Richard Upton
Richard Upton is chief development officer at U+I
InsightHeritage is key to our wellbeing
A sense of connection is integral to who we are. As social animals, we want to belong. Heritage assets help to create that feeling, but their value is hard to measure.
InsightInvest now in the ‘new normal’
“It’s wise to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.”
InsightWe must retain heritage buildings
Browsing through a junk shop one weekend, I found an old shield with a motto emblazoned across the bottom, Respiciens Prospiciens: ’Looking backwards, looking forwards’.
InsightMayor’s focus on culture is step in right direction
Perhaps the most heartening aspect of the mayor’s London Plan was the fact that it embraced heritage and culture as being part of the fabric of London.
MarketsPRS holds many of the answers to the supply crisis
If there was one debate that raged throughout 2015, it was housing. How do we build more homes? And whose responsibility is it to provide enough affordable units?
NewsWe need property fit for 21st-century living
We are constrained by precedent in the property industry. We take risks based on previous experience, and our lives are ruled by a little red book. We polish up the past; rarely, though, do we reinvent it.
MarketsRadical solutions are needed to solve the housing crisis
It was hardly a niche topic before, but until recently housing has been confined to the more technocratic regions of a party manifesto or political speech.
MarketsThe trouble with spying housing solutions through a shifting kaleidoscope
I’m not going to pretend. Life is complicated. And I won’t sugar-coat this either: developing residential in London is unfathomably complicated, much of the time.
InsightThe UK’s green belt legislation has become an anachronism
The majority of people believe the green belt surrounding London should be preserved at all costs. Fingers are crossed that a now-distracted mayor will tomorrow discover the miracle-grow housing formula that has eluded London for generations.
MarketsSkyscraper junkies and the nimby naysayers: finding the middle ground
Building upwards will be crucial to satisfying London’s future housing needs.
MarketsShop tactics and history are key to creating communities
Nobody was happier than I was to learn recently that Battersea Power Station’s Malaysian developers had pledged to offer their new flats to British buyers first, before selling them abroad.
