Nathan Cornish

Group Director
Urban Splash

Nathan has been with Urban Splash since 2002. 

Nathan has been responsible for the delivery of some of Urban Splash’s iconic regeneration schemes at Fort Dunlop, Rotunda and its ‘upside down’ houses in Salford. 

Whilst still retaining responsibility for high profile developments at the Royal William Yard in Plymouth, and New Islington, Manchester his role now also includes overseeing the groups £100m Investment portfolio. He also oversees the majority of the Groups Investment and land acquisitions / disposals.

In 2016, Nathan led the bid team that won a developer competition to develop Icknield Port Loop in Birmingham, a 43 acre mixed use site. The company’s largest land acquisition to date.

Now based in Manchester, Nathan is from Nottingham and keen follower of Nottingham Forest and Sale Rugby Club. 

Steve Modrić

Senior Strategy & Markets Manager
Homes England

Steve Modric is the Homes England’s head of strategy for the North West. He has extensive experience of housing and local government working both in London and Manchester in operational delivery and policy roles. Steve supported the establishment of the agency as a member of the Government led transition team leading up to the HCA’s launch in 2008. In his current role, Steve supports the development and implementation of new programmes and initiatives working both nationally and regionally.

Rick de Blaby

CEO
Get Living

Rick is CEO of Get Living plc, the UK’s leading build to rent investor, developer and operator. Get Living operates 4,000 rental homes in London and Manchester, with a further 2,300 homes launching in the next 18 months and 4,000 in the pipeline in towns and cities across the UK, including Birmingham, London and Leeds. Get Living is a long-term investor that focuses on providing high quality rental homes in large-scale neighbourhoods with a focus on sustainability, placemaking and social value. With a demonstrated track record of regenerating urban areas, Rick has 40 years of real estate and investment experience across both residential and commercial property. Past roles have included CEO of MEPC and United House and Non-Exec Chairman of Miller Developments.

Ciara Allan

Chief Financial Officer
ilke Homes

As Chief Financial Officer, Ciara leads on ilke Homes’ financial strategy and compliance, risks and IT functions.  Her role goes beyond the normal remit of financial support, with the in-house legal counsel also reporting into her. Day-to-day, Ciara is responsible for financial forecasting and planning, back office finance functions, Business Partnering across departments, whilst also being tasked with the important role of signing off all legal documentation. Ciara acts as ilke Homes’ Company Secretary and won Finance Leader within an International Company at the Yorkshire Finance Leaders 2018 awards.

Ciara has over 12 years’ experience in the manufacturing industry. Before joining ilke Homes, she was Finance Director & Company Secretary at one of the UK’s leading metal and steel distributors and stockholders, Kloeckner Metal UK. During her time at Kloeckner, Ciara was responsible for statutory and legal reporting, site support, overhead reviews, treasury, credit control and cash flow forecasting. Ciara also oversaw IT and the financial planning and analysis teams.

In 2014, Ciara was interim Finance Director at UK Coal Surface Mines Ltd, where she helped prepare one of the UK’s most historic industries for insolvency. 

Nigel Rawlings

CEO
Rise Homes Ltd

Nigel has acted as a Director for several fully listed property and construction Groups including The Westbury Property Fund and Assura PLC. He formed Rise Homes (formerly Housing Capital Property) and its residential property business in 2012. Rise Homes has specialised in the development of sustainable residential property all for rent and has developed over 900 houses and apartments across six schemes in the North of England and has developed five biomass district heating systems. Its Tribe Apartments scheme completed in 2015 won the prestigious global award for a residential scheme from BREEAM. Rise Homes is a subsidiary of the British Strategic Investment Fund.

Suzanne Benson

Regional Managing Partner - Manchester
Trowers & Hamlins LLP

Suzanne is the head of Trowers & Hamlins’ Manchester office and leads the north west Real Estate practice. She specialises in the development of home ownership products working with Homes England in relation to its grant funded sale products, including the shared ownership lease and most recently the £9 billion Help to Buy programme.

Suzanne also sits on the MHCLG joint advisory committee set up to promote the development of the Build to Rent sector. On a wider basis, Suzanne advises clients on large scale property projects, including public private partnerships and regeneration schemes, Suzanne is also the partner in charge of our Residential Sales team in Manchester. Suzanne is named as a Leading Individual in both Chambers and Partners and the Legal 500. She is also an editorial panel member for ThinkHouse a web based resource to promote knowledge sharing in the housing industry as well as being a business representative on MCC’s Our Manchester Forum. Suzanne has also recently taken on the role of Co-Chair for Pro-Manchester's Property and Regeneration Committee.