I helped out with the first Regeneration Brainery coffee morning last Thursday, which brought together alumni from various previous Brainery events in the lovely Manchester office of Brabners for some networking and round-tabling. A great morning, with some really interesting discussion around the ‘15 minute city concept’ and featuring my top tips for networking: listen, make it personal, and don’t forget the all-important follow up after the event. Thanks as always to Judi Greenwood, Laura Stott and the Brainery team for organising and all the future stars of the profession for attending!

The day before, I spoke at the Housing Forum Development Partnerships event. Really interesting presentations from Alyson Heald, Katie Saunders, Will Swan, Anna Clarke, James Kelly and Renea Cammish. Huge congratulations to Will and the Salford Uni team for their ‘project of the year’ win GM Chamber of Commerce awards – the energy house is a remarkable project making such a big contribution to real world sustainability in housing. Also particularly excited to hear about PRP’s masterplan for Lancaster Canal Quarter – my hometown, and long overdue some revitalising development! Thank you to the Housing Forum team for a great morning.