Is Birmingham Open For Business? The Here And Now

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  James Howarth

  James Howarth has over 20 years’ experience in land and property, specialising in the planning, remediation and development of complex development sites. Prior to Sterling PV James co-founded Abstract Land Limited in 2004, which was responsible for various developments such as Colmore Plaza, Birmingham and a number of complex land assembly deals in the south east. He leads the Sterling team managing their current development exposure to the regional office market (103 Colmore Row and B3.3N, MK), PRS (Great Charles Place) and student sectors (Exeter), liaising with funding counterparties and the full professional team.

  Sterling Property Ventures

  Managing Director

  James Howarth

  Managing Director

  Sterling Property Ventures

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  Ross Fittall

  Ross is a key member of the Paradise team and is involved in all parts of the scheme from design and construction, to leasing and attracting new tenants, to marketing and branding of the project. Ross previously worked on the latter phases of Brindleyplace, delivering the award winning Eleven Brindleyplace and in the interim period before joining MEPC (then Argent) led the redevelopment of the Mailbox. Ross sits on the Midlands BCO committee and is leading on the mentoring initiative which he is very passionate about

  MEPC Limited

  Senior Development Manager

  Ross Fittall

  Senior Development Manager

  MEPC Limited

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  Mark Taylor

  Mark Taylor is the Regional Managing Partner for our Central region. He’s also a consulting partner, our Office Managing Partner in Birmingham, a member of our Operations and Markets Team, and our Innovation Forum lead. Mark joined RSM’s Manchester office as a consultant in 2003, and made partner in 2007. He has held a number of office managing roles since 2008, and took on responsibility for the Central region as a whole in 2016.

  RSM

  Innovation Lead & Regional Managing Partner, Central

  Mark Taylor

  Innovation Lead & Regional Managing Partner, Central

  RSM

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  Melanie Williams

  Melanie is a Partner and head of DWF's Global Real Estate Sector. She has over ten years' experience of working on the investment and funding of real estate development projects and property tax driven transactions, particularly within the real estate, hospitality and public sectors. She sits on the Board of Directors of the Colmore Business District 'BID', which is a Business Improvement District within Birmingham City Centre, comprising key members of the business community working collectively to invest in projects and services to improve the business environment.

  DWF

  Partner & Head of Global Real Estate Sector

  Moderator

  Melanie Williams

  Partner & Head of Global Real Estate Sector

  DWF

Birmingham's Big Opportunity: New Destinations

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  Harry Badham

  Harry Badham was appointed to the role of Chief Development and Asset Repositioning Officer at Hammerson in June this year. In this role, Harry oversees the development teams working on destination repositioning across the UK, Ireland, and France. Harry was most recently UK Head of Development at AXA IM Alts where he led £3.5bn of major investment, development and repositioning projects from start to completion for a range of funds and joint venture investors. Working on urban projects across a mix of workspace, retail, leisure, civic and residential space including most notably 22 Bishopsgate, Assembly Bristol and 6 Pancras Square, Harry has built up extensive expertise across numerous disciplines including design, sustainability, leasing and technology. Prior to his 10 years at AXA IM Alts, Harry was part of the leadership team at property development company, Allied London, where he was Investment Director. He was involved in delivering over £2bn of urban regeneration including the creation of the 25 acre Spinningfields development in Manchester and the Brunswick Centre in London, alongside other mixed use schemes across the UK. A chartered surveyor, Harry began his career at JLL within the corporate finance department having graduated from Bristol University in Civil Engineering.

  Hammerson

  Chief Development & Asset Repositioning Officer

  Harry Badham

  Chief Development & Asset Repositioning Officer

  Hammerson

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  Bek Seeley

  Bek has worked in a range of environments including outsourcing and public services, engineering and construction, before her role at Lendlease. In undertaking both commercial and wider business roles, Bek has a strong track record in delivering cultural change and business growth. In her role at Lendlease Bek is responsible for the commercial operations and overall growth of the Lendlease Development business, including New Business opportunities. Her previous experience in regeneration, change and partnership working enable her to build on the strong foundations that Lendlease has to further grow and innovate the Lendlease business.

  Lendlease

  Managing Director, Development Europe

  Bek Seeley

  Managing Director, Development Europe

  Lendlease

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  Ruth Miley

  Prior to joining M7 in October 2019, Ruth spent three years running her own investment brokerage and asset management consultancy, acting for numerous clients across multiple sectors. Her role involved sourcing PRS & Build to Rent development opportunities, hotel site acquisitions, leasing and sales transactions and various commercial opportunities for an array of investors, funds and private equity clients. Before this, Ruth worked as a leasing agent at GCW & JLL on a shopping centre portfolio. Ruth also spent five years in Australia, working for the GPT Group as an asset manager on various retail and office assets including 530 Collins, Melbourne Central & Highpoint Shopping Centre. Ruth has over 13 years of real estate experience and is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

  M7 Real Estate

  Asset Management

  Ruth Miley

  Asset Management

  M7 Real Estate

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  Simon Delahunty-Forrest

  Simon is the Acting Assistant Director within the Planning and Development service area for Birmingham City Council. As a qualified Architect Simon is Birmingham City Council's lead design advisor championing design quality within the built environment. Having responsibility for 'Specific Specialist Areas' such as the City Design Team, City Centre Planning Management, City Centre Development, Enforcement and Householder Simon encourages and enables the highest standards of Place Making, Planning, Architecture, Urban Design, Arboriculture, Historic Conservation and Landscape Design across all new development in the City for the benefit of all the citizens of Birmingham. Simon is known for his ability to successfully combine Architecture and Urban Design to create holistic environments and is responsible for recent Masterplans such as ‘Birmingham Curzon HS2 Masterplan for growth’, ‘Birmingham Smithfield Masterplan’, ‘Langley Sustainable Urban Extension’ and most recently the ‘Rea Valley Urban Quarter Masterplan’. This includes acting as the focal point on design issues and stimulating design quality through multi-agency project team working and close interaction with external developers, key stakeholders and partners in relation to the design of new development being promoted and managed through the Planning and Development Service that reflects the international standing of the City of Birmingham.

  Birmingham City Council

  Acting Assistant Director, Planning and Development

  Simon Delahunty-Forrest

  Acting Assistant Director, Planning and Development

  Birmingham City Council

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  Nisha Jassal

  Nisha is an experienced partner focused on leading complex development projects and advising large-scale funds on high-value real estate projects for over 20 years. A graduate from Keble College, Oxford, Nisha's technical excellence in land law has contributed to her building a strong CV acting for investor funds, developers, major corporates and local authorities on all aspects of multi-faceted development and investment transactions. Her experience includes advising on structuring, forward funding and JV arrangements to deliver high quality mixed-use schemes. She acts as a key point of contact for clients during transactions, managing cross-disciplinary teams, and liaising with the client's wider project team and other professionals involve helping clients find their route to goal – crafting and implementing viable solutions.

  Gowling WLG

  Partner

  Moderator

  Nisha Jassal

  Partner

  Gowling WLG

What's Next For The Region: Areas Of Economic Growth

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  Gareth Bradford

  Director of Housing and Regeneration

  West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA)

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  Sue Barrett

  Chief Operating Officer

  Urban Growth Company

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  Sunny Johal

  Born and raised in Birmingham, Sunny is passionate about finding exceptional real estate opportunities to turn into mixed-use development projects across the West Midlands. Sunny Johal is a leading expert in Birmingham’s real estate sector. He began his career on site as a labourer and went on to spend 4 years working in the construction trades. Since then, building 20 years’ of industry experience, Sunny has made a name for himself in the West Midlands, winning the BCO NextGen Rising Star Award. Sunny helped lead on the delivery of the first phases of Paradise Birmingham, including One Chamberlain Square, as Project Director for Argent. He is also a Director of BeFlow, the development management consultancy he founded in 2020 who is delivering One Centenary Way on the Paradise development on behalf of Argent, as well as a Director at Detail. Sunny and the team at Detail are currently delivering major development opportunities across the West Midlands. This includes Metro Lofts in West Bromwich, which is due to complete later this year, and is the first residential co-working space in the Black Country. Sunny believes that the success of any economy is reducing the level of inequality between communities and fighting to ensure everyone has an equal starting line.

  Detail

  Director

  Sunny Johal

  Director

  Detail

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  Matthew Crossley

  Matthew is a Director at Burges Salmon. He is passionate about the built environment, with a focus on construction, working on major development and regeneration schemes across the UK and beyond. Matthew works across multiple sectors, from ‘beds’ to offices, via logistics and retail, as well as being involved in significant transport and infrastructure projects. Matthew is passionate about the industry, in particular, the role of modern methods of construction as a catalyst to increase collaboration

  Burges Salmon

  Director

  Moderator

  Matthew Crossley

  Director

  Burges Salmon

Birmingham’s BTR Update: Developing Dynamic Accommodation For The Future

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  Tomasz Romaniewicz

  With over 12 years’ experience working in London, Yorkshire, Berlin and Birmingham, Tomasz leads on all things Build to Rent within Bond Bryan, in a nationally-focussed role. As a specialist in regeneration projects, he has also spent time working in Development Management for an Asian-based fund which was investing in London during the infancy days of the Build to Rent sector. Through his experience of working within both client and consultant roles, his position at Bond Bryan has a special focus on bridging the gap between the traditional norms of architect and developer. These duties include identifying land suitable for BTR (both on and off market), working closely with investors – to ensure that maximum viability for BTR can be attained on sites - and acting as lead architect on projects both within the private and public sectors. Tomasz led the design of The Meridian BTR scheme on agateway site in Sheffield and has active sites throughout the UK, including several Pre-Planning schemes in Birmingham and is leading on a Masterplan for the Hagley Road which is being integrated into the Birmingham Future City Plan 2040. Tomasz also sits on the Colmore Row BID ‘Outstanding Places' Working Group and the Design Review Panel for the Jewellery Quarter. He has a special interest in the role which BTR can play as an alternative model for housing delivery and is currently involved with bringing BTR investment models to support schemes for town centre regeneration and suburban locations using DfMA and MMC solutions.

  Bond Bryan

  Head of Build-to-Rent

  Tomasz Romaniewicz

  Head of Build-to-Rent

  Bond Bryan

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  Martin Bellinger

  Martin has over 30 years’ real estate industry experience, specialising in the delivery of affordable housing in both the public and private sectors. Alongside Darryl Flay, he was a founding figure of the UK’s build-to-rent sector, winning various awards from the RIBA and Sunday Times. Pioneering achievements included delivering the first build-to-rent development to use offsite manufacturing and the first to include discount market rent homes. Among other skills, Martin brings extensive advocacy and policy experience and is passionate about ensuring social value remains at the heart of rental developments. Martin is a member of the London Urban Transformation Commission, and previously sat on the Department for Communities and Local Government’s build-to-rent subcommittee. He is also a longstanding member of the British Property Federation’s residential board.

  Goodstone Living

  Executive Director

  Martin Bellinger

  Executive Director

  Goodstone Living

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  Nicola Fleet-Milne

  As owner/founder of FleetMilne residential property agency, and having previously worked at other Birmingham residential agencies, my career has been residential throughout. I understand and excel at the residential agency sector, but I have been successful in creating a more sophisticated offering for the Build to Rent sector. I am also incredibly active in my voluntary positions. I have been the Chair of the Colmore BID board since January 2020 and was Deputy Chair for 2 years prior. I am co-Chair of the Jewellery Quarter Neighbourhood Planning Forum, and from 2013- 2020, a member of the Hippodrome Development Board. I am a former Birmingham Young Professional of the Year award winner, IoD award winner and an active member of Birmingham's thriving professional community; my drive and influential status have had a substantial impact on Birmingham’s development.

  Colmore BID

  Chair

  Nicola Fleet-Milne

  Chair

  Colmore BID

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  Anthony McCourt

  CEO and founder of Court Collaboration and its group companies, Anthony has a proven track record in complex real estate development and investment transactions, working directly with investment partners to deliver significant real estate projects in the UK. With a firm understanding of commercial development and experience of delivering a multi-million pound mixed-use project, Anthony started Court Collaboration in 2010 where he is responsible for the company’s growth, vision and ultimate strategic development. Anthony spends much of his time in Asia visiting current and new clients and is proud of the inward investment record Court has into both the UK and Birmingham delivering over £300,000,000 into the City from Asia so far. Anthony is formerly a Governor of Birmingham Metropolitan College and Founder and former Chairman of both the Greater Birmingham Professional Services Academy and Birmingham Enterprise Academy (having founded both himself). In 2008, he was crowned the youngest ever winner of the Birmingham Young Professional of the Year Award, and was awarded a Fellowship to the College by Birmingham Metropolitan College for his services to Birmingham in 2011. Anthony is also listed as one of Midlands Business Insider’s ‘entrepreneurs to watch’ and is mentioned as a top 10 Property Professional in the Birmingham Post’s 2017 Midlands Power 250.

  Court Collaboration

  CEO

  Anthony McCourt

  CEO

  Court Collaboration

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  Andrew Mellor

  Andrew leads the Build to Rent team at Shakespeare Martineau. He is an experienced real estate development lawyer, dealing with complex city centre and edge of town multi use regeneration schemes. He regularly leads teams of lawyers on real estate developments. Andrew primarily acts for build to rent, commercial and mixed use developers on a “cradle to grave” approach. This involves seeing a development site through its whole life: from initial development framework or option, through to acquisition, pre-letting, development funding and on to investment sale and co-ordinating teams on associated tax, construction, planning and corporate aspects. Andrew’s major clients include developers of build to rent schemes, purpose built student accommodation schemes, mixed use schemes and industrial / logistics schemes.

  Shakespeare Martineau

  Head of Build to Rent

  Moderator

  Andrew Mellor

  Head of Build to Rent

  Shakespeare Martineau