award winning architects

Tuesday, 12 April 2011 00:00

Kevin McDonald, Managing Director

Kevin McDonald

Sponsoring The Abercrombie Awards

In sponsoring the Abercrombie awards Stride Treglown are pleased to be associated with promoting design excellence within the City boundaries of Plymouth.

Many of the shortlisted projects are as result of unprecedented growth in our economy over the previous decade but now the economic landscape has changed.

The question I am asking myself is can Plymouth obtain the inward investment needed to realise the visions outlined in the Local Development Frameworks prepared by the City Council for the key areas in the City Centre, Sutton Harbour, Millbay and Devonport.

In my time working in the City there remain recurring themes as to potential barriers to investment. and the creation of Local Enterprise Partnerships to replace Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in my view will not be the only solution to attract investors to the City. The Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has been formed under the leadership of the private sector supported by the local authorities from Devon, Plymouth, Somerset and Torbay. Whilst I don't doubt the sincerity of the LEP's objectives, which is to create a strong economic alliance, I think the diversity of such an organization means that it is unlikely to be the only catalyst to generate the levels of investment required by the city.

The area within which Plymouth is located has many strengths, including, an exceptional waterfront and coastline, Dartmoor National Park, the aquarium, the nationally acclaimed Theatre Royal and the new Life Centre. We also have a world class university and excellent further education colleges and a medical and dental school that help to provide a skilled workforce and a growing knowledge base.

In my view the City needs to become focused on the image it portrays to the outside world with a can do attitude that demonstrates that there are no barriers to doing business in Plymouth. In order to do this the City must have has joined up policies and thinking that will encourage potential investors to buy into the vision and be confident that we have an environment that is conducive to conduct profitable business. If the city can achieve this there are many opportunities for a well established architectural practice such as ourselves to create sustainable award winning designs that will help shape the future of the city.