It seemed inevitable that the launch of designs for Manchester United’s new stand, and indeed the entire surrounding urban location, should involve a tent structure – the ultimate football umbrella. The launch was conducted with great fanfare by Trafford Council, and included a recorded video of Norman F talking about the project in his usual compelling way. Views about the design are, inevitably, mixed. The event was good for Mipim because it attracted a global audience, even if most were football fans rather than property types.

Old Trafford Stadium District by Foster+Partners

Inside the restaurants, yachts, national pavilions and the main Palais, the usual maelstrom of activity was taking place, oblivious to weather (physical or political) informing the current property scene.

Middle-east, Saudi and Gulf exhibitors were out in force with some giant stands, while the main European cities had their seaside pavilions as usual. From a UK perspective, the main change this year was the presence of London politicians. Presumably responding to the Labour government growth agenda, or perhaps acting under orders, London mayor Sadiq Khan visited the show, saying he ‘made no apology’ for attending.

Sadiq Khan at MIPIM (Image: The Architects' Journal)

Why he should be making an apology in the first place was never explained, and there was no explanation as to why he had failed to bang the drum for London at this global event for the past nine years. He delivered series of platitudes to fill out a routine speech in the Palais about the importance of housing, though why anyone would think London has any answers to this subject was mysterious. We are a basket-case of non-delivery, especially given huge rates of inward migration this century.

His cadre of deputy mayors, notably Jules Pipe, were more impressive with presentations on the London stand (a shadow of the magnificent version which Piper’s used to manage). The meanness of the little conference space gave zero suggestion that London is major world city, or indeed a European one. Can’t the mayor get his purse out and do something about this?

The management of the speaker programme was also a little odd. A session about tall buildings included no architect or engineer, rendering it largely irrelevant, given the wealth of technical and environment policies which are transforming this market.

Another London stand oddity was the billing of a lunchtime talk as a ‘keynote’, which turned out to have a time allocation of 20 minutes. Luckily, in a model of concision, architect Fred Pilbrow and KC Russell Harris reviewed the implications of their battle to win planning permission for the Marks & Spencer redevelopment on Oxford Street. This was an object lesson as to why politicians should respect planning decisions. Michael Gove, then Secretary of State in charge of planning, ignored Westminster Council and Greater London Authority support for the redevelopment and called it in. The inspector approved the scheme after a protracted public inquiry. Gove over-ruled the inspector. M&S had to go to court where they won hands-down, and Angela Rayner finally granted approval. What a way to run a railroad.

The message, by the way, was not that demolition should inevitably triumph, but that retrofit should always be carefully examined in the first instance (which it was in this case); but this does not mean that it will automatically be the answer. What we don’t need is London or the UK having a reputation for running the planning system like a game of chance, with politicians fixing the result on the basis of arbitrary, whimsical or perverse interventions.

Consistency and continuity in other words. Happily, still available at Astoux et Brun, where the fruits de mer and the rosé are as timeless as ever . . .

Lifting the spirits with Schindler

World Architecture Festival, with lift manufacturer Schindler, hosted a stimulating discussion lunch on the subject of height, which managed to cover a host of issues including landscaping of tall buildings, the implications of mixed use, and the vertical servicing of different sections of buildings in new ways, admirably demonstrated in Schindler’s impressive Palais stand, where the Swiss company’s MetaCore concept was introduced in a series of immersive displays.

Margarita Blanco, Arquitectonica GEO, Irene Torá Mouvet, Gleeds and Robert Kennett, Eric Parry Architects

This concept is all about mixed-use towers rather than the monocultural structures of yesteryear, and thus the re-purposing of purely office buildings to what are becoming familiar hybrids, comprising offices, hotel, residential and retail – and not infrequently, some independent public access to terraces and rooftop spaces.

Robert Kennett of Eric Parry Architects outlined the public spaces, with dedicated lifts in the practice’s design replacing the former Aviva tower in the middle of the City of London and the extent to which shared spaces had become part of the ‘square mile’ planning approach to massing and access – the undercroft becoming as important as the top of the building.

Margarita Bianco of Arquitectonica Geo brought an unusual perspective to the discussion in the form of external landscaping of towers – particular in places like Miami where an important element of planning is the ‘hurricane code’ which makes use of certain common landscape elements impossible to use, for example trees. Instead came discussion about ‘grass versus glass’, or the advantages of coconut matting compared with plastic. An example of combining towers with nature, also in Miami, is a project for Swire where there is no mechanical air-conditioning. Instead, air is sucked into a mall and redistributed.

Stuart Clarke from Arup questioned whether the idea that you had to choose between engineering or sophisticated design had any relevance, citing a 380m Dubai residential development with landscaped external terraces – where your lift would deliver you to your outside garden. Companies like Arup, with thousands of professionals sharing knowledge and experience, are a parallel to organizations like the Council for Tall Buildings & Urban Habitats, represented at the discussion by Ariane Dienstag.

For the Council, the underlying syntheses of tall building designs relate to density, height, site, climate and the need for change. This now involves changes to the way we think about towers, and how the public space one expects from the ground plane can be distributed at height.

This raises cultural questions – for example it is now very difficult to building super-tall towers in France. Jonas Upton-Hansen from Danish practice UHA noted that in Scandinavian culture tall buildings are far from ubiquitous. By contrast, in cities like Delhi it would not be unusual to find apartment tower complexes housing up to 10,000 people.

Is there a happy medium whereby tall buildings would be more acceptable in sceptical cultures, and more distinctive and socially useful in places where height is not regarded as an issue? In general discussion several point were raised about how good design could help persuade communities that height and public amenity could go hand in hand – and example being a site in Miami where locals had accepted a 45-storey tower replacing proposals for three of seven storeys – because a public park was provided as planning gain. We heard that the USA, planning applications needed to be singed off by a landscape architect.

There was discussion about linking towers either via podiums or high-level walkways; the idea of porous facades allowing easy movement by natural creatures, and the way in which regulations regarding floor area ratios could be critical in enabling or preventing elements like terraces depending on how they were treated in floor area calculations.

There was interest in the way Schindler is approaching the new world of hybrid tower occupation, and the ease with which systems could be introduced into existing buildings and programmed to deal with tenants and more user-friendly ways.

The company’s Mipim exhibition stand is part of a broader initiative, which includes the launch of the new SchindlerX8 during Milan Design Week. This innovation means that a lift can be installed in a new building (or inserted into an existing one) without the need for a concrete shaft. Pre-finished depending on the architect’s requirements, and there is not need for a ‘pit’ or headroom – and the system runs off regular mains electricity rather than a high-voltage special supply. Things are looking lighter.