Thank you to the 1,200 WPA members, partners and guests who joined us yesterday for the WPA Annual Lunch 2023 at the Grosvenor House Hotel.

The theme of this year’s lunch was Future Westminster. In his welcome address, WPA Chair Marcus Geddes spoke of the role of strong public and private partnership in creating economic growth and social prosperity and delivering a more sustainable and fairer future for Westminster. You can read Marcus’ full speech here. 

Our keynote speaker this year, Alastair Campbell, spoke of the importance of getting more young people involved in politics and the built environment and signed copies of his latest book ‘But what can I do?’. Thank you to those members who purchased a book, helping us to raise over £2,000 for our charity partner, Young Westminster Foundation.

Watch our Future of Westminster video

New WPA partnership with Mastering My Future

WPA has agreed a landmark partnership with charity, Young Westminster Foundation, to help support hundreds of young people from Westminster’s underrepresented groups and disadvantaged areas in taking a first step in their career.  

The partnership will see the WPA commit £255,000 to help fund the Mastering My Future employability scheme over the next three years. It will help fund outreach, as well as a range of training, skills, mentoring and work experience. As part of the scheme, the funds will also help to deliver a bespoke programme to create a pathway into the property sector for smaller groups of participants.  

This funding has been donated by a number of leading WPA member companies, who we would like to thank for their support, including Berkeley Estate Asset Management, Gerald Eve, GPE, The Howard de Walden Estate, Landsec, The Pollen Estate, Shaftesbury Capital and Soho Estates, as well as the WPA.

The programme forms part of WPA’s commitment to providing a more diverse and equitable future for Westminster’s young people. You can read more about the programme on our website here or in Property Week here (£). If you are interested in potentially getting involved please do get in touch for further information rosie.day@cwpa.org.uk 

Sustainable City Charter hits anniversary milestone

The Charter celebrates its 1^st anniversary today, and has so far attracted 48 of Westminster’s leading businesses as signatories representing 28 million sq ft of commercial floorspace, with a further 70 expressions of interest.

In his speech at the lunch, Marcus praised the work of the WPA and the City Council in setting up the Sustainable City Charter, an innovative, business-led climate action pledge for organisations.

To find out more about the Sustainable City Charter and how you can get involved, visit the website here or get in touch with andrea.williams@cwpa.org.uk for further information.

Member resources

Both WPA and CPA 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. 

Research

The Crossrail Effect 

Global Cities Survey: October 2023 

Global Cities: A Focus on New York

Diversity Guidebooks

Diversifying Real Estate Guidebook: Disability

Diversifying Real Estate Guidebook: Gender

Diversifying Real Estate Guidebook: Race

Diversifying Real Estate Guidebook: Sexuality

Diversifying Real Estate Guidebook: Social Mobility

For more details on all of the property news stories in the central London boroughs over the last seven days please visit the news section of the London Planning website.