MERCHANT FOCUS: TRAVIS PERKINS
and therefore prices would have to go up for customers.
“We want to be good neighbours. We want to support the construction industry and we’re looking for land and opportunities.” London’s Deputy Mayor for Planning, Jules Pipe, encouraged councils and developers to build on the recommendations set out in the Mayor’s draft London Plan. The Deputy Mayor highlighted Travis Perkins’ two mixed use branches in London as successful examples. He stated “Mixed use development is going to play a crucial role as London continues to grow. We often use Travis Perkin’s St Pancras site as a really good example of this kind of mixed-use development that we want to encourage in London. We are in the midst of a housing crisis and our projections show that London needs to build around 66k homes a year just to meet the need.”Pipe said.
London Plan
“At the same time, employment space is under huge pressure and evidence has shown that we are losing far too much of our industrial land. Industrial and office workspaces are absolutely vital, as we’ve recognised in City Hall and that’s reflected in the London Plan, to keep London’s economy growing and moving. Industrial areas provide a rich ecosystem for a great variety of businesses including those in the building industry but also those in, for example, food preparation that must be within a certain distance of the city itself.”
He continued, “For London to grow sustainably, we’d need to prevent urban sprawl and protect London’s green and open spaces, as well as developing better neighbourhoods. To achieve this, the plan is based on the principle of Good Growth. That’s accommodating growth in London that’s economically and socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable. One of the key principles of Good Growth is making the
Paul Tallentire
Travis Perkins is different. We try to run our business differently. Our core business is about looking after the tradesmen who build homes.
“ ”
best use of land and a critical part of this is promoting mixed-use development. Getting land to work harder and perform a range of functions.”
“It’s vital that mixed use is done really well. Too often it’s poorly designed office spaces or houses. A good mixed-use development should support the local economy, understands culture and the community, compliment local character in architecture and also promote London’s entrepreneurial spirit. It’s not about looking at these in isolation it’s about creating spaces for all the community, not just one building. We want developers to consider whether industrial areas could be intensified or land could be free up for domestic use. The new principal of the London Plan is no overall net loss of industrial floor-space capacity in designated industrial locations. This doesn’t mean freezing the footprint, it’s about the capacity we want to preserve or grow.”
One of Travis Perkins’ most successful pilot examples of mixed use sites was with Unite Student Accommodation, the largest operator and owner of student accommodation in the UK. Student accommodation contributes £22 billion to UK economy directly but there are 1.8million students in UK and not enough accommodation. Property Director at developer Unite Students, Nick Hayes, took the stage next.
“The problem we have now is that the supply of student accommodation in London has fallen off a cliff edge. The sector used to average 5-7 thousand new beds each year,
Jules Pipe
but around four years ago that supply fell dramatically and is currently around 1000 new beds year on year and it doesn’t look like that will improve. The two main reasons for that are land values that have accelerated over a period of time, and current policy which hasn’t been as supportive of new student accommodation being built.”
No noise
“In terms of the St Pancras development, it was a fairly complex development to put together even though it may seem at first glance a simple thing to design. We haven’t had a single noise complaint, which could seem rather unusual considering what might be expected of a combination of builders merchant and student accommodation.” Finally, Councillor Stephanie Cryan stood up to speak about the impact of larger-scale mixed use areas becoming the future of the wider London landscape as community areas look to evolve to survive.
“Regeneration could be the future to some of London’s failing or more elderly areas. However, crowding in the city means that property prices in all areas of London are increasing rapidly and mixed use developments could be the answer to reviving areas while still providing community spaces and making the most of all building opportunities” she said.
“Homes need to be built, that are affordable for those local people who work n that area to be able to stay in the city, and creating new jobs in the process.” BMJ
Councillor Stephanie Cryan
September 2018
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net
17
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
