Sophie Goddard

Director of Sustainability
Canary Wharf Group plc

Sophie Goddard is Director of Sustainability for Canary Wharf Group; the developer, contractor, and property manager who transform urban spaces into extraordinary environments. Sophie has previously led sustainability across the UK for the regional and specialist businesses within Balfour Beatty, the UK’s largest contractor.

Sophie has also spent time in the retail industry where she led programmes to deliver sustainable outcomes in the Far East.

With over 10 years of experience in a variety of roles and sectors, Sophie firmly believes that the private sector has a key role to play in responding to the climate crisis in a way which creates healthy and prosperous places to live and work.

Dan James

Development Director
Eden Project

Dan leads the early stages of project development and implementation including relationship building and project design. He is responsible for the delivery of a number of projects including the National Wildflower Centre, Eden’s social prescribing programme - Nature’s Way and Deep Roots New Shoots - a nature-based project for under 5’s and their families. Having joined Eden in 2002, Dan has supported Eden’s funding activity across a number of sectors including Public funds, Trusts and Foundations raising significant funds to pay for capital improvements on site and revenue funds for programmes and projects.

In his early role with Eden, Dan was instrumental in securing and manging funds awarded by the Government, Europe and the Lottery. He played a leading role in the establishment and maintenance of key regional and national stakeholder relationships, helping to bring some important Eden initiatives to reality, including The Core building, The Big Lunch programme and Eden Geothermal.

Juliette Morgan

ESG Consultancy Director
Gensler

Juliette is a real estate industry leader with 20 years’ experience working internationally. She has managed portfolios of millions of sq ft in development and asset management and latterly focussed her career on ESG strategies in the built environment. She led pathways to net zero and offset for a UK based REIT, British Land and is now a leader in Gensler’s Global Climate action and Sustainability Practice Area working with clients all over the globe to reduce their carbon impact, and increase their human and biodiversity outcomes.

Dan Jones

Director of Public Realm
London Borough of Tower Hamlets

Dan is an Environment Director with over 24 years of local government experience and knowledge. He is currently Director Public Realm at the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, responsible for the delivery of key front line services such as waste management, highways, parking and environmental health. He is also the lead for the council’s response to the Climate Emergency and has, in partnership with colleagues and local stakeholders delivered an ambitious Net Zero Carbon Action Plan for the Council and for the Tower Hamlets Partnership.

Dan has also been instrumental ,in his role as Chair of the London Environmental Directors’ Network (LEDNet), in raising the profile of the Climate Emergency amongst London Borough’s elected members and Chief Executives, which has resulted in the production of a blueprint for accelerating climate action by a coalition of LEDNet, ADEPT, Ashden and other local government, environmental and research organisations - Climate Coalition Asks: a blueprint for accelerating climate action.

Shobi Khan

Chief Executive Officer
Canary Wharf Group plc

Shobi Khan brings more than 30 years of experience in the real estate industry. Mr. Khan currently serves as Chief Executive Officer for Canary Wharf Group (CWG). Previously, he served as President and Chief Operating Officer of GGP Inc. (a S&P 500 REIT). Prior to GGP, he served as the U.S. chief investment officer at Bentall Kennedy. Mr. Khan spent 11 years at Equity Office Properties Trust (a S&P 500 REIT), where he was the Senior Vice President of Investments. Mr. Khan holds an MBA from the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

Tom Venner

Managing Director - Development
Canary Wharf Group plc

Tom is Managing Director - Development for Canary Wharf Group, responsible for delivery of the 7m sf development pipeline. The pipeline includes Canary Wharf’s North Quay and Wood Wharf Developments, delivering over 3,000 homes, hotels, retail and commercial space, together with an life-sciences campus for London. In addition, the team leads the delivery of the final phase of the redevelopment of the Shell Centre with our partners Qatari Diar.

Prior to joining Canary Wharf Group, Tom was the first Managing Director of the Euston Partnership, the Government’s largest real estate delivery partnership and established the Property Business of High Speed 2, created to realise social, economic and financial value from real estate development. Before HS2, Tom spent 10 years at LandSec.

Cath Webster

Chief Executive Officer
PfP Capital

Catherine started at PfP Capital in January 2023 to focus on increasing funds under management alongside the delivery of social value,augmenting the existing fund management platform across high-quality affordable housing, private-rented residential and urban regeneration strategies. She joined from Quintain where she was Executive Director for Strategy and Investment and chair of the Sustainability Steering Group.

Cath has 30 years of real estate experience and has held several leadership roles as an investor or a lender in a wide array of companies including private equity, fund management and investment banking at Hudson Advisors (Lone Star Funds), TIAA & Lehman Brothers Global Real Estate. She holds a Bsc in Land Management from Reading University, an MBA from INSEAD and is a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and Co-Chair for the Creative Land Trust.

Morgan Taylor

Head of Ecology
Greengage

Morgan leads our ecology team, providing ecological and green infrastructure design input into projects enabling biodiversity net gains, complementing wider climate change adaptation measures. He provides clear and concise advice on how to manage ecology throughout planning and development.

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.

Kelly Beaver MBE

Chief Executive, UK and Ireland
Ipsos UK

Kelly Beaver MBE is Chief Executive of Ipsos in the UK and Ireland. She has been with Ipsos for over a decade and was previously Managing Director of Ipsos’s UK Public Affairs division which supports government clients to monitor and understand public opinion, behaviours and societal trends, design public services and policies, and to determine what works in achieving social and economic policy objectives.

Kelly has led a wide range of notable research programmes including the REACT study tracking COVID-19 prevalence across England, public attitudes work ranging from the use of evidence, Brexit and vaccines, through to a key piece of work with the Royal Foundation on the importance of the Early Years. Prior to joining Ipsos, Kelly held roles across various consultancies including PwC and KPMG and specialised in public policy evaluation.

Kelly holds several honorary positions external to Ipsos in academia and charities. She is passionate about the use of evidence in decision-making and her roles outside of Ipsos enable her to make a wider contribution to the social sciences discipline in promoting its use. She is a Fellow of the UK Academy for Social Sciences, a Board member for the Campaign for Social Science, a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at King’s College London and a Trustee for the Government What Works Centre for Early Intervention. She currently sits on the Advisory Panel for the Resolution Foundation’s ‘Economy 2030 Inquiry’.

Kelly is a regular commentator in the national press and broadcast media. She is experienced at presenting to senior audiences on public and business leader opinion and societal and consumer trends across a range of topics including trust, gender equality, employee engagement, leadership, and many others.

Kelly was awarded an MBE in June 2022 as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to academia, research and the COVID-19 response.

Catherine Raynsford

Director of Stakeholder and Investment Management
Hyde Group

Catherine Raynsford is Director of Stakeholder and Investment Management.

Catherine has worked in real estate for over 15 years specialising in public private partnerships, working with public sector landowners to bring forward major developments and regeneration projects.

Catherine works closely with our public sector partners and grow our initiatives with local government, this is a new role for Hyde and will focus on our strategy to engage with private capital.

Catherine leads a team to identify, develop and enhance long-term partnerships with a broad mix of private sector partners including housebuilders, developers, and institutional investors.

Ben Denton

Managing Director
L&G Affordable Homes

Ben Denton is Managing Director of L&G Affordable Homes. L&G Affordable Homes’ set up in 2018 with an ambitious business plan to develop 3,000 affordable homes pa by 2022 alongside building a best in class customer services experience. L&G are investing patient, long-term capital in order to grow the capacity of the affordable housing sector and in so doing, deliver societally important outcomes. L&G Affordable Homes sits alongside L&G’s other housing businesses including BTR, Modular, Cala and Inspired Villages Group. Prior to L&G, Ben held a number of positions in the public and private sectors, delivering residential led development and regeneration.

Jules Pipe CBE

Deputy Mayor for Planning, Regeneration and Skills
Greater London Authority

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

Steve Hatton

Planning & Design Director
Weston Homes plc

Steve Hatton is the Planning & Design Director at Weston Homes and has worked in the property development industry for 20 years.

Steve specialises in residential led brownfield mixed-use regeneration schemes across the southeast of England. These projects range in scale from 50 to over 1,000 homes and include other uses such as schools, retail and community facilities.

Steve leads the planning and engagement process from inception to start on site, working collaboratively with landowners, the public sector and local communities to create places with a shared vision.

Nicholle Kingsley

Head of London Planning Team
Pinsent Masons LLP

Nicholle is head of the London planning team at Pinsent Masons. Nicholle has extensive experience advising on all aspects of planning and environmental legal issues on a wide range of UK and international development and regeneration projects.

Jamie Lockerbie

Partner
Pinsent Masons LLP

Jamie is a partner in the London planning team at Pinsent Masons. Jamie is a planning law specialist and advises clients in both the public and private sectors on the full remit of planning and highways matters.

David Jennings

Chairman
Movers & Shakers

David started his career in Construction and Property. In 1990 he jointly founded and was a Joint Managing Director of the Salisbury Consulting Group; he sold his interest in 1995. In 1996 he formed Business Vantage, a business and research consultancy which specialises in property and construction and advises major UK plc’s.
David is the Founder Director and Chairman of Movers & Shakers formed in 1996 the UK’s most successful and popular networking forum.
He is also a Founder Director and shareholder of Stonemartin plc, an AIM listed serviced office business; founded in 1999.

Leigh Natasha Salter

Managing Director
Movers & Shakers

Leigh Natasha Salter is Managing Director of Movers & Shakers, having formerly been the Business and Events Director. Leigh has been responsible for developing the brand over the last 14 years and was responsible for the launch of the Movers & Shakers UK Regional events programme. Previously she worked in marketing, communications and research, and also ran the Windsor & Maidenhead Borough’s Business to Community Partnership, facilitating CSR for businesses. She qualified at Oxford University with a BA Honours in Human Sciences, and a scholarship, and is also a member of the BPF, WPA and UK-GBC.

James Pargeter

Senior Advisor
GAA

James has 25 years of experience within the residential sector, with a focus on purpose-designed Build to Rent (BTR) since 2012. He is a recognised advocate for the sector and was included in EG’s ‘BTR’s 50 Most Influential’ list for 2022. James’s extensive delivery experience across the tenure spectrum brings understanding of the varied priorities for investors, owners, residents, local communities and policymakers in delivering successful long-term rental led developments.

Before joining GAA as a consultant Senior Advisor, James was a Senior Director at Greystar, where he led engagement with UK national and local government and helped to shape emerging BTR policies, as well as liaison with key stakeholders on each development. Before that, he was a Partner at Deloitte Real Estate leading their Residential Projects team.

James sits on the BPF’s BTR Committee and also co-chairs their London Engagement Group, as well as the UKAA’s Policy Committee and the Construction Leadership Council’s (CLC) Manufacture & Performance working group. He is also a recent member of the Government’s BTR Joint Committee (DLUHC), New London Architecture’s (NLA) Expert Housing Panel and the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) UK Residential Council. He is a regular speaker and commentator on BTR, wider housing issues and modular construction, and contributed to the ULI’s ‘Build to Rent: Best Practice Guide’

Simon Scott

Lead Director - Living Capital Markets
JLL

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

Rebecca Taylor

Managing Director of BTR
Long Harbour

Rebecca is the Managing Director of Long Harbour’s BtR / Multifamily business. Since joining Long Harbour in 2015, Rebecca has deployed over £750mn of equity and leads on the LHMF JV which is a £1.5bn partnership with PSP and Cadillac Fairview.

Rebecca has over 15 years’ experience in development and investment having worked in projects in Australia, UK, Ireland and UAE. Prior to joining Long Harbour, Rebecca spent eight years at Laing O’Rourke working in their property and investment team. Here she worked on their offsite housing solution and a number of PFI/PPP deals.

She is the Vice-Chair of the BPF BTR Committee, is on the steering group for the UKAA Best Practice Guide and a member of the ULI UK Residential Council.

Richard Jackson MRICS

Managing Director & Co-Founder, Apache Capital
Chief Executive Officer & Co-founder, Present Made

Richard Jackson is a founding partner and Managing Director of Apache Capital Partners. He is one of the senior leadership team and has over 20 years’ experience in property and development funding.

Prior to launching Apache Capital Partners in 2008, Richard worked with John Dunkerley primarily on two funds in the UK and Europe, the latter of which Richard focused on growing the portfolio by acquiring assets throughout mainland Europe.

Together with John, Richard launched Apache Capital Partners with a strategy of investing in chronically undersupplied but structurally supported residential sectors.
Richard’s day to day role focuses on investment and business development and he is also responsible for the company vision and strategy. He has worked closely with Joint Venture Partners Moda Living on the company’s prime BTR investments to create exceptional places to call home. Richard is a member of the IPF Residential Special Interest Group (SIG) Committee, PREA and INREV.

Catherine Raynsford

Director of Stakeholder and Investment Management
Hyde Group

Catherine Raynsford is Director of Stakeholder and Investment Management.

Catherine has worked in real estate for over 15 years specialising in public private partnerships, working with public sector landowners to bring forward major developments and regeneration projects.

Catherine works closely with our public sector partners and grow our initiatives with local government, this is a new role for Hyde and will focus on our strategy to engage with private capital.

Catherine leads a team to identify, develop and enhance long-term partnerships with a broad mix of private sector partners including housebuilders, developers, and institutional investors.

Iain Murray

Senior Director - BTR Consultancy (Europe)
Cortland Consult

Iain has been in the heart of the Build To Rent sector for almost a decade now and probably attracts the ‘veteran’ tag these days. He leads a dynamic team of BTR consultants based in London, Leeds and Dublin delivering advice across Europe. Cortland Consult is a sophisticated data driven business who have helped our clients develop, fund and operate over 50,000+ Multifamily Assets.

Olivia Harris

Chief Executive
Dolphin Living

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

Helen Gordon

Chief Executive Officer
Grainger plc

Helen was appointed Chief Executive of Grainger in January 2016.

Helen has spent over 40 years in Real Estate and joined Grainger from RBS where she spent five years as Global Head of Real Estate Asset Management. Prior to that, Helen held the role of Director of Legal and General Property. Other previous roles include Group Property Director of Railtrack and Managing Director of John Laing Developments.

Helen sits on the Board of Derwent London as Senior Independent Director, is currently Deputy Chairman of the European Public Real Estate Association and is Past President of the BPF.

Helen is a chartered surveyor and an Honorary Fellow of University College of Estate Management.

James Saunders

Chief Executive Officer
Quintain

James Saunders was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Quintain in October 2019.

James was previously Chief Operating Officer of Quintain and has been a main board director since 2017. As Chief Operating Officer, James led the place-making and estate management at Wembley Park, commercial partnerships, group marketing, IT and health and safety.

During his time at Quintain, James has led the repositioning of Wembley Park from an event destination to an exciting new neighbourhood for London. He has created the strategic direction for marketing, communications and place making that has led to dramatic reconsideration of the area, increase in footfall, improvements in press coverage and word-of -mouth, plus new partnerships including with Boxpark, Troubadour Theatres and Second Floor Studios.

As Chief Operating Officer, James also oversaw the Wembley Park estate operations team with responsibility for management of The SSE Arena, Wembley, London Designer Outlet, car parking, health and safety, service charge and retail development.

He has managed key stakeholder and commercial partner relationships with GLA, London Borough of Brent, Wembley Stadium, the FA, AEG and Realm, plus other local stakeholders. He was responsible for the renegotiation of agreements with adjacent landowners that unlocked the Wembley Park site from a development and operational perspective.

Prior to joining Quintain, James was the Chief Marketing Officer at The Cloud Networks, a consultant to Vodafone Europe and Brand Director at Coca-Cola Great Britain. He holds a Sloan Masters from London Business School, a Law Degree from Cambridge University and is a barrister-at-law.

Hannah Marsh

Co-Founder and Chief Partnership Officer
HomeViews

Hannah moved into the property industry four years ago when she co-founded the property rating service HomeViews. She started her career at GSK, spending seven years at the pharma giant before joining a luxury skincare startup. As Marketing Director Hannah helped take it from a table-top business to a brand featuring in stores such as Selfridges and Barney’s New York.

In property, she has quickly become an authority on the Build to Rent and PRS sectors.

Alastair Mullens

Managing Director - Vertus
Canary Wharf Group

Alastair joined Canary Wharf Group in 2018, to establish the Canary Wharf Group’s (CWG) Build-to-Rent platform, Vertus. He is currently overseeing the delivery of three seed assets totalling 1,137 units, all based on the Canary Wharf Estate. The first new residential tenants moved in in February 2020. He is now working closely with CWG’s development team to design and envision the future phases of private rental product for the Estate.

Over the last twelve years Alastair has gained a broad experience of the UK residential property market; initially in Residential Management before moving into Residential Development and then centring on the emerging Build-to-Rent market. He spent 9 years with Hamptons International & Countrywide Group based in London and Hong Kong. In 2015 he returned from Asia to focus on Build-to-Rent lease-up delivery for various clients across London. His final role at Countrywide was as National Director of Corporate PRS & Build to Rent, during this time he oversaw the delivery of the group’s operational management platform. This included the delivery of two Build-to-Rent assets in the north-west totalling 488 units for the Vista fund, The Cargo Building in Liverpool and Pomona Wharf in Manchester.

Michela Hancock

Managing Director Europe
Greystar

Michela Hancock is a Managing Director and is responsible for the expansion of the company’s third-party management platform and strategic partnerships for wider development and investment deals across Europe. Previously, Michela was Managing Director of Development and Construction for the UK, where she oversaw all project financing, amenity, unit planning, design, planning, construction, and lease-up efforts on high-density Build to Rent and student developments.

She has a MSc in Real Estate Development from Johns Hopkins University and worked in development for Bozzuto Development Company and Grainger PLC. Michela is a founding board member of the UK Apartment Association, an advisory board member of Commercial Real Estate Finance Council and a member of the British Property Federation Build to Rent Committee. She is a member of the ULI European Residential Council, serves on the Real Estate Balance Policy and Campaigns Committee and is an active member of Commercial Real Estate Women’s mentorship programme.

Russell Pedley

Director & Co-Founder
Assael Architecture

Russell is Director and Co-Founder of Assael Architecture. With over 30 years as an architect and 15 years in urban design, he has a strong passion for creating a sense of place with historical and cultural connections in all of his work.

Russell spent many years spearheading Assael’s skills in the design of professionally-managed Build to Rent communities in the private rented sector. Following years of research, including many study trips to the US, and producing design guides for the UK, Assael is now one of the leading architects in the sector, paving the way with key projects such as Union Wharf in Greenwich for Essential Living, Blackhorse Mills in Walthamstow for Legal & General, and Pontoon Dock in Newham for Linkcity. Russell also co-authored both editions of the Urban Land Institute’s Build to Rent: A Best Practice Guide, which was sponsored by the British Government, and he is now Chair of the ULI’s UK Residential Council and advises on MHCLG’s Build to Rent Joint Committee.

Nick Whitten

Head of UK Residential and Living Research, EMEA
JLL

Nick spent 13 years working as a journalist, seven of which were in the property industry. He joined JLL in August 2014 from property journal Estates Gazette where he developed a well-known industry profile as News Editor.

Nick is part of the five-strong residential research team at JLL in which his focus is on building its growing consultancy practice and public profile.

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, creating economic and social value for local communities.

Melanie is a Fellow of the RSA and an external member of the Council of the University of Essex. In 2015 she was awarded a CBE for services to the food and drink industry.

Eleanor McMillan

Investment Director
Savills IM

Eleanor is an investment director at Savills Investment Management, concentrating on growing their assets under management in the European Living sectors. Eleanor has recently focused on developing the UK platform through the purchase of BtR and development specialist Pitmore and the Affordable housing platform Simply Affordable Homes. On the back of these acquisitions, Savills IM have launched a UK value add residential fund and are in the process of launching a UK Affordable housing fund.

Prior to joining Savills IM, Eleanor was a senior director in the Operational Capital Markets division at Savills UK specialising in residential investment and development funding. Eleanor was involved in the first UK BtR institutional forward funding deal in 2013 and subsequently worked with the majority of the investors and developers in the sector as it evolved. In addition, Eleanor assisted in the production of the RICS guidance note: Valuing residential property purpose built for renting in 2018. Eleanor graduated with a masters degree in Land Economy from Cambridge University and spent almost a decade working in the commercial property sector before joining Savills.

Rick de Blaby

CEO
Get Living

Rick is CEO of Get Living PLC, the UK’s leading investor, developer and operating platform of Built to Rent residential homes with 4,000 in operation and a further 6,000 in pipeline. He has been with Get Living for 5 years, whose flagship assets neighbourhoods include East Village at the Olympic Park, Elephant and Castle Town Centre, MIddlewood Locks in Salford and Lewisham Gateway plus others in Leeds, Glasgow and Maidenhead. Rick has 40 years of real estate experience, with a particular passion for big scale urban regeneration and neighbourhood creation. Rick is also a Non-Executive Board Member of Curo Housing Association. Past roles have included CEO of MEPC and United House and Non-Exec Chairman of Miller Developments.

Ryan Prince

Vice Chairman, Realstar Group
Founder & CEO, UNCLE

Ryan Prince grew up in Toronto, Canada before moving to the UK in 1998 to pursue a post graduate degree at the London School of Economics. At 21, Ryan co-founded iGabriel, an early stage technology venture capital firm with investors including Lord Myners, Peter Gabriel and Brent Hoberman.

Ryan entered the property sector by establishing the international arm of the Realstar Group of companies in 2002. Realstar is a fully integrated real estate investor and manager with $9B of AUM. Since that time, Ryan has led the firm’s overseas efforts in the healthcare, hospitality, student housing and professional living sectors. The firm has gone on to acquire or develop in excess of £3B assets including the UK’s largest hotel real estate transaction, a £1B portfolio of Holiday Inn hotels comprising over 13,000 rooms in a joint venture with GIC Real Estate and Lehman Brothers, which it successfully sold in 2015.

Frustrated by the lack of decent living accommodation in the UK, Ryan established the UNCLE brand in 2017. UNCLE aims to take the ‘lord’ attitude out of being a landlord by offering design-savvy apartments combined with a straight-talking, no-nonsense approach for renters who are tired being treated like second-class citizens in their own homes. Since its launch, UNCLE has opened 7 locations with 4 more on the way, totaling nearly 4,000 apartments, primarily in London and one in Manchester and Leeds. Most recently, Realstar formed a joint venture with QuadReal, the property arm of the province of British Columbia’s pension funds in order to continue to grow the UNCLE portfolio.

Ryan is also on the Leadership Council and Advisory Board of Facing History & Ourselves (www.facinghistory.org), a not‐for‐profit organisation that works with students to take an active role in society in fighting racism and intolerance. He is married with three children.

University of Western Ontario, London School of Economics

Ailish Christian-West

Chief Operating Officer
Get Living

Ailish is responsible for managing Get Living’s existing £2 billion build-to-rent neighbourhood portfolio and current development pipeline of circa 6,000 homes development, working with investors and development partners to drive investment performance and grow the Get Living UK portfolio to our target of 15,000 homes. She also leads Get Livings ESG agenda and supports industry collaboration on a broad range of issues, advocating for a sustainable real estate sector.

Ailish has more than 20 years’ experience in UK real estate. Prior to Get Living, Ailish enjoyed 12 years at Landsec, laterally as an executive committee member responsible for portfolio management and portfolio operations. At Landsec she led key strategic initiatives including pivoting London suburban retail assets to mixed use, selling out of secondary shopping centres and creating significant value through building a retail outlet portfolio. She also spent 10 years in fund management, running core plus and opportunistic funds including at La Salle Investment Management.

Nick Hunter

Associate Director
Cast

Nick is an Associate Director in the Project Management team. He leads delivery across a portfolio of Build to Rent projects. Nick is a qualified architect with extensive experience working across a range of residential and mixed-use regeneration projects across London, including build-to-rent, affordable housing and later living schemes. Nick’s passion is to respond to the challenges of our time to create enduring new pieces of the city: he brings a focus on design, placemaking and resident experience to his projects to create brilliant places and to create value for his clients. Nick was the lead author on Cast’s report for the NHBC on the adoption of MMC by a variety of home builders to respond to the challenges of modernisation. Nick is also a Non-Executive Director and Trustee of the Yard Theatre, advising on the development of a new theatre in Hackney.

Lesley Roberts

President
UKAA

Currently President of the UK Apartment Association (UKAA), the Build to Rent (BTR) representative body, Lesley is a well-known practitioner in the BTR market having been involved from its inception in the UK and over the last decade has been influential in its successful evolution to the sought after asset class we see today. Lesley has brought her sharp-end experience to the British Property Federation (BPF), Urban Land Institute (ULI) and UKAA having 17+ years experience leading residential operations and establishing successful teams. Lesley has toured the US multiple times studying their multi-family model, authored content of the ULI’s second edition of ‘Build to Rent Guide’, appeared as an Expert Witness and more recently led the concept, creation and launch of the UKAA’s Best Practice Guide.

Latterly, Lesley was Executive Director and Partner at Allsop, with responsibility for operational management & letting for institutional landlords as well as advising developers and investors on product design, strategic asset management and the customer journey. She was instrumental in pooling best practice across the industry when faced with the challenge of managing rental homes through the pandemic. Her award winning leadership, strategic approach and delivery has been recognised by Property Week, EG and Homeviews several times over. During her tenure, Lesley also sat on the Allsop Operations Board, chaired the Risk Committee and led on ESG.

Prior to her six years at Allsop , Lesley was a Director of Pinnacle Group, Director at Young Group and before living in the UK worked in mining, shipping and heavy industry sectors in Australia specialising in stakeholder relations, media and community engagement.

Lesley is an active industry spokesperson, mentor, member of Women in Property, supporter of Women on Boards and Real Estate Balance as well as an advocate for diversity and inclusion in the workplace. She recently stood down as Chair of Soho Housing Association after a nine year term.

Marcus Foley

Co-Founder
Tommy

Marcus is Co-Founder of Tommy; a creative agency that works with the world’s leading sport, entertainment and consumer brands. Clients include Netflix, TikTok, Twitch, HBO+, Paramount Pictures, Warner Brothers, Google, Burberry, Bentley, Tottenham Hotspur, Nike and Amazon Music. Having had a ringside seat to Hollywood’s ever-changing marketing challenges for 10 years, he has become an expert in how marketers can reach Gen Z and Millennial audiences and strategies to meet their new needs through social media, physical & virtual space, purpose, innovation, augmentation, metaverse and gaming.

Michael Judd

Associate
Hawkins\Brown

Michael is an architect and associate at Hawkins\Brown. a progressive, award-winning studio, and one of the leading design-based architectural practices in the UK. Michael works primarily in the residential sector where he has led a number of large-scale projects across London including build to rent, market sale, co-living and student residential. He also draws on extensive cross sector experience in both the commercial and higher education sectors. Michael is passionate about the integration of new technology in architecture, and he has led our research and development around Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA). A firm believer that modern methods of construction are no barrier to great architecture, Michael has worked on a number of innovative DfMA focused projects including the recently to complete Student Centre for the University of Central Lancashire. Michael has led the Hawkins\Brown team working with L&Q on their DfMA roadmap and the Colab consortium in the creation of the DfMA toolkit. He has also utilised his DfMA experience working with Hawkins\Brown’s Los Angeles office in their role as DfMA consultant on a 1500 bed student residential scheme for UCSD in San Diego.

Emma Rosser

Associate Director – UK Living Research and Strategy
JLL

Emma leads JLL’s research in UK living capital markets, providing insights and reports on build-to-rent, student accommodation, co-living and later living. She supports JLL’s living capital markets team and the research consultancy. She is a former business analyst and journalist. She was residential editor at Estates Gazette, where she reported on residential investment and development, and established BTR data through EG Radius, alongside a series of print supplements exploring the growth of the sector.

Cllr Promise Knight

Cabinet Member for housing, Homelessness and Renters Security
Brent Council

Cllr Promise Knight is Cabinet Lead Member for Housing, Homelessness and Renters’ Security at Brent Council where she has strategic oversight over a range of housing services, including Brent’s private housing strategy and renters’ support. Promise has worked for a number of Parliamentarians in both Houses of Parliament, and at Citizens UK as a Community Organiser responsible for civic engagement.

Colette McCormack

Partner
Winckworth Sherwood

Colette leads the national Winckworth Sherwood legal Planning team and has over 25 years’ experience specialising in residential led mixed use development. She provides strategic planning advice and is known for her ability to lead on and deliver complex projects. Colette advises on some of the largest developments across the Country including the iconic Battersea Power Station for Wandsworth Council, Liverpool Waters for Peel and Barking Riverside for the joint venture company between the Mayor of London and L & Q. She is known for being solutions driven and having a collaborative approach to unlocking development.

“Colette McCormack has been an invaluable member of our project team. She has consistently provided commercially focused advice in an efficient and effective manner, with full awareness of our business requirements.” – Legal 500 2022

The Winckworth Sherwood Planning Team was awarded Planning Law Firm of the year in 2020 and is ranked in the top 10 firms nationally by planning Resources. Colette is ranked in the industry directives in the top tier planning lawyers and is also ranked in the top 5 planning lawyers nationally by the industry in the Planning Resources Survey in 2021.

“The Winckworth Sherwood planning team led by partner Colette McCormack are clear leaders in the field of planning law. As planning law/policy becomes ever more complex, they are always ahead of the curve in terms of new law/policy and how it affects local planning authorities and the development industry.’ - Legal 500 2022”

Sowgol Zarinchang

Managing Director
Way of Life

Sowgol joined Long Harbour January 2018 as the Managing Director of Way of Life. She leads the WoL management platform and ensures the company provides efficient building management and professional customer services through multi-skilled team of people.

Prior to joining Way of Life, Sowgol has 20 years of experience in real estate and has been responsible for implementing management strategies in line with the asset, agreeing marketing and PR activities and implementing digital platforms for companies such as JLL (Director of Serviced Apartments), Folio London (Director of Private Rent) and Notting Hill Housing Trust (Director of Student Lets).

Sowgol is a member of multiple UK Apartment Association (UKAA) committees and Chair of the UKAA Portal Committee, as well as ‘Women in Property’, ‘Ladies in Real Estate’ and a member of IRPM. In 2019, Sowgol was selected as one of the ‘49 women who will shape the future of Real Estate in the UK by Bisnow, as well as in November 2021, Sowgol was announced as one of the 50 Property Management 2021 winners in the Build to Rent category.

Sowgol is passionate about the industry and believes on excellent customer service.

Mark Davy

Founder & CEO
Futurecity

Mark Davy set up Futurecity in 2007 to reflect the growing interest in placemaking and regeneration. He has worked closely with leading developers, architects, and property professionals the world over, and used Futurecity as a platform to use culture, community, and wellbeing as the guiding narrative for the development and regeneration of our towns, cities, and urban centres. His work has led to substantial new funding for the arts in the UK and abroad, from sponsorship, commissioning, bursaries, residencies, new cultural facilities and access by artists, creatives, and cultural organisations to well-funded projects.

Under his leadership the Futurecity team has played a leading role in many large-scale regeneration and development projects, including placemaking strategies for four Build to Rent developments in London, East Village in Stratford (Get Living), Wembley Park (Quintain Living) and 2 London sites for Telford Homes. Recent work on Business Investment Districts includes an ambitious placemaking strategy for the 600 business members of the ‘Heart of London Business Investment District’ in the West End. The strategy led to the ‘Art of London’ brand and a new Arts Quarter in the West End.

New innovations include ‘seeding labs’ in new real estate developments designed to nurture new ideas, help grow creative practices and creative businesses, including Lab E20 at East Village with a focus on positive fashion and sustainable living, and the London Studios affordable workspace at Upper Ground, Southbank (Mitsubishi Estates). Futurecity has brokered innovative partnerships between cultural institutions and the real estate sector, including new facilities for the Centre Pompidou for Malaysian developer Beulah at their Southbank precinct site in Melbourne, new headquarters for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Wembley Park (Quintain Living) and a new building for the English National Ballet at City Island (Ballymore).

Davy has worked closely with house builders and developers of residential developments across the UK including over 15 London developments for the Berkeley Group, a vision strategy for Ebbsfleet Garden City, multiple projects located in Nine Elms on the Southbank (inc. Riverlight, Keybridge House, One Nine Elms, Albert Embankment, Battersea Power Station, New Covent Garden, Royal College of Art Battersea Campus). Futurecity have worked on 20 development projects along the Thames from Battersea Power Station and Grosvenor Waterside to the Shell Centre, Shard Quarter and Barking Riverside.

Charlotte Constance

Founder & Managing Director
Conductor

Charlotte Constance is the Founder and Managing Director of Conductor which brings ‘science and soul’ to spaces and places. She founded Conductor eight years ago with the desire to deliver evidence-based marketing for spaces and places. Since then the business has flourished and includes three pillars; Explore: customer research and insights, Generate: marketing, leasing and placemaking strategy and implementation and Experience: customer experience strategy and delivery.

She is passionate about the effect that people’s living conditions have on their well-being, state of mind and ability to move forward in life. She aims to make a difference in the way people live; focusing on their homes and living environment, so that individuals feel happy, supported and secure and in turn, can look after themselves and their loved ones and positively contribute to their community. Conductor is bringing this to life through their Thrive initiatives which delve deeply into how participants can thrive in the context of their spaces and places.

Peter Goring

Technical Director
Mace

Peter has over 35 years’ experience in civil and structural engineering contracting and is technical director for the Mace Tech construction business unit. Mace Tech is introducing integrated offsite pre-assembly solutions at scale across a variety of building types and is at the forefront of the Mace Construction to Production agenda.

Peter leads the technical team that works to optimise delivery without changing the design intent, which makes C2P a universal solution to delivering across all Mace projects. This combines an offsite pre-assembly solution with digitalisation of the whole process; this allows tracking from production to delivery.

Prior to joining Mace, Peter spent 15 years as technical director at one of the largest specialist concrete trade contractors, with responsibility for technical, quality, research and development.

Victoria Quinlan

President - Europe
Cortland

Victoria leads the European business for Cortland where she is responsible for our strategic vision and growth as well as ensuring the we deliver for our residents and associates. She brings a wealth of experience in the real estate and construction sectors, having held positions spanning investment, development, business operations, finance and capital markets transactions.

Mark Allnutt

Senior Managing Director
Greystar

Mark Allnutt is a Senior Managing Director and a member of the Greystar Executive Committee, where he leads Greystar’s vertically integrated platform in Europe. He is responsible for overseeing investment, development, and operations in seven markets – Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Spain, The Netherlands, and The United Kingdom – working with the country leaders to grow Greystar’s presence across the region in both multifamily and student housing.

Mark has a wealth of experience in the management of multidisciplinary teams to deliver successful residential ventures. Prior to joining Greystar in 2014, Mark was Group Executive Commercial Director of Thames Valley Housing (TVH) where he was responsible for originating and managing the company’s joint venture vehicles. He was also a founding Director of Fizzy Living, the sovereign wealth fund-backed multifamily subsidiary of TVH.

Michelle Hannah

Director
Cast

Michelle is a Director specialising in project management and strategic consultancy. Michelle has worked with a diverse range of clients including Housing Associations, Local Authorities and Private Developers, owning delivery responsibility of commissions through all stages of the development process including initial project brief setting, site acquisition, master planning, planning viability and the raising of equity & debt financing. Michelle has a keen interest in reinventing procurement processes to better suit project needs moving away from a standard ‘one size fits all’ approach. Michelle often speaks at external events covering subjects including MMC, innovative procurement and viability. Michelle has developed a deep specialism within the Build to Rent sector and is the author of Cast’s report, ‘The Rental Space Race’. Michelle also initiated Cast’s strategic research function, supporting Mark Farmer in the preparation of the 2016 independent review of the UK’s construction labour market, commissioned by the UK Government, entitled ‘Modernise or Die’ and a published research paper for NHBC on Modern Methods of Construction. Michelle is a qualified accountant.

Chris Hall

Innovation Services Manager
NHBC

Chris is the Innovation Services Manager at NHBC, the UK’s leading independent provider of warranty and insurance for new homes. He joined NHBC in 2015 and runs NHBC Accepts – a comprehensive review service for innovative construction products and systems. He is responsible for the maintenance of NHBC’s policy and procedures to address Modern Methods of Construction, and to identify trends to inform risk management in non-conventional construction. He is a chartered member of the RICS and lives in Berkshire.

Camilla Cole

Founder & Managing Director
Hypha Studios

Camilla is an experienced contemporary art curator dedicated to championing leading emerging artistic talent in the UK and internationally.

Hypha Studios was born when Camilla wanted to curate exhibitions in non-gallery contexts, aware of how many interesting spaces were available but empty. As a sole practitioner, she found it hard to engage landlords, but by setting up a charity that offers “quality control” of both the art and use of the space, she was able to bring together emerging artists, councils, property owners and cultural institutions in mutually beneficial collaborations.

Huw Davies

Deputy Managing Director
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Huw is Deputy Managing Director and Business Development Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO). Formerly a professional ’cellist, Huw studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and began his playing career as a freelancer, performing with many of the UK’s leading orchestras and ensembles, before joining the BBC Concert Orchestra.

After 8 years with the BBC, Huw’s interest in the business side of the music industry led to a change of direction when he decided to pursue a career in arts management. This led to the establishment of his own music promotion and consultancy business prior to becoming Managing Director of the London Chamber Orchestra (LCO), to which he attracted major sponsors and benefactors, resurrecting the profile and popularity of the UK’s longest- established chamber orchestra. He secured the Patronage of HRH The Duchess of Cornwall and established a prestigious residency for the Orchestra in Hong Kong, amongst other successes.

To develop his knowledge of and contact with the corporate sector, Huw left the music profession in 2007 to become Development Director with the Institute for Family Business (IFB), the UK’s leading membership association for medium and large-sized, family-owned companies. During his time at the IFB, Huw grew the membership to an aggregate turnover in excess of £51bn, and secured many of the UK’s largest and most profitable privately-owned companies as clients. He also sat on the Executive Committee of the global organisation, Family Business Network International (FBN-I), for which he travelled extensively.

He was approached by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and invited to become its Development Director, with responsibility for diversifying the RPO’s income, securing sponsors and benefactors and implementing fundraising initiatives to underpin the Orchestra’s artistic and outreach objectives. Huw’s role within the RPO was enhanced in April 2015, when he was appointed Deputy Managing Director and he is now involved in all aspect of running the Orchestra.

Tom Henry

Investment Director
Legal & General Suburban Build to Rent

Tom joined Legal & General Suburban Build to Rent as Investment Director in April 2021. L&G has a portfolio of over 5,000 BTR homes and 7,000 Affordable homes with ambitious plans to deliver 1,200+ Single Family Homes per annum from 2024.

Prior to joining L&G, Tom held the posts of National Acquisitions Director at Grainger plc and Fund Manager at LaSalle IM and has led the investment activity in respect of £1bn+ of Build To Rent transactions.

He has 20 years’ experience in the residential market and has specialised in BTR since 2012, investing in multiple geographies across the UK.

Rick de Blaby

CEO
Get Living

Rick is CEO of Get Living PLC, the UK’s leading investor, developer and operating platform of Built to Rent residential homes with 4,000 in operation and a further 6,000 in pipeline. He has been with Get Living for 5 years, whose flagship assets neighbourhoods include East Village at the Olympic Park, Elephant and Castle Town Centre, MIddlewood Locks in Salford and Lewisham Gateway plus others in Leeds, Glasgow and Maidenhead. Rick has 40 years of real estate experience, with a particular passion for big scale urban regeneration and neighbourhood creation. Rick is also a Non-Executive Board Member of Curo Housing Association. Past roles have included CEO of MEPC and United House and Non-Exec Chairman of Miller Developments.

Rick de Blaby

CEO
Get Living

Rick is CEO of Get Living PLC, the UK’s leading investor, developer and operating platform of Built to Rent residential homes with 4,000 in operation and a further 6,000 in pipeline. He has been with Get Living for 5 years, whose flagship assets neighbourhoods include East Village at the Olympic Park, Elephant and Castle Town Centre, MIddlewood Locks in Salford and Lewisham Gateway plus others in Leeds, Glasgow and Maidenhead. Rick has 40 years of real estate experience, with a particular passion for big scale urban regeneration and neighbourhood creation. Rick is also a Non-Executive Board Member of Curo Housing Association. Past roles have included CEO of MEPC and United House and Non-Exec Chairman of Miller Developments.

Ailish Christian-West

Chief Operating Officer
Get Living

Ailish is responsible for managing Get Living’s existing £2 billion build-to-rent neighbourhood portfolio and current development pipeline of circa 6,000 homes development, working with investors and development partners to drive investment performance and grow the Get Living UK portfolio to our target of 15,000 homes. She also leads Get Livings ESG agenda and supports industry collaboration on a broad range of issues, advocating for a sustainable real estate sector.

Ailish has more than 20 years’ experience in UK real estate. Prior to Get Living, Ailish enjoyed 12 years at Landsec, laterally as an executive committee member responsible for portfolio management and portfolio operations. At Landsec she led key strategic initiatives including pivoting London suburban retail assets to mixed use, selling out of secondary shopping centres and creating significant value through building a retail outlet portfolio. She also spent 10 years in fund management, running core plus and opportunistic funds including at La Salle Investment Management.

Gavin Poole

CEO
Here East

Gavin is CEO of Here East – the 1.2 million sq ft technology and Innovation campus on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, and one of the fastest growing business clusters in the UK. Recently, Gavin has been at the forefront of developing the concept of creating London’s first digital games and esports cluster. Prior, Gavin served as an engineering officer in the UK Royal Air Force for over 20 years before leaving following tours as a Wing Commander. Upon leaving military service, he ran the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) and helped form major policy initiatives including the introduction of the Modern-Day Slavery Act within the UK. Gavin is a board member of Plexal, sits on the Advisory Board of Global Tech Advocates and is a London Technology Ambassador for London & Partners. In addition, he sits on the Advisory Board for London Tech Week.

Rosanna Lawes

Executive Director of Development
London Legacy Development Corporation

Rosanna Lawes is responsible for the delivery of development programmes on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, one of the larges and highest profile urban regeneration projects in the UK and Europe. The focus is to deliver new neighbourhoods where people choose to live and work, providing a mix of residential, commercial and social infrastructure equating to a gross development value of £3.3bn.

She is also the SRO for East Bank, the new creative and education hub with Sadler’s Wells, UAL’s London College of Fashion, University College London, BBC and the Victoria and Albert Museum. This £1.1bn project will deliver 2,500 jobs, attract 1.5m additional visitors and generate £1.2bn of economic benefit to London and the UK. Rosanna has responsibility for the design, development, commercial negotiations and agreements with the market to deliver this programme.

Jonathan Silman

Founder
Community Sport Academies

Having moved to East Village in December 2013 we set up our Football projects in the Olympic park to continue the Olympic legacy for London’s brand new neighbourhood E20. 9 years later and with over 4500 members we have been able to create a Football Club (Football Unites FC) as a stepping stone to our community football projects. Our ‘free to participate’ sessions have expanded from E20 Football Foundation to now running free community sport programmes across London.

Bek Seeley

Managing Director for Development
Lendlease

Bek Seeley is the European Managing Director for Development at Lendlease.

Bek is responsible for leading the Development Business to successfully delivering Lendlease’s c.£24bn European pipeline including major projects in London,
Manchester and Birmingham. This pipeline will deliver in excess of 25,000 homes.

Previously, she held the position of Chief Operating Officer for Development and was instrumental in winning a number of major projects for Lendlease, as well as
overseeing operations and driving overall growth of the business.

Before joining Lendlease in 2015 Bek’s career spanned the public and private sectors, having held a range of operational and commercial roles in economic
development, infrastructure, built environment and public services.

Harry Knibb

Development Director
Oxford Properties Group

Harry is a development director at Oxford Properties - the real estate arm of OMERS, one of Canada’s largest defined benefit pension plans. Located in London Harry works on large complex projects, predominantly in the residential and mixed-use space. An advocate of sustainable, healthy and productive places, Harry is a chartered town planner and academician for the Academy of Urbanism.

Professor Sadie Morgan OBE

Founding Director,
dRMM

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.

Cécile Faraud

Clean Construction Programme Manager
C40 Cities

Cécile Faraud manages the C40 Clean Construction Programme, which supports cities cities in driving zero carbon construction by 2050, with a focus on reducing carbon from materials and machinery. Prior to C40, Cécile managed the London City-Business Leaders initiative at CDP, aimed at aligning the city and businesses climate ambitions and actions. The partnership comprises the Greater London Authority, 11 global companies operating in London such as Tesco, Sky, Siemens and Landsec, and NGO partners CDP, C40 and The B Team. She had previously shaped and led the Circular Economy programme for the city of Peterborough (UK), authoring blogs on the Circular Economy. She has also worked, when based in Bangkok, on French and South-East Asian collaboration for sustainable development and cross-cutting regional issues.

She holds a MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development from University College London (UCL) and Master’s degrees in International Relations and Geography from IRIS Sup’ (France) and the Sorbonne respectively.

May Al-Karooni

CEO & Founder
Globechain

May Al-Karooni realised no one had digitised the waste industry when the bank she worked for moved offices across the road. Rather than moving their office furniture, most of which was in perfect condition, they disposed of it all and purchased brand new furniture.

Seeing this immense waste was a revelation; she knew there were charities and people that needed these items, and that her bank had also incurred high fees for both the disposal and repurchase of the furniture.

This revelation resulted in the birth of Globechain, and with £800 May set up the first Globechain website. She chose to self-fund initially since there was no market or access to funding for services like Globechain at the time.

Since then, Globechain has grown significantly, with valuable product features such as ESG data reporting and Internal Sharing for businesses. Today, Globechain is the biggest reuse marketplace worldwide, with over 10,000 members operating in the UK, Spain, the UAE and New York.

Andrea Charlson

Built Environment Lead
ReLondon

I am pioneering the transition to a low carbon circular economy in London, with a particular focus on the built environment sector. I am leasing the London Cluster of the Horizon 2020-funded CIRCuIT project which is aiming to accelerate the uptake in circular construction practices across Europe.

Joe Murphy

Network Lead
Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Joe leads the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Network, which brings together leading businesses, cities, universities, and emerging innovators to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy. Joe has a financial background, working previously at PayPal and Ernst & Young.

Euan Norris

Head of Smart Cities
Scottish Power Smart Solutions

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

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

Joanne Wheeler

Sustainability Advisor
UKGBC

TBA

Mark Atherton

Director of Environment
Greater Manchester Combined Authority

​TBA

Charlie Foster

Managing Director of Real Estate Finance, Large Corporate
NWG

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

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

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

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

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

Rishi Madlani

Head of Sustainable Finance
NatWest Group

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

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

Jamie Hall

UK Director of Energy & Sustainability
ISS Sustainability

​TBA

Stella Kanu

Executive Director
LIFT

Stella Kanu is Executive Director at LIFT (London International Festival of Theatre) previously as Executive Producer at Ovalhouse she spent 4 years overseeing a
comprehensive artistic, organisational and community-led transition as Ovalhouse constructed London’s newest purpose built £15m theatre in Brixton; creating the Brixton City Festival. She created the concept design for Black Womxn in Theatre and is co-curator of BWinT events, the #WeAreVisible movement & iconic photoshoot of over 250 Black Womxn in Theatre at The Globe in 2019.

She has worked in the theatre, festival and cultural sector for over 27 years shaping ideas, communities, events, people and organisations for great shifts. Working in the UK & US including Soundwave Cumbria where she was CEO, Cardboard Citizens Theatre Company, Harlem Stage, Southampton Live Street Arts Festival, Africa Centre, Dance UK, Theatre Royal Margate, Tomorrrow’s Warriors and Clean Break Theatre, as well as arts, community and regeneration directorates at numerous local and city councils. Stella created The Pivotal Place to coach and mentor emerging, mid-career and established leaders across multiple sectors, and is a long-term leadership mentor on Engage’s UK wide Leadership Programme, Extend.

Stella is a former Powerbrokers International Leadership Fellow (Cultural Leadership Programme, 2008), she is a sought-after speaker, strategic brain and trainer on topics including Diversity in Theatre, Inspired Leadership, Art/Activism and Women & power.

A graduate of the UK’s first full time BA Writing course, she was one of the first cohort on MA Coaching and Mentoring Practice at Oxford Brookes University. Stella is a practising writer, musician and maker. She has served on boards including Creative Margate (including interim Chair) and New Writing South, Stella is currently Chair at Eclipse Theatre, an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation based in Leeds and the UK’s Black Theatre & Production Company.

Jeff Risom

Chief Innovation Officer
Gehl (copenhagen)

As Chief Innovation Officer, Jeff is passionate about the relationship between human experience and design and works to apply people-first design principals to communal ecosystems, such as streets, public space, food systems, and energy. Working at the intersection of urban governance, business and culture, Jeff delivers projects that are economically viable and socially equitable, as well as sustainable in terms of using energy, land and time. With degrees in Architectural Engineering from the US and City Design and Social Science from London School of Economics, Jeff’s multi-disciplinary background has shaped his cross-cutting holistic approach to all projects. He has worked with both public and private clients as well as non-governmental organizations in Europe, USA, Latin America, India and China.

Blaise Backer

Deputy Commissioner
Department of Small Business Services (New York)

Michael Blaise Backer is the Deputy Commissioner of the Neighborhood Development Division (NDD) at the New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS). In this role, Blaise oversees a team of 28 urban planners and economic development professionals focused on supporting the City’s neighborhood commercial districts by partnering with over 100 community-based development organizations. Blaise and his team launched the Neighborhood 360° initiative, a first-of-its-kind partnership between SBS and community non-profits which invests in conducting local needs assessment and multi-year planning and commercial revitalization opportunities in targeted neighborhoods. Through this initiative, Blaise expanded the division’s annual non-profit grantmaking from $1.4M to $4.5M per year. Blaise is also responsible for oversight of the City’s 76 Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), the largest network in the country, which invest more than $158 million annually in locally customized programs and services for commercial districts across the five boroughs. Before joining SBS in May of 2014, Blaise was the Executive Director of the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership, comprised of a BID and LDC in Fort Greene/Clinton Hill, for 10 years. Blaise also served terms as the board co-chair and treasurer of the New York City BID Association, the membership association of all of New York City’s BIDs. Prior to working in the non-profit field, Blaise was an information technology consultant in the private sector, working in Washington D.C., Dusseldorf, Germany, and Madrid, Spain. Blaise holds a Master in Urban Planning from NYU Wagner and a B.S. in Commerce from the University of Virginia.

Tim Stonor

Managing Director and Owner
Space Syntax

Tim Stonor is an architect and urban planner who has devoted his career to the analysis and design of human behaviour patterns: the ways in which people move, interact and transact in buildings and urban places. He is recognised internationally for his work in the design of spatial layouts and, in particular, the role of space in the generation of social, economic and environmental value.

Tim is the Managing Director of Space Syntax, an urban planning and design company created at University College London in 1989 to develop and apply predictive design technologies. He is a founding member of The Academy of Urbanism, a Visiting Professor at The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, and a Harvard Loeb Fellow. In 2018 he became Deputy Chair of the UK Design Council and was appointed to the Advisory Board of the Norman Foster Foundation.

Patricia Brown

Director
Central

Patricia runs Central, a niche consultancy advising civic and business leaders on urban change. She has over 25 years of direct experience thinking about, influencing and improving London, and at the heart of many of the initiatives that have been part of the city’s successful evolution.

In the mid 1990s she worked alongside real estate guru Honor Chapman in helping to establish London’s first inward investment body, promoting London as a premier business destination. She became CEO of the Central London Partnership in 1997, leading a cross-sector partnership and agenda set on maintaining the capital’s position as a global world city. At CLP, she led much of the early work to achieve this sustained success through ensuring it was a city that people wanted to be in; a people-focused, liveable city, with improved quality of life and built environment.

Russell Pedley

Director & Co-Founder
Assael Architecture

Russell is Director and Co-Founder of Assael Architecture. With over 30 years as an architect and 15 years in urban design, he has a strong passion for creating a sense of place with historical and cultural connections in all of his work.

Russell spent many years spearheading Assael’s skills in the design of professionally-managed Build to Rent communities in the private rented sector. Following years of research, including many study trips to the US, and producing design guides for the UK, Assael is now one of the leading architects in the sector, paving the way with key projects such as Union Wharf in Greenwich for Essential Living, Blackhorse Mills in Walthamstow for Legal & General, and Pontoon Dock in Newham for Linkcity. Russell also co-authored both editions of the Urban Land Institute’s Build to Rent: A Best Practice Guide, which was sponsored by the British Government, and he is now Chair of the ULI’s UK Residential Council and advises on MHCLG’s Build to Rent Joint Committee.

Rebecca Lewis

Senior Development Manager
Morgan Sindall Investments

Rebecca has over 12 years’ experience in the real estate sector. With a background as a chartered surveyor, Rebecca has worked at Grainger Plc, spearheading the creation and delivery of Grainger Trust, the first for profit housing association in the UK. Further experience followed at PfP Capital where Rebecca worked for the PRS Joint Venture with the Universities Superannuation Scheme. Rebecca now works at Morgan Sindall Investment Limited, working in Joint Venture partnerships with Local Authorities to deliver mixed tenure regeneration schemes. Rebecca is also a non-executive director for B3 Living.

Richard Jackson MRICS

Managing Director & Co-Founder, Apache Capital
Chief Executive Officer & Co-founder, Present Made

Richard Jackson is a founding partner and Managing Director of Apache Capital Partners. He is one of the senior leadership team and has over 20 years’ experience in property and development funding.

Prior to launching Apache Capital Partners in 2008, Richard worked with John Dunkerley primarily on two funds in the UK and Europe, the latter of which Richard focused on growing the portfolio by acquiring assets throughout mainland Europe.

Together with John, Richard launched Apache Capital Partners with a strategy of investing in chronically undersupplied but structurally supported residential sectors.
Richard’s day to day role focuses on investment and business development and he is also responsible for the company vision and strategy. He has worked closely with Joint Venture Partners Moda Living on the company’s prime BTR investments to create exceptional places to call home. Richard is a member of the IPF Residential Special Interest Group (SIG) Committee, PREA and INREV.

Stephanie Barbabosa

Head of BTR (Multifamily) International Operations
Lendlease Development - Europe

Stephanie Barbabosa was appointed Head of Build to Rent in August 2017, bringing more than 25 years’ experience in the multi-family and build to rent sectors to the role.

Stephanie has a diverse asset background that includes multi-family, single-family, retail, mixed-use, and condo management across multiple markets in the US. Throughout her career she has focused on new business development, due diligence, asset management, value-add initiatives, business planning and strategy, acquisition, disposition, lease-ups, marketing and engagement plans, financial and market analysis, performance benchmarking, training and mentoring in multi-family management, pre-construction consulting and Yardi administration. Stephanie is a Certified Property Manager and an active member of the Institute of Real Estate Management. She holds the Registered Property Management designation from the International Real Estate Institute. Additionally, she is a District of Columbia Certified Property Manager.

Prior to joining Lendlease Europe, Stephanie was with Gables Residential in the United States overseeing the mid-Atlantic portfolio from Boston to Florida.

Professor Tony Travers

Director of LSE London
Visiting Professor in the Department of Government

Professor Tony Travers is Director of LSE London, a research centre at The London School of Economics and Political Science. He is also a Visiting Professor in LSE’s Department of Government. His key research interests include local and regional government and public service reform.

Professor Travers is currently an advisor to the House of Commons Children, Schools and Families Select Committee and the Communities and Local Government Select Committee.

He has published a number of books on cities and government, including Failure in British Government: The Politics of the Poll Tax (with David Butler and Andrew Adonis), Paying for Health, Education and Housing: How does the Centre Pull the Purse Strings (with Howard Glennerster and John Hills) and The Politics of London: Governing the Ungovernable City.