Rebekah Paczek

Director of Public Affairs and Community Relations
Earls Court Development Company

Rebekah Paczek is the Director of Public Affairs, Social Impact and Community Relations at The Earls Court Development Company, the company’s strategic lead on stakeholder relations, engagement and communications. The Earls Court site is one of London’s most exciting and important development opportunities, which will deliver a combination of new homes for Londoners and commercial opportunities alongside green and cultural spaces. Rebekah has a wealth of experience in policy, communications, consultation and community engagement, including founding in 2010 the communications agency Snapdragon Consulting, which specialises in property and planning communications.

Peter Runacres

Head of Urban Futures
Earls Court Development Company

Peter has a strong track record of working on innovative regeneration and development projects both in London and around the world. This includes the large-scale regeneration of King’s Cross and New Street Square in London, and the Al Bahar Towers in Abu Dhabi, which won the 2012 Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitats’ Innovation Award. At ECDC, Peter’s priority is ensuring the long-term resilience of the Earls Court masterplan and infrastructure design. The role centres around improving the integration of good design, purposeful technology and sustainability into the ECDC masterplan and buildings, from concept to operation.

Dinah Bornat

Director
ZCD Architects

Dinah Bornat is an architect, urban designer, researcher, engagement specialist, and co-director of ZCD Architects, working on housing, community, and urban design projects. She is a leading expert on child-friendly cities involved in developing policy and guidance, designing best practices, and promoting youth engagement. Her work has had a significant impact at local, London, UK, and international levels. Dinah has developed a unique approach to intergenerational engagement with her work for Earls Court, which involves young people and adults working together. Dinah is a former Mayor’s Design Advocate for the Mayor of London. Her other roles include being a Design Review Panel member for Harrow, Hounslow, and Brent councils, a Quality of Life Foundation Associate, and a Design Council Expert. She has also been commissioned by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) to write a book about child-friendly housing and participation in the UK. In February this year she gave evidence to a select committee inquiry into children, planning and the built environment.

Professor Tony Travers

Director of LSE London
Visiting Professor in the Department of Government

Professor Tony Travers is Director of LSE London, a research centre at The London School of Economics and Political Science. He is also a Visiting Professor in LSE’s Department of Government. His key research interests include local and regional government and public service reform.

Professor Travers is currently an advisor to the House of Commons Children, Schools and Families Select Committee and the Communities and Local Government Select Committee.

He has published a number of books on cities and government, including Failure in British Government: The Politics of the Poll Tax (with David Butler and Andrew Adonis), Paying for Health, Education and Housing: How does the Centre Pull the Purse Strings (with Howard Glennerster and John Hills) and The Politics of London: Governing the Ungovernable City.

Sean Mendez

Founder / CEO
Solidarity Sports

Sean grew up in London’s Earls Court, with no open green spaces and a local cemetery as a ‘park’ – to play sports, ride bikes and climb trees. The local gardens were all private and under lock and key. Sean’s mum took him to work with her at weekends at a centre for young people with learning disabilities. Later travelling the world for a year, he realised that sports played a big part in children’s happiness and was a way of bringing people together. From the homemade cricket bats in India to the dilapidated boxing gyms in Cuba, resourcefulness seemed to overcome the hardship of poverty. In 2007, back in the UK, Sean founded Solidarity Sports, starting with 20 children living in Earl’s Court and now a London-wide organisation. Solidarity Sport’s vision is to help more children and have a more positive impact on their lives.

Katie Kopec

International Director
JLL

Katie is one of the foremost development advisors in the industry having achieved a wide range of complex developments for a range of clients across the world. Katie’s work involves advising on land use options and disposal and acquisition of sites for corporate landowners, developers, and public authorities. With experience of over 35 years, she has been involved with several large-scale inner-city urban regeneration schemes across the UK, with a particular focus on London and regional cities such as Manchester and Internationally. Responsibilities vary from advice on types and quality of development, funding and formulation of Joint Ventures between the public and private sector.

Olivia Harris

Chief Executive
Dolphin Living

Olivia Harris was appointed as Chief Executive of Dolphin Living in April 2017. Previously, Olivia was Finance Director at Dolphin, providing financial and commercial oversight on a wide range of property and related projects, including debt and fund raising. Olivia is a Chartered Accountant and has worked for more than 15 years in the property industry.