Back sometime early in 2014, the UK Green Building Council approached us with the idea of hosting a conference on cities. This was to be a different to the usual general discussions on future cities, practically orientated and very much grounded in the context of the inaugural hosts, Manchester.
We helped the UK-GBC to design and facilitate the event which was hosted in January 2015 and we are delighted that a report capturing the output of the two day conference has now been published.
Developed in collaboration with key members and the leadership of Manchester’s City Council, the aim of the two day event was to help shape a sustainability vision for the city and influence the 10 year strategy.
What came out of the vision building exercise was a principal aim that development should ‘funnel down’ economic opportunity for all of Manchester’s citizens. At the same time, providing a much greener city and taking some bold moves to reconnect different neighbourhoods within the city.
We then applied those principles to three city centre development sites. At Mayfield, the focus was on the creation of a vibrant inner-city commercial district with generous provision of greenspace, a revitalisation of the River Medlock. New Islington, to be rebranded as New Ancoats, provided a platform for an exemplar low carbon and adaptable development. Whilst the challenge at Collyhurst Village was how to retrofit a heart into the community and build a trailblazing community led local enterprise initiatives.
Through the conference, the UK-GBC membership was also able to build an understanding of the opportunities in Manchester and develop key relationships.
Find out more about the opportunities and ideas generated through the links below.
