{"id":4023195,"date":"2019-03-05T15:29:34","date_gmt":"2019-03-05T15:29:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.buyassociation.co.uk\/?p=4023195"},"modified":"2023-10-10T13:31:54","modified_gmt":"2023-10-10T12:31:54","slug":"grosvenor-britain-ireland-boss-speaks-out-against-developers-article-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/news\/grosvenor-britain-ireland-boss-speaks-out-against-developers-article-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Grosvenor Britain & Ireland boss speaks out against developers Article 6"},"content":{"rendered":"

Developers less popular than drug dealers<\/span><\/b>\u00a0says industry chief<\/span><\/b>\u00a0speaking at Olympia event<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Craig McWilliam, Chief Executive at\u00a0<\/span>Grosvenor Britain & Ireland<\/span>\u00a0was keynote interview with John Gravett, Head of Real Estate Management at\u00a0Cluttons\u00a0at a recent event held at Olympia, West London.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The senior executive<\/span><\/b>\u00a0caught the audience\u2019s attention speaking about some recent research he had seen that: \u201c<\/span><\/b>S<\/span><\/b>howed people thought the development sector was worse than drug dealers in its effect on local spaces and highlighted the lack of trust people have for developers and planning.\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Craig McWilliam\u2019s view is based on first hand commercial experience.\u00a0 In February 2019, Southwark planners rejected plans submitted by Grosvenor, citing affordability issues around the project to build a build to rent scheme in Bermondsey at a cost of \u00a3500 million.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Grosvenor intends to promote<\/span>\u00a0the benefits of a BTR scheme it feels doesn\u2019t fit the normal economics of development in London, where building lots of expensive flats for sale subsidises affordable units.\u00a0<\/span>Mc William said:\u00a0<\/span>\u201cWe\u2019ll continue to see whether there\u2019s a way of increasing understanding of the benefits of the scheme, whether with the greater London authority or with Southwark. It is a tough problem, but one the development world simply has to solve.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Speakers at the event made the point that, \u2018cities across the UK need development to accommodate a growing population and provide living and work space that this creates to maintain and boost the country\u2019s economy.\u2019<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr McWilliam\u00a0<\/span>commented on the importance of: \u201cE<\/span>stablish<\/span>ing<\/span>\u00a0trust between communities and developers responsible for\u00a0<\/span>building major residential projects in their local areas<\/span>.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>He believes a change of approach and mind set is required, not only from developers but from local authorities.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u201cPeople love the spaces that are created, but they distrust the process, and that holds us back from fulfilling our purpose,\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/b>said Craig McWilliam<\/span><\/b>\u00a0CE at Grosvenor Britain & Ireland<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr\u00a0<\/span>McWilliam urged political leaders to emphasise<\/span>\u00a0the benefits of new development.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople see new developments that are going up and\u00a0<\/span>believe it\u2019s all about\u00a0<\/span>luxury flats,\u00a0<\/span>that\u00a0<\/span>developers are\u00a0<\/span>the ones to profit<\/span>\u00a0and the local authority has\u00a0<\/span>cajoled into agreeing development.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>If a school\u00a0<\/span>receives funding<\/span>\u00a0as part of a new scheme, then the benefit is often taken by the local authority and the community doesn\u2019t see the benefit as coming from developers.\u00a0<\/span>P<\/span>ublic leaders\u00a0<\/span>should use their platform to explain<\/span>\u00a0how development brings\u00a0<\/span>wider community\u00a0<\/span>benefits.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0<\/span>Grosvenor Britain and Ireland Chief<\/span><\/i>\u00a0executive went on to highlight that: \u201cThe\u00a0property\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0industry\u00a0must<\/span>\u00a0make the case for what it does, engaging better<\/span>\u00a0with local communities, particularly those people who might not have previously engage<\/span>d with the development process, empowering them with knowledge, rather than relying on a small group of objectors with limited information.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The importance of social media was raised as a way of pushing beyond the typical\u00a0<\/span><\/b>consultation meetings by utilising social media and apps, to get its message out to people\u00a0<\/span><\/b>unable or not prepared to attend meetings.\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Grosvenor is undertaking a<\/span>n experimental<\/span>\u00a0large-scale survey of what people like and dislike about the planning process.\u00a0<\/span>From this poll it will take the findings<\/span>\u00a0and apply the lessons to one par<\/span>ticular scheme to see if it can improve its engagement<\/span>\u00a0with people.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lloyd Lee<\/span>\u00a0from<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Yoo\u00a0Capital<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span>who is involved in a joint venture with partner\u00a0<\/span>Deutsche Finance<\/span><\/i>\u00a0to redevelop the Olympia exhibition venue at a cost of \u00a3700 million in West London, comments: \u201c<\/span>Meeting face-to-face\u00a0<\/span>is an essential<\/span>\u00a0tool in engaging with the communities around major new development<\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>We undertook 63 days of community engagement during the planning process and when Mrs Jones from\u00a0round\u00a0the corner called us up to say she couldn\u2019t make a meeting, we opened up a 30K SF hall just for her the next day. It takes time, but people are learning to trust us.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lee said\u00a0<\/span>Yoo\u00a0and Deutsche Finance<\/span><\/i>\u00a0had opened up the space to allow access to local theatre and community groups, and that even though it had now received planning consent for the scheme, it was continuing the consultation process to keep local residents informed.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Developers less popular than drug dealers\u00a0says industry chief\u00a0speaking at Olympia event\u00a0 Craig McWilliam, Chief Executive at\u00a0Grosvenor Britain & Ireland\u00a0was keynote interview with John Gravett, Head of Real Estate Management at\u00a0Cluttons\u00a0at a recent event held at Olympia, West London.\u00a0 The senior executive\u00a0caught the audience\u2019s attention speaking about some recent research he had seen that: \u201cShowed people… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":217,"featured_media":15709,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,12,6],"tags":[328],"class_list":["post-4023195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-construction","category-london","category-uk-housing-market","tag-planning-permission"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4023195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4023195"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4023195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6092036,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4023195\/revisions\/6092036"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4023195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4023195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyassociationgroup.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4023195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}