And Finally

And finally... ...and

finally

Richard Upton

CEO U+I

Richard Upton is CEO of U+I, a part of the Landsec Group. He is the driving force behind the company’s strategic direction and its vision to create long-lasting social and economic change through mixed-use regeneration. Richard is a patron of the arts, passionate about quality of place, architecture and heritage. He currently serves as a Historic England Commissioner.

• What was your first job and what was the pay packet?

I was a milk boy for Unigate Dairies in

Baring Road, Lee; working the round of

Downham Estate at £5 per day. Three

A-levels from Crown Woods School in

Eltham took me to Reading University to study Estate Management. From there a first job with McInerney Homes, a house builder, for around £16,000 per annum with a car – a 1.6 litre Ford escort.

• What would you do with your last pound?

Buy some bulbs and plant them for future happiness

• What is the biggest challenge facing your business?

The planning system. We need to find a way of accelerating the productivity of underused brownfield land to deliver beautiful, inclusive places with homes, jobs, opportunity, improved public realm and enhanced biodiversity.

A system that takes years and inordinate cost to deliver great projects is a system that holds back social and economic growth. Building trust is key to this, rather than policy obstacles which causes delays. In an age of local authority austerity, funding planning resource in local authorities is now mission-critical.

• If you were Prime Minister, what would be your first decision?

I would push to demand that half of government should be female, and representative of the population generally. Without that the Government has little hope of being representative.

I would also increase the pay of MP’s to attract and retain the best talent.

• If you could do another job what would it be?

An artist.

• What book are you currently reading?

Spitfire by John Nicholl. All about the lives of Spitfire pilots in the Second World War. Incredible.

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