Plenary

At this year’s conference our plenary sessions will feature leading lights from politics, economics, transport, development and design.

Our programme reflects all that is currently influencing the office sector and looks at what will continue to affect the industry in the years to come.

Please take time to look through the detail of our plenary programme. If you wish to put forward any questions to our panels in advance of the conference then this can be done by posting them onto our LinkedIn group BCO Online.

SESSION 01

Thursday 16 May, 10:30-11:00

A BRAVE NEW WORLD
The financial crisis which took hold at the end of the last decade has rocked the foundations of the economic, business and political world. It continues to do so today. It has brought down banks, toppled politicians and threatened the stability of nations.

So what is next?

One premise is certain; we will not return to the “normality” that existed prior to 2008. The days of cheap and available credit to the masses are gone. Profligate expenditure by central governments can no longer be sustained, and economic growth throughout most of the, so called, advanced economies is illusive.

So, we have a new world order; an age of austerity, where benign growth may be seen as a success, where governments and businesses seek to deliver their objectives with moderated methods and where the pattern of trade and global economic growth will change for ever.

How did we get here? How will our political leaders manage the malaise and indeed can they? How should businesses operate in a low growth environment where the very life blood of enterprise, credit, is denied them?

We will seek to answer these questions and many others during our first plenary session with highly qualified speakers from the world of business and politics, giving us the benefit of their vast experience of managing complex situations at the highest level.

SESSION 02

Thursday 16 May, 12:15-13:45

TRANSPORT AND OFFICES - CRISIS, DELUSION OR THE BRITISH WAY?
In recent years, transport has rarely been out of the news: the upgrade of the West Coast mainline, the Edinburgh tram project, Crossrail, HS2 and most recently the debate over a possible third runway at Heathrow being just a few examples. Reflecting the controversial nature of that debate, Justine Greening, the former Transport Secretary, was “reshuffled” to another department in September 2012, a rare example of a minister being moved for supporting government policy.

Britain is not alone with its difficulties and debates, but perhaps others always appear, even if the reality is different, to do it better and faster; be it high speed trains in France, airports in China or mass rapid transit in Singapore. But is it really such a crisis, or perhaps a delusion, or simply the British way? The pre-London 2012 naysayers talked of gridlock and chaos, and yet London has rarely worked better. Great places need much more than just good transport. New York, London’s twin as the only other true world city, has messy airports, as does London, and yet the two great cities still to this day stride above all pretenders to the crown. And yet we all, instinctively, feel it does really matter that something must be done. But how should we spend our money, and where? Successful office projects must benefit from transport infrastructure, but how can the arguments be distilled? This plenary at the BCO’s Annual Conference 2013 will try and do just that with an outstanding panel drawn from politics, academia and business.

SESSION 06

Friday 17 May, 12:45-14:15

ARCHITECTS: CELEBRITY CHEFS OR GOOD COOKS?
In recent years, architects, like chefs, have moved into the world of celebrity. Regularly chased by the world’s biggest companies and richest countries, iconic buildings have become must-have accessories.

Has this trend gone too far? Is style replacing substance? If skylines are littered with buildings that are supposed to be iconic, how can real icons stand out? If functionality, efficiency and cost-effectiveness are what really matter, how can they be combined with elegant, striking architecture? In the quest for landmark design, have some clients lost sight of the need to satisfy users?

Architectural commentator Paul Finch, who chairs Design Council Cabe, will debate the subject with three leading practitioners (Rafael de La-Hoz, Simon Allford and Glenn Howells).

Rafael de La-Hoz is unquestionably Madrid’s leading office architect, whose recent projects include the Telefonica campus and new Repsol building.

Simon Allford, partner in Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, is one of the UK’s leading architects. His retrofit of the Angel Building for Derwent London was shortlisted for the Stirling Prize, and his Monsoon headquarters for Peter Simon in Notting Dale won the British Construction Industry building of the year award.

Glenn Howells Architects won the BCO ‘Best of the Best’ award in 2010 for their Eleven Brindleyplace building in Birmingham for Argent, and were shortlisted for the Stirling Prize with its visitor centre in Windsor Great Park. Other significant projects include One St. Peter’s Square in Manchester, also for Argent.