Office Matters: The BCO Podcast

Paul Finch is Programme Director of the World Architecture Festival (WAF) and Editorial Director of The Architectural Review/Architects’ Journal. He started professional life as a journalist in the early 1970s. He became Deputy Editor of Estates Times (now Property Week), and subsequently edited Building Design, Architects’ Journal and Architectural Review, where he launched WAF in 2008.
He has been co-editor of Planning in London since 1994. He was a founder commissioner at CABE (Commission for Architecture & the Built Environment) in 1999, chaired its design review and regional panels, subsequently chairing its London Olympics design panel from 2005 to 2012. He became chair in 2010, overseeing its merger in 2011 with the Design Council, where he was deputy chair for three years.
He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Westminster and honorary fellowships from University College London and the Royal Institute of British Architects .He is an honorary member of the British Council for Offices and the Architectural Association. He was awarded an OBE for services to architecture in 2002.

We hear from Lindsey Barrett, Chair of the London NextGen Committee on the legal impacts COVID-19 is having on the market and what we might expect from corporate occupiers. We also cover her ambitions for the NextGen, advice for today's grads and what could be done to improve diversity in the CRE sector.

In the final episode of the New Normal series, we hear from Danny Parmar, Chair of the BCO Midlands and East Anglia region. Danny is Business Development Manager with Overbury, with a major focus on Birmingham and Cambridge. In 2015, Danny built a BCO sub-chapter from scratch in Cambridge to harness its vibrant office sector.

Sir Craig Oliver was the former British Prime Minister, David Cameron’s Director of Politics and Communications for over six years, responsible for the Government’s strategy and messaging. During that time he was Director of Communications on a number of political campaign teams, including the 2015 General Election (winning an unexpected overall majority).
His day-to-day work in this role included a radical overhaul of government communications, making them fit for the digital age. In this 'New Normal' special, BCO's Chief Exec, Richard Kauntze and Sir Craig Oliver discuss the UK and International Governments' handling of the Covid-19 crisis so far, Brexit, and the longer-term impact of the Covid-19 crisis.

"Big businesses and small have been helpful, ingenious, inventive, innovative, they have come up with lots of solutions” – Martin Vander Weyer, Spectator business editor, discusses the economy, Brexit and capitalism in the time of COVID-19 in our latest #NewNormal

The United States is Britain’s closest ally. Richard Kauntze asks Sir Christopher Meyer how he thinks it currently stands and whether he thinks Trump will be re-elected for a second term this November.
Richard also says that following Britain’s departure from the EU, there has been much talk of the benefits of a comprehensive trade deal with the US, but America fights hard in trade negotiations and asks Sir Christopher what he thinks the chances of a good deal are for both sides, and much much more in this not-to-be-missed 3rd New Normal Special on diplomacy and international relations.