Friday July 28 2023.

3 minute read

To demolish, or not to demolish? A Camargue conversation.

That is the question currently exercising many within the property industry.

It’s a dilemma perhaps best exemplified by the high profile row over M&S’ flagship store on Oxford Street and whether it should be refurbished rather than demolished to save carbon.

A public inquiry has now considered that question in London and the Secretary of State Michael Gove has refused the demolition of the retailer’s Orchard House building.

The decision is nationally significant and speaks to the wider question of what role the UK property and construction industries play in decarbonising the economy.

For many cities such as Birmingham the debate about the reuse of buildings is also intensifying.

Against this backdrop and the ESG agenda, developers and asset owners are becoming acutely aware of the financial and environmental risk of owning a building that could be considered a stranded asset in a low carbon society.

As we transition to net zero and the embodied carbon agenda shapes more planning decisions, what factors do developers, asset owners and their professional teams need to consider?

How could ‘retrofirst’ potentially shape high streets and cities? Will this change investment decisions and the choices that occupiers make when looking for a new workspace? Is policy providing sufficient guidance to the developer community?

In summer 2023, Camargue brought together professionals from across the built environment to discuss these critical questions. The debate was appropriately hosted in The Exchange, a University of Birmingham building in the city centre which has been sensitively given a new lease of life as a civic hub.

Read full report here

Jul 15, 2025

10 minute read

Urban regeneration – the ingredients for long-term success

What links the High Line in New York, Park Hill in Sheffield and Utrecht Central Station? They are all examples of transformative projects delivering sustained urban regeneration, as shared by guests at Camargue’s recent Breakfast Club.

Jun 26, 2025

3 minute read

Industrial strategy: how to make the UK the best place to invest in the world

All good strategies have to make difficult choices. But they should have clear and simple goals too. The primary one for Government’s new Industrial Strategy is “to make the UK the best place to invest anywhere in the world.”

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