Kulveer Ranger

Senior Vice President Strategy & Communications
Atos UK

Kulveer Ranger is Global Head, Strategy & Communications for Financial Service & Insurance, and SVP Strategy & Communications for UK&I at Atos, a global leader in digital transformation with 110000 employees in 73 countries.

He has been a leading figure in the development and communication of innovate, technology led services and has a unique track record of working in politics, the public and private sectors over the last twenty years. This includes having worked on the delivery of the London Oystercard, and four years working for the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, leading the transport and environment briefs and establishing the Digital London Office. His time at City Hall included preparing London for the 2012 Olympics, making the case for Crossrail, leading on ground breaking initiatives such as the cycle hire scheme and Tech City. He has sat on various boards including Transport for London, Bristol 2015 European Green Capital City and is currently on the board of techUK.

Kulveer is an international public speaker, a regular broadcaster for TV and radio and a passionate Tottenham Hotspur FC fan.

Fiona Brenner

Commissioner
Mayors Green Spaces and Groundwork London

Fiona has worked at the intersection of public, private and community place-based delivery for 15 years. She is currently Strategic Development Manager for charity Groundwork London. Within this role, she partners with London boroughs and green space providers to develop practical programmes and improvements. Fiona sat on the recently concluded London Green Space Commission set up by the Mayor to look at funding and sustainability of the sector, with a particular focus on skills and the future workforce. In a previous role, she led the community and economic development strategies for the planning stages of NW Bicester, the UK’s first Eco Town. Fiona holds an MBA from The Judge Business School, Cambridge University and is a Fellow of the RSA.

Mike Saunders

CEO
Commonplace

Mike is a digital entrepreneur who has developed businesses in media, government and commercial sectors. He founded Commonplace to deliver a vision of deep and comprehensive public engagement about places, using digital tools as they have done with #ParkPower.

Commonplace customers include cities London, Newcastle and Bristol; and developers Grosvenor, Grainger and U+I.

Ailish Christian-West

Executive Director, Portfolio Management, Development & ESG
Get Living

Ailish has 20+ years of experience in the UK Real Estate sector. She joined Get Living in June 2020, and prior to Get Living, Ailish held senior roles at Landsec; as well as a fund management board role in the tech sector. At Get Living, Ailish is responsible for the existing portfolio management, market insight, public realm, developments, ESG and the Net Zero strategy.

Max Farrell

Founder & CEO
LDN Collective

Max is Founder & CEO of the London Collective, a network of built environment experts and creatives fighting to improve people’s lives and the planet’s prospects. Their members are experts in social impact, zero carbon and modern methods of construction (MMC) as well as architecture, engineering, graphic design and film-making. They are a radical and agile ‘one stop shop’ for projects anywhere in the world.

Max’s expertise lies in placemaking and communications. He was a Partner at Farrells for 10 years, the internationally renowned architects with offices in London, Hong Kong and Shanghai, before leaving to set up the London Collective in 2019. He is currently leading on the vision and masterplan for a new town in Oxfordshire with 6,500 homes and a national centre of excellence for MMC. He is developing feasibility studies for globally significant wellbeing resorts in urban centres and leading on #ParkPower: A collaborative Vision for the Future of London’s Green Spaces.

Max was Project Leader and Author of the Farrell Review of Architecture and the Built Environment, commissioned by the UK Government, which made 60 recommendations spanning education, outreach & skills; design quality; cultural heritage; economic benefits & architecture policy, many of which have now been implemented. In 2020 he co-authored Collectively Speaking: The Future of Town Centres Post-Coronavirus published by the Developer Magazine. In January 2021, Max was appointed Chair of the Cultural Co-Location Advisory Group for Creative Estuary. He is an adviser to London National Park City, Urban Design London, the Place Alliance, the Urban Room Network and the National Arts and Place Consortium.

Mark Camley

Executive Director of Park and Venues
London Legacy Development Corporation

Mark is passionate about parks and open spaces, having played a leading role in some of the UK’s best loved parks. He joined LLDC in January 2012, and led the delivery of the successful summer events series on the Park, and the opening of the North Park and Copper Box Arena in July 2013. Mark led the design of The South Park to stage D and directed the opening of The South Park, including the Aquatics Centre, the ArcelorMittal Orbit, and new landscape in April 2014. Prior to joining LLDC, he was CEO of The Royal Parks for over six years, where he led the parks to achieving Green Flag, and introduced new events like Winter Wonderland. Other projects include leading procurement of re-design of Gorky Park (Moscow) and Peer Review of Centennial Parkland (Sydney). He is a Director of World Urban Parks, London Stadium 185 and Stratford Waterfront Management Company.

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.

Ben Denton

Managing Director
Legal & General 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.

Cllr Clare Coghill

Leader
London Borough of Waltham Forest

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

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

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

Davinia Venton

Partnerships Director
Countryside

Davinia is Partnerships Director at Countryside focusing on regeneration of brownfield land, town centres and estates across London and surrounding towns in partnership with local authorities and housing associations. She has twelve years of regeneration experience and has worked on large projects including 3,000 homes at Acton Gardens in Ealing and 3,500 homes at Beam Park in East London.

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

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.

Waheed Nazir

Chairman
Arden Cross

Waheed has over 20 years of experience in planning, development and regeneration. He has held senior positions at Birmingham City Council, and more recently was appointed as the Non-Executive Chairman of Arden Cross Limited. He also advises public and private sector clients on regeneration and development projects across the UK.

He is a visiting Professor at Birmingham City University and in 2017 was awarded an honorary Doctorate by Aston University. In October 2020, Waheed was awarded a Fellowship from the Academy of Social Sciences and in November 2020 was announced as the Property Personality of the Year for the Midlands.

In 2019, he wrote and edited a book titled Regenerating Cities, which explores how leadership, vision and partnership working has shaped the development of UK cities over the last 30 years. Through this book he brought together some of the UK’s leading figures in the development sector, each providing their own unique and personal insight into their journeys and roles in leading some of the country’s biggest projects, including London 2012, the development of King’s Cross, estate renewal in London, and the rise of Manchester and Birmingham.

He is passionate about helping young people grow and develop to unlock their potential. This has included establishing a number of programmes to provide mentoring, bursary initiatives, internships and graduate programmes in the built environment profession.

Fiona Fletcher-Smith

Group Chief Executive
L&Q

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

As part of the senior management team for the GLA, she was responsible for overseeing the delivery and implementation of key strategies such as the London Plan, the Economic Development Strategy, transport, environment and climate change and in overseeing the operation of the Mayor’s powers in relation to significant planning applications in the capital.

Sir Howard Bernstein

Chief Executive
Manchester City Council

Richard Upton

Chief Executive
U+I

Richard is a creative entrepreneur and patron of the arts, who is passionate about quality of place, architecture, heritage and provenance. Over the course of his career, he has established, built and sold four property investment and professional companies and developed more than six million square feet of mixed-use real estate.

Pioneering Mount Anvil in 1991, Richard delivered 5,000 student bedrooms and regenerated several award-wining social housing projects. In 1998 he co-founded Cathedral Healthcare and Cathedral Group PLC, nurturing the latter to become a market-leader in public-private partnership developments and building a pipeline of over £2bn.

In 2014, Cathedral merged with Development Securities, which ultimately became U+I in 2015. U+I is a listed public company with a development pipeline of >£11.5bn. Together with U+I’s Chief Executive Matthew Weiner, Richard is a driving force behind the strategic direction of the company, whose vision is to create long-lasting social and economic change for communities and sustainable value for shareholders.

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.

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.

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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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.

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.

Dame Alison Nimmo DBE

Non-Executive-Director, MHCLG,
St Modwen Property, Berkeley Group & Imperial College London’s Property Committee

I’ve been delivering regeneration for 35 years across the UK in various executive roles, the most notable being Manchester City Centre (after the 96 bomb), Sheffield City Centre and London 2012 Olympics. In all 3 examples I helped establish and lead dedicated delivery vehicles and delivered in partnership - public/private.

I was CEO of TCE for 8 years with a very extensive UK wide portfolio, including the seabed where we helped support & grow the UK’s world leading offshore wind programme.

I’m currently a NED of: MHCLG, St Modwen Property, Berkeley Group & Imperial College London’s Property Committee. I’m also a commissioner of the 1851 Committee and we’ve given support to Dave Rudlin from URBED to research 100 of the UK’s high streets - which will be a fascinating insight into how they’ve weathered the pandemic (or not).

I’m passionate about sustainability and am a built environment ambassador for UKGBC for COP26.

Earlier this year I was part of a small steering group helping Peter Freemen with his review of Homes England, as the new chair; and I was a member of the government’s Urban Recovery Task Force.

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.

Tom Walker

Director of the Levelling Up Unit
Cabinet Office

Tom is the Director of the Levelling Up Unit in the Cabinet Office. Tom has been a civil servant for over 20 years working on economic growth, regeneration, housing, planning and environment policy. He was previously Director of Environment Strategy at Defra, Deputy Chief Executive at Homes England and Director of the Cities and Local Growth Unit in BEIS and MHCLG.

Caroline Baker

Head of Manchester Office
Cushman & Wakefield

Caroline Baker is Managing Partner of the Manchester Office of Cushman & Wakefield – a global real estate advisor. Caroline is a regeneration specialist who has worked for the company for over 20 years advising local authorities on strategy and delivery. She led the multi-disciplinary team who prepared the Strategic Regeneration Framework for Stockport Town Centre West which supported its designation as an MDC. Transformation of town centres is a passion and she has prepared regeneration strategies for Altrincham, Crewe, Macclesfield and Barrow town centres to name a few. She has been kept busy recently supporting local authorities to prepare their Future High Street, Town Deal and Levelling up bids.

Max Farrell

Founder & CEO
LDN Collective

Max is Founder & CEO of the London Collective, a network of built environment experts and creatives fighting to improve people’s lives and the planet’s prospects. Their members are experts in social impact, zero carbon and modern methods of construction (MMC) as well as architecture, engineering, graphic design and film-making. They are a radical and agile ‘one stop shop’ for projects anywhere in the world.

Max’s expertise lies in placemaking and communications. He was a Partner at Farrells for 10 years, the internationally renowned architects with offices in London, Hong Kong and Shanghai, before leaving to set up the London Collective in 2019. He is currently leading on the vision and masterplan for a new town in Oxfordshire with 6,500 homes and a national centre of excellence for MMC. He is developing feasibility studies for globally significant wellbeing resorts in urban centres and leading on #ParkPower: A collaborative Vision for the Future of London’s Green Spaces.

Max was Project Leader and Author of the Farrell Review of Architecture and the Built Environment, commissioned by the UK Government, which made 60 recommendations spanning education, outreach & skills; design quality; cultural heritage; economic benefits & architecture policy, many of which have now been implemented. In 2020 he co-authored Collectively Speaking: The Future of Town Centres Post-Coronavirus published by the Developer Magazine. In January 2021, Max was appointed Chair of the Cultural Co-Location Advisory Group for Creative Estuary. He is an adviser to London National Park City, Urban Design London, the Place Alliance, the Urban Room Network and the National Arts and Place Consortium.

Ray Mia

Non Executive Board Member & Music Producer
Thames Estuary Growth Board

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Lisa Dee

Head of Film
London Borough of Barking & Dagenham

Lisa Dee has worked for the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham for nine years. Lisa established and now manages the council’s Film Office (Film LBBD). The borough has since attracted major film productions from across the UK, Europe and the USA, such as Dr Strange, Avengers Assemble, Black Mirror, Humans and BBC’s Luther. Filming days have grown exponentially since 2012, now making Barking and Dagenham one of the preferred filming boroughs in London. Lisa grew up in Hackney and a now long-time resident of Barking and Dagenham. Lisa truly believes that the borough is on the cusp of accelerating the creative industry in London – her vision being “the shift is east”. Lisa played a pivotal role in the inception and development of London’s newest bespoke built studios for 25 years, bringing creative jobs and investment to Dagenham and East London. She is committed to supporting young people and local creatives get their break into the industry and believes this growth will create an ecosystem of benefits to the local economy, businesses and the wider community to aspire to brighter futures for years to come.

Sarah Dance

Chair / Deputy Chair / Co-chair
Creative Estuary / SELEP / SECEN & TEPC

Sarah Dance is a strategic consultant for the culture and creative industries, with over 25 years’ experience in the creative sector. She has led a wide range of cultural organisations and set up her own consultancy in 2002. Her work covers business and capital development, creative production, organisational change development, and leadership mentoring.

In addition to her consultancy work and her Deputy Chairship of South East Local Enterprise Partnership, she is Co-Chair of the South East Creative Economy Network and Chair of Creative Estuary and has led the visioning of Thames Estuary Production Corridor. She is on the Civic University Network Advisory Group and UAL Advisory Group for their UKRI funded Modelling and supporting recovery of the UK’s experience economy. She is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Laura Bailey

Cultural Development Manager
Ebbsfleet Garden City

Laura has worked across the culture sector for 20 years, from photography and music to heritage and arts, within the corporate, public and charity sectors, across strategic, policy-based roles, and direct delivery at the heart of communities. She is a creative thinker who thrives on collaboration. Her primary interests are around the transformative power of creativity on personal and collective wellbeing, and inclusive growth. Over 5 years she led a number of innovative arts, health and wellbeing programmes and contributed to the work of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Arts, Health and Wellbeing. More recently Laura’s focus has been on whole place approaches, developing a cultural placemaking approach for Ebbsfleet Garden City. She is a Fellow of the RSA.

Ken Dytor

Non-Executive Board Member / Board Lead on Inward Investment
Thames Estuary Growth Board / Purfleet Centre Regeneration

Ken Dytor’s career started in the UK Crown Estates Commissioner well over 30 years ago, and worked as development director at British Land before forming Urban Catalyst. He was board member of London South Bank University. He has also been Chair of the student charity International Students House.

Ken has a long history of combining the creative industries in his core regeneration projects. He is Founder and Executive Chairman of Urban Catalyst: a mixed-use real estate developer with a strong record of delivering public-private projects focusing on sustainability in the UK. It is now development manager for Purfleet Centre Regeneration Ltd (of which Ken is a major shareholder) in partnership with Thurrock Borough Council, for the redevelopment of the 140 acre + riverside development of circa 2,850 homes, a new town centre around the railway station and as well as extensive health and education infrastructure.

Ken is Executive Chair of Purfleet Studios, a new film, TV and media studio complex designed by AHMM the award winning architects. In developIng the studios at Purfleet the intention is to assist in making the Thames Estuary the heart of the UK’s digital and creative industry.

David Reid

Managing Director, Suburban Build to Rent
Legal & General Capital

Rebecca Taylor

Managing Director of BTR
Long Harbour

Rebecca joined Long Harbour in 2015 and has deployed over £450m for the Multifamily programme in this period. Having raised a further £500mn of equity in 2019, Rebecca is responsible for the entire delivery cycle from strategy and deal origination through to structuring, delivery and asset management phase.

Prior to joining Long Harbour, Rebecca spent 8 years at Laing O’Rourke working in their property and PFI investment team. Here she worked on their offsite delivery solution, securing the planning and delivery of 1.3mn sqft of mixed-use space and over 4,000 residential units in Ireland, UAE and UK.

Alex Hearn

Associate Director (Placemaking & Growth)
North Somerset Council

Alex Hearn is the Assistant Director of Placemaking and Growth at North Somerset Council responsible for planning, economic development, regeneration, property, the mixed use development programme and capital programme. HE moved from London in 2018 where he spent 15 years working in regeneration, planning, development and affordable housing programmes.

Esther Croft

Development Director
Reef Group

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Dr Patricia Greer

Chief Executive
West of England Combined Authority and Local Enterprise Partnership

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

Nikki Davies

Managing Director
MPC

Nikki is MPC’s Managing Director, in overall charge of the business and ensuring its smooth running. She has extensive experience in running tailored programmes of community consultation and has overseen a diverse range of projects in the residential, commercial, energy and affordable housing sectors. Nikki is currently leading MPC’s work on the Temple Island scheme in Bristol for L&G, and pioneering MPC’s new products and services in the social value field.

Jett Glozier

Head of UK
Sound Diplomacy

Jett has 10 years experience in research, project and operations management. Specialising in research, business planning, modelling and cultural policy, as well as specialising in the planning, feasibility and operations of multi-use venues, co-working offices, festivals and events. Prior to joining Sound Diplomacy, Jett was integral in the creation of Oval Space, a 1,000 capacity multi-use arts venue, before leading his own team to build a 250 capacity live music venue, The Pickle Factory. He joined Sound Diplomacy in 2019 and leads on all UK project delivery, including a night time economy strategy for Quintain and Wembley Park, music policies in Croydon, Belfast, Manchester and Haringey, supporting new mixed-use development projects in London, Bolton and Bath and a night time economy policy for Bradford Council. In 2021, Jett managed the assessment of England’s entire studio market on behalf of DCMS. He is an expert in managing stakeholder engagement initiatives, having now done so on behalf of venues and night time economy stakeholders, practitioners and government. Jett also runs Sound Development - an event series which brings property developers and the music industry together.

Bill Hughes

Head of Real Assets
Legal & General Investment Management

Bill joined Legal & General in 2007 and is responsible for transforming its UK property fund management business into a global-reaching real assets platform. Operating in both the direct investment and lending markets, today it actively invests and manages over £27.2bn AUM across commercial property, private residential, infrastructure, property lending and corporate credit as at 31 December 2017. Since the beginning of 2015, L&G has worked closely with Government’s Regeneration Organisation to identify and invest in critical regeneration projects that support UK growth.

Bill previously held positions at RREEF, the Real Estate Fund Management business of Deutsche Bank and Schroder Property Investment Management. From July 2014 to July 2015, Bill was President of the British Property Federation. He is currently Chair of the Property Industry Alliance (PIA), bringing together the UK’s leading property bodies to give them a stronger collective voice on issues such as policy, research and best practice.

Sarah Gaventa

Creative Director
The Earls Court Development Company

Sarah is a public space and place making expert and founder of Made Public projects. Sarah was the director of CABE Space at the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment from 2006 until 2011 where she was also the Director of Seachange, a £40 million capital programme for the cultural regeneration of seaside resorts. Over the past four years Sarah has been Director of Illuminated River Foundation creating the longest public art work in the world, an award winning light sculpture on nine Thames bridges from London to Lambeth bridges. She si also an Hon Fellow fo the RIBA and and an Hon Fellow of the Landscape Institute for her outstanding contribution to landscape and is author of ‘New Public Spaces’. She joined The Earls Court Development Company in July 2021 as Creative Director .

Stacey Clark

Chief Marketing Officer
British Land

Stacey is responsible for British Land’s Marketing and Corporate Communications and joined the Executive Committee in 2019.

Before joining British Land Stacey spent over 20 years as a Marketing Strategy Consultant. He has non-executive, executive and consulting experience across multiple business sectors and models working both in the UK and Globally.

Emma Wilcox

Project Director
Creative Estuary

Emma Wilcox is Director of Creative Estuary. Our vision is to forge a future founded on creative energy and innovation, along the length of the Thames Estuary.

Creative Estuary is led by the University of Kent on behalf a partnership of higher education institutions, cultural organisations and public and private sector partners, working together to deliver the Thames Estuary Production Corridor, an ambitious vision to develop a world-class centre for creative and cultural production: leading global innovation, creating new jobs, developing local talent and supporting the rapid growth of the creative economy. Embedding arts and culture into the design and development of our communities is fundamental to the Thames Estuary’s future.

Emma has over twenty years’ experience working across the creative industries. Since 2008 she has worked in cultural policy and arts management, developing national and regional strategy and policy for the creative economy, placemaking and sustainable growth. Prior to 2008 Emma worked in the commercial design sector as an account director for clients including Mars, Hasbro and Buena Vista Entertainment. She is a trustee of People United, a Kent-based charity using creativity to encourage empathy and kindness and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts.

Max Farrell

Founder & CEO
LDN Collective

Max is Founder & CEO of the London Collective, a network of built environment experts and creatives fighting to improve people’s lives and the planet’s prospects. Their members are experts in social impact, zero carbon and modern methods of construction (MMC) as well as architecture, engineering, graphic design and film-making. They are a radical and agile ‘one stop shop’ for projects anywhere in the world.

Max’s expertise lies in placemaking and communications. He was a Partner at Farrells for 10 years, the internationally renowned architects with offices in London, Hong Kong and Shanghai, before leaving to set up the London Collective in 2019. He is currently leading on the vision and masterplan for a new town in Oxfordshire with 6,500 homes and a national centre of excellence for MMC. He is developing feasibility studies for globally significant wellbeing resorts in urban centres and leading on #ParkPower: A collaborative Vision for the Future of London’s Green Spaces.

Max was Project Leader and Author of the Farrell Review of Architecture and the Built Environment, commissioned by the UK Government, which made 60 recommendations spanning education, outreach & skills; design quality; cultural heritage; economic benefits & architecture policy, many of which have now been implemented. In 2020 he co-authored Collectively Speaking: The Future of Town Centres Post-Coronavirus published by the Developer Magazine. In January 2021, Max was appointed Chair of the Cultural Co-Location Advisory Group for Creative Estuary. He is an adviser to London National Park City, Urban Design London, the Place Alliance, the Urban Room Network and the National Arts and Place Consortium.