Oh what a night!
I was nursing a sore head most of Friday as I wrote this blog - my attempt at reflecting on a great night in Manchester celebrating 25 years of Urban Splash.
It was very late into the night on Thursday (well, Friday morning) when we finally put down our branded Urban Splash It Will Never Work ale (thanks JW Lees for those!) and headed off to bed after a night of partying with more than 1,000 guests like Sir Richard Leese, the MEN’s showbiz reporter Dianne Bourne; celebrity chef Andrew Nutter developers like David Russell and James Whitaker; artists like Pavel Buchler and Hillary Jack. There were also award winning architects like Glenn Howells, Phil Coffey and Hazel Rounding of shedkm - as well as Mike Perls from MC2 and Time Out founder Tony Elliot . In the packed out room we drank, ate and reflected on 25 years of many successes, many highs, many lessons – and many lows – whilst dancing to the brilliant DJ sets by The Craig Charles Funk & Soul Club and Graeme Park.
It was great to see so many familiar faces; colleagues past and present, customers, suppliers, partners, friends, architects, journalists – so many people who’ve played a part in our story – and spent the night ensuring me and my colleagues heard their anecdotes and memories. Check out some of the great pics and videos from our guests here, and don't forget to tag yourself in the photo gallery on our Facebook page!
It’s really humbling (and slightly painful) to sit here this morning and take it all in; more than anything though it’s motivated my team and I to do even more great things in the next 25 years.
We’re under no illusion that there’s still so much great work to be done in the future; the housing shortage remains unsolved and I had lots of conversations about our role in that and the increasing number of schemes featuring our modular House by Urban Splash Town Houses – something we believe will help give the UK more much needed, well-designed homes.
We’re turning our attentions now back to creating those homes and creating great communities around the country; our next big events are launches of Town Houses in Birmingham (the first in the Midlands)...
...as well as new apartments at Lakeshore in Bristol – keep an eye out for more info on these soon.
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