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Sarah Townsend
Manchester’s property community has lamented the forthcoming exit of the city council’s strategic director of growth and development who has been in post for less than a year and urged leaders to appoint a replacement with similar qualifications and emphasis on design.
Based in the Midlands prior to taking the role last July, Louise Wyman has “reflected on the past year and decided that she wants to be closer to family”, Manchester City Council said in a statement this week.
A qualified landscape architect with a masters degree from Harvard University, Wyman joined Manchester City Council from the West Midlands Combined Authority, where she was director of design and development. She is also a member of the Design Group of the National Infrastructure Commission, and previously held posts at Government body Homes England and its predecessor the Homes and Communities Agency, including as large sites lead for 13 years.
Sarah Townsend
Jim Ramsbottom, the regeneration expert who transformed the canal-strewn pocket of Manchester into the mixed-use district it is today, has died at the age of 81.
Ramsbottom’s development company Castlefield Estates rose to prominence in the 1990s as it introduced urban renewal to the historic industrial heartland of Castlefield Basin, close to Deansgate Locks on the edge of the city centre.
The company is now run by his daughter-in-law Sarah Ramsbottom and his son James owns the Manchester-based restaurant, bar and leisure company Elle R Leisure, which counts Dukes 92 in Castlefield in its portfolio.
Jim’s daughter Sarah McDermott is a past director of Castlefield Estates and now heads up real estate investor Isterco Associates, among other companies.
COVID drives wholesale city centre changes 11 February 2021: Despite the rapid deployment of COVID-19 vaccines, people are unlikely to return to the old ways of working, a new report from KPMG has warned.
The pandemic will have a lasting impact on the look and feel of many towns and cities, adding a new dimension to the levelling up agenda and forcing a rethink on how places need to evolve if they are to continue to be vibrant places to live, work and visit.
These are some of the findings of a new report, The future of towns and cities post COVID-19, published by KPMG and based on research conducted by Demos, which highlights some of the big issues facing town planners, local authorities and business leaders, grappling with the impact on the pandemic on town and city centre use.
New office builds buoyed construction activity in Belfast last year though two-thirds of space is still available to let, according to a report today.
The annual Belfast crane survey by business advisory firm Deloitte said construction in the city had been resilient during 2020. There were five new office projects started in Belfast last year totalling 1.3 million sq ft.
They were among 23 schemes which were under construction or finished in 2020 despite the Covid-19 pandemic - a slight fall on 2019 s tally of 26.
However, there had been 35 active projects in 2018 - translating as a fall of 34% in the intervening two years.
There were seven all-new projects, down from 11 in 2019.