Charlie founded The Office Group (TOG) with Olly Olsen in 2003. Previously he worked as a Chartered Surveyor and for MWB Group on development work in the serviced office sector. TOG grew from the desire to challenge the serviced office industry, to make it a transparent, flexible and brilliantly designed workspace option instead of a temporary solution. TOG’s buildings are designed in response to the ever-changing attitudes towards how we work.

Helen Causer is Office and Investment Lead for King’s Cross. Helen is responsible for asset management, leasing and performance of the office portfolio at the landmark King’s Cross redevelopment.

Since joining Argent, Helen has secured some of London’s largest commercial office deals of the last decade, including Google, DeepMinds, Facebook, Sony Music, Nike and Universal Music, totalling over 2 million sq ft.

Helen is passionate about building strong and collaborative relationships with occupiers, working in partnership to understand and respond to business drivers. She has a strong interest in workplace design, innovation and customer experience particularly around health, wellbeing and sustainability.

Ron is a Partner at PLP Architecture, which he co-founded with Lee Polisano, David Leventhal and Karen Cook. Ron brings his European sensibilities to projects in the UK, Europe and the Middle East, and takes an Anglo-American enthusiasm back to projects in The Netherlands, his native land.

His recent projects include The Edge, the world's most sustainable office building developed by OVG Real Estate for Deloitte in Amsterdam; the refurbishment of a 1960s building in Westminster on behalf of Derwent London providing additional bespoke spaces for Burberry; a new high end office development in Mayfair for Grosvenor, which is integrated with the infrastructure of a new Crossrail station serving the high-speed east-west link across London; a residential-led regeneration scheme for a large brownfield site in Berkshire for Legal & General; a mixed-use project in Kuwait City, and a residential project in Kolkata, India.

Ron has a particular interest in the architectural techniques that influence the qualities of gathering places in our cities and buildings; and an excitement about the role of new technologies in the built environment. He speaks regularly at universities in Europe and abroad, at various forums on real estate, urban development and digital technology in architecture, including

at TEDx.

Ron studied under the tutorship of Aldo van Eyck, Herman Hertzberger, Niels Prak and Joop van Stigt at Delft University of Technology. He is a registered architect with the Stichting Bureau Architectenregister in the Netherlands; the American Institute of Architects’ New York Chapter in the USA and the Architects Registration Board ARB in the UK.

Cal was a graduate and then commercial development surveyor at Savills before he set up Workthere, which launched in February 2017. Cal originally pitched the idea to Savills innovation group and received funding from Savills back in 2016 to develop the business. Workthere is a hybrid platform that combines technology with human expertise to help businesses, both big and small, find flexible workspace.

Kevin is the Director of Offices Origination for Lendlease, where his role includes the delivery and promotion of the 4 million sq. ft. of new office space at International Quarter London in Stratford. His previous roles include UK Managing Director of Garbe Real Estate and UK Property Director for CLS Holdings Plc where Kevin was active in the conception of the Shard and London Bridge Place. Kevin also represented landlord and tenant clients at Nelson Bakewell where he led their City of London office. Kevin is a member of the RICS, holds a BSc degree in Estate Management from Oxford Brookes University and is an active member of the BCO and CORENET.

Gerald Kaye, BSc (Est Man) FRICS, was appointed Chief Executive in July 2016. He joined the Board as an Executive Director in 1994, responsible for the Group's development activities. Gerald is a past President of the British Council for Offices, a former Director of London & Edinburgh Trust Plc and former Chief Executive of SPP. LET. EUROPE NV.

With 35 years leading Derwent as co-founder and CEO, John was one of the longest-serving and most successful bosses of a listed company in the UK. He stepped down as Derwent London CEO in May 2019 and was appointed Non-executive Chairman until May 2021.

As an entrepreneur and founding CEO in the 1980s he established Derwent Valley Holdings with Simon Silver and from a start-up with a portfolio value of £1.4m its value now stands at £5.5bn.

In the early days John, Simon and their team focused on buying and making use of empty, light industrial buildings in undeveloped areas of London and turning these into high quality and design-led office buildings more suitable to the service-based economy. Flagship buildings include Tea Building (Shoreditch), the RIBA Stirling Prize shortlisted Angel Building (Islington), White Collar Factory (Old Street), Brunel Building (Paddington) and the recently completed 80 Charlotte Street (Fitzrovia).

A recipient of many awards, Derwent has regularly won the Most Admired Company Award from Management Today in its sector, testament to John’s leadership and standards. The company has also been ranked in the top ten most admired companies overall in the UK.

Derwent has become one of the most respected and innovative property companies in the country. It has pushed the boundaries of design and construction to build high tech, efficient and environmentally advanced developments which have attracted many firms to the UK and London.

As Head of Corporate Development at Workspace Group, James is responsible for evolving the

brand, keeping ahead of market trends and adding value to Workspace’s customers.

James has been particularly active in driving Workspace’s offer in super-fast digital infrastructure –

having established its portfolio-wide intelligent Wi-Fi networks.

In his previous role as MD of Club Workspace, James introduced the first large-scale network of

members’ co-working spaces to the listed company’s portfolio across London.

Joining Workspace in 2005, James oversaw Marketing, Lettings and New Business Development and,

prior to joining Workspace, headed up Marketing at Spacia. James’s board positions include a place

on the BCA (Business Centre Association) Board.

Workspace, a FTSE 250 Real Estate Investment Trust, owns and operates more than 3.7 million sq. ft.

of business space across 69 London properties, home to some 4,000 businesses including some of

the fastest growing and established brands across a wide range of sectorsa.

Howard heads up the real estate and construction team at RSM consisting of over 80 partners and staff around the UK. In addition to assisting companies on audit, assurance and financial reporting matters he is also involved in advising clients on how to maximise their opportunities generally and how best to structure themselves. Howard is involved in dealing with both UK based and overseas investors

Andrew Miles is Co-founder of Realla, the leading portal and marketing platform for commercial real estate. Prior to founding Realla in late 2014, he worked on the Investment and Strategy Teams at British Land, and worked on over £1bn of completed transactions. He started his career at Oliver Wyman, the management consultancy.

For 30 years, Angie has led teams to deliver workplace strategy and headquarter design solutions that align with client business objectives and functional requirements. With a focus on delivering office environments, Angie tunes in to trends that affect the workplace, change management best practices, and a multi-generational workforce. Angie believes that “great buildings are like time capsules, they tell the story of their era. Our designs, therefore, are the collective brush strokes of these stories.”

Angie received her Bachelor of Architecture from Illinois Institute of Technology and her Fellowship from the American Institute of Architects in 2004. She’s served as chair of the AIA National Interior Knowledge Center, delegate for AIA Illinois, president of IIDA Illinois Chapter, and board member of AIA Chicago Chapter.

Angie has led the corporate interiors and workplace practice groups at several major US design firms. As a leader and a mentor, Angie helps cultivate talented design teams who have been recognized with numerous awards, publications, and many loyal repeat clients. When she’s not leading the charge, she hosts dinner parties and cooks for family and friends.

Ben is widely recognised as one of the leaders in flexible workspace. Ben leads the Solution Development group, focused on building strategies and propositions for customers to drive flexibility and agility into their businesses. He has spent his career advising companies on how their workspace can support the achievement of their business goals. In his role with Instant, Ben is responsible for developing the market proposition, market engagement, and advising how the Instant Group’s extensive market data is leveraged for the benefits of clients.

Andrew is a Chartered Surveyor and Chartered Town Planner with over 16 years of client side development and leasing experience at Land Securities, Hammerson and Brookfield working across office, retail and residential market sectors. Andrew is responsible for the 1.25+million square foot office development pipeline at the Battersea Power Station Development Company and ran the successful WORK pre-letting campaign for 500,000 square foot of office space within the Power Station, which culminated with the successful signing of Apple for its new London Campus in 2016.

Patrick Stewart-Blacker has a proven track record of delivering strategic multi-disciplined client

workspace projects providing new and innovative ways of working for their staff. This is

combined with a strong understanding of how technology can improve the workspace and

understanding how relevant training with structured migration planning can be the difference

between the success and failure of a project. Patrick is a highly effective leader and team

builder, with creative flair, intellectual “nous” and a passion for delivering innovative, “fit for

purpose” solutions. He combines a holistic approach to workspace design with a strong

understanding of the world of building construction.

Clare Thomas is a partner at law firm CMS which has the largest real estate team in Europe. She has experience acting for property companies, funds, institutions and international investors on acquisitions, disposals, lettings and developments. Her transactional expertise spans a range of sectors including office, hotel, retail and mixed use/residential. Her clients include the likes of Angelo Gordon, Credit Suisse, Blackstone, Urban & Civic and Brockton as well as various private investors.

Significant recent transactions include acting on Singapore listed REIT Suntec’s acquisition of 50% of Phase 1 of Land Sec’s Nova Victoria scheme from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, for Thai investor DTGO corporation on the circa £450m acquisition of the Marathon portfolio of 17 IHG and Hilton branded hotels and the Arora Group on it’s Crawley Station Gateway scheme which includes the regeneration of the station along with the provision of new office, retail and residential premises.

Clare is an active member of a number of real estate associations and has served on committees for the Urban Land Institute and is on the operational board of the Investment Property Forum and chairs their education committee. She was recently instrumental in the production of industry standard non disclosure and exclusivity agreements, designed to streamline the real estate transaction process as well as the production of the Guide to Streamlining Transactions: Improving liquidity in commercial real estate. She has also written for the Property Law Journal and Estates Gazette and regularly speaks at industry events. Clare also leads the publication of CMS’s annual real estate thought leadership, with recent research looking at everything from the future of the workplace to the social value of real estate Real Estate Reset (cms.law). She has been named as one of Bisnow’s 51 most influential women in real estate and appeared in The Lawyers Hot 100 List 2019.