CREATING CONNECTIONS... GENERATING OPPORTUNITIES

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.

Helen Gordon

Chief Executive

Grainger plc

Helen Gordon is Chief Executive of Grainger plc the UK’s largest listed residential landlord.  

Helen was appointed Chief Executive of Grainger in January 2016 from RBS where she had been Global Head of Real Estate Asset Management since October 2011. Prior to that Helen was Director of Legal and General Property, responsible for the Main Life Fund and c.8 smaller Funds, and Group Property Director of Railtrack and Managing Director of John Laing Developments.

Helen sits on the Board of Derwent London as a non-executive Director and is currently a Board Director of the European Public Real Estate Association and Junior Vice President of the British Property Federation. Helen has held a number of non-exec positions and Government appointments including the Board of Covent Garden Market Authority, Board of British Waterways, TfL Property Board and was a Trustee for The College of Estate Management for nine years.

Tom Bloxham MBE

Chairman

Urban Splash

Tom Bloxham MBE is chairman and founder of award-winning regeneration company Urban Splash, which has received nearly 400 awards to date for architecture, design and business success. The company is responsible for development projects across the country, including Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, Bristol, Plymouth and Morecambe.

In 1999 Tom was awarded an MBE for Services to Architecture and Urban Regeneration.

Tom also upholds a number of other positions including; Chairman of Manchester International Festival,  and trustee of Tate, the Manchester United Foundation  and The Bloxham Charitable Trust.

Nick Payne

Co-Founder and Group MD

Nikal Group incorporating Hillcrest Homes

Nick Payne has been involved in property for nearly three decades. After qualifying as a surveyor in 1989, he was then promoted to Director at the age of 26, responsible for major portfolio valuations and financing transactions. He returned North in the late 1990s to realise his regeneration and development ambitions, setting up private limited company Westport Developments in 1998. Under Westport, he was involved in the regeneration of Manchester's Deansgate Locks, transforming 12 derelict Grade II railway arches alongside the Manchester Ship Canal into a modern leisure destination eventually selling to Scottish Widows.

In 2003, Nick joined forces with leading industrialist Alan Murphy to create Nikal, a dynamic property development, regeneration and investment business. The business is currently responsible for a development pipeline of circa £1 billion with projects including Phase 1 Exchange Square in Birmingham City Centre, a £125million forward funded built to rent scheme with La Salle and Altair in Altrincham – an £80 million residential and lifestyle scheme.

In 2015, Nikal purchased award winning luxury homebuilder Hillcrest Homes. Recently, the business has expanded its area of operation north to the Ribble Valley with a development of 30 houses under way in Hurst Green, near Whalley and ten homes under construction in Summerseat near Bury. Further developments are planned across Cheshire and the West Midlands.

Larry Gold

Deputy Chief Executive – CFO

Trafford Housing Trust

Larry Gold is the Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officer at Trafford Housing Trust. He oversees the running of Finance and the newly formed Developer business stream. He is also responsible for overseeing Social Enterprise. Recruited to assist in setting up the Trust, Larry was the Trust’s first employee in 2004. Larry has been a member of the Leadership Team since the Trust’s inception and has over twenty years’ experience within the public sector – previously working for Walsall Housing Group, Prime Focus Regeneration Group, and has held a number of senior management positions within central and local Government. Larry has a keen interest in animal welfare homing two rescue dogs. Any spare time is spent enjoying family life, practising Taekwondo (in which the whole family participates) and restoring a very old VW camper van.

Jennie Daly

Group Operations Director

Taylor Wimpey

Jennie was appointed to the Taylor Wimpey PLC Board in April 2018 and also holds the role of Group Operations Director. Jennie joined Taylor Wimpey in 2014 from Redrow plc, as UK Planning Director, before becoming UK Land Director in 2015. She has a wealth of experience in the housebuilding industry gained from roles which include strategic land and managing director of Harrow Estates Plc. As Group Operations Director, Jennie oversees the land, planning, design and technical, production and supply chain functions, in addition to managing the Taylor Wimpey Logistics business. Jennie is also a non-executive director of the Peabody Trust, a large affordable housing provider based in London.  

Richard Yorke

Director - Analytics

CoStar

Richard has twenty years’ experience working in real estate, predominately in senior management, consultancy & research, and business development roles. Richard is a director of CoStar responsible for analytics and the development of market leading products such as Propex, amongst others. Richard Joined from Cushman & Wakefield/DTZ where he was Head of Research. Previously Richard has been a director of Experian and RCA where he was responsible for developing and managing real estate services. Richard is a member of RICS and holds a master’s degree in economics. Richard has published numerous reports, is a regular presenter at industry events and commentator in the media.

Caroline Simpson

Corporate Director for Place

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

Caroline Simpson has worked in regeneration for over twenty years developing strong partnerships across the public and private sector. As the Corporate Director for Place at Stockport MBC she is currently responsible for a growth and place agenda and in particular leading a major £1bn transformation programme to redevelop the town centre. As well as leadership of development, regeneration, planning and transport she is also leading the delivery and reform of frontline place management services.  She also has responsibility for the delivery of the Public Health agenda within Stockport and promoting active communities across the Borough.

Previous roles include:

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.

Tim Wood

Northern Powerhouse Rail Director

Transport for the North

Tim Wood has over 22 years’ experience in railway design and delivery and prior to this, 11 years spent in the construction industry. As Northern Powerhouse Rail Director, he is taking on the challenge to make the strategic outline business case (SOBC) for investment in an ambitious plan for a transformed rail network that will provide fast, frequent and reliable links between the North’s six biggest city regions and its largest airport. He leads the delivery of the SOBC and works around the HS2 touch points in a co-clienting role with the Department for Transport.

Previously he held two Rail Director positions in the private sector and is known for early development of Rail PPP schemes and partner and stakeholder management.

Phil Mayall

Regional Director, North West

Muse Developments

Phil joined Muse Developments in 2006 to assist with the delivery of the company’s mixed use regeneration portfolio and was promoted to the role of Development Director in 2011. He assumed the role of Regional Director in 2018 and is now responsible for a wide range of projects throughout the North West. Phil heads up the team of development directors and surveyors in the Manchester office.

Since joining Muse he has delivered, or currently has on site, over 700,000 sq ft of offices, 550 residential homes, a 143 bedroom hotel and 2 large space multi storey car parks.  He has also successfully led two CPOs and gained consent for the largest ever planning application submitted to Salford City Council. Phil also secured the forward funding of 3 PRS residential developments at New Bailey in Salford. The Slate Yard, is one of the first institutionally funded PRS developments in the city. The first 2 phases are now complete, the third phase which consists of 199 new homes over 21 storeys commenced early Sept 2018.

Phil is a member of the Investment Property Forum and the British Council for Offices, where he was formerly Chair of the Northern Region Next Gen committee. He is also a member of the Chester Growth Partnership Board and is chair of the project board overseeing improvements to Islington Mill, Salford.

Darran Lawless

Development Director

Peel Land and Property

Darran Lawless is Development Director at Peel Land and Property responsible for its transformational Liverpool Waters scheme.

Darran joined Peel in early 2018 at a pivotal time for the £5 billion regeneration project. Liverpool Waters is one of the largest regeneration projects in Europe with Planning Consent in place for 20 m sqft of mixed use development. Construction is underway on several residential projects including Regenda’s PRS scheme, Plaza 1821, ROMAL’s Quay Central along with projects for Your Housing Group and Moda Living which collectively deliver a further 1000 apartments within Liverpool Waters this year alone. Darran is also responsible for Everton Football Clubs relocation to the site, assisting Liverpool City Council in its plans to bring a new Ocean Liner terminal to the City and working with the Manx Government on the relocation of the Isle of Man ferry as well as delivering over 9,000 residential units over the next 15/20 years.

Darran has 30 years experience in the development industry including establishing his own consultancy providing strategic advice on the delivery of residential and mixed use projects. Prior to this he was Managing Director of Engine of the North, Cheshire East Council's wholly owned development company, formed to undertake development of the Council's £400m assets delivering regeneration and capital receipts. He also spent 15 years as Development Director at Muse Developments responsible for numerous schemes throughout the North West including Ashton Moss, South Rings and on behalf of English Cities Fund, St Pauls Square, Liverpool.

Juliemma McLoughlin

Chief Planner - Development, Enterprise and Environment

Greater London Authority

Juliemma is the Chief Planner at the GLA, and arrived from London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in April 2017, and has delivered several policy documents, SPDs and the borough's Local Plan Review. She has been responsible for leading strategic development and regeneration in the complex urban environments of two of the world’s greatest cities (London and Sydney).

She is currently advising the Mayor of London at the GLA on a new London Plan and strategic development opportunities across the Capital, and is keen to promote the opportunities that London represents as a vibrant major world city. Delivery of the new London Plan and key Mayoral strategy documents will be the focus of the GLA Planning Unit over the next 18 months.

Juliemma has previously worked in partnership with the GLA, OPDC, neighbouring boroughs and key developers to unlock large scale development in West London. Over the course of the last ten years she has been responsible for delivering the borough’s regeneration and growth agenda which has involved managing an unprecedented number of projects including regionally significant schemes within very tight timeframes. Examples of the schemes that have moved through the planning process and into delivery include Westfield Shopping Centre and new extension, BBC TV centre, Earls Court Opportunity Area, Imperial College White City Campus, and LBHF Town Hall Civic Campus to name but a few.

Alan Holland

Business Unit Director

SEGRO

Alan Holland is the Business Unit Director for SEGRO’s Greater London business. With a market value of over £3.2bn, the Greater London business includes over 485 customers. Historically concentrated in Park Royal and Heathrow, the portfolio has recently expanded its urban logistics and light industrial footprint in North and East London, with the London unit now spanning over 60 locations. SEGRO is a UK Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), and a leading owner, manager and developer of modern warehouses and light industrial property. It owns or manages over six million square metres of space valued at approximately £7 billion serving customers from a wide range of industry sectors. Its properties are located in and around major cities and at key transportation hubs in the UK and in nine other European countries. Major retail and ecommerce customers for SEGRO include John Lewis, Amazon, Ocado and Yoox. Alan is a Chartered Surveyor with over 18 years’ real estate experience in the industrial and logistics markets.

John Burns

Chief Executive Officer

Derwent London plc

Founder of Derwent Valley Holdings in 1984, John has steered Derwent London through many market cycles. From its early market capitalization of £1.5m through its merger with London Merchant Securities in 2007 to its current leading position in the capital. A prominent figure in the property sector, he has overall responsibility for company development. John is on the strategic board of the New West End Company and is a former chair of the Westminster Property Association. (www.derwentlondon.com)

Tim Roberts

Head of Offices & Residential

British Land

Tim joined British Land in 1997 and was appointed to the Board in July 2006.  He is Head of Offices & Residential and is responsible for the Group’s £6bn Central London office and residential portfolio.  Tim is also a member of the Executive, Investment and Risk Committees at British Land.  He was a non-executive director of Songbird Estates until 2009. Prior to joining British Land he was a partner at Drivers Jonas, in the Investment Agency team. Tim is a Trustee and Board Member of LandAid, which is the property industry charity helping disadvantaged, and often homeless young people.  

Leonie Oliva

Senior Director - Planning

GVA

Leonie is a Senior Director in GVA’s London Planning team where she advises private and public sector clients on development opportunities in London and the South East.   

Her expertise includes providing strategic planning advice across a range of sectors, managing major planning application, advising on conservation issues and the historic environment, formulating development plan strategies,  stakeholder consultation and planning input to regeneration projects. In particular she has advised extensively in the arts and cultural sector with clients including Tate, the Natural History Museum and British Library, as well as on in the higher education sector working on campus expansions for UCL and KCL.  

Oona Goldsworthy

Chief Executive

United Communities

Oona is Chief Executive of United Communities, a community based housing association, which own and manages approx. 2000 homes across the West of England.

Oona is passionate about the role that housing associations can play in shaping their cities and supporting residents and communities to become more resilient. She held a variety of roles with housing associations and led major regeneration projects for local authorities before joining United Communities.

United Communities is known for its entrepreneurial approach to development and regeneration, which includes commercial joint ventures with developers, a unique ethical market rent funded by a social investment fund, self-build via a  community land trust and large scale mixed tenure regeneration. 

As well as being Chief Executive, Oona is a Board member of  Bristol Hospitality Network for Refugees and national Placeshapers. In 2017 she was awarded a Churchill Fellowship  to research global approach’s to housing millennials.  

Mark Farmer

Founding Director & CEO

Cast Real Estate & Construction Consultancy

Mark has nearly 30 years of experience in the construction and real estate sectors and has become a recognised commentator and thought leader on a variety of issues. He has been at the forefront of emerging UK residential market segments such as Build to Rent and Later Living. He is also playing a leading role in the progressive modernisation of the construction industry. Mark is a member of the RICS, Vice Chairman of the ULI UK Residential Council, a member of the BPF Build to Rent sub-committee and co-chairman of Constructing Excellence. Mark authored the October 2016 UK Government Review of the Construction Labour Market Model entitled ‘Modernise or Die’.

Chris Burton

Regional Managing Director, West

Barratt Developments plc

Chris is a Senior Executive with over 30 years' experience in the Construction industry.  He is responsible for Barratt Developments West Region, where the four Divisional Teams under his control currently deliver around 2400 homes per annum.

He has worked throughout the UK and gained expertise in private and social housing, including urban regeneration and city centre markets.

Karime Hassan

Chief Executive and Growth Director

Exeter City Council

Karime was appointed Chief Executive and Growth Director of Exeter City Council in 2013. He joined Exeter City Council as the Director of Economy and Development in February 2011, following eight years as Corporate Director at East Devon District Council. During his time at East Devon he set up the Exeter and East Devon Growth Point, managed the strategic development proposals for the growth area and established regeneration programmes for Exmouth and Seaton.

Prior to joining East Devon District Council, Karime was Head of Planning Services at Exeter and led on projects such as the award winning Princesshay shopping centre and the relocation of the Met Office.

Liz Dunn

Partner

Burges Salmon

Liz specialises in development, in particular infrastructure and energy and major redevelopment projects. Her practice areas include advising on Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs), planning obligations and infrastructure agreements, planning appeals and judicial review, including appearing as a planning inquiry advocate. Recent projects in the region include acting for YTL on the development of the Filton Airfield site, Engine Shed 2 and Temple Square for Skanska, the University of Bristol’s new campus in Temple Quarter and Redcliff Quarter. She also advised Bristol City Council and Wessex Water on their renewables developments in Avonmouth.

Ross Polkinghorne

Partner

Burges Salmon

Ross is the firm's head of real estate development. He leads a team of lawyers who advise developers and the public sector on complex regeneration projects (often in joint venture). Recent projects in the region have included: Locking Parklands, Redcliff Quarter, Filton Airfield, 66 Queen Square, Engine Shed 2 and Temple Square in Bristol, a new garden town in North West Cardiff, the partial takeover of Sutton Harbour Holdings PLC and the University of Bristol’s new temple quarter enterprise campus.

Mark Farmer

Founding Director & CEO

Cast Real Estate & Construction Consultancy

Mark has nearly 30 years of experience in the construction and real estate sectors and has become a recognised commentator and thought leader on a variety of issues. He has been at the forefront of emerging UK residential market segments such as Build to Rent and Later Living. He is also playing a leading role in the progressive modernisation of the construction industry. Mark is a member of the RICS, Vice Chairman of the ULI UK Residential Council, a member of the BPF Build to Rent sub-committee and co-chairman of Constructing Excellence. Mark authored the October 2016 UK Government Review of the Construction Labour Market Model entitled ‘Modernise or Die’.

Sir Edward Lister

Chairman

Homes England

Sir Edward Lister joined Homes England as Chairman in June 2016. Sir Edward has considerable experience of the housebuilding industry, in particular infrastructure investment and large-scale developments. From 2011-16, he was London’s Deputy Mayor of Policy and Planning and Chief of Staff at the Greater London Authority, which included serving as Deputy Chairman of the Old Oak & Park Royal Mayoral Development Corporation. He was previously Conservative Leader of Wandsworth Borough Council from 1992-2011. As the longest-serving council leader in the country, Sir Edward made Wandsworth the most successful value-for-money local authority in the country with the lowest council tax charge and top satisfaction ratings from its residents.

In 2016, Sir Edward was appointed as Senior Advisor to the Regeneration and Investment Organisation within UKTI. He is also a consultant for CBRE’s One London team and a Non-Executive Director of Stanhope Ltd. 

Karl Whiteman

Executive Director

Berkeley Group

Karl joined Berkeley in 1996 as a Construction Director and now currently heads the Berkeley East and West Thames Division which includes three of the largest regeneration projects in the UK - Kidbrooke Village, Royal Arsenal Riverside and Southall Waterside. Once complete these three new developments will provide over 15,000 new homes in London for over 40,000 people and will embody a vision that both Karl and Berkeley share of transforming ex-industrial land and creating real communities for people from all walks of life.

In addition Karl is Managing Director of Berkeley Modular and responsible for the delivery of Berkeley’s new factory at Northfleet.

Karl joined the Board of Berkeley Group in September 2009 and also oversees the Sustainability and Health & Safety strategies across the Group.

Rosie Toogood

CEO

L&G Modular Homes

Rosie is leading the modular business in developing the product portfolio, creating engineering and production capability and establishing our market position.

Rosie joined L&G in June from Rolls-Royce where she held senior roles across customer-facing business areas, new product introduction and in setting up global supply chains to deliver complex engineering products.

Simon Gawthorpe

Managing Director

Urban Splash

Simon originally from Harrogate, joined Urban Splash in October 2004 to deliver the regeneration of Lister Mills, Manningham, Bradford, and to develop the company in the Yorkshire region.

Lister Mills was the first Urban Splash scheme in Yorkshire/North East and the company considered it essential to create a formal presence in the area to ensure that the development is delivered to the same high standards Urban Splash has built its reputation on.

Before joining Urban Splash, Simon was a development director at Crown Dilmun, based in London, with projects in Glasgow, Bristol, Newcastle and Manchester. He was responsible for a major mixed use scheme in central London, located opposite Harrods - apartments in the development sold for up to 10 million.

Simon has been responsible for the delivery of a number major Urban Splash projects including Lister Mills - Bradford, Saxton - Leeds and the Stirling Prize shortlisted Park Hill - Sheffield. He was responsible for the delivery of the recent Kickstart projects creating 700 new homes across the country. Simon led portfolio sale to Places for People and company restructure with fellow director Julian Curnuck and more recently has also been integral in the setting up of the joint venture partnership between Urban Splash and Places for People.

Jennet Siebrits

Head of Residential Research

CBRE

Jennet has been Head of Residential Research at CBRE since June 2005. She is an experienced housing market economist having held positions at the Council of Mortgage Lenders and Nationwide Building Society. She oversees all analysis, research and publications. In addition, she has extensive experience of consultancy for clients in a wide range of areas including demand and supply studies, cost benefit analysis and economic impact studies.

Becky Worthington

Chief Financial Officer

Countryside Properties

Rebecca Worthington was appointed to the Board of Countryside Properties PLC on 19 November 2015 as Group Chief Financial Officer. She is a member of the Executive Committee.

Rebecca joined the Group in August 2015 as Chief Financial Officer of Copthorn Holdings Limited.

She qualified as a chartered accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in 1997. She subsequently worked at Quintain Estates and Development plc for 15 years, first as Finance Director and latterly as Deputy Chief Executive. Following that she spent two years as Chief Executive of Lodestone Capital Limited, a business advising on operational real estate assets. She is a Non-Executive Director of Hansteen Holdings plc.

Rob Perrins

Chief Executive

The Berkeley Group

Rob is Chief Executive of the Berkeley Group, one of Britain’s most successful, sustainable developers. He joined the company in 1994 having qualified as a chartered accountant with Ernst & Young. He was appointed to the Main Board in 2001 and became Chief Executive in 2009. 

In 2010, Rob launched a ten year plan for the Berkeley Group called Our Vision. This set out to make the company a modern world class business, blending homes, parks and community facilities to create fantastic places where people love to live. By 2016, under Rob's management, Berkeley was supporting 30,000 jobs across Britain and contributing £2.6 billion to the UK's Gross Domestic Product - £32 for every person in the UK.  

Rob regularly contributes to public debates about the direction of housing policy and the property market and is a member of the Bank of England’s Residential Property Forum, as well as a council member of Aston University and a Governor of Wellington College. 

Sarah Middleton

Chief Executive

Black Country Consortium Ltd

Sarah is the Chief Executive of Black Country Consortium Limited (BCC) and has been since its incorporation in 2006. Sarah joined the Consortium Partnership in October 1999 and has been central in developing the Black Country Sub-Regional partnership, its 30 year vision, Economic Strategy and Spatial Strategy, including joint approaches on Planning, Investment, Economic Intelligence and the Black Country Education and Skills Strategy. Sarah qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG and previous roles include Deputy Chief Executive for East Mercia Chamber of Commerce (including responsibilities as General Manager for Business Link Walsall) and Chief Executive of Walsall City Challenge. 

Rick de Blaby

Executive Deputy Chairman

Get Living

Rick de Blaby is Executive Deputy Chairman of Get Living, the UK’s leading owner operator of private rental homes, with 6,000 homes under management or in the pipeline across the UK, including sites in London, Glasgow and Leeds. Managing 1,439 homes at East Village E20, the former London 2012 Athlete’s Village, the company has developed a revolutionary model for rental housing. Get Living is the only landlord that doesn’t charge fees, does not require a security deposit and offers longer three year tenancies, with a resident-only break clause, to give security combined with flexibility. Within tenancies, annual rent increases are set at CPI. From first viewing and throughout a resident’s stay, Get Living is responsive, flexible and attentive.

Rick has over 37 years’ experience in development and investment in both the residential and commercial sectors and has a particular interest in regeneration and design. Rick is also Non-Executive Chairman of Miller Developments, Non-Executive Director of Altitude Real Estate, Non-Executive Direction of Curo Housing Association and Chairman of the Kinetic Foundation Charity. Prior to Get Living, Rick was CEO of United House Group and prior to that, CEO of MEPC.

Bronwen Rapley

Group Chief Executive

Onward Homes

After 12 years as a property lawyer, Bronwen joined the housing profession working at what became Your Housing Group.  She led on governance and legal and delivered some major growth and regeneration projects.  She moved to the HCA in 2013 where she was responsible for housing associations who were not complying with the regulatory standards and the regulator’s response to insolvency.  In 2016 she joined Onward Homes as Chief Executive. Onward Homes has 41,000 homes across the north west and is an agent for large scale regeneration in many of those communities.

Nicola Elsworth

Head of Public Sector Land

Homes England

Nicola is Head of Public Sector land for Homes England in the North West, leading a team of surveyors and planners in de-risking and disposing of Homes England substantial land portfolio, as well as leading on the Government’s Garden Village and Housing Infrastructure Fund programmes in the North West. 

Nicola is a Town Planner with 17 years’ experience working in the public and private sectors, focusing on planning policy, strategy, site promotion, development economics and viability, infrastructure delivery and community engagement. Working predominantly in the housing and commercial sectors, she has done extensive work on the promotion, de-risking and disposal of large scale development sites. She has considerable delivery experience in the co-ordination and submission of large scale outline and detailed planning applications.

Michael Howard

Managing Director

Urban Bubble

Michael Howard is Managing Director of multi award winning urbanbubble, a residential property management company who have recently diversified into sales & lettings, city centre holiday accommodation and the new market of Build to Rent (BTR).

Graduating from the University of Leicester, Michael went on to carve out a successful career as a six sigma practitioner, working as a Programme Manager for Centrica. It was his growing frustration at the declining levels of service from his own managing agent that led to his change of career.  Michael took the bold decision to singlehandedly manage the block he lived in during his spare time. He did this successfully and in 2008 urbanbubble was born. Despite the challenging conditions that the property market faced in urbanbubble’s early years, Michael’s dedication and drive to raise the standards in residential property management ensured that urbanbubble became the success that it is today.

Today, urbanbubble employs over 100 team members, populating two offices; Liverpool and its 6,000 sq ft Head Office in the heart of Manchester’s Northern Quarter. Its property management portfolio continues to grow, now responsible for 6,000 units in Manchester and 1,000 in Liverpool. This is only set to grow with a pipeline of an additional 5,500 units in Manchester and 3,000 in Liverpool over the next 4-5 years.  These numbers don’t include the Build to Rent (BtR) instructions with Legal & General, who appointed urbanbubble as its operational partner to help deliver their first build-to-rent scheme, The Slate Yard in Salford.  Legal & General, through Legal & General Capital and LGIM Real Assets, entered the Buy to Rent (BTR) market in 2016, in partnership with PGGM. Legal & General now has a circa £1bn fund to invest and build new large scale rental development properties, with over 1,000 build to rent homes under construction or in planning. In addition to Salford, Legal & General has BTR properties going up in Bath, Leeds and London. This has the potential to turn urbanbubble  from a parochial, ‘done good’ managing agent to a national operator. Watch this space!

Guy Butler

Co-founder

Glenbrook

Guy founded his career with 15 years at Grosvenor based in London. He worked on three main projects – Festival Place Basingstoke, Liverpool ONE and a £1bn development in Mayfair.  His expertise spans the whole investment and development process, from funding, purchase and sale, through to design, planning, financial appraisal and leasing. 

Guy read Land Management at Reading University and European Property Investment at City University. Guy is on the scrutiny committee for the Cheshire and Warrington Local Economic Partnership (LEP) and is the immediate past Chairman of the Chester Growth Partnership. He is also a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Hugh Seaborn

Chief Executive

Cadogan Estate

Hugh Seaborn joined Cadogan Estate as Chief Executive in 2008. Prior to this he was Chief Executive of The Portman Estate for 9 years where he repositioned the business as an active and committed landlord and investor.

Before heading up Portman, Hugh spent 10 years with CB Richard Ellis, latterly as Director and Head of Investment Management where amongst other things, he was responsible for investment portfolios on behalf of a variety of clients including institutions and property companies.

Hugh is a Chartered Surveyor, Chairman of TR Property Investment Trust plc and Chairman of the Knightsbridge Business Group. Hugh was formerly a member of the Council of the Duchy of Lancaster and past Chairman of the Westminster Property Association and past Chairman of the Estates Business Group. He was awarded a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in the 2014 New Year Honours List.

Steven Norris

Chairman

Soho Estates

Steve Norris was a Conservative Member of Parliament for Oxford East and then Epping Forest from 1983 to 1997. He was Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Departments of Environment, Trade & Industry and the Home Office and in 1992 was appointed Minister for Transport with a special responsibility for all London transport. After retiring from Parliament in 1997 he was twice his party’s candidate for Mayor of London outperforming the national party substantially on both occasions. He is a former Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party. Steve has combined a career in politics with a business career in the fields of property, infrastructure and transportation. He is currently Chairman of BNP Paribas Real Estate UK, of Soho Estates, London Resort Company Holdings, Virtus Data Centres and Driver Group plc. He is a Non-Executive Director of Excel the East London conference and exhibition centre. He has been a member of the Boards of both Transport for London and the London Development Agency. He is on the Board of Cubic Corporation, the developers and managers of the London Oyster card. He chairs the National Infrastructure Planning Association which works with government to improve the planning regime around major projects and advises a number of clients on major schemes.

Amelia Staveley

Director of Development and Placemaking

Grosvenor Britain & Ireland

Amelia Staveley MRICS is the Director of Development and Placemaking for the London estate. Amelia joined Grosvenor Britain & Ireland in 2007 and has held various asset management, investment and development roles in both Grosvenor Britain & Ireland and Grosvenor Americas. Her experience has included the delivery of NEO Bankside in London, 288 Pacific in San Francisco and most recently the leadership of the Capital Transactions team for the London estate. Amelia holds a degree in Natural Sciences from Durham University and a Masters in Real Estate Appraisal from Reading University.

David Marks

Co-Founder

Brockton Capital

David Marks co-founded Brockton Capital in 2005; the firm has raised over £1.50bn of equity across three separate funds since 2006, which supports a £4.0bn UK portfolio. Prior to co-founding Brockton, David worked at The Blackstone Group (2001-2005, in London) and JLL (1989-1999, in London and New York). David holds a Masters degree in Real Estate Development from MIT, Boston and was President of the British Property Federation ("BPF") in 2013-14. David is a member of the Bank of England’s Commercial Property Forum, the BPF Policy Committee and is a Trustee of the National Gallery.

Andrew Hynard

Chief Executive

The Howard de Walden Estate

Andrew Hynard is Chief Executive of The Howard de Walden Estate, which he joined in October 2016. The Estate comprises 92 acres of principally residential, medical, office and retail property in Marylebone. It includes Harley Street and Marylebone High Street.

Prior to that he spent the majority of his career at Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), where he was UK Deputy Chairman.

He is a former Chairman of the Investment Property Forum, and currently chairs the RICS Commercial Property Forum. He is on the advisory board of Clipstone and the Tim Henman Foundation and a Trustee of University College of Estate Management and Tenterden and District Day Centre.

Judith Everett

Chief Operating Officer

The Crown Estate

As Chief Operating Officer, Judith is a member of the Executive Committee and leads on people, customer, brand, communication, engagement and resilience. Her focus is on shaping these central functions to ensure integrated activity that positions The Crown Estate as a progressive company, a significant contributor to the UK Treasury, and creating brilliant places through conscious commercialism – on land and on the seabed; attracting and retaining the best people to the business and building strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders. Judith has led on communication and engagement activity across a range of sectors, having worked with Royal Dutch Shell, Scottish Enterprise, Threadneedle Investments and AstraZeneca. A graduate of both Aberdeen and Edinburgh universities where she read International Relations and Business, Judith is a member of the CBI’s London Council.

James Gibson

Development Director

Sovereign Housing Association

James Gibson has been Development Director with Sovereign Housing Association since 2001. He leads a 50 strong team of development professionals delivering over 1300 affordable homes per year with a budget in excess of £200m annually across the greater south west. The scale of the development programme routinely places Sovereign in the top 5 developing associations across the country. During the course of his 25 years James has been involved in high profile projects such as the new town at Cranbrook, East Devon; Market rent at Wapping Wharf, Bristol and partnership working with David Wilson homes at Newbury Race course.

Jackie Pinder

Managing Partner

Rider Levett Bucknall

Jackie Pinder is a Managing Partner of Rider Levett Bucknall UK Ltd, Bristol Office and has been with the construction consultancy for 28 years.  Jackie professionally qualified as a Quantity Surveyor and then after 10 years moved into the Project Management service.  Jackie has managed public sector commissions and projects for defence, residential, health and education sectors from inception to completion and has been involved with Government Strategy groups for Prime contracting and Integrated Project Insurance.

Jackie sits on the Project Management Board for RLB and is responsible for the service  delivery, knowledge management and Project Management Academy within  RLB

Jackie is a member of the Association for Project Management and sits on their Corporate Members Advisory Group.  Jackie believes that the construction industry has a key role to play in our economy and society through the creation of communities that are sustainable and affordable and that both client and construction professionals have a key role to play.

Pete Gladwell

Head of Public Sector Partnerships

LGIM Real Assets

Pete Gladwell joined Legal & General in August 2007, with responsibility for the design and development of new funds and overseeing relationships with pension funds, investment consultants, and insurance clients. He led on the creation of a new generation of property funds particularly focussed on liability matching and Defined Contributions pension funds and L&G’s joint ventures with Dutch pension funds, which now total over £5 billion. In 2013, Pete was appointed Head of Public Sector Partnerships, to lead L&G's direct investments across property and infrastructure into partnerships with Local and Combined Authorities, Registered Providers, Universities, the NHS, and central government, including One Public Estate and the “RIO Regeneration Investment Collective” with the Department of International Trade. These investments total over £4.35bn.

Pete was formally a Senior Analyst in DTZ Research and enjoyed an erstwhile life as a youth worker for seven years in the Oxfordshire area.

Pete is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and Member of Brasenose College, Oxford University; holding a post-graduate MA, as well as an initial degree in Computation. He also holds the Investment Management Certificate.

Pete is also a Trustee for the Young Foundation, which works to create a more equal and just society through social innovation, and heavily involved in local community initiatives in Harlesden, London.

Kevin Bourner

General Manager for the South West

Homes England

Kevin is a Chartered Surveyor (Planning and Development division) by profession and is the General Manager for Homes England leading the team covering the South West across a range of housing markets from Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Hampshire in the east to Cornwall in the far south west.    

Kevin has worked in development for over 20 years. He has managed multi million pound housing development programmes and has delivered large regeneration projects across the South and South West of England, delivering thousands of new homes.

Kevin has worked for Homes England (formerly the Homes and Communities Agency and previously English Partnerships) for the last 12 years.  The primary focus of the General Manager is to proactively engage with public and private sector partners, investors and landowners to drive housing delivery and place making across the south west using a wide range of funding packages and interventions and the property skills within the team.

Rachel Bell

Divisional Director and Head of Business Development

Stride Treglown

Rachel’s almost 20 years with Stride Treglown, the South West’s largest architectural practice has seen her work extensively with Public and Private sector clients across a range of projects including aviation, defence, retail and residential schemes. She recently completed a year’s term as Chair of Women in Property’s South West branch and is a prominent advocate for increasing diversity in construction and property as vital to the sector’s future success.

Jason Mills

Director of Development

YTL Developments (UK) Ltd

Jason Mills is Director of Development at YTL’s UK real estate business. With over 20 year’s experience of working on some of the highest profile residential and commercial schemes in the UK, Europe and Latin America, Jason leads YTL’s in-house planning, design, development and asset management team.

YTL’s plan to transform the 360 acre Filton Airfield into a new master-planned City district of 2,600 homes and 2Msq.ft of commercial uses, is one of the UK’s largest mixed-use regeneration projects. With outline planning now secured, planning agreements signed and on-site infrastructure works underway, YTL is now working towards starting construction of the first phase of 270 new homes designed by Feilden Clegg in December 2018.

Richard Yorke

Director - Analytics

CoStar

Richard has twenty years’ experience working in real estate, predominately in senior management, consultancy & research, and business development roles. Richard is a director of CoStar responsible for analytics and the development of market leading products such as Propex, amongst others. Richard Joined from Cushman & Wakefield/DTZ where he was Head of Research. Previously Richard has been a director of Experian and RCA where he was responsible for developing and managing real estate services. Richard is a member of RICS and holds a master’s degree in economics. Richard has published numerous reports, is a regular presenter at industry events and commentator in the media.

Eve McCurrich

Director

Whiteburn Projects Ltd

An MRICS qualified Quantity Surveyor, Eve has a wealth of experience managing the delivery of a variety of projects in the UK and Dubai.

Eve has spent over 15 years working in residential development for both PLC’s and Strategic Land Developers.

Eve is the Director responsible for the expansion and delivery of Whiteburn’s residential businesses, focusing on both private for sale homes and Build to Rent.

Eve sits on the Scottish Property Federation’s consultation panel on PRS/Build to Rent investment and delivery, and until recently was a Board member of Hillcrest Housing Association, which specialises in social rent and large-scale housing management in Scotland.

Derek McGowan

Head of Communities and Housing

Aberdeen City Council

Derek is Head of Communities and Housing for Aberdeen City Council, with responsibility for housing management, strategy, property factoring and private sector housing including landlord registration and HMO licensing. He also has lead officer responsibility for community and emergency planning, and

protective services.

He previously worked for City of Edinburgh Council in a number of services including Trading Standards, Licensing, Community Safety and Environment, and Family and Household Support.

Fiona Morrison

Deputy Chief Executive

Hillcrest Group

Deputy Chief Executive of the Hillcrest Group since 2014 with responsibility for the Housing, Development and Property Teams within Hillcrest Housing Association.  Fiona also has responsibility for three of the four subsidiary companies.  The three subsidiaries are - Northern Housing (provider of mid-market rent), Hillcrest Enterprises (commercial activity including open market rent) and Hillcrest Maintenance Services (direct maintenance provider).  Fiona is also Company Secretary.

Fiona’s previous position was as Director of Housing, joining Hillcrest following the merger with Gowrie Housing Association in 2003.  She has been a Corporate Member of the Institute of Housing since 1992.

Andrew Bruce

Head of Project Finance

Scottish Futures Trust

Andrew spent seven years working for a small merchant bank as a financial adviser and investor in infrastructure projects. Since 2009 he has worked for Scottish Futures Trust where he has had responsibility for sourcing and negotiating financing across several workstreams – especially the hub programme, the NPD programme and housing activities. On the latter, he was heavily involved in the set up of the LAR Housing Trust (a new charitable organisation for mid-market housing) and has been supporting Scottish Government’s efforts to promote the build to rent sector.

Gerry More

Managing Director

Stewart Milne Homes, Central Scotland

A qualified chartered accountant, Gerry has extensive sector and UK – wide experience gained over the course of a career spanning more than 25 years. A former board member and chairman of Homes for Scotland, and prior to joining Stewart Milne Homes, Gerry has most recently, as Build To Rent PRS Champion and through this industry body, advised the Scottish Government on Policies and regulatory matters designed to encourage institutional investment in new purpose-built homes for rent. In addition he was also involved as consultant and director with a number of house building and property related companies across the UK. Previous roles also included Chief Executive Officer of stock market-listed, residential mezzanine funding provider Wolsey Residential Finance plc and a main board director of Cala Group.

Jestyn Davies

Managing Director

Murray Estates

Jestyn has spent over 30 years in the UK property industry the last 20 of which have been spent with various Murray family businesses. Previously a  Director with UK Developer, Premier Property Group (PPG) Jestyn set up its sister company Murray Estates in 2008 which was subsequently  the subject of a  buy out in February 2014.  The business continues to focus on the group’s extensive interests in strategic land, mixed use projects and residential developments. Jestyn has a broad range of experience having successfully delivered projects ranging from Inner City offices to residential led urban expansion. Current projects include Edinburgh’s Garden District, a new city district providing over 6,000 new homes and the International Business Gateway at Edinburgh Airport.  He has held various Murray Group and  non-executive positions and is currently  a board member with Edinburgh Leisure. Jestyn is a former Chairman of the Scottish Property Federation  leaving  this position in November 2013. He still serves on the Policy board.

Jestyn holds a BSc (Hons) from Heriot Watt University and an MBA from Edinburgh

University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors

Gregor Hamilton

Head of Planning and Economic Development

Dundee City Council

Gregor Hamilton is the Head of Planning and Economic Development at Dundee City Council, responsible for the delivery of the Council’s Planning, Building Standards and Physical Regeneration functions. 

He has worked in Dundee for over 25 years.  During this time, the city has been transformed from its industrial past to a vibrant, knowledge based economy with a growing population and increasing sense of ambition and optimism.

Central to this is the Dundee Waterfront Project, one of the largest regeneration projects in the UK, encompassing 240 hectares of land stretching 8 kilometres along the north of the River Tay and involving over £1 billion of investment.

Alison Fyfe

Real Estate Finance Consultant & Non Exec Director

Alison Fyfe Consultants

Alison is a knowledgeable property professional with more than 30 years experience in surveying and banking.  She worked for Knight Frank in London and Edinburgh before moving to RBS where she spent 19 years in a variety of specialist real estate finance roles.  She has extensive experience in the structuring of debt and equity funding, including mezzanine finance and joint ventures, and has worked with a wide variety of investment and development vehicles covering all sectors of the UK property market.

Alison set up her own property finance consultancy business in October 2016. She is currently undertaking advisory work in both the public and private sectors in conjunction with non-exec directorship roles. 

Chris Stewart

CEO

Chris Stewart Group

Chris is an experienced and award-winning property investor, developer and hotelier and has been in business for more than 20 years. He is considered one of Scotland’s – and the UK’s – finest and most skilled property developers.

His group of companies – Chris Stewart Group (CSG) – has ownership and operational interests across the residential, office, retail, hotel, serviced apartment and leisure sectors. In 2013, CSG completed the redevelopment of Advocate’s Close in Edinburgh, which was named by the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) as Scotland’s Best Building.

The Group’s latest projects include the redevelopment and regeneration of the former RBS headquarters on the south east corner of St Andrew Square in the centre of Edinburgh as well as the former Glasgow City Council offices on the north east corner of George Square in Glasgow.

Chris is currently Chair of the Scottish Real Estate Forum and was previously Chair of Scottish Property Federation. He has also participated in several committees and boards including the Strategic Historic Environment Forum and Scottish Property Federation Policy Board.

Chris has recently joined the Board of Trustees at Seamab School in Kinross-shire as the new Chair.

Richard Yorke

Director - Analytics

CoStar

Richard has twenty years’ experience working in real estate, predominately in senior management, consultancy & research, and business development roles. Richard is a director of CoStar responsible for analytics and the development of market leading products such as Propex, amongst others. Richard Joined from Cushman & Wakefield/DTZ where he was Head of Research. Previously Richard has been a director of Experian and RCA where he was responsible for developing and managing real estate services. Richard is a member of RICS and holds a master’s degree in economics. Richard has published numerous reports, is a regular presenter at industry events and commentator in the media.

Deborah Cadman OBE

Chief Executive

West Midlands Combined Authority

Deborah became Chief Executive of the West Midlands Combined Authority in September 2017, following a long and distinguished career in public service.

After gaining a degree in politics, she began her career in 1984 with the London Borough of Newham, before moving to Birmingham City Council where she worked on major regeneration projects and gained a master’s degree in economics. Moving to Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council in 1996 as Head of Policy, Deborah gained a second master’s in management, before taking up a two-year secondment with the Department of Environment Transport and the Regions as Local Government Advisor to the Ministerial Team. In 2003, after being appointed the Audit Commission's Best Value Service Lead Inspector for the London region, she became Chief Executive at St Edmundsbury Borough Council, before becoming Chief Executive of the East of England Development Agency. Deborah was Chief Executive of Suffolk County Council from 2011 to 2017 and has also been interim Chief Executive of Waveney District Council, Babergh District Council and Mid-Suffolk District Council.

She is a trustee of the Joseph Rowntree Trust and Joseph Rowntree Housing Foundation and as a dedicated and passionate female advocate at the forefront of the public sector, Deborah recently won the First Women Award for Public Service. Deborah is listed in Local Government Chronicle’s ‘100 Most Influential in the Sector’. Deborah was awarded an OBE in 2006 for services to local government.

Huw Rhys Lewis

Managing Director

Urban Growth Company

Huw has been Managing Director of the Urban Growth Company (UGC) since it was formed in 2016 and is responsible for spearheading the preparation and delivery of infrastructure and development at the UK Central Hub site in Solihull.  The infrastructure investment value in The Hub over the next ten years is expected to be in excess of £1.6bn.

The UGC has published its Hub Growth and Infrastructure Plan which brings together the ambitions of Birmingham Airport, the NEC, Jaguar Land Rover, Birmingham Business Park and Arden Cross – the site for HS2’s Birmingham Interchange Station – with the potential to generate up to £4.1bn GVA per annum. 

Huw has 25 years’ senior director experience in the private and public sector working on asset, facilities and estates management, design, construction and procurement.  He has lived and worked in the UK and internationally, across sectors including retail, office, leisure, transportation, waste, education, housing, infrastructure and regeneration.

Huw’s previous roles include Development Director for UCI and Village Roadshow Cinemas covering their circuits Internationally, Vice President Stations Metronet, Director at Balfour Beatty overseeing their health and education portfolios and their works at Terminal 5 and Terminal 2, Investment and Board Director at Shanks plc , and more recently Property Director at the City of London Corporation, overseeing all capital projects on behalf of the City of London with a property portfolio of over £2 billion generating a rental income of over £100m per annum. 

Denise Li

Founding CEO

PGC Capital

Award-winning businesswoman, Denise Li, founded PGC Capital in 2015 after an illustrious career assisting companies achieve their international aspirations and expand into China including Formula One, the English Premier League, Porsche, Zespri, Nissan, Omnicom, Hilton Hotels Group and Amway. In 2014, Denise launched the International Financial Summit to introduce sophisticated global investment insights and opportunities to Chinese high net worths, corporations and institutional investors.  The previous year, Denise introduced International GolfWeek to China, before going on to co-found Shanghai International GolfWeek (China) Limited to encourage entrepreneurs to raise funds for China’s most deprived children.

Denise and PGC Capital have been frequently profiled in the UK property media, The Times (London) and the Financial Times.  She is also a regular panellist at Financial Times Live and Movers & Shakers events. PGC Capital’s first residential development in the UK is situated in the famous Jewellery Quarter of Birmingham.  Its next development, to be known as Lunar Rise, will offer 517 units in two 10 storey and one 25 storey block and will be situated in the Digbeth area of Birmingham.

At the end of 2017, she was appointed Executive Chairman of the Confederation of China Business UK.   

Dr Colin J Clinton

Regional Project Manager, Midlands Engine Investment Hub

Department for International Trade

Colin started his civil engineering career working in the public sector on major Inner City infrastructure projects and Urban Regeneration schemes for Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council, West Midlands County Council and the City of Birmingham for a sustained period from 1971 to 1988. Colin joined Arup in 1988 in their Birmingham office. He managed several projects across Midlands UK, and into Continental Europe. In 1994 he was Senior Project Manager for the first Japanese investment by Toyota into their Car Plant in Derbyshire. In 2002, Colin was appointed a Director of Arup, and in 2004 became the youngest President of the Institution of Civil Engineers. In January 2010 he was appointed Director of Business Development East Asia Region (EAR) based in Hong Kong. From June 2011, and in addition to his BD role, he was Project Director for the Rose Rock International Finance Centre (RRIFC) in Tianjin, Northern China. Throughout 2013 and 2014 Dr Clinton developed relationships with some of China’s largest construction and investment firms. In April 2015 he returned from China to the UK and was based in Arup’s Liverpool Office. In Sept 2015 Colin accepted an invitation by UK Gov’t for a part time secondment role as Head of China Business in UKTI Regeneration and Investment Organisation (RIO). He accompanied the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne to China for the Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD). From January 2016 Colin has been based in Birmingham supporting the inward investment strategy for Birmingham, WMCA and the Midlands Engine. He directed the production of the ME investment Pitchbook and help launch it at MIPIM in Mar 2016. He joined DIT full time in Jan 2017 as Regional Project Manager within the Midlands Engine Investment Hub.

Jane Kemp

Partner and Consultant

Adducere LLP

Until co-founding niche property consultancy Adducere LLP in 2009, Jane was a solicitor and has over 20 years experience in the Property Market. Her career experience has been both client side, as an in-house solicitor with national property companies, and she has also occupied senior positions with law firms – Eversheds, Hammonds and Clarke Willmott. Jane continues to work with DLA Piper as a consultant. 

In September 2016 Jane co-founded the West Midlands Women's Voice Group which aims to ensure that the voice of women influences emerging policy from the West Midlands Combined Authority. 

Jane’s recent focus is on a joint venture between Adducere LLP and Wilmott Dixon to provide public bodies with an alternative funding model through Adjuto Funding Solutions. 

Gareth Bradford

Director of Housing & Regeneration

West Midlands Combined Authority

Gareth joined the senior leadership team in December 2017 established by Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street and WMCA chief executive Deborah Cadman.

Gareth worked in central Government from 2010 to 2017, where his roles included a 2.5 year secondment to the No10 Policy Unit as a policy adviser on themes such as affordable housing, land, small businesses, regeneration, planning, build to rent and right to buy.

His previous roles were as deputy director responsible for a cross-Whitehall division for regeneration and infrastructure, leading bespoke housing and regeneration deals in growth areas. Also as a team leader working on planning reform and legislation. Before that he was a senior planning officer and team leader at Devon County Council which he joined on graduation with a MSC in planning from Cardiff University.

Originally from Devon, he is married with a young daughter and is a keen sports fan, playing rugby union for Exeter and Devon as a youth.

Gareth will oversee implementation of the WMCA’s plans to increase the supply of land for housing and employment to help meet growth levels set out in its Strategic Economic Plan.

Paul Brundage

Executive Vice President & Senior Managing Director

Oxford Properties Europe

Paul Brundage is the Head of Oxford Properties’ London office, and is responsible for overseeing and managing the execution of the company’s European strategy, with emphasis on continued growth of the team and expansion into European markets alongside the UK.

Paul has been with OMERS for 15 years. Prior to opening Oxford Properties’ London office in 2008, Paul was accountable for the asset management and operations of Oxford’s 50-million sq ft Canadian portfolio. He has held positions with Borealis Real Estate Management Inc. and OMERS Realty Corporation, Prudential of England and PricewaterhouseCoopers in asset and portfolio management, leasing, business development, acquisitions and dispositions and investment analysis.

Paul holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Economics and Geography from the University of Toronto and a Masters of Arts in Urban and Regional Analysis from State University of New York.

Paul is a Fellow of RICS, and is actively involved in the UK’s economics and property landscape. He is Junior Vice President on the Board of the British Property Federation (BPF) and sits on their Policy Committee. Paul is also part of the Bank of England Property Advisory Committee, and is a member of the Henley Business School Strategy Board.

Helen Gordon

Chief Executive

Grainger plc

Helen Gordon is Chief Executive of Grainger plc the UK’s largest listed residential landlord.  

Helen was appointed Chief Executive of Grainger in January 2016 from RBS where she had been Global Head of Real Estate Asset Management since October 2011. Prior to that Helen was Director of Legal and General Property, responsible for the Main Life Fund and c.8 smaller Funds, and Group Property Director of Railtrack and Managing Director of John Laing Developments.

Helen sits on the Board of Derwent London as a non-executive Director and is currently a Board Director of the European Public Real Estate Association and Junior Vice President of the British Property Federation. Helen has held a number of non-exec positions and Government appointments including the Board of Covent Garden Market Authority, Board of British Waterways, TfL Property Board and was a Trustee for The College of Estate Management for nine years.

Andrew Jones

Chief Executive

LondonMetric Property plc

Andrew was a co-founder and CEO of Metric from its inception in March 2010 until its merger with London & Stamford in January 2013.  On completion of the merger, Andrew became Chief Executive of LondonMetric.  Andrew was previously Executive Director and Head of Retail at British Land. Andrew joined British Land in 2005 following the acquisition of Pillar Property plc.

Andrew is also a Non-Executive Director of Unite plc - the UK's leading provider of student accommodation.

Sadie Malim

Head of Special Projects & Legal

Moorfield Group

Sadie has over 10 years of experience in UK Alternative Investment asset management. She has worked in the student accommodation, youth hostels, pubs, build to rent and senior living sectors and now focusses on driving the customer experience across all Moorfield’s operational assets. Sadie’s wider role at Moorfield includes responsibility for overseeing and implementing specific projects that require both private equity and real estate knowledge. She works closely with the Board on multiple fronts including the Moorfield (and its investments) brand and media strategy, together with various other operational matters. She also oversees its ESG policy and transactional, legal and regulatory functions. Sadie has an MA in PPE from Oxford University and a post-graduate degree in Law. Prior to joining Moorfield, Sadie worked in the Private Equity group at Clifford Chance where she advised international private equity clients on acquisitions, disposals, MBOs and listings. Moorfield is a UK real estate private equity fund manager with a 21 year track record of investing across a broad range of real estate sectors. Moorfield has raised c.£1.5bn since 2005 via its value-add MREF funds and its dedicated special purpose fund (MAREF) that owns the senior housing platform Audley.

Melanie Leech CBE

Chief Executive

BPF

Melanie joined the British Property Federation as Chief Executive in January 2015, following nine years as Director General of the Food and Drink Federation.

Melanie began her working life as a Police Constable in the Metropolitan Police Service. She joined the civil service (HM Customs) in 1988 and subsequently held senior roles in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Office of the Rail Regulator and the Cabinet Office. Her role is to champion UK real estate and to promote a long-term, sustainable partnership between governments and the sector to deliver a high quality built environment, and to create wealth.

Melanie is a Fellow of the RSA and a member of the Battersea. In 2015 she was awarded a CBE for services to the food and drink industry.

Pete Gladwell

Head of Public Sector Partnerships

LGIM Real Assets

Pete Gladwell joined Legal & General in August 2007, with responsibility for the design and development of new funds and overseeing relationships with pension funds, investment consultants, and insurance clients. He led on the creation of a new generation of property funds particularly focussed on liability matching and Defined Contributions pension funds and L&G’s joint ventures with Dutch pension funds, which now total over £5 billion. In 2013, Pete was appointed Head of Public Sector Partnerships, to lead L&G's direct investments across property and infrastructure into partnerships with Local and Combined Authorities, Registered Providers, Universities, the NHS, and central government, including One Public Estate and the “RIO Regeneration Investment Collective” with the Department of International Trade. These investments total over £4.35bn.

Pete was formally a Senior Analyst in DTZ Research and enjoyed an erstwhile life as a youth worker for seven years in the Oxfordshire area.

Pete is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and Member of Brasenose College, Oxford University; holding a post-graduate MA, as well as an initial degree in Computation. He also holds the Investment Management Certificate.

Pete is also a Trustee for the Young Foundation, which works to create a more equal and just society through social innovation, and heavily involved in local community initiatives in Harlesden, London.

Matt Jones

Director, Real Estate Finance

Santander Corporate & Commercial

Matt has over 30 years of experience in the banking industry, specialising in real estate finance across the North West for the last 17 years. Previously at RBS and Barclays, Matt joined Santander in 2013 and currently heads up the North West team, covering Manchester, Liverpool, Preston and North Wales. Matt has been involved in some of the region’s largest transactions, and brings unique experience of the challenges facing the senior debt market.

Karen Hirst

Director

Eric Wright Group

Karen joined as a Director in 2016 and was promoted to Managing Director of Maple Grove Developments, part of the Eric Wright Group, in January 2018.  Her role involves overseeing all of the commercial development opportunities, bringing in and delivering new developments working with both public and private sector partners. Karen is also the lead for the Lancashire Central site which totals 160 acres, acting as Lancashire County Council’s developer partner for the first phase of retail development. Karen also works across the Group supporting the public/private partnerships. Karen spent the last 10 years in Salford as Development Director at Salford City Council and Central Salford Regeneration Company.  At Salford City Council Karen led the Regeneration, Property, Housing, Planning, Transport and Business and Funding Teams.  The Team delivered a number of major mixed use physical development projects working in partnership with both the public and private sector. 

Current and previous roles:

Maple Grove Developments part of the Eric Wright Group: June 2016 to present.

Director at Salford City Council: February 2011 to June 2016.

Director at Central Salford Urban Regeneration Company, prior to the transfer to Salford City Council: September 2006 to February 2011.

Infrastructure in North Wales at the Welsh Assembly Government (formerly Welsh Development Agency – Investment and Area Development Director) where she undertook regeneration projects in Wrexham, Bangor and Caernarfon: September 2001 to September 2006 

Easter Group – Director where Karen managed and developed a multi-million pound property portfolio in North Wales and North West England: November 1996 to September 2001.

Lorraine Donnelly

Development Director

Your Housing Group

Lorraine has worked in a construction environment for more than 30 years, she is responsible for the delivery of the Group's Growth Strategy which will deliver 5,700 homes over the next 5 years.

Lorraine started her career in a busy estimating department for Balfour Beatty Civil Engineers in 1988. This early experience helped her to develop her love of working in a busy, thriving construction environment; so to land a job in the development team back in 1994, to mix construction and housing, was the start of her dream career for her.  During her 24 years working for the Group she has had a number of roles within the team, before taking up the role of Director of Development in the summer of 2015, with overall responsibility to deliver the growth aspirations and provide quality homes that we can be really proud of.

When she’s not on site … Lorraine spends lots of time with her family and friends, she loves visiting places to tick off her bucket list, but more importantly is a season ticket holder at Everton FC.

David Sleath

Chief Executive Officer

SEGRO

David Sleath was appointed Chief Executive Officer of SEGRO in April 2011 having been Finance Director since 1 January 2006. Previously, he was Finance Director of Wagon plc, the international automotive engineering group, from 1999 to 2005. From 1982 to 1999 he worked for Arthur Andersen, latterly as a Partner and Head of Audit and Assurance for the Midlands. He is a board member and the immediate Past President of the British Property Federation.

Bob Weston

Chairman and Chief Executive

Weston Homes plc

Bob Weston is Chairman and Chief Executive of Weston Homes Plc. He left Fairview New Homes to form the company in 1987 and has spent a lifetime in the housebuilding sector. From the first development, a four bedroom, detached house in Essex, Bob has developed Weston Homes into a company which now delivers over 800 homes a year across the South East. Bob is a regular commentator on issues shaping housebuilding in the UK and has been working with government and policy-makers to effect change in the industry.

Claire Dutch

Partner and Head of Planning`

Hogan Lovells International LLP

Claire is a partner and Head of Planning at Hogan Lovells International LLP.  She has been described in the Legal Directories as "amongst the top planning lawyers in the country",  She specialises in all aspects of contentious and non-contentious planning law.  She has advised on a number of complex and high profile planning projects including Bishopsgate Goodsyard and key sites within Nine Elms and in the London Docklands.  Claire also has experience of advising on infrastructure projects and on energy and waste projects in particular.

 Claire is listed as a "Leading Individual" in both Legal 500 and Chambers UK and has been described in the latter as "calm yet keen, an excellent negotiator and a lawyer who really fights her client's corner".  

She recently featured in The Planner's 2018 poll of the most influential women in the UK planning system and also in Planning Magazine's 2016 poll.  She was also one of only 6 solicitors listed in Planning Magazine's "Power 100", a poll of the most influential people in the planning industry.

She is also a member of the BPF's Planning Committee and the Oxford Joint Planning Law Conference Committee. 

Jules Pipe

Deputy Mayor for Planning, Regeneration and Skills

Greater London Authority

Jules Pipe is the Deputy Mayor for Planning, Regeneration and Skills. He is working on key priorities for the Mayor, including: major regeneration projects across the capital, providing young people and adults with the skills they need for their careers, ensuring London’s infrastructure needs are delivered to benefit all Londoners, and leading on revising the London Plan. 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 June 2010 to July 2016.

Sir Steve Bullock

Mayor

London Borough of Lewisham

Sir Steve Bullock was elected as Lewisham’s first directly-elected mayor in 2002. He was elected for a fourth term in May 2014. He serves as Deputy Leader of the Labour Group at the Local Government Association (LGA) and is Chair of the Commercial Board. He was elected to the London Councils’ executive in June 2010 and leads on Housing.

Mayor Sir Steve’s local government career started in policy in the then Greater London Council (GLC). In 1982 he was elected on to Lewisham Council, where he served as Leader for five years between 1988 and 1993. He also ran a local Community Health Council and later became non-executive director and then Chair of Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust.

Sir Steve's services to local government were recognised with a knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours list in June 2007.

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 £28.0bn* AUM providing capabilities in real estate, infrastructure and corporate debt. Bill previously held positions at RREEF, the Real Estate Fund Management business of Deutsche Bank and Schroder Property Investment Management. 

Bill 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.  Bill was a Commissioner for the Lyons Review, is a Past Chairman of  the Association of Real

Estate Funds (AREF) and a Past President of the British Property Federation (BPF).

Rob Groves

Regional Director

Argent

Rob Groves, is the Regional Director of Argent and has over 30 years of planning, design, construction and commercial experience. Prior to joining Argent in 2007 he was an Equity Partner at a large multi-disciplinary consulting engineer practice. His development experience includes mixed use, residential, commercial, industrial schemes as well as major public sector infrastructure.

Rob has led schemes from feasibility through to planning, compulsory purchase, which includes expert witness work, detailed design, funding both private and public sector, construction and commercial legals and lettings.

He is head of Argents’ Birmingham office and is leading the Paradise project in Birmingham, which is a joint venture with Birmingham City Council for a new commercial led mixed use development of 2 million sq/ft in the City centre, which is one of the biggest city centre projects in the regions. The project was one of the first in England to secure Enterprise Zone funding, delivering major site wide infrastructure changes to the city centre, the first phase of which is close to completion.

Rob is also the chair of the Midlands British Council of Offices.

Waheed Nazir

Corporate Director, Economy

Birmingham City Council

As Corporate Director Economy, Birmingham City Council, Waheed has worked for the authority in various roles for 20 years. Waheed provides strategic leadership and direction across a wide portfolio, including the Council’s property portfolio, planning, regeneration, housing development, transportation and connectivity, highways and infrastructure, skills and employment, business development and inward investment.

Waheed led the major transformation of the city centre through the Big City Plan, bringing forward key projects including Birmingham Smithfield, Snowhill, Paradise and New Street redevelopment. He oversees £2.5bn public sector investment through the Enterprise Zone and HS2 Curzon masterplan. 

Alongside leading Birmingham Municipal Housing Trust, one of the city’s largest housebuilders, Waheed led the Council to set up a series of commercial vehicles including InReach, the Council’s vehicle for building new homes across the city, and the development of an investment vehicle for commercial property to help deliver growth.

Waheed is a non-executive Director of Birmingham Airport Holdings Limited.

Waheed is a columnist for Estates Gazette, and a visiting Professor at Birmingham City University, he mentors a number of graduates demonstrating commitment to support the development of future professionals in the field.

Waheed was awarded an honorary Doctorate by Aston University in July 2017.

Tony Pidgley CBE

Chairman

The Berkeley Group

He left school at 15 to form his own company in haulage and plant hire. At 19, he sold his business to Crest Homes and became a Building Director, before leaving to form Berkeley Homes in 1975. The company enjoyed rapid growth, floated on the Unlisted Securities Market in 1984, and then gained a full listing in 1985 as the Berkeley Group plc.

Tony has gained a national reputation for his pioneering approach to building homes and creating successful places. His judgement of the markets, willingness to put his personal capital at risk, and his drive and commercial flair have made Berkeley one of Britain's best residential developers. In 2011, Berkeley was ranked Britain's Most Admired Company across all sectors and is the only housebuilder to win the Queen's Award for Sustainable Development twice.

Tony is now part of Lord Heseltine's Thames Estuary Growth Commission. His expertise has been used to advise the recent Estate Regeneration Advisory Panel, the Mayor on the Outer London Commission and the Government on the disposal of public sector land. He is also a trustee of Open City London, a charity that champions architecture education, and President of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In 2016, he was nominated New Londoner of the Year in recognition of his contribution to housebuilding across the capital.

Maria Machancoses

Director

Midlands Connect

With a degree in Law and an MSc in International Transport, Maria has spent the last 20 years working in the UK.

Maria is currently Director for Midlands Connect, one of the largest and most successful partnership programmes in the country bringing together 23 Local Authorities and 9 Local Enterprise Partnerships across the Midlands from the Marches to the Wash. 

In March 2017 the partnership published a 25 year pan-Midlands transport strategy for the region, therefore increasing economic activity and helping to power the Midlands Engine. Since its formation the partnership has secured over £17m support from government to accelerate the delivery of its transport priorities from 2020 and beyond.

More recently Maria has been working as Interim Director of the Midlands Engine, a partnership which aims to generate a step change in productivity, economic growth in the Midlands and help drive Britain’s post-Brexit growth.

As part of her previous role, Maria managed the WM Integrated Transport Authority’s input into the HS2 Hybrid Bill and was actively involved in master-planning activities around proposed HS2 Stations in the West Midlands. 

Cllr Nicola Beech

Cabinet Member for Spatial Planning and City Design

Bristol City Council

Councillor Nicola Beech was elected ward councillor for St George Central in 2016 and was appointed by Mayor Marvin Rees to the cabinet in July 2017 to lead on Spatial Planning and City Design. This sees her play a key role in delivering the West of England’s Joint Spatial Plan and Bristol’s Local Plan. She also represents Bristol on the West of England Combined Authority infrastructure advisory board and is the 2017 councillor representative on the West of England Nature Partnership Board.

Following her relocation to Bristol in May 2010 Nicola has worked in the area of brownfield regeneration, and property management and development.

Nicola splits her time and is employed as the strategic communications manager for a multinational utilities company conducting the internal and external communications and stakeholder engagement activity across the UK.

Nicola is also a trustee of the Meadowvale Community Association and a governor of Speedwell Nursery in east Bristol.

Matt Cross

Head of Inward Investment

Bristol & Bath

An inward investment specialist with a masters in International Business from Birkbeck College. Matt has worked in international business in both the public and private sector for most of his career, spanning London, New York, Plymouth and Bristol. He worked for internet companies during the .com boom and inward investment focused accountants. But for most of his career he has worked in inward investment for London building a reputation working for large complex global businesses investing or invested in London.

Currently he is Head of Inward Investment for Invest Bristol & Bath, the West of England Combined Authorities investment promotion agency. 

David Biggs

Managing Director, Property

Network Rail

With over 25 years’ experience operating as a senior executive for major companies, David is the Managing Director for Network Rail’s property division. He has established a new strategic direction for the business based on a strong customer centric philosophy applied across all commercial activities including Retail, the Commercial Estate and Development. David has also been instrumental in the adoption of a partnering approach with developers to drive commercial value from the railway estate and releasing land for housing as well as leading on the Network Rail property disposal programme.

Mayor Marvin Rees

Mayor of Bristol

Bristol City Council (Keynote)

Born and brought up in Bristol, Marvin started his career working for faith based youth charities which led him to set up his own enterprise in 2012, the City Leadership Programme, which invests in the personal development of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

He joined the BBC as a broadcast journalist and covered stories of Jamaican women in the drugs trade to tensions between communities in his home city. Eventually he moved on to explore another deep passion of his as he joined the Heaven and Earth Team at Religion and Ethics in Manchester. He also worked on the initial effort to organise the response of faith-based organisations to former President Bill Clinton's Welfare Reform Bill, and sat on the National Executive of the Jubilee 2000 USA campaign for debt relief for the world's poorest countries.

Marvin started working with the NHS in 2008 managing the Delivering Race Equality in Mental Healthcare action plan for Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset. Then planned and supported the development of strategic collaborations between city and regional partners and Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership Trust.

He took part in the Yale World Fellows Program, the University's signature global leadership development initiative and completed a Master’s Degree in global economic development at Eastern University in the USA. He also joined the Labour Party’s Future Candidates Programme in 2011, learning from recognised leaders the skills and qualities necessary to be a strong and committed representative.

In May 2016 he was elected the second Mayor of Bristol. 

Tony Pidgley CBE

Chairman

The Berkeley Group

He left school at 15 to form his own company in haulage and plant hire. At 19, he sold his business to Crest Homes and became a Building Director, before leaving to form Berkeley Homes in 1975. The company enjoyed rapid growth, floated on the Unlisted Securities Market in 1984, and then gained a full listing in 1985 as the Berkeley Group plc.

Tony has gained a national reputation for his pioneering approach to building homes and creating successful places. His judgement of the markets, willingness to put his personal capital at risk, and his drive and commercial flair have made Berkeley one of Britain's best residential developers. In 2011, Berkeley was ranked Britain's Most Admired Company across all sectors and is the only housebuilder to win the Queen's Award for Sustainable Development twice.

Tony is now part of Lord Heseltine's Thames Estuary Growth Commission. His expertise has been used to advise the recent Estate Regeneration Advisory Panel, the Mayor on the Outer London Commission and the Government on the disposal of public sector land. He is also a trustee of Open City London, a charity that champions architecture education, and President of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In 2016, he was nominated New Londoner of the Year in recognition of his contribution to housebuilding across the capital.

Craig McWilliam

Chief Executive

Grosvenor Britain & Ireland

Craig McWilliam, FRICS, was appointed to the Grosvenor Britain & Ireland Board in 2010. In 2013 he became the Executive Director responsible for the London estate, having previously had charge of all development activities off the London estate. In January 2017, Craig became CEO of Grosvenor Britain & Ireland. Prior to joining Grosvenor he was a Managing Director at Fortress Investment Group.

Craig is an Honorary Fellow of the RICS, a Trustee of LandAid and a Director of London First. He also sits on BPF's Policy Committee and is Vice-Chairman of the Westminster Property Association.

Eiichiro Onozawa

Managing Director

Mitsui Fudosan UK

Eiichiro Onozawa joined Mitsui Fudosan UK in April 2014 as Deputy Managing Director and was promoted to the role of Managing Director in April 2016. His global real estate career spans more than 26 years with the Mitsui Fudosan Group and he is highly experienced in development, marketing, leasing, and asset management.

Before transferring to London, he spent four years as Senior Vice President of Mitsui Fudosan America, Inc., where he was responsible for strategising growth plans and assessing acquisition and disposal transactions within the company’s investment committee.

Eiichiro graduated with a Bachelor of Law from Keio University in Tokyo and earned an MBA from Georgetown University in Washington DC.

He serves as a Non-Executive Director of Stanhope plc and is a member of CLEAB, the Cambridge Land Economy Advisory Board (University of Cambridge).

Chris Taylor

Chief Executive Officer & Head of Private Markets

Hermes Real Estate

Chris joined Hermes Real Estate Investment Management Ltd (HREIM) in 2010 as CEO having successfully established the Australian Fund Manager QIC’s European office based in London. Prior to that Chris was head of European Property at HSBC.

The majority of his working career has previously been as Fund Manager at Prudential where he took a lead role in both the establishment and successful implementation of the diversification strategy of its UK real estate exposure into overseas markets. From this, Chris has an extensive knowledge of both the UK and European property markets and in particular the retail sector.

Chris is Chairman of MEPC, a non-executive director of New River Retail (UK) Ltd, a member of the Bank of England Property Committee, Vice President of the British Property Federation and a Chair of its Policy Committee, a member of BCSC and a Founder Board Member of INREV.

As CEO of Hermes Real Estate, managing over £6 billion of real estate, Chris is also the BTPS Director on the Argent Board and has been an active participant in Argent King’s Cross and King’s Cross Central for the past 3 years. Chris is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and holds a BSc (Hons) in Land Management from Reading University.

Robert Noel

Group Chief Executive

Land Securities Group plc

Robert Noel (53) is the Chief Executive of Land Securities Group PLC. Landsec is the UK’s largest listed property company and is a constituent of the FTSE100. It owns over 23 million square feet of commercial floor space and has approximately 1,000,000 visitors to its buildings every day. From 1992 to 2002, he was a Director of Nelson Bakewell Ltd, the property services group. From June 2002 until October 2009, he was Property Director of Great Portland Estates plc. He joined Landsec in January 2010 as Managing Director of its London business and was subsequently appointed Chief Executive from 1 April 2012. Robert is a Trustee of the Natural History Museum and is a member of the Boards of both the British Property Federation (BPF) and the European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA).

Fiona Fletcher-Smith

Group Director for Development and Sales

L&Q

Fiona is the Group Director for Development and Sales at L&Q, a regulated charitable housing association and one of UK’s most successful independent social businesses. She is responsible for the delivery of 100k quality new homes over the next 10 years, while improving the customer journey for people renting or buying L&Q homes.

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

A graduate of the University of Northumbria and the London School of Economics, Fiona has worked in a variety of voluntary and public-sector roles including advising homeless people in Dublin, housing management, development and regeneration and strategy and policy development.

Olivia Harris

Chief Executive

Dolphin Living

Olivia Harris was appointed as Chief Executive of Dolphin Living in April 2017. Previously, Olivia was Finance Director at Dolphin, providing financial and commercial oversight on a wide range of property and related projects, including debt and fund raising. Olivia is a Chartered Accountant and has worked for more than 15 years in the property industry.

Jennie Daly

Group Operations Director

Taylor Wimpey

Jennie was appointed to the Taylor Wimpey PLC Board in April 2018 and also holds the role of Group Operations Director. Jennie joined Taylor Wimpey in 2014 from Redrow plc, as UK Planning Director, before becoming UK Land Director in 2015. She has a wealth of experience in the housebuilding industry gained from roles which include strategic land and managing director of Harrow Estates Plc. As Group Operations Director, Jennie oversees the land, planning, design and technical, production and supply chain functions, in addition to managing the Taylor Wimpey Logistics business. Jennie is also a non-executive director of the Peabody Trust, a large affordable housing provider based in London.  

Karen Cooksley

Partner

Winckworth Sherwood

Karen is a leading member of Winckworth Sherwood’s multi-disciplinary Private Rented Sector group. She heads the Firm’s highly regarded specialist planning team, advising clients on the full spectrum of planning and environmental issues they face, including devising strategies for obtaining planning permissions and other consents, viability, environmental impact assessment, s106 agreements and CIL, compulsory purchase and highways matters. She has particular expertise in relation to mixed use developments, tall buildings, urban extensions, waterside schemes and the optimisation of consents to increase financial value for clients. She works for leading developers, private rented sector operator and management companies, national housebuilders, registered providers, local authorities and funders. The majority of her projects are in London – she is currently working on several tall building projects, advising on the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station and other major schemes in the Vauxhall opportunity area and securing office to residential conversions under permitted development rights. She and her team also work across the country – they have recently obtained permission for the £5.5 billion Liverpool Waters scheme and are advising on new settlements in Cambridgeshire, Devon and Kent.

Cath Shaw

Deputy CE, London Borough of Barnet

Board Member Peabody

As Deputy Chief Executive of Barnet Council, Cath is responsible for the Council’s growth programme, finances and major commercial relationships. She oversees the largest housing delivery programme in Outer London, with 27,000 new homes to be delivered by the middle of the next decade. She sits on the board of the Council’s joint venture with Argent Related to deliver a new town centre at Brent Cross, including 7,000 new homes and a substantial new office quarter. Prior to joining Barnet, Cath was Assistant Chief Executive of Harlow Council and a Senior Civil Servant in DCLG. In 2010 Cath joined the board of Family Mosaic Housing Group, and following the recent merger with Peabody now sits on the Board of the Peabody Group.

Robert Evans

Partner

Argent (Property Development) Services LLP

Robert joined Argent Group PLC in 2001 and became an Executive Director in 2004. In 2012 he became a founding Partner of Argent (Property Development) Services LLP. Robert has overall responsibility for Argent’s residential projects and also oversees communications and public affairs.  He is also one of the Partners charged with seeking out and securing new development opportunities. 

Robert has led the planning work at King’s Cross since 2001 and sits on the King’s Cross Central Limited Partnership Board. Robert has also been involved in Argent projects in Manchester and the Thames Valley. 

Robert is a Member of the King’s Cross Academy Trust that sponsors the new King's Cross Academy school, which opens its doors in September 2015. He is also Chair of Governors.  Robert is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and a member of the committee for the Joint Planning Law Conference, held each year in Oxford. He formerly chaired the British Property Federation’s Development Committee and the Tottenham Landowners’ and Major Businesses Group. 

Before joining Argent, Robert worked in planning and environmental consultancy and gained experience in a wide range of public and private sector development and infrastructure projects in the UK, Canada and Norway. 

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.

Lynda Shillaw

Divisional Chief Executive for Property

Manchester Airports Group

Lynda Shillaw joined Manchester Airports Group (MAG) as Divisional Chief Executive Officer for Property in June 2014.

Lynda joined from Scottish Widows Investment Partnership where she held the role of Director of Real Estate. The role at MAG reports to Group CEO Charlie Cornish, and oversees the group’s £571m property division across its four airports. The existing portfolio also includes the £800m Airport City development at Manchester Airport.

Graduating in 1986 with a degree in Accountancy and Finance, Lynda has had a strong 20+ year career in the property industry, where she has headed Co-operative Estates plus roles at Lloyds Banking Group and BT where she worked for 18 years.

She has also held executive positions as a pension fund Trustee, an Environment Commissioner, a member of AGMA’s Business Leadership Council and a BT Regional Director. She is a Chartered Management Accountant with a degree in Accounting and Finance. 

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 £28.0bn* AUM providing capabilities in real estate, infrastructure and corporate debt. Bill previously held positions at RREEF, the Real Estate Fund Management business of Deutsche Bank and Schroder Property Investment Management. 

Bill 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.  Bill was a Commissioner for the Lyons Review, is a Past Chairman of  the Association of Real

Estate Funds (AREF) and a Past President of the British Property Federation (BPF).

James Sidlow

Project Director

Allied London

James Sidlow is the Residential Director at Allied London leading on the residential assets at St John’s, Trinity Islands and London Road Fire Station. James’ role includes acquisition, funding, concept and design. Prior to practical completion he provides strategic advice in relation to the sales, lettings and management strategy. He is responsible for a portfolio of over 2,500 units; a mixture of residential for sale, long term and short term build to rent, co-living and serviced apartments.

Prior to joining Allied London, James was an Assistant Director at Deloitte LLP where he provided investment and development advice to a range of clients including developers, private equity houses, international funds, high street banks and central government. He has experience in advising on a range of property types, including development sites, airports, city centre offices and residential premises.

His experience stretches cross border, having worked across Europe, the Far East and the Middle East.  James is a Chartered Surveyor and Registered Valuer.

Jessica Bowles

Director of Strategy

Bruntwood

Jessica joined the business in April 2016, a new role to support the company’s ambitions for long term growth.  Previously Jessica worked at Manchester City Council as head of City Policy.  Most recently she developed the 10 year Manchester Strategy ‘Our Manchester’ with partners across the city, lead work on the Northern Powerhouse with Richard Leese and other city leaders across the North and took a central role in the devolution agenda.  Before coming to Manchester Jessica spent 15 years in Whitehall in a diverse range of roles related to transport and local government.

Pete Gladwell

Head of Public Sector Partnerships

LGIM Real Assets

Pete Gladwell joined Legal & General in August 2007, with responsibility for the design and development of new funds and overseeing relationships with pension funds, investment consultants, and insurance clients. He led on the creation of a new generation of property funds particularly focussed on liability matching and Defined Contributions pension funds and L&G’s joint ventures with Dutch pension funds, which now total over £5 billion. In 2013, Pete was appointed Head of Public Sector Partnerships, to lead L&G's direct investments across property and infrastructure into partnerships with Local and Combined Authorities, Registered Providers, Universities, the NHS, and central government, including One Public Estate and the “RIO Regeneration Investment Collective” with the Department of International Trade. These investments total over £4.35bn.

Pete was formally a Senior Analyst in DTZ Research and enjoyed an erstwhile life as a youth worker for seven years in the Oxfordshire area.

Pete is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and Member of Brasenose College, Oxford University; holding a post-graduate MA, as well as an initial degree in Computation. He also holds the Investment Management Certificate.

Pete is also a Trustee for the Young Foundation, which works to create a more equal and just society through social innovation, and heavily involved in local community initiatives in Harlesden, London.

Rob Perrins

Chief Executive

The Berkeley Group

Rob is Chief Executive of the Berkeley Group, one of Britain’s most successful, sustainable developers. He joined the company in 1994 having qualified as a chartered accountant with Ernst & Young. He was appointed to the Main Board in 2001 and became Chief Executive in 2009. 

In 2010, Rob launched a ten year plan for the Berkeley Group called Our Vision. This set out to make the company a modern world class business, blending homes, parks and community facilities to create fantastic places where people love to live. By 2016, under Rob's management, Berkeley was supporting 30,000 jobs across Britain and contributing £2.6 billion to the UK's Gross Domestic Product - £32 for every person in the UK.  

Rob regularly contributes to public debates about the direction of housing policy and the property market and is a member of the Bank of England’s Residential Property Forum, as well as a council member of Aston University and a Governor of Wellington College. 

Cllr Claire Kober OBE

Leader

London Borough of Haringey

Claire Kober was elected as a Haringey Councillor in May 2006 and became Leader of the Council in December 2008. She first became involved in politics as a student, believing it was the means to achieve change for a better, fairer and more just society. Her professional career has been rooted in the voluntary sector, working in policy roles for a number of national charities.

In her time as Leader, Claire has prioritised improving education outcomes for all children in the borough, wide-scale regeneration and delivering better housing. Claire’s focus will continue to be on securing £1 billion of extra investment in Haringey, building new homes, securing new jobs and providing residents and businesses with new opportunities to succeed.

Claire is the Chair of London Councils – the regional body that brings together the capital’s 32 boroughs to lobby for fairer funding and a better quality of life for Londoners. Claire also represents the region on the London Enterprise Panel and plays a senior role at a national level as Chair of the Resources Board and portfolio holder at the Local Government Association.

Cllr Darren Rodwell

Leader

London Borough of Barking & Dagenham

Darren is a passionate community champion. Prior to becoming a councillor, he led a tenant & resident’s association and was at the forefront of the Labour Party campaign which led to the defeat of the British National Party in Barking in 2010. He has also worked in welfare rights and has set up a food bank as well as serving as a non-executive director in the NHS and a school governor. Darren was first elected to Barking & Dagenham Council in 2010 and became Leader in 2014. Since then he has set the vision and direction of the Council which includes Barking & Dagenham being London’s growth opportunity. He was also responsible for a series of successful festivals which marked the borough’s 50th anniversary in 2015 which included a visit by Her Majesty the Queen. Since 2014 he has led Barking & Dagenham Council through a transformation programme to secure £63m of savings over the next four years at the same time as delivering real time improvements in services.

Lord Bob Kerslake

Chair, Peabody

and President of the Local Government Association

Lord Kerslake is Chair of Peabody, London’s King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London Collective Investment Vehicle (London CIV), and the Centre for Public Scrutiny (CfPS). In addition to this, he is and is president of the Local Government Association, became Chair of Sheffield Theatres in late 2015 and was appointed as chair of the Board of Governors for Sheffield Hallam University in October 2016. He was recently appointed as Chair of Be First, a regeneration company established by Barking and Dagenham Council.

A former Head of the Civil Service, Lord Kerslake led the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) from November 2010, stepping down in February 2015. Prior to this, he was the first Chief Executive of the Homes and Communities Agency.

Before joining the Civil Service Lord Kerslake received a knighthood for his services to local government, spending eight years serving the London Borough of Hounslow and then a further 11 years leading Sheffield Council. In early 2015, he was made a life peer, taking the title Baron Kerslake, of Endcliffe in the City of Sheffield.

Jason Schofield

Chief Executive

Sutton Harbour Holdings plc

Jason was appointed to Executive Director in December 2007 and Chief Executive in January 2012. He has been with Sutton Harbour Holdings Plc since June 2007. He is a chartered surveyor and previously held senior positions at Hammerson Plc and Crest Nicholson Plc.

Harry Badham

UK Head of Development

AXA Real Estate

Harry is the UK Head of Development at AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets. Over the last 5 years, AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets have overseen over 1m sqft of mixed use commercial development in the UK, winning several industry awards including the ULI global award for excellence. AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets has a current UK development pipeline in excess of 2m sqft focused on workplace and mixed use environments. 

Nicolas Guérin

Managing Director

Linkcity

Nicolas has almost 20 years’ experience in Property Development and was appointed Managing Director of Bouygues Development (now called Linkcity) in 2012.  Prior to that he was head of Bouygues Development’s London Region for 4 years and also worked with Sodearif, the property arm of the Bouygues Group in France.  He leads a team of 45 professionals developing mixed-use schemes such as Canning Town, one of the biggest urban regeneration schemes in the UK as well as residential and commercial projects.  Linkcity is generating c. £200m sales per year.

Nicolas is also the Chairman of Uliving, one of the UK’s leading investors and providers of student accommodation on University campuses with a large portfolio of 6,000 units including 3,000 units for Hertfordshire University and 1,500 for Essex University.

Nicolas’s experience ranges from high rise office buildings in Paris’s La Défense district to mixed-used projects including the development of numerous residential units, retail space and student housing units in France and in the UK.

Ron Persaud

Co-Founder

Change Real Estate

Ron Persaud is director of Bristol based developer Change Real Estate, which he founded with business partner Jonathan Bloomer. Ron has been in the real estate business for 30 years, where he has specialised in acquiring land and buildings, usually off market to create mixed use schemes throughout the UK. Change Real Estate is active in its home city, with the £180million regeneration scheme at Redcliff Quarter currently being built out. The development will include a 22 storey residential tower – the tallest in the city. Other developments in Bristol include the Old Brewery site in Southville where a planning application for a mixed-use development is due for submission before the end of the year. Close to completion is the renovation back to their original residential use of an iconic row of Georgian townhouses at Redcliffe Parade.  

Prior to forming Change Real Estate, Ron was CEO of the Cuckfield Group. Here he obtained planning consent for over 4,000,000 sq ft with a gross development value in excess of £400m, and had joint ventures with Morgan Grenfell, Deutsche Bank, Tritax, Raven Group, Persimmon Group, JJ Gallagher, Anglo Irish and RBS.  

Jo Davis

National Head of Planning Development & Regeneration

GVA

Jo Davis is National Head of Planning Development & Regeneration in the Bristol office of property adviser, GVA. Heading up the Planning, Development and Regeneration team across the South West and Wales, her twenty years’ experience in the industry has seen her involved in the planning of many of the region’s most prominent regeneration projects, residential housing developments, and complex brownfield site developments, working alongside companies and organisations such as HCA, St Modwen, Change Real Estate, Skanska, Goodmans, Royal London, Linden Homes, and Barratt Homes.

Jo is a firm believer in taking the holistic view to achieving commercially deliverable and sustainable development. Aware of both the opportunities and obstacles to effective delivery, she has an extensive understanding of what is achievable in this emerging market.