James Seppala is the Chairman of Blackstone Europe and the Head of Real Estate Europe.

Based in London, he joined Blackstone in 2011.

Prior to Blackstone, Mr. Seppala was a Vice President at Goldman Sachs & Co, where he

spent 10 years focused on equity and debt investment opportunities in Europe and the

United States on behalf of Goldman Sachs’s real estate private equity group.

Mr. Seppala graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in 2001. Mr. Seppala

currently serves as Chairman of BEPIF. He also serves on the Imperial College Council, the

Imperial College Endowment Board, the advisory board of the Academy of Real Assets, is a

governor of the John Lyon's Foundation, and serves on the European Advisory Board of the

Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center at the Wharton School.

Under James’ leadership, Sellar has become renowned for delivering some of the boldest and most complex mixed-use schemes, often at major transport hubs across central London. With extensive experience across all principal property sectors and an intrinsic understanding of real estate investment, asset management and development, James’ most notable achievements have been the delivery of the internationally-recognised Shard Quarter development at London Bridge and the urban transformation of Paddington Square, while simultaneously progressing the other properties in Sellar’s 5 million sq ft development pipeline.

Since joining Deliveroo in 2018, Ben has led global acquisitions and rolled out the company’s game-changing ‘delivery only’ kitchens across EMEA and APAC. He previously held senior acquisitions and asset management positions with supermarket big players, Asda, and Lidl

Simon has extensive experience of finance and the real estate sector. He joined British Land from Logicor, the owner and operator of European logistics real estate, where he had served as chief financial officer since January 2017. Prior to joining Logicor, from 2015 to 2017 Simon was finance director at Quintain Estates & Development Plc. Simon previously spent over 10 years with British Land, working in a variety of financial and strategic roles and was a member of our Executive Committee from 2012 until his departure in January 2015. Simon also previously worked for UBS in fixed income and qualified as a chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen.

James has overall responsibility for the Grosvenor Britain & Ireland business, which owns and manages the London Estate in Mayfair and Belgravia, and a range of new developments including a 1500 home build to rent site in Bermondsey, Liverpool ONE shopping centre and a number of large scale new communities across the south east of England.

James joined Grosvenor’s Paris team in 2004, where he led Grosvenor's international fund management activity. He was then appointed Chief Executive of Grosvenor Europe in 2013. Before Grosvenor, James was the Senior Director of European Real Estate at Royal Bank of Scotland in Paris and a Non-Executive Director of Nordisk Renting in Sweden.

James is a Board member of INREV and the Westminster Property Association and sits on the BPF’s Policy Committee. He was educated at the Universities of Greenwich and Lille, France.

Board appointment

Appointed Finance Director on 20.7.1987 and Chief Executive on 1.10.2011

Experience

Overall responsibility for implementing the Group’s strategy and day-to-day operations

Joined the Group in 1986

External appointments

Director of Longmartin Properties Limited

Board member of Westminster Property Association

Chairman, UK China Visa Alliance

Board member of Freehold

Patrick Williams is a partner in Fried Frank's European Real Estate Group, resident in London.

Mr. Williams has wide transactional experience on commercial real estate matters, including large scale mixed-use developments and pre-letting arrangements, joint venture agreements, complex real estate investment transactions and real estate finance.

He acts for a broad mix of clients, including property investment companies (including those on the FTSE100), global real estate fund managers, banks, infrastructure development and land promoter specialists, ultra high-net-worth individuals and family offices, and a range of Asian sovereign wealth funds and state-owned enterprises.

Prior to joining Fried Frank, Mr. Williams was a partner at a large international law firm.

Samir Amichi is a Senior Managing Director in the Real Estate Group and the Head of Real Estate Europe Acquisitions, based in London. Since joining Blackstone in 2011, Mr. Amichi has been involved in a number of Blackstone’s investments in Europe, including OfficeFirst, the Banco Popular portfolio, and the GE European portfolio.

Previously, Mr. Amichi spent seven years in Goldman Sachs International’s real estate private equity group focused on equity and debt investment opportunities in Europe and two years at The Richemont Group overseeing the set-up and growth of its global real estate investment business.

Mr. Amichi received an MS in Management from the HEC business school in Paris, where he majored in Economics.

Jenny Hammarlund is a senior managing director at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Based in London, she leads the real estate investment group in the UK and Europe as well as global strategy and value creation. She is responsible for overseeing investment activity, strategy and overall portfolio management, and she also led the integration of Cadillac Fairview’s international investment team into OTPP in 2024.

Hammarlund has over 25 years of experience in private equity globally, primarily focused on real estate. She previously held positions as managing director at H.I.G. Capital and director at KKR, where she was focused on sourcing and executing real estate investments across Europe. Hammarlund's résumé also includes stints as director at Värde Partners in London and as vice president at Lehman Brothers Real Estate Partners in New York, where she was focused on real estate investments in the U.S. She speaks four languages.

Since joining Hines in 2003, Ross has overseen a wide variety of transactions spanning core investment through to opportunistic development on behalf of Hines Funds and third-party capital sources. Under Ross’ leadership, the UK portfolio has grown to comprise office, logistics, retail, PBSA, BTR and self-storage.

In 2021, the UK team expanded to include Property and Facilities Management to enhance the existing Asset and Development Management capabilities. Ross has been Head of Hines’ operations in the UK since 2012, and more recently became Head of Western Europe, including Ireland and France. Ross obtained an MSc in Property Investment from City University and is a member of the RICS and BCO.

Alastair Moss has practiced as a property lawyer for over 20 years, acting for a range of investors, developers, occupiers, retailers, funds, educational establishments and lending institutions. Alastair is also a non-executive director of a FTSE 250 listed property REIT, and has held non-executive chairman roles in organisations with property assets of up to £10bn.

Stacy Eden is Head of Real Estate at RSM. He is an experienced audit partner and advises a wide variety of real estate clients. Stacy has significant experience of working with real estate companies and partnerships with assets up to £2bn, assisting clients on the commercial, transactions and taxation aspects of real estate.

Prior to joining RSM, Stacy led a property and construction team for over 10 years in his previous role. He is also an ICAEW fellow (FCA).

Stacy speaks at a variety of real estate seminars and conferences and writes regularly in the trade press. He also attends a number of key real estate events including MIPIM and is a member of the Variety Props lunch committee, a member of the British Property Federation technical accounting group and a member of the ICAEW real estate and construction advisory group.

Stacy has also been a founder and governor of a free school as well as assisted charities in helping vulnerable children.

David Linkson, MRICS serves as Director of European Operations for Partner Engineering and Science Ltd. (Partner), based out of the London office. Partner is a leading provider of full-service technical due diligence and real estate solutions, performing environmental, building, business risk, energy, and specialised surveys around the globe. Mr. Linkson has over 35 years of experience within the Project Management, Development, and Construction sectors. He is a qualified surveyor and has led and managed numerous technically-challenging and high-value schemes in both public and private sectors throughout the UK and Europe. His additional experience includes building surveys, construction monitoring, client-side representation, development advisory, dilapidations, and contracting.

With staff across 34+ offices throughout Europe and North America, Partner’s multi-disciplinary approach allows us to expertly serve clients at all stages from initial due diligence and design to development and construction, as well as throughout the ongoing maintenance and optimisation/disposal of the asset.

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.

Stephen O’Driscoll is Development Director for R+F Group UK and is currently overseeing the 1,500,000 sq ft 1500-unit SOM-designed One Thames City project and the 1,000,000 sq ft KPF-designed 203-key Park Hyatt at One Nine Elms. The projects will also deliver a significant section of the new Nine Elms Linear Park.

Prior to joining R+F, he was involved in the delivery of the 42-storey Manhattan Loft Gardens in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for Manhattan Loft Corporation and the 305-key Londoner Hotel in Leicester Square for the Edwardian Hotel group.

Stephen is Chairman of the Nine Elms Landowners group, Chairman of the Vauxhall Nine Elms Regeneration Company, sits on the Nine Elms Vauxhall Strategy Board and has over 25 years of real-estate development experience in both the UK and international markets.

Mark advises on leasing and development property on behalf of clients including LandSec, Mitsubishi, Downing, and Kennedy Wilson. He works with the whole team at Union Street Partners bringing together the various services and liaising with clients to provide the best result. Mark also runs www.10bridges.co.uk, a profile raising website for the South Bank, digging out the market's best restaurants, bars, places of interest and hidden gems. He is passionate about public realm and the community aspect of the built environment and attends regular meetings with community groups including Better Bankside and Vauxhall One.

David Hawkins has been a partner in the real estate team at Norton Rose Fulbright LLP for over 10 years specialising in investment and development transactions across all sectors. Projects David has been involved with include the joint venture funding of the extension to the Westfield London Shopping Centre, the development of a 36 story mixed use tower opposite the Barbican and the development of Europe’s largest newly opened deep water port at London Gateway in Essex. David is involved with a number of industry bodies and sits on the City of London Law Society Land Law committee.

Maurice (Mo) has been at Salesforce for almost 9 years as a Solution Engineer. Five of those years have been focused on the Real Estate, Construction and Facilities Management verticals. As a solution engineer, he marries the ever expanding Salesforce capability to client requirements to maximise value from the Salesforce platform. Through the years, Mo has seen a shift in 'point' solutions to broader cloud based platforms and has helped many real Real Estate customers begin their Salesforce journeys.

Mike Magan is Chief Operating Officer at Here East, a 1.2 million sq ft technology and innovation campus. Prior to joining Here East, Mike was a senior White House official and Special Assistant to the President with responsibility for multibillion-dollar policy initiatives. He moved to the private sector after a two-decade career in public service, with recent experience in consultancy, negotiation, management and driving organizational change. Mike is an expert in the intersection between business, policy and politics with a track record of devising and implementing complex, high-profile projects across different sectors and for a range of clients and audiences. An experienced professional with a track record of working for large multinationals and high-profile individuals, as well as start-ups, think-tanks and campaign groups.

Gavin is CEO of Here East – the 1.2 million sq ft technology and Innovation campus on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, and one of the fastest growing business clusters in the UK. Recently, Gavin has been at the forefront of developing the concept of creating London’s first digital games and esports cluster. Prior, Gavin served as an engineering officer in the UK Royal Air Force for over 20 years before leaving following tours as a Wing Commander. Upon leaving military service, he ran the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) and helped form major policy initiatives including the introduction of the Modern-Day Slavery Act within the UK. Gavin is a board member of Plexal, sits on the Advisory Board of Global Tech Advocates and is a London Technology Ambassador for London & Partners. In addition, he sits on the Advisory Board for London Tech Week.

Chris Kanwei is the founder of RealCorp Capital, an independent investment and corporate finance advisory firm based in London. He has managed and advised on real estate investments in excess of £10 billion across EMEA.

Chris has held senior roles in commercial real estate finance across major financial institutions including Aviva, Morgan Stanley, AIB. He has extensive experience in real estate debt investments, loan portfolio sales, non-performing loan (NPL) advisory and underwriting, portfolio management and loan workout, loan servicing platforms, real estate development finance, and corporate & commercial banking.

Chris is a graduate of mechanical engineering, a qualified accountant, corporate finance specialist, and chartered banker. He is a member of several professional bodies including CIMA UK, CPA (Australia), RICS UK, Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments, UK, and The Chartered Banker Institute (UK). He is also a regular speaker at major European investment forums.

Cane Napolitano is a Partner at Valor Real Estate Partners, where he is responsible for overseeing the firm’s capital deployment and investment strategy across Europe.

Prior to joining Valor, Mr. Napolitano was at IDI Gazeley Brookfield Logistics Properties where he was responsible for originating a UK acquisitions program with a specific focus on infill opportunities within the M 25 and South East markets.

Prior to IDI Gazeley, Mr. Napolitano was a member of the KTR Capital Investments team where his primary responsibilities included the underwriting and analysis of development, portfolio, and one-off Investment transactions across the South Florida and Atlanta markets.

Mr. Napolitano graduated from Lafayette College where he earned a B.Sc. in Neuroscience.

Bridget's passion lies in using digital technology to enhance diversity and inclusivity across communities and ensure everyone can be involved in using their voice to shape their cities. During her time as Director of Community Engagement at Built-ID, Bridget was responsible for scaling the award winning proptech platform Give My View which supported the delivery of more than 30,000 across the UK.

She has more than 12 years of international real estate experience and is an expert in the global PropTech sector through her previous role on the CBRE UK Innovation Board and as a founding member of the Urban Land Institute UK Tech Forum.

Bridget is a proud advocate for developing the next generation of real estate professionals across London through her role as Co-founder of Peer20 social impact network, Steering Committee Member of the City Property Association Next Gen Committee and Startup Mentor on the REACH UK Tech Programme. As an industry champion for the adoption of proptech and innovation to support urban cities, Bridget was recognised as Global Finalist for the Tech Futureproof Woman Awards (2021) and Global Woman in Proptech Awards (2019).

Gearoid Collins is a customer driven Leader with responsibility for Commercial Sales and Marketing for Vilicom in UK, Ireland and strategic markets in Europe. With a particular focus on mobile connectivity he leads sales teams across Enterprise, Real Estate and offshore wind markets.

Collins holds a deep passion for solving customer connectivity problems and unleashing the benefits of mobile connectivity throughout the UK with Vilicom’s advanced product set of solutions.

Prior to this he held senior management positions in IWG PLC and Virgin Media where he spent 15 years growing its B2B business in Ireland and internationally.

Paul Alger is a real estate partner in Shoosmiths’ London office. He advises on all types of real estate transactions, including investment, development, finance and landlord and tenant matters. Paul has a particular focus on advising institutional clients in connection with the acquisition, management and disposal of high value properties in London.

Penny’s pursuit to uplift the well-being of people within the built environment has been evident throughout her career. As a former HR Executive and Head of Human Capital for Africa’s largest Automated Clearing House, Penny has led the design, development, and implementation of numerous large scale People Strategies. Holding a BSc in Town and Regional Planning, Penny worked on a variety of master-planning projects across the UK and South Africa and is a WELL, and EcoDistricts Accredited Professional, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (FCIPD), and a qualified Life Coach.

Having recently joined the IWBI, Penny now provides support and guidance to organisations intent on implementing the WELL Building Standard and assists stakeholders in leveraging the positive impact that WELL has on ESG objectives, the UN SDG’s and Human Capital reporting goals. With a belief in the need for spaces to be designed to balance human health, well-being and sustainability, whilst providing economic benefit to all, Penny is passionate about helping organisations maximize the social impact of their investments.

Daniel is responsible for the strategy and growth of Aviva Investors’ integrated Real Assets business, encompassing Real Estate, Infrastructure and Private Debt. He oversees around 300 professionals working across fund management, asset management, development, transactions, origination, underwriting, research, and business management.

Daniel is a member of Aviva Investors’ Executive Team and heads the Real Assets Senior Leadership Team, as well serving on other governance and oversight committees.

Daniel joined Aviva Investors in 2018 and was appointed CIO, Real Assets, in February 2021.

Previously, he was Managing Director, Real Estate, where he was responsible for business strategy, product initiatives, and external engagement across Aviva Investors’ real estate business.

Ann Marie Aguilar joined the IWBI team in 2016, and from a base in London oversees the day-to-day activities of IWBI across the EMEA region. She supports the business development and technical teams and is the first point of contact for clients and design teams interested in all applications of WELL Certification.

Ann Marie’s role is to support “early adopters” of the WELL Building Standard, by facilitating communication with IWBI technical experts to provide international translation, alternative adherence pathways and alignment with local sustainability rating tools. Ann Marie’s expertise in environmental sustainability and well-being has helped deliver strategic adoption of WELL into the UK, Ireland, continental Europe and the Middle East with support from BRE, Green Building Councils and other local market partners. She is also responsible for implementing new directives for research, growth, recruitment and education.

She brings to IWBI a technical background in sustainability consulting, having worked for 11 years with Arup Associates, the architectural consulting arm of Arup in their London offices. Her 17 years of global project experience range in scale from campus size to small city developments and identify a clear sustainability vision, objectives and measurable targets. She has extensive experience in LEED Certification, material deconstruction and material reuse processes. Whilst there she developed Arup’s health and well-being consultancy offering across their global operations. Previously, Ann Marie led her own sustainability consulting business in New York City.

Among the first cohort of WELL APs, she now also provides education and support to industry as a WELL Faculty member.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in architecture from the New York Institute of Technology and received Chartered Environmentalist status in 2012. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, member of the Sustainability Futures Group at the RIBA and a member of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment.

The Founder and CEO of The Valesco Group is Mr. Shiraz Jiwa, who has a distinguished track record spanning 2 decades. Mr. Jiwa has successfully closed and managed over €5 billion of European commercial real estate investments, delivering strong target-exceeding returns to sovereigns, institutions and family offices. Prior to founding Valesco, Mr. Jiwa was managing director and head of real estate investments at AGC Equity Partners, a sovereign backed alternative asset investment firm. He closed and managed numerous European real estate investments across core/core+, complex restructuring, development and special situations during his tenure. Previously, Mr. Jiwa was a partner and portfolio manager at the Rainbow Global High Yield Fund. His areas of focus were special situations, real estate, distressed debt and derivatives. Mr. Jiwa directed investment strategy and executed transactions across the capital structure. Prior to this, Mr. Jiwa was at Morgan Stanley where his expertise was utilised to develop, analyse, structure and execute portfolio optimisation and yield enhancement strategies and solutions. Mr. Jiwa executed several significant capital markets as well as securities division transactions. Mr. Jiwa started his career as part of the credit derivatives structuring and trading team at Bear Stearns. Mr. Jiwa has developed an expertise across all major asset classes, notably in real estate, real estate private equity, complex restructurings and special situations. Mr. Jiwa received a B.Sc. Joint Honours in Mathematics with Management from Imperial College London.

Bradley is the CEO at CO—RE specialising in London occupiers and their design requirements, scheme branding and leasing. Bradley has worked in the central London office market for over 30 years. He was made an equity partner at Knight Frank in 1999, and founded and headed the central London tenant representation team.

He has an intimate knowledge of what occupiers need, having advised major organisations on some of London’s largest office deals, including Estée Lauder’s HQ at 1 Fitzroy Place, Swiss Re's acquisition of The Gherkin, Guardian Media Group’s headquarters at King’s Cross and M&G’s offices at 10 Fenchurch Avenue.

Bradley was voted ‘Dealmaker of the Year’ in 2014 by the readers of CoStar.

Adrian has been with HDR since 2014 and has over 25 years of building services industry experience. Since joining the company, he has utilized his passion for design by leading major projects and managing client accounts, as well as being a firm believer in the use of technology and modelling in our work. So much so, he has been involved in the creation of the advanced design team who provide industry-leading integrated design process for development projects.

During the global COVID-19 pandemic, Adrian has led research regarding the effect of it in the workplace and how design can be used to minimize the risk of spreading. He has also written several papers on this subject for publication in industry press, detailing how it has never been more imperative that HVAC plays a vital role in keeping occupants of buildings safe.

Adrian likes to work closely with HDR’s delivery teams, being involved to help provide leadership and as a mentor to his colleagues. His industry experience and hands-on working style bring creativity and innovation to the projects that HDR works on.

Rohan is a partner in the real estate finance team, the lead partner in the Alternatives sector team and a key member of the ESG Committee. Rohan advises lenders and borrowers on deals across the capital stack, involving investment and development, covering a range of real estate sectors, including retail, office, hotels, residential development, PRS, student accommodation and industrial. General Banking including advising on restructuring, corporate acquisitions, oil and gas finance and project finance.

James is a Partner at Europa Capital focused on acquisitions and has completed transactions across eight European countries with a value of over EUR1.5bn of which approximately half of this has been invested in the logistics sector. Before joining in 2010, James worked at the Royal Bank of Scotland within their UK Corporate Real Estate team and has previously worked for both CBRE & JLL in London. James is a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and received an MSC Real Estate from the University of Reading and has a BA in Geography from the University of Leicester.

James Watson is a partner at logistics real estate fund manager, Tritax Group with overall responsibility for the fund management of MetroBox. MetroBox is a JV between Tritax Group and specialist real estate investment and advisory company, Delancey that seeks to deliver compelling investment returns by investing in and actively repurposing high performing, undervalued urban retail warehousing.

James is a Chartered Surveyor with over 25 years’ experience operating in the real estate capital markets having held long standing appointments in the relevant teams at JLL and Colliers prior to joining Tritax Group in 2020. James is well known in the sector as a leading expert in UK grocery, sale & leaseback transactions and post-digital retail with an extensive network of landlord, retailer and analyst contacts.

Anthony is responsible for Acquisitions & Development within the UK business at Urbanest, focussing solely on Central London.

Further to sourcing new opportunities, Anthony's current focus is all development matters relating to Urbanest Canary Wharf - a 750,000 ft² mixed-use development located in Canary Wharf comprising 1,672 student bed spaces, 80 residential apartments, over 40,000ft² of commercial offices including an affordable workspace/incubator and significant public realm improvements.

During his 9 years at Urbanest, Anthony has been involved in the delivery of Urbanest King's Cross, Urbanest St. Pancras, Urbanest Westminster Bridge, Urbanest Vauxhall, Urbanest Victoria and Urbanest City.

Having qualified and become a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in 2010, Anthony was previously a Senior Surveyor within the Capital Markets Group at Jones Lang LaSalle, where he specialised in the disposal, acquisition and funding of student housing investments and developments.

Nick is a director of Gravis. He is the lead manager of the GCP Student.

Nick joined Gravis from Schroders where he worked for eight years, ultimately as head of alternatives for the real estate business and a member of the fund management team for the Schroder UK Real Estate Fund. Nick has over sixteen years investment experience having previously also worked at Cushman & Wakefield and JLL.

Nick graduated from the University of Reading with a degree in Investment & Finance in Property. Nick is also a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Jane Donachy has recently joined the CUBO Board to look after the membership portfolio.

Jane joins CUBO having enjoyed a successful and diverse career in a variety of industries

both in the private and not-for-profit sectors including accommodation services, food

services, hospitality, retail and catering. This has seen her take the lead in five directorial

roles in the UK and Australasia.

“Having spent 10 years working in Australasia, I returned to the U.K in 2005 and specialised

in interim contract work within a wide range of markets to reacclimatise to the U.K, before

joining the University of the Arts, London in 2012 as Head of Accommodation Services,

before being promoted to Director of Catering, Retail and Accommodation Services in 2016.

Some of my greatest achievements include running the athletes’ village dining at the Sydney

Olympics, heading and leading teams, building relationships at all levels both internally and

externally to successfully manage operations in changing environments, compiling strategies

and carrying out analysis to formulate company direction which made a growth of over 10%

per annum. I have set and controlled P&L’s of over £40m, secured bids and presented to

boards to win business of up to £50m per annum. I have also developed innovative concepts

building brands to gain 10% growth year on year, utilising commercial acumen to progress

new opportunities.”

Specialties:

 Developing and implementing sales strategies

 Developing and implementing strategic plans, encompassing clients

 Relationships, profitability, staff retention and brand management.

 Catalyst and implementation through “Change” programmes

 Analysis of existing food and beverage services and writing detailed recommendation

reports.

 Food brand development and maintenance.

 Substantial knowledge of market trends in Australasia

 Returning business to a better than budget position

 Developing new services for students

Matt Walker is a partner in the real estate team at international law firm Gowling WLG. Matt has a wide variety of experience having acted for developers, institutional investors, funders, tenants and even Gowling WLG on its new Birmingham offices at Two Snowhill.

Jacob founded General Projects in 2016, a real estate developer and operator that creates experiential, innovative and dynamic buildings, designed around the needs of the new economy. Over his career he has the led the acquisition and development of over £1.5bn of real estate spanning over 2 million sq ft of mixed-use projects, winning a number of notable industry awards in the process. With a passion for architecture and design, Jacob has overseen the reinvention of the iconic Grade II listed One Poultry, the award-winning development of Alphabeta, and the creation of Expressway, an SME workspace and industrial complex.

Patricia advises civic and business leaders on the dynamics and creation of positive urban change. This draws on 25 years of influencing and improving urban environments and economies, pioneering many of the initiatives that form part of London’s evolution and a foundation of current urban practice.

She was CEO of Central London Partnership (CLP), which advanced the link between a people-focused, liveable, London and sustained economic success, as well as building the active private sector investment and stewardship for this step change. She led a number of game-changers for London – including lobbying for Trafalgar Square’s pedestrianisation; establishing BIDs into the UK; Legible London, London’s connected wayfinding system; alongside key studies like Gehl’s Public Life, Public Space and Quality Streets, the first examining the relationship between investment in place and economic competitiveness. In 2019 she founded London 3.0; a refreshed look at what ‘good looks like’ aimed at shaping 21st century solutions and stewardship for contemporary London challenges.

Her pro-bono and trustee positions include chairing London Festival of Architecture and as, Deputy Chair of the Mayor’s Design Advisory Group, helping develop the Good Growth Agendas and concept. Current appointments include Vice Chair of British Property Federation’s Development Committee, GWR Advisory Board, Historic England’s London Advisory Committee and its national equivalent, HEAC, HS2’s Design Panel and a Design Council Ambassador.