What’s past is prologue:
Salford is a city that consistently finds a way to get things done.
A place that blends urban with rural, industrial heritage with modern innovation. And, crucially, a place that doesn’t forget its past while looking firmly at its future.
Measuring Housing Delivery Success in People, Not Units
Housing delivery is often measured in units. Spreadsheets, targets, trajectories. But behind those numbers are people – all kinds of people – with very different lives and needs.
The Art of Looking Back and Forward - at the Same Time
Nestled in the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is built on a proud industrial past. Bolton’s textile-powered economy was reshaped in the second half of the 20th century.
Today, that legacy is still written into the fabric of the town, but now it’s being reinterpreted for the next chapter.
More Than the Sum of its Parts: Lessons to Learn from a Region That Works
Greater Manchester is a city region that punches above its weight. But while the headlines might focus on the success of the regional city centre, the full story is more interesting: 10 boroughs with distinct identities, working together to drive shared ambition.
How to Solve a Problem Like an Under Resourced Planning System? The Manpower Conundrum
To those outside the built environment sector, a career in town planning is probably something of a mystery. At least, that’s according to the many blank looks I’ve received over the years when making small talk with acquaintances.
But it does highlight an inherent problem with this relatively niche career path. If people haven’t heard of it, how can they choose to work in the field?
EK Unlocked Chapter Six: The Manpower Conundrum
In the final chapter of EK Unlocked, we explore how we can encourage more people into a career in town planning.
Unlocking the Planning System’s Potential: A Call for Pragmatic Planning Reform
Whatever its shortcomings, the planning system plays a crucial role in unlocking places. But rather than wholesale sweeping changes, it is tweaks here and there, that are really needed.
Reform doesn’t have to mean overhaul. Meaningful small changes can accelerate delivery.
EK Unlocked Chapter Five: Unlocking the Planning System’s Potential
In chapter five of EK Unlocked, Katie digs deep into what the proposed planning reform changes will really mean for those of us working with the system day to day, and makes some suggestions of how we could really unblock the system.
Charting 40 Years of Transformation: Salford is Showing Us How it’s Done
Salford has shown itself to be the chameleon of cities – transforming itself from an industrial heartland to a cultural hub. We take a step back in time to chart the last 40 years of transformation.
From Suburban Flight to Urban Revival: The Evolution of City Centre Living
Manchester city centre has seen phenomenal growth: almost 85,000 people now live within one mile of Piccadilly Gardens, compared to around 11,300 in 1991.
When and why did people start choosing the city centre as their home? And what can we learn as we look to the future about how we provide for its inhabitants?
EK Unlocked Chapter Four: From Suburban Flight to Urban Revival
In chapter four of EK Unlocked, Kelly charts the transformation of urban living, looking particularly at how Salford has remade itself, time and again.
From Post-War Boom to Today's Bust: Exploring the Roots of the UK Housing Crisis
The Centre for Cities think tank found, in its report published last year, that Britain has a backlog of 4.3 million homes. They’re missing from the national housing market because they simply were never built.
What happened?
EK Unlocked Chapter Three: From Post-War Boom to Bust
In chapter three of EK Unlocked, Ellie takes us on a whistlestop tour of how the UK fell into a housing crisis and explores what needs to happen next.
What Stockport Did Next: A Closer Look at What Happened After Stockport Pulled Out of GMSF
It’s hard to talk about forward planning in Greater Manchester without talking about the Places for Everyone spatial plan.
And it’s hard to talk about that without referencing when Stockport Council pulled out six years after work on it (when it was called the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework) began.
EK Unlocked Chapter Two: What Stockport Did Next
In chapter two of EK Unlocked, James looks at Stockport's approach to placemaking and how its collaborative and proactive mindset is helping it achieve exciting change.
Planning for Impact: How Development Frameworks Punch Above Their Weight
I’ve worked as a town planner in Manchester for more than 21 years and have seen the city region transform at an astonishing rate.
It’s not just the city that has changed: the nation’s approach to planning has too.
EK Unlocked Chapter One: Planning for impact
In chapter one of EK Unlocked, Euan explores how development frameworks are one of the most effective planning tools to unlock sites and deliver transformation.
Welcome to EK Unlocked
Welcome to EK Unlocked. We’re telling the story of Greater Manchester’s success and reinvention through its places, people and, of course, how planning is central to it all. Join us as we chart GM’s transformation and explore the stories that are currently being written.
Lifting the Lid on the Places for Everyone Plan
After nearly 10 years in the making, Greater Manchester’s spatial plan was adopted in March.
Much of the focus has been on strategic development.
But what does the plan mean for land outside these strategic allocations?
The Changing of the Guard: a Closer Look at Labour’s Promises for Planning and Development
We’re waking up to a new, Labour-led government, the first in 14 years. So what, if anything, can we expect will change for the built environment?
There have been promises-a-plenty and lots of encouraging statements indicating a pro-growth approach. If we are to believe this Times article, we should expect to hear at least three different housing announcements in the next fortnight, giving an indication of the new government’s focus and commitment to the sector.