Interview with Bob Hill

Bob was appointed as a junior surveyor at MKDC in January 1972, and first worked on land acquisition; he recalls ‘buying the Bradwell Windmill for ten quid’. He then recalls later responsibilities in charge of the industrial management, including development of the AFU (Advanced Factory Unit) programme; aims were: ‘attraction of industry to MK and the management of the portfolio’. Bob recalls Alan Ashton’s death in 1977, his achievements at MKDC and his rather combative style. When Allen Duff became Commercial Director, Bob’s role changed, merging into Chief Marketing Officer in about 1980/81. He recalls robust debate between the profession at MKDC, but collaboration between surveyors and architects on designs enabled precise briefs to be given to the industrialists for their schemes. Bob describes incidents during negotiations to bring Abbey National and Volkswagen Audi Group to MK and mentions the difficulty of land valuation in Central Milton Keynes. Talking of the MK advertising programme, he recalls the development of the Red Balloon TV advertisement, based on a story from a French film. Bob was empowered to make decisions about projects within the significant marketing budget (about 1% of overall turnover), without referring them to the Board or Committees. He describes how his overseas marketing team worked, in the countries where they were most likely to get investment; he recalls great success with Japanese companies and the Gyosei School.

Bob discusses the difficulties for MKDC in the 1980s under the Thatcher government: trying to convince private sector companies to invest in MK, in particular to establish a Business District before 1992. Frank Henshaw particularly wanted to get the grid road framework established, which was in Bob’s opinion ‘very prescient’. Bob praises his marketing team, who were ‘committed to the task and worked very hard’. He recalls Margaret Thatcher’s visit to open the Winter Gardens in the late 1980s, when he gave a presentation to her about current developments in MK. At the following reception for businessmen, he says: ‘Maggie gave the most amazing valedictory speech about what the Corporation had achieved. And it was just absolutely brilliant, …breathtaking!’, but there were no Press present.