Dispatches from Footprint: Tim Pyne and Emily Day – ADC

What made you move Footprint from Brighton to London?

We moved to London primarily because this whole carbon reduction process has been driven by the financial world, not the legislative world, and therefore proximity to the City of London is essential to us. It’s great to be at Old Billingsgate. Trade shows became unbelievably dull. People put stands up and expected people to come. Giving people a day out is very important and to be by the river is fantastic. This building is one of the first high-profile low-carbon retrofits to be done in London. Marco Goldschmied did it. National Westminster Bank said ‘you cannot demolish this building’ so they made this into a bank but did a very low carbon retrofit so it’s almost entirely naturally lit and almost entirely ventilated which is very important for us. That’s why we’re here.

How has Footprint evolved since you launched?

We’re on our third event. At the beginning people didn’t really know what we were doing. We’d get the occasional interview with people that kind of had an idea, but it was very much about finding their way. There is so much more knowledge now than there was three years ago. For the last two years we’ve been seen as the people producing the show for the nice people that want to save the world but that’s changed. Property is driven by money. What’s happening in the industry is that property investor businesses are required to report on the environmental characteristics of the investments they’re making, which ultimately means all of the things Footprint’s been talking about for the last couple of years have become phenomenally important. It’s gone from being something people like to something people have to do, and that’s a fundamental change. You’ve still got all the nice people turning up but now it has teeth. If you don’t know how to do this the chances are your business won’t be here in five years’ time. There’s definitely a change afoot. It’s going to be a badge of honour for businesses to deliver on environmental issues and why should we ask for less?

What’s been the highlight of Footprint so far?

The yellow circles on the ground. Somebody said it looks like 100% Design-does-the-environment and there’s an element of truth in that. Up until now environmental shows have been quite happy clappy and we’re trying to give them an event that makes them feel quite happy. It’s quite nice because you see other people trying to set up in competition with us, but they can’t because we’ve got the best name.