Birmingham Development Plans 2016

THREE of Birmingham’s leading development figures will be presenting their investment/development plans for the next few years!

Event Sponsored by:                  Programme Sponsored by: 

Event Format

• 1530 – 1600; Registration
• 1600 – 1645; Networking with Wine, Beer and Soft Drinks
• 1645 – 1815; Speaker Presentations
• 1815 – 1900; Networking with Hot Food, Wine, Beer and Soft Drinks

Speakers

Ben Gray, Project Director; Arden Cross

Ben is a qualified chartered surveyor and experienced asset manager with extensive expertise in handling large-scale, complex asset-based projects.  As Project Director, Ben will oversee the detailed delivery and implementation of Arden Cross on behalf of the Consortium.

Ian MacLeod, Assistant Director Regeneration; Birmingham City Council

I have worked for Birmingham City Council for over 10 years having previously worked at West Sussex County Council and Havant Borough Council.

In my current role I have led the preparation of the Birmingham Development Plan which will deliver over 51,000 new homes, over 700,000 sq m of office development and over 300 hectares of industrial land in period up to 2031. This included leading work on the Green Belt review and associated evidence base which has resulted in the emerging allocations of 6,000 homes at the Langley Sustainable Urban Extension and 71 hectares at the Peddimore employment site. Alongside the BDP I have also led the work for the introduction of a Community Infrastructure Levy which has recently been adopted by the City Council and will become operational in January 2016.

I also lead work in relation to the Duty to Co-operate for the City Council. This involves Chairing the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) Planning Sub-Group, leading work on the GBSLEP Spatial Plan and working with all authorities in the Birmingham Housing Market Area (HMA). The main focus of this work is to agree a solution to the housing shortfall of 38,000 homes arising from the City’s unmet housing need.

I also lead work on a number of key regeneration schemes including the Advanced Manufacturing Hub which has to date delivered over 600 jobs and £30million of private sector investment in one of the most deprived areas of the City.

James Raven,  Development Director; Goodman Business Parks

James is responsible for the overall delivery of planning, development, sales and leasing activity in the UK.

James joined Goodman in 1994 as a Development Surveyor, and has been involved in the delivery of over 3.0m sq ft of office and industrial accommodation and the masterplanning and sale of hundreds of acres of assets. James has also worked for MEPC and started his career in the Project Management and Development Team at Chesterton, where he qualified as a Chartered Surveyor.

James has 18 years of experience in property, mostly in commercial office and industrial development and to a lesser extent in retail and residential.