Conference to drive smart and sustainable development and regeneration Posted on: January 6th, 2019 On the 6th February, prominent business and public-sector leaders will come together in Oxford for the inaugural Smart Cities Development Conference – the largest business conference of the year focused on driving and unlocking smart regeneration and development across the UK. The conference, hosted by Built Environment Networking, will see some of the biggest names in business, politics and regional government discuss and debate the creation of smart cities, tackling constraints and sharing best practice to ensure future development and regeneration happening across the UK is smart, sustainable and can contribute further to the economic success of our country. [emaillocker id=”71749″] The conference, which will also include presentations from some of the major developers and authorities leading the way in smart cities, represents an incredible opportunity for all sectors of the built environment and construction industry to collaborate and communicate to align on the key issues and opportunities for smart and sustainable development across the UK. During the one-day conference over 300 delegates will hear from more than 35 VIP speakers and have access to 20 exhibitors. Some of the companies confirmed as speaking include: Argent First Base The Crown Estate Transport for London – Property Queensberry Newcastle Helix University of Reading University of Manchester Siemens Uber Bristol is Open Future Cities Catapult Julie Alexander, Director of Technology and Innovation at Places for People, said: “Smart Cities seek to deliver experiences that we have never before been able to deliver in world of growing complexity and heightened expectation. This era of digital enablement draws upon technology and innovation to tackle some of the most problematic challenges facing our cities today, problems that have arisen as a result of climate change, urbanisation, economic growth and demographic change to new a few. However adoption has been slow as technology seeks to find its place in a fast paced development sector, and as such, the time is ripe to bring together professionals from every part of the value chain to realise the benefits that are simply waiting to be exploited from this technological revolution.” Barry Jessup, Director at First Base, said: “We strive to deliver vibrant mixed-use places and innovatively-designed buildings that are adaptable to the changing needs of businesses and communities. We are committed to the revitalisation of our town centres, one of the UK’s main socio-economic challenges, and see this as a key focus where we can bring about positive change. There are any number of definitions of what is a smart city but our principles as a developer, to be smart, efficient, adaptable and innovative, reflect what is required to ensure a sustainable, prosperous and inclusive city.” Dave Carter, Co-Lead of the Smart City Project and the University of Manchester, said: “Our research is very much focused on the smart city being as sustainable and inclusive as possible and ensuring that digital technologies really can help to create new jobs, skills and the best possible quality of life for everyone. This conference provides a great opportunity to consider multi-stakeholder, cross sector approaches to smart city development and to find ways of implementing projects that support sustainability and inclusivity as well as smart growth.” Professor Tim Dixon, School of the Built Environment – University of Reading, said: “Co-creating smart and sustainable cities is vital if we are to tackle the really important cross-cutting socio-economic and environmental urban challenges we face over the next 10-15 years. Developing city visions which have a clear strategic intent and roadmap to the future can help us overcome the disconnection between relatively short-term planning horizons and longer term environmental changes. Collaboration and partnership between universities, local government, industry and the people that live in our cities is also crucial in helping co-create clear visions. Universities can therefore play a key anchor role as trusted institutions and help develop an urban innovation ecosystem that produces projects and programmes that improve peoples’ lives and create a smart and sustainable urban future.” Keith Griffiths, Managing Director of Built Environment Networking, said: “The term Smart City is moving away from being a buzz word and it’s now truly being integrated into UK cities and their future vision. Smart Cities require information to flow freely between systems and cities – but this can only happen when all of those involved within regeneration and development collaborate. This conference is set to be an incredibly important date in the calendar for those within the construction and property industry as we gather hundreds of business professionals together to discuss, debate and learn about Smart Cities and how we as an industry must work together to bring the agenda forward – with the focus on driving economic growth.” For more information or to book tickets to the event on the 6th February 2019 please visit: www.built-environment-networking.com/SCDC19 and for media enquiries please contact Nathan Spencer on nathan.spencer@www.built-environment-networking.com [/emaillocker]
