The Pegasus Report - Issue #131

A busy week in the North West, proposals for over 1,000 new homes in north Manchester have been recommended to the council for approval as part of the £1bn homebuilding project. Work is expected to start in November on the construction of a £350m arena in east Manchester.  Five Greater Manchester local authorities have won funding for a clean energy project that will develop 10 renewable schemes - creating a blueprint for UK regions aiming for net zero carbon emissions. More news on Manchester’s billion pound agenda can be found here.

In the South East, go-ahead has been given for a £200m green business community in Kent. In Barking a £1.5m contract to provide modular housing for homeless families who are in urgent need of accommodation has been awarded. In Camden, the latest designs for a new facility for Moorfields Eye Hospital at the St Pancras Hospital site, have been unveiled.

In Yorkshire, a developer has been chosen for the £270m International Pool redevelopment in Leeds.

In Scotland, house builders are calling on the Scottish government to step up new builds to 25,000 a year and to include more private homes.

In the Midlands, plans have been submitted for a brand new £85m waterside community in Worcester.

In infrastructure, Skanska has completed the UK’s first Dutch-style roundabout in Cambridge, which prioritises pedestrians and cyclists over motorists.

In the latest episode of the meet the boss series, I am joined by Yusoff Ghaznavi, the Managing Director of MAC Consulting. I have worked with MAC since their inception. Their business was set up in 2009; a brave time in the middle the Global Financial Crisis, but they have gone from strength to strength. Originally focused entirely in Retail, they have now diversified their business across multiple sectors; both public and private and now with 60 fee earners across UK 6 offices. Whenever I describe them to a candidate, I always describe them as an ambitious business that doesn’t take itself too seriously - hopefully this comes across. In this episode Yusoff talks about how they diversified their sector and service offering; something many similar businesses with an similar original sector focus to MAC have failed to do. We also have a fairly detailed chat about how technology will change the industry, but also how we need to embrace this change including learning from the young talent entering the industry who are to an extent native users of such technology. This is a great chat that I hope you get a lot out of.

This week’s technology news.

This week’s green news.

This week’s global round-up.

With offices closing their doors again this week to help prevent the spread of Covid, this week’s first article from Mace looks at what the future could hold for the workplace.

Thank you for reading, have a great week!