RICS publishes its Levelling Up and Sustainable Placemaking report

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) supports the levelling up agenda, and its potential to create a more just economy with a more even spread of opportunity throughout the UK.

We are calling on government, through the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, to address the nationwide housing shortage, reform planning to create a more efficient system for both communities and developers and encourage integration of critical infrastructure to support employment-led growth ensuing projects avoid unnecessary contractual conflicts through the greater understanding and utilisation of alternative dispute resolution (ADR).

As a leading professional body in land, property and construction which works to serve the public interest, we stand ready to work with government to help deliver on its strategic vision for levelling up.

RICS has opened up a long-term dialogue with the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to support and input expertise into the UK’s levelling up plans.

Our 10-point plan, ‘Levelling Up and Sustainable Placemaking’ sets out the overarching policy recommendations for the UK Government.

• Some key recommendations for a successful levelling up plan include:
  
• the potential for public-private financial partnerships to play an important role in sustainable placemaking, putting a strong focus on community need in the delivery of viable places.
  
• strategies to attract inward foreign investment beyond London and the South East, as well as support for the development of structural plans for cities that are country-wide, rather than city-wide, and which are coordinated strategically from a national point of view as part of a connected ecosystem.
  
• the regeneration of high streets and town centres that embrace a mixed-use approach to sustainable placemaking that will serve the long-term economic, social and environmental interests of people across the UK, as we adapt to digital changes and new ways of working.
  
• promoting sustainability and responding to the threat of climate change by prioritising the repurposing or retrofitting of existing commercial and residential stock, over building anew, to help drive down energy costs, create green jobs and ensure long-term viability.
  
• plans for future commercial real estate to move beyond the narrow focus of landlord versus tenant. The UK commercial real estate sector underpins local jobs and business that can make a significant contribution to UK growth, and the levelling up agenda must work to release its full potential in the interests of all customers.
  

 

For more information on our Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill recommendations, read the full report, Levelling Up and Sustainable Placemaking.

Please get in touch with us to feed in your views and comments at publicaffairs@rics.org.