The Developer podcast
Episodes
Homesick: What happens when London's affordability crisis meets the climate crisis?
11 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when London's housing crisis meets the climate crisis? Journalist Peter Apps discusses the changing demographics of the capital and how t...
Participatory building: How community construction takes engagement to a new level
18 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You've heard of co-design and of course, community engagement, but what about participatory building? That's when people are invited on site to help b...
Neuroarchitecture: The impact of design on the unconscious mind
08 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Get on a crowded train, and your brain may not like it. With strangers around you, cortisol levels shoot up to prepare you for fight or flight, stimul...
Design by AI: Why we need to hack the algorithm
26 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Wait five minutes and someone will tell you the latest thing they’ve outsourced to AI; How it’s taking minutes of meetings or summarising reports ...
Trauma and place: Avoiding triggers in design and engagement
08 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If we want to create inclusive, supportive and safe places, we can't ignore trauma. At least half of all people will experience a trauma at some point...
Purple pounds: Designing for the deaf and disabled
02 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The spending power of disabled people, known as the purple pound, is worth £300bn: "Hello, does that not tell you something?" says Amanprit Arnold, a...
Fighting for a Feminist City in Glasgow
18 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How do we change policy to create gender equal cities? This story starts with a book: Feminist City by Leslie Kern. Read during lockdown, Holly Bruce,...
The civic role of a new town hall
12 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How do you develop a new town hall and civic hub in a community with a longstanding mistrust of its local authority? “You’ve got to listen,”...
Is this the year of the landscape architect?
14 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As regulations on biodiversity net gain and sustainable drainage become mandatory, Carolin Göhler, president-elect of the Landscape Institute, explai...
How local councils are leading on net zero in spite of central government
22 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Local authorities are moving head with net zero and climate resilience plans, installing solar panels and heat pumps. But a recent report from Key Cit...
We need to talk about SLOAPs: Sites Leftover After Planning
09 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We need to talk about SLOAPs, aka Sites Leftover After Planning. We've all seen them, corridors of tarmac or patches of grass with no purpose or socia...
Turds in the plaza: How do we fix public art?
15 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Art in public space has long been subject to hot debate. It was back in the 1970s that James Wines referred to Modernist sculptures as "turds in the p...
Painting the town: What street art brings to public spaces
04 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Street art has a lot to do with play, says Dr Lee Bofkin, co-founder of Global Street Art, who points to the evolving role of streets as a backdrop fo...
Dignity by design: What is the architecture of a good life?
15 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this special 100th episode of The Developer Podcast, author Carolyn Steel hosts Stephen Witherford, co-founder of Witherford Watson Mann architects...
Could adventure playgrounds boost community and solve the building skills shortage?
22 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The construction industry is struggling to attract young people with an acute shortage of skilled workers hampering innovation and quality. Architectu...
Embracing industrial: The call for more urban sheds, breweries and makerspaces
09 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The regeneration playbook is to takeover industrial spaces in favour of housing and mixed-use development, displacing the garages, workshops and sheds...
Camden Highline: The campaign to green the tracks
02 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The popularity of New York's Highline saw other cities scouring maps for disused infrastructure – and Camden was no exception. The discovery of a di...
Breaking the cycle of demolish, rebuild
21 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Back in 2018, one of The Developer’s first podcasts was an interview with Linda Thiel, director of White Arkitekter’s London studio. The Scandinav...
Cultural compact: How to fund grassroots arts and boost wellbeing in deprived places
05 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Key Cities report, Culture and Place in Britain, identified access to culture as a driver of wellbeing in areas of socioeconomic deprivation. But ...
Co-designing Horatio's Garden: "The planting is informed by different ways of seeing"
24 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Horatio’s Garden Chelsea, designed by Harris and Bugg with McMullan Studio, has been awarded the coveted Best in Show title at the RHS Chelsea Flowe...
Paul Monaghan and the Office for Place: Beauty is not shorthand for 'traditional'
24 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Monaghan, architect and co-founder of Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, talks about his role on the advisory board for The Office for Place, a govern...
The death and life of city trees with Elaine Cresswell, ReShaped
13 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What are we doing wrong when it comes to urban tree planting? With an estimated 30 to 70% of city trees expected to die within a year of planting, lan...
Urban quilting: Valerie Beirne on stitching a place in time
31 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There are times when placemaking is about urban acupuncture; a series of strategic interventions that signpost and make accessible what is already the...
Ageing in place: A new almshouse for London
20 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Psychologist B. F. Skinner famously compared old age to a foreign country: “You will enjoy it more if you have prepared yourself before you go.” B...
The alchemy of office community: “We want radiators, not drains”
13 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When it comes to the creative industries, people are looking for workspaces that you want to come to and do things together, says Richard Pearce, foun...
Tom Chance on Community Land Trusts: “It’s about giving communities democratic muscle”
23 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What is a community land trust and why start one? We speak to Tom Chance, chief executive of the Community Land Trust Network about this legal entity ...
Urbanistas at 10: “It's a playground to explore authentic leadership as a woman”
22 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
"It's about showing up, not just as a professional, but as a person; to bring your whole self." Founders Rachel Fisher and Liane Hartley talk about Ur...
Happy or not? Mount Anvil’s unique approach to community engagement
06 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Listening to residents is informing change at Mount Anvil, including the pressing need to address the cost-of-living crisis by reducing energy use. B...
The architectural history of Queer Spaces: "Flowers blossoming in the desert of Modernity"
13 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A fresh canon of queer architectural precedents drawn from a rich and undocumented cultural history, artist Adam Nathaniel Furman and architectural hi...
Ilaria del Beato, CEO, Frasers Property UK: "We need to rise to these challenges"
27 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How do you transform an out-of-town business park into a place where people want to work? Ilaria de Beato, CEO, Frasers Property UK talks about shakin...
Josie Parsons, CEO, Local Space: “Improving thermal efficiency is the best thing we can do”
05 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Local Space is a unique social housing provider that buys and refurbishes properties for homeless families in four London boroughs. Some have been evi...
Socius: “Why is anybody doing greenfield development?”
29 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Socius describes itself as an “impactful developer” that balances profit alongside purpose to deliver sustainable mixed-use places. We catch up wi...
Doughnut economics and renewing places with equity
23 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How do we break out of our silos and adopt more holistic ways of working? How do we renew our cities and places while respecting the environment and p...
Roger Wade, CEO, Boxpark: "The centre of our communities don't need to die"
09 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
If we don't do something about our high streets, town centres and people working from home, we will lose a way of life and the social fabric of our pl...
Ageing in place: Dementia-friendly engagement and design
10 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Approximately 1 in every 14 people over the age of 65 will suffer dementia in the UK, but as citizens they are often excluded from consultation on the...
Stockport's Weir Mill: These buildings have stories to tell
21 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Turning historic buildings to new use, Tim Heatley, co-founder of developer Capital&Central, and Mark Braund, architect director at BDP talk about Sto...
Gentrification: What's the alternative
16 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What is the cost of displacement through gentrification? What are the alternatives in the context of the private rental boom? How do we genuinely leve...
The social value of good design
15 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Can the design of a place make people happier or healthier? Can architecture itself make a positive social impact, and can that value be quantified on...
Representation: What not to do with Dr Leslie Kern
02 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
If you really want to tackle representation in your organisation, don't invite the marginalised to volunteer on a working group that will inevitably g...
Developers on climate: “We can’t change policy, but we can not make things worse”
25 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Developers discuss post-Covid public space and town centre design in the context of the climate emergency. Has the pandemic derailed or accelerated pr...
Designing for hate crime: The trouble with wide open public spaces
23 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Those who perpetuate hate crimes attack people for being different, so can we design public spaces that make marginalised groups safer by making them ...
"Offices will be much more pay-as-you-go" – Claire Cockerton
02 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As a maverick serial entrepreneur behind tech and innovation clusters including Canary Wharf's Level39 and the Olympic Park's Plexal, Claire Cockerton...
Councils spend more on dog waste than teenage girls
18 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With 80% of youth spaces occupied by boys, how can we create parks, play equipment and public spaces where young women and girls feel safe and that th...
"Manchester is a city on the up, but not all of it" – Andrew Westwood
09 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
"We need to understand why places are poor, why people have fewer life choices, why their health is poorer... all major factors in place-based inequal...
Wild Streets: Empowering citizens to design greener places
04 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine adding a few trees to your street, a public space, a few benches, maybe a bike rack. You may find it easy to envision your urban transformatio...
"We're throwing away 1,000 Boeing 747s every day in construction waste"
21 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Going circular in construction is not just about saving the planet, it also saves on the bottom line, given the growing cost of waste disposal and the...
"What are the models of revitalisation for small cities?"
29 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Small post-industrial cities have walkable downtowns, affordable housing and the opportunity to become post-Covid places we want to be. But how can th...
Dr Omeasoo Wãhpãsiw: "Space and place matters, but more importantly who designs and who builds it"
01 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
"Built spaces are important signifiers to outsiders, and people in power like to think that what they don't see, doesn't exist," says Dr Omeasoo Wahpa...
"We're seeking the best talent in Real Estate" Martha Thorne, IE University
16 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Find out more about the new part-time Global Master in Real Estate Development at IE University. "If you are passionate about real estate, if you're a...
“We see ourselves as social impact developers” Adam Higgins, Capital & Centric
15 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When they started Capital & Centric, they wanted to create award-winning architecture, says co-founder Adam Higgins. Ten years on, it’s about more t...
David Cowans, Places for People: “We need to be part of the solution”
03 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Why doesn't the property industry work more collaboratively when it comes to tackling climate change and retrofit? David Cowans is Group Chief Executi...
Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees on housing, transit, history and Black Lives Matter
12 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees, was elected in May 2016. On that day Bristol became the first major European city to have elected a mayor of black ...
Leslie Kern: The making of a Feminist City
03 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How do you design a feminist city, and an intersectional city? What are the questions you should be asking when designing and developing a place? From...
What is shopping for?
19 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A visit to Liverpool One shopping centre leads anthropologist Rebecca Toop to explore the role that shopping plays in our lives. In the context of the...
What is a city centre without offices?
12 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As offices migrate away from downtown, the people who formerly worked in them are subject to a double movement: some are being lured into the city by ...
First Base: "Social-based outcomes help you sleep at night"
20 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this podcast, we speak to First Base director Barry Jessup and Director of Partnerships, Olaide Oboh, about trust, delivering value, their social o...
Permitted Development Rights: "We're going back to Victorian slums"
09 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Ben Clifford, author of the government report on the impact of Permitted Development on housing quality, speaks out about the devastating plans to ...
Radical Rethink 3: Taking an idea from inception to action
23 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Once you have a radical idea, how do you test it, develop it, sustain it and grow? May Al-Karooni is CEO and founder of Globechain, a marketplace for ...
Radical Rethink 2: How to run a radical business
17 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
You want to do things differently. You've written your mission statement. But how do you ensure your business isn't just paying lip-service to change?...
Why we need a Radical Rethink of the spaces between the buildings
10 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The industry is locked in competitive silos, landscape architecture has been marginalised, communities lack a mechanism for meaningful involvement, po...
Designing Chelsea Barracks
03 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Lee Hallman, former Head of Design for Qatari Diar Europe, speaks about Chelsea Barracks, the 13-acre development that found itself at the heart of a ...
Together apart: Physical distancing and sociality in urban space
27 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Can humans be social from 2m away? How can we shape urban space to bring us together now that Covid-19 has made us suspicious of strangers, fearful of...
The Drain Gain: The story of Glasgow's Smart Canal
15 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when you take a 250-year-old network of canals and combine it with 21st century drainage technology? Katie Hughes, previous Estates and C...
Food and place: Carolyn Steel on food, community and cities
06 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Carolyn Steel, author and leading thinker on food and cities, will explain how at this time of change, food is both a saviour and a source of stress. ...
Nick White: Biodiversity Net Gain, background and emerging trends
11 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Nick White, principal adviser for Net Gain at Natural England, explains the rationale behind improving the biodiversity of property developments and t...
Mayfield Manchester: “We call it 'worthwhile' use”
02 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The £1.4bn Mayfield project in Manchester is on 24 acres of land that sit within 150 yards of Manchester Piccadilly Station with a river running thro...
Mayor of Hackney: “Don't assume everyone thinks like you”
27 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Mayor of Hackney Philip Glanville talks about the redevelopment of Kings Crescent Estate, Covid-19 emergency road changes, tree-planting and why child...
Citu in Leeds: “Re-engineer from first principles: what and how you build”
16 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Citu has gone from being a developer to bringing the whole design and manufacturing process in-house with Citu Works, their factory building airtight ...
A tale of two cities: How Glasgow is trying to close the deprivation gap
02 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Glasgow is a city of extremes. It has the lowest life-expectancy in the UK, contains pockets of severe deprivation and is home to the most polluted st...
Kevin Barton: “We need to make urban fabric work harder”
22 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Kevin Barton, Director at Robert Bray Associates, creates climate-resilient landscapes, including flood-mitigating playspaces and a blue-green roof th...
Berkeley Group: Why incorporating nature into real estate makes sense
15 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Can property development be an enabler for improving the environment? London-based developer The Berkeley Group is committed to increasing biodiversit...
Made in Dagenham: The £1bn Beam Park development
09 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Once part of Ford's vast manufacturing outpost, the 720-acre post-industrial site will be transformed into a neighbourhood that includes 3,000 homes, ...
Floodproofing Leeds: Martin Farrington from Leeds City Council
03 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Martin Farrington, Director of City Development at Leeds City Council, about how the city tackled flood risk and created public space at the same time...
Designing water-sensitive cities: Dirk van Peijpe, De Urbanisten
20 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We need to ‘depave’ our cities street by street, says De Urbanisten’s Dirk van Peijpe, whose famous water squares combine flood resilience with ...
Making resilience add up: Investing in climate mitigation
10 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How do you evaluate climate risks such as flooding and build the momentum to invest in mitigation? We hear from industry leaders seeking to strike the...
Natascha McIntyre Hall on Portsmouth: “Focus on purpose”
08 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Natascha McIntyre Hall on the vision and people-first design for Tipner West in Portsmouth, which transforms an 140-acre post-industrial peninsular, h...
“Capital is at risk; finance people don't like that” Alastair Mant, UKGBC
27 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“How much of your [property] fund is at risk from flooding, severe winds or overheating? If people can’t go to the office, they aren’t going to ...
Selina Mason on London's Olympic legacy: “That feeling of normallness isn't here yet”
09 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Selina Mason, Director of Masterplanning at Lendlease speaks to The Developer about the past and future of London’s 560-acre Queen Elizabeth Olympic...
Developer vs Architect: “There’s a shift. Something’s changing”
17 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Architects are ivory-tower idealists and developers are profit-driven pariahs, or so the cliché goes. But in this interview, they agree on at least o...
Curating culture: How can we foster culture in the city, can it be created?
21 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
What kind of cultural infrastructure is needed in our cities, how do we value culture and can it be curated? From music to food, we explore the ways i...
Claire Slinger: "Liverpool is a very well-kept secret"
07 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“Liverpool is undergoing unprecedented growth in investment,” Claire Slinger, Assistant Director for Investment and Development at Liverpool City ...
Dr Patrice Derrington: "Communities are protesting; developers are demonised"
30 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Patrice Derrington, who leads the prestigious real estate programme at Columbia University, tells the audience at the Festival of Place why she be...
What's the future of downtown? Tim Tompkins, Rachel Fisher, Patricia Brown
15 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Our high streets and city centres are in trouble. How should we remake them? Tim Tompkins, President of the Times Square Alliance in Manhattan, Rachel...
Anne Power: “Placemaking interventions have reinforced inequality”
11 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We need a more blended approach to creating mixed communities says Anne Power, Head of LSE Housing and Communities. In her address at the Festival of ...
Stuart Lipton: “If we are having fun, we feel better”
05 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Sir Stuart Lipton talks offices and place in conversation with Giles Barrie at the 2019 Festival of Place. One of the first developers to recognise th...
Lendlease's Dan Labbad: "You've got to be humble"
14 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Labbad, Chief Executive of Lendlease Europe and future CEO of the Crown Estate talks to Christine Murray on stage at the Festival of Place on what...
Demolition was “a complete waste of time, energy, money and carbon”
29 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How Helical with AHMM transformed an unloved and badly managed British Telecom office complex on Old Street Roundabout into a place. This classic 1960...
Designing for the blind: RNIB and Countryside Properties
17 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Without the Royal National Institute of Blind People, there’s no chance Countryside would have gained planning for private housing on the green belt...
Extinction Rebellion: "Everything has been very polite up until now"
07 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Landscape architect Will Sandy and Building Centre creative director Vanessa Norwood discuss the impact Extinction Rebellion’s actions are having on...
"The Bee Network is unlocking cycling and walking in Manchester"
02 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The Bee Network creates 75 miles of Dutch-style segregated cycle lanes and safe pedestrian crossings, and 1000 miles of walking and cycling routes in ...
“Drill music isn’t going to kill you”: Why we need music venues
10 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
What does a city need to foster a successful music industry? This is something Shain Shapiro knows better than anyone. His consultancy advises city go...
Jan Gehl: "First life, then spaces, then buildings"
15 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Bonus episode: In this talk at the Roca London Gallery, Danish architect Jan Gehl discusses his extensive work creating cities for people worldwide, u...
Jane Riddiford: Community engagement, the real thing
13 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Global Generation’s Skip Garden in King’s Cross is a much-loved organic core for its development. Now co-founder Jane Riddiford has created the Pa...
Sarah Gaventa: "London is only here because of the Thames"
06 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Director of the Illuminated River Project, Sarah Gaventa discusses Leo Villareal’s public art project in London that will accentuate 15 bridges ove...
Roundtable: What are the barriers to child-friendly cities?
23 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
After a call-out on Twitter, professionals from across the UK joined a conversation about child-friendly cities in the UK that developed into a meet-u...
Paul Monaghan: "It's about improving the everyday architecture of Liverpool"
14 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Monaghan is founding partner of one of the most successful architecture practices in the UK, Allford Hall Monaghan Morris. Now, he's got a new ro...
Brick by Brick: "We're turning a little into a lot"
07 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
With a need for new homes and under pressure from council cuts, Croydon Council established Brick by Brick in 2016, a limited company that would tackl...
Beyond shopping: What's the future of the High Street?
31 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
What is the social value of the high street? We meet Holly Lewis, co-founder of architecture and urbanism practice We Made That, for a walk down the h...
"Wait, could we do a mixed-use thing at Canada Water?"
10 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Roger Madelin, Head of Canada Water for British Land and maverick of place takes us on a whirlwind tour of his new major project in this double episod...
Bonus walking tour: Wembley's Rental Rebellion
06 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In part two of this interview, we take a deeper dive into Wembley Park. From underground vacuums for garbage, to dog parks and community events, Angus...