CREATING CONNECTIONS... GENERATING OPPORTUNITIES

Mark Farmer

Founding Director & CEO

Cast 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’.

Tony Pidgley CBE

Chairman

The Berkeley Group

Tony Pidgley CBE is Chairman of 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 in 1976. Under his leadership the business has grown to become a FTSE 100 company and builds more than 4,000 homes a year. At Berkeley, Tony has led some of the country’s most challenging and celebrated regeneration programmes, including the reinvention of the Royal Arsenal munitions site in Woolwich, and the revival of Hackney’s Woodberry Down estate. He has pioneered a holistic approach to placemaking and is passionate about working in partnership with local people to create welcoming communities that inspire civic pride and enhance wellbeing. Tony has advised successive Governments on regeneration, housing and developing public land. He was a member of Lord Heseltine's Estate Regeneration Advisory Panel, the Thames Estuary 2050 Growth Commission and the Mayor’s Outer London Commission. He was the longest serving President in the history of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry and was awarded a CBE in 2013 for “services to the housing sector and the community.

Gareth Bradford

Director of Housing & Regeneration

West Midlands Combined Authority

Gareth is Director of Housing and Regeneration for the West Midlands Combined Authority where he oversees over £600m+ of devolved housing and land funds across an area covering 19 local councils and 3 local enterprise partnerships. He leads the development and implementation of the region’s ambitious housing and regeneration strategy including its goal of delivering over 215,000 new homes by 2031 and for the region to lead nationally in design quality, advanced methods of construction, brownfield remediation and town centre regeneration. He runs a directorate responsible for policy and delivery on town centre regeneration, brownfield development, employment land, land assembly and remediation, affordable housing, one public estate, design, housing supply and securing unprecedented new investment from the public and private sector into real estate.

From 2010 to 2017, Gareth worked in a variety of roles in Central Government. For nearly 3 years he was a policy adviser to the Prime Minister at No10 Downing Street during the Coalition and Conservative-led governments. During his time in Government, Gareth led a cross-Whitehall division responsible for securing regeneration and housing on the back of major infrastructure (eg HS2) and led work on town centres and coastal communities. In 2012 he led the Government’s flagship neighbourhood planning policy through Parliament as part of the Localism Act.

Gareth Blacker

General Manager, Infrastructure & Complex Projects

Homes England

Gareth is a chartered surveyor with over 25 years’ experience specialising in development and development finance. He is responsible for delivering Homes England’s commercial investment programmes, including the Home Building Fund and Estate Regeneration Programme. He has led Homes England’s involvement on a number of high profile complex real estate projects including development finance at East Village, Greenwich Peninsula, Wood Wharf and Earls Court Village. He has expertise in delivering funding structures including senior debt, mezzanine finance and club deals with other private sector lenders. He has been involved in PRS schemes across the country, including Liverpool, Manchester, London and Birmingham. He is the Director of English Cities Fund, a joint venture between HCA, Legal & General and Muse specialising in regeneration projects. Gareth has worked for English Partnerships and the London Development Agency, and was involved in major development projects, including the Olympics, Wembley regeneration and the Royal Docks.

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.

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.

Dr Patricia Greer

Chief Executive

West of England Combined Authority and Local Enterprise Partnership

Dr Patricia Greer is the Chief Executive of the West of England Combined Authority and Local Enterprise Partnership. She led the region’s devolution programme from March 2015 through to the establishment of the Combined Authority in 2017. Previously she held a range of senior private, central and local public sector positions including as a Director at the Cabinet Office with five years in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, and as a Strategic Director in Local Government. Patricia’s early career included nearly 10 years with leading management consultancies. She studied at the University of Bath and completed a PhD which was published as a book, ‘Transforming Central Government’, 1994.

Felicie Krikler

Director

Assael Architecture

Félicie is an experienced architect specialising in urban regeneration. From large, mixed-use and masterplanning projects to thinking of the smallest details of urban living, Félicie is instrumental on leading the design of many of Assael’s key projects. She is also leading on design-based research initiatives including designing housing for older generations, collaborating with the RIBA and other practices to develop a social value toolkit for architects, and growing the new landscape division at Assael. She is also a keen artist and tries to sketch as much as possible for work and pleasure!

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.

Sir Edward Lister

Mayor’s Chief of Staff and Deputy Mayor, Policy and Planning

GLA

He has considerable experience of the housing sector. For the last 5 years he has been London’s Deputy Mayor for policy and planning and chief of staff at the Greater London Authority (GLA).

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.

Rebecca Taylor

Director of Real Estate and the Development and Investment Director

Long Harbour

Rebecca is a Director of Real Estate and the Development and Investment Director of LHIF, Long Harbour’s institutionally backed Build to Rent/PRS fund. Having deployed over £350m of equity in the sector, Rebecca leads on origination, development and construction activities for the Fund and is responsible for the entire delivery cycle from inception and deal origination through to design, planning, construction and delivery phases. Prior to joining Long Harbour, Rebecca had over nine years of experience in PPP / PFI and property development sectors in multiple jurisdictions, in both mixed use and residential schemes. In addition to origination and structuring a range of transactions, she has overseen the delivery and secured successful planning consents across a range of sectors, including over 1.3 million sq ft of retail space, c. 5 million sq ft of residential led mixed used space in Dubai, and over 3,000 residential units in the UK and Ireland. Rebecca is a member of the British Property Federation build to rent subcommittee.

Glenn Harris MBE

Chief Executive

Midland Heart

Glenn has been Chief Executive of Midland Heart since March 2018 and was previously Finance Director.

Glenn joined Midland Heart following a career spanning seven years at East Midlands Development Agency (EMDA), where he spent five years as Executive Director of Corporate Services, followed by two years as Deputy Chief Executive. Prior to that, he was Deputy Chief Executive at NHS Logistics, supplying over £1bn of consumable goods to all NHS Trusts across England

Glenn received an MBE for services to business in 2012.

Ashley Kensington

Managing Director

St Joseph, Berkeley Group Plc

Ashley has 20 years’ experience within in the development sector specialising in property investment, acquisition and obtaining planning consents. For the last 15 years she has worked at the Berkeley Group with posts held in St James, Berkeley Commercial and more recently in St William where she assisted in setting up the joint venture with National Grid.

In August 2018, Ashley moved to St Joseph to assist the Berkeley Group’s expansion into the West Midlands with responsibility for land, planning and asset management.

Lucy Blasdale

Head of Land - Midlands

Homes England

Lucy Blasdale is Homes England Head of Land for the Midlands. She currently manages the delivery of all the Homes England land holdings across the Midlands operating area which stretches from the Welsh Border to the Lincolnshire Wash and High Peak to South Warwickshire and the southern Boundary of Herefordshire.

Lucy holds membership of both the RTPI and RICS and has led Home England activity across a number of high profile projects within the region, these include;

• The delivery of over 10,000 new homes have been contracted by Lucy and her team 

• Negotiating both the planning and the disposal of a 3,300 home urban extension in Telford

• Acquisition of a number of key strategic sites

• Management of the demolition contract and transfer to Birmingham City Council of the old BCU campus Perry Barr to enable the delivery of the Athletes Village

• MHCLG Board Member of Wallgreen Boots JV 

• Providing support to the region’s first Community Land Trust

• Maintains relationship management for a number of Local Authorities in the Region as well as the region’s biggest housebuilders. 

Lucy is recognised within the industry for her straight talking can do approach. She has also acted as a career mentor to a number of people both within and outside the organisation and regularly speaks at events to encourage more young people to consider careers in the construction industry. Recently won the Homes England National Award for Inspirational Leadership.

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.

Glenn Harris MBE

Chief Executive

Midland Heart

Glenn has been Chief Executive of Midland Heart since March 2018 and was previously Finance Director.

Glenn joined Midland Heart following a career spanning seven years at East Midlands Development Agency (EMDA), where he spent five years as Executive Director of Corporate Services, followed by two years as Deputy Chief Executive. Prior to that, he was Deputy Chief Executive at NHS Logistics, supplying over £1bn of consumable goods to all NHS Trusts across England

Glenn received an MBE for services to business in 2012.

Keith Simmons

Divisional Managing Director

Taylor Wimpey

Keith joined the house building industry in 1985 as an undergraduate trainee for Wimpey Homes.  Having qualified from Nottingham Trent with a degree in residential development, his career progressed as a land buyer with Beazer, Barratt and Wimpey operating in the south east of England before moving into general management.  He took a 12 month career break in 2002 to compete as a Watch Leader aboard Glasgow Clipper in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.  Keith re-joined Taylor Wimpey in 2005 as an MD managing business units initially in East Anglia, moving to South Wales and then Bristol.  From 2015, he took on the role of Divisional Managing Director for Wales & West and from summer 2018 the same role managing the Midlands.  

The Midlands division of Taylor Wimpey operates three regional business units and delivers approximately 2,000 homes per annum across 40 outlets.  This includes 500 affordable homes and provides an annual planning gain contribution of £50 million+ through S106/CIL.

Kate Still

Chief Operating Officer

WM Housing Group

Kate Still is Chief Operating Officer of WM Housing Group, one of the largest social housing providers in the Midlands. Kate was previously National Director of Housing for the 80,000 unit, social housing portfolio at Sanctuary Group. Between 2009-2013 she was a member of the Homes and Communities Agency Equality Board Advisory Panel. Before joining the sector, she worked in economic development and was the National Advisor to all 9 English Regional Development Agencies on Social Enterprise and Enterprise in deprived areas. Kate has also worked internationally as Director of Cultural Shift South East - a social business development partnership between UNDP Poland, Misericordia Italy and Oxford’s Said Business School. She has spoken nationally and internationally on a diverse range of issues related to housing and economic development. She is an Alumni of the London School of Economics and an Economic and Social Research Council scholar.

Chris Taylor

Chief Executive Officer – Hermes Real Estate & Head and Private Markets

Hermes Real Estate

Chris joined Hermes in 2010, having successfully established Australian fund manager QIC’s European office in London. Prior to that he was head of European Property at HSBC. Chris spent the majority of his career as a fund manager at Prudential, where he led the diversification of its UK real estate exposure into overseas markets in 2001.

Under his leadership, Hermes Real Estate has led a number of landmark real estate transactions, including the largest regeneration project in Europe at King’s Cross, the development of the iconic Silverstone circuit, the major regeneration at Paradise Circus Birmingham and the rejuvenation of central Milton Keynes. Chris is currently the Chairman of MEPC, a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, a member of the Bank of England Commercial Property Committee and a Founding Board Member of INREV. As past President of the British Property Federation, Chris has engaged actively with Central and Local Government to recognise the pivotal contribution that real estate and infrastructure can make as conduits for growth and regeneration.

As CEO of Hermes Real Estate, managing over £7 billion of real estate, Chris is also the BTPS Director on the Argent Board and has taken a lead role in promoting responsible investment with major regeneration schemes such as King’s Cross London, Paradise Circus Birmingham, NOMA Manchester and Wellington Place Leeds.

Chris holds a BSc (Hons) in Land Management

from Reading University.

Chris Grigg

Chief Executive

British Land

Chris Grigg is chief executive of British Land, a constituent of the FTSE100. Since taking the role in 2009, he has put placemaking, wellbeing and design excellence at the heart of British Land’s approach to real estate. This is summed up in the company’s strategic focus on creating “Places People Prefer”.

British Land’s portfolio, which covers approximately 25 million sq ft, includes three office-led campuses in central London and retail-led assets across the UK. 

Prior to joining British Land, Chris was Chief Executive of Barclays Commercial Bank and a partner at Goldman Sachs. He is a Non-Executive Director of BAE Systems plc, on the Board of the British Property Federation (BPF) and on the Executive Board of the European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA).

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 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.

Madeleine McDougall

Global Head of the Real Estate & Housing Team

Lloyds

Madeleine is the Global Head of theReal Estate & Housing Team at Lloyds. She joined in November 2014 as Head of Institutional, looking after Private Equity, Pension Fund and Sovereign Wealth clients before taking up her current position in August 2017. Her role involves developing and leading the business activity for relationships across the Commercial Real Estate market with a specialist team based across 6 UK locations. In 2016 Lloyds lent £8.6 bn into the UK CRE market, delivering €1,547m of debt syndication. Madeleine was key in driving the client franchise which included leading UK institutions, large global investors and best in class developers. The business has continued to innovate with a £1bn Green financing fund and providing long term financing through its Scottish Widows arm. She previously held the Head of International clients at pbb, where she covered Europe wide real estate financing from 2011-2014. Prior to this, she worked at Westimmo and Eurohypo and she originally started her career on the equity side at Trillium working on the sale and leaseback of Norwich Union assets.

Prasanna Kannan

Co-Founder

Native Finance

Prasanna Kannan is a Co-Founder of Native Finance, the digital brokerage for commercial real estate (CRE) that enables streamlined and efficient financing across the capital stack for development and investment transactions. Native's platform currently has pricing data on over 550 lenders and equity providers active in the UK across a range of asset types. Investors in the business include Passion Capital, one of Europe’s leading venture capital funds as well as high profile angel investors such as Lord Stevenson, former Chairman of HBOS.

Prior to this he was the Portfolio Manager at Sir Elton John's charitable foundation, where he led their social investment work including launching one of the first Social Impact Bonds for HIV treatment in the world. Pras started his career on the London trading floor at Goldman Sachs and has a Masters in Engineering from Oxford University and a Masters in Management from Cambridge University, where his thesis focussed on microfinancing and gender empowerment in South Asia.

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.

Stuart Hatton

Managing Director

Umberslade

Stuart heads up Umberslade, a leading, family-owned property development, management and investment business, which has overall responsibility for Bristol’s Wapping Wharf regeneration project. One of the most significant developments in the city, Wapping Wharf is a harbourside community featuring high quality homes, as well as independent restaurants, cafes and shops. Already known as Bristol’s new foodie quarter, Wapping Wharf has created a new connection between south Bristol and the city centre via Gaol Ferry Steps, and, when complete, will include over 600 apartments. Founded over 20 years ago, Umberslade has a track record of supporting the independent retail sector and many years of combined knowledge across the residential, industrial, retail and commercial sectors. The firm plans to retain a long-term interest in Wapping Wharf.

Claire Pearce

Assistant Director Inward Investment and Growth

Sedgemoor District Council

As the Chief Planning Officer and Assistant Director for Inward Investment and Growth at Sedgemoor District Council, Claire is responsible for major projects, economic development, planning strategy, infrastructure and development management. With a reputation for positive planning, investors enjoy a collaborative working model under Claire’s leadership.

Current priorities are ensuring Sedgemoor remains at the forefront of planning reform, maintaining the highest performance nationally, whilst continuing to deliver new jobs, homes and infrastructure. The role involves Hinkley Point C (HPC), taking an overview of implementation and compliance; ensuring a positive legacy consistent with the Council’s vision and long-term ambitions to transform ‘place’, and inspire communities.

Building on capacity and capability generated through HPC, the mobilisation of the Enterprise Zone within the M5 corridor (J.23) will be a key strategic opportunity to showcase the delivery of the Government’s Industrial Strategy - specifically energy enabled clean growth, creating a unique UK proposition for foreign direct investment at the centre of the South West.

Claire previously worked for Somerset County Council and prior to that in a number of private and public sector roles across the South East, which involved strategic planning, economic development, large scale mixed use schemes and major transport infrastructure projects.

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 8 years, AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets have overseen over 1.5m 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, which includes the Assembly Bristol scheme in Bristol City Centre.

Cllr Paul James

Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Economy

Gloucester City Council

Paul James has been Leader of Gloucester City Council since 2007 and a Councillor since 1996.  He is also the Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Economy, a post he has held for 15 years.  In his professional life he is a property manager for Gloucester firm Naylor Powell.  He has been closely involved with a number of major developments in Gloucester, from Gloucester Quays, to the city centre Kings Quarter scheme, Bakers Quay and the delivery of the city’s new Transport Hub.  He is a keen runner and an avid fan of Gloucester Rugby.  He played a key role in attracting the Rugby World Cup 2015 to Gloucester and oversaw its delivery.

Liz Dunn

Partner

Burges Salmon (CHAIR)

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.

Helen Spencer

Director of Development

Great Places Housing Group

Helen has worked in housing for 18 years, delivering a wide range of regeneration, development, and housing programmes and projects. Helen has played an integral role in the delivery of 6,000 homes for Great Places in the last 10 years.

Helen’s role at Great Places is to lead and shape the development pipeline, and lead the Development (including land and new business, housing delivery, regeneration and construction) and Sales teams. The focus is upon building high quality homes and places, in line with the Great Places ‘Building Greatness’ corporate plan which has a target of delivering 8,000 homes by 2028.

Brian Ham

Executive Director, Development

Home Group

Brian joined Home Group in early 2014 from London key worker housing developer, Dolphin Square Foundation. He has worked for over 25 years across the public, private and not for profit sectors in the fields of urban and regional regeneration, property development, planning and housing. 

Earlier experience includes holding directorships at Metnor Property Group, ONE North East, Newcastle City Council, and more junior posts in various local authorities in the Midlands and Merseyside.

Brian’s role at Home Group is to lead and shape the development pipeline, and lead the Development, Delivery, Regeneration, Sales and Design teams to build high quality homes, in line with the Development strand of Home Groups strategy: ‘Building homes, Independence and Aspirations’ Strategy, which has a target of building 10,000 homes by 2021.

Michael Dong

CEO

Investar Property Group

Michael Dong is the CEO of Investar Property Group, the multi-award-winning property development and investment company based in Manchester. A true industry success story, the 38-year-old entrepreneur moved from China to the UK in 2002 to study for a master’s degree and purchased his first buy to let in 2008. Over the last 10 years, Michael’s typical deals have grown from single buy-to-let units to large scale developments with values surpassing £100m. This was a direct result of dealing with retail and institutional investors, both in the UK and internationally. Michael’s rapid trajectory - from a small-time single property investor, to operating Investar Property Group - is the result of building strong business relationships across a strong network in the UK and the Far East. Using his expertise of these different markets, he continually strives to achieve win-win results for every stakeholder with whom he works.

Paul Richards

Director of Development and Regeneration

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

Paul is the Director of Development and Regeneration for Stockport MBC and has previously been Property Director for Findel PLC, Homeforrm Group and Wine Cellar.

He has extensive senior level experience of managing occupational property portfolios and capital transformation programmes and is a Chartered Surveyor.

In his current role within the Council, he is responsible for the £1 billion investment into development and regeneration across the Borough, in addition to its culture and leisure team and economy, work and skills.

Anna Sabine

Chief Executive

Meeting Place Communications

Anna is the Chief Executive of Meeting Place Communications, which helps developers secure planning consents through work with politicians, communities and the media.  She has been at MPC for 10 years, running major pre- app consultation programmes for housebuilders, universities and financial investors.  Before this she worked as a Campaign Manager for the Lib Dems and in the voluntary sector; she has a PPE degree from Oxford University.  Anna is passionate about involving more women in the planning and development sector, and about growing the use of social media in the industry.

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)

Savannah de Savary

Founder and CEO

Built-ID

Savannah de Savary is the Founder and CEO of Built-ID. After graduating from the University of Oxford in 2013, Savannah joined Thor Equities, where she managed NYC real estate development projects. In June 2015 she founded Built-ID, a proptech platform that showcases the built environment projects of today and transforms community engagement to better shape the projects of tomorrow. Savannah won “Young Entrepreneur of the Year” at the Property Awards and was voted Property Week’s ‘Power 100: Top 20 Ones to Watch’ and one of the Top 20 Proptech influencers in a poll by the UK Proptech Association. She is also a regular columnist for Property Week. Built-ID enables property developers to invest in communities, not just their bricks and mortar. Through a digital platform, residents can influence the built environment projects that matter to them, and be rewarded for their engagement with real donations to local charities within their community.

Tony Pidgley CBE

Chairman

The Berkeley Group

Tony Pidgley CBE is Chairman of 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 in 1976. Under his leadership the business has grown to become a FTSE 100 company and builds more than 4,000 homes a year. At Berkeley, Tony has led some of the country’s most challenging and celebrated regeneration programmes, including the reinvention of the Royal Arsenal munitions site in Woolwich, and the revival of Hackney’s Woodberry Down estate. He has pioneered a holistic approach to placemaking and is passionate about working in partnership with local people to create welcoming communities that inspire civic pride and enhance wellbeing. Tony has advised successive Governments on regeneration, housing and developing public land. He was a member of Lord Heseltine's Estate Regeneration Advisory Panel, the Thames Estuary 2050 Growth Commission and the Mayor’s Outer London Commission. He was the longest serving President in the history of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry and was awarded a CBE in 2013 for “services to the housing sector and the community.

Reza Merchant

CEO

The Collective

Reza's journey started whilst in his first year at the London School of Economics. Frustrated by the lack of high-quality and affordable accommodation for fellow students in London, he decided to tackle this problem by creating his own lettings agency, Share in the City. Seeing an opportunity to provide a superior product in the market, Share in the City quickly evolved into The Collective, with a focus on developing and operating living space for young professionals. In May 2016 The Collective opened the world’s largest (546 units) and UK’s first co-living building, The Collective Old Oak. Now, at the age of just 29, Reza has his sights set on rapid global expansion starting with three cities in the US and two in Germany. The Collective’s second building is due to open in Canary Wharf in Summer 2019. It will be the first co-living building to offer a truly flexible way of staying in the city, with a hybrid model that merges both short stay and long stay.

Angelica Donati

CEO

Donati Immobiliare Group

Angelica is a real estate entrepreneur and PropTech expert with extensive knowledge of the impact of digital innovation on real estate. After working at Goldman Sachs and Ralph Lauren, and with a degree from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Oxford University under her belt, she took on the challenge of the real estate industry, with the aim of building an international business. She is the CEO of Donati Immobiliare Group, an international property developer, is a PropTech founder and investor and is a Venture Partner with Concrete, a London-based PropTech VC. Angelica writes about innovation and technology in construction and real estate for Forbes and Property Week.

Neil Rami

Chief Executive

West Midlands Growth Company

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

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

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

Pete Gladwell

Head of Public Sector Partnerships

Legal & General Investment Management

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.

Lucy Homer

Executive General Manager Design + Technical, Managing Director Scape Principal Works

Lendlease Europe

Lucy Homer is Executive General Manager Design + Technical, Managing Director Scape Principal Works – Lendlease Europe. A member of the Lendlease Construction Board, she has a wide remit across the region with projects ranging in value from £20million up to £1.6billion. These include Lendlease's integrated development projects such as International Quarter London and Elephant Park, as well as projects for external clients such as Google’s Headquarters, currently under construction at Kings Cross. Lucy was the executive lead for the successful bid to secure Google.

Lucy has a proven track record in leading large complex projects, both as a practicing architect and a design team leader. Before joining Lendlease in 2014, Lucy played a pivotal role in the delivery of BBC Broadcasting House, first for MacCormac Jamieson Prichard, then Sheppard Robson – the only person to stay on the project from start to finish.

A keen advocate of ‘designing it once’, Lucy looks at design holistically. Her premise is simple - to add value in the early design stages by interrogating design decisions to identify real opportunity. Her approach is to reduce design waste through collaboration between consultants and subcontractors as early as possible, rather than redesigning or reviewing details for value engineering opportunities at a later date.

Lucy runs the Scape Principal Works Framework for a £2bn pipeline of public sector projects above £50m. Her aim is to bring private sector thinking into the public sector, particularly in the early stages of design. She has already secured the largest scale project on the framework and is currently working on some exciting strategic opportunities.

Lucy is an active spokesperson for the construction industry, particularly when it comes to young recruits and female staff. A driving force in Lendlease’s work on gender equity, she has helped implement a new 50/50 recruitment shortlist process; attract 36% female entry-level employees; 80% female graduates; and 19% female representation at senior executive level positions.

Perry Wardle

Assistant Director for Growth & Development

Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council

Perry is currently Assistant Director for Growth and Development at Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council. In addition to overseeing the general development agenda in Solihull he has responsibility for developing the UK Central infrastructure programme in conjunction with the UK Central Urban Growth Company in the area around the HS2 Interchange Station.

Perry has an MSc in Real Estate and Property Management and a PhD in regional economic development.

Rob Flavell

Head of Major Projects, Midlands & North

St. Modwen Properties PLC

Rob joined St. Modwen in 2018 to lead the Major Projects business across the Midlands and North region. Rob’s remit includes the regeneration of Longbridge, a £1bn project that is transforming 468 acres of former MG Rover land in south Birmingham. Previously a director of global consultancy, Turner & Townsend, Rob led the Birmingham office, building a successful award-winning business.

Rob has been involved in a number of major regeneration schemes across the region, including the £1bn Birmingham New Street & Grand Central development, £700m Paradise Circus development, Birmingham Airport Runway Extension and most recently the £500m Axis Square development.

Rob’s focus is to realise St. Modwen’s core purpose, to change places and create better futures.

Monique Royle

Director

Christie & Co

Monique operates on a National basis and is principally involved in the valuation of licensed and leisure properties for pub company portfolios, individual operators and all major lenders for secured lending purposes. Monique joined Christie & Co in 2018 having spent 8 years with GVA working in both the Valuation team and in Retail, Hotels and Leisure and a further 3 years with Colliers International in the Licensed and Leisure team. In 2004 she moved into property consultancy concentrating on commercial property and residential development before specialising in licensed and leisure. In 2013 she had the opportunity to take up a secondment working in the Global Restructuring Group at RBS in Birmingham where she provided the Bank with property advice on their secured assets in terms of maximising value and exit strategies.

She is currently a member of the RICS Governing Council having been Chairman of the RICS West Midlands Regional Board (2015-2017) and a founder member of the RICS Valuation Local Professional Group organising regular CPD events for local members. A former National Chairman of the Association of Women in Property she also takes an active role in promoting the property and construction industry to schools and universities.

Erin Amon

Market Analyst

CoStar

Erin Amon is CoStar Group’s Market Analyst for the Birmingham market as well as London and other South East markets. Erin is responsible for writing and maintaining daily office and industrial market and submarket reports which inform decisions of developers, lenders, property managers, and investors both locally and globally. Erin works with a team of researchers to collect commercial real estate data, which she uses jointly with market interaction to analyse trends in rents, vacancies, demand drivers, construction activity, and investments across her markets and the submarkets within.

Erin earned her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Psychology from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. She has been with CoStar Group for five years, first as a researcher in Washington, DC. She moved to the Columbia, Maryland office in 2015 as a Market Analyst for Texas and then North Carolina markets before joining the London office in the autumn of 2017.  

Richard Cowell

Assistant Director Development

Birmingham City Council

As a Built Environment professional Richard has over 15 years experience in urban planning, regeneration, property and economic development. Working at the largest local authority in the UK Richard has, since 2010, held key positions leading the formulation and subsequent delivery of the City’s ambitious growth agenda including one of the UK’s most significant city transformation projects, Birmingham’s Big City Plan.

Richard’s senior leadership, strategic decision making and technical expertise have underpinned accelerated development and investment activity across Birmingham. As a senior Director, Richard leads multidisciplinary teams of 75 professional staff and manages an annual capital budget of £50 million and £5 million revenue. His day to day responsibilities include acting as the deputy Chief Planning Officer overseeing the development planning process; developing and implementing financial models to support infrastructure investment in the City such as the Enterprise Zone and in maximising growth associated with HS2; supporting SMEs to grow and accelerate with financial instruments such as grant and Ioan finance and setting the framework for design and conservation across the City.

His work includes leading complex development projects, including the £1.5bn Birmingham Smithfield redevelopment scheme; and working with the private sector and other public agencies to create effective partnerships and enduring collaborative working relationships. He is active in advancing knowledge and understanding of urban planning, regeneration and infrastructure delivery through guest lectures at Universities, regular presentations at regional, national and international events and as a mentor to a number of graduates.

David Lunts

Executive Director of Housing & Land

GLA

​David Lunts is Executive Director of Housing and Land at the GLA where he leads the work to establish the housing functions that devolved from the HCA and LDA to the Mayor of London in April 2012.  From 2008 until May 2011 he was the Executive Director for London at the Homes and Communities Agency.  He was previously Executive Director for Policy & Partnerships at the GLA, with responsibility for planning, regeneration, environmental and social policy.  Before moving to the GLA in 2005, he was Director of Urban Policy at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.  He began his housing and regeneration career in Manchester which included the leadership of the City Challenge renewal of Hulme in the early 1990's.  David moved to London in 1996 to run the Urban Villages Forum, a widely supported membership not-for-profit group, and became the founding chief executive of the Prince's Foundation in 1998.  He was also a member of Lord Rogers' Urban Task Force.

Alice Lester MBE

Head of Planning Transport and Licensing

Brent Council

Alice Lester MBE (MRTPI) has been Head of Planning, Transport and Licensing at Brent since October 2016. Before that she was the head of the Planning Advisory Service, a grant funded programme within the Local Government Association. Over the 11 years that Alice was at PAS, she worked on a variety of projects with local authorities in England to support ongoing improvement in delivering planning services, and in implementing the government’s planning reform agenda. Alice started her planning career in Development Management at Westminster Council, before moving to Camden for ten years, and then Islington Council for five years as Development Management Manager. Alice contributes to the planning sector in other ways; she has been a Trustee of the TCPA, an external examiner for planning courses at Newcastle and Oxford Brookes Universities, and is a Local Government Association Planning Peer. Alice was included in Planning Resource list of the most influential women in Planning for 2017 and 2018 and was awarded an MBE in the 2016 New Year’s Honours for services to Planning.

Dawn Wylie

Land Director

Weston Homes plc

Dawn joined Weston Homes in 2006 as part of the the Company's Management Trainee scheme after completing her A-Levels, and she achieved a First-Class Honours degree in Real Estate Management in 2012. She was promoted to Senior Land Manager in January 2015 and held responsibility for all the Company’s land acquisitions from April 2015.

Dawn was appointed a Director of Weston Homes Plc in June 2016 at the age of 29. Notably since that time she has recently agreed terms to purchase the Abbey Retail Park in Barking, on which the company are seeking to deliver a mixed use regeneration scheme which will bring over 1000 new homes and new commercial spaces around a central plaza on the riverside, as well as securing a deal with Tesco that will involve the construction of a new superstore and the provision of around 1300 new homes on the site of their current Goodmayes superstore.  She is also actively involved in the recruitment of young people into the Company's apprenticeship schemes, and the promotion of careers in the construction and property industry within schools and youth groups. She is particularly keen to attract women into the housebuilding sector. 

Greg Hill

Deputy Chief Executive

Hill Group

Greg joined Hill in 2014 and has a strong financial and strategic background, helping to design and deliver innovative projects. In addition to his role as Deputy Chief Executive, Greg is the Regional Managing Director of the Special, Western and Southern regions. He is an expert in strategic development and execution, risk and project management.

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.

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. 

Alex Russell

Managing Director

Property Alliance Group

Alex is Managing Director of Property Alliance Group having joined four years ago following 10 years in Office Agency and Asset Management at Dunlop Heywood, WHR and lastly CBRE, where he headed up the Office Agency team. Alex has a key focus on deliverability, quality, service, management, innovation and making a difference.

Deborah McLaughlin

Managing Director

GL Hearn

Deborah is the Managing Director GL Hearn and chairs the Capita Housing Board. Deborah is responsible for over 1000 people with capabilities spanning project management, architecture, design and engineering. Before joining Capita in November 2016 Deborah was executive director for the North West at the Homes and Communities Agency (now Homes England), with responsibility for supporting local authorities and private sector partners in the North West to deliver housing growth and regeneration priorities.

Many successful housing projects have benefited from Deborah’s experience; in particular she was instrumental in the delivery of the affordable housing programmes, the rebirth of Ancoats in Manchester, the re-development of Kings Dock in Liverpool, working with partners to deliver the Preston and Lancashire City Deal and the rapid expansion of the Omega site near Warrington.

During her time at Homes England Deborah also completed a successful 12-month secondment as chief executive of Manchester Place, establishing a new collaborative way of working to increase housing supply in Manchester and attracting international investment. Deborah was Director of Housing at Manchester City Council before joining Homes England.

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.

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).

Dr Patricia Greer

Chief Executive

West of England Combined Authority and Local Enterprise Partnership

Dr Patricia Greer is the Chief Executive of the West of England Combined Authority and Local Enterprise Partnership. She led the region’s devolution programme from March 2015 through to the establishment of the Combined Authority in 2017. Previously she held a range of senior private, central and local public sector positions including as a Director at the Cabinet Office with five years in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, and as a Strategic Director in Local Government. Patricia’s early career included nearly 10 years with leading management consultancies. She studied at the University of Bath and completed a PhD which was published as a book, ‘Transforming Central Government’, 1994.

John Boughton

Deputy Managing Director

Willmott Dixon Construction

John has been with Willmott Dixon since 2007 and has over 30 years industry experience in Bristol and the South West. A proud Bristolian, John is passionate about the city and ensuring that Willmott Dixon leaves a positive legacy. John is based in Willmott Dixon’s local construction office in Bristol, where he has overall responsibility for Willmott Dixon’s projects and growth in the Wales & the South West. 

Richard Pearce

CEO

TCN UK

TCN UK regenerate unloved buildings and create surprising places. Richard set up TCN UK in 2006 and has grown the specialist creative regeneration business into a national property investment and development company with a portfolio worth £70 million and a gross development value of £110 million. TCN manage a portfolio of 400,000 sq. ft., containing 150 companies, with annual revenues of £6 million. Rich is a recognised industry specialist in property acquisition and development with a particular focus on innovative regeneration.

Prior to TCN UK, he worked for Shaftesbury PLC, DTZ (now Cushman Wakefield), Capital & Counties PLC and Europa Capital.

Louise Swain

CEO

Alliance Housing Group

Louise has significant leadership experience of working in the social housing sector. She is passionate about delivering homes that are truly affordable to those on lower incomes and services that customers rate as excellent.

Louise has experience of contributing to strategic partnerships and of delivering major change and modernisation projects. Prior to leading Alliance, Louise was Executive Director Customer Services at Curo Group. She’s also worked in a variety of roles for other national and local landlords.

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. 

Ned Cussen

Chartered Surveyor

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Ned Cussen has had a career in Property Consultancy and Development in London and latterly in Bristol and the South West. He is experienced in strategic planning, land acquisition, agency and development for major business space, retail and leisure schemes throughout the South West.  He advises both public and private sector clients, and has appeared as an expert witness on development issues.

His main focus has been on inner city mixed use urban regeneration with extensive involvement in major schemes in UK locations including Cardiff, Bristol, Plymouth and Gloucester.  

Experience beyond in mainland Europe includes Russia, the Czech Republic and the Channel Islands.

He was a Partner at King Sturge and JLL for 30 years including Lead Partner of the Bristol office of King for five years.

Since retiring from JLL he has been involved in Strategic Development Consultancy. He also provides strategic Property Advice to a number of Charities and is a Director of Business West.

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.

Rebecca Taylor

Director of Real Estate and the Development and Investment Director

Long Harbour

Rebecca is a Director of Real Estate and the Development and Investment Director of LHIF, Long Harbour’s institutionally backed Build to Rent/PRS fund. Having deployed over £350m of equity in the sector, Rebecca leads on origination, development and construction activities for the Fund and is responsible for the entire delivery cycle from inception and deal origination through to design, planning, construction and delivery phases. Prior to joining Long Harbour, Rebecca had over nine years of experience in PPP / PFI and property development sectors in multiple jurisdictions, in both mixed use and residential schemes. In addition to origination and structuring a range of transactions, she has overseen the delivery and secured successful planning consents across a range of sectors, including over 1.3 million sq ft of retail space, c. 5 million sq ft of residential led mixed used space in Dubai, and over 3,000 residential units in the UK and Ireland. Rebecca is a member of the British Property Federation build to rent subcommittee.

Alex Notay

BTR Fund Director

PfP Capital

Alexandra is an internationally recognised expert on Build to Rent, placemaking and sustainable urban development. She has 14 years’ strategic advisory experience to public and private sector clients in the UK, US, Europe and Australia and now leads the BTR fund for PfP Capital, part of Places for People Group. Alex is a published author and editor of over 30 books and reports on real estate including the renowned ULI UK Best Practice Guide on Build to Rent (2014, 2016). Alex is a vice-chair of ULI UK Residential Council, serves on the BPF Build to Rent Committee and is an Associate Member of CREFC Europe. She is also a trustee of SunScreenIT Foundation, non-executive director of Sound Diplomacy and SouthWest Board Member for LandAid.

James Murray

Deputy Mayor for Housing & Residential Development

GLA

James Murray joined the Mayor's Office in 2016 as Deputy Mayor for Housing, coming from Islington Council, where he held the position of Executive Member for Housing & Development for six years.

During James’s time in Islington, the borough was one of the top building local authorities in the country. He oversaw the introduction of planning policies to raise the proportion of affordable homes in new developments, including a new standard for viability assessments.

In the Mayor’s Office, James is focusing on bringing together a broad alliance – including councils, housing associations, developers and businesses – to support plans to build more new and affordable homes in London. He is advising the Mayor on planning policy, particularly helping to develop and implement new approaches to housing. He is overseeing work at City Hall to improve the private rented sector and tackle homelessness, in line with the Mayor’s priorities.

James advised the current Mayor during his selection and election campaigns. Before taking a position on Islington Council’s executive, he worked in Parliament and for a management consultancy. He has lived his whole life in London, and currently lives near King's Cross.

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).

Mike Hussey

Chief Executive

Almacantar

Mike is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. He is recognised as one of the key experts in the Central London property market. He is a prolific developer, responsible for a number of the landmark schemes built in the capital in the last 20 years. Before founding Almacantar, Mike spent seven years at Land Securities plc, the largest property company in the UK, where he was an Executive Board Director with responsibility for the London portfolio and Strategic Land portfolio. Prior to Land Securities, Mike was responsible for all property transactions at the Canary Wharf Group, as Head of Leasing and Marketing, where his team transacted 9.3m sq.ft (900,000 sq.m). Mike is a Trustee of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and Governor of Southbank Centre Limited. He was an Independent Director of Taylor Wimpey plc between July 2011 and July 2018.

Beth West

Head of Development, London Portfolio

Landsec

Beth joined Landsec in October 2017 as Head of Development for the London portfolio, covering all aspects of development from feasibility through to construction. Beth’s team of 30 – working with partner architects and construction firms – is responsible for delivering commercial properties in London that are both iconic buildings and desirable locations for companies and communities.

Prior to joining Landsec, Beth was Commercial Director at HS2, where she was responsible for commercial strategy, procurement, supplier management, land and property acquisitions and management, regeneration and economic analysis. Previously, Beth spent nine years at Transport for London (TfL). Beth joined TfL in 2003 and held a number of roles: firstly as a Principal in the Corporate Finance team, secondly as the Head of Commercial Advisory and Risk at London Underground, providing commercial advice and strategy. Beth then became Head of Commercial Procurement at London Underground and was responsible for delivering improved commercial capability for the business, and later was Commercial Director at Tube Lines where she was responsible for procurement, risk management, assurance and business planning and controls.

Emma Rogers

Project Director, Estate Development Programme

Grosvenor Britain & Ireland.

Emma Rogers is a Project Director, leading a number of mixed-use schemes across Grosvenor’s London Estate. Emma and the Estate Development Team are responsible for the growth and delivery of the development pipeline, contributing to Grosvenor’s 20 year vision for the London estate.

Before joining Grosvenor, Emma worked as a Development Manager and Director at search agency and developer Banda Ltd. Joining from the ‘start-up’ stage, she was responsible for the delivery of a diverse range of both owner-occupier projects for HNWIs and a number of investment developments.

Emma is a member of the BPF Planning Committee and ULI Young Leaders Committee. Within GBI, she sits on the Global Residential Knowledge Network sharing market insight between operating companies across America, Asia and Europe.

Jamie Ratcliff

Associate Director, Housing

Greater London Authority

Jamie is the Assistant Director responsible for the GLA’s work on housing. This includes housing investment of around £5 billion, policy and strategy in relation to the housing market as a whole. Jamie is also responsible for a range of housing-related services including pan-London services to prevent rough sleeping and support for boroughs’ enforcement action in the private rented sector. He is also a member representative on the Local Pension Board for the London Pension Fund Authority and an Associate of Centre for London. He has over ten years experience at a senior level working in housing development, local government and for a large UK bank. He has established and overseen housing investment programmes and the development, adoption and implementation of statutory strategies. This has given him broad experience in housing supply, affordable housing delivery, management standards in the private rented sector, rough sleeping services and the environmental retrofit of London’s homes. Jamie is the author, in a personal capacity, of two reports recommending radical action to build the homes Londoners need - 'Mass-Delivery of Manufactured Homes for Rent' and 'In No Uncertain Terms'. Jamie holds a Law degree and a Masters in Public Administration as part of which he examined whether the modern Olympic Games had left cash cows, white elephants or successful economic, environmental and social legacies.

Simon Burton

Regional Managing Director West Midlands and South

Galliford Try

Simon has been with Galliford Try for over 8 years as Regional Managing Director and has extensive knowledge of both the industry and local construction market. Simon provides leadership to the region, establishes and monitors our business plan targets and drives improvements throughout the whole business. During his career Simon has experience in delivering numerous high profile schemes within the West Midlands. The most significant of which include: HSBC - 1 Centenary Square, Library of Birmingham and Aston Student Village.

Ashley Kensington

Managing Director

St Joseph, Berkeley Group Plc

Ashley has 20 years’ experience within in the development sector specialising in property investment, acquisition and obtaining planning consents. For the last 15 years she has worked at the Berkeley Group with posts held in St James, Berkeley Commercial and more recently in St William where she assisted in setting up the joint venture with National Grid.

In August 2018, Ashley moved to St Joseph to assist the Berkeley Group’s expansion into the West Midlands with responsibility for land, planning and asset management.

Rob Valentine

Director

Bruntwood

Bruntwood is a family-owned property company whose goal is to create the right places for people to succeed. Bruntwood develop, let and manage all of their own buildings, combining an innovative approach to property development with a single minded focus on the needs of the customers. Founded more than 40 years ago, Bruntwood is committed to helping make the UK’s great city regions even greater.

Director of Bruntwood Birmingham, Rob Valentine is at the heart of the West Midlands region, driven by his passion to make the city recognised as one of the best connected places to work and live. Working for the business for over 18 years, Rob is focused on creating the right environments for businesses to thrive, no matter what sector they operate in. Rob is passionate about developing great ideas and businesses, improving communities and creating places for business success.

Nicola Hewitt

Commercial Director

West Midlands Growth Company

Nicola leads the West Midlands Growth Company’s inward investment programme, as well the commercial division of the organisation, overseeing the services in place for supporting investors that are locating or expanding in the region. Nicola manages highly targeted campaigns that focus on the West Midlands’ sectors of strength and key overseas markets. Nicola was previously Director of Marketing and Communications consultancy View from the Hill, following on from international marketing roles at Hoople, Brintons and Codemasters.

Martin Reeves

Chief Executive

Coventry City Council

Martin has been Chief Executive of Coventry City Council since April 2009.  He was the Chief Executive and the Head of Paid Service of the West Midlands Combined Authority from March 2016 to September 2017.  He had previously been with Bedfordshire County Council for three and a half years as Assistant Chief Executive and Chief Executive. Martin was previously Head of Performance Improvement at Westminster City Council in the heart of London. He was also Programme Director for WorkSmart the City Council’s flagship transformation programme.

Martin spent much of his early career as a lecturer and researcher, and has a PhD in applied economics.He is a Governor on the Board at Coventry University; is the first Honorary President of LARIA (Local Authorities Research and Intelligence Association) and on the board of the Centre for Cities. He was the President of SOLACE (Society of Local Authority Chief Executives) in 2013. He is the Local Government Association (LGA) National Procurement Champion. In 2015, Martin was invited onto the independent taskforce, which produced the new 5 year national cancer strategy. He chairs the national cross system board for sustainable health & social care. He is also a member of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Advisory Board. In 2018 Martin was once again included in the top 50 of the Local Government Chronicle’s list of most influential people in local government.

Laura McMillan

Director of Operations and Legacy

Coventry City of Culture Trust

Laura began her career in the Sales and Marketing department of Warwick Castle before moving to the Royal Shakespeare Company where she spent four years in their Marketing department. In October 2015, Laura moved to the Coventry City of Culture Trust to manage the citywide bid to be UK City of Culture. Since Coventry was awarded the title in December 2017, Laura has taken the role of Director of Operations and Legacy responsible for supporting the running of the company and the setting of strategic legacy plans including monitoring and evaluation.

Cllr Clare Coghill

Leader

London Borough of Waltham Forest

Clare Coghill was elected to the London Borough of Waltham Forest in May 2010 to represent the High Street ward in Walthamstow. She became Junior Cabinet Member for Health later in the same year. Subsequently, she held a junior portfolio focused on Town Centres. Clare was appointed as Cabinet Member for Children and Young People in May 2012, leading the Council’s work on Children’s Social Care, Safeguarding and Education.

In 2014, Clare was appointed the Cabinet Member for Economic Growth & High Streets and led a fresh approach to regeneration, planning and development. Waltham Forest has excellent infrastructure, green space and transport links, therefore the priorities lie in developing new, good quality, affordable housing and vibrant town centres. Clare’s policy innovations in this role focussed on pubs, the night-time economy and economic growth.

In January 2017 Clare was elected as Leader of the Labour Group at Waltham Forest Council, and subsequently elected as Leader of the Council at the AGM of Full Council on 25th May 2017. Clare was re-elected Leader of the Council for a 4 year term at the AGM of Full council on 24th May 2018.

Lyn Garner

Chief Executive

London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC)

Lyn joined LLDC, the body responsible for the development of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and its surrounding areas, as Chief Executive in February 2018. She is responsible for overseeing the delivery of 24,000 homes, 40,000 jobs, and the forthcoming East Bank project, a new cultural and education district comprising of new buildings for V&A museum, Sadler’s Wells, BBC Orchestra, and new campuses for UCL East and UAL’s London College of Fashion. Lyn is also currently serving as Chair of Future of London, an independent network for regeneration, housing and economic development.

Professor Sadie Morgan

Director, dRMM

NIC Commissioner

Sadie Morgan is a founding director of Stirling Prize winning architecture practice dRMM. She lectures internationally on the work of dRMM and the importance of infrastructure which connects back to people and place. She became the youngest president of the Architectural Association in 2013, and in 2016, was appointed Professor at the University of Westminster and awarded an honorary doctorate from London South Bank University.

Sadie was named New Londoner of the Year at the New London Awards 2017 for her work championing the importance of design at the highest political level.

Richard Blakeway

Chair

BexleyCo Ltd

Richard Blakeway is a former adviser to the Prime Minister and Deputy Mayor of London for Housing, Land and Property. During his eight years at the Greater London Authority, Richard was responsible for a £3bn investment programme, building a record 100,000 affordable homes and regeneration of 630 hectares owned by the authority, one of the largest public sector land portfolios in the UK. This included major redevelopment at London's Royal Docks, Greenwich Peninsula and Barking Riverside and the creation of thirty Housing Zones across the capital. Richard was chair of the Homes for London Board, member of the London Enterprise Panel and Crossrail 2 Growth Commission. Following City Hall, Richard was appointed an adviser to the Prime Minister and was instrumental in developing plans for the HM Government's then commitment to build 1 million homes. He is now a strategic adviser to developer EcoWorld London, to Jones Lang LaSalle and to think tank Policy Exchange. Richard is chair of the London Borough of Bexley's property company, BexleyCo Ltd, and a board director of the HMG's regeneration agency, Homes England.

Andy Street CBE

Mayor

West Midlands

Andy Street was elected as the first Mayor of the West Midlands on May 4 2017. The primary function of the role is to chair the West Midlands Combined Authority and brings with it significant powers over transport, housing, skills and jobs. Before becoming Mayor, Andy combined a career with John Lewis, Britain’s most successful workers’ co-operative, with a host of high-profile economic development roles, working with local and national government. He was the Chair of the Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership between 2011 and 2016, helping to build the relationships that have underpinned the economic growth of the region. Additionally, he has been lead non-executive director for the Department for Communities and Local Government as well as a member of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Group.

In June 2015, Andy was awarded the CBE for services to the national economy. He was named the ‘Most Admired Leader’ of the year by business magazine, Management Today in 2014. He received the ‘President’s award’ from the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce for his work in the region. 

Tim Johnson

Managing Director

City of Wolverhampton Council

Tim is Managing Director of the City of Wolverhampton Council having been appointed to the role in July 2018. Prior to this, he was the council’s Deputy Managing Director and Strategic Director of Place. In the five years he has worked at the City of Wolverhampton Council, Tim has played a major part in the transformation of the city and the council. This was nationally recognised in June 2017 when the City of Wolverhampton Council won a record four awards at the prestigious MJ Local Government Achievement Awards 2017 including Local Authority of the Year, Most Improved Council and Senior Leadership Team of the Year. Tim has over 20 years’ experience in local government working for Liverpool City Council, London Borough of Hillingdon, Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council and Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council before joining the City of Wolverhampton Council in May 2013.

Stephen Walker

Head of UK Business Space

Aberdeen Standard Investments

Head of UK Business Space Portfolio Management, leading a team of 30 asset managers with responsibility for cross-sector assets on a UK wide basis. Stephen has carried out Fund and Asset Management positions at Aberdeen Standard Investments and has wide-ranging investment and strategic asset management experience gained in both private practice and client side positions. Stephen is Chair of ASI’s Global Proptech team and drives policy in relation to Flexible Office provision. He is also a member of the Property Investment Committee (EMEA) considering transactions and projects across the UK.

Robin Dobson

Director of Retail Development

Hammerson

Robin trained as a Civil Engineer and then became a Chartered Surveyor.  Robin leads and coordinates the activities of the development team and is responsible for bringing forward future mixed use regeneration schemes together with existing asset opportunities.  Completed projects include The Oracle, Reading; Bullring, Birmingham; Highcross, Leicester; Cabot Circus, Bristol; Union Square, Aberdeen; Victoria Gate, Leeds and Watermark, Southampton, together with Terrasses du Port, a €450m retail led redevelopment of the Marseille docks which opened in 2014.

Robin also has responsibility for bringing forward pipeline mixed use Joint Venture development projects in Croydon and Brent Cross in London.

Robin sits on the CR Board, Investment and Risks and Controls committees he is a member of the BPF and FRICS.

Erin Amon

Market Analyst

CoStar

Erin Amon is CoStar Group’s Market Analyst for the Birmingham market as well as London and other South East markets. Erin is responsible for writing and maintaining daily office and industrial market and submarket reports which inform decisions of developers, lenders, property managers, and investors both locally and globally. Erin works with a team of researchers to collect commercial real estate data, which she uses jointly with market interaction to analyse trends in rents, vacancies, demand drivers, construction activity, and investments across her markets and the submarkets within.

Erin earned her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Psychology from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. She has been with CoStar Group for five years, first as a researcher in Washington, DC. She moved to the Columbia, Maryland office in 2015 as a Market Analyst for Texas and then North Carolina markets before joining the London office in the autumn of 2017.  

Jo Salmon

Head of Estates and Asset Management

Oval Real Estate

Jo, a chartered Surveyor joined Oval Real Estate a year ago to head up their Estates and Asset Management Team, with primary focus on a significant and exciting portfolio in Digbeth, including Custard Factory, Fazeley and The Bond.

Prior to this, Jo has over 20 years’ experience successfully managing various portfolios of large complicated property assets and as shopping and mixes use centres, improving occupancy and efficiency to increase values and enhance customer experience.

Jo is a strong advocate of partnership working and has played a key role in delivery of Town Centre Management and Business Improvement Districts.

Grant Lonsdale

Senior Real Estate Analyst

CoStar

Grant is responsible for covering the Scottish commercial property market and co-authoring CoStar’s quarterly investment report. He is a graduate of Glasgow Caledonian University and member of the Society of Property Researchers, with a background in research and data analytics.

Marion Francis

Regional Manager Scotland | Regeneration & Infrastructure

Department for International Trade

Marion Francis is Regional Manager, Scotland in the Regeneration & Infrastructure Team in Capital Investment, Department for International Trade. Marion is based in Scotland and is responsible for bringing forward a Scottish investment portfolio of projects of scale to promote to the international investment market. 

Prior to joining Department for International Trade, Marion worked for Irvine Bay Regeneration Company delivering regeneration and physical projects in Ayrshire. Marion also runs her own project management business, mack Collaboration.

Marion has previously worked as Head of Regeneration in Scottish Enterprise and with Highlands and Islands Enterprise in Competitive Place and Strategy. 

Pauline Mills

Land & Planning Director

Taylor Wimpey East Scotland

Pauline started her career at Kirkcaldy District Council in 1987 as a graphics technician and left in 1997 as senior planner. She then joined Wimpey Homes in 1997 as Land Manager, before moving to Miller Homes as Land Director in 2004.  She returned to Taylor Wimpey in 2008 to her current role of Land and Planning Director.

As part of the regional board of the East of Scotland business, Pauline is responsible for managing Taylor Wimpey East Scotland’s land assets across the region.  This involves buying, selling and trading land to ensure the asset levels and required selling outlets are delivered as per budget. She is a chartered town planner and a member of the RTPI.

David Peck

Managing Director

Buccleuch Property

David is a qualified chartered surveyor and has 28 years’ experience in property with a proven track record delivering a wide range of projects throughout the UK including spending five years of his career in London with Drivers Jonas and Taylor Woodrow Capital Developments.  He was previously development director for the Kilmartin Property Group and has been MD of Buccleuch Property since 2003.

David is a non-executive director of Native Land and was chair of the Scottish Property Federation during 2012.

Michaela Sullivan

Group Land Manager

CALA Group Ltd

Michaela oversees the land and planning functions for CALA Group across the eight regional businesses in Scotland and Central and Southern England. She joined CALA Group in 2014 from Forth Ports where she spent 8 years as Head of Planning bringing forward waterfront regeneration, energy generation and port development projects. She has also been the Assistant Chief Planner for Scotland and a Management Consultant at PWC.

Michaela is a graduate of Oxford and Liverpool Universities and has an MBA from Manchester Business School. She has been a Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute since 1992, is a planning advisor to the Scottish Property Federation and is on the Board of PAS.

Stephen Lewis

Managing Director

HFD Property Group Ltd

With over 20 years’ experience of commercial property, predominately office led developments, I have been fortunate enough to work across both the private and public sectors on both the client and consulting side in a range of roles from Property & Asset Management, Consultancy, Agency and Development. Geographically this has included roles in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Renfrewshire and Lanarkshire with project coverage across Scotland and the north of England. 

Projects range from single City Centre developments to new and established Business Parks including recent and current projects such as Strathclyde Business Park (SBP) and Hamilton International Park (HIP). Highlights include the EcoCampus (235,000sq.ft) at HIP - the UK’s first speculative Carbon Neutral Office, let in its entirety to University West of Scotland and CityPark1, a new 215,000sq.ft office for Wood Group in Aberdeen. City Centre development includes G1, the 130,000sq.ft redevelopment in George Square and Bothwell Exchange, an entire city block including the recently completed 155,000sq.ft office pre-let to Morgan Stanley and a new 305,000sq.ft office, partially pre-let to Clydesdale Bank. Our current portfolio is home to over 340 businesses (predominately office occupiers ranging from 200 – 235,000sq.ft) with combined employment in excess of 15,000 staff.

Mark Stansfield

Head of UK Analytics

CoStar

Mark manages the team of analysts at CoStar and is responsible for CoStar’s analytic output, which includes reports (more than 500 of which have written commentary), news articles, webinars and presentations.  Mark writes CoStar’s London reports and is the lead author of CoStar’s quarterly UK Investment Report and associated presentations.  He joined CoStar as an analyst in 2004 after earning a B.A. in International History and Politics at the University of Leeds. Mark is a long-standing member of the Society of Property Researchers.

Helen Martin

Managing Director

Skanska Development

Helen Martin sits on the senior management team for Skanska UK. She is Managing Director of the development business in the UK, which invests in and brings to market commercial development projects. She has previously held senior positions within Skanska’s Infrastructure Development global business and as Skanska UK’s lead on risk management and quality of scrutiny.

A chartered civil engineer, with 20 years in the engineering and construction sector, Helen’s initial work was in building design, primarily social infrastructure, as well as major civil engineering infrastructure projects like the original business case for HS2. She has also worked as an advisor to local and central government, looking at issues around delivery of health, education, transport and housing solutions.

Alexandra Notay

Build to Rent Fund Director

PfP Capital

Alexandra is an internationally recognised expert on Build to Rent, placemaking and sustainable urban development. She has 14 years’ strategic advisory experience to public and private sector clients in the UK, US, Europe and Australia and now leads the BTR fund for PfP Capital, part of Places for People Group. Alex is a published author and editor of over 30 books and reports on real estate including the renowned ULI UK Best Practice Guide on Build to Rent (2014, 2016). Alex is a vice-chair of ULI UK Residential Council, serves on the BPF Build to Rent Committee and is an Associate Member of CREFC Europe. She is also a trustee of SunScreenIT Foundation and a non-executive director of Sound Diplomacy.

Gavin Bridge

Director

Cubex Land

Cubex is a proudly Bristol based property developer working across the South West and South Wales. Their most significant development  is Finzels Reach where over the next few years they will be bringing forward over 440 apartments, 230,000ft² of Grade A office space, 168 bedroom hotel, restaurants and the Finzels Bridge linking the development to Castle Park and Cabot Circus. There are a number of financial investors in the development based in the UK, Germany, the USA and the Middle East managing money on behalf of Pension Funds, Sovereign Wealth Funds and Family Offices. With solid funding and a track record of delivery Gavin and his colleagues are keen to explore any new commercial and residential opportunities today's audience or panel may have.

Nick Brooks

Development Director

Kier Property

Nick has expert knowledge of Bristol and the South West, having operated in region’s agency and development markets for more than 30 years.  He recently joined Kier Property, the development arm of the Kier Group, with a remit to grow their development business in the region.

Prior to joining Kier, Nick most recently was a Partner in the Bristol office of Rapleys where one of his latter remits was to provide expert evidence to the Public Inquiry into the proposed expansion of the Mall at Cribbs Causeway.

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.  

Katherine Russell

Head of Real Estate, Planning, Policy & Commercial

John Lewis Partnership

Katherine graduated from Reading University with a degree in Land Management and spent her initial years at Fuller Peiser, Atisreal & BNP Paribas.

She then moved into the world of retail property, at John Lewis as Property Manager followed by Asset Management and moving into the Head of John Lewis Property in 2016.

In July 2017, she became Group Head of Real Estate, Planning, Policy and Commercial for the John Lewis Partnership, responsible for the strategic delivery of all Real Estate activity in both John Lewis and Waitrose across all asset classes (Retail, Distribution, Office, Residential and Leisure). In addition her role also ensures the commercial delivery of all capital projects, compliance with statutory policy and driving a sustainability strategy for the Property & Development function. Katherine has also been a Trustee and Director of a non profit organisation, setting the strategic direction and overseeing operational delivery.

Brian Bickell FCA

Chief Executive

Shaftesbury plc

Brian qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1976. He joined Shaftesbury when it was formed in 1986, and was Finance Director from the date of its float on the London Stock Exchange in 1987. He became Chief Executive in 2011.

Starting with £10 million of private capital in 1986, Shaftesbury now has a market capitalisation of c. £2.9 billion. It has assembled a portfolio of 15 acres of freeholds in the West End, comprising c.600 buildings, valued at £3.9 billion. Its ownership includes 590 shops, restaurants, cafes and pubs across 1.1 million sq. ft. in Carnaby and West Soho, Chinatown, Seven Dials and Fitzrovia.

Deirdra Armsby

Director of Placeshaping

Westminster City Council

Director of Placeshaping and West End Partnership at Westminster City Council, providing strategic leadership on the form and function of the City as a City for All. Deirdra will embed Placeshaping principles throughout an eclectic range of projects including Church Street regeneration, West End Partnership programmes and leading on the emerging Oxford Street District Strategy, neighbourhood revitalisation and Strategic transport. Deirdra also sits on the Board of the Dolphin Foundation.

Previously, Deirdra was Director of Regeneration and Planning at Newham, and worked at Hackney & RBKC gaining experience in strategic and local mixed use development, Conservation, neighbourhood advocacy, transport, public health and strategy.

Lucy Musgrave

Founding Director

Publica

Lucy Musgrave is the founding director of Publica, a London-based practice that specialises in strategies and design for public space, urban design and masterplanning. Over a 25-year career, Lucy has played a key advisory role in policy recommendations, strategic planning and the advocacy of design quality. She is currently a Mayor’s Design Advocate and sits on the Mayor’s Night Time Commission and the Sounding Board for the Mayor’s Public London Charter. Lucy is a member of the Barbican Centre Board and the National Infrastructure Commission's Shadow Design Group and Expert Advisory Group.

Debbie Jackson

Interim Executive Director - Development, Enterprise and Environment

Greater London Authority

Debbie is the Interim Executive Director for Development, Enterprise and Environment at the Greater London Authority. The Department plays a leading role in delivering the Mayor’s Good Growth agenda for the Mayor through the planning, regeneration and economic development, transport, environment, skills, growth and infrastructure and European funding functions. Debbie is also the Senior Responsible Owner for the London Economic Action Partnership, London’s Local Enterprise Partnership. Formerly Debbie was the Assistant Director for Regeneration and Economic Development at the GLA, responsible for delivering innovative programmes for social and physical infrastructure, London’s skill base and London’s civic economy, the Economic Development, Food and Local Industrial Strategies and the Mayor’s work to support businesses and an economy that works for all Londoners. Debbie has worked in London's public sector – formerly Westminster and Lambeth local authorities and the London Development Agency – for 21 years.

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 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.