Olugbenga is a Deputy Director of the Big Data Enterprise and Artificial Intelligence Lab at UWE Bristol. He is passionate about the application of emerging technologies for delivering high-impact innovation to businesses in the Architectural, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industries. His research transcends knowledge boundaries through effective research leadership and industry engagement.

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Stephen became Managing Director of Goram Homes in September 2019. Stephen was previously the Director of Investment at Alliance Homes Group where he grew the development of new homes function by 10 fold and established two commercial trading subsidiaries. Prior to this Stephen ran his own business and worked for Architen on projects including the Millennium Dome and the British Museum. Born in Bristol, Stephen and his family still live in the area.

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Ben became a community activist (busy body) upon his retirement from teaching in 1994. One recent thread of his activity has been about building local networks across Greater Bedminster (BS3) around walking as a low pollution activity; increasing access to green spaces and, through the BS3 Wildlife Group, raising public awareness of endangered local wildlife and how through gardening and park improvements wild neighbours could be valued and encouraged.

Ian leads a team working to bring wildlife back to Bristol and Bath city-region, inspiring people to take action for nature. In February 2020, Ian and the Mayor of Bristol declared an ecological emergency for Bristol, making it the first UK city to do so. Ian is a board member of the West of England Nature Partnership, a Trustee of the Natural History Consortium and a non-Executive Director of the Bristol Green Capital Partnership. Previous roles include England South Director at Sustrans and Defra.

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Councillor Nicola Beech was elected ward councillor for St George Central in 2016 and appointed by Mayor Marvin Rees to the cabinet in July 2017 to lead on Spatial Planning and City Design. She has a key role in delivering spatial planning in the city and wider city region, and development of Bristol’s updated Local Plan. Nicola also has responsibility for development management, flooding and the city’s flood strategy. She leads on the night time economy and set up the Bristol @ Night advisory panel in 2018.

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Mary worked on the client side in social housing at a senior level for over 25 years specialising in property, regeneration and procurement. As a director of property in a number of organisations, she had overall responsibility for delivering large scale planned maintenance, development and regeneration programmes and for ensuring compliance with statutory requirements for buildings and homes. She is also the current chair of Constructing Excellence South West Smart Construction Theme Group.

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Paul runs local campaign, A Right to Shelter. Paul has experienced street homelessness and is campaigning for less fragmented day services for those experiencing homelessness, poverty and isolation. In 2019, Paul’s petition for a day centre received over 3,600 signatures and led to a full council debate and agreement to fund more day services at the weekend. Paul’s research exposes the high level of need in Bristol, and why co-located, unified day services are needed now, more than ever.

Jon leads the Planning & Infrastructure team with work involving housing led regeneration. He also heads up Responsible Business in the Bristol office with their activity focused on 3Es – education, employability and entrepreneurship as well as tackling the barriers such as homelessness and food poverty. He champions social inclusion and the firm has introduced solicitor apprentices jointly with Bristol City Council building on the successful apprenticeship programme within the firm.

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Before his election as Mayor, Tim was part of South Gloucestershire Council’s leadership team, working across the organisation with particular focus on policy and resources. He was also a parish councillor, and chairman of Winterbourne Parish Council for many years.He served 12 years as a governor of one of the largest secondary schools in the region, which led to his passionate belief that children should be encouraged to reach their full potential from a young age. He also sees lifelong skills development for all as essential to driving economic growth in the region.

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Stacey has substantial experience working in the housing sector at senior level specifically Enabling, Housing Delivery and New Build Developments with G15 Registered Providers. She has developed Housing Corporation (now Homes England) Exemplar schemes utilising a range of modern methods of construction. She is passionate about building good quality homes and place-making and excited by the opportunity to research and develop processes to accelerate the delivery of modern methods of construction.

Bristol Hospitality Network is a charity that has supported destitute asylum seekers with accommodation, claims advice and community since 2010. Lizzie has worked in the charity sector since 2008, focusing primarily on fundraising and strategy. She has worked for a variety of causes, including brain injury, maternal health, homelessness and dance. Most recently, she was CEO of Changing Tunes, a prison music charity. Lizzie also works part-time as a consultant, providing fundraising, strategy and development work for small-medium charities.

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I qualified as an architect and worked in private practice before becoming involved in how communities can shape planning projects in their area by working with local planning authorities and developers at pre-application stage to bring about mutually beneficial developments. NPN was set up in 2006 and helps to deliver best-practice community involvement in Bristol development, through volunteer residents planning groups.

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Jess is an experienced writer, communicator and digital marketer, and particularly enjoys working on projects that aim to benefit society. Alongside her qualifications in English and Public Relations, she completed an MSc Sociology last year and is fascinated by people’s stories and the collective narratives of communities and cities. Jess lives in the Dings with her housemate and enjoys frequent adventures to new places.

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Susan has 15 years of experience working in the public sector within healthcare, specialising in project and business change management. Having experienced first hand the benefits and disadvantages of social housing, and the resilience it takes to overcome housing barriers and building communities, it’s become the driving force behind her passion for community-led housing. She’s set up a community café in Bristol and more recently her position as CLHWEST Hub Manager in 2019 has provided her with the determination and understanding to achieve a sustainable and positive change through community housing.

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Trina co-founded Building Better with four housing association colleagues during the National Housing Federation's Greenhouse programme in 2018. Since then Building Better has grown to become an alliance of 25 organisations committed to delivering the highest quality housing through MMC with aggregation and collaboration at its heart.

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With a career spanning over three decades, Gary has worked for some of the UK’s most highly respected practices on significant projects such as The Wellcome Trust Headquarters in London, the Jubilee Campus for Nottingham University and, more recently, the award-winning and highly ambitious Gasholders London residential apartments for King’s Cross Central Ltd. Partnership. Gary serves as a visiting professor of sustainable architecture at Queens University Belfast and frequently advises the UK Government on sustainable policy. He is also Chair of the Royal Institute of British Architects’ (RIBA) Sustainable Futures Group. Gary has helped shape the organisation’s Declaration of Environment and Climate Emergency, the RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge and a suite of new sustainability guidance to support the RIBA Plan of Work.

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Mollie Claypool is an architecture theorist and educator working on issues of social justice including the future of housing, labour and work, concerned specifically with the implications of new technologies and automation on architectural production and disciplinary social practices. She is Director of Automated Architecture Ltd (AUAR) and Co-Director of AUAR Labs at The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL where she has been a Lecturer since 2015. Mollie is co-author of Robotic Building: Architecture in the Age of Automation (Detail Edition 2019) and author of the SPACE10 report “The Digital in Architecture: Then, Now and in the Future” (2019).

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Asher was elected as the Labour Councillor for St George West, Bristol in May 2016 and appointed to the Cabinet with the wide reaching portfolio of Neighbourhoods in August 2016. In March 2017 Asher stepped into the new role of Deputy Mayor – Communities, bringing into & elevating Public Health within her new portfolio. Asher is a community activist, leader and local politician, championing the needs of the voice-less, with a particular emphasis on social, economic & racial justice.

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Graeme has worked in many sectors across the construction sector. He now leads BoKlok Housing in the UK. BoKlok is a Joint Venture between Skanska and IKEA and will be delivering their Quality, Sustainable Low Cost Homes for all in Bristol in 2021. He is passionate about lowering the cost for homes in the UK whilst increasing the quality and providing great communities for people to live.

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Thangam Debbonaire has been the Labour Member of Parliament for Bristol West since 2015. She has been Shadow Secretary of State for Housing since April 2020. As well as housing and homelessness, Thangam has actively campaigned in Parliament on a range of topics, including refugees’ rights, climate and environment action, school funding particularly for children with special educational needs, preventing domestic violence and a close relationship with our European neighbours.

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Andrea Dell in her role of Head of the City Office leads the coordination and delivery of the Bristol’s One City Approach. With a history of working in social housing and programme delivery Andrea is passionate about Bristol and how we can drive beneficial change for the city’s communities through breaking down silos and working in partnership.

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Previously to his current role, Simon was CEO of a homeless and refugee charity based in Bedford for eight years. The organisation gained a reputation for finding creative solutions, driving it into working with increasingly marginalised people groups. Simon has conducted research into homelessness with Cambridge University, which highlights the perspective that solving poverty is about more than houses and handouts – proposing that it is about community, relationships and belonging.

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Nigel Dyke has been a Director of Alec French Architects since 2003. He is a member of the Steering Group of the Bristol Urban Design Forum, an Academician of the Academy of Urbanism and a Board Member of LandAid SW. Interested in all forms of social housing and the benefits of good placemaking, these interests have increasingly included using the benefits of modular methods of construction to deliver sustainable communities.

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Christine Eden is chair of Marshfield Community Land Trust. MCLT started in 2016 to try and address the shortage of affordable housing in the village through a community led project. After a long search for some land, planning permission has recently been granted for 12 affordable houses and six market houses on a rural exception site. MCLT is working in partnership with United Communities Housing Association.

Geoff, a planner by trade, joined Goram Homes as Partnership Director in April 2020 having previously been a senior consultant at ARK Consultancy and a Director of Development for a London based housing association. Geoff brings over 35 years’ experience of delivering complex development and regeneration projects including many successful schemes in Bristol. Having lived in Bristol and the surrounding area for over 30 years he is passionate about helping the city he loves.

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Hannah is part of UKRI’s Transforming Construction Challenge. As an Innovation Lead, she is focussed on demonstrating the impact of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. Hannah supports Challenge investments to utilise digital manufacturing, data and digital driven processes and prioritise whole life value. Prior to joining UKRI, Hannah specialised in future skills and innovation at the Construction Industry Training Board.

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United Communities is a community-based housing association, managing over 1,800 homes in Bristol and surrounding areas. Sally oversees its affordable housing programme. A surveyor by profession, she has worked in the construction industry for over 30 years. Sally is passionate about building high-quality homes both in terms of the materials used and with the future occupants firmly in mind. This has led her to explore new methods of construction, particularly modular, for its potential to deliver a high-quality, sustainable, and rapid solution to housing delivery.

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Jamie’s current role includes developing services in response to young people's needs by building partnerships with the public, charity, housing and business sectors. He has spent the past 26 years co-developing, delivering and managing services for young people at risk of homelessness and care leavers. 1625ip provide housing and support services to over 2000 vulnerable young people each year in the West of England.

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Professor Jacqui Glass is Chair in Construction Management, at The Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management, in University College London and Vice Dean Research for the Bartlett Faculty. She has published over 150 papers, managed c. £10m of funding (from research councils and industry) and supervised more than 20 doctoral students to completion. In so doing she has attended to research spanning strategy, procurement, standards, values, and accounting for sustainability. Her specialism is responsible and ethical sourcing, which relates to material and product supply chains, and in 2018 she was named in the Top 100 Corporate Modern Slavery Influencers.

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Helen was elected ward councillor for Southmead in May 2016. In March 2017 she was appointed by Mayor Marvin Rees as the country’s first Cabinet Member solely dedicated to Women, Children and Young People services for the city. Prior to being elected, Helen had twenty years’ experience working in recruitment, working with professionals across the legal, finance and professional services industries. Helen remains active in her ward as trustee of Southmead Development Trust and The Southmead Project and is a Governor at Fonthill School, Southmead.

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Previously, the CEO of United Communities for 16 years, Oona is passionate about improving choices for older members of our community to be able to live in safe, good quality homes and communities with brilliant care. In 2017, she was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to research global approaches to housing millennials, including intergenerational housing and co-housing communities. Oona is Chair of the Bristol Housing Festival Steering Group and is on the Board of Second Step.

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Selena has research interests in the area of transport, spatial planning and health, and physical activity in older people. She has published widely in the area of public health, with over 100 articles in peer reviewed journals. In 2017 she was appointed as Chair of the West of England Nature Partnership, and is a Trustee of the charity Trees for Cities.

Roger has a passion for sharing cultural stories, global observations on race and social inequality and has championed diversity for thirty years. He is a CEO/Consultant of his company Creative Connex and a UWE Bristol lecturer. Roger was former CEO/Chair of Ujima Radio. In 2019 he was awarded an MBE for services to Diversity and Arts. Currently he is writing his first play, a novel and second non-fiction work, Reflections Across a New Black Atlantic.

Ellen is a Chartered civil engineer with a background in systems thinking. Her doctoral research explored innovative and sustainable materials and technologies in construction, and she has written a number of academic papers on this topic. Ellen is passionate about community development and reducing environmental impact through shared facilities. Ellen also manages a popular cafe-laundrette in Bristol.

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I’m in a very privileged position at Nationwide as I help invest the 1% of pre-tax profit that’s put aside to help local communities. My role involves looking after our strategic charity partnerships, including Shelter and St Mungo’s, and heading up our volunteering and fundraising programmes. I also manage our fantastic network of Social Investment Ambassadors and Champions – of which there’s about 300.

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Malcolm Hamilton is Creative Director of Play:Disrupt- an engagement consultancy that evolved from Mufti Games. Play:Disrupt seeks out barriers to participation and designs innovative ways to widen engagement, connecting with communities whom others may have overlooked. A former actor, LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® facilitator and Leverhulme Scholar with a background in outdoor arts, Malcolm’s playful interventions make complex issues accessible and engage audiences in unexpected ways. Clients include Arup, Great Places Lakes and Dales, University of Bristol.

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Paul works full time for Locality, as Development Manager (South West), supporting ambitious and enterprising community-led organisations to work together to ensure their neighbourhoods thrive. He joined the United Communities HA Board in September 2015. He has over two decades of in depth experience in the arena of economic and community development and across a range of media platforms.

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Julian’s portfolio includes management and maintenance of the Bristol City Council’s 29,000 homes, homelessness & housing options, and private sector housing. This includes a development pipeline of 1,200 council homes, incorporating a number of modular solutions. Before joining BCC, Julian held senior roles in local authorities and G15 housing associations. He is passionate about innovation, high quality design, and customer service excellence.

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Jessica has worked for Emmaus Bristol since 2016, in that time working with the team to increase the number of formerly homeless people supported, and to increase the range of accommodation provided. She has a background in environmental sustainability having worked for Bioregional Development group and in the sustainability team at Islington Council. Jessica ran a city farm for four years, developing trading activities that helped to secure its future. The Emmaus Bristol community has asked for secure, affordable housing to be provided, with Emmaus as a landlord, so that people can move on from supported housing in a safe way. Jessica is working with the Emmaus Bristol community, Agile and other local partners to make this happen.

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Julie has a wealth of experience in the construction and Modular industry with an exceptional track record in client satisfaction and relationship building. Julie has worked for client’s, contractors, consultant’s and manufacturers over the years, so has an excellent understanding of how to get the best from all parties. Regularly going the extra mile for clients, helping with events, dealing with stakeholders, liaising with neighbouring businesses and resident’s and taking part in the occasional sponsored event to help get the last Pound in the pot. Julie is the company lead for Housing Frameworks and has also been a key speaker at the NSG Conference and several other smaller events.

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James is Development Director at Studio HIVE, an innovative Bristol based property developer. A Chartered Building Surveyor, James branched into Development and Project Management of mixed-use developments and has worked as a Client on many mixed-use heritage-led projects including Lakeshore, Bristol and Royal William Yard, Plymouth from inception to completion and post occupation. Currently, James is working on regeneration projects in Bristol & Weston-super-Mare and a number of public sector/private sector partnerships.

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Bev Hurley is CEO of YTKO, which has over 40 years expertise in supporting entrepreneurs, growth businesses and corporates. Having built a number of successful companies Bev has developed a deep understanding of local, regional and national economic development challenges. Bev has a number of non-executive directorships and is Chair of the Institute of Economic Development. She holds the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion and was awarded a CBE in 2014.

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Head of Services in Bristol region for St Mungo’s, the UK’s largest homelessness and rough sleeping charity, which provides shelter or housing and support for over 3,150 people each night across all regions. Each year we work with over 10,000 people who sleep rough. David has 18 years of experience in homelessness and support sector. He is chairperson of Bristol Supported Housing Forum and a Board member of Bristol Homes and Communities Board.

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Nick James is a design thinker and sustainability specialist with 20 years of property sector experience. Focusing on housing at the heart of thriving places, he helps bring together the successful design, delivery and operation of built “hardware” with the “software” of services and governance. He is a founding director of futureground, a consultancy helping organisations to save money and create environmental and social value from a better built environment.

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Ross is South West Regional Director for the Woodland Trust. This role spans management of over 200 woodlands, working with landowners on woodland management & creation alongside campaigning, volunteering and research activity. He has previous roles in strategic planning, parks and leisure services in local authorities – bringing a passion for providing quality places for public benefit. Ross is a member of the West of England Local Nature Partnership.

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Rehan became Operations and Technical Director at ZED Pods in 2018. He is a leading specialist in residential zero carbon buildings, equipped with a unique combined technical, scientific and economic background developed over 13 years of working within the construction sector. Rehan has completed a Doctorate in Engineering (Eng.D), an MSc in Environmental Strategy (Distinction), qualified as a ‘’Prince 2 Practitioner’ Project Manager and Member of the Institute of Engineering and Technology.

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Danny Kruger was elected the MP for Devizes in the December 2019 election. From July-December 2019 he was Political Secretary to Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 10 Downing Street, and formerly the Government's Expert Adviser on Civil Society at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Between 2008 and 2016 he founded and led two charities, the criminal justice project Only Connect and the West London Zone for Children and Young People.

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In his role, Ron takes on responsibility for driving whole life performance, outcome-based procurement models and data driven-decision making. He works closely with industry and the public sector to develop and embed an agreed methodology for measuring future success in the built environment, taking into account the whole life value aspirations of the transforming construction programme. Ron has a BSc in Architectural Engineering and Design Management, an MSc in Construction Innovation and Management.

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Dr. Johannes Lenhard is the Centre Coordinator of the Max Planck Cambridge Centre for Ethics, Economy and Social Change at the University of Cambridge. In his research, he works towards a better understanding of homeless people through ethnographic methods and more recently also on the ethics of venture capital investors.

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Mark is a Project Manager in the Sustainable City team at Bristol City Council where he advises on the implementation of sustainability policies and the development of new planning policies in response to the climate emergency. He also advises South Gloucestershire Council on the development of low carbon heat networks and is undertaking post-graduate research on energy policy at the University of Exeter.

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Fanyu Lin is an award-winning entrepreneur and architect, passionate about impact investing. She initiated the World Home Foundation in 2020 to harness philanthropic power for tackling the global housing crisis - one of the biggest social, economic and moral challenges facing humanity today. Fanyu is CEO of Fluxus, a construction technology company and social enterprise committed to a new way of delivering affordable, sustainable and smart homes. She serves on the World Economic Forum's Global Internet of Things Council.

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Andrew is a landscape architect and urban designer and is Jacobs Global Technology Lead for Landscape Architecture; the role is about driving innovation, and connectivity across technology and people. Andrew leads multi-disciplinary design teams and understands the need for comprehensive approaches to developing sustainable solutions.He is a Member of the Bristol One City Environment and Sustainability Board where is required to demonstrate a broad understanding of environmental issues and work collaboratively with a range of stakeholders and partners.

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After over 20 years’ experience in various Large and small housebuilders, Dylan has now been Land and Planning Director for Boklok for 12 months. BoKlok is a collaboration between IKEA and Skanska where we have built in excess of 13,000 low cost sustainable quality homes in the Nordics for over 20 years. Boklok was introduced in the Uk in 2019, and our first project will be at Airport Road, Bristol starting within the next 4-6 weeks.

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For over fifteen years Melissa has worked across urbanism, the arts, and public participation. She is Director of We Can Make at Knowle West Media Centre in Bristol. We Can Make is a CIC that designs and delivers innovative approaches to citizen-led housing, including unlocking micro-sites for affordable homes and using digital design and fabrication technologies to empower communities. Melissa is also a Commissioner on the No Place Left Behind Commission and Co-Convenor of Redcliffe Residents Action Group & Neighbourhood Forum.

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Zoe is a specialist in city resilience and brings a deep and broad understanding of the built environment. Zoe is an innovator, passionate about design excellence and the generation of inclusive growth and sustainable cohesive communities. Drawing on 25 years in Architecture, Engineering and consultancy most recently with Ove Arup in the South West Region. Chair of South West Advisory Board for the National Trust, Business member of the West of England Combined Authority LEP Board.

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Jacqueline is a procurement professional who has led on the development of Bristol City Council's approach to creating Social Value. She has collaborated with stakeholders to understand the barriers and challenges to the increased use of MMC in the City, a sustainable solution that has the potential to become one of the key enablers to the local authority and its partners to achieve the scale and pace of the development of new homes needed to tackle the housing crisis.

I am passionate about the fundamental right to access a decent home at a cost relative to a person's income as well as building communities not just houses. My career in affordable housing began as a tenant and community activist in my 20s (some, ahem....30 years ago) working to improve housing conditions and community facilities for council tenants and the wider neighbourhood. My housing experience has been based mainly around new homes development, regeneration and community led housing. I have worked for both local authorities and housing associations at executive and non-executive levels. I am currently Chair of Westworks Procurement and working as an independent consultant on a number of community and housing projects.

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Mike was born and brought up in Southmead, Bristol, and has spent most of his life in and around the area. He’s always been “Community” minded and has helped over the years in various organisations in Southmead, Church, Youth Club, Scouts etc. Around 8 years ago, the Southmead Development Trust, came up with an idea for a Community Plan. This involved a group of mainly ladies door knocking every house, which resulted in the Southmead Plan,; later becoming the basis of the Arnside and Glencoyne Square Regeneration Group which Mike Chairs. They understand this to be the largest Community Lead Housing project in the Country and believe it demonstrates that Communities can lead on housing development in the future.

Steve has driven a comprehensive transformation of Net Zero Buildings to enable it to embrace an unprecedented period of growth, doubling revenues year on year. Building on the foundation of simple, cost effective, net zero carbon buildings, he was instrumental in developing the design GenSet© which secured a place on the DfE’s MMC1 £3bn offsite schools construction framework. In parallel with the remarkable growth in Education, Steve is also capturing similarly exciting prospects in Residential and Primary Health.

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Elaine has recently joined Bristol City Council as Head of Housing Delivery, a Chartered Architect with over 20 years’ within the construction industry: schools, community buildings, stadia and housing developments. For the last fifteen years Elaine has concentrated on housing developments across the South West for Registered Providers and National Housebuilders. This includes urban extensions, high density, mixed use developments as well as low density edge of settlement developments.

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Lucy is an architect with 34 years of professional experience in the UK and USA and has particular expertise in sustainable building practices. Lucy created The Green Register in 2000, now a nationwide networking and educational not-for-profit organisation promoting sustainable building practices to all disciplines of the construction industry. Lucy started her own sustainable architecture practice, archipeleco, in 1999, and created develeco limited with Paul McWilliams in 2005, a company exclusively self-funded to offer refurbishments of existing buildings.

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Ben is the Chief Executive of the Bristol Student Union charity that supports 27,000 students in Bristol, employs 120 people and turns over £5m. Ben has worked on student housing projects throughout his career including Launchpad and creating the first no-fees, social enterprise, student lettings agency in Bristol.

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Mike is the Deputy Challenge Director for Transforming Construction – the government’s Industrial Strategy programme linked to the sector deal and managed by Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation. He acted as interim Challenge Director in securing the programme as part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund and was previously Head of Urban Systems at Innovate UK, covering the priority areas of Urban Living and Smart Infrastructure. Mike holds a PhD in organic chemistry.

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Paul has worked in the construction Industry for over 40 years, working across all facets of the industry including Project & Programme management, Asset Management, Facilities Management and design & construction of the built environment. Paul specialises in the management and delivery of construction projects from inception to completion. He has managed the delivery of a large number of construction programmes, is an ardent supporter of social housing as well as championing innovation and continued process improvement Initiatives.

Marvin Rees was elected mayor in May 2016. On that day Bristol became the first major European city to have elected a mayor of black African heritage. He describes becoming mayor as another expression of a deeper commitment to building a fairer, more inclusive world. He is a Yale World Fellow and graduate of Operation Black Vote who has worked and studied in the UK and the US. He is a former BBC journalist, Public Health Worker, voluntary sector manager, co-founder of the City Leadership Programme and has developed the One City Plan for Bristol.

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Angelique Retief works in research and policy at Black South West Network (BSWN) alongside her PhD at the University of Bristol. Her PhD research looks to understand the role of social enterprise in the provision of housing in townships in Cape Town. In her role at BSWN, Angelique has worked on a variety of research projects, the latest being an analysis of the housing needs and aspirations of BAME communities in Bristol.

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Tom Selway runs Bristol based Cadence PR, a community consultation agency specialising in planning PR. Cadence has an excellent reputation for providing human, meaningful and considerate consultation programmes, helping facilitate constructive conversations with communities and as a result, better schemes for all. Current schemes in Bristol include Goram Homes and Hill’s Baltic Wharf, Ashton Gate Sporting Quarter, Homes England’s Brislington Meadows, and MEPC’s St Mary le Port.

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Ben has spent all his working life working with young people in Bristol. He is motivated by the challenge of finding creative solutions to problems young people are facing so that they can belong, contribute and thrive in our fantastic city.

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Gavin Smart CIHCM is chief executive at the Chartered Institute of Housing. He joined in 2012 as director of policy and practice, was made deputy chief executive in 2014 and chief executive in December 2019. Prior to CIH, Gavin was assistant director of research and futures at the National Housing Federation and in his early career, held research roles at the then-Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

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Paul has worked in housing for over 30 years currently CEO of Elim Group, until recently he was Cabinet Member for Housing at Bristol City Council and on the steering group of the Bristol Housing Festival.

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Amahra Spence is a cultural producer, artist and founder of MAIA. In 2013, she set up the organisation to support artists in striving for justice, through resource redistribution and building social infrastructure. MAIA are developing a series of spaces that redistribute the cultural sector's hospitality spend to invest in systemically underinvested-in communities. In 2020, Amahra established the Black Land & Spatial Justice project following a campaign which raised over £30,000. She was also invited to join England’s first Land Commission, working with the Liverpool City Region Mayor to review and suggest uses for public land for community wealth building.

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Rebecca has been involved in the provision of housing for many years having worked leading YMCA in South London for a number of years, and since founding LivShare (livshare.life), a housing consultancy company focused on assisting the design and delivery of affordable housing for people on low income by making use of a sharing economy. Rebecca is also a board trustee of Keychange and Faith in Action Merton Homeless Drop-in and an MSc student.

Phil Stott is the Head of Construction and Sustainability at YTKO and lead for the Enabling Housing Innovation for Inclusive Growth project. Phil has worked in construction for over ten years, working closely with Government, industry supply chains and innovators. He looks to raise the bar for the built environment; making the sector a place in which an individual can thrive, strive and feel included.

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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.

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Paul has worked in housing and homelessness for over 23 years. As Head of Housing Options, Paul leads the City Council’s response to homelessness working in partnership with the wider homelessness sector. Passionate about making a difference with a focus on early intervention and prevention

Kim has worked in Social Housing for 25 years, in Housing Management, then focusing in anti-social behaviour. Kim recognised that Plymouth lacked green spaces and this impacts on behaviour and well-being, as well as being good for the planet. Now a Manager for Environmental and Landscape Services Kim promotes greener spaces for everyone's pleasure, health and well-being.

Helen leads Cratus’ work in the South West, with a particular interest in research-led thinking, growing cross-sector partnerships, and the enablement of inclusive communities. Helen has 16 years’ previous experience in planning practice and development communications, working across the full range of property sectors. She started her career in local government as a planner with Bristol City Council, before moving into private practice in 2007.

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Jon is an expert in transport policy and works with senior leaders in multiple sectors across the West of England. A member of the One City Transport Board and Director of Bristol Green Capital Partnership he is passionate about creating liveable towns and cities for everyone. He has led national programmes for the Department for Transport and delivered £multi-million projects that make it easier for people to walk and cycle.

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Andrew has worked for HACT for 17 years, an organisation that seeks to influence and innovate in ways that help all housing providers deliver more effectively within their communities. This includes their pioneering work on Data Standards, Community Insight and Social Value. Andrew has worked in housing, homelessness, supported housing, community development and wider social policy and practice for 29 years. He is a Non-Executive Director at London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust.

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Penny has worked in housing and homelessness for over 12 years across Bristol and the wider South West. She has managed the Shelter Bristol since 2016; incorporating a combination of housing legal, advice and support services. Currently, Penny and team In Bristol are working to combine Shelter’s local service delivery expertise with a local campaigning model to build lasting change for Bristolians who are at threat of homelessness or bad housing.

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Zoe Willcox has been a Director at Bristol City Council for 13 years. She is responsible for Housing Delivery, Sustainable City & Climate Change, City Design, Strategic Planning and Development Management. Zoe led on the Urban Living Supplementary Planning Document that seeks to optimise density whilst delivering successful places. She sits on the One City Environment Board and is very sighted on the need to ensure homes are delivered in the context of both the Climate and Ecological Emergency.

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Jessie is passionate about social justice and equality. In her previous role with a leading anti-slavery organisation she managed office operations, developed key stakeholder relationships and delivered training. Jessie is a skilled event manager and speaker, and her work is motivated by her conviction of the value and dignity of every person. She will be undertaking a MSt in Social Innovation at the University of Cambridge this year.

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Savita is CEO of the Natural History Consortium, an innovative charitable collaboration of 13 partners working together to find new ways to connect people and the environment. They run public events such as City Nature Challenge and Festival of Nature, and support others across the UK and beyond through the Communicate conference and community.

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Liz Zeidler is an internationally recognised leader, speaker and advisor in sustainable community wellbeing and place-based approaches to measuring, understanding and improving wellbeing. She has over 20 years of experience in connecting, challenging and supporting change-makers, working at all levels, in every sector, ranging from individual entrepreneurs to global businesses and from small teams in NGOs to the UN.

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