Adrian Griffiths to speak at Westminster Business Forum panel discussion on 4 February

Chapman Taylor Group Board Director Adrian Griffiths will be among the industry panellists taking part in Westminster Business Forum’s online policy conference on “Key priorities for the UK retail sector and the future of the high street” on Thursday 4 February.

The forum will focus on how the high street and the retail industry needs to respond to changed consumer demand, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as ways in which former retail spaces can be repurposed and high streets reinvigorated with better urban design and a well-considered mix of uses and amenities.

Adrian’s panel discussion, which begins at 10.05am GMT, is titled “The sector as it emerges from the pandemic - priorities for placemaking, the high street/online playing field, landlord - tenant relationships, and the future of business rates.” Adrian will be drawing on his extensive experience creating urban designs for town and city centres across the UK, including the current proposals for the regeneration of Coventry city centre, to make the case for authentic, flexible and mixed-use high streets which provide a strong sense of place, as outlined in his Insight paper on the topic.

Adrian will be joined by representatives from Historic England, the British Independent Retailers Association, Colliers International and the Royal Borough of Greenwich as they discuss the crucial elements required to create socially and economically sustainable town and city centres as it adjusts away from an over-reliance on physical retail.

The wider, four-hour event will involve stakeholders and key policy officials from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Department for Industry and Trade, the High Streets Task Force, the British Retail Consortium, local authorities, Historic England and others.

To book a place for the online conference, please click here. The agenda for the morning can be found here.

Chapman Taylor has long advocated the benefits of sustainable and integrated town centres in which an excellent retail offer sits alongside well-considered leisure, F&B, residential, office, hospitality and community functions. We have designed many schemes in accordance with this approach, working in partnership with councils, clients and stakeholders to create attractive and sustainable town centres in which they people can feel justifiable pride.