Allies and Morrison

Jo Bacon of Allies and Morrison now takes the floor at the NLA Tall Buildings Conference, presenting best practice examples over the last 10 years, not just in designing tall buildings but in shaping the public spaces around them. Some key takeaways from the NLA Expert Panel on Tall Buildings, after reviewing 40+ projects from the past decade: 🏗️ Retrofit isn’t just for buildings—it’s about rethinking the public realm to create real neighbourhoods, not just standalone towers. 🌳 More emphasis on outdoor spaces for socialising and connection. 🎉 People want buzz! These spaces should be high-quality, open, and accessible to workers, visitors, and all Londoners.

Last month, we hosted a very special event for our 10th session, bringing together other young professional networks from across the built environment. BEF is all about fostering collaboration, and collective action towards a better future - and so our event focused on creating connections between groups. Thank you to Allies and Morrison for hosting us in their wonderful studio. We would like to extend a massive thank you to UK Architects Declare's Student ambassadors, The Academy of Urbanism (AoU)'s Young urbanists, CIBSE YEN London, CPA's nextgen, ICE Early Careers Network (ECN) London, IStructE London YMG, RICS Matrics UK, London & South East and Royal Town Planning Institute Young Planners. Please have a read through our summary, we hope to spotlight some of the amazing people within these groups who brought fantastic energy and insights. And lastly, look out for our next event shortly coming late spring 2025!

A House of Lords event showcasing Swindon’s buoyant economy and investment potential to 175 people from across business and government is taking place a week today (17 March). The Council has organised the event to catalyse investment in the reinvention of Swindon town centre as outlined in the ‘Heart of Swindon’ vision. Developed last year with the support of Allies and Morrison, the Vision has been informed by town centre landowners, developers, educational institutions, government agencies and businesses. Plans include: - Delivering up to 8,000 new homes and amenities to support a Swindon population growing much faster than the national average - Bringing forward residential-led development at the major town centre brownfield site Kimmerfields and creating a regional scale entertainment venue - Exploring the redevelopment of the Brunel Centre, which could include shops, community space, workspaces, homes and public space providing apartment living for students, young people and those downsizing  - Developing a new space for Wilkes Academy to bring them into the town centre A new investment prospectus outlines opportunities ranging from shovel-ready projects in Swindon to longer term strategic sites that can come forward in a phased manner over the next 5-10 years. Organisations speaking at the event include Business West, which is working with Network Rail, Homes England, Swindon Borough Council and other partners to create a new commercial and residential district on land next to the town’s railway station. Panattoni UK will also talk about its £918m investment in Swindon to build new 7.2m sq ft of best-in-class logistics, industrial and data centres on the site of the former Honda factory. Panattoni Park is expected to create up to 11,000 jobs and another 4,000 in the supply chain. For the second year in a row last year, Swindon was among the five best-performing areas in the Good Growth for Cities Index due to its outstanding economic record and potential, with one of the most productive economies in the UK. "If Swindon was a company, now would be the time to buy shares in it" - John Davies, Partner at Thrings LLP. #ShowcasingSwindon Chris Ward Colette Flowerdew-Kincaid Sarah Calkin Heather Jameson Jon Watkins Ruth Lambert Huw James Matt Griffith Felicity Jump Catrin Sharp (nee Morgan) Anita Jaynes Andrew Wells Will Stone MP Jim Robbins Baroness Sharon Taylor Peter, Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill Joanna Averley James Watson Damien Siviter Sara M. SevenCapital WILKES ACADEMY LIMITED Arts Council England New College Swindon FI Real Estate Management Ltd Local Government Association