May 10th 2023
Interim BTR Forum 2023
1.30pm - 7.30pm
Venue
Canary Wharf Group
Level 39, One Canada Square
London
E14 5AB
£145.00 + VAT
Guest rate
£195.00 + VAT
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BTR has grown strongley over the past decade, to a point where just short of 80,000 homes have been delivered; with a further c 50,000 homes under construction and c 115,000 in planning. Investment in 2022 was in excess of £6bn.
All this said, the sector is facing challenges: the increased cost of debt, the movement of investment yields and construction cost inflation; which are impacting the viability of developments. And, the affect on renters - families, particularly those struggling on low income, is also understandably, influencing political thinking, and future housing policy.
So how do we find the right balance? In the face of market challenges, we are organising, a half-day ‘Interim BTR Forum’ on May 10th, focused on ‘rented homes’; to discuss where BTR fits into the housing mix; the rage of emerging products, what it broadly delivers to both renters and the wider community; and to explore its affordability and benefits. We will also discuss housing policy and the balance between the importance of protecting the long-term needs and security of renters, against the need to ensure that BTR remains attractive to investors.
In a mix of keynotes, presentations, case studies and panel sessions, involved leaders from both BTR and Public Housing sectors, will explore how the interests of both parties can be aligned to deliver more rented homes and better choices for those who need them.
This will be an authoritative conference aimed at individuals who are actively involved in the BTR Sector and Housing in general.
EVENT SPEAKERS
Sandra Jones
Managing Director
PriceHubble
Sandra is a Managing Director of PriceHubble following its acquisition of Dataloft in the UK. PriceHubble is an international data and analytics business, specialising in residential markets across 11 countries. PriceHubble holds a unique dataset of achieved rents and renter demographics in the UK used to underwrite rents and profile demand for rental homes. The business works with clients from across the Build to Rent and Single Family Housing sector as well as housebuilders, advisors and policymakers. Its rental Affordability Tracker is published monthly by the ONS and the business collaborates with BPF, BusinessLDN and ARL to produce the report: Who Lives in Build to Rent. Sandra is a member of the BTR Alliance, has written widely for national and trade press and was a Research Associate at think tanks, Centre for London and Future of London.
Ian Fletcher
Director of Policy
British Property Federation
Rhona Brown
Head of Private Sector Housing and Home improvement
London Borough of Lewisham
I joined Lewisham Council as Head of Private Sector Housing and Home Improvement in March 2022. Prior to that I led the Greater London Authority’s work on the Private Rented Sector (PRS) in the Housing and Land directorate for nine years, where I delivered initiatives such as the Mayor’s Rogue Landlord and Agent Checker and the Mayor’s London Borough PRS Partnership, as well as leading on Build to Rent policy from the housing perspective. I have worked in housing policy in a variety of roles since 2011, including two years as a policy officer at the National Housing Federation. Before specialising in housing policy, I was a research assistant in the House of Commons for four years, covering a range of issues including local government finance, article 4 directions, energy efficiency, renewable power generation and retrofit.
Lesley Roberts
Director of BTR Operations
Godwin Developments
Lesley plays a pivotal role in developing and delivering Godwin’s plans to build a £1 billion national BTR portfolio. Her main remit is the creation of the BTR operational strategy across both the single and multifamily developments for the business. Working in close collaboration with internal teams and external providers, she is responsible for the operational performance and profitability of our single and multifamily assets while also delivering a leading customer experience across the entire proposition.
With a career spanning over 20 years, Lesley has extensive high-level experience with both the BTR and PRS sectors, and has for some time been at the heart of shaping the UK’s Build to Rent offer as President of The UK Apartment Association (UKAA). Prior to joining Godwin, she served as a Partner at Allsop LLP and CEO of Allsop Letting and Management, where she advised developers and institutional investors on the acquisition, design, build and operation of large-scale BTR portfolios. A member of the British Property Federation’s (BPF) residential board, Lesley also toured the US studying the multifamily model there and was instrumental in the concept and development of the UKAA’s BTR Best Practice Guide launched in 2022. She was previously Chair of Soho Housing Association and held roles at Pinnacle Places, Young Group, and City Living London.
Alastair Mullens
Managing Director
Vertus
Alastair joined Canary Wharf Group in 2018, to establish the Canary Wharf Group’s (CWG) Build-to-Rent platform, Vertus. He is currently overseeing the delivery of three seed assets totalling 1,137 units, all based on the Canary Wharf Estate. The first new residential tenants moved in in February 2020. He is now working closely with CWG’s development team to design and envision the future phases of private rental product for the Estate.
Over the last twelve years Alastair has gained a broad experience of the UK residential property market; initially in Residential Management before moving into Residential Development and then centring on the emerging Build-to-Rent market. He spent 9 years with Hamptons International & Countrywide Group based in London and Hong Kong. In 2015 he returned from Asia to focus on Build-to-Rent lease-up delivery for various clients across London. His final role at Countrywide was as National Director of Corporate PRS & Build to Rent, during this time he oversaw the delivery of the group’s operational management platform. This included the delivery of two Build-to-Rent assets in the north-west totalling 488 units for the Vista fund, The Cargo Building in Liverpool and Pomona Wharf in Manchester.
Bella Peacock
Senior Managing Director, Investment Management and Operations
Greystar
Bella Peacock is Senior Managing Director and member of the European Leadership team. She is responsible for asset execution across student and multifamily leading the company’s Asset Management and Operations teams across Europe. Bella works with her teams in France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain and UK to ensure the effective implementation of the Greystar global operating model, applying it to the local context of each market to drive asset performance across all stages of the investment lifecycle.
Bella joined Greystar in 2014 as one of the first members of the new European business where she was engaged with the growth of the platform across the region. Prior to Greystar, she worked in the residential real estate sector covering serviced apartments, PRS and BTR at Native where she was responsible for portfolio growth, investor relations and asset management. Bella started her career at The UNITE Group.
Bella is an active member of the Urban Land Institute, Real Estate Balance and The Class Foundation. She earned her Master of Arts in Geography from the University of Oxford before completing her Master of Science in Real Estate Investment and Finance from Henley Business School at the University of Reading.
James Pargeter
Senior Advisor
GAA
James is a recognised advocate for the purpose-built operational Rented Living sector (incl. Build to Rent (BTR) and Single-Family Rent (SFR)) within the wider residential sector, with over 25 years’ varied delivery experience as a Project Manager and Advisor. He aims to help address the UK’s housing crisis through policy and practice, recognising that a full tenure spectrum is key to resolving this challenge. Through successive roles at Deloitte, Greystar and GAA, alongside sector roles including at the ARL, the BPF, and other representative bodies, he has a track record of making positive differences to sector and project outcomes.
James is a tireless campaigner for a much-needed cultural change around renting, including better appreciation of the benefits of purpose-built rental housing, Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), and intermediate affordable homes. He was included in EG's 'BTR's 50 Most Influential’ list.
Rick de Blaby
CEO
Get Living
Simon Scott
Lead Director, Living Capital Markets (UK)
JLL Europe
Simon has over 20 years’ experience in the field of residential investment and development, and was actively involved in the development of the student investment market in an advisory capacity, and led in a number of innovative funding structures working with both Housing Associations and Universities in making institutionally acceptable investment assets in the residential sector. Simon is now overseeing the residential investment team and will be focused on matching investor appetite for residential investment, whether off plan bespoke developments or existing portfolios of income producing or reversionary assets.
Cllr Darren Rodwell
Leader
London Borough of Barking & Dagenham
Darren has been Leader of Barking and Dagenham since 2014. He has served as Deputy Chair of London Councils, having been Executive Member for City Development and now as the Executive Member for Housing and Planning. In his current role he has promoted inward investment in the capital via Opportunity London and prioritised the delivery of affordable housing, addressing fire safety, tackling homelessness and reducing the use of temporary accommodation.
Darren is also a member of the Homes for Londoners Board, Arts Council England, the Arts Council for London and the Create London Board and, since May 2023 Chair of the LGA Local Infrastructure and Net Zero Board. He was awarded LGIU Leader of the Year Award in 2019. In 2021, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Education by Coventry University in recognition of his efforts to expand educational opportunities in Barking and Dagenham.
James Saunders
Chief Executive Officer
Quintain
James Saunders was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Quintain in October 2019.
James was previously Chief Operating Officer of Quintain and has been a main board director since 2017. As Chief Operating Officer, James led the place-making and estate management at Wembley Park, commercial partnerships, group marketing, IT and health and safety.
During his time at Quintain, James has led the repositioning of Wembley Park from an event destination to an exciting new neighbourhood for London. He has created the strategic direction for marketing, communications and place making that has led to dramatic reconsideration of the area, increase in footfall, improvements in press coverage and word-of -mouth, plus new partnerships including with Boxpark, Troubadour Theatres and Second Floor Studios.
As Chief Operating Officer, James also oversaw the Wembley Park estate operations team with responsibility for management of The SSE Arena, Wembley, London Designer Outlet, car parking, health and safety, service charge and retail development.
He has managed key stakeholder and commercial partner relationships with GLA, London Borough of Brent, Wembley Stadium, the FA, AEG and Realm, plus other local stakeholders. He was responsible for the renegotiation of agreements with adjacent landowners that unlocked the Wembley Park site from a development and operational perspective.
Prior to joining Quintain, James was the Chief Marketing Officer at The Cloud Networks, a consultant to Vodafone Europe and Brand Director at Coca-Cola Great Britain. He holds a Sloan Masters from London Business School, a Law Degree from Cambridge University and is a barrister-at-law.
David Jennings
Chairman
Movers & Shakers
Leigh Natasha Salter
Managing Director
Movers & Shakers
Leigh Natasha Salter is Managing Director of Movers & Shakers, having formerly been the Business and Events Director. Leigh has been responsible for developing the brand over the last 14 years and was responsible for the launch of the Movers & Shakers UK Regional events programme. Previously she worked in marketing, communications and research, and also ran the Windsor & Maidenhead Borough’s Business to Community Partnership, facilitating CSR for businesses. She qualified at Oxford University with a BA Honours in Human Sciences, and a scholarship, and is also a member of the BPF, WPA and UK-GBC.
Tracey Hartley
Chief Operating Officer, Europe
Cortland
Alex Notay
Placemaking and Investment Director
PfP Capital
Alexandra Notay is Placemaking and Investment Director at PfP Capital, the fund and asset management arm of Places for People Group, overseeing a UK-wide residential strategy. She is an internationally recognised expert on build to rent, placemaking and sustainable urban development, with 16 years’ strategic advisory experience to private sector, government and third sector organisations across four continents. In January 2019 Alex was selected as one of the 48 women shaping the future of UK real estate at the prestigious BISNOW Women Leaders event.
Alex is a published author and editor of over 30 books and reports on real estate including the renowned ULI UK Best Practice Guide on Build to Rent (2014, 2016). Alex is a vice-chair of the ULI UK Residential Council, chair of the BPF sub-committee on residential ESG, serves on the BPF Build to Rent Committee and is an Associate Member of CREFC Europe. She is also a non-executive director of Essensys plc, Sound Diplomacy, SouthWest Board Member for LandAid and trustee of the SunScreenIT Foundation.
With a reputation for being ‘abnormally energetic’, Alex is passionate about enabling tangible social impact through innovation and collaboration as well as mentoring the next generation of diverse talent.
Sowgol Zarinchang
Managing Director
Way of Life
Sowgol is the Managing Director of Way of Life, a top 3 National Built-to-Rent (BTR) platform providing bespoke residential lettings and management to a portfolio of over 2,400 homes across the UK. Sowgol ensures that Way of Life delivers and manages not just homes but communities – spaces designed for modern urban living, shaped by exceptional design, community engagement and superior customer service.
Jennifer Murray
Director Products, Equity & Partnerships
Homes England
Jennifer leads on equity investment and attracting institutional capital into residential and regeneration at Homes England, the Government’s housing and regeneration agency for England She began her investment management career at Schroders where she was fund manager for directly invested real estate funds and multi manager property portfolios on behalf of pension fund and charity clients for over 15 years.
Prior to joining Homes England, Jennifer was a fund manager for Tesco Pension Investments. While managing the scheme’s international real estate portfolio she developed a professional interest in the residential sector as an institutional investment class.
Jennifer is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the Investment Property Forum. She represents Homes England on Association of Real Estate Funds (AREF), Investment Property Forum (IPF) and Urban Land Institute residential committees.
Harry Downes
Managing Director – UK Multifamily Investment
Greystar
Dr Elizabeth Rapoport
Assistant Director - Strategy
Homes England
Elizabeth is an urban planner, researcher and strategist with 20 years of experience working on issues related to the built environment. As Assistant Director of Strategy at Homes England, Elizabeth works at the interface between policy and delivery, translating Government housing and regeneration priorities into delivery strategies and the Agency’s operations. Elizabeth has led numerous international research projects on urban and regional planning, governance, sustainability and climate change and is the author of a number of publications on these topics. She holds a Masters in Regional and Urban Planning Studies from LSE and a Doctorate in Urban Sustainability and Resilience from UCL.
