New plans for the Museum of London, CPA Chair Gareth Roberts and new Vice Chair Ilna Patel
CPA AGM: Business priorities set for 2023
At our AGM reception on Tuesday CPA Chair Gareth Roberts (Head of Broadgate Development, British Land) updated members on the Association’s business priorities for the year ahead.
Marking the start of his second and final year as CPA Chair he announced the Association’s plans to focus on galvanising greater investment into the City’s streets and open spaces in order to deliver on the aspirations of the City Corporation’s Destination City campaign, forming a key part of our work taking place under the following pillars:
Support the City’s economic and cultural resilience
Promote vibrant public spaces and infrastructure improvements
Support Net Zero Carbon and ESG ambitions for a more sustainable and inclusive City
Bring together expertise from across the capital to promote the mutual priorities of the CAZ boroughs
Gareth talked through a new CPA ‘Visualising Destination City’ map, being developed in partnership with DSDHA which captures existing, planned and proposed key public realm improvements, which will be shared with wider members later in the year as we continue to work with partners to identify areas ripe for revitalisation.
Newly appointed Vice Chair Ilna Patel (Director, Nuveen Real Estate), who kindly hosted the event at Nuveen’s 70 St Mary Axe, closed the evening by highlighting the CPA’s role in championing the Square Mile.
You can read our business priorities in full here.
Museum to help drive City's transformation
Sharon Ament, Director of the Museum of London provided the keynote speech at our AGM reception attended by more than 150 members and stakeholders.
Sharon provided a glimpse of the plans to create a truly 24-hour new London Museum at the historic Smithfield Market with world leading public realm and amenities. The new museum is expected to become one of London’s top ten visitor attractions, generating significant economic benefits and bringing over two million visitors a year to the Smithfield area.
The City of London Corporation has also announced an additional £73 million funding for the museum to support its plans.
Published to coincide with our AGM, the CPA Annual Report provides a summary of the Association’s key activities between March 2022 and April 2023. It covers the three core focuses of our work, providing information on research, policy engagement and campaigns as well as membership activities. You can read the full report below.
Following the successful launch last month of the City Corporation’s Whole Life Carbon Optioneering Planning Advice Note (since given the catchier title Carbon Options Guidance) the planning team has released a new Carbon Options tool, to enable the holistic consideration of carbon impacts, sustainability outcomes and wider planning objectives.
City Corporation discuss latest updates for upcoming City Plan 2040
The City of London Corporation’s Local Plans Sub (Planning and Transportation) Committee met today to discuss outline proposals drafted for the City Corporation's City Plan 2040. Two policy areas were discussed: the City Corporation’s retrofit first approach and its Destination City strategy. The committee was supportive of draft proposals to require developers to demonstrate comprehensive optioneering and that schemes show how they will minimise carbon emissions. The committee was keen to emphasise that each decision should be made on a site-by-site basis, and was supportive of the idea of a “tilted balance” in favour of retrofitting and refurbishing instead of stipulating specific conditions under which a new build would be acceptable.
On Destination City, the committee heard that previous policies had been a success and that the intention is to build on these in the City Corporation's City Plan 2040 by setting out new public realm requirements depending on overall floorspace and maximising on site provision instead of payments in lieu or off-site contributions.
The new City Plan is still being drafted, with final proposals set to be published in the autumn.
The London Centre has opened at its new home in the West Wing of the Guildhall. Opened in partnership with the City of London Corporation in support of its ‘Destination City’ strategy, the new centre will host a series of innovative events and exhibitions to attract more people into the Square Mile, including the new home of NLA.
Technical consultation: Increasing planning fees and performance
The London Property Alliance (CPA/WPA) has responded to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ (‘DLUHC’) technical consultation. The Alliance broadly supports the Government’s plans to increase planning application fees, subject to ensuring that this provides genuine and meaningful net additional resource for planning departments.
The Fleet Street Quarter Business Improvement District (BID) has launched ‘The Future is Fleet Street Quarter’ property report, which reveals how a coalition of public and private developers are investing to transform the area. An estimated £5bn of investments is set to deliver 3m sq ft of Grade A commercial space. A pipeline of 34 new developments includes the former Daily Express headquarters at 120 Fleet Street and Salisbury Square (The new Police and Courts complex). It is predicted that this will attract 25,000 new workers.
Plans to retrofit and extend a 1980s office block next to Liverpool Street station have been given the go ahead under delegated planning authority by the City Corporation. The mixed-use proposals at 15-17 Eldon Street will keep most of the existing building’s fabric while replacing the front façade. Around 1,100 sqm of space will be added to the block in a stepped back three-storey roof extension.
London has ranked number 1 for the 4th consecutive time in Z/Yen Group Limited's Global Green Finance Index (GGFI). Leading in green finance quality, London has the most competitive offer in sustainability, human capital and infrastructure compared to other centres.
You can learn more about London’s offering in the City Corporation’s Sustainable Finance Hub here.
Partner events
Breakfast seminar: London Tall Buildings Survey 2023
NLA will be launching its latest Tall Buildings Survey next month and will focus on the theme “Sustainable Skylines”. At the breakfast seminar, guests will hear about the annual pipeline update, insights into planning policies, attitudes towards density and the climate agenda in London.
Date: Friday 12 May, 8:30am – 9:30am
Location: The London Centre (Guildhall, 3 Aldermanbury, London, EC2V 7HH)
Office Politics: London and the rise of home working
Centre for Cities, with support from EC BID, will publish a new report exploring the impact of hybrid working on London. This launch event will focus on the implications of the shift to hybrid and remote working for London. Speakers will include Melanie Leech (Chief Executive, British Property Federation), Shashi Verma (Chief Technology Officer, Transport for London) and Andrew Carter (Chief Executive, Centre for Cities).
The official ballooning event of the City of London is the aerial extension of the historic Lord Mayor’s Show. Up to 50 hot air balloons take flight across central London raising awareness and funds for The Lord Mayor’s Appeal.
Standby dates:14 May 2023, 21 May 2023 and 2 July 2023
Both CPA and WPA members have access to our comprehensive database of all major decisions from central London's major planning committees. These can be viewed on our Planning News page.
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