A recent conference from Woods Bagot gathered international property developers, building designers and financial institutions for a day of speeches and discussions to forecast the future of the increasingly competitive commercial building landscape.
Developing Our Future Together was held in Melbourne and included a keynote address from internationally renowned “futurist” Tim Longhurst. Longhurst’s speech titled ‘Transforming our world’, was given in the context of his role as a formal advisor to a number of Silicon Valley startups and Fortune 500 companies, as well as his role as a consultant to governments.
Three key panel sessions: ‘Big Tenants – Bigger Budgets’, ‘Are we Ready for Australia’s Silicon Valley’ and ‘City Making – Mixed Use 2.0’, also ran throughout the day and featured speakers from ANZ, Microsoft, DEXUS, GVA Franklin, LinkedIn, Leighton Properties, Cbus, The University of Melbourne and Melbourne Airport.
Woods Bagot Executive Chairman Ross Donaldson says the conference was ground breaking because it facilitated the vital partnership between developer, business, real estate and architect.
“This conference provided a forum to explore issues and forecast trends in a meaningful discussion between the key players,” he says.
Woods Bagot says the conference will be an annual event and participants praised its format which saw in-depth discussion amongst participants in a small round-table arrangement.
The firm has said it will be sending releases regarding the findings from the conference imminently.
