This conference will start at 10:00 (registration from 09:00) and will close at 16:30 approx.

Topics to be covered throughout the day include but are not limited to:

• Solving Local Government’s Capability and Skills Crisis – It is a well-known fact that local authorities planning and placemaking teams are over-worked, under-funded and under-resourced. How do we address the resourcing and skill gaps in local government, to ensure councils are able to shape the places our communities deserve? Pooja Agrawal CEO of Public Practice, will discuss innovative and practical solutions to solving the crisis.
• Stockport. Change Here – Stockport has undergone a radical, interventionist approach to regeneration over the last ten years which has been spearheaded in partnership with public and private sector organisations. The presentation will examine what has happened, how has it happened and why that approach was taken. It will also reflect on the lessons which have been learned.
• Creating thriving places for thriving people – The UK is made up of many local communities. Those communities are part of a patchwork of local government. Some communities are thriving others are struggling, struggling through the loss of industry, migration of talent, changing demographics etc. The changing circumstances of ‘place’ has knock on effects for the distribution of funding, thus exacerbating the potential for unequitable outcomes. Creating a thriving ‘place’ with thriving ‘people’ is critical in delivering health, opportunity and wellbeing. Given the level of funding and timescales required to deliver thriving ‘places’ a coalition of funding and support is required that includes private investment, business and public funding. The ‘levelling up’ agenda is a brilliant catalyst to drive change. However, it will only be successful if carefully thought out strategies and delivery plans have been developed and followed. The challenge for the next decade will be finding the full funding required and putting in place the leadership to deliver the generational change required to address global imperatives such as global warming and national imperatives such as social inequalities and demographic change. It is a complex landscape, the delivery of which transcends political timeframes. It therefore requires a strategy and ownership community that jointly works beyond the normal boundaries of allegiance to safeguard outcomes.
• Looking forward by looking back – One Public Estate: 10 years of place led collaboration – Reflecting on the last ten years of place based collaboration since the launch of One Public estate in 2103. How can the lessons from the last 10 years of partnership working across public sector property help us plan for the next ten years? The new Government Property Strategy seeks to create a smaller, better greener public estate: One Public Estate enables this through working ever more closely with places, to support Levelling-up through regeneration and much needed new homes.
• Defining and addressing the problem – There are growing budgetary pressures on families and communities. Personal and lifestyle choices are having to be made that are diluting the focus / engagement on wider issues, such as net zero delivery. In parallel, local authorities and other regional bodies and businesses are also experiencing challenges with budget availability, increased pressures on service delivery, alongside changes to legislative requirements, discharging statutory duties and delivery against strategic plans, both regionally and nationally.  – This session will decouple the focus on people and place and reflect on the current headwinds, challenges and their impact on people and places and how solutions and focus differ between them.
• Developing the deep relationships needed to deliver for local authorities – As skilled commercial developers and sustainable regeneration experts, LCR has the expertise and understanding to support local authorities. They have a history of working with relevant stakeholders to pool resources and unlock potential for meaningful developments. One such example is the Mayfield Partnership, a joint venture between LCR, U+I, Manchester City Council and Transport for Greater Manchester, which shows how advanced partnerships can create large-scale, complex projects. Local authorities play a major role in placemaking, and LCR can help support them with levelling up and regeneration by providing the resources, skills and expertise to help make a vision that serves the community a reality. In his presentation, Rick Lawrence will explain how organisations like LCR can build and nurture the relationships needed to deliver on complex local authority programmes, drawing on case studies where working with local authority has played a major role.
• The future of the estates profession in public sector – a panel of ACES members from Chorley BC, Manchester CC & Lancashire CC who have recently qualified will discuss their route to the profession, projects, new technology and challenges.
• Hybrid and hubs: how the public sector is unlocking potential with hybrid working – Join colleagues from local authority estate and property management for an interactive panel discussion to explore how hybrid working is delivering real change to public sector estates. This session will cover the challenges, techniques, technologies, and real-life experiences that were used to manage the new world of hybrid working in the public sector. We will discuss the change in attitude towards working, the workspace supply, and the ever-changing demand from staff and management.
• Boosting incomes and strengthening community cohesion through better use of public spaces and facilities – Kajima Community recently launched their multi-venue booking platform into the London Borough of Hackney Council – the first local authority in the country to offer an online tool for people to take virtual tours of its community halls and make bookings. The improved efficiency the platform offers is expected to create an immediate increase in the use of Hackney’s community facilities. A short trial period of the website across a selection of the 37 available sites began in December 2022 and saw a 20 percent increase in booking enquiries. Jack will be discussing:
  – Hackney’s circumstances and challenges, and those facing other councils, linked with the use of their public assets
  – The approach taken to working with Hackney, developing a tailored solution to suit their needs
  – An explanation of the solution and process put in place, to address their initial challenges
  – The outcomes achieved and key learnings
• Achieving net zero: the critical role of local authority property for place-based decarbonisation

Please note agenda will be updated regularly, speakers, subject matter and timings may be subject to change