In my ongoing quest to find built environment practitioners taking on public health challenges in the communities they serve, I rarely experience what I did last week – humility and optimism. Twice. I attended two events, both · London based · Focused on addressing a specific challenge through multidisciplinary expertise · Evidence led · Grounded in a belief that homes and places impact our health The first, on Tuesday, was a meeting of the Healthy

When the London Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames announced its intention to remove Lime from its ebike provision in March, residents raised a petition in disapproval which LBRuT called out as a response to “corporate bullying”. This did not go down well. As I expressed in a letter to the Times, the petition was very much resident-led from those in the north of the borough, who are disproportionately impacted as they regularly transit across boroughs, facing what comic Dara O

Roy Lilley knows a lot about healthcare provision in the UK, and he shares it four times a week with relevance, facts and humour through a widely distributed newsletter. His knowledge and insight come from experience leading two health authorities, running the NHS Managers network and supporting the Institute of Health and Social Care Management. He's also been an active participant in local government, having served as Councillor and Mayor in Surrey Heath Borough. And he w

Over the last six months I’ve written twice about data centres, highlighting both the challenges and opportunities that they present to local communities and the trends that are developing in the discourse around them. The most visible and audible trend -- community-led resistance to data centres – is accelerating -- and, according to The Economist, the backlash is just getting started: "The fiercest fights so far have been in America, where protests against data centres h

Last week’s elections created a new patchwork of political control of local authorities across the country, reflecting our emerging five-party system. London is particularly striking in its new patchwork comprising all of the five parties, and most noticeably the number of Labour-controlled councils reduced from 21 to 8. While its all change for councils and their leadership, the challenges facing local authorities remain distinctly unchanged. And in the case of public infr

Earlier this year, I decided to push my boundaries in listening to locals, and agreed to stand in the May local elections as a Conservative candidate for Richmond Council in SW London, representing the area where I live, Mortlake & Barnes Common. I had three motivations. First, I live adjacent to a major redevelopment site (the largest in Richmond and one of the largest in London) which has finally received planning consent after more than a decade of negotiation and a seri

In response to the housing crisis facing London and across the country , a growing number of voices are calling for an uptick in housing density . A popular approach to this discourse is “ gentle density ”, a form of residential development which sits between high-rise, urban, apartment-style developments and low-rise, suburban housing. Advocates include Create Streets , who argue that gentle density is the 'missing middle' of place-making—a network of beautiful streets

When the NHS announced its ten-year Health Plan last summer , it revealed its intention to shift healthcare from hospitals to communities by establishing localised "Neighbourhood Health Services". According to the plan, these would “create integrated, multidisciplinary teams to provide proactive, preventative, and personalized care closer to home, focusing on early intervention, digital tools, and tackling health inequalities to keep people healthier longer and reduce hospi

Since launching Build for Health a year ago , I’ve been impressed with the quantity and quality of practitioners from across the built environment and health sectors that are actively exploring links between our built environment and our individual and collective health. Our first workshop in July demonstrated the breadth and depth of experience that these people bring to the challenge of building for health, and their commitment to seeing ideas made manifest. It's been

Two weeks ago over 1000 people gathered at the O2 centre in London to launch a growth agenda for the UK. Looking for Growth (LFG) describes itself as “a political movement to push Britain out of decline. We build, we pressure politicians, we influence policy, we organise, co-ordinate and improve Britain, bit by bit”. Amongst speeches and panel discussions delivered over the course of the evening, an announcement was made about a separate initiative which embodies the ambit

One of the reasons for launching Build for Health earlier this year and holding its first workshop in July was to work with a collective of built environment practitioners to forge consensus on practice in developing places that support good health. During this workshop and through our LinkedIn group we’ve shared and explored frameworks , tools , data , and design codes that have been developed to support practitioners in building for health. Implementation ha

Following the government’s cabinet reshuffle earlier this month, the new Housing minister, Steve Read, issued a “call to arms” to “build...

The Aylesbury estate is in the London Borough of Southwark. It was built between 1963 and 1977, and is one of the largest public housing...

Always on the lookout for redevelopment projects that align housing and placemaking with improving health outcomes, I was intrigued to...

At a time of change and uncertainty in housing, planning and health policy, robust data gives us the anchor we need to understand what is...

The push for economic growth continues to dominate government policy across multiple agendas, including climate and housing, and local...

I’m recently back from a few weeks in San Francisco and, as tour guide to a group of first-time visitor friends I duly showcased the...

Last October, before the government’s autumn budget, I wrote a blog making a case that the UK is at an inflection point in housing and...

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has” ...

The Life Sciences industry is comprised of companies and organisations that research, develop and manufacture pharmaceuticals,...