Levelling Up – What Is it and Will It Work?
(Main Photograph courtesy of Freepik.com) If you are a Gamer, you will have heard of “level up.” It means advancing from one level to another. So, what does it mean when the government uses the term “Levelling Up”? There are many innovative high-growth and fast-growing companies across the UK however, there are significant disparities in […]
Interview with Kevin Parkes – Co founder of Whatif Group
https://soundcloud.com/adrienn-gallova/group-3-this-week-2day
The Levelling Up Agenda – Big Issue North
Our very own Kevin Parkes has had an input into an article in the Big Issue North (14th – 20th feb 22) in respect of the Levelling Up Agenda and what impact it could have on towns like Morecambe, Middlesbrough, Manchester and Marple. Kevin is Middlesbrough’s former executive director of regeneration and had a massive […]
The Changing Face of Retail
At the click of a button, we can have anything we want, from anywhere in the world and it is this phenomenon that has changed the value of the Town Centre. For Town Centres to survive, they need to understand the data collected from the online shopping experiences, to really get to know the customer […]
A Call to Action – Understanding the Power of Sustainable Development Goals (An Intro to the Sustainability Academy)
Whatif Group – Embracing the bottom up approach, culture and local procurement.
(Image Source: https://fernandesmakes.co.uk/pages/connecting-columns) Whatif Group are currently working with Peel, helping Quayside,MediaCity. As the first collaboration of many with Islington Mill and local groups, we put out a Brief looking for local artists to help start a transformation adopting a bottom up, cultural and local procurement approach. This will help explore and evolve a new […]
HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE COP 26 CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE?
There has been much scepticism about the outcomes COP 26 Climate Change Conference. Firstly, because senior politicians from both China and Russia failed to attend. Secondly because the new commitments did not seem to adequately recognise the immediate crisis the world is facing and the accelerating nature of global warming. Thirdly, it was clear that […]
The Tees Valley Renaissance
Building the momentum The Tees Valley is flourishing and its extraordinary transformation is set to continue. Across the sub-region there are developments springing up – and in planning – that will play a huge part in the future prosperity of the region, many of national significance. The Tees Valley Combined Authority has been at the […]
Place First Economics by Director of the Whatif Group – Paul Wright
AN INVESTMENT APPROACH THAT LOOKS AT THE SUM OF THE PARTS BEFORE THE INDIVIDUAL COMPONENTS A COLLABORATIVE APPROACH In an ideal world where there is available public money through “levelling up”, generally in the form of the Towns Fund and Future High Street Fund, the regeneration story should accelerate. I have been involved in town […]
How can Town Centre Development “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all?”
This is at the forefront of UN Sustainable Development Goal 4. So how do we at the Whatif Group incorporate this goal into our Town Centre Developments? Kevin Parkes, Co-Founder of the Whatif Group who has over 25 years of senior management experience in local government, his education and initial career in town centre planning […]