Conference programme

Quality placemaking in challenging times

Our annual conference brings together placemakers to explore ways to create excellent places despite the viability challenges, including a keynote from the government’s chief planner, Joanna Averley.

Thursday 8 October, 9am to 4:45pm, London WC1 – REGISTRATION CLOSED
Download the full programme with session summaries and speaker biographies

London is under pressure to deliver more homes and infrastructure while creating places that are sustainable, resilient and genuinely work for the people who use them.

Practitioners from across housing, planning, regeneration and development will addresses a key challenge for London’s built environment – how can we continue to create high-quality places in increasingly challenging times?

You can read the programme below. We will be doing a write-up of top takeaways from the conference with a final report on our year-long placemaking programme published in February 2027.

We will also be launching our Placemaking Tensions Tool – tested at the conference – designed to help placemakers balance competing development priorities.

Conference programme

Time	Session and speakers	created
8:45am	Registration
9:30am	Welcome Nicola Mathers, Chief Executive, Future of London
9:40am	Keynote: What is quality placemaking? What are the main challenges today? Joanna Averley, Chief Planner, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government	y
10:00am	Panel: What are the challenges in achieving quality placemaking today? Melbourne Barrett, Chief Executive, Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing Graeme Craig, Chief Executive, Places for London Alice Kennedy, Head of Development, Westminster City Council Nicola Mathers, Chief Executive, Future of London (chair)	y
10:30am	Coffee break and exhibition viewing
10:30am	Field Trip: West End Project and The New Story Garden Lara Anand, Build Trainee, Global Generation Cannon Ivers, Director, LDA Design Joe Lewis, Green Space Development Manager, Camden Council Jan Kattein, Director, Jan Kattein Architects Martina Mina, Director, Global Generation Jamie Smith, Development Director, Related Argent Tess Warburton, Highway Green Infrastructure Lead, Camden Council	y
10:45am	Case Study: Earls Court – making public realm inclusive Hannah Gibbs, Deputy Chief Executive, Future of London (Chair) Sharon Giffen, Head of Design, Earls Court Development Company Anna Shapiro, Partner, Sheppard Robson	y
10:45am	Case Study: Pudding Mill Lane – creating a connected neighbourhood Federico Ortiz, Director of Programmes, Future of London (Chair) Rachel Hearn, Head of Design, London Legacy Development Corporation Farrah Hussain, Head of Development, Vistry	y
10:45am	Case Study: Brixton Station Road – putting co-design in action Nicola Mathers, Chief Executive, Future of London (Chair) Harrison Sharkey, Senior Associate, AND London Kaye Stout, Managing Partner, Pollard Thomas Edwards	y
11:30am	Coffee break and exhibition viewing
11:45am	Case Study: Trollhättan 6 district, Malmö – International approaches to mixed-use development, adaptive reuse Federico Ortiz, Director of Programmes, Future of London (Chair) Stefan Sjöberg, Founding Director, Kjellander Sjöberg Holly Lewis, Co-founding Partner, We Made That	y
12:30pm	Case Study: Homes that don’t cost the earth – international placemaking Federico Ortiz, Director of Programmes, Future of London (Chair) Maxime Cunin, Strategic Housing Steward, Dark Matter Labs Stefan Horn, Research Associate, UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose Becci Taylor, Director, Arup	y
1:15pm	Lunch and exhibition viewing
2:15pm	Workshop: Finding balance to deliver quality placemaking – Testing our tool, using Leathermarket Gardens Federico Ortiz, Director of Programmes, Future of London (Chair) Ramsey Yassa, Director, Nooma Studio	y
3:15pm	Coffee break and exhibition viewing
3:30pm	Presentations: Fresh ideas for the future of placemaking Nicola Mathers, Chief Executive, Future of London (Chair) Presenters from Future London Leaders Cohort 43
4:00pm	Panel: Can we truly have it all? Nicola Mathers, Chief Executive, Future of London (Chair) Sara Bailey, Senior Partner, Trowers & Hamlins Shahi Islam, Director of Affordable Housing, Homes England Oliver Maury, Partner, Montagu Evans Hilary Satchwell, Director, Tibbalds	y
4:35pm	Closing remarks Nicola Mathers, Chief Executive, Future of London

Thanks to our programme and conference sponsors