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

Executive Director, Portfolio Management, Development & ESG
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.

Mark Robinson

Chair
High Street Task Force

Mark is an award-winning entrepreneur and investor in town centres, having co-founded the developer Ellandi in 2008. At Ellandi, Mark has helped lead its mission to create the UK’s most inclusive and sustainable communities, raising over £1.5bn pounds to invest in more than 30 communities across the UK and Northern Ireland, from Enniskillen to Folkestone.

In a career over 25 years Mark has worked for both owners and occupiers of town centre properties and in 2019 was President of Revo; a leading membership body that represents the interests of owners, occupiers and local authorities in promoting thriving retail places. During this time, he successfully led an initiative to broaden the membership base to embrace the public sector and the launch of the Diploma in Retail and Leisure Place Management in partnership with Solent University.
Ellandi has sponsored the Great British High Street and Mark was a judge in 2019; over the years a number of Ellandi projects have enthusiastically entered and were proud to be shortlisted. Ellandi projects have also been recognised with numerous awards for diversity, design, customer service, marketing, community impact and sustainability on a national and international basis.

Mark is a regular commentator on town centre issues in both industry and national media, including The Times, FT and the BBC. He is an in demand public speaker often covering topics such as The Need/Opportunity for Change in Town Centres and Public/Private Partnerships.

Andrea George

Director Town Centre & Consumer Brands
Bruntwood Works

TBA

Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe

Chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority
Leader of Bradford Council

Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe is Leader of Bradford Council and in August 2017 was elected as Chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, which is now the only female led Combined Authority in the country. During her time at the Combined Authority, Susan has always been a lead on Skills, and now as Chair maintains this passion and responsibility.

Susan is driven to achieve great things for the region, focusing on the central priorities of boosting productivity, delivering 21st century transport and enabling inclusive and clean growth. Susan, alongside fellow West Yorkshire Leaders, focuses on these priorities to progress the region’s ambitions and contribute to the Combined Authority’s vision of making the region known globally as a place where everyone can build great businesses, careers and lives.

Before politics Susan had her own business, worked in a Marketing agency and spent five years in a management role at a national newspaper. Until being elected as Council Leader she had been working for Business in the Community, a national charity which promotes responsible business practice. There she managed the Healthy High Streets regeneration programme, a national programme operating in 67 towns across the UK.

As Chair of the Combined Authority Susan is dedicated to the task of driving the region forward as an outward-looking, confident and thriving economy with an enterprising young population, a proud past and an exciting future.

Tim Johnson

Chief Executive
City of Wolverhampton Council

Tim is Chief Executive 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 where his portfolio of responsibilities included city development, city housing, city transport, city environment, corporate property and commercialism.

Tim is an experienced strategic local government director, specialising in place shaping, organisational change management and community regeneration. He has a proven track record of developing and delivering complex, innovative projects and programmes and has overseen a regeneration programme which has £3.7 billion of public and private investment either on site or planned in the city.

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.

He represents City of Wolverhampton Council on a number of external forums across the region and city including the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), Association of Black Country Authorities and Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and as Chair of the Board of Governors at the City of Wolverhampton College.

James Cons

Managing Director
Leslie Jones Architecture

James Cons is an architect, he holds a Diploma in Project Management from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, a Master of Business Administration in Construction and Real Estate and is a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects.

As Managing Director of Leslie Jones, James provides leadership and project direction for both clients and colleagues alike. James is passionate about our town and city centres and the challenges that are being faced through the decline of retail in particular. He is heavily involved in the current debate on our urban futures, commenting: “Such speedy change is challenging the ability of our infrastructure, built environment, policies and occupational models to keep up. Town centres and their stakeholders must find ways to react to this change in the short and medium term such that their long-term strategies might be informed and able to accommodate the way in which we will be living, working and playing in the future.”

James is a keen exponent of collaboration, leading the Urbankind initiative which seeks to bring together appropriate skills focused on improving the futures of our urban centres. James comments further; “Those that succeed in rapidly re-defining their relevance to the changing world and the nature of the communities they serve will thrive.”

James joined Leslie Jones in 1993, having previously worked for the global retail design consultancy, Fitch. He became an Associate Partner of the practice in 2000, a Director in 2005 following incorporation of the practice and then Managing Director in 2013. With a heritage in retail design James has been an active member of this community having chaired the Revo Gold Awards in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Rachel Campbell

Deputy Director (Interim) Regen and Urban Policy, Policy Directorate Cities and Local Growth Unit
MHCLG

Paul Scully MP

Minister for London

Paul Scully was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 13 February 2020. He is responsible for Small Business, Consumers and Labour Markets and Minister for London.

Paul is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament for Sutton and Cheam since 2015. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as its vice chairman
for the London region from 2017 to 2019. Paul was born in Rugby, Warwickshire. He moved to London after graduating and ran a number of small businesses.

Faraz Baber

Operations Director - Midlands & South East
RPS

Faraz Baber is the Operations Director for Planning at RPS Group covering London, South East, Midlands and the North of England. RPS was founded in 1970 and is a leading global professional services firm which employs c. 5,500 staff. Faraz is a dual qualified chartered town planner and chartered surveyor; he currently serves as a member of the British Property Federation’s Planning Committee and, as the former chair of the RICS Planning Policy Panel, he also advises RICS on current planning policy issues. His specific areas of planning reform interest and expertise include the evolution of Community Infrastructure Levy and more recently helping to provide technical input into the proposals for an Infrastructure Levy.

Faraz provides both strategic and technical expertise to planning projects and over the duration of his career, he has successfully worked on a wide and varied caseload of large and complex schemes across England.

Jon Neale

Head of Research - UK
JLL

As head of UK research, Jon leads a 20+ strong team and is responsible for research outputs, client support and consultancy projects across the full range of commercial and residential property sectors, from both occupier and investor/developer perspectives. He also sits on the EMEA Research Board, and has overall responsibility for leading research advisory services across Europe. Jon has almost fifteen years of experience, working in both the public and private sectors. Prior to joining JLL, he was Head of Market Intelligence at the UK Government’s Homes and Communities Agency, in which he advised on regeneration, the housing market and relevant areas of policy.

Cath Webster

Executive Director for Strategy and Investment
Quintain

Catherine is Executive Director for Strategy and Investment at Quintain leading on business strategy, financing and investment initiatives for not only Quintain’s existing site at Wembley Park but also new sites for mixed use developments with a Build to Rent focus.

Working closely with all the groups in the company, Catherine’s role is to drive new business initiatives and ensure successful resourcing, structuring and delivery. Transactions range from investing in new sites, place-making initiatives, and repositioning of assets to divesting of non-core assets. She is responsible for the equity and debt relationships, ensuring funding is available when needed, and is the lead relationship manager with external finance sources. For new business, Catherine takes the lead in viability, structuring and funding to ensure the team is successful in not only the bidding phase but also the eventual development and completion of the project.

Catherine has 25 years of real estate investment and finance experience and has held several senior 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. Her experience is pan-European, across residential and commercial sectors and as an owner, JV partner, fund investor, mezzanine and senior lender.

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.

Anne Breen

Head of Investment Strategy (Real Estate)
Aberdeen Standard Investments

Anne’s role is to lead the investment approach, process and strategy for the real estate business. This includes the creation of a Global Houseview to support real estate investment allocations relevant to all investor outcomes, as well as the development of the risk based tools and strategic insights to deliver a strong long term risk adjusted track record for clients. Anne chairs the global committees across the Real Estate business assessing fund strategic plans for investment, distributions and asset management.

Anne also holds a board position in the Association of Real Estate Funds (AREF) board and also sits on SLA’s Global Inclusion Committee.

Erin Clarke

Relationship Director, Structured Property Finance
Investec

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

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

Lee Coward

Vice President, Investments, Europe
Oxford Properties

Lee is a senior member of Oxford’s European Investment Team, working on the origination and execution of European equity and credit investments. Lee’s primary focus is on UK opportunities, most recently in the multi-family and single-family residential sector including Oxford’s investment in Get Living.
Lee joined Oxford in 2013, originally in the corporate finance team, and previously led the sourcing of debt financing for all European investments as well as the formation of Oxford’s European credit investment strategy.

Lee attended the University of Warwick and is a also qualified Chartered Accountant.

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.

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.

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.

Piers Clanford

Chairman
St George and St Joseph

Piers joined the Berkeley Group in 1996 and was appointed Managing Director of St George Plc in 2017 and Chairman of St George and St Joseph in 2020.

Piers has significant experience in the delivery of large-scale mixed-use brownfield regeneration projects across London and the South East, all of which have included complex land assembly, extensive community consultation, master planning and partnerships with local authorities, strategic authorities and third party land owners.

As an executive sponsor of the Berkeley Group climate action programme, Piers is at the forefront of Berkeley’s industry leading sustainable business strategy.

Cllr Shama Tatler

Lead Member for Regeneration, Property & Planning
Brent Council

Shama Tatler has been a Councillor for the London Borough of Brent since 2014 and a member of the Cabinet in 2016 with responsibility for Regeneration, Property and Planning, overseeing some of London’s largest regeneration schemes. As part of her role she oversees some of the largest regeneration projects in London, including the Wembley Park area and also leads on the multi-award winning estate regeneration scheme in South Kilburn. As part of her lead member role she drives economic growth in Brent, as well as leading on innovative strategies on inclusive growth and affordable workspace. Recently, Shama has led on the adoption of Brent’s Local Plan and subsequent masterplan SPDs for the Neasden Station Growth Area and Church End

Nicola Mathers

Chief Executive Officer
Future of London

Nicola is CEO of Future of London, an independent network supporting housing, planning and regeneration professionals through leadership, research and networks. She leads on strategy, business development and partnerships.

Nicola is passionate about the role of the built environment to improve lives and address inequality. At Design Council and CABE she led national programmes to support the public and private sectors to plan and deliver well designed buildings and spaces.

Nicola is a member of the Mayor’s London Green Spaces Commission and the TCPA Inclusive Planning Sounding Board.

Lord Bob Kerslake

Chair
The UK2070 Commission

Lord Kerslake is Chair of Peabody, Chair of Be First (Barking and Dagenham Council’s regeneration company), Chair of Stockport Mayoral Development Corporation, Chair of the London Collective Investment Vehicle (London CIV), Chair of Sheffield Theatres, Chair of Sheffield Hallam University, Chair of the Centre for Public Scrutiny (CfPS), Chair of the New Economics Foundation and President of the Local Government Association (LGA).

In addition to this, he chairs the UK2070 Commission, an independent inquiry into city and regional inequalities in the UK.

Prior to these roles, Lord Kerslake was Head of the Civil Service, Permanent Secretary of DCLG and served as Chief Executive for Sheffield City Council and the London Borough of Hounslow.

Mark Robinson

Chair
High Street Task Force

Mark is an award-winning entrepreneur and investor in town centres, having co-founded the developer Ellandi in 2008. At Ellandi, Mark has helped lead its mission to create the UK’s most inclusive and sustainable communities, raising over £1.5bn pounds to invest in more than 30 communities across the UK and Northern Ireland, from Enniskillen to Folkestone.

In a career over 25 years Mark has worked for both owners and occupiers of town centre properties and in 2019 was President of Revo; a leading membership body that represents the interests of owners, occupiers and local authorities in promoting thriving retail places. During this time, he successfully led an initiative to broaden the membership base to embrace the public sector and the launch of the Diploma in Retail and Leisure Place Management in partnership with Solent University.
Ellandi has sponsored the Great British High Street and Mark was a judge in 2019; over the years a number of Ellandi projects have enthusiastically entered and were proud to be shortlisted. Ellandi projects have also been recognised with numerous awards for diversity, design, customer service, marketing, community impact and sustainability on a national and international basis.

Mark is a regular commentator on town centre issues in both industry and national media, including The Times, FT and the BBC. He is an in demand public speaker often covering topics such as The Need/Opportunity for Change in Town Centres and Public/Private Partnerships.

Rebeca Guzman Vidal

Group Head of Retail Strategy
Chelsfield Group

James Cons

Managing Director
Leslie Jones Architecture

James Cons is an architect, he holds a Diploma in Project Management from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, a Master of Business Administration in Construction and Real Estate and is a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects.

As Managing Director of Leslie Jones, James provides leadership and project direction for both clients and colleagues alike. James is passionate about our town and city centres and the challenges that are being faced through the decline of retail in particular. He is heavily involved in the current debate on our urban futures, commenting: “Such speedy change is challenging the ability of our infrastructure, built environment, policies and occupational models to keep up. Town centres and their stakeholders must find ways to react to this change in the short and medium term such that their long-term strategies might be informed and able to accommodate the way in which we will be living, working and playing in the future.”

James is a keen exponent of collaboration, leading the Urbankind initiative which seeks to bring together appropriate skills focused on improving the futures of our urban centres. James comments further; “Those that succeed in rapidly re-defining their relevance to the changing world and the nature of the communities they serve will thrive.”

James joined Leslie Jones in 1993, having previously worked for the global retail design consultancy, Fitch. He became an Associate Partner of the practice in 2000, a Director in 2005 following incorporation of the practice and then Managing Director in 2013. With a heritage in retail design James has been an active member of this community having chaired the Revo Gold Awards in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Shamik Narotam

Managing Director
Morgan Stanley Real Assets

Shamik Narotam is an Executive Director in Morgan Stanley’s real estate private equity division (MSREI) having worked there for the last 12 years. Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing (MSREI) is the global private real estate investment management arm of Morgan Stanley. As at the end of 2018 MSREI had $33bln under management and is one of the worlds largest investors in Real Estate. Prior to Morgan Stanley, Shamik was a structural engineer AKT and graduated from Imperial College. He holds an MBA from London Business School.

Bruce Findlay

Managing Director - Retail, Shopping Centres & Retail Parks Portfolio Management
Landsec

Bruce joined Landsec in December 2020 as Managing Director for Retail. Bruce has over 25 years of consumer brand experience where he’s developed his operational leadership and strategic management skills.

He brings a global perspective from his most recent roles; Chief Commercial Officer of Furla and prior to that as the VP Global Retail for Diesel, where he led the brand’s Direct to Consumer business through its transformation from a traditional wholesale manufacturer to a modern Omni-channel retailer.

Nicola Free

Managing Director - Head of Real Estate Finance, EMEA (London)
HSBC Bank plc

Nicola is Head of Real Estate Finance for EMEA with responsibility for driving the real estate lending strategy with teams in London, Paris, Dusseldorf and Dubai.

Nicola joined HSBC in 2018 and has over 20 years’ experience in the industry gained in major UK, Global and US institutions covering their real estate lending activities across Europe.

Nicola has diverse experience having worked on origination, structuring, credit analysis, execution, syndication, CMBS distribution and loan and bond re-structurings. She is also a qualified lawyer.