What Next For London?

Our Programme Director Stephanie Pollitt sits down with  Primera  Chief Executive Ruth Duston OBE to discuss what the coming years hold for Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in the capital.   Launched in the early 2000s, BIDs give businesses within a designated area the power to pool resources to enhance local communities, create opportunities and drive growth.   They now cover 100,000 busines...

In today's episode, we will be discussing small cells and 5G technology in the capital, with BT. Hosted by John Kavanagh, Programme Director for Infrastructure at BusinessLDN, we speak with Ali Akhtar, Head of Acquisitions and Contracts, and Ian Cottingham, Director of Mobile Network Operations and Digital Infrastructure, both from BT Wholesale, about small cells; what they are, how they work and...

In today's episode, we will be discussing Gender Mainstreaming in the built environment with the planning and development consultancy Turley. Hosted by Matthew Fell, Director of Competitiveness at BusinessLDN, we speak with Lindsay Hart, Market Research Analyst, to learn more about how the safety and wellbeing of women and girls are key factors in planning and the built environment and understand...

In today's episode, we will be discussing the Thames Tideway Tunnel, also known as the super sewer – an extensive £ 4 . 5 bn upgrade to London's sewer system to meet the needs of a growing population, with a current estimated completion date of  2025 . Hosted by John Kavanagh, Programme Director for Infrastructure at BusinessLDN, we speak with Andy Mitchelle  CBE , Chief Executive at Tideway to ex...

This week we sat down with Lai Wah Co, Deputy Agent for Greater London at the Bank of England, for an exclusive podcast recording about the economic forecast for the capital.  During the discussion, we asked Lai to share her insight on the economy, growth, employment and wages. She also looks at the long-term picture for the capital and what this means for businesses. Hosted by Matthew Fell, Direc...

BusinessLDN advocates for a planning system in London that is pro-growth to support our mission and maintain London's reputation as a great place to work, live and play. The planning system in London is unique in many ways. We work with the Greater London Authority (GLA) and the Planning Officers Society London to ensure the business community's voice is heard in the planning policy debate and tha...

BusinessLDN's flagship Place Commission of cross-sector business leaders has set out a new vision for how the capital's places and spaces should evolve following the pandemic to enable people to thrive and businesses to succeed. Developed after a year of deliberations with the 20 senior businesses that form the commission and backed by in-depth research and analysis from Deloitte, it explores the...

Build-to-Rent developments - high quality, professionally managed homes designed specifically for private rent - are now an integral part of London's housing mix. In today's episode, we are joined by Sandra Jones from Dataloft and Matthew Pullen at Apo Group to discuss the findings in our latest 'Who Lives in Build-to-Rent?' report and share their views on how Build-to-Rent is a vital piece of the...

The built environment is the   backbone of our city and is vital to London's economic success and global competitiveness. In today's episode, we are joined by Simon Burnett and Hayley Parkinson-Roberts at Deloitte to share their views on the challenges and opportunities of the built environment through the lens of spaces and people, innovation and sustainability. Deloitte is BusinessLDN's research...

The built environment is the   backbone of our city and is vital to London's economic success and global competitiveness. In today's episode, we are joined by Simon Burnett and Hayley Parkinson-Roberts at Deloitte to share their views on the challenges and opportunities of the built environment through the lens of spaces and people, innovation and sustainability. Deloitte is BusinessLDN's research...

In our latest What Next for London? episode, we're focusing on the next generation of leaders in a new mini-series, sponsored by Ashurst, that explores the challenges the capital faces and the opportunities on offer from a fresh perspective. Joining us today is Christina Achkarian, Senior Associate at Ashurst and Michelle Letton, Project Director at Lendlease. They shared their views on the speed...

Retrofitting rail arches with The Arch Company All across London, empty railway arches are vacant spaces that can meet a variety of business needs. Craig McWilliam, Chief Executive at The Arch Company, the UK's largest small business landlord, joins us on today's episode to explain how they transform these spaces to operate in a sustainable way that meets the needs of business and rail lines. We d...

In the first episode of our new series, we speak with Peter Hogg, UK Cities Director, and Rebecca Harlow, Net Zero Carbon Proposition Lead from Arcadis, about sustainability in London. Our guests talk about the importance of sustainable travel in London, the challenges of retrofitting a city and reaching net zero and discussing London's global ranking in the Sustainable Cities Index and the lesson...

In our latest episode, we spoke to James Manning, Senior Transformation Manager in Sustainability and Innovation and Nicola Rochfort, Senior Community Engagement Manager at Grosvenor, about the launch of People Positive, their new social impact strategy. They shared insight into how they have developed an insight-led strategy to ensure they work closely with communities to maximise impact. They al...

Ahead of last week's mini-fiscal event, Kevin Ellis, Chairman and Senior Partner at PwC, talked to BusinessLDN CEO John Dickie about how he sees the future of work, business priorities for the new government and the role of the capital as a global financial centre. Listen in for Kevin's take on the future of hybrid working, the skills challenge and recruiting at scale across the UK.

In our latest What Next for London? episode, we're focusing on the next generation of leaders in a new mini-series, sponsored by Ashurst, that explores the challenges the capital faces and the opportunities on offer from a fresh perspective. In our studio today is Joanna Fox, Planning, Environment & Safety Associate at Ashurst and Andrew Fox, Institute of Classical Studies, School of Advanced Stud...

We spoke to Laura Citron, CEO of London & Partners, to explore what makes the capital an international success and how it can build on that into the future. Laura shared her insights into making the city a magnet - for talent, investment and creativity - building on the discussion at our Work, Live, Play conference.

Jan Walstrom, SVP, Office of Global Climate Response & ESG at Jacobs joins us the day after our celebratory Olympics event to discuss what working on the 2012 Olympic games meant for major projects of the future, for the development of ESG metrics and for her career. 

This episode is our first Place Commission special, talking to John Mulryan, Group Managing Director of Ballymore and a Place Commissioner, about how he sees the future evolution of the capital's built environment as we look ahead to the future. Listen in for his take on what changing patterns of work, travel and social activity might mean for the city.

Virginia Blackman, national head of Avison Young's Site Assembly and Compulsory Purchase team, talks to us about Avison Young's Cities Recovery Index and what it is telling us just over two years on from the first lockdown. Taking a look at retail, leisure, footfall and office occupancy trends, Virginia shares what this emerging picture might mean for how we live and work in the city in the future...

We spoke to Paul Barnes, CEO of the Association for International Retail, about the sector's potential to play a major role in the capital and the UK's recovery. We touched on what needs to happen now to make that possible, from reinstating tax free shopping for international visitors, to putting shopping into the country's tourism strategy.

London First CEO John Dickie and CEO of Grosvenor Property UK James Raynor discuss the role of the capital in the country's future success, the role for the built environment in recovery and the future of work. 

We spoke to Arup's Richard de Cani and Cathy Li about the new report, London Alive , and how the capital's public spaces could be reimagined for a post-pandemic future. We were joined by the Northbank BID's Alison Gregory, who shared her perspective on the evolution of Waterloo Bridge and Charing Cross, as well as the wider role of the Northbank in the city's renewal.

Laura Osborne and Mark Hilton spoke to Charles Oak, Hotel Director of the Londoner, a new super-boutique hotel in the heart of the capital. From opening a new 16-storey hotel in uncertain times, through to the importance of its art collection and cultural contribution, Charles shares the highs and lows of bringing this new iconic destination to the capital.

We spoke to Michele Pittini, Head of GLA Economics, and Graeme Smith and Lee Watson, Managing Directors, London at Alix Partners, on the current picture of London's recovery, what new data sources are needed to make this more accurate, how the city's businesses are responding to the unwinding of government support measures, the impact of disrupted supply chains and the importance of planning ahead...