Chair's Overview
CAPITAL RECOVERY
Gerald Kaye, Helical Bar
Conference Chairman
BCO Senior Vice President (2009-10)
For the first time in 17 years we are holding the BCO Annual Conference on what for many of us is home turf in London. Following on from New York 2007 we are here in our very own world city to celebrate and discover the multitude of top class new office buildings and great public realm that London has to offer. London has truly confirmed its status as a world capital in every sense of the title with architecture, business and finance, culture and a vibrant diversity to rival that of any other city.
We also find ourselves in the exciting position of being the host city of the forthcoming Olympic Games. This will of course bring many new visitors and tourists to the capital but has also generated much redevelopment and regeneration, particularly in East London, and the visit to the Olympic Site will be a highlight on our tour programme. Coupled with this, we are fortunate enough to have Lord Coe as our speaker at the conference dinner. As well as being the Chairman of the Olympic Committee, Sebastian Coe is a great Olympian and ambassador for London. I am sure that he will be both inspirational and entertaining.
Turning to the conference theme, the environment in which we find ourselves is that of an uncharted and ever changing financial position; a climate of much uncertainty that has shaken many of us to our core and from which we are now trying to pick up the pieces. Therein lies the core values of our conference theme – recovery: rejuvenation, reinvigoration and renaissance, but not without learning and adapting from events of the past 24 months. Moving forward but not without looking back. Scaling new heights but not without a safety tether. Whilst the storm has by no means completely passed, it is hoped that the much discussed ‘green shoots’ are, in certain circumstances, beginning to grow and that we can all move forward to a more prosperous time ahead.
An exciting focus of this year’s conference will be our “Seminars on Tour” programme. We are combining tours of innovative and exceptional buildings, developments and workplaces with on-site seminars from a dynamic selection of world class professionals. There will also be an opportunity to discover the Thames Gateway by bicycle in a unique tour led by Peter Murray of New London Architecture in conjunction with the London Thames Gateway Partnership. We believe that within our programme we are offering some truly unique and exciting events which we greatly hope you will all enjoy.
To compliment the “Seminars on Tour” programme, our plenary sessions will feature leading industry figures and provocative speakers from the wider world. We hope to channel lively debate and discussion and to leave everyone with much to think about.
We very much look forward to welcoming you all to our great capital city in May 2010 and we hope that whether a Londoner of many years or an occasional visitor to the capital, each delegate will learn, discover or experience something entirely new at London 2010.