Rob Perrins

Chief Executive
The Berkeley Group

Rob joined Berkeley in 1994 and has been Chief Executive since 2009. Under his management the company has increased its focus on transforming challenging brownfield sites into welcoming places which support a great quality of life.

Rob oversees an industry leading sustainability strategy, including innovative climate action, nature recovery and social value programmes. He has prioritised investment in digital skills and technologies and modern methods of construction; including the development of Berkeley Modular’s precision manufactured housing system.

Rob has been Chari of Trustees of the Berkeley Foundation since its launch in 2011. This independent charity works in partnership with the Berkeley Group to maximise its positive social impacts and help disadvantaged young people achieve their potential.

Rob contributes to the Bank of England’s Real Estate Forum, is a Trustee of national homelessness charity Crisis and is a member of the governing bodies of Aston University and Marlborough College.

Jules Pipe CBE

Deputy Mayor for Planning, Regeneration and Skills
Greater London Authority

Jules Pipe is working on key priorities for the Mayor, including: implementation of the London Plan, major and community-led regeneration projects across the capital, building a skills system that properly addresses the needs of Londoners and the economy, and ensuring London’s infrastructure supports good growth, meets the needs of London’s communities and makes London a cleaner, greener and smarter City. Jules has unrivalled knowledge of London government, becoming the first directly elected mayor of Hackney in 2002 and serving as Chair of London Councils from 2010 until he joined the Mayor’s team in 2016.

Michela Hancock

Managing Director Europe
Greystar

Michela Hancock is a Managing Director of Development for Greystar in the UK, where she is responsible for driving the company’s fully integrated development process. Michela oversees all project financing, amenity and unit planning, design, entitlements, construction, and lease-up efforts on high-density multifamily developments. She is also targeting a pipeline of Greystar projects for London and helping educate the market and local government about the benefits of multifamily housing.

Prior to joining Greystar in 2015, she served as Development Director for Grainger PLC in the UK and Development Manager for Bozzuto Development Company in the US. She is currently Vice Chairman of the Urban Land Institute’s UK Residential Council, an active member of the British Property Federation Build to Rent Committee, and a board member of the United Kingdom Apartment Association.

David Heaford

Managing Director, Development
Landsec

David leads Landsec’s Development, Leasing and Marketing functions having originally joined Landsec in 2016 as Finance Director for the London Portfolio.

David started his career at KPMG in London, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 2006, working across audit, advisory and corporate finance. Prior to Landsec, the majority of David’s career was spent in the Technology sector, working in strategy or finance roles at Hewlett Packard and Cisco Systems. He brings cross sector knowledge, together with financial and strategic execution experience.

Abigail Dean

Global Head of Strategic Insights
Nuveen Real Estate

Abigail is the Global Head of Strategic Insights for Nuveen Real Estate. She is responsible for the organisation’s global research, sustainability and proptech and innovation functions. She oversees Nuveen Real Estate’s Tomorrow’s World Strategy which future proofs the investment strategy in light of global megatrends and integrates ESG across fund and asset management. Working alongside our Product Development team, Abigail is also responsible for ensuring that new product and the growth of the business are under pinned by solid research and sustainability considerations overseeing the global research team.

Since joining the firm in 2016, Abigail has overseen the organization setting a target to achieve Net Zero Carbon by 2040. Abigail is a member of Nuveen Real Estate’s Investment Committee and has spearheaded the integration of sustainability considerations into the acquisition process. She is also leading the organisation to develop investment guidelines related to physical and transition climate change risk. She previously worked at JLL, where she led on sustainability for the Property and Asset Management’s U.K. team.

Abigail is passionate about driving sustainable change in the property sector and sits on several industry committees including the GRESB Benchmarking Committee and the INREV ESG committee.

David Lunts

Chief Executive Officer
Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation

David Lunts was appointed as the permanent Chief Executive Officer of Old Oak and Park Royal Development in January 2021.

He had previously been the interim Chief Executive Officer for OPDC since February 2019, and combined his work on London’s largest Opportunity Area with his duties as Executive Director of Housing and Land for the Greater London Authority.

Between 2009-2012 David led as the Executive Director for London at the Homes and Communities Agency. His earlier career included three years at the GLA as Executive Director of Policy and Partnerships under Ken Livingstone, a leading role in housing and regeneration with Manchester City Council during the 1980s and early 90s and a three-year spell as director of Urban Policy for John Prescott at the former Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Guy Grainger

Global Head of Sustainability Services & ESG
JLL

• Guy Grainger is EMEA Chief Executive at NYSE-listed global real estate services company JLL. Overseeing over 12,000 employees across 80 offices, he sits on the Global Executive Board and is also the global Executive sponsor for Marketing. Previously JLL’s UK CEO and with a background advising retail companies on their real estate strategy, he has worked closely with Britain’s biggest businesses and the world’s largest retailers. Guy is also Chair of the Circular Economy Taskforce at responsible business organisation Business in the Community; is Junior Vice President at the British Property Federation; and is an established media commentator on the built and natural environment. He is an alumnus of the London Business School Senior Executive Programme, and amateur triathlete in spare time.

Alex Notay

Placemaking and Investment Director
PfP Capital

Alexandra Notay is Placemaking and Investment Director at PfP Capital, the fund and asset management arm of Places for People Group, overseeing a UK-wide residential strategy. She is an internationally recognised expert on build to rent, placemaking and sustainable urban development, with 16 years’ strategic advisory experience to private sector, government and third sector organisations across four continents. In January 2019 Alex was selected as one of the 48 women shaping the future of UK real estate at the prestigious BISNOW Women Leaders event.

Alex is a published author and editor of over 30 books and reports on real estate including the renowned ULI UK Best Practice Guide on Build to Rent (2014, 2016). Alex is a vice-chair of the ULI UK Residential Council, chair of the BPF sub-committee on residential ESG, serves on the BPF Build to Rent Committee and is an Associate Member of CREFC Europe. She is also a non-executive director of Essensys plc, Sound Diplomacy, SouthWest Board Member for LandAid and trustee of the SunScreenIT Foundation.

With a reputation for being ‘abnormally energetic’, Alex is passionate about enabling tangible social impact through innovation and collaboration as well as mentoring the next generation of diverse talent.

Rob Lane

Chief Property Officer
Clarion Housing Group

Clarion Housing Group comprises the leading social landlord in the country, providing 125,000 homes across over 150 local authorities. Rob leads the Group’s strategic asset management, including regeneration, and spearheaded Clarion’s 2040 Strategy which involves a major programme of investment to sustainably upgrade its properties, based on a set of housing standards it has developed.

Rob is a qualified accountant, with a career that has included senior finance roles in major commercial organisations such as the Domino’s Pizza Group and Network Rail Property.

Susan Freeman

Partner
Mishcon de Reya

Susan is a Partner in the Real Estate department. An experienced real estate lawyer, her in-depth understanding of the property market, the emerging world of tech and her business training as a Sloan Masters MSc (London Business School) graduate, combined with a wide circle of contacts is an effective combination. She is also the business development Partner for her department and uses her commercial know how and connections to benefit clients and the firm. Susan’s contacts help to make the firm’s programme of client seminars and events “must attend” networking opportunities.

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.

Jett Glozier

Head of UK
Sound Diplomacy

Jett has 10 years experience in research, project and operations management. Specialising in research, business planning, modelling and cultural policy, as well as specialising in the planning, feasibility and operations of multi-use venues, co-working offices, festivals and events. Prior to joining Sound Diplomacy, Jett was integral in the creation of Oval Space, a 1,000 capacity multi-use arts venue, before leading his own team to build a 250 capacity live music venue, The Pickle Factory. He joined Sound Diplomacy in 2019 and leads on all UK project delivery, including a night time economy strategy for Quintain and Wembley Park, music policies in Croydon, Belfast, Manchester and Haringey, supporting new mixed-use development projects in London, Bolton and Bath and a night time economy policy for Bradford Council. In 2021, Jett managed the assessment of England’s entire studio market on behalf of DCMS. He is an expert in managing stakeholder engagement initiatives, having now done so on behalf of venues and night time economy stakeholders, practitioners and government. Jett also runs Sound Development - an event series which brings property developers and the music industry together.

Bill Hughes

Head of Real Assets
Legal & General Investment Management

Bill joined Legal & General in 2007 and is responsible for transforming its UK property fund management business into a global-reaching real assets platform. Operating in both the direct investment and lending markets, today it actively invests and manages over £27.2bn AUM across commercial property, private residential, infrastructure, property lending and corporate credit as at 31 December 2017. Since the beginning of 2015, L&G has worked closely with Government’s Regeneration Organisation to identify and invest in critical regeneration projects that support UK growth.

Bill previously held positions at RREEF, the Real Estate Fund Management business of Deutsche Bank and Schroder Property Investment Management. From July 2014 to July 2015, Bill was President of the British Property Federation. He is currently Chair of the Property Industry Alliance (PIA), bringing together the UK’s leading property bodies to give them a stronger collective voice on issues such as policy, research and best practice.

Sarah Gaventa

Creative Director
The Earls Court Development Company

Sarah is a public space and place making expert and founder of Made Public projects. Sarah was the director of CABE Space at the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment from 2006 until 2011 where she was also the Director of Seachange, a £40 million capital programme for the cultural regeneration of seaside resorts. Over the past four years Sarah has been Director of Illuminated River Foundation creating the longest public art work in the world, an award winning light sculpture on nine Thames bridges from London to Lambeth bridges. She si also an Hon Fellow fo the RIBA and and an Hon Fellow of the Landscape Institute for her outstanding contribution to landscape and is author of ‘New Public Spaces’. She joined The Earls Court Development Company in July 2021 as Creative Director .

Stacey Clark

Chief Marketing Officer
British Land

Stacey is responsible for British Land’s Marketing and Corporate Communications and joined the Executive Committee in 2019.

Before joining British Land Stacey spent over 20 years as a Marketing Strategy Consultant. He has non-executive, executive and consulting experience across multiple business sectors and models working both in the UK and Globally.

Emma Wilcox

Project Director
Creative Estuary

Emma Wilcox is Director of Creative Estuary. Our vision is to forge a future founded on creative energy and innovation, along the length of the Thames Estuary.

Creative Estuary is led by the University of Kent on behalf a partnership of higher education institutions, cultural organisations and public and private sector partners, working together to deliver the Thames Estuary Production Corridor, an ambitious vision to develop a world-class centre for creative and cultural production: leading global innovation, creating new jobs, developing local talent and supporting the rapid growth of the creative economy. Embedding arts and culture into the design and development of our communities is fundamental to the Thames Estuary’s future.

Emma has over twenty years’ experience working across the creative industries. Since 2008 she has worked in cultural policy and arts management, developing national and regional strategy and policy for the creative economy, placemaking and sustainable growth. Prior to 2008 Emma worked in the commercial design sector as an account director for clients including Mars, Hasbro and Buena Vista Entertainment. She is a trustee of People United, a Kent-based charity using creativity to encourage empathy and kindness and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts.

Max Farrell

Founder & CEO
The London Collective

Max is Founder & CEO of the London Collective, a network of built environment experts and creatives fighting to improve people’s lives and the planet’s prospects. Their members are experts in social impact, zero carbon and modern methods of construction (MMC) as well as architecture, engineering, graphic design and film-making. They are a radical and agile ‘one stop shop’ for projects anywhere in the world.

Max’s expertise lies in placemaking and communications. He was a Partner at Farrells for 10 years, the internationally renowned architects with offices in London, Hong Kong and Shanghai, before leaving to set up the London Collective in 2019. He is currently leading on the vision and masterplan for a new town in Oxfordshire with 6,500 homes and a national centre of excellence for MMC. He is developing feasibility studies for globally significant wellbeing resorts in urban centres and leading on #ParkPower: A collaborative Vision for the Future of London’s Green Spaces.

Max was Project Leader and Author of the Farrell Review of Architecture and the Built Environment, commissioned by the UK Government, which made 60 recommendations spanning education, outreach & skills; design quality; cultural heritage; economic benefits & architecture policy, many of which have now been implemented. In 2020 he co-authored Collectively Speaking: The Future of Town Centres Post-Coronavirus published by the Developer Magazine. In January 2021, Max was appointed Chair of the Cultural Co-Location Advisory Group for Creative Estuary. He is an adviser to London National Park City, Urban Design London, the Place Alliance, the Urban Room Network and the National Arts and Place Consortium.

Mike Wilton

Director, Leader of Manchester Office
Arup

Mike Wilton is the Chair of the Manchester Climate Change Partnership. The Partnership is a group of public and private sectors organisations committed to action to limit the impact of climate change and create a healthy, green, socially just city where everyone can thrive. Members of the partnership include the City Council, Manchester’s universities, voluntary and community groups, NHS and housing bodies, and major businesses in the city. He also a Board Member of the North West Business Leadership Team, a group of business leaders working to lead, inspire and harness the power of business to help deliver sustainable prosperity for the North West of England.

Mike is also a Director of Arup, one of the UK’s largest employee-owned business, providing design, planning and advisory services to clients in the Built and Natural Environments, and leads Arup’s 400 strong Manchester office. His projects in the city have including the regeneration of St Peter’s Square, enhancements to the Didsbury flood basin, and brownfield regeneration for the Etihad Campus, First Street, and currently Victoria North.

Nigel Rawlings

CEO
Rise Homes Ltd

Nigel has acted as a Director for several fully listed property and construction Groups including The Westbury Property Fund and Assura PLC. He formed Rise Homes (formerly Housing Capital Property) and its residential property business in 2012.

Rise Homes has specialised in the development of sustainable residential property all for rent and has developed over 900 houses and apartments across six schemes in the North of England and has developed five biomass district heating systems. Its Tribe Apartments scheme completed in 2015 won the prestigious global award for a residential scheme from BREEAM. Rise Homes is a subsidiary of the British Strategic Investment Fund.

Jo Holden

Sustainability Director
Peel L&P

Jo is a chartered environmentalist and leads on all aspects of sustainability for Peel L&P which holds 20,000 acres of land and a £2.6 billion diverse property portfolio across the UK. In 2019 Jo published Peel L&P’s first Sustainability Five Year Plan, based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and recently helped the business to achieve net zero carbon status for 11 buildings.

Firmly believing in a collaborative approach to deliver sustainable outcomes, Jo works with the Doncaster Climate Change Commission and Local Nature Partnerships in Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Liverpool, helping the latter to develop an ecosystem services-led natural capital baseline last year.

Before joining Peel in 2016, Jo worked for the Environment Agency and prior to that managed global sustainable procurement issues for a large DIY retailer.

Lord Deben

Chairman
The Climate Change Committee

Lord Deben joined the House of Lords as a life peer in 2010. He is currently the Chairman of the UK’s independent Committee on Climate Change (The CCC). In 2014, Lord Deben spoke at the launch of the CIWM report on the Circular Economy, co-hosted by APSRG. Prior to his appointment to the Lords, he was the MP for Suffolk Coastal from 1979 to 2010. During his time in the House of Commons he was Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1989-1993), and Secretary of State for the Environment (1993-1997).

Helen Gribbon

Director
Renaissance Associates Ltd

Helen is a director of a structural and civil engineering consultancy, renaissance, based in the North West with a focus on delivering, innovative, simply, elegant, and cost-effective engineering solutions for the benefit of their clients.

She has been committed to the sustainability agenda in construction throughout her career and as well as a number of local action groups, is currently a board member of the Joint Board of Moderators, representing the Institution of Structural Engineers and a member of their Climate Action Team. She states: “engineers have a key role to play in the Climate Emergency, not only through active debate but also active action. Our business is focused on delivering the most sustainable solutions for our clients and ensuring that there is a future for our planet and the next generation to enjoy.”

Helen is delighted to be part of the discussion today and looking forward to some active debate.

Rebecca Taylor

Managing Director of BTR
Long Harbour

Rebecca joined Long Harbour in 2015 and has deployed over £450m for the Multifamily programme in this period. Having raised a further £500mn of equity in 2019, Rebecca is responsible for the entire delivery cycle from strategy and deal origination through to structuring, delivery and asset management phase.

Prior to joining Long Harbour, Rebecca spent 8 years at Laing O’Rourke working in their property and PFI investment team. Here she worked on their offsite delivery solution, securing the planning and delivery of 1.3mn sqft of mixed-use space and over 4,000 residential units in Ireland, UAE and UK.

Simon Scott

Lead Director - Living Capital Markets
JLL

Simon has over 20 years’ experience in the field of residential investment and development, and was actively involved in the development of the student investment market in an advisory capacity, and led in a number of innovative funding structures working with both Housing Associations and Universities in making institutionally acceptable investment assets in the residential sector. Simon is now overseeing the residential investment team and will be focused on matching investor appetite for residential investment, whether off plan bespoke developments or existing portfolios of income producing or reversionary assets.

Erin Clarke

Relationship Director, Structured Property Finance
Investec

Erin joined Investec Structured Property Finance Private Bank in 2012 as Legal Counsel, where she supported the team until 2016. Erin then moved to her current role, in which she is responsible for managing a large portfolio of clients, who largely focus on development and value-add activities. Her own focus is on actively working with clients, and sourcing lending opportunities largely for development in residential properties for sale and rent, purpose-built student accommodation and the industrial and logistics property sectors.

Erin qualified as a solicitor in 2007 while working at Dentons in Sydney, Australia. In 2010, having acted on a wide range of real estate and corporate finance transactions for banks, corporate and private clients, she moved to London and took up an Associate role with Charles Russell Speechlys.

Guy Hurwood

Investment Director
Moda Living

Guy Hurwood is Investment Director for Moda Living, the UK’s largest family-owned build-to-rent developer and operator. Guy leads investor relations and is responsible for maintaining relationships with the business’s existing investor pool as well as sourcing and securing new funding and investment opportunities.

Guy is a chartered surveyor with a background in corporate finance. Before joining Moda earlier this year Guy was a Senior Director at CBRE where he led the capital markets and development teams in Yorkshire and the North East. Prior to joining CBRE in 2019, Guy spent six years at PwC’s Corporate Finance team in London and previously worked for JLL’s pan-European corporate finance and debt advisory business. Over his career he has advised on global transactions with a value in excess of £8bn across a range of sectors and capital structures.

Alice Smith-Hilliard

Associate Living Capital Markets Residential
JLL

Alice Smith-Hilliard is an Associate Director in the Living Capital Markets Team at JLL, specialising in the Build to Rent market and works closely with colleagues across the Living spectrum, in Student Accommodation, Coliving and Retirement sectors. Alice has over 6 years’ experience in the industry and has an in-depth knowledge of the BTR market including investor demand and appetite, as well as the lettings and operational market across the UK. As a team, Alice and her colleagues completed on c.£1.1bn of BTR transactions in 2020.

Samuel Winnard

Director - Residential Agency
JLL

Sam has over fourteen years experience in the Residential property industry specialising in letting, property management and Build to Rent.

As a National Director for JLL Sam has ultimate responsibility for the Build to Rent management team which manages over £800m of assets for institutional investors. Sam is the key residential contact for institution clients such as Abrdn, Lloyds Banking Group and Peabody and is responsible for having mobilised circa 2,000 BTR units.

Matthew Green

Head of Residential Development Valuation
JLL

Matthew leads the Residential Development and Investment team within the Living Advisory business at JLL, and is the key contact for a variety of clients which include banks, developers, housebuilders and investors. Matthew has over 19 years’ experience in the industry and is at the forefront of JLL’s Build to Rent/UK multifamily valuation business. During 2017-2018 he co-authored “Valuing residential property purpose built for renting” (1st edition) which was published by the RICS. His team value assets with a completed value of in excess of £17bn per annum for a variety of purposes including loan security, acquisition/disposal, financial reporting, and business related mergers or transactions.

Matthew’s key areas of expertise include residential development for both private sale and delivery to the UK Multifamily/BTR sector, suburban/single family BTR, residential led mixed-use development and existing residential/BTR investments. He is regularly involved with projects at all stages in the planning and construction process and has extensive experience in leading the valuation of national portfolios, and in working alongside house builders in support of debt/equity raising exercises.

James Kingdom

Associate Director - Living Capital Markets
JLL

​-

Euan Norris

Head of Smart Cities
Scottish Power Smart Solutions

Euan Norris is ScottishPower Smart Solution’s Head of Smart Cities, who has a clear objective and passion to implement the energy services and solutions that enables Cities, Local Government and Communities, across the UK, deliver ‘Net Zero’ and a better future, quicker. An experienced energy professional, Euan Joined ScottishPower in 1997 and has since held several positions across the Energy Retail and Network’s businesses covering Energy Strategy & Planning, Regulatory and Commercial policy development, Innovation and deployment of Real-Time Systems that support the accelerated uptake in renewable generation technologies. In 2015 successfully led the team that delivered the award winning Accelerating Renewable Connections (ARC) NIC project, implementing innovative technical and commercial solutions that facilitated circa. £300m of capital investment to connect renewable generation to the grid achieving connection an average of 3-years ahead of traditional connection timescales.

Away from work, Euan coaches the next generation of football referees across Scotland following a successful career as a Category 1 match referee, officiating in the Scottish Premier League regularly as well as representing his country undertaking appointments at International level, culminating in his appointment as a match official at the 2012 European Championship held in Poland and Ukraine.

Joanne Wheeler

Sustainability Advisor
UKGBC

TBA

Mark Atherton

Director of Environment
Greater Manchester Combined Authority

​TBA

Charlie Foster

Managing Director of Real Estate Finance, Large Corporate
NWG

Charlie heads up the Large Corporate Commercial Real Estate team at Natwest, a team of relationship bankers that serves the largest operators in the Real Estate sector in the UK with all of their banking needs from borrowing to clearing services, as well as supporting access to debt capital markets. The customer base spans the listed REITs, large private Estates and private equity sponsors.

Charlie also has responsibility for leading the bank’s Sustainability agenda for the Real Estate sector, with the primary goal of supporting customers on the journey to net zero carbon emissions.

Prior to joining Natwest in 2017, Charlie held roles with Santander, Lloyds Banking Group and HBOS, starting in a general corporate relationship team in 2001. In 2006, Charlie moved to a dedicated real estate team and has specialised in this sector since that time.

Relationship banking perfectly complements her degree course, having graduated from Reading University with a BSc in Mathematics and Psychology in 2001.

Charlie is a Trustee of a small start-up charity, The Kids Network, that provides mentoring services to primary school children across London, a role which she has held for three years and very much enjoys. Charlie is also a keen runner and cyclist, with the Berlin marathon under her belt and three bicycles in her collection to date.

Rishi Madlani

Head of Sustainable Finance
NatWest Group

Rishi Madlani has worked for NatWest Group for over 15 years across the London, Amsterdam and Frankfurt offices. Rishi is Head of Sustainable Finance and Just Transition for the Group which encompasses the bank’s activities supporting the transition to a lower carbon economy and increasing funding to areas with a wider social purpose. Over the last 2 years the bank provided 9.9bn of funding to support activity in the climate sector and the bank has now set a £20bn funding and financing target to support climate and sustainable finance.

Rishi also serves on the boards of the UK Sustainable Investment & Finance Association and RenewableUK.

Jamie Hall

UK Director of Energy & Sustainability
ISS Sustainability

​TBA

Neil Rami

Chief Executive
West Midlands Growth Company

Neil oversees the West Midlands Growth Company (WMGC), formerly Marketing Birmingham, which was established in April 2017 to create new jobs, expand existing businesses and attract new investment and visitors to the region, aligned to the ambitions set out in the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) Strategic Economic Plan.

Under Neil’s leadership of Marketing Birmingham, the city secured the highest number of foreign direct investment projects on record, attracting significant new investments from companies such as HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Jaguar Land Rover and ASOS. The city’s visitor economy has also grown significantly in recent years, with Birmingham enjoying the largest growth in international visitors of any UK city outside London and the tourism sector now contributing £6.5 billion to the local economy, a 22% increase (£1.16bn) since 2013.

Previously, Neil held similar roles in Liverpool and Newcastle upon Tyne. He is a member of the British Tourism Industry Group; Chair of the Midlands Trade and Investment Group and is a former Governor and Board Member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Neil is also a Board member of Creative England

Erica Love

Director
Culture Central

Erica, Director of Culture Central has worked in the cultural sector for over 15 years, becoming Director of Culture Central in November 2019. Since Covid, Erica has been leading on the West Midlands Culture Response Unit. This has been a programme of work that has focussed on the Visibility, Viability and Recovery of the Culture Sector. This is a cross partnership initiative, including regional and local government, the sector, funders and other strategic partners. She is a passionate advocate for the impact and value of arts and culture on the people and places of the West Midlands and the valuable role it plays in economic growth, regeneration and placemaking.

Culture Central: A collective voice for arts and cultural in the West Midlands.

Cllr Ian Brookfield

Leader
City of Wolverhampton Council

Ian is the Leader of the City of Wolverhampton Council and the Wolverhampton Labour Group.

As Leader Ian is also the Chair of the Cabinet, the decision-making body at the council. His priorities focus on attracting businesses to the city which will provide good, well paid jobs and investing in support for children and young people, so they get the best possible start in life.

Before becoming Leader in May 2019, Ian served as Mayor, Chair of the West Midlands Pension Fund and Chair of the City Council finance committee.

He sits on the Board of the West Midlands Combined Authority where he is the portfolio holder for economy and innovation. As part of this regional role he is also the lead for the emerging Screen Industry Body which aims to transform the current screen industry, helping to drive investment, growth and create thousands of new jobs.

Before becoming a full-time politician, Ian worked as a qualified nurse in the North West and the West Midlands and more recently worked at the Royal Mail in Wolverhampton.

Colin Chapple

Chief Operating Officer
AEG Presents

Colin is a qualified accountant and has had a varied career within the entertainment sector. Starting out with CBS Records / Sony Music providing business analysis to the front line record labels, holding the role of Finance Director at what was then the largest UK distributor of physical entertainment product in the UK before transitioning to the Live music industry in 2005. Colin is the COO of AEG Presents in Europe, the second largest global promoter which owns and manages venues across the globe, festivals such as Coachella and British Summertime in Hyde Park and promotes tours from developing acts through the superstars such as the Rolling Stones and Justin Bieber. The last 15 years in the UK has seen the AEG start up establish a major UK promoting business, 2 London metropolitan festivals attracting >500k customers, expanding offices into Europe markets and the acquisition and refurbishment of Hammersmith Apollo, and multiple partnership arrangement, and within the next 12 months will happily add opened up the Wolves Civic to that list!

Vicky Price

Associate Director
Grand Theatre Wolverhampton

Vicky has worked in the Arts and Culture sector for over 15 years. Since 2016 she has held the position of Associate Director of Development and Communications at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, leading on Marketing, Sales, Corporate Sponsorship, Events, Fundraising, Access, and Creative Learning.

The theatre attracts over 300,000 visitors into Wolverhampton every year as a number one touring venue and producing house. Vicky along with a dedicated team are committed
to the delivering the theatre’s Audience Development Strategy. Over the last three years there has been a twenty percent increase in South Asian Audiences; collaboration with every secondary school in Wolverhampton and an award-winning Dementia Programme has been launched and continues to grow.

Rob Perrins

Chief Executive
The Berkeley Group

Rob joined Berkeley in 1994 and has been Chief Executive since 2009. Under his management the company has increased its focus on transforming challenging brownfield sites into welcoming places which support a great quality of life.

Rob oversees an industry leading sustainability strategy, including innovative climate action, nature recovery and social value programmes. He has prioritised investment in digital skills and technologies and modern methods of construction; including the development of Berkeley Modular’s precision manufactured housing system.

Rob has been Chari of Trustees of the Berkeley Foundation since its launch in 2011. This independent charity works in partnership with the Berkeley Group to maximise its positive social impacts and help disadvantaged young people achieve their potential.

Rob contributes to the Bank of England’s Real Estate Forum, is a Trustee of national homelessness charity Crisis and is a member of the governing bodies of Aston University and Marlborough College.

Jules Pipe CBE

Deputy Mayor for Planning, Regeneration and Skills
Greater London Authority

Jules Pipe is working on key priorities for the Mayor, including: implementation of the London Plan, major and community-led regeneration projects across the capital, building a skills system that properly addresses the needs of Londoners and the economy, and ensuring London’s infrastructure supports good growth, meets the needs of London’s communities and makes London a cleaner, greener and smarter City. Jules has unrivalled knowledge of London government, becoming the first directly elected mayor of Hackney in 2002 and serving as Chair of London Councils from 2010 until he joined the Mayor’s team in 2016.

Michela Hancock

Managing Director Europe
Greystar

Michela Hancock is a Managing Director of Development for Greystar in the UK, where she is responsible for driving the company’s fully integrated development process. Michela oversees all project financing, amenity and unit planning, design, entitlements, construction, and lease-up efforts on high-density multifamily developments. She is also targeting a pipeline of Greystar projects for London and helping educate the market and local government about the benefits of multifamily housing.

Prior to joining Greystar in 2015, she served as Development Director for Grainger PLC in the UK and Development Manager for Bozzuto Development Company in the US. She is currently Vice Chairman of the Urban Land Institute’s UK Residential Council, an active member of the British Property Federation Build to Rent Committee, and a board member of the United Kingdom Apartment Association.

David Heaford

Managing Director, Development
Landsec

David leads Landsec’s Development, Leasing and Marketing functions having originally joined Landsec in 2016 as Finance Director for the London Portfolio.

David started his career at KPMG in London, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 2006, working across audit, advisory and corporate finance. Prior to Landsec, the majority of David’s career was spent in the Technology sector, working in strategy or finance roles at Hewlett Packard and Cisco Systems. He brings cross sector knowledge, together with financial and strategic execution experience.

Abigail Dean

Global Head of Strategic Insights
Nuveen Real Estate

Abigail is the Global Head of Strategic Insights for Nuveen Real Estate. She is responsible for the organisation’s global research, sustainability and proptech and innovation functions. She oversees Nuveen Real Estate’s Tomorrow’s World Strategy which future proofs the investment strategy in light of global megatrends and integrates ESG across fund and asset management. Working alongside our Product Development team, Abigail is also responsible for ensuring that new product and the growth of the business are under pinned by solid research and sustainability considerations overseeing the global research team.

Since joining the firm in 2016, Abigail has overseen the organization setting a target to achieve Net Zero Carbon by 2040. Abigail is a member of Nuveen Real Estate’s Investment Committee and has spearheaded the integration of sustainability considerations into the acquisition process. She is also leading the organisation to develop investment guidelines related to physical and transition climate change risk. She previously worked at JLL, where she led on sustainability for the Property and Asset Management’s U.K. team.

Abigail is passionate about driving sustainable change in the property sector and sits on several industry committees including the GRESB Benchmarking Committee and the INREV ESG committee.

David Lunts

Chief Executive Officer
Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation

David Lunts was appointed as the permanent Chief Executive Officer of Old Oak and Park Royal Development in January 2021.

He had previously been the interim Chief Executive Officer for OPDC since February 2019, and combined his work on London’s largest Opportunity Area with his duties as Executive Director of Housing and Land for the Greater London Authority.

Between 2009-2012 David led as the Executive Director for London at the Homes and Communities Agency. His earlier career included three years at the GLA as Executive Director of Policy and Partnerships under Ken Livingstone, a leading role in housing and regeneration with Manchester City Council during the 1980s and early 90s and a three-year spell as director of Urban Policy for John Prescott at the former Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Caroline Simpson

Deputy Chief Executive
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

Caroline Simpson has worked in regeneration and place-making for over twenty years developing strong partnerships across the public and private sector.

As the Deputy Chief Executive at Stockport MBC she is currently responsible for the growth and place agenda, and in particular leading a major £1bn transformation programme to redevelop the town centre. Recently her focus has been to establish the first Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC) in Greater Manchester to deliver Greater Manchester’s Newest, Greenest and Coolest Neighbourhood. The MDC is promoting the development of Town Centre Living as the next phase of renaissance for Stockport Town Centre alongside driving investment in major new infrastructure.

As well as leadership of development, regeneration, planning and transport she is also leading the delivery and reform of frontline place management services. She has responsibility for corporate estate transformation and promoting active communities across the Borough.

Previous roles include:

Corporate Director, Place, Stockport MBC

Executive Director of Economic Growth and Prosperity for Cheshire East Council with responsibility for an ambitious economic growth agenda, leading place–based services and corporate property & development functions.

Other roles include the Development Director for a Housing Association; Head of Regeneration and Partnerships for Northwest Development Agency and regeneration based roles at Advantage West Midlands. Her career started in Liverpool delivering community-based regeneration projects with a particular focus on work and skills.

Eamonn Boylan

Chief Executive
Greater Manchester Combined Authority

Eamonn Boylan was appointed Chief Executive of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority in January 2017. He played a key role in the development of the Housing Market Renewal Programme, the Northern Way Growth Strategy and, through his work with the Core Cities Group and the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities, in the emerging policy framework for city regions. Eamonn takes the lead role on Investment and on Planning and Housing for the AGMA Wider Leadership Team.

David Reid

Managing Director, Suburban Build to Rent
Legal & General Capital

Gavin Taylor

Regional General Manager
Far East Consortium International Limited

Gavin Taylor is a Mancunian with over 15 years’ experience in development, construction and portfolio management.

He joined the Far East Consortium International Limited as Regional General Manager in 2016. Gavin’s role sees him overseeing the expansion of the organisation in the north of the UK. He is also responsible for the Angel Meadow and Northern Gateway projects which will bring over 15,000 homes to Manchester.

Previously, as Operations Director for Beijing Construction, Gavin was instrumental in the introduction and establishment of the international conglomerate in the UK. He was also the first non-Chinese citizen to become a director of a Chinese State-Owned Entity.

Colette McCormack

Partner
Winckworth Sherwood

Colette has 20 years experience of large scale regeneration projects acting for public sector, land owners and private sector developers. She has been involved in securing planning and land assembly on complex multi ownership sites including estate regeneration projects and understands the public private sector interplay.

Colette is currently advising on some of the largest and complex planning projects in the country and is one of the leading experts in CIL . She is ranked as a leading individual in legal directories and is currently lead planning adviser on Peel’s Liverpool Water - regeneration of 60 ha docklands; Barking Riverside – 10,800 homes, 65,000 sqm of commercial and leisure plus infrastructure ; Wandsworth VNEB Opportunity Area – 20,00 new homes infrastructure including the northern line extension and incudes Battersea Power Station .; multi billon bound estate regeneration of Winstanley estate -2225 homes ( including affordable housing) flexible commercial space measure space and public realm.