Dr Lucy Montague to Chair National Digital Conference on the Future of Britain’s High Streets
Dr Lucy Montague will chair a national digital conference, From Decline to Renewal: Breathing New Life into Britain’s High Streets, taking place on Thursday 29 January 2026.
Dr Montague is a Senior Lecturer at the Manchester School of Architecture and a former Special Adviser to the House of Lords Built Environment Select Committee. Her work spans architecture, planning, policy, and high streets, bringing a distinctive, policy-informed perspective to debates on town centre regeneration and high street renewal.
The conference will bring together senior voices from national government and the heritage sector, with speakers from organisations including the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Department for Business and Trade and Historic England.
High streets across the UK are facing change. The conference will explore:
- The structural drivers of high street change
- The role of national policy, place leadership, and governance
- How heritage, design, and identity contribute to regeneration
- The future role of high streets within wider place-based strategies, including New Towns
- Lessons for policy, practice, and long-term investment
The event will be of interest to policymakers, local authorities, place-based practitioners, researchers, and civic and community leaders working on town centre regeneration and high street renewal.
Further details, including the full programme and registration information can be accessed on the Policy Foresight website here.
About the author
Formed in 2006, the Institute of Place Management is the international professional body that supports people committed to developing, managing and making places better.