We are delighted to announce that Director Russell Gay is a key contributor to this year’s Parliamentary Review, the esteemed annual journal that shares best practice amongst policy makers and business leaders. Featuring an exclusive foreword from the Prime Minister, an address from the Review’s co-chairmen Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, the Review has become one of the UK’s most influential reads for business people and politicians alike.
Identifying Urban Edge as an outstanding leader in its field, Russell was invited by former Conservative Communities Secretary Lord Pickles to take part in the Review earlier this year. Russell has also been invited to attend a high-level event at the House of Commons in late October where he will discuss some of the most pressing issues facing the property sector with parliamentarians, policymakers and other senior business leaders.
The 2019 edition of the Review is published this month and, as a best-practice representative, Russell has presented expert testimony on some of the key topics of the day, particularly the crisis enveloping the UK’s high streets and the practice’s response, providing innovative solutions for developers and property owners looking to repurpose their retail assets. Russell also takes the opportunity to discuss the need for senior living provision in our towns and cities, calling on policy makers to help facilitate the creation of mixed-use, multigenerational developments that can foster a diverse and sustainable urban and suburban economy.
“It is a privilege to be asked to participate in the Parliamentary Review alongside cabinet ministers, government agencies, associations and other leading businesses,” says Russell. “As an architectural practice acting for financial institutions, investment funds, developers and operators on projects throughout the UK we have much to contribute to the debate on the future our built environment.
“We have overseen the design and delivery of numerous high-profile projects with recent highlights including the completion of prime mixed-use developments and retirement villages and several major retail and leisure destinations. We are therefore in a privileged position to offer expert insight to the people who make crucial decisions on policy in these areas of the property sector.”
Writing in the 2019 Review’s foreword, Lord Pickles said: “The ability to listen to and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it is uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones… It is essential that politicians have a firm understanding of the challenges with which British organisations must contend; and that leaders in both the public and private sectors are aware of the difficulties faced by those working in all levels of politics, from local government to the national arena.”
You can read Russell’s contribution to the 2019 Parliamentary Review here.