In Focus - Ian Simpson & Rachel Haugh

Property development is crucial to the regeneration of a city. Ultimately it's about making the best of your assets, whether they're your buildings or land. I think Manchester is definitely trying to do that. It's an opportunity to create new homes, new offices, new workspace, hotels, everything. The industry is very committed to find a way to regenerate the city, and we've got amazing assets here that need to be brought forward. I think it's also about realizing that property development shouldn't be seen in isolation. Each site has a red line, but that red line means something in the context of the area in which the site sits. It's about harnessing the benefits that site development can bring, so the catalytic effect of a development is understood. We're quite often asked to look at frameworks or master plans for areas in which your site sits, so those benefits can be harnessed very particularly for the future. That mechanism is extremely impactful in terms of its regenerative effect, and Manchester is particularly good at achieving that. We've got to think about the purpose of all this and the purpose of cities. Ultimately we're trying to bring forward investment into cities like Manchester and the North West to create jobs and security for its citizens. If we can make a really beautiful, attractive city where people want to live, work, and play, then property development is there to support that political ambition. In terms of the scale and pace that the city is moving forward, obviously if we take a step back and think 25 years, it's a pretty fast track the city has been on since the IRA bomb in '96. Bearing in mind that the population has increased from 400,000 to 650,000 in that timescale, we're still only probably halfway through where we need to be. The regeneration is very much about people, in our view, that drives demand for everything else. We need to get to a population of around 200,000 people, and it could take another 30 to 50 years to get to that point, but the city can accommodate that. Even then we'll only be at a similar density to central London, and nowhere near the density of Barcelona or Paris, but it's a sustainable density we need within the city centre. I think it's important that we understand the city as the driver for the region. Manchester is the capital of the region, drives the economy, and allows the ten boroughs of Greater Manchester to achieve the best they can within that context. It allows them to develop their identity within the whole. The driver is the focus of development within the city centre, which is intensification and density, but I think it allows everybody the various boroughs to achieve and push their various identities. We've got to think about Manchester as the key tack brand for the North West. Even Salford University presents itself as in Manchester. It is the capital of the Northern Powerhouse, the centre of the levelling up agenda from government. We've got to think about how the other boroughs can benefit from that. If we get a really strong powerful core, the ripple effect will impact the outer areas, and they can retain their green belts, let population density occur around the city edge in brownfield zones. We create a really attractive, compact, walkable city, and that's a true sustainable community. It's really important that development focus is not pepper-potted or diluted, because that strength of identity makes the difference nationally and internationally. I think the design standards are not only set by the city council because they've always been willing to embrace change as long as quality is key and assessed at that level. Residents and tenants demand a much higher level now. The residential we're designing has amenities and facilities we didn't design when we designed the Beetham Tower, so there's a real demand in terms of quality and aspiration, and that's underpinned by the city council's drive to increase quality not just of the built environment but the public spaces. We're starting to see more pedestrianized linkages, Deansgate, New Cathedral Street, new public spaces like Deansgate Square that never existed before, they were just car parks. Quality of public space, quality of built form, and quality of space that people can occupy—whether residential or commercial—are fundamental, and the city has been insistent upon that. If we can achieve that, they open their arms and embrace investment and change. It's really an evolution of aspiration on all sides: the public sector in terms of Manchester City Council what they can demand, and what individuals demand themselves. It chimes quite well. In terms of the future, we've got to have more of the same. We mustn't be complacent and think Manchester's achieved anything yet. It's work in progress. If you think 25 years, another 25, 50 years in terms of the life of the city is not very much in real terms, but we'll probably need that to create a truly sustainable, compact, walkable city that will be a model for post-industrial cities across the world. It's all about people, and what's exciting now is this new wave of regeneration that's happening, all about creating fantastic new living accommodation, different types of workspace, public realm, making the sort of city people want to be in and spend time working and playing. Bear in mind it's 30 minutes north-south and 40 minutes east-west to walk within the inner ring road; it's a really accessible centre. You can be anywhere and be at the town hall in 15 minutes walking. That to me is a truly sustainable community. What's really exciting about working in the North West and particularly in Manchester is that this is the only true public-private partnership that I see existing on the ground. It's partly to do with the fact that the city council has been and always will be a Labour-run council—94 of the 96 councillors are Labour—so we've got continuity. We can look long term. That's why we've been able to support the airport, support the universities, get a tram system in, because it's long-term ambition, long-term investment. Developers see that continuity, they see the confidence that comes out of the city that we will be here to support you, because things can't just happen in two or three years; the building industry takes a lot longer. To me it's an opportunity to embrace that change and support it, and to know there's confidence to follow through. As long as decisions are made around quality, then we'll see further and continued investment in this city. I do think there's a real synergy between the public and private sector which is recognized internationally. We've traveled to MIPIM with the city council as a Manchester contingent, and it's really powerful as a brand. That public-private connection is well understood and is not apparent with any other international or European cities. It is about that working together, the aspiration for the future, the confidence, and the transparency of the city council's ambition and strategy for the future that allows people to have confidence in their long-term involvement within the city. So it's a fantastic interrelationship between the public and private sector that should be celebrated. It's particularly special and unique to Manchester and the region. When you look at the vision and ambition, it's obviously to create opportunity, achieve jobs and security for its citizens, and that's very obvious from Manchester's positioning. We as architects and others in the development community do our best to support that vision and try to create a beautiful city where people can live, work, and play. Without that vision at the outset, it would be very difficult; it would all be about watching out for yourself, whereas I do think the development community have a real sense of responsibility not just to their own clients but to the city in itself. The built environment is crucial for everybody's future, and we all hold immense responsibility. We as architects understand that and take that responsibility on a daily basis. I think the way the city has positioned itself in terms of embracing change, wanting investment, supporting action, and that can-do attitude that people in the north and Mancunians have, has translated and given confidence for investment to happen. We've got to see more of it, more international investment, and that's about raising the profile of the city as a city to invest in and to create jobs within. There's a great workforce here that can support those ambitions. That sort of ambition, commitment, confidence spills out. If that's there and the transparency—that if it's good it can happen—then we see people moving forward. In other cities it doesn't work like that. The real strength is that stability and continuity of civic and political leadership here in the North West because that has given consistency in messaging for anybody who feels there's an opportunity here. I believe it's that consistency and stability of the message that has been really powerful. That willingness to embrace change is something the city has really played on. It wants to change because what was the future for the city post-bomb was very unclear; now it has an amazing future ahead of it. But also the scale of this is that in Manchester the individual can make a difference. Whatever you're doing, you can make a difference to the success of the city, and that challenge is something that has been thrown out there. That's why we see a lot of people really passionate about the city, but also passionate about making Manchester a beautiful and attractive place to invest and work. I think it's also important to think about the diversity of the city and how that's contributed to thinking about the future because everybody's contribution is absolutely critical and important for that sustainable community and city. The success—or the perceived success, obviously we've got a long way to go—is built on that understanding and welcoming of contribution that is quite unique and particular to this region. When you look at the North West region as a whole, we're really well positioned to compete internationally. We've got fantastic cities within that region, each with their own character and identity. We've got great towns connected by infrastructure like trams. If we see the whole of the region, there's no reason why it can't compete for jobs and investment from around the world. We've got to think about it as a centre. Obviously it has certain cores within it, but each of the towns within the region will benefit enormously. It just takes time. There are massive assets for this region: we have the countryside 20 minutes away, and we have a really busy thriving hub 40 minutes away, or 40 seconds in the lift! We've got everything the region can compete with, and we have an amazing workforce as well as the universities and all the other assets. It's an exciting place to be. We've just got to continue that evolution and change, maintain confidence, present ourselves as open for investment. But it's also a very diverse region with different offers within the different cities, and that's great because we need to really harness all those different offers. Transport infrastructure is key to do that. The tram system, the Metrolink, has been fundamental to the success of Greater Manchester, and that just needs to be reinforced across the region as a whole. Transport infrastructure is absolutely key. I think at government level that's absolutely recognized, although not carried through in terms of playing out their contributions. The funding needs to come forward to harness the true ambition, aspiration, and ability to contribute here in the North West.