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ATCM - IDA 5th WORLD CONGRESS 2010 - ATCM Awards Winners

For Immediate Release: 24th June 2010

The Association of Town Centre Management (ATCM)'s Chairman Graham Chase announced the ATCM awards during the 5th World Congress 2010 Awards Dinner, 17th June 2010 at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, Westminster.

The ATCM Action Award -
Beth Ward, Town Centre Manager for Marketing Halifax said "I am absolutely ecstatic to win the award. It is an honour to be recognised by the Association of Town Centre Management and fellow professionals from around the world for the work that you do. Totally Locally Calderdale is a unique shop local campaign, which has captured the hearts of everyone. It highlights how people can make a big difference to their local community just by spending £5 per week in their local shops. The campaign has included events such as Fiver Fest Fortnight and the second phase on using local suppliers is coming soon".

ATCM Champion of the Year - Sponsored by Blachere Illumination
Stephanie Butcher, Brixton Town Centre Director - nominated by Claire Geary - both of London Borough of Lambeth
"It's a real honour to have won this award - particularly as the project that I've been leading has only been going since March 2009. The Brixton Initiative has many distinctive features but the most important element has been to bring together a wide range of different skills and strengths - all from existing resources - to deal quickly and efficiently with Brixton's unique aspects. "I couldn't do what I do without the help and support of a wide range of colleagues and partners from the Council, community and partner agencies, so I need to say a big thank you to all of them" stated Butcher.

Centre Experience Award, The ATCM Amenity Award-
Jonathan Birkett, Strat>forward Bid Executive Project Director
Jonathan expressed his pride, "We were really please just to be short-listed, especially this only being our second year, and are obviously truly honoured and surprised!... to actually receive the award. To win when we were up against some of the best towns and cities in the world is really amazing. I'm proud of Sam Lloyd, Town Host Manager and the Town Host team as they have worked extremely hard over the past 18 months to improve the Stratford-upon-Avon town centre experience. It is a testament to the tireless effort put in by all the Stratf>forward Bid team and the support shown by the Stratford business community.

We really feel we have one of the best and most innovative Host/Street Ranger schemes in the country. The businesses and visiting public are often telling us that our Strat>forward Town Host programme has really added value to the Stratford-upon-Avon, and now to be recognised for our endeavours, especially at the ATCM World Congress, is a wonderful achievement."

Centre Initiative, the ATCM Action Award -
Bill Moss, Maidstone Town Centre Manager
Moss said "having come close on many occasions it was good to win with such an exciting project, bin the (plastic) bag. The involvement of a large quantity of our businesses that bought into the project, their continuing support and the large amounts of media coverage that followed the initiative demonstrates its importance.

Whereas it is unlikely that Maidstone will become totally plastic bag free, there is a greater percentage of companies that have used this initiative to help deter the over use of plastic bags. The 'bag lady' was a main part of this project and having such a talented lady to model the bag costume made each appearance a spectacle."

ATCM Partnership of the Year -
Pia Sandin, Managing Director, Malmö Citysamverkan (Malmo City Partnership) Sweden
Pia Sandin remarks "this year our partnership celebrates our 15th year anniversary and during these years we have been involved with most issues relating to our city centre, whether strategic or practical. Over the years we have achieved great results with various awards in Best Swedish City Centre of the Year in 2000, 2005 and 2010.

Having won the Best City Centre in 2000 and 2005 and achieved a silver in 2010 with the following comments from the judges 'With impressive stability and continuity, Malmö City Partnership capitalises on the city's many assets and has helped the city centre evolve into a vibrant place. The well-established partnership delivers a vast range of high quality resources and experiences fit for a city with world ambitions, as well as playing a key role in the future development of the city, with the city centre at the hub. The judges are delighted that Sweden has such a pioneering city centre partnership presenting at a truly international standard.'

"I felt that it was time for us to aim for an international award for our work and the strong partnership that we enjoy in Malmö and therefore took the opportunity to send our papers inOur main attitude is that the work is never done, everything can be developed further and "innovation" is our lead word."

Centre Mix, The ATCM Attractions Award -
Pierre Yves Bulus - Atrium, Brussels
Aimed at defining the positioning of Brussels' shopping districts, the Prospective Schemes were developed by Atrium with the support of brand image professionals and town planners. They pinpoint a clear commercial identity, development scenarios and practical measures for reinforcing the respective positioning of the districts between now and 2020. Originally presented to local people in the districts concerned by means of cube and totem displays, these identity concepts are also available for viewing on the Brussels shopping portal www.shopinbrussels.be.

"This award shows that we are on the right track. The Prospective Schemes have enabled us to focus our revitalisation actions in Brussels on promoting the complementary nature of the different districts. Courtesy of this original approach, each district can promote its unique characteristics and assets and in direct association with the others, in order to offer a diverse, complete and varied regional retail mix. These tools also make it possible to guide investors through the great diversity of a town that might appear complex at first sight," explains Pierre-Yves Bolus, Atrium's Director.

Best Paper Award -
Lisa Durkin - Town Centre Manager, Bury
The Emerald Journal of Place Management and Development's Rob Edwards, Programme Manager and Professor Cathy Parker of the Institute of Place Management at Manchester Metropolitan University presented this award.

The acknowledged paper, "The Role and Significance of Traditional Markets in Town and City Centres" is based on Lisa's MSc dissertation and analysed the critical success factors for 21st century markets and looked at both users' and non-users' perceptions of Bury market. The research resulted in a number of practical recommendations as well as being of particularly high academic quality.

Research Recognition
Dr. Shaleen Singhal, Lecturer in Sustainability Design, School of the Built Environment University of Ulster has won plaudits for his research exploring how cities can become more competitive.

Dr Singhal says "a focused vision integrating regeneration and business strategies is the key to enhancing the competitive performance of a city and harnessing new opportunities for economic growth."

His study entitled: City Competitiveness, Regeneration, and Property-led Business Strategies, has been highly commended in the 2009 Emerald/EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research Awards. Dr Singhal competed with entrants from 37 countries worldwide to be selected for the global award scheme.

For further information, please contact:
Kathleen Molnar
Inprocom
Kathleen.molnar@inprocom.net
+44 (0) 7973 510 866

ATCM - IDA 5th WORLD CONGRESS 2010

For immediate release - 9th June 2010

The ATCM - IDA 5th World Congress 2010 on Town Centres and Downtowns is the only event of its kind in Europe in a 20-year period and represents a once in a generation opportunity to reach city and downtown leaders, managers and stakeholders from around the world.

The main Congress Conference sessions will run through Thursday, Friday and the morning of Saturday 19th which will feature John Bird, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, The Big Issue.

Matteo Olivetti, for Adriano Olivetti Foundation will speak during the Congress about the role of foundations in supporting projects in town and city centres. Specifically, Fondazione Olivetti is supporting Ivres's bid for inscription on the World Heritage List (UNESCO) for its Modern Architecture; all built through and by Olivetti; and is the time to launch a research project proposal. This is in cooperation with similar sites (Saltaire, Crespi d'Adda, Valdagno, Marseille and Lyon) that are re-establishing their urban roles moving from their industrial past through their architecture landmarks.

Other speakers include Mark Baird, CSR Manger, Diageo GB, Edinburgh, Scotland, with session title, Into the dark - improving the attractiveness of centres in an evening and at night.

For further information and images-

Kathleen Molnar
Inprocom
Info@inprocom.net
Kathleen.molnar@inprocom.net
07973 510 866

THE ASSOCIATION OF TOWN CENTRE MANAGEMENT (ATCM) ATCM is Europe's largest membership organisation dedicated to helping town and city centres realise their natural roles both as prosperous locations for business and investment, and as focal points for vibrant, inclusive communities. Their members are primarily public and private partnerships from across the UK as well as both public and private sector stakeholders.
Current members include -
Aviva Investors, Westminster City Council, Land Securities, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Prupim, Better Bankside, Hammerson, Camden Council, Heart of London Business Alliance, DTZ, Alliance Boots Services Ltd, EDAW, Croydon Economic Development Company, Arts Council, London Borough of Southwark and House of Commons to name a few.

THE INTERNATIONAL DOWNTOWN ASSOCIATION (IDA)
Founded in 1954, the International Downtown Association has more than 650 member organisations worldwide including: North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Through their network of committed individuals, rich body of knowledge and unique capacity to nurture community-building partnerships, IDA is a guiding force in creating healthy and dynamic centers that anchor the well being of towns, cities and regions of the world.

ATCM - IDA 5th WORLD CONGRESS 2010

For Immediate Release - 2nd June 2010

Town and city centres, and the downtowns within them, are of critical importance to successful economies.

The 5th World Congress on Downtowns and Town Centres is being held in the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre from 16th - 19th June. This event happens every three years, having been in New York in 2007 it heads to Montreal in 2013.

The event has four main themes: Places, People, Partnerships, and Policy and we have over 40 sessions with 70 plus speakers from a dozen countries. We have leading practitioners, policy makers and stakeholders attending from across North America, Europe and as far away as New Zealand.

Some of the key issues being addressed are:

• How do you stimulate local investment in this economic climate? We have sessions on the how and why of making BIDs work, the potential role of Tax Increment Financing, how local investment can be stimulated and safeguarded through Local Asset Backed Vehicles and innovative approaches to tourism investment schemes.
• What should be being done to support retailing on the high street? Our sessions explore the role of the public and private sectors and give examples of initiatives that have worked. They also look at the success of partnership approaches in bringing vacant retail premises back into use, in supporting retail employment and skill development and in promoting markets.
• What is the prognosis for town and city centres? We have expert opinions from those in the property industry, from leading local partnerships, from policy makers and insight on how to understand how your centre is performing and what its prognosis will be. We also have sessions that look at changes that you can make to make your centre more sustainable and more competitive.
• What should be being doing now? Our programme provides ideas from social marketing to the use of retail theatre; from identifying and developing relevant personal skills that enable you to make a difference, to developing an effective and diversified evening and night time economy. We look at the nature of partnerships and how they are most effective and explore the role and importance of cultural initiatives to bring about change.

For Further Information Please Contact -

Kathleen Molnar
kathleen.molnar@inprocom.net
info@inprocom.net
+44 (0) 7973 510866