CDA Newsletter - April 2022 - Central District Alliance

CDA Newsletter – April 2022

Welcome to the latest CDA Newsletter.

The past month has seen the launch of our new Place Plan project, two new additions to the CDA team and an exciting collection of events coming together for the spring and summer months. Watch this space for upcoming event announcements!

Debbie Akehurst – CEO of Central District Alliance

Our Place Plan for Holborn, Clerkenwell and Hatton Garden 

We’re excited to announce that work has started on our new Place Plan, for public realm in the CDA’s five neighbourhoods (Holborn, Bloomsbury, St Giles, Clerkenwell, and Farringdon) and the Hatton Garden BID area.

This project will put in place a framework of strategic objectives to guide our public realm investment and maximise its impact. The key outcome will be two priority projects – detailed and costed designs for public realm improvements, ready to take forward to business case and planning consent.

Our search for a dedicated and inspiring team of designers and transport planners involved reviewing tenders from Publica, Atkins, We Made That, Perkins & Will, BDP/Momentum and Arup. After interviewing three teams, we selected BDP/Momentum, who will work intensively with us over the coming months and complete by mid-September.

We’re committed to embedding your views and feedback throughout the Place Plan project process. If you’re interested in the overall strategic direction and focus of our public realm work, please join us for a workshop in mid-May. If you’d like to come and see our design proposals taking shape, we will be exhibiting at the London Festival of Architecture in mid-June, and there will be opportunities to talk to our design team at both a Business Breakfast and evening event. If you’d like to give your feedback on the development of detailed design for priority projects, we will be hosting workshops in mid-June and mid-August.

We would love to invite you to take part in this project and will be hosting a series of workshops throughout the next few months.

Please join us at our first workshop on Thursday 12th May, 1pm – 2pm, an opportunity to input into the project’s overall strategic objectives selection of shortlisted locations to take forward to design.

Or if you’d like to hear about other upcoming opportunities, click here to register your interest >

Safety training

This month our Community Safety Patrol Team attended the first in a series of specialist workshops; designed to ensure CDA continues to be a safe and welcoming place to work and visit.

This training event, provided by the Metropolitan Police, focused on raising awareness of counter terrorism, the threat level and what actions the team can take to protect the public, and themselves, in the event of major incident.

Within the training, topics included:

  • Unattended and suspicious items
  • Hostile reconnaissance
  • Security vigilance
  • Working in partnership with the police

Deployed across the CDA neighbourhoods, from Tottenham Court Road to Clerkenwell, our officers are now equipped with the additional skills and knowledge to significantly enhance public safety, particularly around our transportation hubs, crowded places and the night-time economy.

Your business can also get involved in our community safety partnership and help contribute to a safer London. Find out how below:

  • Take a free e-Learning counter terrorism awareness course. These are now available to the general public, who want to learn how to spot the signs of suspicious behaviour, and understand what to do in the event of a major incident. You can register here
  • Download the ACT – Action Counters Terrorism App. Providing businesses with the latest CT information in the palm of their hand, this counter terrorism tool is an essential resource for all organisations. Find out more by viewing this short video –  here
  • Support your employees and protect your businesses by booking specialist training and workshops delivered in-house by counter terrorism officers. Get in touch with us for further details.
  • From reporting suspicious activity to finding out more about radicalisation and how to stay safe if caught up in a terrorist incident; we would highly recommend that you visit the ACT website – here.

Post COVID 19 business impact survey

Since the end of COVID 19 restrictions lifted in London on the 24th of March 2021, Central District Alliance has been in active dialogue with our local businesses and the London Mayor’s office discussing the challenges and support needed for businesses within our footprint.

We need to understand as much as possible regarding the impact of the Post- Brexit and COVID 19 skills shortages on the operation of businesses. This is especially important as we are learning more about specific professional roles within the hospitality sector, we would like to hear from other sectors also.

If you are a business that is experiencing skills shortages and noticed any change, large or small, that you believe is a consequence of the post-Brexit trade deal or COVID 19, then please get in contact and share as much information as possible so we can all work together to support local businesses and boost London’s recovery.

Please email our Project Manager, Wayne –  wayne@centraldistrictalliance.com if you have any insights or experiences that you would be able to share from the past two years.

Dr Bike

Join us this Tuesday 3rd May for our Dr Bike event. As part of our commitment to support local employees and promote active travel, we will be providing free bike services and maintenance. In partnership with the Metropolitan Police, we will also be security marking bikes to prevent against theft.

Dr Bike will run throughout 2022, on the first Tuesday of every month.

Find us at the junction of Leather Lane and High Holborn, 11am to 3pm.

If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch with us info@centraldistrictalliance.com

CDA welcomes…Nicky & Lucy

Nicky Bond

Nicky joined as Marketing and Events Manager in April. She has spent the past 12 years working in the new build property sector, marketing residential and mixed-use developments, engaging with stakeholders and ensuring new and regenerated neighbourhoods are the kind of places that people want to live, work and play.

During that time, Nicky has worked on a variety of projects including the regeneration of Elephant & Castle, sensitive restorations in Central London and riverside apartments on the banks of the Thames.

Nicky has a degree in Planning, Housing & Renewal and has always had an interest in sustainability and regeneration, both of which have remained at the core of all the projects she has worked on – and something she is eager to ensure runs through the heart of CDA’s future projects.

Lucy Minyo

Lucy joins as the Public Real Lead. She is a strategic thinker, trained in architecture, urban design, and planning. She is passionate about the potential of urban places and how we experience them together.

Lucy brings to CDA over ten years of experience on urban development projects as a consultant and designer. She led masterplan strategies for large sites in Beijing, including the regeneration of part of the historic centre, and mixed-use redevelopment of a 20ha former industrial site.

She is committed to stakeholder engagement and co-design, working with stakeholders in the Latin American city of Paramaribo to adapt the BID model. Her thought leadership includes a best practice guide for urban regeneration in historic areas, published by the Inter-American Development Bank.

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