Cavendish Talks

Welcome back to the next episode in our Cavendish Talks, Midlands Matters series with our hosts Martha Jennings and Jonny Hodges.

Each of our podcast episodes shines a light on the opportunities within the built environment sector, joined by influential guests whose careers play a vital role in the Midlands.

We were joined by Invest in Nottingham, Business Expansion Specialist and Labour’s Candidate for Police and Crime Commissioner for Derbyshire, Nicolle Ndiweni.

Bringing a unique perspective to the table, through her decade of work, life, and campaign experience in the East Midlands. Nicolle is deeply committed to fostering community, driving investment, and championing the people of the region.

Martha Jennings and Jonny Hodges are back for the new season of the Cavendish Talks Midlands Matters series.

Each episode shines a light on the opportunities within the built environment sector, joined by influential guests whose careers have played a vital role in the Midlands.

Kicking off the series, Jonny and Martha talk with the former Leader of Birmingham City Council, Ian Ward. Ian has recently joined Cavendish as a Consultant working across local government and devolution.

With nearly 30 years’ of experience in local government and the public sector, Ian has previously served as both Labour Leader and Deputy Leader of Birmingham City Council. 

Martha Jennings and Jonny Hodges are back in our latest podcast episode. We are excited to announce that BECGconversation has rebranded as Cavendish Talks, while still maintaining our focus on the Midlands.

Each episode shines a light on the opportunities within the built environment sector, joined by influential guests whose careers have shaped the infrastructure in the Midlands.  

In this episode, we caught up with Paul Butters, Head of Communications at Midlands Connect. Paul is an advocate of good political practice and stakeholder engagement for large-scale transport projects within the Midlands. 

In our latest Midlands Matters podcast episode, the Midlands team delved into the exciting local elections results and explored the trends and issues relevant to local voters. There has been a great deal of interest in the results, and we turned to our in-house experts for their views.

Our Midlands Podcast hosts Martha Jennings and Jonny Hodges were joined by Rebecca Langton, former Cabinet Member for Skills, Growth, and Economic Development at Nottingham City Council, and Tristan Chatfield, former Cabinet Member for Finance at Birmingham City Council. Between them, they have many years’ of experience at the top of local politics and gave some unique insights into the changing political landscape of the East and West Midlands.

BECG Birmingham are delighted to bring you ‘BECGconversation, Midlands Matters’ podcast in which Jonny Hodges and Martha Jennings, Account Managers, speak with a number of influential guests who all have experience in shaping the built environment offering in the Midlands.

They connect with people across the whole built environment spectrum: from CEOs of prominent local charities to Chairs of business groups in the region as well as prominent local politicians to name but a few.

The series shines a light of the breadth of the built environment sector, and shares an insight into the careers of those who have shaped the infrastructure offering in the Midlands.

In our latest podcast, we caught up with Cabinet Member for Jobs, Regeneration and Climate Change at Coventry City Council, Jim O’Boyle, on the role of the Coventry Gigafactory and the challenges of retrofitting homes to meet Net Zero.

BECG Birmingham are delighted to bring you ‘BECGconversation, Midlands Matters’ podcast in which Jonny Hodges and Martha Jennings, Account Managers, speak with a number of influential guests who all have experience in shaping the built environment offering in the Midlands.

They connect with people across the whole built environment spectrum: from CEOs of prominent local charities to Chairs of business groups in the region as well as prominent local politicians to name but a few.

The series shines a light of the breadth of the built environment sector, and shares an insight into the careers of those who have shaped the infrastructure offering in the Midlands.

In this episode we speak with Hannah Deverell, Chair of Women in Property West Midlands on creating equal opportunities and fair representation within the property industry.

BECG Birmingham are delighted to bring to you their ‘BECG Conversations, Midlands Matters’ podcast in which Jonny and Martha, Account Managers, speak with a number of influential guests who all have experience in shaping the built environment offering in the Midlands.

They connect with people across the whole built environment spectrum: from CEOs of prominent local charities to Chairs of business groups in the region as well as prominent local politicians to name but a few.

The series shines a light of the breadth of the built environment sector, and shares an insight into the careers of those who have shaped the infrastructure offering in the Midlands.

In this episode we speak with Cllr Sharon Thompson: whose career path has taken her from a homeless teenager in the city to the Cabinet Member for Housing and Homelessness at Birmingham City Council.

With Kent having felt the effects of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic more strongly than any other region, now is a critical time for the county’s growth.

Known as the Garden of England, Kent is more than just its leafy villages – it is a region with an ambitious growth agenda and a key role in driving growth in the Thames Gateway region.

Our expert panel explored how to overcome the challenges and harness the opportunities around delivering the growth needed in the garden of England.

Speakers included:

• Kate Willard OBE – Thames Estuary Envoy
• Cllr Derek Murphy – Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Kent County Council
• Cllr Gerry Clarkson – Leader, Ashford Borough Council
• Gordon Pratt – Managing Director, KenEx Tramlink

The latest politician to appear in our series of London Leaders is Council Leader Steve Curran.

Councillor Curran has been the leader of Hounslow since 2014 following an election that took the borough from a marginal authority into solid Labour control, which it remains to this day. On cabinet he holds the roles of planning and regeneration, emphasising the priority he places on transforming the borough through good regeneration. Known for his straight talking approach, he took us through exactly what he expects from potential investors in his borough and how the private and public sector can work together to build Hounslow's future.

Whether you love them or hate them, Low Traffic Neighbourhoods are set to remain at the top of the agenda in England’s urban areas. Over 140 Low Traffic Neighbourhoods are already in place across the country, with a further 70 are planned in response to the Government’s £250m Emergency Active Travel Fund.

But what have we learned from the areas that have implemented Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, and how can developers draw on this to create new communities with walking and cycling at their heart?

Our expert panel discussed these issues before taking questions from the audience to discuss the key facts, evidence and learnings about Low Traffic Neighbourhoods.

BECG was joined by:

• Mary Creagh, Chief Executive of Living Streets
• Councillor Claire Holland, Deputy Leader of Lambeth Council
• Councillor Clyde Loakes, Deputy Leader of Waltham Forest Council
• Dr Anthony Laverty, Lecturer at Imperial College London

The latest politician to appear in our series of London Leaders was Rokhsana Fiaz OBE – Mayor of Newham.

In May 2018, Rokhsana Fiaz OBE was elected as Mayor of Newham, making her the first directly elected female mayor for any London borough. Prior to this, she became a councillor for Custom House Ward, and CEO of an international UNESCO supported charity promoting interfaith and global citizenship across the world. Whilst there, leading a project, in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat, to support youth leadership globally.

Mayor Fiaz has led large-scale projects for local authorities, the European Commission and the Council of Europe, then in 2009 was honoured with the Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to Black and Minority Communities within the UK.

Philip became Mayor in May 2016 following Jules Pipe becoming Deputy London Mayor for Planning after 14 years in charge of the borough. Prior to this, Mayor Glanville had been a Hackney Councillor for ten years. In this podcast, he shares his vision for the borough and how developers can work with the council to achieve his objectives.

Social value is often misunderstood within the planning arena, and still hasn’t shaken off the perception that it is an inconvenience that prevents the delivery of new homes.

Despite this, social value has the ability to offer something that the standard planning framework cannot – the opportunity to significantly increase the value of new development in non-commercial terms.

For social value to be considered alongside viability and commercial returns, it needs to have a shared value for the private, public and voluntary sectors, ensuring that all stakeholders are benefitting from what should be the ‘golden thread’ of the planning process.

BECG was joined by Clive Betts MP, Housing, Communities & Local Government Select Committee Chair and journalist Andrew Hosken as we examined the ongoing reaction to the Government’s Planning White Paper and its potential direction.

With 300,000 new homes a year needed to meet Government targets, local authorities across the country have relied on Garden Communities to help meet their housing needs. Many of these schemes are large-scale and complex, and with a number of high-profile issues plaguing the progress of Garden Communities, their future is anything but certain.

We hosted a panel discussion on the importance of Garden Communities in fulfilling Local Plan housing need, the challenges faced, and what can be done to speed up and ease their delivery.

Our expert panel discussed key issues ranging from the role of Garden Communities in meeting the 300,000 homes annual target, public opposition the schemes, local authority ability to deliver projects, and what more Government can do to help deliver them.

Panelists included:

• Mary Parsons – Chair of the Town and Country Planning Association
• Sandra Fryer – Former Board Member, and Chair of the Planning Committee, Ebbsfleet Garden City
• John Beresford – Managing Director, Buckland Development

The issue of building safety has never been higher profile than it is today.

As the draft Building Safety Bill nears the end of its pre-legislative scrutiny we welcomed the Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee, Clive Betts MP, to a webinar to discuss the Bill and what lies ahead for UK building regulation, joined by British Property Federation’s Director of Real Estate Policy, Ian Fletcher.

Our fourth episode in the BECGconversation podcast series looks at the impact that covid-19 has had on local council services, housing and employment, including how councils and organisations have come together to provide support to those who need it most.

Our guests, representing a cross section of this diverse sector, are:

• Mayor Peter Taylor, Elected Mayor of Watford
• Lynsey Sweeney, Managing Director, Communities that Work
• Nilavra Mukerji, Senior Assistant Director, Directorate of Housing and Safer Communities at the Royal Borough of Greenwich, Royal Borough of Greenwich.

For the second episode in the BECGconversation podcast series, host BECG’s Managing Director Andrew Howard discusses how the Coronavirus pandemic has impacted the planning system.

Andrew is joined by Andrew Whitaker, Planning Director at HBF (Home Builders Federation), Anna Rose, Head of Local Government’s Planning Advisory Service (PAS) and Gary Day, Group Land & Planning Director at McCarthy & Stone.

In this first episode, in partnership with the British Property Federation, our expert speakers are:

• Melanie Leech CBE, Chief Executive of the British Property Federation
• Amelia Bright, Director of Development & Placemaking, Grosvenor
• and Emily Williams, Associate Director, Residential Research, Savills.

Chaired by BECG MD Andrew Howard the podcast reflects on where the property and development sector finds itself today, the highlights and lowlights of our collective response, the effectiveness of Government support to date, and what the future might hold.