Bill Hughes

Head of Real Assets
Legal & General Investment Management

Bill joined Legal & General in 2007 and is responsible for transforming its UK property fund management business into a global-reaching real assets platform. Operating in both the direct investment and lending markets, today it actively invests and manages over £27.2bn AUM across commercial property, private residential, infrastructure, property lending and corporate credit as at 31 December 2017. Since the beginning of 2015, L&G has worked closely with Government’s Regeneration Organisation to identify and invest in critical regeneration projects that support UK growth. 

Bill previously held positions at RREEF, the Real Estate Fund Management business of Deutsche Bank and Schroder Property Investment Management. From July 2014 to July 2015, Bill was President of the British Property Federation. He is currently Chair of the Property Industry Alliance (PIA), bringing together the UK’s leading property bodies to give them a stronger collective voice on issues such as policy, research and best practice.

Rob Groves

Regional Director
Argent

Rob Groves, is the Regional Director of Argent and has over 30 years of planning, design, construction and commercial experience. Prior to joining Argent in 2007 he was an Equity Partner at a large multi-disciplinary consulting engineer practice. His development experience includes mixed use, residential, commercial, industrial schemes as well as major public sector infrastructure.

Rob has led schemes from feasibility through to planning, compulsory purchase, which includes expert witness work, detailed design, funding both private and public sector, construction and commercial legals and lettings.

He is head of Argents’ Birmingham office and is leading the Paradise project in Birmingham, which is a joint venture with Birmingham City Council for a new commercial led mixed use development of 2 million sq/ft in the City centre, which is one of the biggest city centre projects in the regions. The project was one of the first in England to secure Enterprise Zone funding, delivering major site wide infrastructure changes to the city centre, the first phase of which is close to completion.

Rob is also the chair of the Midlands British Council of Offices.

Waheed Nazir

Chairman
Arden Cross

Waheed has over 20 years of experience in planning, development and regeneration. He has held senior positions at Birmingham City Council, and more recently was appointed as the Non-Executive Chairman of Arden Cross Limited. He also advises public and private sector clients on regeneration and development projects across the UK. He is a visiting Professor at Birmingham City University and in 2017 was awarded an honorary Doctorate by Aston University. In October 2020, Waheed was awarded a Fellowship from the Academy of Social Sciences and in November 2020 was announced as the Property Personality of the Year for the Midlands. In 2019, he wrote and edited a book titled Regenerating Cities, which explores how leadership, vision and partnership working has shaped the development of UK cities over the last 30 years. Through this book he brought together some of the UK’s leading figures in the development sector, each providing their own unique and personal insight into their journeys and roles in leading some of the country’s biggest projects, including London 2012, the development of King’s Cross, estate renewal in London, and the rise of Manchester and Birmingham. He is passionate about helping young people grow and develop to unlock their potential. This has included establishing a number of programmes to provide mentoring, bursary initiatives, internships and graduate programmes in the built environment profession.

Tony Pidgley CBE

Chairman
The Berkeley Group

Tony Pidgley CBE is Chairman of the Berkeley Group. He left school at 15 to form his own company in haulage and plant hire. At 19, he sold his business to Crest Homes and became a Building Director, before leaving to form Berkeley in 1976. Under his leadership the business has grown to become a FTSE 100 company and builds more than 4,000 homes a year. At Berkeley, Tony has led some of the country’s most challenging and celebrated regeneration programmes, including the reinvention of the Royal Arsenal munitions site in Woolwich, and the revival of Hackney’s Woodberry Down estate. He has pioneered a holistic approach to placemaking and is passionate about working in partnership with local people to create welcoming communities that inspire civic pride and enhance wellbeing. Tony has advised successive Governments on regeneration, housing and developing public land. He was a member of Lord Heseltine's Estate Regeneration Advisory Panel, the Thames Estuary 2050 Growth Commission and the Mayor’s Outer London Commission. He was the longest serving President in the history of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry and was awarded a CBE in 2013 for “services to the housing sector and the community.

Maria Machancoses

Director
Midlands Connect

Maria has been instrumental in the success and development of Midlands Connect since helping to set up the partnership in 2014. She has led the growth of the organisation in to one of the largest and most successful partnership programmes in the country, bringing together 23 local authorities, 9 local enterprise partnerships, 8 chambers of commerce, Birmingham and East Midlands airports, HS2 Ltd, Network Rail and Highways England.

In March 2017, Midlands Connect published a landmark 25 year regional transport strategy that set out a vision to grow the Midlands economy by £5 billion a year, contributing to the Midlands Engine’s Vision for Growth.

The priority projects Midlands Connect is taking forward for more detailed development were updated in July 2018 with the publication of Our Routes To Growth.

The partnership, together with government, is driving a multi-million pound programme to accelerate the delivery of its transport priorities to 2020 and beyond.

Maria has also worked as Interim Director of the Midlands Engine, a partnership which aims to generate a step change in productivity, economic growth in the Midlands and help drive Britain’s post-Brexit growth.

With a degree in Law and an MSc in International Transport, Maria has spent the last 20 years working in the UK transport industry.

Prior to joining Midlands Connect, Maria held senior positions in local government, including the West Midlands Combined Authority where she led the authority’s input in to the landmark HS2 Hybrid Bill and was senior advisor in master-planning activities around proposed HS2 stations in the West Midlands.