Eamonn Boylan

Chief Executive
Greater Manchester Combined Authority

Eamonn Boylan was appointed Chief Executive of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority in January 2017. He played a key role in the development of the Housing Market Renewal Programme, the Northern Way Growth Strategy and, through his work with the Core Cities Group and the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities, in the emerging policy framework for city regions. Eamonn takes the lead role on Investment and on Planning and Housing for the AGMA Wider Leadership Team.

Rachael Ainscough

Group Managing Director
Ainscough Group

Rachael Ainscough is the group managing director of the Ainscough Group.

Rachael has worked within the property-based group for over 8 years. She started as Property Administrator, helping to manage the group’s property investment portfolio, moving in 2012 into the specialist land business, Ainscough Strategic Land.

Rachael has been instrumental in growing Ainscough Strategic Land’s asset base and was promoted to Land Director in 2013.

Rachael became majority shareholder in the business in 2014 and now jointly manages all aspects of the business, from land identification and acquisition, through to planning promotion and land sale.

Ainscough Strategic Land currently controls in excess of 1,300 acres of development land across the UK, with the capacity for approximately 6,700 new homes and over 500,000 sqft of commercial floorspace. The company has an enviable planning track record, with a 95% success rate on all planning applications or appeals thus far.

Paul Westhead

Director of Development
Placefirst

With over 30 years’ experience in finance, regeneration and housing, Paul joins Placefirst from Trafford Housing Trust. In his previous roles as Head of New Business and more recently Head of Land and Partnerships, Paul helped establish Laurus Homes, a development subsidiary of Trafford Housing Trust and help set up the innovative joint-venture LLP with the L&Q Group. As Head of New Business Paul led the team that has successfully sourced land for over 2000 mixed tenure homes and prepared those projects pre-construction for the LLP in the past 3 years and established other JV structures to help accelerate housing delivery.

Gary Jackson

Founder & CEO
DeTrafford Estates Group

Gary’s entry into property development began in 1984, when he purchased and refurbished his first property with money saved from running his own door-to-door potato round as a teenager.

In the 20 years that followed, Gary refurbished and resold over 800 properties nationally, with a particular focus in the North West and London.

In 2006 Gary anticipated a possible market downturn and so traded his property portfolio for gross sales of £85 million in stock by the end of 2006. With the market at its peak, Gary sought to wait for an opportune moment, which came in 2009. Purchasing sites for development, DeTrafford Estates Group was formed with the ethos of pioneering functional and flexible living concepts.

As CEO he ultimately oversees the Group’s activity, with a heavy focus on land acquisitions, design ethos and branding. He is the Group’s main reference point for key Stakeholders and Government relationships.

Daniel Cochlin

Head of External Affairs
Northern Powerhouse Partnership

Daniel Cochlin is the Head of External Affairs for the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, the organisation bringing together the business and civic leaders of the North with the ultimate objective of rebalancing the economy and creating opportunities for the people of the Northern Powerhouse. His role involves working with the North’s leading employers, Government, elected mayors and a wide range of stakeholders to build consensus on improving key areas of policy, including transport, education, skills and productivity. Prior to this role, Daniel was Head of Communications for Advanced Materials at The University of Manchester, responsible for establishing a compelling narrative around graphene and other innovation.