Advisory Group

Member of the House of Lords – Lord Bob Kerslake, Advisory Group Chair

Lord Kerslake is Chair of Peabody, Be First (the growth and regeneration agency for Barking and Dagenham) and Stockport Mayoral Development Corporation. He was previously the Head of the Civil Service, Permanent Secretary of the Department of Communities and Local Government and the first Chief Executive of the Homes and Communities Agency (now Homes England). As Chief Executive of Sheffield City Council before that he spearheaded the regeneration of the city.

Thames Estuary Growth Board – Kate Willard OBE, Chair

Kate Willard OBE is the Thames Estuary Envoy. Government-appointed, and chair of the Thames Estuary Growth Board, she is the driving force behind the Thames Estuary’s ambitious plans to transform the area.

Kate is senior advisor to Stobart Group and an independent consultant working on a diverse portfolio of infrastructure and growth projects. Kate has lived and worked in Hungary, France and Belgium as an independent regeneration expert with the European Commission. In her role, Kate pushed forward major transnational projects in employment, social cohesion and regional development. Kate’s highlights include establishing the first UK-Hungarian cultural partnership trust and being appointed CEO of the UK’s first rural regeneration company.

Legal & General – Pete Gladwell, Group Social Impact & Investment Director

After an erstwhile life as a Youth Worker, Pete joined Legal & General in 2007, launching a new generation of property funds focussed on liability matching and Defined Contributions pension schemes, and L&G’s joint venture with PGGM, which total over £5bn.  In 2015, Pete moved to lead L&G’s investments with the Public Sector – including the Cabinet Office, Local Authorities, NHS, Housing Associations and Universities – which now total over £4.5bn.

Pete holds an MA from Brasenose College, Oxford in Computation, the IMC, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and Honorary Professor at UCL. Pete is heavily involved in local community projects in Harlesden, west London and a Trustee of the Young Foundation, which works to create a more equal and just society through social innovation.

Manchester City Council – Joanne Roney OBE, Chief Executive

Joanne has been the Chief Executive of Manchester City Council since April 2017. During the last 2 and a half years she has dealt with a number of unprecedented events including the Manchester Arena Bomb. Joanne is driving the Council through the fundamental changes to Health and Social Care.  She is lead Chief Executive for skills across Greater Manchester.  Joanne has extensive public sector experience in economic growth, housing and local government.

Since 2020 Joanne has been President of the Society for Chief Executives (SOLACE). Joanne was awarded the OBE for services to local government in 2009.

All Party Parliamentary Group for Regeneration and Development – Gagan Mohindra MP, Chair and MP for South West Hertfordshire

Gagan attended KCL before spending a few years at a large European Investment Bank in London, before working for his family business including property development leaving in 2015. In his roles as a Councillor, Gagan has “sat” on planning committees and his most recent District Council role was as Chairman of a Planning Committee. At County Council he was Cabinet Member for Economic Development and more recently Cabinet Member for Finance, Property and Housing. Gagan was elected as the MP for South West Hertfordshire in December 2019 and founded and is the Chairman of the APPG for Regeneration and Development.

MEPC – Paul Pavia, Head of Development

Paul Pavia is the Head of Development for MEPC, a Urban Regeneration specialist and Business Park Developer and Asset Manager.  Paul has overall responsibility for all development activity across the MEPC managed portfolio and is leading on the development of the Noma Estate in Manchester and Wellington Place in Leeds.    Paul has been at MEPC for over twelve years and has delivered well over 1,000,000 sq ft of commercial property development in that time.  Paul is passionate about sustainable development and his team are working with some of the industry’s leading sustainability organisations to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings.

Scarborough Group International – Nicola Bulley, Commercial Executive

Nicola is a qualified marketing professional with over 20 years’ experience of working within the property industry. She heads up the marketing and PR strategy for Scarborough Group International’s corporate and commercial projects and works closely with the development team to create and deliver engaging, multi-channel marcomms campaigns designed to maximise brand awareness and loyalty, as well as generate and nurture new leasing opportunities.

Black Professionals in Construction – Amos Simbo, Founder

Amos Simbo is the founder of Winway Consultants a building services contractor as well as BPIC Network (Black Professionals in Construction). BPIC Network is a built environment inclusion business that works in partnership with organisations to improve the ethnic minority representation and retention. Whilst his business Winway Consultants is an MEP (Mechanical Electrical and Public Health) commercial fitout design and management consultant, working with clients as well as main contractors to design and manage fitout projects.

Socius – Liam Ronan-Chlond, Head of Engagement and Social Value

Liam is engagement and social value lead at mixed-use developer Socius, supporting an expanding project pipeline across London, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge and Milton Keynes.  Socius specialises in placemaking and generating social value through a genuine mix of uses, to revitalise urban centres in core cities across the UK. Liam’s began his career working for an MP in Manchester, followed by senior policy roles at Sheffield, Brighton and Camden Councils. He has since spent several years supporting a range of major built environment clients with political and stakeholder engagement, public consultation and strategic communications, on projects across the country.

Lendlease – Bek Seeley, European Managing Director of Development

In her current role Bek is responsible for leading the Development business to successfully deliver Lendlease’s European pipeline including the Over-Station Development at Euston, Thamesmead Waterfront, Birmingham Smithfield, Elephant Park, Silvertown Quays, IQL Stratford, Deptford Landings and High Road West.

Most recently she held the position of Chief Operating Officer for Development and was instrumental in winning several major projects, 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.

Allied London – Elizabeth Peckett, Head of Asset Management

Elizabeth joined Allied London in 2017 taking responsibility for asset strategy development across the company’s property portfolio, including Spinningfields and St. John’s in Manchester and Leeds Dock in Leeds.  She has also expanded Allied London’s TV and film production portfolio with a 200,000 sq ft acquisition in Leeds and has taken their flexible workspace brand, Department, to Savile Row in London.

Elizabeth has worked on diverse portfolios and projects during her career so far: as a Partner at Cushman & Wakefield she worked on the leasing strategies for Battersea Power Station, Edinburgh St. James and Apple.

Old Oak & Park Royal Development Corporation – David Lunts, Chief Executive Officer

David Lunts was appointed as the permanent Chief Executive Officer of Old Oak and Park Royal Development in January 2021. He had previously been the interim Chief Executive Officer for OPDC since February 2019, and combined his work on Londons largest Opportunity Area with his duties as Executive Director of Housing and Land for the Greater London Authority.

Between 2009-2012 David led as the Executive Director for London at the Homes and Communities Agency. His earlier career included three years at the GLA as Executive Director of Policy and Partnerships under Ken Livingstone, a leading role in housing and regeneration with Manchester City Council during the 1980s and early 90s and a three-year spell as director of Urban Policy for John Prescott at the former Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Royal Town Planning Institute – Victoria Hills, Chief Executive

Victoria has over 22 years in senior roles in planning, transport, organisational leadership and development. She latterly led the UK’s largest regeneration project at Old Oak.

Using the convening role of the Institute, she makes the case for resourcing planning and advocating the important role of putting planning at the heart of government delivery for the quality places. She is driving forward delivery of the RTPI’s Corporate Strategy, focussing on raising the profile of planning, elevating the value of professionalism, and promoting a diverse and inclusive profession to ensure genuine representation of the society in which we work. Victoria currently sits on the Advisory Group to the Government’s COVID-19 Recovery Commission.

Construction Leadership Council – Ann Bentley, Board Member

Ann is a Global Board Director of RLB with almost 40 years’ experience as an Engineer, Project Manager and Strategic Advisor in the property, infrastructure and construction sectors.

Ann has a number of roles supporting cross industry initiatives and is a member of the UK Government’s Construction Leadership Council. She authored the CLC’s Procuring for Value Report, whilst also sitting on the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s Independent Expert Advisory Panel on building safety, is a member of the CBI’s Construction Council and a Board Member of the Construction Industry Council.

JLL – Ian Cornock, Head of UK Regions and Midlands Region

Ian has overall responsibility for the UK regions on the UK Board and is lead director for the Midlands, he has held the latter role since 2011.

Ian has over 35 years’ experience advising corporates, investors and developers on real estate issues and represented companies of all sectors and sizes.  His main focus is Development Consultancy.  Clients include: Arden Cross Ltd,  Ballymore, Freshwater, ABF, Meggitt Plc, TRW/ZF Lemforder, Birmingham City Council and Oxford City Council.  Ian is a joint UK Board’s sponsor of JLL’s Race for Change employee network supporting the firm’s race action plan to help drive greater equality across the business.

Invest Newcastle – Chair: Jen Hartley, Director

Jen drives Newcastle’s ambition to attract new business, investment and jobs. As well as heading up a team of highly experienced managers, she is responsible for developing and delivering ambitious plans to support indigenous businesses to grow and ultimately to help deliver private-sector-led growth. The team also works to attract capital investment and run development campaigns for the city which includes leading the regional presence at MIPIM each year. Jen has more than 15 years’ trade and investment experience within both the public and private sector. These recently include leading on the city’s tech and digital strategy and working as Deputy Head and Trade Investment Director at Tech North, part of Tech City UK, working across the seven cities of Manchester, Newcastle, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, Sunderland and Hull.

As well as Jen’s role at Invest Newcastle, she Head up the Economic Development Unit at Newcastle City Council, leading the economic growth (and more recently economic recovery caused due to the Covid Pandemic) on behalf of the city.

Pagabo – Gerard Toplass, Executive Chairman

Pagabo are one of the UK’s leading framework providers who aim to make procurement quicker, simpler and more effective.

As an experienced executive chairman Gerard has exceptional business knowledge and has completed over 18 M&A transactions and he now maintains significant investments in Pagabo and Sypro.

London Borough of Barking and Dagenham – Chris Naylor, Chief Executive

Chris Naylor is Chief Executive of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Under his leadership the Council has focused on inclusive growth, prevention, civic engagement and public participation and equalities. He joined Barking and Dagenham from the London Borough of Barnet where he was Chief Operating Officer. Previously he was Corporate Director of Resources in Tower Hamlets and Director of Resident Services at Hammersmith and Fulham.

Chris is a Chartered Accountant and has a degree in Social and Political Sciences from the University of Cambridge, specialising in contemporary social theory. Chris was born and brought up in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, where he was educated at Wickersley comprehensive school.

Avison Young – Chris Cheap, Regional Managing Director for Leeds & Manchester

Chris Cheap is Avison Young’s Managing Director of the UK regions.  With direct responsibility for the firm’s Manchester and Leeds businesses Chris is also a UK board member

Chris has some 23 years’ experience of advising on all aspects of office occupation in central Manchester and the wider North West region.  He has been at the forefront of some of the  most important developments over this period placing him centrally within the market as one of the key ‘go to’ advisors and market commentators.

Chris has acted for landlords, developers, public sector bodies and occupiers from a wide range of sectors which gives him a rounded market view and positions him perfectly to deliver results. Through his work with British Council for Offices, Forum for the Built Environment and Green Building Council Christopher keenly reflects market, tech and occupational trends to ensure his clients position is future proofed.

CB Collier – Edward Taylor, Development Manager

Ed is a young and aspiring property professional who has recently stepped away from a 7 year professional rugby career, featuring for Bedford Blues and Worcester Warriors. During this time, Ed achieved a BSc at Loughborough University, an MSc in International Real Estate and Planning at UCL and has worked part-time for CB Collier Ltd, a national developer and land trader, for 3 years whilst training to be a Chartered Surveyor. Ed enjoyed the challenge of balancing professional sport with a property career, but has since moved into a full-time role at CB Collier as a Development Manager.

Constructing Rainbows – Sharon Slinger, Director

Sharon Slinger FRICS CIWFM is the Director of Constructing Rainbows and works with built environment organisations to improve their business through implementation of diversity and inclusion strategies. With a background in quantity surveying, Sharon has 20 years’ experience working in the construction and facilities management industries for main contractors. Other roles include senior positions at STEER, RICS Yorkshire and Humber, LGBT in FM and more.

Sharon has also featured in the OUTstanding/FT Top 50 Future Leaders list and won several awards for her work in diversity and inclusion.

Institute of Directors – Richard Nelson, Chair – Property & Built Environment Group

Richard is the Chair of the Institute of Directors Property Special Interest Group (SIG), and is also a Committee Member of the IoD City of London Branch. The IoD Property SIG aims to provide connection, development and influence as a key organisation within the property and infrastructure sector, bringing together leaders nationally and internationally with an interest in the built environment.

Alongside the IOD, Richard is the Founder and Managing Director of Abyss Global and he holds an active membership in the Urban Land Institute and the Society for Marketing Professional Services.

The Association of Real Estate Funds (AREF) – Paul Richard, Managing Director

Before joining AREF, Paul was Head of the European Real Estate Boutique within Mercer’s investment consulting business for almost 10 years, previously he was Head of Indirect Real Estate Investment and Global Managed Accounts at LaSalle Investment Management, where he was responsible for managing global portfolios of unlisted real estate funds for clients from Europe and Asia Pacific.

He has over 25 years of real estate experience in investment, corporate finance and research, and has advised investors, occupiers and venture capital companies on property portfolio strategy and on financial structuring, including PFI, senior and mezzanine debt and joint venture arrangements. His employers have included LaSalle Investment Management, Cushman & Wakefield and Henderson Investors.

Before coming into the world of real estate, Paul worked in marketing and market research. He originally studied Physiological Sciences at Lincoln College, Oxford and has a Master of Science in Real Estate from City University Business School, London, now Cass Business School.

Built Environment Networking – Keith Griffiths, Managing Director

A Chartered Quantity Surveyor by profession, and most recently was a Partner at Gleeds Chartered Cost and Project Managers for 11 years, Keith has a lot of experience and knowledge within the construction sector.

In 2011 Keith set up Built Environment Networking – the organisers behind UKREiiF – and has been working to deliver events both physically and virtually since. Running over 150 events annually the business has built up a reputation for delivering high-quality events focused on driving economic growth, enabling facilitation and new business conversations, and connecting new people together.

His experience of running events will be crucial to the Advisory Group to help inform the group on the operational side of the event.

Built Environment Networking – Louise Eyre, UKREiiF Event Manager

Louise Withy is appointed UKREiiF Event Manager with responsibility for the event management planning of this new, innovative infrastructure and investment forum.  She was previously Head of Communications & Brand in the financial and retail sectors and has over 20 years’ experience of managing an extensive range of business events, with budgets ranging up to £1.5M, across the UK, Europe and Middle East.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy – Fergus Harradence, Deputy Director – Infrastructure & Construction

Fergus leads for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on sponsorship of the infrastructure and construction sectors. Since joining the Civil Service in 2000, he has worked in a number of departments in a range of economic policy roles, including trade policy, export promotion, innovation and corporate tax. His current responsibilities include BEIS’ policies to help improve the performance of the construction sector, the Department’s contribution to the Government’s house-building ambitions, and its relationship with the Construction Leadership Council.

Infrastructure and Projects Authority – Stephen Dance, Head of Infrastructure Delivery

Stephen has more than 35 years of experience in social and economic infrastructure projects – joining the public sector in 2010 working within the HM Treasury, Local Government Association and now within the IPA team.

He has been actively involved in some of the UK’s largest projects including the first National Infrastructure Plan, the Thames Tideway Tunnel, Northern Line Extension, Mersey Gateway Bridge, Hinkley Point C and HS2. In his current role at the IPA Stephen leads a team of commercial advisers who provide expert advice to the likes of HM Treasury, Cabinet Officer and government departments. His responsibilities include leadership of the Transporting Infrastructure Delivery programme, advice on the Westminster restoration, the Oxford-Cambridge Arc Corridor, HS2 stations and more.