CDF Webinar: CDF and Mills & Reeve members & guests met to discuss ‘Central Cambridge: Prospects for Recovery’

On 11th February 2021, the Cambridgeshire Development Forum, in association with Mills & Reeve, held a CDF Webinar on: Central Cambridge: Prospects for Recovery

The webinar opened with a few words of welcome from the webinar Chair, Sarah Cooke (Mills & Reeve) and Andrew Lansley, CDF Forum Chair.

Our first speaker was Councillor Lewis Herbert, Leader of the Cambridge City Council, who began the webinar with focus on the theme of ‘Building back a better Cambridge’. He spoke about the city centre’s challenges on topics such as retail, the visitor economy, planning and partnership working.

Next, Anne Beamish, Founder of Indie Cambridge retail, spoke particularly to the retail theme of post-Covid recovery. Anne discussed her views on the direct and indirect impact of Covid, including the acceleration in existing trends of consumer habits. She also offered some real-life examples of retail innovation, which gave optimism to the retail sector.

Our third speaker was Daniel Zeichner, MP for Cambridge, who focused on the impact of Covid-19 for international students and the knock-on effect of this for the city. He also discussed how the city may begin to reopen safely and fairly in the future.

Finally, we heard from Werner Baumker, Group Director, Property, Howard Group. Werner discussed the Howard Group’s perspectives on drivers for recovery, both in terms of their relationship and connection with their customers, and greater collaboration and flexibility in providing real estate solutions, particularly in growth sectors such as technology.

If you could not join us for this event or if you want to watch it again, the recording is available here: