Manchester State of the Market

Paul Dennett, became Salford’s second directly elected City Mayor in May 2016. The role gives him overall responsibility for the delivery of all council services and for setting the budget. He is also tasked with developing strong working relationships with partners across the city from community groups and the voluntary sector to business and investment. He recently sanctioned significant council investment in two private sector office developments and made a 24-hour trip to MIPIM to launch The Crescent masterplan opportunity with the University of Salford. On the Greater Manchester Combined Authority he is lead member for Housing, Planning and Homelessness which puts him at the forefront of the region’s controversial Spatial Framework. A second version is due next month (June) which will be followed by 12 weeks public consultation.

James Heather was appointed by U+I in March 2017 to deliver the £850 million regeneration of Manchester city centre’s Mayfield. Previously a partner with Argent, where he spent 17 years, he was responsible for the delivery of several transformational projects including No1 St Peter’s Square in Manchester and elements of Brindleyplace in Birmingham. He left Argent in 2014 to start his own venture, Rotherwood Property Development.

Following a 17 year career in consulting with Accenture Neil joined Uber in summer 2015, initially to launch and run the business on Merseyside. Operating in more than 25 major cities and towns across the UK, Uber connects users to a safe and convenient ride at the touch of an app. Neil is now Uber's Head of Cities across the North of England. In this role he is responsible for ensuring Uber's service delivers maximum value for riders, partner-drivers that use the app and the cities in which we operate across Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Yorkshire and the North East.

Mr. Adam Higgins, Msc Mrics serves as Director of Retail & Leisure at Capital & Centric Plc. Mr. Higgins served as Development Director of Ask Developments Ltd. Mr. Higgins is responsible for the development and letting of the 50,000 sq ft Rossetti Place office scheme in Manchester City Centre along with taking forward the £40m mixed-use Castlefield Quay scheme , the £12m Sheffield city centre fine-dining and café bar led Leopold Square refurbishment and the redevelopment of Urmston Shopping Centre. Prior to joining Ask in October 2001, Mr. Higgins spent 7 years at Peel Holdings Plc and was responsible for delivering in excess of £100m worth and 650,000 sq ft of commercial, retail and residential development. His wit and a daily bowl of porridge provide the ingredients for a totally committed attitude.

James Evans is Head of Office at Savills, Manchester. James specialises in office agency and development and has over the last decade been involved in schemes such as 1 Piccadilly Gardens, Piccadilly Place, One St Peters Square and First Street. James’ clients consist of a number of successful regional businesses including Bruntwood, ASK, GMPVF and Worthington Properties along with a variety of London based funds and companies such as Aviva, L&G, Patrizia and Helical Bar.

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James Onions is director and head of the Manchester office at independent building consultancy Paragon. He has 20 years’ expertise in development monitoring, project management and technical due diligence, with previous experience at Colliers International, Capital Project Control and NHS Estates. Paragon has revenues of £12.2m and employs more than 100 people across its offices in Manchester, London and Edinburgh. James founded the consultancy’s Manchester office in 2015 and the company now employs 20 people from its Freetrade Exchange base. Outside of work, James is an enthusiastic cyclist and golfer and is first to admit both are very much work in progress. James lives with his wife and three children.

Anthony Leonard is Managing Director of Hines UK with responsibility for sourcing new investment and development projects. His focus is on retail, regional office and logistics real estate. In the UK, Hines has advised on more than four million square feet of projects acquired, completed or in the pipeline, with a total portfolio under management valued at in excess of £2 billion. The company’s UK portfolio of commercial assets under management includes a wide range office, retail, and student housing assets.

Mary is the Director of Transactions for WeWork where she negotiates the leasing deals throughout Europe under which WeWork operates its premises. She specialises in real estate and has previously worked with and advised major European developers, landowners and retailers, including British Land, The Crown Estate, SuperDry and Marks & Spencer. Before joining WeWork, Mary set up and ran an Asset Management Team at a large European law firm. She also lectured at Graduate Law School, worked as a real estate lawyer at an American law firm for several years and lived in Marseille for a year where she worked for a large retailer. Mary earned her Masters Degree in in French and German from the University of Cambridge and her legal qualifications to practise as a lawyer from Chester College of Law. Mary comes from Liverpool and now lives in North London with her husband and 2 children. She is passionate about gender diversity and equality for women in the workplace and is an active member of the RE Women Group. In her spare time, she enjoys going to the gym to lift weights!

Mark Bruno is Managing Director (UK) at Datscha and has over 20 years’ experience working in the technology and property markets in the UK, US and Asia. Prior to joining Datscha in 2015 he founded Auberon Partners, a niche consulting practice in property and leisure, and Studio-Q Developments a boutique high-end residential developer. He has held a variety of product management and business development roles in the technology sector while working in Silicon Valley, New York and Hong Kong. Mark holds a BA (Hons) in Economics and Fine Arts from Georgetown University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Ian is an assurance partner specialising in providing audit, assurance and financial reporting services with particular expertise advising organisations in the real estate sector. Ian works with a wide range of clients from owner-managed SMEs to global businesses including private equity backed companies. An FCA with over 10 years audit experience alongside extensive commercial experience working for Land Securities Group PLC, a FTSE 100 listed Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) and DEXUS Property Group, one of Australia’s leading real estate groups with exposure to commercial, industrial and retail assets along with capital management. Ian is a member of Investment Property Forum and a member of Forum for the Built Environment.

Tony Skipper is a Director of 5plus Architects, leading the practice’s emerging portfolio within the public, culture and education sectors. For over 20 years he has conceived and delivered many award-winning projects across all sectors, latterly working extensively within the Higher Education sector. His particular interest and specialism is in the design of public, academic and research led environments and campus planning for many universities and cultural institutions. He has developed major new build, adaptive re-use, and masterplan schemes across the UK and overseas and is currently working on an extensive masterplan for the City of Salford and University of Salford. Prior to joining 5plus Architects, Tony spent 15 years at John McAslan + Partner’s (JMP), a highly acclaimed international practice, working nationally and internationally across a wide range of projects, including a new building for the British School in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; a new research-based botanical garden in Dongguan, China and the new School of Engineering for the University of Lancaster. Tony has taught, or been a visiting critic at Schools of Architecture at universities in Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield and was an External Examiner at the Leeds School of Architecture from 2005 – 2010. He is currently Visiting Practice Professor at Sheffield University and Design Review Panel member of Places Matter!, an organization working with the private and public sector to promote good design and strong client leadership.