David Newton

Chief Executive
Kersfield

Kersfield is a residential development company with offices in London and Bath. 

Kersfield has a current development program of £100m, most of which is in Bristol and Bath. We specialise in luxury new build housing and the conversion of listed buildings into large lateral apartments, aimed at down-sizers. 

Prior to setting up Kersfield 4 years ago I had been developing luxury residential in prime central London and large mixed use developments in regional cities.

Over the last 25 years I have developed over £500m of real estate, either on my own, or in joint ventures.

Cllr Paul Smith

Cabinet Member for Homes and Communities
Bristol City Council

Paul Smith is the Cabinet member for Homes and Communities for Bristol City Council. Paul was re-elected to the council in May 2016 following a 17 year break. Paul has worked in the housing association sector for almost 30 years and has also been the Chief Executive of two national charities. Paul’s housing experience has included working at director level within a midlands based housing association, more recently as Head of Intelligence and Insight for Aster Group which manages 28,000 homes across the south of England and two spells with the National Housing Federation.

Paul is a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce and the Institute of Consulting and runs his own market intelligence and governance company.

Oona Goldsworthy

Chief Executive
United Communities

Oona is Chief Executive of United Communities, a community based housing association, which own and manages approx. 2000 homes across the West of England.

Oona is passionate about the role that housing associations can play in shaping their cities and supporting residents and communities to become more resilient. She held a variety of roles with housing associations and led major regeneration projects for local authorities before joining United Communities.

United Communities is known for its entrepreneurial approach to development and regeneration, which includes commercial joint ventures with developers, a unique ethical market rent funded by a social investment fund, self-build via a  community land trust and large scale mixed tenure regeneration. 

As well as being Chief Executive, Oona is a Board member of  Bristol Hospitality Network for Refugees and national Placeshapers. In 2017 she was awarded a Churchill Fellowship  to research global approach’s to housing millennials.  

Andrew Dobson

Managing Director of Crest Strategic Projects
Crest Nicholson

Andrew joined Crest Nicholson in 2013 as Development Director for Crest Strategic Projects and became Managing Director in November 2016. 

Andrew manages a multi-disciplinary team, securing strategic opportunities and driving those opportunities through to the delivery of successful communities, of which a number are founded on Garden Village principles.   Andrew is the custodian for ensuring Crest’s development principles and place making vision is adhered to and delivered.  Andrew firmly believes in the importance of legacy and how development must sit alongside and enhance communities.  Andrew has delivered long term stewardship models and has been instrumental in setting up two successful Community Interest Companies. Responsibilities have also included the delivery of key community assets such as schools, local centres and community buildings.  

Andrew has over 20 years of development experience and has worked in multiple development markets including the UK, United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong.   Andrew has a successful track record in managing teams in the planning and delivery of large scale developments that are designed with place making and legacy at their heart.

Outside of work Andrew is a keen rugby follower and enjoys attempting triathlons.

Anna Sabine

Chief Executive
MPC

Anna is the Chief Executive of Meeting Place Communications, which helps developers secure planning consents through work with politicians, communities and the media. She has been at MPC for 10 years, running major pre- app consultation programmes for housebuilders, universities and financial investors. Before this she worked as a Campaign Manager for the Lib Dems and in the voluntary sector; she has a PPE degree from Oxford University. Anna is passionate about involving more women in the planning and development sector, and about growing the use of social media in the industry.