On Thursday 23rd October the RTPI Young Planners Conference began at The Shore Bar, Bristol. The annual event visits a different city each year and Bristol was a welcome host for attracting over 200 planners to 2014’s event. This year’s warm up drinks were sponsored by Beach Baker Property Recruitment Ltd and began with a welcome address from one of their recent placements; Veronica Barbaro (Chair of YPSW). After Veronica’s introduction, Dr Michael Short (Senior Lecturer in Planning and Urban Conservation at UWE) gave an interesting and balanced presentation around planning in Bristol and the West of England, which was followed by an evening of networking.
Over the next two days the conference saw subjects tackled such as Environmental Resilience, Housing and Population, Infrastructure Challenges, as well as reflections on the RTPI’s Centenary, thoughts from Young Planners, and a key session looking at Reassessing our Systems. There was a formal gala dinner at The Marriott Royal Hotel on the Friday evening and also numerous informative study tours of some of Bristol and Baths best modern developments and most loved historic landmarks including the Harbourside and Temple Meads, Cabot Circus, Redcliffe and Bath Historic Centre.
Ruth Hoggett, Associate Director said; “It was great to see the Young Planner’s Conference being held in Bristol this year, especially in the milestone year that the RTPI celebrates 100 years of professional planning since its establishment. The reception drinks evening was a great warm up to the main event and Beach Baker were delighted to be the sponsors.”
