South African construction professionals returning to their home country after periods of working abroad will often say that their overseas experience has been invaluable to them. Guy Briggs, a UCT-trained architect who, after 12 years in the UK, is now setting up his own practice in Cape Town (with a home and an office in Green Point), would say that what he learned there has been more than valuable, it has been life changing – and, he believes, it has equipped him to play a crucial role in SA mega-development circles.

“Architects worldwide,” said Briggs recently, “are inclined to focus on the physical form of the project with which they are involved.  What my time in London (and elsewhere) taught me is that a broader perspective is essential, particularly in big city development.  Every city in the world is undergoing change, but it has to be guided by vision and led by a team which has the knowledge and experience to make that vision realisable.”

Briggs did the six-year Bachelor of Architecture degree at UCT, but then, already realising the need for architecture to adopt a holistic view, moved on to the London School of Economics, where he did the one-year Masters Degree in City Design and Social Science, picking up a distinction on the design side.

“I was”, he says, “aware that the built-in environment, particularly the urban environment in South Africa, was changing rapidly and we were about to face the challenge of re-integrating the segregated sections of our societies, especially those in our cities.  I could also see that without guidance, this could be disastrous.”

London in the late 1990’s and the 2000’s proved to be a good place for a young architect / planner with these views on the critical role of master planning.  The reason for this was that the newly empowered Labour Party introduced a “new vision for urbanism” in the UK, and was committed to implementing regeneration strategies in areas across the country that had regressed and seen a flight of industry, capital and jobs. 

Briggs rose, fairly rapidly, to be Urban Design Director at EDAW, a global urban design and planning firm specialising in major precinct master planning.  EDAW was commissioned by the London Development Agency to help plan their bid for the 2012 Olympic (and Paralympic) games, which London then won.  This, said Briggs, was fundamentally a regeneration exercise, the net result of which will be the upgrading of 1500ha of deprived housing estates and unsightly industrial land to provide 40 000 new homes and some 50 000 jobs. 

Before working on the London Olympics, Briggs worked with CABE, the UK’s Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, setting up a subsidiary body - CABE Space - to help local authorities develop and manage parks and green spaces. 

Briggs also led a team for the Greater London Authority to formulate a framework to manage development proposals for tall buildings in London, subsequently  incorporated in the Mayor’s London Plan. 

More recently Briggs has been heading up a team of 30 designers, planners and economists working on a master plan for Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Island, the goal here being to develop this 2700ha site as an expansion to the city, and particularly to capitalise on its growing tourism industry which will provide both sophisticated urban art museums and spectacular beach and golf course developments. 

“Development, especially development aimed at the regeneration of an existing area,” said Briggs, “should not be purely numbers-driven:  is it not about output but about outcome – the quality of life of those using the precinct has to be significantly improved.  If it is not, the current design and social flaws will simply be repeated and people’s lives will be spiritually and economically impoverished.”

This, he says, is why every city should have a long-term vision with a truly holistic view sympathetic to its local history, culture, problems and the aspirations of its people.

“There will always, of course, be environmental, economic and ecological restraints – but the master plan should recognise that, although space is replicable, a place has its own history and identity which have to be respected.  Engagement and consultation with local communities and agencies is, therefore, an essential component of the whole process.”

Briggs is now engaged in (re)establishing networks and contacts with SA’s architects, urban planners, private and NGO developers, municipal, provincial and state authorities.  Alongside his urban design and planning practice, he is working with Oxford Brookes and Warwick Universities in the UK to develop a research network in Southern Africa focussing on sustainable urbanisation in Southern African cities (www.city-form.org). He is also working with London based Portland Design Associates to bring their international experience in retail environments to the South African market (www.portland-design.com).

“I always planned to come back to SA,” he said, “and I only stayed as long as I did because such interesting opportunities arose.  Now that I am back, I find SA refreshing – it has none of the tiredness and cynicism of the older western countries.  There is a feeling here that all things are possible and that this is the right place to be at the start of the 21st century.”