Victor da Cunha

Group Chief Executive
Curo Group

Vic joined the business in 2011, initially focusing on integrating three housing associations into one, bringing together our culture, governance and strategy. From these foundations, Curo was formed in 2013 as a re-energised commercially savvy business with a strong social purpose.

Today Curo has more than doubled its turnover and has a pipeline of over 2,700 new homes in development. It has established itself as an ambitious business with a regional and national reputation for innovation.

Under Vic’s leadership, Curo has become an Investors In People ‘Gold’ employer, has been ranked 27th Best 100 Not for Profit Company to work for in the UK by the Sunday Times and has won many awards for our services and our new homes and regeneration activities.

Vic is Chair of Homes for the South West - a collaboration between housing associations working together to increase affordable housing supply in our region. Together these organisations can deliver 16,000 new homes between 2019 and 2024.

Vic is also a Governor of Bath College, one of our local partners, sits on the Nation Housing Federations’ Diversity, Equalities and Inclusion group and is active on the Bath Chamber of Commerce where he sits on the economic development sub-committee.

In 2019, Vic won Business Insider South West Property Personality of the year and the Vistage Life Time Achievement Award”

Kelly Hillman

Head of Acquisitions
Homes England

Kelly joined Homes England in 2014 as a Senior Development Manager, before recently moving into her current role as Head of Acquisitions in the Land and Development directorate. Kelly is responsible for managing acquisitions in the South West where she acquires housing sites that require public sector intervention to bring to the market. In her previous role, Kelly led on bringing forward sites across Hampshire and the South West region and was responsible for increasing Homes England’s new home starts in Bristol from zero to over 900 in two years.

Prior to joining Homes England, Kelly worked for local authorities including leading on the Development Agreement negotiations and compulsory purchase order implementation for the successful Bracknell town centre regeneration – one of the largest town centre regeneration schemes delivered in the UK over the past decade.

Tim Atkins

MD of Place & Growth
Cheltenham Borough Council

Tim Atkins is the council’s managing director for place and growth. His role is to sustain and grow Cheltenham’s economic and cultural vitality.

He is also responsible for the protection and enhancement of the town’s environment.

Tim is responsible for the following services:

• building control - shared service helping to facilitate the construction of safe, efficient and accessible buildings
• green space development - parks and gardens, sports pitches, open spaces and allotments
• housing and communities - housing strategy, supporting people, homelessness
• planning - development management; Gloucester, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury Joint Core Strategy; Cheltenham Plan; neighbourhood planning
• enforcement of planning and housing conditions – particularly private rented sector and houses in multiple occupation and vacant homes
• land charges
• public protection - environmental health, closed circuit television, community safety, licensing
• bereavement services
• townscape - flood defence, land drainage, Cheltenham business partnership support, heritage and conservation, urban design, shopmobility and public realm improvement
• tourism
• economic development and the council’s relationship with the Gloucestershire Local Enterprise Partnership
• the Cheltenham Development Taskforce
• Cheltenham’s interests in Staverton Airport
• car parking – car parks and transport issues (Cheltenham transport plan, off-street car parking, bus station)

Cllr Tom Renhard

Cabinet Member with responsibility for Housing Delivery and Homes
Bristol City Council

Tom Renhard is a Labour and Co-operative councillor and the cabinet member with responsibility for housing delivery and homes in Bristol City Council.

Tom’s background is as a housing campaigner and has been a member of ACORN since 2014, campaigning for better housing conditions for tenants. This has included being involved in high profile campaigns to bring in the eviction ban at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside an award winning campaign that as part of the End Unfair Evictions Coalition secured a government commitment to bring an end to s21 no-fault evictions in the private rented sector.

Tom is also a mental health campaigner, having setup the charity Independent Mental Health Network, which empowers people with lived experience of mental health problems to influence mental health support across the Bristol and Greater Manchester areas. Tom has also been a Time to Change champion, working to bring about an end to mental health stigma and discrimination.

Jason Schofield

Development Director
Generator Group

Jason Schofield is the Development Director for Generator South West and is responsible for managing and growing development opportunities in the region. Jason has extensive knowledge of the area having lived in and around Bristol and the South West since leaving university. He has over 30 years’ experience leading diverse quoted, private and asset-backed companies in the real estate, infrastructure, consumer, food wholesale and marine sectors where cultural change is at the centre of a company’s transformation. Prior to taking on the exciting role at Generator South West, Jason was the CEO of a public limited company listed on the London Stock Exchange successfully attracting significant international investment leading to a partial takeover of the company.

Jason has been at the heart of some of the South West’s largest regeneration projects including Harbourside in Bristol - a 500-home, one million sq ft, mixed-use city centre redevelopment project; the restoration and new build mixed use elements of the historic Gloucester Docks in Gloucester City Centre; the transformation of Sutton Harbour into a major south west tourist and business destination; and, devising the masterplan for the regeneration of the former 113-acre Plymouth City Airport site.

Today, Jason is not only responsible for expanding Generator South West’s business and presence in the region, but also overseeing the company’s existing projects including the impressive transformation of the now complete Huller and Cheese warehouse in Bristol City Centre, and, the much-anticipated regeneration of the Elizabeth Shaw Chocolate Factory in Greenbank where construction work is well underway to provide 140 new homes and commercial accommodation primarily aimed at serving the local community. Jason is also working on other new exciting opportunities in the region, not least the regeneration of Redcliffe Wharf bringing forward a sensitive and highly attractive mixed-use development as a welcome addition to Bristol’s historic waterfront.

Nikki Davies

Managing Director
MPC

Nikki is MPC’s Managing Director, in overall charge of the business and ensuring its smooth running. She has extensive experience in running tailored programmes of community consultation and has overseen a diverse range of projects in the residential, commercial, energy and affordable housing sectors. Nikki is currently leading MPC’s work on the Temple Island scheme in Bristol for L&G, and pioneering MPC’s new products and services in the social value field.