I’m especially excited to be going to MIPIM to talk about how Stride Treglown are focused more than ever on improving life for people regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, age, or background.
It sounds simple but actually is incredibly powerful, optimistic and motivating. This one unifying objective is at the heart of everything we do. Two of our current initiatives illustrate this perfectly…
First, our Shaping Future Places forum
It’s a pivotal tool for revealing the issues that matter, and encouraging collaborations to address these issues. Just one example is how it’s setting the agenda for my role in the Homes England multidisciplinary framework, and there are many more productive networks being created, in accord with Shaping Future Places, to ensure the built environment supports thriving communities.
We are truly motivated when we design to take account of the long-term impact of our work, as we are doing in Bournville and Ellel Gardens. Buildings accommodate all of human life. We are born in hospitals, and live in homes, buy food in shops, learn in schools and universities, work in offices, and have fun in any number of different building types. We owe it to ourselves to give the design of those assets proper care and attention. If we do, we set the scene for improved opportunity for all, making the world a better place.
However these places are merging more with one another – ‘work is a thing we do not a place we do it’, as I heard recently. So our next initiative is looking at how we learn from our designs and influence places of the future.
Second is our inspirational Inhabitant project
Inhabitant asks the people who live and work in our buildings what they think of them. Through it we are learning what is meant by comfort, happiness, identity and place so that we can improve the sustainability of what we design in future.
This affects our work in a virtuous spiral. Most importantly, it gives serious weight to discussions with our clients. Whether owner-occupiers, developers or contractors, the best results come when their buildings perform well for the users and local communities. It affects how you pitch for investment, how you approach planning, and eventually what commercial returns are yielded.
Putting people first
Putting people first is central to the way we run our own practice. As an employee-owned company, we naturally want to support and promote our people and attract the very best as we grow and develop. As respectful team players who believe in the power of professional collaboration, we will always nurture our project team and business relationships. And as a company that owes its existence to the communities we inhabit, we try to pay that debt back in outreach work into schools and universities, mentoring young people by representing the wonderful careers screaming out for new, diverse talent in our industry.
The day-to-day project management and technical issues that consume our professional work are a matter of pride, and we do them well. But we need reasons to lift our eyes from the task in front of us to look at the bigger picture. If you agree, come and say hello. We’ve got lots to discuss!
Rachel will be at MIPIM 2019. Get in touch with Rachel to talk about putting people first.