Tributes for surveyor behind Telford town centre
Tributes were today paid to the man who helped develop Telford town centre, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.
Joe Boyce's talent and skill in "making it happen" marked him out as a rising star within Telford Development Corporation, and he went on to serve as its general manager from 1980 to 1986, shaping the new town through some of its most difficult years and laying the groundwork for a flood of foreign investment.
Mr Boyce has died in France where he had lived for some years with his wife Nina.
"He was of huge importance, because of the town centre, which he masterminded and, working with corporation chairman Lord Northfield, bringing in Japanese investment," said David
Everington, Lord Northfield's personal assistant and later the corporation's public relations chief.
"He was so obviously successful in putting the town centre together over a long period that it marked him out as a future general manager. He was also very sensitive to the worries of people in established communities of the impact Telford would have."
"He was very good with people, a very amenable character. He would stand his ground in a situation in which he thought he needed to. He was a strong personality and although he got on overall extremely well with Lord Northfield, they were two similar characters in a way and just occasionally they locked horns a bit, although it was always forgotten a day later."
Councillor Malcolm Smith, Telford & Wrekin's deputy mayor, said: "I'm very sad he's passed away. I knew him during all of his years at Telford Development Corporation. His heart and soul was in development and he was committed to the development of Telford. He was a great help when TDC was wound up and responsibilities were being passed to the council. Joe's going to be missed."
Mr Boyce, who lived in Porthill Drive, Shrewsbury, came to the corporation in the 1970s and was successively chief quantity surveyor, technical co-ordinator and deputy general manager before succeeding Emyr Thomas as general manager in 1980. He was the chief official through some of Telford's most tumultuous years.
In his capacity of technical co-ordinator, he was giving responsibility for making the town centre work and took the lead role in its creation, overseeing a disparate and often fractious team of internal TDC officials and external consultants. His talent as a project manager overcame a host of complex and difficult problems ultimately leading to the completion of the centre, which first opened in 1973.
Outside his Telford work, Mr Boyce served as a magistrate in Shrewsbury
He was born in Kingston-upon-Hull in 1924. He was educated at the Roundhay School in Leeds and then became an articled pupil in a private firm of quantity surveyors, ultimately becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chartered Surveyors.
Before joining TDC he held posts at both Somerset and Salop (as it then was) County Councils. He leaves his wife and two sons.
