Does The Forum point to the mindset Gloucestershire needs to succeed?
It was meant as encouragement, and with investment needed and the Golden Valley pending, could a major London developer's insight into The Forum signpost the way forward for Gloucestershire?
Dear reader,
Matched in the amount of publicity only by the Golden Valley Development, The Forum - the £106 million office, retail and leisure complex between Gloucester Railway Station, the Transport Hub (bus station) and the city’s new-look King’s Square - has done something the other scheme has yet to do. It’s been built.
We wanted to know why a major developer like Reef Group would put so much energy into a project in our relatively unfashionable capital and partner with a local authority to do it. And whether it had any feedback.
What was its perception of working in Gloucestershire - and why did the scheme work despite so many saying it could not be done and would never happen?
His answers point to how we need to view ourselves in Gloucestershire if we are to continue to succeed, if the Golden Valley Development is to enjoy similar success. It’s about how positivity, good communication and teamwork can cut through even the toughest cynicism, but we need to see the bigger picture.
We also flag a special moment due to take place on Wednesday this week, when a statue will be unveiled in honour of one of Gloucestershire and the UK’s engineering geniuses, Sir George Dowty.
And the Longfield Community Hospice’s Run the Rainbow event gives us the opportunity to feature it once again as our charity of the week.
And speaking of weeks, have a great one.
Best regards,
Editor | 07956 926061 | LinkedIn: Andrew Merrell | andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk
Honouring an engineering giant from Gloucestershire
On Wednesday this week, 160 miles northeast of Gloucestershire, a special ceremony will take place unveiling a statue to a legend.
When he arrived in Gloucestershire he was just plain George Dowty, but by the time of his death in 1975 he was Sir George, a pioneering industrialist whose businesses played a key part in the war effort and shaped the county’s economy to this day.
He left behind factories that employed thousands and famously created the landing gear that made the Lancaster Bomber safe – hydraulic and pneumatic landing gear that is the father of all landing gear used on planes to this day.
It was the same hydraulic system that he realised could revolutionise the mining industry worldwide as props, minimising the chance of roof collapse and, likewise, save countless lives.
George Dowty became a legend in his lifetime, but for those men from bomber command who flew across skies heavy with flak, knowing they could touch down safety again on home soil must have felt like a gift every time.
The Lancaster’s previous incarnation, the twin-engine Avro Manchester, was notoriously unreliable with many losing their lives as a result.
Which explains why the statue will be not in Gloucestershire but at the International Bomber Command Centre in Lincoln in a ceremony led by Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Graydon GCB CBE.
Martin Robins, chairman of the Sir George Dowty Memorial Committee which made possible the statue, will read a tribute at the ceremony.
Robins, who knew and worked with Sir George in Gloucestershire, said: “The statue will be by Lincoln Cathedral, which is a nice touch.
“55,000 people died in action in bomber command during the Second World War. But for those bombers who did make it back, they knew when they saw the cathedral they knew they were home.”
Sir George’s was a ‘rags-to-riches’ story of a boy from Pershore and Worcester Grammar School who opened his first business in 1931 in the backstreets of Cheltenham. That business was to grow into Dowty Hydraulics with associated branches, a workforce of 13,000 and an annual turnover of £100 million. By the time of his death more than 200 patents had been taken out in his name.
Briefing notes…
📖🎊 This evening a special business event will take place at the University of Gloucestershire’s business school at Oxstalls campus. Chief executive of leadership development specialists QuoLux, Dr Stewart Barnes, and co-author Professor Steve Kempster will be talking about and taking questions about their recent book Realising Good Growth: a Practical Guide for Business Leaders. Barnes is the co-founder of a business delivering what has become one of the most transformative series of leadership development courses in the UK with a cohort that includes firms from just about every sector. Expect to hear some of the thinking behind those programmes unpacked tonight. Due to take place from 5pm to 8pm at Oxstalls Campus (GL2 9HW). Email Rachael Ramos at QuoLux™ to find out more.
🏉🍷☀️ Gloucester Rugby sponsor, Laithwaites Wines, has unveiled a £500,000 solar panel fit-out on the roof of its Gloucester Business Park distribution centre. Carried out by Toddington-based Mypower, and operational from April 29, it’s already produced 40,000 units of electricity - the same as ten homes would use in a year - and will produce 750,000 units - enough to power 200 homes. Mypower said business had increase 64 per cent on a month-by-month basis in the last quarter. Mypower expects payback on the investment in three and a half years.
⚽ Tara Warren is the new chief executive officer of Freeman Event Partners, the Gloucester-headquartered firm that supplies food and drink to events including the British Grand Prix. Warren joins after 16 years at West Ham United FC, where she was its executive director. She has also been closely involved in Premier League and Women’s Super League leadership groups.
Charity of the week: Guaranteed to be this summer’s most colourful day out
Every week we showcase one of the county’s many charities. This week we’re back with the Longfield Community Hospice, which is inviting people of all ages “to celebrate life in full colour” as its Run the Rainbow event returns to Frampton Court Estate on Saturday 4 July. Taking place from 11am to 3pm, the event challenges runners to take on a 5km course containing colour, music, foam, inflatable obstacles and more. All funds raised will go to support people in Gloucestershire with life-limiting conditions, their families and loved ones too. Participants are encouraged to start in their brightest whites before being transformed into human kaleidoscopes as they run, walk or skip their way around the course. Tickets are £15 for adults and £10 for children. A family ticket (two adults and two children) is £45. More here or email events@longfield.org.uk.
Does The Forum point to the mindset Gloucestershire needs to succeed?
It was meant as encouragement, and with investment needed and the Golden Valley pending, could a major London developer’s insight into The Forum signpost the way forward for Gloucestershire?
By Andrew Merrell.
At the same time as many of those present took a picture and posted it on social media announcing that The Forum was ‘officially open’, the major developer that drove the project was giving some interesting feedback.
Peter Langley-Smith had travelled all the way from Reef + Partners’ head office in London specially to help celebrate the opening of the £100m-plus The Forum development the firm had delivered for Gloucester City Council.
That’s 600,000 square feet of mixed-use space; 135,000 to 142,000 square feet of Grade A office space, 43 apartments and a multi-story car park with 398 spaces and more built by lead contractor Kier Construction.
As talk continues in Cheltenham about the pending Golden Valley Development, the investment needed and all it could bring, his feedback on the completion of The Forum points to how it might be achieved.
We had asked him why on earth Reef + Partners went with the project to start with, why it it decided to work with a local authority (as anyone dealing with the Golden Valley Development will have to) in a city where even those who live here cannot help but knock any attempt to change it.
And we wanted to know whether there were any lessons to be learned for a county that so often sees itself as a collection of separate places rather than recognising itself as the sum of its parts.
Langley-Smith, managing director of Reef + Partners, said: “Gloucester is a city not short on telling you what it thinks. We discovered that early on. But once you get through that, there is also a passion. People do really care about their city.
“We don’t see The Forum as just about Gloucester. That’s not how people from outside will see it either.”
Seeing the bigger picture was crucial, he said. The Forum and Gloucester’s success was tied to the rest of the county and vice versa.
“We want the Golden Valley (Development) to succeed too because the better that does, the better The Forum will do. We still have to finish filling this building, and investment like that (the GV Development) will help.”
He added: “I think Gloucester can lack confidence. But it has plenty in its favour - it has plenty of young people, it has premiership rugby, the new university campus in the city centre, it has businesses like Fast Hosts (the tech firm and anchor tenant already moved into the new office space) it is diverse, multicultural, it has energy and it’s now got some great public realm spaces.”
The council, he said, had presented a good scheme to it in those early days and the partnership had worked well, despite all the hurdles that had to be overcome - from a change of leadership at the local authority (from Conservative to Liberal Democrat), Brexit, a cost of living crisis, international crises and more.
They had arrived in the city, saw the potential, and found a local authority ready to work with it, not against it.
Chris Ireland is director of operations for IHG, the international hotel group that has opened Hotel Indigo in The Forum and which hosted the ‘official opening’ party in its rooftop bar (yes, it is open to everyone - not just guests).
He had a similar take.
“From the off the council was very positive. It had a different approach. It has been so helpful throughout the process. It’s been a great partner and easy to work with,” said Ireland, who travelled from IHG’s UK head office in Windsor to mark the occasion.
Like Langley-Smith he sees The Forum within the context of the county as a whole and how each part can benefit the other - if they work together.
“When visitors go to the (horse) racing in Cheltenham they can now come to the city to stay too. There are lots of examples. We are delighted to be part of this.
“When people want to come to Gloucester for the Three Choirs festival they now have a four-star hotel to stay in,” said Ireland.
Langley-Smith said hearing that early feedback from residents, no matter how critical it was, and having those conversations, had all informed Reef + Partners’ mission statement.
“The project here is not just about real estate, it is about community. It’s about engaging with everyone. It’s about opportunity and it’s about the economy. It’s about helping Gloucester move forward.”
There is still work to be done, but the opportunity to highlight the city’s rich history has not been lost as the project has progressed, it’s made the most of the views of the nearby cathedral, it has an anchor tenant in its offices, coworking and hot desking space, Patch, is open for business, and the four-star hotel with its classy new bar, cocktails, wine list and views across the skyline.
Not bad for a project sketched out in five minutes on the back of an envelope.
Paul James, former city council leader when The Forum first became a project with real purpose, was at the grand ribbon cutting, arranged for Reef + Partners by Bristol-based Distinctive Communications.
“We were up north at a conference. I was with Anthony Hodge, the council’s head of place, and Martyn Chase from Stanhope (the real estate firm). We realised we needed to move away from a retail-led scheme. That was 2016.
“So we literally sat down and sketched something on the back of an envelope. And here we are a decade later. It’s not that far removed from that sketch,” said James.