Big Tent Event

Jessie is jointly responsible for the development and delivery of the festival. Her previous roles included working for a leading anti-slavery organisation, developing key stakeholder relationships and supporting organisational growth. Jessie is passionate about social justice and equality. Her work is motivated by her conviction of the value and dignity of every person. She is currently undertaking a MSt in Social Innovation at the Cambridge Judge Business School.

Jez has initiated and managed strategic development in a variety of settings. His previous positions include CEO of Guildhall Barrister’s Chambers, and CEO of a charitable national skills training organisation. He founded the Bristol Housing Festival in 2018 and believes collaboration is the key to lasting social development. Jez lives in Bristol with his wife, Joanna and his three children.

Tom Renhard is a Labour and Co-operative councillor and the cabinet member with responsibility for housing delivery and homes in Bristol City Council. Tom’s background is as a housing campaigner and has been a member of ACORN since 2014, campaigning for better housing conditions for tenants. This has included being involved in high profile campaigns to bring in the eviction ban at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside an award-winning campaign that as part of the End Unfair Evictions Coalition secured a government commitment to bring an end to s21 no-fault evictions in the private rented sector. Tom is also a mental health campaigner, having setup the charity Independent Mental Health Network, which empowers people with lived experience of mental health problems to influence mental health support across the Bristol and Greater Manchester areas. Tom has also been a Time to Change champion, working to bring about an end to mental health stigma and discrimination.

Ellie Jenkins is a Partner at Akerlof, a market-leading consultancy that specialises in integrating Modern Methods of Construction to realise better social, environmental, and economic outcomes. With over 10 years of experience in social impact, community engagement and stakeholder management, Ellie has substantial experience of working with private and public sector clients to optimise outcomes. Experienced in balancing long-term strategic priorities with pragmatic solutions to maximise, measure and evaluate social value in the built environment; Ellie previously led the social impact and community team for a Tier 1 contractor. As the Industry Project Lead for the Value Toolkit, Ellie is responsible for guiding the project through its extensive industry pilot phase and preparing for industry-wide launch.

BoKlok is a joint venture between Skanska and IKEA and has built over 14,000 homes across the Nordics. A development business that delivers complete modular homes with quality performance. It prides itself on customer satisfaction, delivering ‘sustainable homes for the many people’.

Graeme has led the UK business since it launched in 2019, growing the business to two regions, South Coast and Southwest of England. BoKlok as its first two schemes in the UK up and running with a further seven planned during 2022.

Graeme takes huge pride and responsibility in representing such a fantastic brand in the UK. His Resume speaks volumes, as he has a long career across all sectors in Construction, from Pre-Construction, commercial and residential Completion and has been involved in some of the UK’s most exciting construction projects.

Zoe has created and led many transformational development projects and her focus is on delivering work with positive impacts at scale that benefit clients, society, and the environment. Skilled in working collaboratively and the design management of large, multidisciplinary projects, she is Client Director for Local and Central Government in the UK for the multinational engineering and design firm Atkins and is an advocate for modern methods of construction to generate net zero carbon decent homes for all. Zoe is passionate about bringing health and nature interventions upstream into the definition and delivery of major infrastructure to address social inequalities and climate and ecological crises by creating thriving places for nature and people. ‘We have to stop viewing nature as external to us - our economies, livelihoods, and well-being all depend on our most precious asset: Nature. We are part of Nature, not separate from it.’ ’ – Sir Partha Dasgupta Zoe is also voluntary Chair of Regional Advisory Board, National Trust, Board Member of West of England Combined Authority Local Enterprise partnership, and co-Founder Ethos Wilder

Tom heads up the National CLT Network and leads on its strategy and its work to mainstream the community ownership of land and affordable housing. This includes public policy and advocacy work, and building relationships with industry bodies for housing associations, developers, landowners, local authorities and community networks.

Prior to joining the Network, he worked for the Greater London Authority in housing and planning policy, and as head of office for the Green Party Group on the London Assembly. He has also worked for a sustainable construction company, and as a consultant for clients such as the All Party Parliamentary Group for Housing and Planning, World Habitat and various local authorities.

Bristol Community Land Trust works across the West of England to build homes and strengthen communities. Since Steve’s first job was as a youth worker in Knowle West, he has spent the last 20 years managing people, projects and organisations in a range of setting across the region. With specialisms in volunteer management and community engagement, he is passionate about helping individuals and communities to realise their potential.