The Third Michael Young Memorial Lecture, took place on Wednesday 16 July, hosted by the Young Foundation, the Mile End Group, and Canary Wharf Group. Lord Michael Heseltine gave the keynote lecture reflecting on his extensive experience in urban regeneration and his role in the development of Canary Wharf.

The event reunited Lord Heseltine with a prestigious panel including:

* Sir Peter Hall - Professor of Planning at the Bartlett School (University of London), also for many years a key planning and regeneration advisor to successive governments, including on issues of London and South East regional planning such as for the East Thames Corridor (Thames Gateway)
* Eric Sorenson - Chief Executive of the Thames Gateway London Partnership and former chief executive of the London Docklands Development Corporation

Colette Bowe, Chair of the Council at Queen Mary and Chair of the Ofcom Consumer Panel, introduced the 2008 Michael Young Memorial lecture and the discussion was chaired by Geoff Mulgan, Director of the Young Foundation and former head of policy in the Prime Minister's office.

Lord Michael Heseltine

Lord Michael Heseltine has enjoyed one of the most colourful and creative careers of modern politics and - as a former Deputy Prime Minister, Secretary of State for Defence and Secretary of State for the Environment - was a key figure in British politics from the 1980s into the mid-1990s. Occasionally referred to as the ‘father of the regeneration movement', his idea to transform the disused docks of the East End into a new financial district resulted in the establishment of the London Docklands Development Corporation in 1981. On May 11th 1988, then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher broke ground on the site. Today 20 years on, the Canary Wharf Estate comprises over 14 million square feet of commercial space, including 33 office buildings, housing approximately 100,000 employees, 4 retail centres and a further 20 acres of landscaped open spaces. Lord Heseltine's work in regeneration has continued, notably in his critical roles in the establishment of the Thames Gateway, in launching the City Challenge Fund, and in launching the English Partnerships development agency as President of the Board of Trade in 1993.

In 1981, Michael Heseltine (then Environment Secretary) said of the plight of London Docklands:

"The area displays more acutely and extensively than any area in England the physical decline of the urban city and the need for urban regeneration. It represents a major opportunity for the development that London needs over the last twenty years of the 20th century: new housing, new environments, new industrial developments, new architecture - all calculated to bring these barren areas back into more valuable use."

For more information, contact helen.crumley(AT)youngfoundation.org.