Mark Brinkley

Mark Brinkley is the author of The Housebuilder's Bible (2006), which he has been producing since 1995, and which has become the best selling guide for people building a house for the first time. The current edition is the seventh, and the combined sales up to the sixth edition totalled 85,000 copies.

Before writing about building Mark had been a builder and developer in and around Cambridge for many years, starting with an eco-renovation of a house in 1980.

He is a Contributing Editor on Homebuilding & Renovating magazine, and a resident speaker at the magazine's selfbuild exhibitions. He runs selfbuild training courses with a particular interest in the technological side of housebuilding. He is interested in finding out why some "innovations" in construction succeed and others don't.

Mark maintains a blog, which features an "Eco Bollocks Award". The recipient in March 2007 was Ken Livingstone for The Mayor’s Climate Change Action Plan.

Website: www.markbrinkley.net

e-mail: markbrinkley@mac.com

11.30 to 13.00 on Saturday 19 May 2007

How development in Ireland is not the same as in Britain, and England not the same as Scotland and Wales

In this session, chaired by Mark, Shelagh Grant, Steve Daley, David Birkbeck, and Graham U'ren will discuss differences and commonalities between the various regions in Britain and Ireland, and the extent to which it is still sensible to talk about a UK planning system being based on the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act. With so much policy change operating within the variously bouyant property markets, and with stark contrasts in demographic constituencies, is it possible to continue to rely on centralised planning regulation and development guidance?

Shelagh Grant, Chief Executive of The Housing Forum, part of Constructing Excellence - TITLE

Steve Daley, Director of the development education group Trasna An Domhain Go Léir, and an economics graduate of Trinity College Dublin - Why housing supply and house prices are going BOOM-BOOM in the Celtic Tiger

David Birkbeck, Chief Executive of Design for Homes, a board member of the Housing Forum, manager of the Building for Life office for CABE and the Home Builders Federation, and creator of the room space comparison website www.swingacat.info - Small Village Schemes; How do they hurt England?

Graham U'ren, a senior planner at the UK legal firm Dundas & Wilson, Director of the Built Environment Forum for Scotland, and former Director of The Royal Town Planning Institute in Scotland - Scotland - Big Plans for a Small Country

How development in Ireland is not the same as in Britain, and England not the same as Scotland and Wales

More to follow shortly...

What priorities do we want reflected in land use planning?

Has the notion of a distinct town and country become unsustainable?

Can planners reconcile government policies with where and how people actually want to live?

Is it justified to describe policies based on constraining building activity as "planning"?

Introduction

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