Member Article

More cities announced for LIWF2015

Liverpool International Waterfront Forum has announced its final partner cities for the 2015 event on June 3 and 4 taking place in the iconic Cunard Building in the heart of Liverpool’s UNESCO World Heritage Waterfront - Barcelona, Cape Town and Wuhan.

LIWF provides vital understanding of the common themes that are shared by waterfront cities across the globe and how their waterfront assets can be used to focus economic growth, attract inward investment and improve the quality of life for their residents. The topic for discussion at the LIWF 2015 will be exploring ‘The Role of Culture and Place Making as Tools for Fostering Growth of Waterfront Cities’.

BARCELONA - Rolando Biere, of the University of Catalonia in the Department of Architecture and Technology

Rolando Biere is an experienced researcher focusing on urban management systems, urban planning, and urban regeneration processes. He has spent a huge part of his life in education, achieving a degree in architecture, a post-degree in urban environment and sustainability, and masters in urban management. Since 2005 he has not only been a researcher at the Centre of Land Policy and Valuations Group, but he is also the coordinator of the post-graduate course.

WUHAN – K. B. Albert Chan, director of Development Planning & Design, Shui On Land

K. B. Albert Chan leads the conceptualisation, site feasibility, master planning and design management of large mixed-use developments at Shui On Land, a publicly listed development company headquartered in Shanghai, China. Over the last 18 years, Albert actively participated in the planning and development of award-winning “Tiandi” communities in Shanghai, Wuhan, Chongqing, Dalian, Hangzhou and Foshan that emphasise mixed-use, pedestrian and transit, culturally sensitivity, and environmentally sustainability, with floor areas master-planned, developed or under development exceeding 11 million s/m. He also chairs the Sustainable Development Committee at the company.

Prior to joining Shui On, Albert worked at the New York City Department of Design and Construction and at Cooper, Robertson + Partners in New York. He is a Registered Architect of New York State.

CAPE TOWN - Pieter van Zyl, head of department, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Western Cape Government, Cape Town, South Africa

Pieter Van Zyl was involved in the V&A Waterfront Project in Cape Town since its inception in 1989. He was the project’s executive manager - planning and development from 1990 to 2007, and a member of the management team that developed it into one of the world’s foremost mixed-use waterfront projects. He was responsible for managing the urban, environmental and conservation planning on the project and oversaw a development portfolio of ZA Rand 2,5 billion on the V&A Waterfront’s retail, commercial, industrial and hotel projects.

His professional experience with the V&A Waterfront also included work as a consultant on behalf of the V&A Waterfront Company, on waterfront projects in Mauritius, Portsmouth, Gabon, Nigeria, Greece, the Russian Federation and the Sultanate of Oman. He has presented papers at various international conferences on city planning, urban design and urban conservation.

Max Steinberg, CEO of Liverpool Vision and chair of Liverpool International Waterfront Forum, said:

“For this forum to live up to its name, it needs to be truly international – that’s why it’s so encouraging that we are able to bring cities like Barcelona, Cape Town and Wuhan to the table to share our experience for the collective good. Our three speakers come from different backgrounds and will have very different views on some key issues around developing waterfronts for business and infrastructure as well as tourism.

“It’s also interesting to note that all three cities have much larger populations than Liverpool. The fact that Liverpool is hosting such a prestigious discussion and can attract cities of this size underlines just how much our waterfront is recognised on a global scale.”

Sue Grindrod, chair of Liverpool Waterfront Business Partnership, added:

“I am extremely excited about how we can begin to harness global best practice in regeneration and waterfront development, and bring valuable lessons from our partner cities attending and speaking at Liverpool International Waterfront Forum. I look forward to welcoming such distinguished speakers to this private sector led initiative, which is only possible with the support of our partners Arup and Liverpool Waterfront Business Partnership, and sponsors, Gower Street Estate, Mott MacDonald, Peel, Winckworth Sherwood, Planit IE and in partnership with Liverpool Vision.”

Liverpool International Waterfront Forum and the UK Waterfront City Symposium will see representatives of cities from Barcelona, Belfast, Bristol, Glasgow, Liverpool and Newport present to an invited audience of UK and International investors, developers and other businesses with a focus on waterfront cities.

Confirmed cities so far for 2015:

Barcelona Belfast Bristol Cape Town Glasgow Liverpool Newport Sydney Wuhan

Limited numbers of tickets are available from www.liverpoolwaterfront.org

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Paul Richards .