George Downing's 20-year career in property has mainly been accomplished out of the public eye. Today he is billed as Liverpool's largest commercial landlord and has wide-ranging schemes on the go throughout the country. Lisa Miles find out the secret to his success
Fast-talking George Downing exudes an infectious enthusiasm for all things building related and a devotion to properties and locations that can be reborn as vibrant yet functional schemes. He wants to revitalise 100-year-old buildings that need some tender loving care to take them through another century.
He buys derelict, listed buildings and transforms them into contemporary yet timeless offices and apartments. And he breathes new life into communities that only lack the modern and well-maintained built environment that will allow them to flourish again.
He adopts a communicative and dynamic approach to development and is content to discuss with communities, councils and contemporaries in which direction a scheme should move, rather than sticking doggedly to his own vision.
It is this attitude that makes Downing one of the few developers working in Liverpool that doesn't appear to have had any public spats with the city council or fallings out over planning.
But the man himself admits there have been disagreements behind closed doors. "We've had plenty of things we've disagreed with, but I've never chosen to be the public face; I keep a low profile and have never sought publicity for what we've achieved," he says. "I've had plenty of heated debates with many council people, but that's healthy." His experiences in other cities are similar.
In Manchester, a planning appeal was headed off by a phone call from the council chief executive that saw all parties happily sat around the table and Downing joining the steering group for development of the Southern Gateway area. The developer's flexibility is also evident in its approach to a Manchester site next to where the BBC could appear.
It has put in a planning application that features a student village, but is prepared to adapt that should the media army require further office space.
In Newcastle, the group owns 4.4 acres of the former Scottish & Newcastle brewery site, close to Newcastle United's ground.
Its site forms the gateway to the new Science City and the Downing group has worked closely with the public sector on issues such as transport. "We've invested £31.5m on consultation in Newcastle with the public and still haven't made a planning application," says Downing, without even the hint of a grumble. "It's important to work diligently at what you propose and, before you start trying to create ideas, really understand what the market needs and what the people want." Hotels, offices, homes, a student village and shops are all among the proposals the developer is considering for the mixed-use scheme in Newcastle.
A reflection of Downing's design and property management ideals, the company's offices on Liverpool's Myrtle Street, adjacent to the award-winning Symphony apartments, are practical and durable yet stylish.
The trendy basement gym - complete with Wayne Rooney-related memorabilia hanging on the wall behind the punch bag - adds to a feel-good factor that has been sensitively grafted onto the delights of the listed former Ear and Eye Hospital, along with 58 flats.
But aside from skilful redevelopment, the key to the group's progress is its approach to ownership.
Having started out renovating terraced houses in Liverpool for students 20 years ago, Downing discovered a skill for property management that manifests itself today in the effective and thoughtful maintenance of a wide-ranging portfolio, from offices, to student studios, to penthouses. It operates student villages under the BASE brand in Liverpool, Leicester and Sheffield and has plans for Manchester and Newcastle. "Twenty years ago there was no one in Liverpool really catering for students," says Downing. "It was all old-fashioned terraced houses and very poorly maintained. I started off converting houses properly - and they still stand well today, in streets that are in very poor repair. We very quickly built a few thousand student bedrooms and it was quite evident which houses were ours." Later he took what he saw as the logical step of adding residential accommodation to the edges of his student villages, entering the competitive world of urban living. "Around the students you're creating city centre accommodation for a younger set of people," he says. "The Symphony is a great example of an apartment scheme increasingly becoming more of an owner-occupied building, because it's in a good location.
It might have scared some people because it's next to a student village, but I thought that was part of the atmosphere of living in the Hope Street quarter. I use a flat in The Symphony." He expects that his Eden Square scheme at Hatton Garden, already very popular with investors - Irish property firm Prem Group has bought 62 apartments to turn into a self-contained block of serviced apartments - will be equally attractive to owner occupiers. "Owner occupiers are looking for a place of permanence once they see that a scheme's been successful," he says. "Some owner occupiers are probably happy to pay the profit to investors to be able to see what they're getting." Barely pausing for breath as he changes tack, the surprisingly garrulous Downing - surprising because he is famously publicity shy - moves on to the group's commercial property schemes and a portfolio of buildings that he plans to continue developing.
This swift change of topic reflects the way in which he views the group's skills as applicable to different sectors - and his belief in the benefits of appropriately planned mixed-use schemes. "It was quite a natural progression," he says. "I noticed that we were very good property managers.
I bought a couple of office buildings in good locations suitable for redevelopment - every single building we've bought has had a development angle to it - and we've taken on the management of commercial buildings ourselves." In 2001 the group, which claims to be Liverpool's largest commercial landlord, acquired the historic Port of Liverpool building and created something of a stir.
The first of the Pier Head's Three Graces was built in 1907 and was the former offices of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company.
Work has already gone on behind the scenes to repair basic elements like electrics. The next stages will be more obvious.
The Downing group has been working on a £320m restoration plan, in consultation with English Heritage, urban regeneration company Liverpool Vision and tenants, and plans include a publicly accessible sunken piazza and apartments, while the existing office space will be nurutured and improved.
The fact that an architect has not yet been appointed to complete the major work reflects Downing's approach to this iconic building. "The Port of Liverpool building, which we're very proud to own, is such a fantastic building but the way it was presented was not suitable for the next hundred years," he says. "Now it's ready to be refurbished and taken into the 21st century where more people can enjoy it, by mixing the uses.
We want to get the right team to take forward our vision of what we want to create there." In March 2006 Downing acquired New Hall Place on Old Hall Street, which at 390,000 sq ft is the largest office building in Liverpool.
The deal took the company's portfolio of large city centre properties to eight.
Others include No 1 Old Hall Street and New Zealand House on Water Street.
Downing has appointed KKA as architect.
Downing focuses on communities and the people who use, visit and live near buildings.
The group is a key player in the regeneration of Islington, a joint venture between landlords and developers to revitalise a 22-acre site in the rag trade district of Liverpool, which has been in public consultation for months. "That's a classic example of how regenerating an area will help what is already there," says Downing. "You've got shops like TJ Hughes, students and a community that's been left behind by lack of development motivation.
You can integrate these and build a community back up.
It will evolve from what's already there, but with more public spaces and better parking, and pedestrian flow making it feel a safer place." With such a long-running love of his home city, Everton supporter Downing must have strong ideas about how he wants Liverpool's physical environment to take shape. "What's great for Liverpool is the creation of more office buildings," he says. "It brings new tenants to Liverpool.
There's an available workforce and the buildings will be available at very competitive rates, which make Liverpool an attractive place for big companies to relocate to. "There's a good market in Liverpool, but room for improvement in the quality of the buildings.
At Downing we've got to keep reinventing ourselves and stay ahead of the game." And while he champions the rebirth of historic buildings, Downing is not averse to the odd 40-storey glass shard piercing the Scouse skies. "Having all types of architecture creates the life of a city, the diversity," he says. "Everyone's got their own appreciation of beauty and that's important.
The buzz of a city is when you come out of an area full off hundred-year-old buildings that are still being used and round the corner to a glass and steel building 30 or 40 storeys high.
But the market does have to improve on quality and create sustainable buildings."
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