CONSTRUCTION firms will be warned they ignore the need for green space at their peril at a York conference this week.

The Construction Industry Council Yorkshire and Humber and Royal Institute of British Architects will stage its annual conference at York Racecourse on Thursday.

The speakers include Amsterdam city builder Ruwan Aluvihare, who led the redevelopment of 18,000 homes on the outskirts of the Dutch capital.

His interests include the role of green spaces in attracting investment to European cities. He said: “In the UK, you have to fight to include green space within city-centre schemes, not to mention funding it.

“In Amsterdam, green areas take priority. With businesses increasingly choosing to locate their offices in close proximity to parks, can town planners afford to ignore the economic benefits of putting green space at the heart of regeneration strategies?”