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.

Tom Bloxham MBE

Group Chairman
Urban Splash

The company is responsible for development projects across the country, including Manchester, Liverpool, Cambridge, Milton Keynes, Birmingham, Leeds, Bradford Sheffield, Bristol, Plymouth, North Shields and Morecambe. In 1999 Tom was awarded an MBE for Services to Architecture and Urban Regeneration.

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

In 2016, Tom and Urban Splash co-founder Jonathan launched House by Urban Splash – their modular housing concept which is being rolled out across the country. House is created using modern methods of construction allowing for customer specification. The first homes are completed, fully sold and occupied at sites in Manchester, Salford and North Shields, with other modular homes on sale in Manchester, Birmingham and soon to launch in Cambridge, Walsall, the Wirral and Milton Keynes.

Deborah Vogwell

Head of Development Transformation
Homes England

Deborah is an Architect and Project Manager who has worked on a wide range of public and private sector projects. In recent years she has been responsible for the commercial solutions utilized by Homes England and around 150 other public sector bodies to accelerate development of homes. She is passionate about developing processes that enable the public and private sector to work together effectively..

She has also worked in value and risk management consultancy and has developed approaches for stakeholder management in construction projects, all of which have provided her with a broad view of the sheer complexity and number of people involved in any built environment project and of what does and does not work.

She is currently busy finalising Homes England’s new Delivery Partner Dynamic Purchasing system, a flexible and long term procurement solution valued at £20bn, which will open for applications at the end of the month.

Jamie Parr

Director & Founder
BD Solutions

Jamie founded BD Solutions in 2017 after spotting a gap in the market for impartial, honest and agnostic advice on Offsite & Modern Methods of Construction. With the drive to do things ‘better’, he draws on his experience and lateral thinking skills to unlock complex issues and simplify them for his clients. With over 14 years of construction sector experience in a technical & commercial capacity for built environment focused organizations, including an Offsite manufacturer and Architectural Practice.

Jamie also operates in an interim capacity as Project and Research Lead for Buildoffsite, the leading membership association for the Offsite sector with over 150 member organizations from across the construction sector, including major players, client and government bodies.

He is regularly invited to speak at industry events & webinars as a leading commentator on the sector and is involved in several MMC working groups. He was a credited contributor to the Housing Forum, MMC Affordable Housing report and is the founder of ‘The Offsite Collective’ an innovative multi-disciplinary hub set up to share knowledge, resources and develop new working practices.

Tara Gbolade

Co-Founder
Gbolade Design Studio

Tara Gbolade is co-director of award-winning Gbolade Design Studio which specialises in residential and mixed-use developments for public and private sector clients through insight-led place-making. She sits on a few Design Review Panels including RBKC, Merton, and Lambeth where she advises the council on major planning applications.

With her expertise in sustainability, Tara works with Local Authorities including the Harlow & Gilston Garden Town where she leads the development of their Sustainability Guidance; setting the ambition and standards for Environmental & Socio-Economic sustainability; ensuring that high quality sustainable design is embedded within new developments, and, in the regeneration of existing communities.

Matt Warren

Head of Digital Engineering, Integrated Solutions, Europe
Lendlease

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Edward Jezeph

Senior Investments Manager
Homes England

Edward is a Chartered Surveyor and finance professional with a background in real estate equity investment, agency and finance. Edward is passionate about the digital transformation of housing and construction; he is currently supporting Homes England’s productivity strategy and the industry’s adoption of MMC. Recently at Homes England, Edward has structured and deployed £150m of housing infrastructure loans, development finance, equity investments and lending alliances, leveraging a further £600m of private capital into housing.

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.

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.

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.

Ben Page

Chief Executive
Ipsos MORI

Ben Page is Chief Executive of Ipsos MORI. He joined MORI in 1987 after graduating from Oxford University in 1986, and was one of the leaders of its first management buyout in 2000. A frequent writer and speaker on trends, leadership and performance management, he has directed thousands of surveys examining consumer trends and citizen behaviour.

From 1987-1992 Ben worked in our private sector business on corporate reputation and consumer research, working for companies like Shell, BAE Systems, Sky TV and IBM. Since 1992 he has worked closely with both Conservative and Labour ministers and senior policy makers across government, leading on work for Downing Street, the Cabinet Office, the Home Office and the Department of Health, as well as a wide range of local authorities and NHS Trusts.

He became Chief Executive of Ipsos in the UK and Ireland in 2009.

Ben is a Visiting Professor at Kings College London, and a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. He sits on the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) at UKRI. He serves on advisory groups at the Kings Fund, and the Social Market Foundation (SMF), and is a Trustee at the Centre for London and at the Centre for Ageing Better, as well as a patron of Create Streets. He recently served as a commissioner on the Resolution Foundation’s Intergenerational Commission. He is a Council member of the CBI for London. Ben was named one of GQ’s 100 Most Connected Men of 2015.

He regularly appears on national TV and radio programmes.

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

Matt Crompton

Managing Director
Muse Developments

Matt is the Managing Director of Muse Developments – one of the UK’s best in mixed-use development and urban regeneration, with a forward development pipeline of £2.5bn. A true national developer, Muse delivers innovative places and spaces through collaboration, bringing together the best of the public and private sector to drive transformational change and maximise community benefit.

Matt has considerable experience of commercial, residential and mixed-use development and through a highly focused and driven team.

Matt is also on the board of The English Cities Fund, a £200 million mixed-use regeneration vehicle owned by Muse, Legal & General and Homes England. Muse also acts as the development manager for the fund.

Matt joined Muse in 1990 as Development Surveyor, was promoted to Development Director in 1995 and joined the Board in 2001. He was appointed Managing Director in 2018.

Caroline Simpson

Deputy Chief Executive
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

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

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

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

Previous roles include:

Corporate Director, Place, Stockport MBC

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

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

Nigel Rawlings

CEO
Rise Homes Ltd

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

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

Shannon Conway

Residential Director
Glenbrook

Shannon is passionate about creating communities for all ages and all levels of affordability. She maintains an open mind when it comes to approaches, solutions, and partnerships. Her avid interest in emerging trends and research helps keep us ahead of the residential curve. She has worked in residential property since 2003, racking up 15 years experience at JLL where she was a Lead Director. Shannon has known Guy and Ian for over 15 years so when she decided to go ‘client-side’ in 2020, Glenbrook was the obvious choice.

Outside of work Shannon loves exploring Europe in a motorhome. She’s strongly committed to sustainability too, including ‘not buying new’ - you’d never guess that all her clothes are preloved! Any spare time she has is devoted to testing cookbook recipes with her daughter and posting her reviews on Instagram.

Shannon is Chair of Women in Property North West 2020/2021 and a Judge for the North West RICS Awards.

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.

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.

Kate Davies

Chief Executive
Notting Hill Genesis

Kate Davies, Chief Executive, Notting Hill Genesis Kate Davies joined Notting Hill Housing as Chief Executive in 2004. In April 2018, Notting Hill Housing merged with Genesis and Kate is now Chief Executive of a 65,000 home association, with 90% of its stock in London. Kate was previously Chief Executive of Servite Houses and Director of Housing in Brighton and Hove.

She has two degrees and qualifications in housing management (MCIH) and housing association development.

Alice Lester MBE

Operational Director Regeneration, Growth and Environment
Brent Council

Alice Lester MBE, RTPI, is Brent’s Operational Director for Regeneration, Growth and Employment, having previously been Head of Planning.

Prior to that she led the LGA’s Planning Advisory Service, where she worked on a variety of projects to support ongoing improvement in local planning authorities and in implementing the government’s planning agenda, working across England. Alice previously worked at Westminster, Camden and Islington Councils. Alice has been a Trustee of the TCPA, an external examiner for planning courses, is an RTPI General Assembly member, a LGA Planning Peer and is on the advisory board for Women in Planning.

Clare Miller

Group Chief Executive
Clarion Housing Group

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Cllr Steve Curran

Leader of the Council
London Borough of Hounslow

Gavin Bridge

Founder and Managing Director
Spatia

Property developer Gavin Bridge launched Spatia in 2021 with an ambition to transform places, communities and lives by creating sustainable mixed-use neighbourhoods, future-fit workspaces and low and zero carbon homes in towns and cities across the UK. Gavin, who grew up in Liverpool and lives in the South West, combines a fresh, open-minded and collaborative approach with over two decades of successful, award-winning property development and urban regeneration experience.

Paul Smith

Group Chief Executive
Elim Housing

​TBC

Jo Davis

National Head of Planning Development & Regeneration
Avison Young

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

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

Karime Hassan

Chief Executive and Growth Director
Exeter City Council

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

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

Kate Ives

Director of Strategic Growth
Wates

Kate is Director of Strategic Growth for Wates Residential. She is responsible for growing the business’ investment in new developments across London and the south of England, building on an existing portfolio of partnership housing and joint ventures.

The Wates Residential ethos is one of working collaboratively with partners to deliver positive outcomes for people and places. Current investments include 2,000 homes with Cardiff Council, over 3,500 homes with Havering Council, 850 homes at Erith Park Bexley with Orbit Housing, and 200 homes with Homes England in Gosport.

Kate’s role is not just about building new places. She also works across new and existing projects to ensure they deliver to Wates’ sustainable investment criteria. She believes business should be a force for good, which she accomplishes through creating social value programmes that are integrated into project business plans.

Kate is a positive role model who has made a significant contribution to the success of Wates Residential and in particular, the interests of women in the sector. She is one of the founding members of Wates Women.