With a booming life sciences industry leading the way, investment in R&D infrastructure is already delivering positive socio-economic benefits in many parts of the UK. We're witnessing a boost in social mobility, attraction of talent, and cultural changes in dynamic hubs like Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter and Manchester’s Oxford Road Corridor. These areas are becoming beacons of activity, creativity, and modern discovery. And with a general election just four days away, there is a good chance we will see the proliferation of more innovation districts in other major UK cities like Leeds and Birmingham. But how do we ensure that good design, placemaking, and planning are at the forefront of these new Innovation Districts? How can cities harness these developments to benefit everyone, and what lessons can we learn from other global tech and science cities like Toronto, Zug, Lille, and Lisbon?

When we talk about the adaptive reuse of old buildings, we often think of buildings from pre WW1 – romantic buildings from the Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian era. But a large proportion of the UK building stock consists of vacant buildings dating from the fifties to seventies – the not so old, and not so loved buildings. In this episode, we explore the challenges this era of buildings bring, and how our design approach differs when bringing them back to life.

Long gone is the simple ‘pie and pint’ set up. Make way for a more nuanced, increasingly luxurious future for sports spectatorship. From ‘fan villages’ modelled off the high street to a myriad of ticketing options offering enhanced dining, drinking and viewing add-ons, discover how top-tier venues like Everton Football Club and Ashes host, Lancashire County Cricket Ground, Emirates Old Trafford are elevating the sports fan’s big day out. Marking the second episode in our Season of Sport series, this week, BDP Pattern Architect Director, Jon-Scott Kohli is joined by Head of Sport, Gavin Elliott, Everton FC’s Senior Manager of New Stadium Sales, Vicky Jaycock and CEO at Lancashire County Cricket Club, Emirates Old Trafford, Daniel Gidney, Together, our industry experts explore the latest trends in sports-based hospitality design, asking what’s driven changes to the fan zone and how designers can respond to driving forces like sustainability, disruptive tech and demographic shifts in spectatorship.

The training venue to the athlete is what the office is to the aspiring CEO - a place where elite sportspeople go to perfect their craft, hone their skills and connect with their team and trainers. Yet, in the highly competitive world of professional sport, can decisions taken during the design of training venues really determine a team’s long-term shot at victory? From personalisation to community use, social media partnerships and the rise of female and disabled sports, learn about the evolution of training venues in this week’s episode, where Head of Sport Gavin Elliot is joined by Architect Director Andrew Capewell and Ardent Sports Founder and MD Nick Smith, best known for his work with UFC, UEFA and Munster Rugby.

Not only are workers demanding more flexibility in where they work, but they are also increasingly directing the shape of our offices in a post-pandemic world. But what do employees really want and need from workplaces that can’t be achieved from home setups? In this week’s episode, our guests reveal what it takes to create a truly hybrid and inclusive workplace, and how to elevate office design from merely satisfactory to revolutionary.

How can we give power to those historically excluded from planning processes and champion inclusive spaces for all, from the moment a rendering is drafted through to the completion of a building? Navigating the complex conversations of cost, timelines, funding and representation - and how these impact the inclusive design process - this week’s guests ask how we can challenge default norms to account for race, colour and culture in the built environment.

The design of buildings and spaces can shape our behaviour and perceptions of the world in subtle yet powerful ways. How then, have public spaces come to impact people of different genders and reinforced narrow stereotypes and assumptions? For the debut podcast in our Design for Inclusion series, we invited four guests to share their experiences of designing for gender equity. From wayfinding and lighting intensity to residential development layouts, this week’s design experts debate what truly matters when creating a more inclusive world.

Why do some buildings last for centuries while others disappear in mere decades? From the remerging role of passive design measures to creating ‘flexible’ buildings, this week sees guest experts from our lighting, engineering and architecture teams question what it takes to design long-lasting, sustainable buildings for generations to come.

This week, Alan Davies and his new panel of experts discuss how to bring old buildings back to life. As we emerge from the global pandemic, new civic strategies require more modern solutions for spaces. From adaptive reuse of historic structures to retrofit projects in modern buildings, there are more options available to building owners and designers than ever before. Retrofit and refurbishment seems like the obvious choice but is it more cost-effective and can we retain the important character and history that is inherent in these buildings?

Alan Davies is joined by Tianyi Gu, Akshay Khera and Illyas Maljee to explore how adaptive reuse is becoming a global trend in design and architecture. No one country has the ability to solve the climate emergency and when it comes to the reuse of buildings, we have to be sensitive to the building stock, environments and policies that influence the industry. But how does this affect the design and construction process? Do we still have a way to go to persuade some nations that reusing older buildings is the best approach or is it already taking off as a worldwide initiative?

In this first episode of our debut series, Old Buildings - New Beginnings, BDP’s head of heritage, Alan Davies meets with Lucy Townsend, Il’ic Testoni and James Hepburn to ask the fundamental question, ‘Can we make historic buildings sustainable?’ They discuss how to measure sustainability in old buildings and analyse what we can do to adapt existing structures to meet ever-stringent net zero carbon ambitions in the face of a climate emergency.

In this episode of Old Buildings - New Beginnings, Alan Davies is joined by Jesse Klimitz, Christine Davis and David Artis to discuss how to make old buildings more inclusive. Together they debate the meaning of accessibility, inclusivity and equality in the built environment, highlighting physical and perceived barriers that users can face. Concluding the episode, our experts discuss how heritage buildings can be adapted to be more considerate of everyone who uses them.