Tony Travers

Director of Greater London Group
LSE

Waheed Nazir

Chairman
Arden Cross

Waheed has over 20 years of experience in planning, development and regeneration. He has held senior positions at Birmingham City Council, and more recently was appointed as the Non-Executive Chairman of Arden Cross Limited. He also advises public and private sector clients on regeneration and development projects across the UK.

He is a visiting Professor at Birmingham City University and in 2017 was awarded an honorary Doctorate by Aston University. In October 2020, Waheed was awarded a Fellowship from the Academy of Social Sciences and in November 2020 was announced as the Property Personality of the Year for the Midlands.

In 2019, he wrote and edited a book titled Regenerating Cities, which explores how leadership, vision and partnership working has shaped the development of UK cities over the last 30 years. Through this book he brought together some of the UK’s leading figures in the development sector, each providing their own unique and personal insight into their journeys and roles in leading some of the country’s biggest projects, including London 2012, the development of King’s Cross, estate renewal in London, and the rise of Manchester and Birmingham.

He is passionate about helping young people grow and develop to unlock their potential. This has included establishing a number of programmes to provide mentoring, bursary initiatives, internships and graduate programmes in the built environment profession.

Fiona Fletcher-Smith

Group Chief Executive
L&Q

Prior to joining L&Q, Fiona was the Executive Director for Development, Enterprise and Environment at the Greater London Authority (GLA).

As part of the senior management team for the GLA, she was responsible for overseeing the delivery and implementation of key strategies such as the London Plan, the Economic Development Strategy, transport, environment and climate change and in overseeing the operation of the Mayor’s powers in relation to significant planning applications in the capital.

Sir Howard Bernstein

Former Chief Executive
Manchester City Council

Sir Howard Bernstein is the former Chief Executive of Manchester City Council (1998-2017) and former Head of Paid Service for the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (2011-2017). A strong believer in the transformative power of cities and one of the chief architects of Manchester’s well-documented urban, social and economic resurgence over the last four decades, Sir Howard now serves as a strategic advisor to several public, private and academic institutions in the UK and internationally.

Over a distinguished career in public service, Sir Howard was instrumental in a range of projects and initiatives benefitting Manchester, Greater Manchester and the United Kingdom. This has included significant improvements in transport and other infrastructure across Greater Manchester, the long-term regeneration of disadvantaged parts of Manchester in partnership with government, the private sector and local communities, and cementing Manchester’s status as a thriving hub for sports, culture, media and creativity and an active player in promising fields such as advanced materials, life sciences, informatics and translational medicine.

Sir Howard is widely recognised for his pioneering use of innovative financial instruments, planning mechanisms, governance arrangements and public-private partnerships to attract investment, accelerate development and deliver marked improvements in social and economic outcomes for people and businesses in Greater Manchester. This assertive approach has also been evident in the devolution of significant responsibilities for transport, planning, housing, skills, health and social care services from the UK Government to local authorities in Greater Manchester in recent years, including the piloting of ground-breaking new models for the delivery of health, social care and early intervention services at the neighbourhood level.

Following his retirement from the Council in 2017, Sir Howard was appointed as an Honorary Professor of Politics and a strategic advisor to the University of Manchester. He is also a strategic advisor to Deloitte, an Honorary President of Manchester City FC and President of Lancashire County Cricket Club.

Sir Howard was knighted for his services to Manchester in 2003.

Richard Upton

Chief Executive
U+I

Richard is a creative entrepreneur and patron of the arts, who is passionate about quality of place, architecture, heritage and provenance. Over the course of his career, he has established, built and sold four property investment and professional companies and developed more than six million square feet of mixed-use real estate.

Pioneering Mount Anvil in 1991, Richard delivered 5,000 student bedrooms and regenerated several award-wining social housing projects. In 1998 he co-founded Cathedral Healthcare and Cathedral Group PLC, nurturing the latter to become a market-leader in public-private partnership developments and building a pipeline of over £2bn.

In 2014, Cathedral merged with Development Securities, which ultimately became U+I in 2015. U+I is a listed public company with a development pipeline of >£11.5bn. Together with U+I’s Chief Executive Matthew Weiner, Richard is a driving force behind the strategic direction of the company, whose vision is to create long-lasting social and economic change for communities and sustainable value for shareholders.

Faraz Baber

Director
Terence O'Rourke

Faraz is currently a Director at the interdisciplinary planning and design consultancy Terence O’Rourke which has offices in London, Birmingham and Bournemouth. He leads on planning policy, stakeholder engagement and business development for the company.

Prior to joining Terence O’Rourke, Faraz served as Executive Director for Policy at London First. His previous experience also includes senior management policy and public affairs roles at Surrey County Council, British Property Federation (BPF) and the Royal Institution of Chartered surveyors (RICS).

A highly experienced and multi-skilled professional with extensive knowledge within the property sector, Faraz has successfully delivered on a number of high-profile policy led campaigns. He is a dual qualified chartered surveyor (FRICS) and chartered town planner (MRTPI). He was a member of the Department of Communities and Local Government Planning Sounding Board which provided industry advice to Government. Faraz is a Board member of the RICS P&D Professional Group and also serves as Chairman on the RICS Planning Policy Panel.