Brighton & Hove Council grants permission for FOOTPRINT Brighton

Brighton & Hove City Council has granted permission for a team of leading architects and designers in the city to create a unique annual exhibition and conference in the city which showcases cutting-edge ways to tackle the carbon footprint created by the property industry.

Last night [September 24] the Tourism, Equalities, Communities & Culture Committee voted unanimously in favour of permitting FOOTPRINT, a four-day exhibition and conference to be held in September 2021 at Hove Lawns and British Airways i360.

Cllr Marianna Ebel, joint chair of the council’s Tourism, Equalities, Communities & Culture Committee, said: “We are delighted that the FOOTPRINT conference is coming to Brighton & Hove next year. FOOTPRINT is an opportunity to work together to accelerate action against climate change, and as such it fits in perfectly with our city’s aim to become carbon neutral by 2030. We are also very grateful for FOOTPRINT’s offer to give a share of the ticket sales to the council to restore the Hove Lawns railings.”

The event will bring together local authorities, developers, manufacturers, consultants and regulatory authorities from across the UK to radically re-think how buildings are designed, built and re-purposed to combat climate change.

The team behind it includes award winning architects Tim Pyne and Emily Day together with Sophie Law-Smith, founding director of Design Brighton. They all live and work in the city.

Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion, said, “We are pleased to offer our support for FOOTPRINT. A UK-focused show providing a much needed platform to discover, discuss and exploit opportunities for carbon reduction in the built environment is essential. Our city is the perfect place to showcase it. We have an ambitious local environmental target of a zero carbon footprint by 2030. The built environment poses an enormous challenge in achieving this, so an educational conference which can provide a roadmap to achieving this is to be embraced.”

Peter Kyle MP, MP for Hove and Shadow Minister for Justice, said, “The conference has taken on a new importance in the light of Covid-19 and the boost our local hospitality economy will need in order to recover from the huge hit it has taken. This conference can now bring trade and much needed business to the hotels, bars, restaurants and shops of the city.”

Tim Pyne, director of FOOTPRINT, said, “With this event, we aim to bring a wide range of benefits to the city, in addition to the value of attracting 2000 delegates. We are working on a programme of fundraising support for local charities, tree planting and restoration projects, as well as support for local young homeless people.”

“We will also be throwing open our doors on the final day of the exhibition to local students from Year 9 and older, offering young people the opportunity to see all the different jobs available in design and construction and to meet industry insiders.”

In traditional Brighton & Hove style, a fringe programme of events and installations running alongside FOOTPRINT will firmly put Brighton and Hove in the environmental driving seat,curated by Design Brighton 1.5° will be working with local businesses, students and residents.

Sophie Law-Smith, founding director of Design Brighton, said, “FOOTPRINT will provide us with an expansive and truly international platform to showcase the collaboration our region is demonstrating in order to achieve our own 2030 zero carbon ambition.”

Design Brighton 1.5° fringe events will include Open Studios, architectural tours, talks, site visits, design competitions, business led networking events and collaborations on installation trails with educational and business partners.

“As the city moves to create the ‘new normal’ post Covid, we have an unprecedented opportunity to re-write the rules around our environmental impact on the planet. This conference not only does that, but also will help the economy rebuild with a total direct and indirect spend of £9.50 million in year one increasing to £19.00 million after year five. As well as creating 129 FTE jobs in year one rising to 259 after year five,” said Gavin Stewart, Executive Director, Brighton & Hove Economic Partnership.

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