This April, on the Building Brum podcast, we caught up with the organisers of the British Council for Offices (BCO) 2024 Annual conference taking place next month in Birmingham. It has been 10 years since the conference was last held in the UK’s second city and over the past decade, our city, famously known as the ‘workshop of the world’ has lived up to its name, quietly delivering a number of sizeable new developments, including 103 Colmore Row, Enterprise Wharf and Paradise Birmingham.

We caught up with Peter Crowther – Senior Vice President of the BCO, James Hall – Director at Associated Architects and Member of the BCO Midlands Chapter Committee and Rosie Cotterill – Director at Turley and Chair of BCO Midlands NextGen Committee to discuss what makes Birmingham a strategic place for the conference to be held and how ongoing investment and development has transformed the city.

The Building Brum podcast is kindly sponsored reality capture and point cloud modelling specialists ScanTech Digital, Solus, one of the UK’s leading suppliers of commercial floor and wall tiles, APIC UK Limited West Bromwich based Architectural Glazing specialists and Sunbelt Rentals with over 1,500,000 items of equipment- they are the largest providers of equipment hire in the UK.

This spring on the Building Brum podcast we discuss housing across the UK in 2024 . Following on from the March Spring Budget and ahead of the local elections, mayoral elections and the general election, we caught up with Chartered Town Planner Daniel Wilson who specialises in delivering sustainable developments that transform places and leave a positive, lasting impact on local communities through holistic, inclusive growth.

Joining Dan from our sponsors Cavendish is Tristan Chatfield who served as a councillor at Birmingham City Council and is now Associate Director at Cavendish specialising in Planning Communications and Public Affairs. Together they examine the 2024 spring budget and look ahead at the future of the housing sector.

The Building Brum podcast is kindly sponsored reality capture and point cloud modelling specialists ScanTech Digital, Solus, one of the UK’s leading suppliers of commercial floor and wall tiles, APIC UK Limited West Bromwich based Architectural Glazing specialists and Sunbelt Rentals with over 1,500,000 items of equipment- they are the largest providers of equipment hire in the UK.

Daniel Wilson:
Dan is a Chartered Town Planner who specialises in delivering sustainable developments that transform places and leave a positive, lasting impact on local communities through holistic, inclusive growth. Dan is experienced in delivering strategic urban extensions, a brand-new garden village, urban regeneration schemes, student accommodation, hotels, and more. Since graduating from Cardiff University (MSc in International Planning and Development), Dan has gained over 10 years of experience in both the public and private sectors.

Dan previously sat on both the RTPI West Midlands Regional Activities Committee and the RTPI West Midlands Ball Committee. He also served as Junior Vice-Chair and Vice-Chair and, in 2020, was Chair of the RTPI West Midlands Young Planners Committee. That same year, Dan won the RTPI West Midlands Young Planner of the year award and, in 2021, was highly commended by the judges in the national Young Planner of the year awards. In a previous life, Dan was President of a Students’ Union and Regional Chairman of the Commonwealth Student Association (Caribbean Chapter).

Tristan Chatfield:

Tristan is a passionate advocate for sustainable economic development in Birmingham and the West Midlands. As a former cabinet member at Birmingham City Council and MPs constituency assistant Tristan enjoys unparalleled local connections. He can offer insight into both the politics of the region and its varied communities.

His current portfolio of projects includes regeneration schemes, aviation, infrastructure, retail and residential. Tristan leads our work in the West Midlands, based out of our Birmingham office.

International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. We have three guests joining us this March on the Building Brum podcast including two of Birmingham's leading women in architecture with glowing careers. Alex Slatter Associate as Associated Architects and Shauna Bradley Partner at Howells, alongside long-time building Brum collaborator and supporter Lee Simmonds of Solus. All three of our guests are parents, both Alex and Shauna are both mothers of one and Lee is a father of three.

On today's episode, we are going to be talking about the challenges of planning for, having and raising a family whilst furthering your career and growing within your place of work.

The Building Brum podcast is kindly sponsored reality capture and point cloud modelling specialists ScanTech Digital, Solus, one of the UK’s leading suppliers of commercial floor and wall tiles, APIC UK Limited West Bromwich based Architectural Glazing specialists and Sunbelt Rentals with over 1,500,000 items of equipment- they are the largest providers of equipment hire in the UK.