Mark Davy

The Heritage Alliance has released a groundbreaking report titled "On The Brink: Heritage in the Cost-of-Living Crisis," shedding light on the dire situation faced by the heritage sector amidst the ongoing economic challenges. Drawing from 18 months of meticulous data gathering, the research exposes the critical effects of the cost-of-living crisis on the sector. The findings paint a grim picture, highlighting how new challenges have exacerbated existing issues and deepened the cracks in the foundations of our heritage institutions. The report serves as a wake-up call for policymakers, stakeholders, and the public to recognize the urgency of supporting the heritage sector during these trying times. Without swift action and adequate resources, we risk losing irreplaceable cultural assets and the countless benefits they provide to our communities. We strongly recommend reading the full Heritage Alliance Insight Report to grasp the scale of the crisis and understand the steps needed to protect and preserve our heritage in the face of adversity. Access the report here: https://ow.ly/CRhr50RMYVA #HeritageInCrisis #CostOfLivingCrisis #HistoricEnvironment #CulturalHeritage

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Fascinating to gain insight into this latest briefing paper which dives into the critical flaws in the implementation of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) and presents actionable recommendations to support small developers and unlock housing delivery! Much needed! 👏👏👏

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This year I didn’t attend the Milan Design Week and I missed out on the Norsk Hydro 100R stand and together with niceworkshop. and Knoll displayed material innovation and circular economy. In a world crying out for sustainability, it's disheartening to read the Dezeen editor’s review how he thinks the design industry prioritizing corporate strategies over the needs of everyday people and our planet. Especially the excessive use of virgin materials for short-lived, self-indulgent displays that actually reflects a disconnect between the industry's actions and the urgent changes needed in production and consumption. Because this is a time for designers, brands, and all of us to step it up. #sustainabilityisnotatrend #responsibledesign

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"BTR developments rapidly move large numbers of people into a single area and can thereby turbocharge placemaking like few other housing models." Lindsay Garratt writes in The Planner RTPI on how build-to-rent has become an attractive model for developers, and the pressures impacting its viability. #housingdevelopment #buildtorent #BTR https://lnkd.in/eudbh7UQ

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This report is a really excellent short summary of the housing situation in Scotland today with some pithy, pragmatic and insightful recommendations for moving towards zero carbon. I'd urge housing providers and local authority policy planners to read it. What stunned me, though, was that not a single social housing association was present for this conference a couple of months ago, or even the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations. https://lnkd.in/eP2zwuWU Bryan Harris Martin Callachan. What happened? #zerocarbon #housing #policychange #scotland

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"It’s clear we live in a time where urban landscapes increasingly mirror each other with standardised commercial and corporate architecture. It’s easier, less risky and more cost efficient. But what of heritage, identity and preservation of culture? How do we – and should we — work to maintain a sense of place amidst the tide of globalisation?" "While it is positive to see places such as Cambridge North coming forward as a development of a ‘forgotten’ part of the city, why do all the images convey a standard corporate architecture that could be anywhere? What makes it Cambridge? Or in a global network, does it matter?" #architecture In Building Design., associate director at MCW architects, Hien Nguyen, examines the Cambridge North development and discusses the subject of homogeneous architecture as well as the challenges it presents for maintaining heritage. https://lnkd.in/eim3HN-P

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Towns and city centres face challenging times on many fronts – #climate, #nature recovery, cost of living and social equity. LDA Design director Clare Wilks explains the power that lies in radical incrementalism – a series of small, long-term changes that together amount to something really significant – and in #placemaking plans that coordinate actions, motivate local people, drive investment and make good things happen. Greater collaboration, meaningful conversations – which also means listening hard – and strong partnerships are all key. Read 'Conversation and the art of radical incrementalism': https://lnkd.in/eG6gtgsg   Clare will be talking about how #radicalincrementalism is working for #Bangor at ‘A place-led future for North Wales’ hosted by the Design Commission for Wales on Thursday 24 October. https://lnkd.in/eapfEt4c #highstreet #bounceback #placemaking #bettertowns #bettercities #greenertowns #greenercities #urbandesign #masterplanning #planning #community #engagement #placemakingplans #Wales #wellbeing

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Placemaking your patch (garden or verge) turns talking into doing. The easiest is in your garden, making it a place for nature and wildlife as well as for yourself. Guidance from local "gardens for wildlife" groups, council websites, etc. on plants is readily available. The next and biggest opportunity is outside the fence - the verge/sidewalk/tree lawn/nature strip. That is doable because most residents already look after the space, and many councils have already developed verge garden policies to encourage native verge gardens. It's just a matter of replacing mowing with gardening to create a place for people and nature. On the surface that seems easy and very practical. It can be done alone or with neighbours or with common interest groups. If we all just got on with it, we could transform our cities very quickly into cooler, greener places. However, in practice, the verge in front of your home a very contested space with many diverse and hidden stakeholders. That can mean challenging social norms, accepting diverse viewpoints, and negotiating the tricky balance between inclusion and exclusion. And you have to do this not as an expert or leader but as part of your daily life as a citizen. The verge is a place that provides the opportunity to develop your understanding of complex/wicked problems and the skills to collaborate on much bigger places - like the global commons. But it only works if you stop just talking about it, and start doing. See the links in the comments for more.

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🌿 Demystifying Mindful Regeneration: What are Community Land Trusts? 🏡 🏘️ In this series, we're defining key concepts in Mindful Regeneration. Today, let's explore Community Land Trusts (CLTs)—a model for equitable urban development that promotes affordable housing and long-term community stewardship. 🌱 What is it? CLTs are nonprofit organisations that acquire and hold land for the benefit of the community. By separating the cost of land from the cost of housing, CLTs ensure long-term affordability, preventing displacement, and gentrification. ❇️ Tell me more: CLTs often lease land to residents with limited equity, allowing them to purchase homes at a lower cost while maintaining the trust's ownership of the land. This approach fosters stable, inclusive communities, and encourages residents' participation in decision-making processes. 🧩 Community Land Trusts are an essential part of Mindful Regeneration, providing a pathway to affordable homeownership, promoting social cohesion, and prioritising community well-being over speculative real estate development. 💡In the next post, we'll discuss Sustainable Resource Management and its importance in creating resilient urban environments. #CommunityLandTrusts #MindfulRegeneration #AffordableHousing #EquitableDevelopment The Mindful Regenerist #doingthingsdifferently Made with the help of Pi.ai & ChatGPT

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A few bits that got my attention in this piece from The Guardian: - About the center/periphery dynamic: “The problem is, there are no more fringes of London for us to go to. For decades we were able to rent in light industrial buildings in places like east London’s Fish Island but now those are viewed by developers as prime real estate.” - About the differences among "creatives": “So, say, a picture framer or a lightbox designer who’s doing commissions for film studios. Those businesses have bigger budgets and, before you know it, landlords think they can charge artists £40 per square foot (an affordable studio averages at £18.55) because other creatives can pay that.” - About the relevance of clustering: "Space Studios has been taking part in an as-yet-unpublished research study with the architecture schools at the University of East London and Central Saint Martins, looking at the cultural and social value of having artists in a city. 'One thing we found in our research is that small, local galleries do not have the resources to go outside London to look at work, let alone transport it back to the capital,' explains Van der Vlist. 'There’s no time to do the legwork. That’s why artists being located close together is very important.'" https://lnkd.in/e86-dvj6

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In an effort to promote sustainable urban development, the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance (CNCA) and its partner cities have worked with Arup to publish the "City Handbook for Carbon Neutral Buildings". This extensive guide, made possible by funding from Built by Nature, provides professional and useful guidance for policymakers and practitioners globally on how to reduce embodied carbon in construction by using materials that range from seaweed and #timber to #hemp and rice fibres. It also makes it easier for people to learn about working with bio-based materials. Here’s a resource with all manufacturers mentioned in the report which includes more information such as EPDs, material facts and more… https://lnkd.in/eSFP-Bvg 

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Thrilled to share Campaign Brief's write up on SOON Future Studies and Broadsheet Media latest collaboration, “A Tale of Two Cities.” The Report dives into the pressing issues of our times: Climate Crisis on a Budget, New Age Living, and being Connected but Disconnected. Plucked from the 2024 Broadsheet Survey and enriched with strategic foresight from SOON Future Studies, the report sheds light on how brands can navigate these evolving cultural trends. A couple of the key findings: - Cost of Living is now the top concern for 40% of Australians, up by 10% from 2022. - Climate Change concerns have halved to 13%. - 75% of Broadsheet readers value screen-free time as essential or very important. - Younger audiences are lonelier, facing more obstacles in making friends compared to older generations. - Population ageing and declining birth rates are reshaping our urban landscapes. To go deeper into the findings and uncover the opportunities for brands to connect with the future, download the report via the link on the Campaign Brief article. https://lnkd.in/gW9Rr4Md Tully Walter Wilmarie Deetlefs Roya Lines Tri Nguyen James Mackinnon Andrew Mackinnon Kate Prowse

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What impact can design have on the green transition? We’re investing £25 million into a partnership with the Design Museum that is funding design research to help cut carbon emissions, reduce waste and regenerate landscapes. In our latest blog post, Justin McGuirk, Programme Director for the AHRC-funded Future Observatory, explores the impact of the programme and how design can drive systemic change. Future Observatory think about impact in terms of three different levels: - symptoms - systems - stories The innovation required to cut carbon at the symptoms level must happen alongside a more systemic rethinking of business-as-usual models. This would involve moving towards other approaches that encourage a more balanced co-existence with the ecosystems upon which we depend. One example of this is shifting the construction industry away from using carbon-heavy materials such as concrete, steel and brick to using greener timber, stone and biomaterials instead. Architects can produce ‘system demonstrators’ - built artefacts that test alternative systems and convince housebuilders that greener buildings are possible. Future Observatory is hoping to support a system demonstrator in Manchester later this year. Future Observatory is currently developing a strategic design roadmap as a tool to help think through the challenges currently facing the UK, from homes and infrastructure, to care, food and land use. The recently launched Future Observatory Journal helps tell the stories by providing information about new design research and by pushing the design discourse. For example, the first issue is dedicated to bioregioning, which redraws the boundaries of climate action by focusing on the needs and potentials of local landscapes and local knowledge. In its current funding period, the Future Observatory will fund more than 100 projects, supporting a generation of design researchers, and 42 early career researchers have already been supported through the Design Exchange Partnerships programme. Design in the 21st century will need to work with, and for, our natural environment. It can help us to imagine a different future, not just by reducing carbon but by weaving new narratives. Read our blog to find out more about how Future Observatory will help achieve this: https://orlo.uk/gTM1I

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We’d really love your input if you have good examples of medium density housing in parts of the country with lower land values and with marginal viability. As a country we need a broader range of homes to be delivered well and this means better and more widely understanding the challenges and opportunities that this specific typology has to deal with! Details of how to contribute examples to this research are below ⬇️ Tibbalds Katja Stille #architecture #planning #placemaking #viability #urbandesign

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David Rudlin’s latest article in Building Design addresses a critical issue facing developers and planners today: the friction between biodiversity net gain (BNG) regulations and housing growth targets. With BNG now mandating a 10% increase in biodiversity for new developments, David argues that even brownfield sites – the focus of many urban development projects – are increasingly constrained by ecological designations that significantly raise development costs and impact feasibility. David illustrates this tension with a recent example: a former car park, reclassified as an Open Mosaic Habitat, which developers are now required to preserve or replicate to meet BNG requirements. This habitat preservation not only adds considerable cost, but in some cases can make projects unviable, especially when statutory credits or habitat relocation costs soar into hundreds of thousands of pounds. Lichfields, a leading planning consultancy, reports that BNG compliance costs on certain projects have reached triple the total development budget – a staggering barrier in the current economic climate. This piece highlights the clash between the government’s dual objectives: achieving ambitious housing targets while implementing stringent biodiversity policies. For those in the architectural and planning sectors, David’s article is a crucial read, laying bare the unintended consequences of these policies and questioning whether the drop in housing applications this year is linked to BNG’s introduction. David suggests that it’s time for a more balanced approach – one that enables both growth and ecological preservation without stalling much-needed housing projects. David’s analysis calls for a re-examination of how BNG regulations are applied, especially on urban sites, if we are to create a feasible pathway for the government’s planned 1.5 million new homes. https://lnkd.in/dNM8Fj_Q #architecture #planning #biodiversitynetgain

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Exploring the gentrification of Brick Lane: a reflection on urban development and its impacts on historical communities. Join the discussion on preserving cultural heritage in the face of modernisation. #UrbanDevelopment #CulturalPreservation

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Supporting cultural & heritage sector decarbonisation Arts Council England and Historic England are looking for up to 4 micro, small or medium sized non-national cultural or heritage organisations that manage, use or occupy a listed building to take part in a pilot project. Selected organisations will be participating in a project (November 2024 – March 2025) to develop best practice advice and guidance to help cultural and heritage organisations have: • a clear understanding of the steps and processes required to decarbonise their buildings • confidence in commissioning the most appropriate surveys and assessments to inform this work (e.g. installation of heat pumps, solar panels, fabric changes etc). The pilot project will help organisations understand what types of survey they need to commission, what these surveys include and what information they can expect from the reports. The aim is to demystify the process and provide clarity on the next steps and processes involved in decarbonising their building, potentially as part of their Net Zero strategy. Deadline for expression of interest: Monday 23 September Find out more https://lnkd.in/eHu9weeQ

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