Mark Farmer

Founding Director & CEO
Cast Consultancy

Mark has nearly 30 years of experience in the construction and real estate sectors and has become a recognised commentator and thought leader on a variety of issues. He has been at the forefront of emerging UK residential market segments such as Build to Rent and Later Living. He is also playing a leading role in the progressive modernisation of the construction industry. Mark is a member of the RICS, Vice Chairman of the ULI UK Residential Council, a member of the BPF Build to Rent sub-committee and co-chairman of Constructing Excellence. Mark authored the October 2016 UK Government Review of the Construction Labour Market Model entitled ‘Modernise or Die’.

Sir Edward Lister

Chairman
Homes England

Sir Edward Lister joined Homes England as Chairman in June 2016. Sir Edward has considerable experience of the housebuilding industry, in particular infrastructure investment and large-scale developments. From 2011-16, he was London’s Deputy Mayor of Policy and Planning and Chief of Staff at the Greater London Authority, which included serving as Deputy Chairman of the Old Oak & Park Royal Mayoral Development Corporation. He was previously Conservative Leader of Wandsworth Borough Council from 1992-2011. As the longest-serving council leader in the country, Sir Edward made Wandsworth the most successful value-for-money local authority in the country with the lowest council tax charge and top satisfaction ratings from its residents.

In 2016, Sir Edward was appointed as Senior Advisor to the Regeneration and Investment Organisation within UKTI. He is also a consultant for CBRE’s One London team and a Non-Executive Director of Stanhope Ltd. 

Karl Whiteman

Executive Director
Berkeley Group

Karl joined Berkeley in 1996 as a Construction Director and now currently heads the Berkeley East and West Thames Division which includes three of the largest regeneration projects in the UK - Kidbrooke Village, Royal Arsenal Riverside and Southall Waterside. Once complete these three new developments will provide over 15,000 new homes in London for over 40,000 people and will embody a vision that both Karl and Berkeley share of transforming ex-industrial land and creating real communities for people from all walks of life.

In addition Karl is Managing Director of Berkeley Modular and responsible for the delivery of Berkeley’s new factory at Northfleet.

Karl joined the Board of Berkeley Group in September 2009 and also oversees the Sustainability and Health & Safety strategies across the Group.

Rosie Toogood

CEO
L&G Modular Homes

Rosie is leading the modular business in developing the product portfolio, creating engineering and production capability and establishing our market position.

Rosie joined L&G in June from Rolls-Royce where she held senior roles across customer-facing business areas, new product introduction and in setting up global supply chains to deliver complex engineering products.

Simon Gawthorpe

Managing Director
Urban Splash

Simon originally from Harrogate, joined Urban Splash in October 2004 to deliver the regeneration of Lister Mills, Manningham, Bradford, and to develop the company in the Yorkshire region.

Lister Mills was the first Urban Splash scheme in Yorkshire/North East and the company considered it essential to create a formal presence in the area to ensure that the development is delivered to the same high standards Urban Splash has built its reputation on.

Before joining Urban Splash, Simon was a development director at Crown Dilmun, based in London, with projects in Glasgow, Bristol, Newcastle and Manchester. He was responsible for a major mixed use scheme in central London, located opposite Harrods - apartments in the development sold for up to 10 million.

Simon has been responsible for the delivery of a number major Urban Splash projects including Lister Mills - Bradford, Saxton - Leeds and the Stirling Prize shortlisted Park Hill - Sheffield. He was responsible for the delivery of the recent Kickstart projects creating 700 new homes across the country. Simon led portfolio sale to Places for People and company restructure with fellow director Julian Curnuck and more recently has also been integral in the setting up of the joint venture partnership between Urban Splash and Places for People.

Jennet Siebrits

Head of UK Research
CBRE

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.