Robin Squire

Regional Managing Director
Acorn

Robin trained as an Architectural Technician working from Mason Richards Partnership (now RPS) when they originally set up their office in Bristol in the late 80’s, moved to Westbury Homes as a layout designer in the early 90’s before joining Redrow as a design manager in late 90’s, worked in various regions at Redrow ending up as senior land manager in Exeter before leaving to go travelling in 2006. 

He joined Acorn, a family owned property business with offices in London, Cornwall, Bristol, Cardiff and Hampshire,  to set up the Bristol region in September 2007 but quickly realised that setting up a new company in late 2007 wasn’t a great idea so got involved in the Cornwall region developments and eventually moved to Cornwall in 2009. 

Robin moved back to Bristol in 2013 to set up the Bristol region, and Acorn have since grown to an office of 14 with 6 sites completed or under construction and a further 3 sites under contract or in planning, with circa 360 units with an average selling price of just over £400k.

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.

Paul Isaacs

Managing Director
Generator South West

Having initially spent 16 years in banking, Paul has over 20 years experience in residential and mixed-use development, especially in the assessment of planning risk, and has a reputation for being a trouble shooter and problem solver.  Combining the unique experience of both banking and property development, Paul also takes on Law of Property Act/Fixed Charge Receivership appointments.

Paul is

founder and Managing Director of Generator, comprising specialist developer, funding partner and advisor.  Paul founded the Group in January 2006 and is responsible for its overall direction and business development. Prior to this, in 2002 Paul was appointed as Managing Director of Cathedral Group Plc.  His first task was to deconsolidate Cathedral from its then parent company Mount Anvil. Alongside a hand-picked first class team, and after 3 years at the helm,Paul secured a highly profitable pipeline of projects with a GDV in excess of £275m.  One of which was the funding and delivery of the highly acclaimed pilot PPP project Canary South with the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA). 

This complicated mixed-use project included the delivery of a new state of the art Fire Station, 175 apartments and ancillary retail with a GDV in excess of £50m. In 1997 Paul was headhunted to join Frogmore responsible for Residential Joint Venture activity.   As Director, Paul was involved with several large, London based trophy residential developments: Paddington Basin (GDV £100m+); County Hall (GDV £132m) and Butlers Wharf (GDV £165m).

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.

Nigel Jackson

Relationship Director
Titlestone Property Finance

residential development portfolio and was responsible for managing the London based lending team. Nigel joined Titlestone in early 2013.  Titlestone has written business in excess of £1.5billion (including over £100million of business in Bath and Bristol over the last 18 months).