right place, right time

Hear from Chris Wade, Director, The People & Places Partnership who reflects on placemaking, policy, pride, place branding and people.

Chris is the author of the Local Government Association’s Revitalising Town Centres Toolkit and a former Expert Adviser for the Government-backed, High Streets Task Force.  In this and all his work, Chris seeks to join-up the dots of town centre practice and policy by addressing the ‘what’ (look and feel) and ‘how’ (partnership development) of “getting more smiling faces on our streets”.  Chris is currently undertaking research into the role of place branding and identity as part of his third, place-related Masters. He is an avid watcher of Government policy and funding related to place.

Our founding Director John Till is delighted to be joined by Emma Drake, our new Associate Director for thinkingplace and founder and Director of Henbe Communications. Emma has over 30 years experience working with some of the most significant new communities in England. She is a strategic communicator, a specialist in stakeholder engagement and a great believer in creating social value as the heart of a place.

Hear how Matt Nicol, Chairman and his Place Board alongside Wychavon District Council are putting the spa rkle(!) back into Droitwich Spa.

For anyone who doesn’t believe a coalition of the willing can make a difference in a place just sit back and be inspired by Matt, a place force of nature!

Our Founding Director John Till talks to Nigel Wilcock, Executive Director at Mickeldore who has been involved in economic development for over 30 years.

Nigel talks passionately about his belief that the economy of the UK would be more successful if each of the regions were enabled to play a more equal role. 

This episode explores this and more in what is an extremely interesting and engaging listen.

Hear from Jane Hough, Deputy Director for Business Improvement Districts and Business Services for Groundwork Cheshire, Lancashire & Merseyside.

Jane is leading the way in creating better places by working closely with people and businesses within the community. She is passionate about improving individuals prospects via education, training and work opportunities along with creating and protecting the natural environment around them.

Learn about the real social and economic value this work has brought into a number of BID areas and how Jane plans to continue her amazing work.

Hear from Therasa Garrod, Tourism and Place Manager, Dragonfly Development (wholly owned company of Bolsover Council) who is masterminding the amazing place led journey of town and area. Learn what has been achieved in such a short time with a new narrative, visual brand, Place Board and more, along with some exciting implementation plans for the future.

Our latest episode is with the amazing Mark Foster, Director of OPEN (part of SLR) who shares his view on what constitutes successful place making, authenticity of design and future trends for place development.

Corinne Day, Newhaven Enterprise Zone's Programme Director, provides a fascinating insight into the place led journey of this South Coast port town, near Brighton, on the edge of the South Downs National Park, as it makes the most of its industry and beauty as it carves out a new creative and marine future driven by the dynamism of its community.

Fresh from the tremendous success of We Are Staffordshire, which he initiated, Cristian Marcucci has recently taken up the role of Managing Director of Marketing Cheshire and he certainly has a wonderful set of assets and opportunities to work with! Hear about why We Are Staffordshire is such a success and his excitement about coming home to help put Cheshire on the map. 

Hear from our BAFTA award winning Creative Director, Peter Anderson as he explores the art of bringing your place story to life via photography, place making, use of colour and his pioneering visual language!