has come to this, roughly: it's put-up-or-shut-up Sadek, if you think you're hard enough?
 
Martin Samworth at CBRE was so very kind to me about my journey. We had such a warm and supportive final meeting this week. He went on record to say: "We are grateful to Jackie for her unique contribution to CBRE in establishing our credentials in regeneration in the UK". What a lovely man (some of my colleagues would indeed describe my contribution as "unique", but perhaps they would not intend it in such a complimentary way).

And I've been there nearly four years, which was certainly a lot more than various cynical commentators predicted when I joined. My appointment was a brave one for the firm, I think, as I do come to the sector from the stance of lifting folk out of poverty and, conversely, as a true people-person, going into a real estate consultancy for the first time, mid-career, was a tough call for me.

So we all took a bit of a leap there. But blimey - and here comes understatement of the year - I've certainly learnt a huge amount! Having worked at least half the time in the private sector before I joined CBRE, I sort of understood the commercial imperative, but I'd never been truly truly market-facing before. CBRE did that for me. It was invaluable. It was a true education. And CBRE has been kind, and they've treated me well (very well indeed, as when the market was still buoyant, I was richer than I've ever been!).

But sometimes, as my sister would say, you've got to stand for what you stand for. Serious moment now: I may be simply terrified, but I believe this is now the crucial time to devote all of my focus and energy in building UK Regeneration. We need new approaches and I'm determined that UKR will lead the way. As the regeneration sector undergoes its fundamental restructure, in response to the recession and the public spending cuts, UK Regeneration has been created to attempt to address these devastating impacts.

We intend to be a commercial organisation working as a major partner to the government in rebuilding the economy. We will seek to provide those working right across the sector and in all parts of the UK with the indispensable tools they will need to deliver regeneration in this new context. Specifically, UKR aims to influence emerging policy, acting as the true voice for regeneration; to support practitioners in all aspects of their roles; and to provide a place where they can share experience and what works and what doesn't.

Finally, UKR will become actively involved in delivering regeneration projects working with partners across all sectors and with local communities. Influence. Support. Deliver.

I'll be working with CBRE again in the new world. Of course I will. The point is, I'll be working with ALL OF YOU again in the new world. The economic challenges we face could create remarkable opportunities - we aim to harness the energy of the entire sector and to seize these opportunities in 2011. UKR has a lot of friends and we intend to hit the ground running from 1 January.
 
That is, once I've had a bit of a kip and a regroup, over Christmas. Because I am seriously just knackered thinking about it.
 
ukregeneration.org.uk

I did say I'd get back to you about the New Homes Bonus (NHB), see blog 30 November, and we were very pleased to be able to catch up last week with the very responsive CLG team - after some snow delays - and test out whether our "back of the envelope" calculations made any sense. Dr Evans was very pleased with himself when he learnt that his analysis works - well approximately anyway (I think he was genuinely worried).

The specific funding allocated in the Spending Review for year One (and through into the later years) will make sure that the first tranche of payments of NHB do not impact on the formula grant otherwise available. Of course, in the longer term this all gets swallowed into the overall distribution. But it does look like a way to help get things started. The question is, how good an incentive will this be?

The overall impact is expected to be 14,000 homes a year over and above the homes likely to be built anyway. Clearly this is not a huge uplift, but the priority is much more about making sure that homes get built in places where there is demand. Housing and Planning Delivery Grant was a smaller, more complex, and less certain, addition to local councils' budgets. NHB may be a bit on the blunt side, but it has the virtues of being simple and predictable and the affordable housing element, the empty homes calculation, and the scaling according to the Council Band, are designed to favour homes of the right scale and the right type.

Still faffing around with Localism Bill, but it was just excellent to get a bit of time with the wonderful David Whelan (he writes the Funderbolt blog for UKR; this is a must-read for anyone grappling with New World - that is an order, btw). David is the fount of wisdom on all matters of creative funding packages to kickstart regeneration.

 

He has brokered UKR into the European Investment Bank to explore the under-utilised JESSICA and JEREMIE instruments. (Don't get me started... if you think that's bad, apparently there's also an Elenor and a Jasper somewhere. And then there's the "integration of JESSICA with JEREMIE". I seriously feel a Carry On moment coming along.)

 

Old Dave rescued me from trailing up and down Threadneedle Street in the perishing cold and we took refuge in a warm café for a catch-up. He has been running some ground-breaking events for the likes of Bournemouth and Blackpool councils (I think it's only a co-incidence that these are seaside authorities, it would work for anyone) on son-of-Total Place, evolved from the beastie that is "Total Neighbourhood". Dave is putting 20 or 30 public sector officers from a locality into a room - many of whom have never met one another, let alone worked together: from MOD to NHS to local authority and through to JCP, the Environment Agency and so forth - to take them through the possibilities of what the revenue and potential capital benefits of a cross-sectoral asset management strategy might look like.

 

This is frankly something of a revelation for the professionals involved and our Dave is the man for the job.

We have spent the past few hours trying to get our heads around the Localism Bill, and the commentary which emerged overnight.  Old pointy-head, Dr Paul Evans, has actually read much of the bill - I must confess he's braver than me. It seems littered with totally impenetrable bits, although Dr Evans assures me that they work by cross reference.

But, as trailed last week, in the event, the planning bits do not look very scary: neighbourhood plans have to be in general conformity with the local development plan and national guidance. So a big sigh of relief there then.

Paul has posted our definitive comment on the UKR website, rather brilliantly entitled "A shiny toolkit or a spanner in the works?" (doncha just hate a smart-a**e!!!) and we are restating our position, which is, and has always been: local is the right starting point.

The Localism Bill is definitely being introduced today but while we wait in anticipation - or not - it behoves this blog to note, in sorrow, yet another regeneration vehicle biting the dust, at the end of last week.

The regeneration sector reels in shock as Haymarket withdraws its print magazine Regeneration & Renewal to concentrate on its virtual product. This is hot on the heels of New Start, which went down a similar route in October (made all the sadder because that was a genuine social enterprise) and, of course, is part of the same big picture as the demise of BURA in September and, way back in 2009 (seems like light years ago now), the Civic Trust. We now do not have a print magazine devoted solely to the regeneration sector in the UK.

Oh dear, oh dear. Nearly 12 years ago, I was at the launch of Regeneration & Renewal at the Palace of Westminster in one of the terrace rooms overlooking the river. Michael Heseltine, Haymarket owner - and godfather to the regeneration sector generally - was the host and made a marvellously witty speech to the effect of: "When I was urging you on to bigger and better things in Merseyside and London Docklands, you thought it was for the good of the economy; little did you know I had a cunning plan to launch a magazine and become filthy rich out of the efforts of the regeneration community." It was very funny and stylish and it was a great party to be at.

The Localism Bill has still not surfaced and there is no clear explanation why. Looks a bit shambolic. Dr Evans says they won't do it today (Friday) and that there are... er... Tweets abroad that it will be Monday now.

One of our stalwart correspondents takes a very dim view: "For a ministerial team promising speedy change and improvement, this is starting to look distinctly inept," he huffs. "If you can't deliver it, then don't promise it. This is unprofessional and disrespectful. Public services across the country are kept hanging on in uncertainty. Jobs are in the balance, development plans are on hold. Local authority investment plans and community projects have no sense of whether they will be favoured in future." 

I take a more sanguine view, although I do agree that where there are cases where people's jobs hang in the balance, it is just not fair. And I was mightily relieved to not have to come up with any sparkly comments at the end of a long week (the last bill came out just when I was settling down to a rather nice lunch with the lovely Tricia Topping. I guess if you're going to have to continually interrupt your lunch to give comments to the press, then it is a good idea to be sitting with a PR!). And, actually, I think we wait around a bit too much for government announcements (I know I'm guilty as charged here, btw) when we should just be getting on with things really. As the lovely Greg Clark says: "It is not central government's role to stifle new ideas, but to allow for the exercise of imagination and creativity."  We need to stop waiting for permission and start exercising our imagination.  

Woops-a-daisy. It would seem that clever money was wrong about the Localism Bill coming forth yesterday (so much for all the legal firms holding seminars on it last night. Ha ha!). Perhaps it will happen today?  I don't know.  Sure as eggs is eggs, I'll be caught on the hop (there are some things in this life on which you can depend).
 
What is becoming rather clear, though, is how the UK will manifest a full spectrum of impact from the bill.  At one end, starting with London (which will see barely any effect at all) progressing through the great conurbations (pretty much business as usual, unless the localism badge suits the civic leaders on any particular issue) through the likes of the "Vauxhall Conference" Cities (where there will be rather more effect) to the real arena for localism: the shires and districts in the rural areas (where there will be a full blown effect; we may see nothing short of a revolution).
 
It is indeed a bold experiment.


 

I was speaking at a timely event at the NLA this morning on "Delivering Housing and Regeneration in London" with that well-known Peter Pan of the property industry, the lovely Peter Murray, skilfully holding the ring, as ever. 

Peter Bishop of the LDA, far from being beaten, gave us a lot of room for optimism and Tony Travers of the LSE gave us his usual searing analysis of London governance (just brilliant as ever). Yours truly was cast in the role of Cassandra; comparing the potential fortunes of London with the rest of the UK and being forced to the (not very sparkly) conclusion: you may not be eligible for the RGF, but be glad you're a London practitioner and not domiciled in Cleethorpes (actually, on this RGF point, Peter Bishop and I have a side wager - I'll keep you posted).   

Clever money is on tomorrow as the date for the publication of the Decentralisation and Localism Bill, but there is no doubt that it has been somewhat delayed (with most speculating that this is due to the government's plans for elected mayors and the impact they may have on welfare reform plans). But, notwithstanding recent setbacks, the coalition will want the legislation to be pushed through quickly and decisively, given the huge implications for planning, as well as for local government.

 

Every so often our industry does something right.  Something utterly charming and delightful in every respect.  It doesn't happen frequently but, just once in a while, I find myself overwhelmed by the sense of affection, of camaraderie, and of being in a family, that the property industry - at its very best - can espouse.

 

One such event was last Friday's tribute lunch, graciously masterminded by Stuart Lipton, and hosted by Chelsfield Partners, British Land, Land Securities, Heron, DP9 and Hammerson at the Goldsmiths Hall to celebrate Peter Wynne Rees's 25 years as the chief planning officer for the City of London.  Blimey!  Anyone who is anyone was there: All the big Bananas from the property world (Salway, Henderson, Grigg, Ronson, Womack, Barwick - you name any one of the gang and he was there) a huge smattering of our most famous architects and great 'n' good, and the more scrubbed-up planning consultants, of course, (including the whole of DP9, naturally). 

 

I was extremely flattered to be included in such a gathering, I have to say (seated next to my NBF Bill Peach of C&W) and I would not have missed it for the world.  It was one of these events whereby if you'd put a bomb under the Goldsmiths Hall that lunchtime, then you'd have seriously sliced an irrevocable hole through the entire industry. 

 

And a deeply affectionate event altogether, suffused throughout with love and humour. It had been supposed to be a surprise for Peter but needless to say - as we in the property industry are pathologically incapable of holding our own water - he had a pretty fair idea of what was afoot, despite the fact that he desperately tried not to.  I don't think it spoiled his delight, though. Actually, I don't think anything could have marred the day, it was so elegantly put together.

 

The speeches were simply superb; Stuart was more relaxed and stylish than I have ever seen him and made a gentle joke out of the policy of localism; he said that given there were 25 wards in the City and, given that he and his fellow property developers have a pretty good feel for the way that Peter thinks, that he was proposing - in a spirit of constructive support - that they should take over as ward chairmen. This got a roar of appreciation. He proposed the toast and presented Peter with our collective gift, a couple of huge, and hugely rare (and I think hugely valuable) antiquarian planning volumes. 

 

Peter made a wonderful speech (his off-the cuff stuff is always excellent, even better than the things he plans, and there is always the added spice of him possibly straying into the risqué) on the theme of Celts in the City from the days of Boudicca and, true to brave and brilliant form, left us with a punch line on his preference for leather rather than frocks.  Another roar of laughter and applause. 

 

Garry Hart ("his lordship") delivered an extraordinary treatise as to why Peter has a penchant for tall buildings (too involved and intricate for me to attempt to report here but utterly, utterly, hilarious) including painting a tableau of Stuart Lipton (standing on Peter's planning books) and Godfrey Bradman (standing on a human pyramid comprised of his consultants) in Richmond Park, surveying the sight lines to St Pauls Cathedral.  God, it was so funny I started hyperventilating!

 

And then the wondrous Paul Finch (no show without Punch) brought up the rear and we just had to have the story of when Peter held up the train from Lille to Cannes on the way to MIPIM that year and nearly got banged up by the French gendarmes - and became the hero of the British delegation for evermore, as a result.  A further roar of approval followed Finchy (the Funmeister) of course.  

 

It was a really lovely affair. And what came across, very very clearly, was the sense that in Peter Wynne Rees, we have a champion for the City of London, overseeing all the spectacular reforms over the last 25 years, from a sterile place populated by men in bowler hats with fires in the grates of their offices that closed at 7pm each night, to a proper vibrant heart fit for a modern financial district, with its concomitant retail (who could ever have predicted the uplift in retail floor space in the City?  Now greater than that of Westfield London!!!!), restaurants and bars. And attention to detail in all the public spaces, a real sense of place, with public art and street furniture, as befits a world city. Not to mention the iconic (and tall!) buildings: the new world-class and world-recognised landmarks.  It was generous for Peter to mark this as "a team effort" (his words) involving most of those in the room.  But it has to be said that he was ever the Pied Piper.

 

Well, here's to another 25 years then.

I had a great meeting yesterday with the Place Live team who are putting together our stand for UKR@MIPIM 2011.  UKR is audaciously attempting to lure the public sector (particularly the hundreds of them with oven-ready opportunities) and partnership-orientated private sector players out to MIPIM for next year. You have to admire our chutzpah.  We take the view that it may be a tough call in this climate, but what with the wide range of government incentives for getting on and doing things, and the need to establish the new LEPs with the investors, this might be the VERY moment to catch the market.  And 2011 is the year that the UK is Nation of Honour at MIPIM (in recognition of the forthcoming Olympics 2012) so we're hoping for a bit of support from BIS and others to match project-to-investor in a responsible and cost effective way.  
 
It is a non-negotiable fact that MIPIM is the market leader in the international property conference circuit. My old boss Sandy Bruce Lockhart used to moan that MIPIM wasn't held in Hartlepool. Well it isn't. It is a 21 year old success story held in the south of France and, short of starting a rival convention (which we can't afford and which wouldn't work) then we need to engage with the one we've got.
 
Now more than ever, we argue, there are excellent business reasons, for public sector agencies, particularly those with land or other assets seeking partners for development, to be out at MIPIM.  UKR is moving decisively to assist with the dilemma facing local authorities looking for a best value route to market.  We will share best practice, pool local authority experience and devise a blueprint for public sector attendees at MIPIM to get the best price for participation, and the best value for so doing.  We intend to track contacts made by local authorities at MIPIM over the last ten years and see what investment was leveraged as a result.
 
Our mission is chaired for us by the redoubtable Alex King, Deputy Leader of Kent County Council (and founding architect of the Kent, Essex and East Sussex LEP) and we have already attracted some smart local authorities and other locally based players who clearly see that MIPIM is a valuable forum in which to promote regeneration projects and attract inward investment. 

There remains a major disconnect: local authorities are sitting on billions of pounds worth of assets, but the regeneration sector is stymied for the lack of a cost effective mechanism to finding the right partners.  UKR is looking at a radical new model for engaging people at MIPIM and we will be working with all our members to make MIPIM work better for them.  Whether you are public sector or private sector and you want to work differently, and more creatively, in future, we'd be thrilled to hear from you.  Every time we have a conversation out there we come more to the belief that we are seriously onto something with this.  Contact steve.webb@placelive.co.uk, quickly now, and he will tell you what to do. 
 
And be prepared to be surprised when you learn just how cost effective going to market can be.