Karen Hirst

Director
Eric Wright Group

Karen was appointed managing director of Maple Grove Developments in 2018, having joined Eric Wright Group in 2016 as a divisional director and is on the Group Board. She brings 29 years’ property and development experience from both public and private sectors.

Karen delivers the development opportunities, including some of the North West’s major commercial projects. Karen and her team are currently underway with a number of town/city centre schemes including; Burnley, Blackburn and Preston and industrial developments at Deeside and Winsford. Karen is also the lead for the Lancashire Regeneration Property Partnership working with a number of public sector partners to enable their projects to happen.

Prior to joining Maple Grove Karen spent 10 years in Salford as Development Director for Salford City Council and Regeneration Company. Karen and her team delivered a number of significant mixed use development projects with the private sector, such as; Salford Central, Greengate and MediaCityUK.

James Whittaker

Group Development Director
Peel L&P

James is a Chartered Surveyor and joined the Peel group in 1995 after working for 2 years with Healey & Baker (Cushman & Wakefield) in London. Initially he joined as a Lettings Manager for The Trafford Centre the UK’s most prestigious shopping centre.

In 2000 James joined the Development team and has been responsible for the delivery of many different and diverse developments.

In 2008 he was appointed Director of Development. The division is currently involved in over £30 billion of regeneration projects in the UK and overseas. He was awarded Property Week’s North West Property Personality of the year in 2009.

James Heather

Development Director
U+I

James was appointed by U+I in March 2017 to deliver the transformational £1.4bn+ regeneration of Manchester city centre’s Mayfield.

An adoptive Mancunian, he is proud to be leading a passionate team dedicated to delivering an incredible place to live, work and play.

Previously a partner with Argent, James was responsible for the delivery of both No1 St Peter’s Square in Manchester and elements of Brindleyplace in Birmingham. In his spare time he enjoys motor sports and watching rugby.

Shelagh McNerney

Independent Consultant

Shelagh is an independent consultant working with a small group of diverse clients across the built environment including the award winning “5Plus Architects”. 

She brings people together across multi-disciplinary teams to deliver complex investment plans, city growth narratives & real investment. With a track record translating strategy into delivery on the ground and navigating public and private sectors, she helps build effective institutional partnerships.

Shelagh trained as a town planner, at the Bartlett School Architecture & Planning in the mid 80’s! She has 30+ years extensive leadership experience & a proven track record across planning, regeneration, architecture, construction & development. This has straddled multiple disciplines & senior roles in the public sector (Chester, Bolton, Manchester & Salford City Councils) also with10 years in the private sector working with construction companies, developers, landowners, architects, and think tanks. 

She is actively involved in contemporary debate about the built environment & city growth in the United Kingdom. She is a creative & fervent advocate for quality in architecture and the wider built environment that impacts all our lives.

John Hughes

Managing Director
ASK Real Estate

John has almost 20 years’ development experience, the majority of which has been gained during his time at Ask, delivering highly complex, city centre office, leisure and retail projects.

John joined the Board and became a shareholder in 2008 and works closely with some of Ask’s key strategic partners including Manchester City Council, Salford City Council and Network Rail.  He leads on the company’s flagship schemes in Manchester, including Greengate Embankment, Manchester Central and First Street.

John took Ask into joint venture with Carillion and Tristan Capital Partners alongside Network Rail and Salford City Council to deliver the 600,000 sq ft mixed-use scheme at Embankment in the City Centre, the first office phase of 165,000 sq ft which was completed in December 2016 and is fully let to Swinton Insurance.  He is a regular contributor to property-related seminars, events and round table discussions including North West Business Insider, Estates Gazette and Place Northwest.