Date: Tue 19th May, 2009
Venue:
Number of Guests Attended: 70
Design remains imperative to the development of Liverpool and other cities. That’s the message both from Insider’s property breakfast and a report by AMION Consulting and Taylor Young into the economic value of good design.
The report, commissioned by Places Matter, builds on and effectively rubber-stamps a 2007 study that said good design could result in a 20 per cent lift in the rental and sale value of a property.
At the Insider event keynote speaker, Austin Smith Lord partner Alistair Sunderland, said: “To me it’s a no-brainer. Quality sells. The world’s must-have brands are well designed and well made and the same applies to buildings and public space. The onus is on developers and local authorities to find premium quality at the appropriate price. Good design is like good art – you know it when you see it.”
He picked out Concert Square and Temple Square as two exemplars of design in the city and said he was encouraged by the growth in the number of business people who believe in design – a figure that has trebled in recent years.
Joining Sunderland for a panel debate were Neptune Developments managing director Steve Parry, deputy leader of Liverpool City Council Flo Clucas and Falconer Chester Hall director Mark Doohan.
Asked whether developers were intimidated by Liverpool’s heritage-packed fabric, Parry said: “Not so much intimidated, but in this market it’s difficult. You can’t get away with a cheap building in Liverpool – and nor should you – because there’s a high expectation level. At times like these you’ve got to work very hard just to make schemes viable.”
Clucas said: “My view is that people and places matter, because buildings are for people. The new arena is a case in point, it’s found a place in the heart of the city and that was always something we always intended it to achieve – we went for the best design possible.
"Also, Grosvenor deserve a great deal of credit for sticking to their guns and weaving Liverpool One into the existing fabric of the city, whereas the easy way out would have been to build a shopping mall, as certain people urged them to do.”
