The Future of the OxCam Arc Conference; In partnership with Bidwells

East West Railway Company – Will Gallagher, Strategy Director

The transformative East West Rail project is well underway, with the government committing £760m in January for the Oxford to Milton Keynes section. The £5bn project could provide a £1.1bn annual boost to the region’s economy and we will hear details of how stages two and three will unfold as well as how EW Rail remains vitally important.

England’s Economic Heartland – Naomi Green, Managing Director

Naomi Green is Managing Director of England’s Economic Heartland (EEH), the region’s sub-national transport body focused on a major programme of work, including development and delivery of the region’s infrastructure priorities and establishing a pioneering ‘centre for excellence’ to bolster local authorities’ capacity to plan future schemes. Their proposed Ely Area Capacity scheme will allow 2,900 extra freight services to operate from Felixstowe per annum, remove 98,000 lorry journeys off the road every year, reduce congestion by 5.6 million hours and cut carbon emissions by 1.7 million tonnes over 60 years.

Oxford Science Park – Rory Maw, Chief Executive

The Oxford Science Park is one of the most influential science, technology and business environments in the UK and hosts over 90 companies with more than 2,500 staff. It has long-term and ambitious development plans, expecting to create an additional 300,000+ sq ft of office and laboratory space on the remaining 10+ acres of land over the next 3-5 years. Rory will share details of their exciting plans and how they will support science and innovation employment in the Arc

Thakeham Group – Rebecca Warren, Director of Planning & Director Oxford Cambridgeshire Arc

Thakeham is a leading master developer, housebuilder and land promoter active the OxCam Arc and wider South East. They create sustainable, zero carbon, modern self-sustaining communities that enhance the quality of life, built on the principles of NHS Healthy Towns and have a number of projects in the works across the Arc. Rebecca has a range of roles at Thakeham including progressing a number existing projects and identifying new development opportunities across the Arc. Thakeham’s focus is on zero-carbon placemaking and creating sustainable communities, with community and physical infrastructure being delivered early on.

Socius – Steve Eccles, Director

Socius have partnered with Railpen, the £35bn railways pension scheme IM to deliver Botanic Place, a major office development in Cambridge city centre. The project, worth £500m will see the development of 500,000 sq ft of office space and set a new benchmark for sustainability. It is the second collaboration between the two in the Arc, with the £160m Devonshire Gardens mixed use development set to begin later this year. Steve will discuss the exciting Botanic Place project as well as their future plans within the Arc.

Milton Keynes Development Partnership – Nicola Sawford, Chair

Milton Keynes Development Partnership is wholly owned by MK Council and exists to develop its portfolio of land assets to make the city an ever better place to live, work and socialise. They have an initial plan to develop 19 mixed tenure housing sites which will producer 4,000 new homes by 2031, with 50% being affordable – far above the minimum requirement.

West Midlands 5G – John Vesey, Health and Care Sector Lead

John has worked in numerous roles supporting the public and private sectors to harness the benefits of technology, connectivity, AI and data. His current role focuses on developing sustainable services for the health and social care sectors, that are underpinned by digital transformations and shifting where care is delivered.

Harwell Campus and Innovation Clusters, UKRI-Science and Technology Facilities Council – Dr Barbara Ghinelli, Director

Barbara is responsible for the development of the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus at UKRI- STFC. The campus is undergoing a major, multi-year expansion with 1.5m sq ft of commercial space, thousands of new homes a hotel and amenities set to be added by 2027. The next stage of the project – the 21,000 sq ft Zeta, a ‘mid-tech’ building which will allow further growth of the region’s energy, space, health and quantum computing companies. Barbara has established the cluster model deployed at both STFC’s Harwell and Daresbury Science & Innovation Campuses and oversees their development. She has led the creation of six thriving innovation clusters in Space, HealthTec, EnergyTec, Digital and a new in Quantum, across the two sites. These now include over 300 organisations collocated on the campuses.

University of Oxford – Dr Simon Jackman, Senior Innovation Fellow

Simon is a Senior Innovation Fellow focused on the environment area, working across the Mathematics, Physical and Life Sciences and Social Science Divisions within the University. He also leads the University’s collaboration with the Satellite Applications Catapult and works with related organisations based at Harwell. In particular, he is developing projects and initiatives with businesses and researchers, developing environmental data into decision support tools and services.

UBS Asset Management – Olivia Drew, Director and Portfolio Manager, UK Life Sciences

UBS Asset Management are investing heavily in life sciences across the UK having recently announced a £2.5 billion life science property strategy. They have so far secured four sites in the ‘goldebn triangle of Oxford, Cambridge and London including a £150m+ project in Oxford. The facilities will create significant local skilled employment opportunities, and in partnering with developer Reef Group, will provide fit-for-purpose, impactful buildings to companies focused on research and development (R&D) and healthcare innovations.

SEMLEP – Hilary Chipping, Chief Executive

South East Midlands LEP sits at the heart of the OxCam Arc and support it through their mission to build on the South East Midlands reputation as a premier location for growth, innovation and world leading technology. SEMLEP works with Local Authorities, the Arc Universities’ Group and neighbouring LEPs and business Boards to continue to develop the Arc strategy.

Oxford to Cambridge Arc Leadership Group – Bev Hindle, Executive Director

As Executive Director of the OxCam Arc Leaders group as well as a Director of Oxfordshire County Council, Bev is well placed to offer a strategic view of the Arc. With government support for the project wavering, collaboration between local leadership, the private sector and other stakeholders is more vital than ever and Bev will offer his views on the future of the Arc

Varsity Town Planning – Pippa Cheetham, Planning Director

Pippa is a chartered town planner with 25 years’ experience across the Oxford – Cambridge Arc.  Her planning skills have been sharpened working in local authorities, planning consultancy and in-house for a strategic landowner and master developer.  Pippa founded Varsity Town Planning in 2018.  She has a wealth of experience in securing allocations and delivering large scale and complex sites and achieves this by building relationships with authorities and agencies to promote a sustainable vision that is rooted in commercial common sense.  She has recently established an apprenticeship programme at Varsity Town Planning to nurture the next generation of town planners.  Pippa sits on the General Assembly of the Royal Town Planning Institute and the Board of the Bedfordshire Local Nature Partnership

Warehouse REIT – Paul Makin, Investment Director

Warehouse REIT owns a £1bn portfolio and has highlighted the Oxford Cambridge Arc as a key growth and acquisition location. They will be outlining the attractive nature of the region, areas they’re keen to invest within and more. Recent activity includes the forward funding of a 170,000sq ft asset in Thame amongst others.

Countryside Partnerships – Verity MacMahon, Managing Director, Northern Home Counties

Countryside Partnership are the leading regeneration specialist within the UK- specialising in delivering homes and community regeneration. With recent plans to develop Barton Park in Oxford City, consisting of 885 homes, a community hub, additional facilities, a primary school and retail space which is due for completion in 2027. Verity – Managing director will be joining the session to discuss upcoming development plans, the challenges of accelerating the housing stock and developing inclusive communities.

Milton Keynes City Council – Paul Thomas, Director of Planning and Placemaking

Milton Keynes is predicted to grow to a population of over 410,000 by 2050, from around 270,000 today. MK Council is keen to ensure that their growing city is better connected and are planning to deliver a Mass Rapid Transit System (MRT), with a first phase delivered by 2031 and a second by 2050. The MRT will be adaptable to future transport scenarios and be able to incorporate connected and autonomous vehicles as mass transit options and could cost close to £1.1 billion.

Atkins, member of the SNC-Lavalin Group – Claire Wansbury, Atkins Fellow and Associate Director: Ecology

More information to follow.

Godwin Developments – Tom Smallbone, Head of Residential Development

Godwin Group have recently moved into the OxCam Arc and have a number of residential projects in the pipeline. Their scheme in Ely, which is currently going through planning will see 116 BtR homes and flexible commercial space constructed. Another scheme for 184 homes in Bletchley recently benefitted from a forward funding deal with CBRE Investment Management. Godwin are currently building up a pipeline of suitable sites and is seeking more land sites across the OxCam Arc and the Home Counties to enable the delivery of more single family housing schemes

Cambridge Science Park – Jane Hutchins, Director

Established in 1970, Cambridge Science Park is the oldest in the UK and hosts over 140 business across it 152 acre site. The park continues to undergo significant development, partly through its partnership with Tus Park, the Science Park development body of Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. They are also exploring bringing forward a major extension, Cambridge Science Park North – which will see a centre of excellence for skilled manufacturing and development created on 400 acres of parkland.

Town – Jonny Anstead, Founding Director

TOWN is a profit-with-purpose developer, delivering homes, streets, and neighbourhoods. With current plans to develop a multi-million-pound, 48-hectare Core Site in Cambridge, which includes 5500 home and mixed-use spaces, the project has secured £227 million grant from the housing association infrastructure fund to assist in kickstarting the development. Jonny will be joining the session to discuss major development plans, the future of regeneration and potential collaboration opportunities.

Present Made – Alan Penfold, Executive Director

Present Made is Apache Capital’s single family BtR platform and was launched last year targeting a net zero carbon operational model; they will use Modern Methods of Construction to deliver energy efficient smart homes that reduce living costs for residents. Present Made’s first phase will see over 3,000 homes delivered as part of a £1.6bn pipeline, with a focus on suburban locations across the south of England. They have announced two schemes in the Arc, and their £215m scheme in Central Bedfordshire will see 650 homes delivered as well as an 87 acre country park.

Atkins, member of the SNC-Lavalin Group – Helen Dias, Technical Director, Strategic Planning

Commercially astute planner and chartered surveyor with over 35 years’ experience of delivering consents for development and infrastructure projects. Specialist expertise in viability, compulsory purchase, policy development and applied economic/ property market analyses.

Bidwells – Richard Todd, Partner

Richard has been integral to the success of the Oxfordshire property market over the last 15 years through his work in the education and science and technology sectors. As an industry leader used to delivering complex building projects in sensitive environments as well as flexible, fast-tracked laboratory facilities, Richard is at the front of the property industry pioneering a dynamic, problem-solving project management approach.

VU.CITY – Nikki Webber, Business Development Executive

Nikki Webber works in Business Development in the UK for VU.CITY, concentrating on the Home Counties and the South East, including Oxford & Cambridge. Having spent 5 years with a leading global property superbrand, Nikki’s move into Proptech brought with it her passion about places, and the innovative solutions making cities and buildings smarter. She now focuses on helping professionals in the built environment use 3D visualisation to better understand their proposals in the full context of our towns & cities, and prepare for the digitisation of planning.

Willmott Dixon – Richard Davidson, Director

Willmott Dixon is a privately-owned contracting and interior fit-out group. Founded in 1852, we have a purpose beyond profit to leave a positive legacy in our communities and environment. In 2018 we were one of only six companies to receive a Queen’s Awards for Enterprise in the promoting opportunity through social mobility category, we followed this in 2019 by winning another Queen’s Awards for Enterprise for sustainable development, our third award in total. Our commitment that there’s ‘no better place to enjoy a career of a lifetime’ saw Willmott Dixon come fourth in the Sunday Times Best Companies to work for list in 2019 and this was followed by being ranked number one for the UK in the FT’s first ever Diversity Leaders list for being an inclusive employer

Scott Brownrigg – Ed Hayden, Director

With an architectural career spanning 20 years, Ed has extensive experience in the commercial and science sectors and leads teams of designers, architects and technicians, championing zero carbon projects and design innovation within Scott Brownrigg and across the wider industry. With significant cross-sector experience including residential, defence, transport and education, Ed’s recent projects include Oxford Science Park, Cambridge Science Park Bio-Hub, Arm Headquarters, Peterhouse Technology Park, Cambridge international technology park, CABI Headquarters, and the award winning St Georges College Activity Centre.

Built Environment Networking – Amanda Griffiths, Director

Amanda is one of the Co-Founder’s of Built Environment Networking – formed almost 10 years ago.

She’ll be hosting throughout the day, running the days proceedings and managing the interaction between our delegates and the speakers.

Bidwells – Chris Pattison, Deputy Head of Planning

Bidwells is the leading property consultancy in the Oxford-Cambridge Arc – a region of global significance. We offer clients access to some of the most dynamic real estate markets with the highest growth potential in the UK. Our deep insight helps investors, developers and homeowners harness the benefits of the exceptional growth in these markets. Chris is a strategic Planner and has been delivering challenging client briefs across the Ox-Cam Arc, the South East and Scotland for more than 20 years. His strong track record in developing and managing multi-disciplinary project teams has seen him planning the delivery of major new mixed-use communities around the UK, including three sister new towns in the north east of Scotland, as well as complex projects in a congested medieval city like Oxford. Chris is also actively involved in the expansion of Letchworth Garden City, which will see 900 new homes brought forward over the next decade. His range of clients has included the University of Oxford and its Colleges, as well as MCC at Lord’s and the RFU at Twickenham.

Bidwells – Matt Allen FCIM, Business Development & Marketing Director

More information to follow.

Bidwells – Grant Westall-Reece, Partner, Head of Residential Development (Oxford)

More information to follow.