Lowry or the hunger marches or anything like that; they would like a bit of the good life, too. Keeping links with the past is very important, because if you keep those links it gives you confidence to move forward into the future. That is why we set such store on saving and revitalising the old historic buildings down Chapel Street at the core of Central Salford, including, where possible, the old pubs.
So we are proud of our past but we want transformation for the future. When we set up the URC we did not include the Quays as one of our priority areas. The Quays was already doing well and we had other areas we wanted to concentrate on. Just across the border, in the City of Manchester, the BBC had for some time had been talking to Manchester about its intention to decentralise. The pressure on the BBC came from back bench MPs who were getting sick and tired of the fact that although the licence fee is in effect a National Tax they perceived the BBC to be entirely London and South East centred; why should the North pay the licence fee anymore? As the time for licence fee renegotiations was fast approaching the BBC decided it needed to look at decentralisation seriously. Its first option was to consider the redevelopment of existing premises in Manchester, the Network Production Centre, my old home, a horrible building in need of redevelopment! Manchester thought this was a done-deal so when I began to take a URC interest in the BBC opportunity I got my knuckles wrapped and was told to go away.
MediaCityUK
Then the BBC moved the goalposts. The new BBC Director General, Mark Thompson, saw something else happening in the world. He saw that digital technology would not only change the way we broadcast but change everything we do, communications, leisure, entertainment, education, healthcare, government etc. He realised that unless the BBC changed it would be in serious trouble, and as a former broadcaster, who also had a stake in a commercial broadcast production company, I recognised that too. By this time the BBC had five potential sites in mind, two of which were in Central Salford, and when the BBC came to us to discuss them the gloves were off and we were plunged into a real competition.
These are not business parks, not science parks but are urban landscapes, 24-hour cities being developed on the outskirts of already well-established cities, designed as places that attract and retain creative people. They are specially designed places where people live, play, work, learn, and research; they are destinations in themselves. Some are driven by big media; some by design, some by big science, a mixture of big science and digital media drivers, “one north” in Singapore for instance. In conversation with Mike Joroff one evening about these world-class developments, typically 150 to 250 plus acres, I said, “Do you think we could be world class?” He looked down his nose at me and he replied, “Well I don’t know about that, but I think you could be globally significant”! And that will do us. We will be globally significant!
If you are in a battle and want to win you need to know what the client wants. Fortunately the BBC introduced me to Professor Mike Joroff who is a work place planner, but ‘work place’ not in terms of offices but in terms of cities. He is from MIT, Massachusetts and he invited me to join forces with the Cambridge/MIT Group who were looking round the world at examples of where the next big drivers for western economies were going to come from. Our Cambridge and MIT in the States joined forces and identified a number of places that they characterised as 21st century cities such as Arabianranta Helsinki, Crossroads Copenhagen, Digital Mile Zaragoza, Internet City Dubai, DMC Seoul, one north Singapore, and of course MIT itself.
ASSET - Liverpool-10
Felicity Goodey CBE
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