I have been invited to join a delegation to Minsk in Belarus in late January 2010. Nottingham has been twinned with Minsk since 1957. It sounds a really interesting opportunity…

The skating rink at Minsk - courtesy Oleg Babinets

Their masterplan document sets out their rationale, “Nottingham is associated with British traditions, featuring stability, respectful attitude to the history of the homeland, high levels of public socialisation and strive for living in harmony with the environment”. Some of the themes might be lost a little in translation – but they clearly have respect for our history.

What is really interesting (and a suggestion from Mark Hobson at Mabers) is that Nottingham may put together a team who can collaborate on providing Minsk with building expertise. I think this is a really good idea – we have an enormous amount of expertise locally and are used to working together. But this suggestion may try to go further than this – actually creating a consortium. The consortium looks likely to include Agents, Architects, Engineers, QS’s and Investors. It may also include some of our education establishments (Colleges and Universities).

GDP growth in Belarus has been just shy of 10% year on year. They also have a large manufacturing base – Minsk Tractor Plant employ 30,000 people – by comparison Raleigh in Nottingham employed 7,000 at its height of production in the 1960’s.

The first trip does coincide with their rather cold snap – the record low in January is -39 C. And in the light of the timescale I am not sure my Russian is going to be much further along! It is interesting to note that 73.7% of schoolchildren there are learning English.

There is another interesting connection – on 29th May in each year they celebrate Spring Day – when they have fairs and celebrate the capture of Robin Hood! I must confess to not knowing that! But another connection to Robin Hood for the City!

Our first job might be to find a Russian word to replace ‘compound’…

As I have blogged about before, I went this year to the USA with the Sheriff of Nottingham to look at World class attractions – in the anticipation that we could transfer some ideas back to Nottingham with a Robin Hood theme. When I looked through the thousands of images I took in the year I wondered what was my favourite building in the year. And the winner was – The Experience Music Project / SciFi Museum in Seattle.

The experience music project - Seattle

Exterior facade of EMP - Seattle

EMP Seattle - Ghery architecture at its best!

400 tons of steel was used – on top of which are laid 21,000 aluminum and stainless steel shingles. At the heart of the centre is the Sky Church – with a 70 ft high ceiling and the worlds largest LED screen it is an amazing place.

I think it is where art and architecture merge. It is challenging – the colours are amazing. And the wow factor is high! We had mixed views about what was inside the building – but that doesn’t take away from the building itself!

It was my favourite building in 2009. By a country mile!

When people ask me what I do, it is sometimes difficult to pigeon hole my work – but at the centre of my working life is an asset management team – which has been built up over the last ten years of so.

The Point West Bridgford - managed by us

We now manage over £250m worth of property for 145 clients. We are collecting nearly £20m in rents and another £4m in service charges. We look after nearly 2,000 tenants.

Although we have a great computer system at the heart of this work is a really good team of property managers. The work is challenging – especially in the current climate. In recent years the focus has changed – we now have many more Statutory Requirements to worry about. Health and Safety is a big part of what we do. It’s not necessarily what we enjoy!

When I started out in this game (27 years ago!) we really were ‘rent collectors’. But that is only part of the job now. It is all about protecting and enhancing value. That is not always easy – but it runs to the heart of everything we do. The calculation of value is a complex matrix of different elements – but the way in which property is managed can have an impact.

Latterly the ‘green agenda’ has come to the fore. We are working closely with Outerarc in Nottingham to see if we can change peoples behaviour in our buildings by reducing their carbon footprint. This will certainly be more important in the future as fuel resources become scarce.

And as everyone gets ready for Christmas – spare a thought for the property managers – the next quarters rents are all due on December 25th!

This was sculpted for my very slowly growing hand-sculpted army. I plan to cast this little man using a good old fashioned one-piece mould. This is possible because I sculpted the banner separately (it is blue-tacked on in the picture). The banner is more complex, so I will sculpt a new one for each cast of this figure. If you look at the hands, you can see the oddness of my bad sculpting

I have just read the Nottingham Economic Report published by Nottingham City Council and it makes positive reading. The headlines are:

Over £1 billion of Government investment in Nottingham
GVA (Gross Value Added) of £11.6 billion for Greater Nottingham
A higher than average number of jobs are in Knowledge Intensive Industries
Higher than average skills
One of the country’s Top 20 locations for A-level results
A competitively priced business location
Over three quarters of a million people in the Travel-to-Work Area
A retail spend of £1.7 billion
A highly accessible area with excellent communications.
Nottingham has surpassed all its targets for improving public transport in the last two years.

No.1 Nottingham Science Park

This price differential does not mean a difference in quality. In fact the report also highlights some fantastic buildings in Nottingham – No.1 Nottingham Science Park has won numerous awards and is managed by my firm. It is as good as any product in these competing cities. We have great buildings here.

But my other point goes beyond the facts and figures. I think Nottingham has nice people – I suggested this on the Radio. We are welcoming and friendly. And perhaps that is something we should promote more of. New York did it after the catastrophe of 9/11 – they suddenly realised that their visitors were not an irritant, but ‘friends’ and so adjusted their attitude. We are a friendly lot in Nottingham (where else would someone say ‘ay-up-me-duck’?)- but we could do even better. My mate John Lyle and I did think that we should start a ‘helpful’ campaign in the town – so when you are asked for help – you go out of your way to help people and talk to them. Our reputation will grow even more. It might not help the statistics in the short term, but how about us being voted The Most Friendly City in the World ?

One of the ideas seen in the USA on our tour was how volunteers helped run places (The Getty Museum in LA has 600!). We should think about this too – people who know and love the city – and can point you in the right direction or just give you information. But whilst that idea runs in the background we can all do our bit by being friendly to others – starting tomorrow!

Nottingham – The Friendliest City in the World. Probably.

It’s that time of year again – SHOPPING TIME! This year, I’m going to do my best to avoid all those plastic store bags by bringing along some of the cute tote bags I’ve been collecting this year. Here are a few of my favorites…

MOD GREEN POD LICORICE/EARL GREY TOTE BAG

This tote from organic fabric maker ModGreenPod is the polar opposite of those boxy grocery store bags. Stylish, durable and 100% organic, this bag is perfect for a trip to the mall. Comes in a bunch of different patterns in red, gold, chocolate brown and blue.  Available at MightyNest – $24.99

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MIGHTYNEST TOTE BAG

I use this one all the time for trips to the post office, the gym or as an easy diaper bag. Big enough to carry alot but small enough to throw in my purse. 100% organic and water based inks.  Available at MightyNest – $16.99

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 NEELA MARKET PACK

RedPlum.com featured this on in their $30 under 30 holiday gift ideas and I can see why … cute AND very functional. This reusable Market Pack contains five Fold-Up Market Totes in a stylish carrying case. They come in colorful prints like ocean damask, kelly green circles, a raspberry box pattern and two different giraffe designs. Available at Neela.com – $28 (for 6 bags)

Ok – off to the mall with bags in hand. Enjoy.