In a city context, a sense of place is often dictated by the rich tapestry of old and new buildings, different uses, civic and open spaces and the infrastructure that knits them all together.

Organically formed over decades and  centuries, these places are the economic and cultural heart of cities. Yet their evolution has rarely been guided by the needs of modern occupiers, resulting in environments that can be fragmented, inconsistent and sometimes limiting business growth.

But what if districts were intentionally curated and designed to create environments where businesses flourish and people thrive?

The rise of the urban campus

And so emerged the urban campus. The best known and most successful in London include Broadgate, Canary Wharf and King’s Cross, while Spinningfields in Manchester, Wellington Place in Leeds and Brindleyplace in Birmingham demonstrate the model's success in regional cities

These often office-led developments are evolving by responding to the need for better amenity, larger amounts of green, open space and an overarching brand to reinforce identity and community.

We have seen the model evolve further with Canada Water and Brent Cross Town emerging, while the long anticipated regeneration of Earls Court waits in the wings. Beyond the capital, Lendlease recently launched Smithfield in Birmingham (pictured above) and Landsec is progressing Mayfield in Manchester. These newer schemes tend to incorporate more residential, bringing a 24/7 community necessitating higher levels of public amenity.

As these districts evolve, a purposeful strategy is starting to take greater importance. The real source of competitive advantage is not the buildings themselves, but the ecosystem that surrounds them.

This is not a novel concept. When the Guildhalls emerged in medieval England they acted as places that brought together merchants and craftsmen for their respective trades and, in doing so, centralised the economic activity of the key players in a market. 

‘Modern Guilds’

Fast forward to the present day, and what we see emerging is the modern equivalent of the guild. The science community has best exemplified this, with science parks in Oxford and Cambridge adopting ‘Gateway Policies’ to screen occupiers, selecting those that will be the best fit, in their pursuit of ecosystem building. The argument is simple: curate the right occupier mix and you create a destination whose value is greater than the sum of its individual buildings.

In science and innovation districts, developers increasingly seek to create the conditions described by the "Triple Helix" model, where academia, industry and government interact to accelerate innovation. At a real estate level, this means providing space for organisations at every stage of growth, alongside event venues, collaboration spaces and amenities.

However, while this model works in markets where rents can support the investment, development viability remains the obstacle facing many new schemes. This raises the question, or opportunity, as to whether the ecosystem is more valuable than amenity, with less focus given to spec’ing a building over and above what is expected. Occupiers can invest in their own space, while leveraging the benefits of the wider ecosystem. In effect, developers may not need to win the specification race if they can create environments that deliver access to talent, ideas, customers and capital. But this is a brave approach and in a market where the amenity competition is still alive and kicking, it may not be a mainstream strategy. 

Further information

Contact Jon Gardiner

Learn more about Savills Office and Business Space