Jamie Ratcliff

Chief Communities & Sustainability Officer
SNG

Jamie sits on SNG’s Executive Board with responsibility for establishing a £100m community foundation, communications and political engagement, impact reporting and a new centre of excellence for research & innovation. He worked for predecessor organisation Network Homes, latterly as Executive Director of People, Partnerships, Sustainability & Technology where he oversaw high levels of colleague engagement and customer satisfaction. He has nearly 20 years’ experience working at a senior level in housing at local, national and regional levels, including commencing the Stirling Prize winning Goldsmith St development and being responsible for housing for the current and previous Mayors of London. He has overseen the completion of affordable homes for over 150,000 people, implemented significant organisational and cultural change, personally negotiated multi-billion-pound affordable housing settlements, coordinated strategy, political and media engagement for the G15 largest London housing associations and successfully launched the UK’s first publicly available database of criminal landlords. Jamie is a proud father of two mischievous children and a passionate Norwich City fan.

Jennet Siebrits

Head of UK Research
CBRE

Jennet is an economist with over twenty-five years’ experience. Jennet joined CBRE 20 years ago to set up the residential research team. For the past five years she has been responsible for the commercial research teams as well. She focuses on the big issues in the real estate world, identifying trends, analysing the market, and providing clients with unrivalled insight and ideas. Jennet regularly produces bespoke reports for clients that help inform their strategic decision-making process. 

In addition, she produces a wide-ranging programme of thought leadership looking at issues such as placemaking, premium pricing and the impact of regeneration. Jennet spends a significant amount of time presenting to clients (developer and buyers) to keep them up to date with market developments.

Harry Downes

Managing Director – UK Multifamily Investment
Greystar

After 6 years in the Army, Harry started his property career in the commercial sector in Canada. On returning to the UK he switched to residential with Savills, before spending 13 years as Sales and Marketing Director with Manhattan Loft Corporation. High points were the development and delivery of iconic schemes such as St Pancras Chambers, Bankside Lofts and West India Quay. In 2010 the banking crisis was causing turmoil in the residential sector so Harry set about finding a housing solution for young professionals. The result was an idea that became Fizzy Living, one of the earliest entrants into the BTR market. Fizzy grew to 1,000 units with financial backing from ADIA, and in 2021 the operating business was bought by Greystar. Harry is now MD Investments in its UK multi family business.

Morwenna Hall

Executive Director
Related Argent

Morwenna Hall, a chartered mechanical engineer, is an Executive Director at Related Argent. She joined the firm (then Argent LLP) in 2011 and in addition to her corporate leadership role, has led the design and delivery of several major projects at King’s Cross, including Coal Drops Yard - a thriving shopping and leisure destination with more than 50 shops, cafe, bars and restaurants - the Fish & Coal building and Gasholder Park. Morwenna now leads on the ground floor uses, public realm vision and activation for Brent Cross Town, a new park town that brings together the very best of London’s great neighbourhoods while making the most of its natural assets and opportunities. Its most distinct local feature is a 44-acre playing field that is destined to become one of London’s great parks and home to a wide variety of new play and sports facilities.

Morwenna started her career at Arup as a mechanical building services engineer. During this time, she was the lead mechanical engineer for the Sainsbury Laboratory in Cambridge, designed by Stanton Williams architects, which in 2012 won the most sought-after accolade in the industry – the RIBA Stirling Prize. Morwenna has featured in many publications such as Property Week’s ‘Forty under 40’ list of young entrepreneurs, disrupters and leaders and her evident passion for design led to her being showcased as one of 27 women in the 2014 ‘Women Fashion Power’ exhibition at the Design Museum, alongside Princess Diana, Dame Vivienne Westwood and Dame Zaha Hadid.

Mike Best

Head of Logistics
British Land

Mike is Head of Logistics at British Land. He joined from Logicor, a pan-European logistics specialist, where he helped establish the business in 2011 and focussed on UK acquisitions, developments and asset management. Mike previously worked at Deutsche Bank and is a CFA chartholder.

Melanie Leech CBE

Chief Executive
BPF

Melanie joined the British Property Federation as Chief Executive in January 2015, following nine years as Director General of the Food and Drink Federation.

Melanie began her working life as a Police Constable in the Metropolitan Police Service. She joined the civil service (HM Customs) in 1988 and subsequently held senior roles in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Office of the Rail Regulator and the Cabinet Office. Her role is to champion UK real estate and to promote a long-term, sustainable partnership between governments and the sector to deliver a high quality built environment, creating economic and social value for local communities.

Melanie is a Fellow of the RSA and an external member of the Council of the University of Essex. In 2015 she was awarded a CBE for services to the food and drink industry.

Abby Shapiro

Senior Vice President, UK & Europe
Oxford Properties

Abby leads Oxford’s European residential and life sciences businesses and is accountable for these businesses’ strategies, capital deployment / acquisitions, strategic asset management, platform set up, strategic stakeholder relationships and total returns.

Abby has 15 years of real estate experience across the USA, UK and Europe. Abby started at Oxford in 2011 and since joining has contributed to the formulation and execution of Oxford’s investment and asset management strategies across the UK, Paris and Berlin across a broad range of asset classes.

Abby sits on Oxford’s European Senior Management Team and is also accountable for enhancing operational and ESG performance across Oxford’s European portfolio..

Abby holds a BA magna cum laude in Business Administration from American University in Washington, DC and an MSc with Distinction in Real Estate Economics and Finance from the London School of Economics.