Panellists

Dominic Grace

Conference Chair

Dominic was at Savills for 37 years and until mid-2021 headed its very successful London Residential Development Department, which comprised c.140 professionals, providing consultancy and sales capability on land and residential product, covering both private and affordable accommodation for private and public sector clients. He also managed Savills UK wide New Homes business for 10 years and sat on Savills UK Boards for over 20 years.

Dominic now has his own advisory business to bring to bear his extensive knowledge of the processes involved in the residential development and investment sector. He is passionate about innovation, good design and architecture, with contacts with many residential/commercial developers, landowners, PropTech players and other consultants.

Rob Perrins

Chief Executive, Berkeley Group

Rob joined Berkeley in 1994. He has been a Main Board member since 2001 and Chief Executive since 2009, having previously been CFO from 2002. Under his management, Berkeley has increasingly focused on transforming large scale brownfield sites which are beyond the scope of conventional homebuilders.

Rob has worked extensively in property development throughout his career, working on projects ranging from single houses to mixed-use neighbourhoods with more than 10,000 homes. Rob champions Berkeley’s operating culture and values, which are based on customer focus, individual design, exceptional placemaking and a commitment to delivery for all stakeholders. He oversees a highly disciplined but decentralised operating structure that fosters accountability and innovation, chairing the boards of all Berkeley Group operating companies.

Rob has been Chair of Trustees of the Berkeley Foundation since its launch in 2011. This independent charity which works in close partnership with the Berkeley Group to maximise its positive social impacts.

Other appointments
Chair of Trustees, Berkeley Foundation (since 2011).
Governor, Marlborough College (since 2021)

Joanna Averley

Chief Planner, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Richard Donnell

Research & Insight Director, Zoopla

Richard is a leading property industry figure best known for delivering insight and strategic advice on the residential and mortgage markets. He also has a deep understanding of how technology and data can unlock insight and business value across the housing and mortgage lifecycle.

Richard runs Zoopla’s research function leveraging Zoopla’s unique data assets and consumer insights to provide market leading insight for customers, industry and Government. He is also executive lead for the property division’s data strategy in addition to Zoopla’s ESG strategy.

Richard started his career at Savills in 1994, moving to data and analytics business Hometrack in 2006 which was acquired by ZPG Plc in 2017. ZPG Plc was acquired by global private equity investor SilverLake in 2018. Zoopla is the property division of ZPG Ltd which delivers market leading property marketing services and software solutions for businesses and consumers across the property lifecycle.

Katy Warrick

Director, Head of London Residential Research, Savills

Katy leads the Savills London residential development research team of three researchers, advising on regeneration sites in outer London boroughs through to luxury developments in prime central London.

Katy joined the Savills residential research team in 2011 specialising in the new build market, in particular the supply pipeline and opportunities. In 2014 she spent three months on secondment in Singapore, and travelling the region, to better understand overseas buyer demand for London property.
Katy presents market trends to a wide range of global developers, property companies, housing associations, investors and lenders, as well as industry conferences. She regularly presents to overseas developers, banks, and high net worths across the globe - in Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Bangkok, Shanghai and Beijing.

Gavin Barwell

Former Housing Minister & Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister, Founder, Northstar

Claire Dutch

Partner, Head of Real Estate, Ashurst

Claire Dutch is a partner and Head of UK Real Estate at international law firm Ashurst LLP. She is also Co-Head of the firm's Planning and Environment group.
Claire has been described in the legal directories as “amongst the top planning lawyers in the country” and an "extraordinary talent". For over 20 years, she has advised the public and private sector on some of the country’s most notable and iconic development and infrastructure projects for The Crown Estate, Ballymore, British Land, Berkeley, Lendlease amongst others.:
Claire is the Chair of the British Property Federation’s Planning Committee. In 2020, she was the only lawyer to give evidence as a planning expert to DLUCH's parliamentary select committee on planning reform.
Claire was awarded "Planning Lawyer of the Year 2022" by Best Lawyers for her work in planning in London.

Mark Farmer

Founder & CEO, Cast

Pat Hayes

Executive Director of Regeneration, Housing & Environment, Slough Borough Council

Michelle Parry

Head of Development Finance, Homes England

Michelle has spent just under 20 years working in banking and finance, most of which she has specialised in Real Estate and Housing more specifically. As a Director in the RBS Corporate Bank she managed a portfolio of medium-sized housebuilders, providing lending for individual sites and supporting these developers with their first balance sheet loans. Having taken a career break to start a family, she joined Homes England in 2019 where she is now Head of Development Finance. She leads a national team tasked with deploying the agency’s £2bn Homes Building Fund that provides loans to SME developers.