Hanna Afolabi

Fonder, Mood and Space

Afolabi is an entrepreneur who is passionate about the built environment and social value in development. As the founder of Mood and Space, she specialises in helping clients develop community-focused buildings and urban neighbourhoods by embedding social value into their development strategies and processes. Prior to establishing Mood and Space, Afolabi served as development director for Balfour Beatty Investments, where she worked on East Wick and Sweetwater and was responsible for leading the feasibility, business planning, budgeting, design, programming and planning of a mixed-use regeneration project of approximately 1,900 homes on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. In 2019, she founded Black Women in Real Estate, an organisation that empowers Black women in the property industry and creates opportunities to retain and increase diverse talent. Afolabi also serves as vice-chair of the University of Greenwich’s construction, property and surveying practices industry advisory board and is on EG’s diversity & inclusion content advisory panel.

Priya Aggarwal-Shah

Founder and Director of PREACH Inclusion

Aggarwal-Shah is the founder and director of PREACH Inclusion (PREACH standing for Promoting Race, Ethnicity and Cultural Heritage – formerly BAME in Property), an organisation that promotes and preaches intersectional inclusion in the built environment. Launched in 2018 as an online networking group, Aggarwal-Shah has since organised in-person networking events with leading built environment companies for thousands of property professionals, grown an extensive social media following and engaged in numerous campaigns, including Race Equality Week, #MyNameIs, South Asian Heritage Month and International Women’s Day. In 2020, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the changing nature of the industry, Aggarwal-Shah evolved what was BAME in Property into a company to offer a range of services, including workshops, consultancy, a jobs board and membership packages. Some of her clients include National Grid, Trident Building Consultancy, Montagu Evans, Turley, London Property Alliance and many more. In April 2024, Aggarwal-Shah rebranded her organisation to PREACH Inclusion, a better reflection of how we identify ourselves, what the focus of the organisation has been for a while and where she aims to take it in the future.

Nabeel Alhassan

Senior treasury analyst, Aster Group

Alhassan is a senior treasury analyst at the Aster Group focused on financial planning and development. Aster is a not-for-profit registered provider of social housing. With more than 36,000 homes, Aster serves more than 100,000 people across the south of England. Since completing his postgraduate studies in consumer analytics and marketing strategy in 2018, Alhassan has committed himself to the sector after a period working at the Guardian Media Group. With lived experience of social housing, he is hungry for positive change. For fun, Alhassan enjoys running marathons. He has completed races across the UK and Europe including Berlin, Stockholm and Reykjavik.

Adnan Anwar

Fund accounting lead, JLL

Anwar is a senior associate in JLL’s client financial management team. He has been with JLL for six years and has more than 15 years’ finance and accounting management experience. Anwar is experienced in a wide range of finance and accounting management, including financial reporting, budgeting, financial modelling and analysis, business planning and process improvement. He has used this experience to setup and launch the new funding accounting team in JLL. Anwar is a fellow member of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants and has a BSc in computing from Queen Mary University of London.

Ellie Awford

Senior associate (real estate), Nuveen

Awford is a senior associate in the retail team of Nuveen Real Estate. She is currently the senior asset manager for St James Quarter in Edinburgh. Since 2019 she has worked on a range of assets and mandates, including Westfield Stratford, the Retail Warehouse Fund and two UK balanced funds. Prior to joining Nuveen, Awford was an asset manager at L&G. She has held previous roles in investment at Morgan Williams and Knight Frank. Awford also works as a sector lead for sustainability, encouraging actions to improve ESG credentials and climate resilience. 

Hannah Awonuga

Partner, diversity and inclusion, Knight Frank

Awonuga is group head of equality, diversity and inclusion and is an experienced DE&I leader. She has more than 17 years’ experience in the banking industry, joining Knight Frank from Barclays, where she was global director and head of DE&I colleague engagement. At Barclays, Awonuga was a member of the DE&I senior leadership team, responsible for the design and delivery of the firm’s global DE&I colleague engagement strategy and its tangible interventions for all global colleagues, clients, and customers, covering circa 90,000 employees across the UK, Europe, Middle East, Americas and APAC. She was also responsible for introducing and implementing the firm’s global social mobility strategy and defining and repositioning the Barclays’ global employee resource groups, aligning the ERG strategy to the bank’s five key DE&I priorities.

Bisi Brown

Events-co-ordinator, Real Estate Balance

As a member of the Real Estate Balance executive team, Brown currently supports leading property firms to progress their diversity and inclusion performance. Before entering the real estate space, Brown studied international business, which included modules on supply chains and corporate social responsibility.  Brown’s degree involved several study trips to businesses across EMEA and APAC, including China and Hong Kong, where she explored international trade policies and how to effectively navigate the complexities of today’s challenges global business environments. Brown has a passion of creating meaningful value and delivering outcomes that contribute to a stronger society. Brown hopes to one day sit within the technical arm of the industry as a project manager consultant and advocate of creating progressive change. 

Sue Brown

Managing director, Real Estate Balance

Brown is managing director for Real Estate Balance, a campaigning organisation working to improve diversity and inclusion in the real estate industry. She has three decades of business, property and economic development experience. Brown joined Real Estate Balance in April 2020 from London First, where she was executive director with responsibility for property, planning, the environment and development since 2016. She started her career in government, serving as a senior adviser in a variety of high-profile roles, before going on to establish her own real estate consultancy. Brown was a driving force behind the launch of MIPIM, the world’s largest real estate investment conference that takes place each year in Cannes. She was the co-founder and co-chair of REWIRE, the network for women in property, and is also an active member of the Women’s Network Forum based at Buckingham Palace.

Kelly Canterford

Founder, Tigrou Consulting

Canterford’s career spanned media, sales and hospitality before qualifying as a chartered surveyor at JLL.  Whilst at JLL, Canterford worked as part of the strategic asset management team and was a founding member of JLL’s LGBTQ+ network, Building Pride. With a growing interest in EDI, Canterford started her business Tigrou Consulting and delivers equality, diversity and inclusion advice and training to companies globally. She is the co-chair of Freehold CIC and chair of ULI’s UK’s REDI committee and a member of the ULI’s executive committee.

John Carter

Commercial director, Aldermore

Carter is commercial director for the commercial real estate team at Aldermore. He is responsible for developing new propositions and enhancing the customer journey to meet growing demand. He has 30 years’ experience in the industry, having previously worked in a number of national roles at Bank of Scotland, CYBG and NAB.

Clive Chalkley

Partner, Gowling WLG

Chalkley is a partner who enables clients to manage their property disputes to achieve a commercial advantage. Hez specialises in providing commercial, practical and innovative solutions to difficult property disputes. Chalkely’s straightforward approach enables clients to understand the issues and take control of their disputes. One of his main strengths is to take complex legal principles and present them in plain English, within a clear commercial context. Chalkley is an expert in finding innovative solutions to difficult property disputes and devising new strategies for achieving his clients’ aims. This reputation has led him to be noted in Legal 500 for his “off-the-wall creativity”. The vast majority of the disputes Chalkley handles settle without the need for litigation. But if it comes to it, Chalkley has extensive court experience and is known for the strength of his tactical analysis.

Madeleine Cosgrave

Adviser, ICG

Cosgrave became an adviser to ICG Real Estate in November 2022 and provides strategic investment advice across the platform, supporting the team’s ambition and growth trajectory. She is an accomplished real estate investor, having spent more than 20 years at GIC Real Estate, most recently as head of Europe and a member of its global investment committee, where she was responsible for the sovereign wealth fund’s investment strategy and portfolio across Europe. Cosgrave has experience investing in traditional real estate, funds, public and private equity, and real estate credit in industries such as logistics, office, retail, build-to-rent, student and hospitality. Prior to joining GIC in 1999, Cosgrave spent 10 years at JLL as an associate director. She holds several advisory positions across the real estate industry, serving as an independent consultant to CBRE Investment Management’s EMEA investment committee, and as a non-executive director and audit committee member at Landsec. Cosgrave is a fellow of the RICS and former chair of the INREV Investor Platform, in addition to holding a number of positions focused on D&I, working as a corporate mentor at IntoUniversity and GAIN.

Basil Demeroutis

Managing partner, FORE Partnership

Demeroutis is managing partner of FORE Partnership, the purpose-driven real estate private equity firm that drives social and environmental innovation in the built environment using low-carbon strategies, social impact, placemaking and design. Prior to founding FORE, Demeroutis was a partner at Capricorn Investment Group and was managing partner of a German property fund. He spent 13 years in investment banking in New York and London. Demeroutis is chair of children’s charity the Institute of Imagination, and sits on the board of trustees of the UK Green Building Council.

Darryl Easton

Managing director, East On Commercial

Easton has become a trusted provider of complex project management across a broad spectrum of business sectors, including the UK’s broadcasting and post-production industries. With a career path that encompasses both the Royal Navy and the Merchant Navy, he also has a degree in engineering that led him to senior operational roles in the City prior to his projects today, many of which involve highly complicated IT infrastructure solutions.

Rita-Rose Gagné

Chief executive, Hammerson

Gagné joined Hammerson as chief executive in November 2020, bringing extensive experience in real estate investment and global property markets combined with strong strategic, operational leadership and financial management skills. Prior to joining Hammerson, Gagné was at Ivanhoé Cambridge, most recently as president of growth markets, responsible for $7.6bn (£5.9bn) of real estate assets across Asia Pacific and Latin America. Having joined in 2006, Gagné held a variety of positions, including executive vice-president of global strategy, portfolio management and investment funds, tasked with developing, leading and executing the investment strategy in Asia and Latin America. Gagné is a non-executive director of Value Retail.

Pete Gladwell

Group social impact and investment director, Legal & General Capital

Gladwell joined Legal & General in 2007, launching a new generation of property funds focused on liability matching and defined contributions pension schemes, and L&G’s joint venture with PGGM, which total more than £5bn. In 2015, he moved to lead L&G’s investments with the public sector, including the cabinet office, local authorities, NHS, housing associations and universities – which now total more than £4.5bn. Gladwell holds an MA from Brasenose College, Oxford, in computation, the IMC, and is a fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and honorary professor at UCL.

Emma Huepfl

Chair, Bank of England commercial property forum

Huepfl has 30 years’ experience in the real estate debt markets, having co-founded Laxfield Capital, which was sold to CBRE Investment Management in 2019, where she then co-led its EMEA real estate credit platform until 2023. She has also served as chair and board member of CREFC, the trade body for the real estate finance industry, and is a non-executive director of April Mortgages and chair of the Bank of England commercial property forum.

Andrew Hynard

Chair, Clipstone Investment Management

Hynard spent the majority of his career at JLL, with a focus on capital markets and was latterly deputy chairman of the UK. Subsequently, he was chief executive of the Howard de Walden Estate, and is currently an adviser/non-executive director to Clipstone Investment Management, Howard Group, Love Ventures VC, Orega and Taurus Developments. He was formerly chairman of the Investment Property Forum and the RICS commercial property forum. He is president of OBREMS, the society for alumni of Oxford Brookes who are working in real estate, and is actively involved with several other not-for-profit entities.

Vivienne King

Founder and managing director, Impactful Places

King has held leadership positions in real estate for more than 30 years, working across investment development, regeneration and management, joint venture partnerships, strategy development and ESG. She is founder and managing director at Impactful Places and also head of real estate social impact at Good Economy, the UK’s leading independent social impact advisory firm. King’s NED roles include the Greater London Authority’s Property X-Change, where she is its ambassador focusing on regenerating London’s high street communities, chair of the shopkeepers’ campaign for business rates reform and Revo operating board member.

Alice Lamb

Deputy chief executive, LandAid

Lamb is the Deputy chief executive at LandAid, the property industry charity working to end youth homelessness. She leads on fundraising, communications and programmes at the charity, aiming to build long-term, mutually beneficial, strategic relationships with partners across the industry.

So Sum Lee

Senior consultant, SQW

Lee is a senior consultant in the land and property team at SQW, specialising in creating and executing successful, viable developments, places, projects, and programmes. With a background in quantity/building surveying and urban planning, her approach revolves around integrating practical delivery solutions into strategic planning. Through hands-on experience, she has steered various strategic development projects across the UK, spanning town centres, housing and urban regeneration. As a chartered planning and development surveyor, Lee possesses the knowledge and skills in planning, development and project management to facilitate project delivery from initiation through post-planning stages. Beyond her professional pursuits, she passionately supports mental health in the workplace and serves as an associate board member of LionHeart – a charity providing expert, confidential support to RICS members and their families during tough times.

Melanie Leech CBE

Chief executive, British Property Federation

Leech joined the British Property Federation as chief executive in January 2015, having previously spent nine years as director general of the Food & Drink Federation. She began her working life as a police constable in the Metropolitan Police Service and subsequently held a number of senior roles in the civil service. Her role is to champion a diverse, successful and sustainable UK real estate sector that is recognised for the positive economic and social benefits it delivers to communities across the country. Leech is a trustee of the property industry charity LandAid and a member of the Council of the University of Essex. She was awarded a CBE in 2015 for services to the food and drink industry.

Georgie Manly

Retail customer propositions director, Landsec

Manly is the retail customer propositions director at Landsec, responsible for the creative direction, strategy and delivery of new, innovative and enhanced guest experiences across the retail portfolio. With a solid background in creative strategy and experience design, she has designed world-class customer-centric experiences and brand propositions for FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies across a broad spectrum of industries, including hospitality, retail, office, public sector and charity. Alongside her main role at Landsec, she is the chair of the Diaspora Network, where she advocates for equality and the advancement of ethnically diverse colleagues in her workplace, and better experiences for the ethnically diverse communities they work in.

Andy Martin

Non-executive chairman and senior adviser

Martin is based in London and has worked in the European property sector for more than 35 years. He started his career at Richard Ellis (now CBRE) and later became a senior partner at Strutt & Parker, where he was also the head of the commercial real estate division. After Strutt & Parker merged with BNP Paribas Real Estate in 2017, Martin became the UK chief executive of BNP Paribas Real Estate and was a member of its European board. He retired from BNP Real Estate at the end of 2020. Martin holds several advisory and board positions. He is a trustee of the Urban Land Institute and the former chairman of the ULI’s UK council. He is also a retained adviser to Stifel Nicolaus Europe, a US investment bank, and he is a member of the advisory board of Hodes Weill & Associates, a leading US placement agent. He has also served as a director of the Investment Property Forum from 2001-2009, during which time he was chairman from 2004-2005.

Blessing Masiyiwa

Social value manager, BPIC Network

Masiyiwa is a dedicated and results-driven social value manager specialising in connecting top-tier talent with organisations that value excellence. With a decade of experience across the built environment, Masiyiwa has made significant strides in championing diversity and inclusion through a multifaceted approach to talent recruitment and community engagement. She has been instrumental in helping companies build high-performing teams and driving business growth through effective talent acquisition strategies. Masiyiwa has a demonstrated track record of achievement in regional and international leadership roles across various industries, including e-commerce, smart innovative green technologies, light gauge steel construction, training and development. Currently, Masiyiwa leads the social value division at BPIC Network, overseeing a team of dedicated social value leads across the UK. Since joining BPIC Network three years ago, she has played a pivotal role in the company’s substantial growth, particularly in consultancy services.

Charles Maudsley

Principal, Alma Real Estate Consultancy

Maudsley is principal at Alma Real Estate Consultancy and strategic real Estate adviser to Bridgepoint Group. He also advises Ringley Group and various banks and Investors on real estate strategies. He is a non-executive director and board nember of Federated Hermes PUT. From 2010-19 he was the main board director for British Land, with responsibility for the retail and residential portfolios. Prior to this, Maudsley was co-head of LaSalle IM Europe and board member of the Global IM business. This followed a role as head of real estate for AXA UK.

Joseph Mazzucca

Head of real estate division, Shoosmiths

Mazzucca is head of the real estate division at Shoosmiths, responsible for driving forward the strategy and vision of one of the largest real estate practices in the UK. He has significant expertise in real estate investment, acquisitions and disposals, development, landlord and tenant work and real estate management, as well as regularly advising inward investors to the UK.

Marc Mogull

Chairman & CIO, PineBridge Benson Elliot

Mogull is chairman and CIO of PineBridge Benson Elliot, the property fund management arm of global asset manager PineBridge Investments. He has been active as an investor and lender in European property for more than 30 years, with experience spanning 20 countries. Outside PBBE, Mogull is a senior fellow in land economy at Cambridge University, a global governing trustee (and past UK chairman) of the Urban Land Institute, and immediate past chair of the Bank of England commercial property forum. In 2021, Mogull served on the expert advisory group for the Independent Review into the Valuation of Property Assets, commissioned by the RICS. Before founding Benson Elliot, Mogull established the private equity real estate platform at Doughty Hanson & Co, having begun his European property career at Goldman Sachs. In the 1980s, he was part of the investment team at Chicago-based JMB Realty. He holds a BS in economics from Wharton (University of Pennsylvania) and an MBA from Kellogg (Northwestern University).

Alix Murtha

Senior associate, Clyde & Co

Murtha is a senior associate in the real estate team with extensive experience across a range of sectors, acting on acquisitions, sales, development, investment, financing, corporate real estate and retail transactions. She has worked with many of her clients for more than a decade and has seen their projects at all stages of the life cycle. Murtha is known for her efficient and pragmatic advice, as well as enthusiasm for the real estate sector. She regularly acts for developers, housebuilders, landowners, landlords, tenants, investors and public-sector bodies.

Richard Rees

Managing director, Savills (UK)

Rees is managing director at Savills and head of national development services. He has more than 25 years’ experience in the development, funding and agency markets. Rees specialises in major development projects providing consultancy, agency and strategic advice across both the residential and commercial sectors, with specific expertise in joint ventures and restructuring financial models.

Georgie Roberts

Associate partner, Knight Frank

Having joined Knight Frank in 2020, Roberts is an associate in the firm’s logistics & industrial capital markets team. With more than eight years’ experience in UK capital markets and advisory, she currently focuses on investment and development within the industrial and distribution sector. She also leads the commercial gender board at Knight Frank.  

Mark Robinson

Co-founder, Ellandi

Robinson is an award-winning entrepreneur and investor in town centres, co-founding Ellandi in 2008 with Morgan Garfield. Over the past 25 years he’s worked for both owners and occupiers of town centre spaces and is an active advocate for the future of our high streets. He’s a commentator on town centre issues in both industry and national media, including The Times, FT and BBC. At Ellandi, Robinson leads on repurposing projects and strategic delivery. In 2019, he represented the retail and leisure property industry as president of Revo and in 2020 was appointed as chair of the High Street Task Force.

Misa von Tunzelman

Head of corporate affairs and marketing, Lendlease

Von Tunzelman is the head of corporate affairs and marketing, Europe at Lendlease. She has more than 25 years’ marketing experience and has worked in the property sector since 2004. In addition to her role at Lendlease, von Tunzelman is a trustee of the University College of Estate Management and Eastside Young Leaders Academy and a board member for Freehold, the property industry’s LGBTQ+ network. She has had an association with the Worshipful Company of Chartered Surveyors for the past 10 years through her work on the Property Marketing Awards programme. She was admitted to the company as a liveryman in 2023. Von Tunzelman is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and holds a degree in sociology and cultural studies from the University of Sussex. Prior to joining Lendlease, she worked in marketing and communications at BNP Paribas Real Estate, JLL, EY and the Imperial War Museum.

Suzan Ucmaklioglu

Architect, Foster + Partners

Ucmaklioglu is an architect with experience in high-profile development projects with inclusive design at the forefront. She joined Foster + Partners in 2020 and is active on international projects. Prior to this she worked with Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and Grimshaw. Her project highlights include the Hammersmith & Fulham town hall redevelopment, the Northern Line extension to Battersea Station, the International Quarter London and Melbourne Metro – North Melbourne Station. An associate lecturer at the University of the West of England, she brings inclusivity to the forefront of all design conversations; pushing design through the act of physical fabrication and collaborative experimentation. Ucmaklioglu was also part of the 2020 EG Future Leaders programme.

Paul Williams

Chief executive, Derwent

Williams is a chartered surveyor who joined Derwent Group in 1987. He was appointed chief executive in 2019. He has overall responsibility for group strategy, business development, sustainability, health & safety and day-to-day operations. Williams is also the director of Sadler’s Wells Foundation, chair of the New West End Company and board member of the Westminster Property Association.