Speakers Day 1
Speakers Day 1
Sophie Taylor
Deputy Director of Finance and Procurement
Newport City Homes
@SophieTNCH
Sophie is the Deputy Director of Finance and Procurement at Newport City Homes, where she is the lead on all strategic, corporate, and operational aspects of financial accounting and planning, treasury management, and procurement, playing a key role in driving cultural and organisational change. Alongside this, she is the Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee at Valleys to Coast, where she has been involved in the re-design of the organisation’s approach to risk management, and provides robust oversight as the organisation goes through a period of restructure and change. She is the Chair of CHC’s Finance SDG, actively supporting CHC’s lobbying and advocacy work on key sector issues such as decarbonisation, rent policy, and the social housing grant regime. She has also recently been appointed to the Audit and Risk Management Committee of the National Housing Federation, giving further opportunities to influence housing policy at a national level.
Sarah Dickins
Sustainable Economics Adviser
@Sarah_Dickins
Award winning journalist and documentary producer, Sarah Dickins, has been analysing the UK economy as a BBC Correspondent for more than two decades. She left the BBC to set up her own business as a Sustainable Economics Adviser, working with companies and other organisations to help them overcome barriers to change and in particular barriers slowing down their transition to Net Zero.As a BBC correspondent in Wales and across the UK she delved under the skin of heavy industries like coal and steel, watched the growth of newer industries like the tech sector, financial services and consumer electronics. More recently, she has been reporting on the challenges of Net Zero, decarbonisation and building a sustainable and more resilient economy.For the last ten years, she has been the BBC’s Economics Correspondent for Wales working on television , radio and online. Before that she Presented BBC 2’s daily business programme , Working Lunch alongside Adrian Chiles and also BBC1’s Business Breakfast . She was recently named as one of Wales’ 100 Changemakers by the Future Generations Commission. She is also now a member of the Wales Net Zero 2035 group of experts , finding pathways to Net Zero faster than the current Welsh Government target of 2050.
Ruth Power
CEO
Shelter Cymru
@RuthPower10
Ruth has enacted a commitment to social justice in various service delivery, policy and leadership roles in the third and statutory sectors. She started out in local authority and housing association housing and homelessness services in Cardiff and London, and then set up and ran a women’s refuge, and a teenage mother and baby unit for a black-led housing association. After five years as London Director at Advice UK, she held national policy and commissioning roles in criminal justice. She worked with partners to improve housing, health and social care outcomes for prisoners and received a national award for developing alternatives to custody. Ruth joined Shelter Cymru as CEO during the pandemic.She chairs Homes for All Cymru and sits on the Ending Homelessness National Advisory Board, established by the Minister for Climate Change.
Hannah Richardson
Net Zero Engagement Officer
TPAS Cymru
@hannahTPAScymru
Hannah is the Net Zero Engagement Officer with TPAS Cymru and strives to learn and explore ways to get tenants involved with decarbonisation and climate change. She believes that tenants are at the heart of decarbonising Welsh housing, and that tenants deserve a seat at the table. This new role at TPAS Cymru has allowed Hannah to travel across Wales to learn more about different Net Zero projects and plans made by housing providers, leaving her with a sense of inspiration about the future of Net Zero. She is thrilled to see tenants wanting to get involved in Net Zero, and is humbled by the discussions held with housing staff on how Net Zero can help create happier, healthier, and efficient homes for all.
Mark Jones
Planning Engagement Officer
Planning Aid Wales
@planingaid
Mark is a Chartered Town Planner and member of the Royal Town Planning Institute. He has worked in both the public and private sectors and has been employed in town and country planning work since 1989. He has appeared as an expert witness at numerous public inquiries and also provided evidence for House of Commons and House of Lords Committees.Mark has worked with Planning Aid Wales for 5 years and he has extensive experience of devising community engagement projects. He has advised several local authorities on Local Development Plan engagement and leads the engagement work related to specific housing association projects. He has successfully delivered a number of Welsh Government funded projects to support community engagement in planning.
Jo Carter
Founder Director
ServiceWorks
@serviceworks4
Jo ran away from a secure job in local government in 2013 to co-found Satori Lab, where she further developed her passion for helping people design and operate public services that work for the people that use and deliver them - mostly in Wales. Rebranded ServiceWorks in March 2020 (just in time for Covid!), the Cardiff-based agency is known for its excellent training courses in user-centred service design. Helping people develop the mindset, tools and methods needed to design good services.She’s recently worked with United Welsh, Caredig, Valleys to Coast, Monmouthshire Housing Association, Companies House, Welsh Government, and Audit Wales.
Chris Jofeh
Chair
Independent Welsh Government advisory group on the decarbonisation of existing homes
Until April 2018, Chris was Arup’s global buildings retrofit leader, in which capacity he led the team that produced the 2016 report Towards the delivery of a national residential energy efficiency programme. This report proposed a series of steps to create the right conditions in which to halve the energy consumed in all UK homes within 25 years. He is now a consultant to Arup and chair of the independent Welsh Government advisory group on the decarbonisation of existing homes. He presented its “Better Homes, Better Wales, Better World” report to Welsh Ministers in July 2019 and in September 2019 they accepted every recommendation. Chris is now leading the work to advise the Welsh Government on the implementation of a national programme of residential decarbonisation.
Mark Doubler
Head of Property
Bron Afon Community Housing
Mark leads Bron Afon’s property service including a 150 strong DLO, asset management and landlord compliance teams as well as having responsibility for the organisation’s health and safety function. He’s currently working on a 15 year vision for the DLO which will set out Bron Afon’s commitment to delivering WHQS 2023 “in house” and maximising the opportunity for decarbonisation works.
As a former Head of Housing & Support, Mark is proud of his ability to put contract holders and customers at the heart of the work to improve the property service, focussing on delivering services that deliver great VFM and an excellent customer experience.
As a former Head of Housing & Support, Mark is proud of his ability to put contract holders and customers at the heart of the work to improve the property service, focussing on delivering services that deliver great VFM and an excellent customer experience.
Andrew Partington
Head of Partnerships
NetRet Group Ltd
Andrew is the Head of Partnerships at NetRet Group Ltd, establishing the company as the first TrustMark Scheme provider in Wales. NetRet offers a unique approach, providing training and vocational skills to retrofit personnel, enabling them to meet the vocational standards required for TrustMark and PAS certification.He excels in delivering large-scale training programs and driving market engagement to achieve targets. Working with governmental agencies, Andrew provides strategic support and commercial solutions driving growth and sustainability in the sector.His innovative solutions have successfully developed pathways for the social housing sector and contractors, nurturing a skilled workforce. With Andrew's leadership, NetRet is at the forefront of driving positive change in the industry.
Craig Sparrow
Executive Director of Development
ClwydAlyn Housing
Craig has worked in housing for 35 years mostly focused on housing development. Based in North Wales, he is currently Executive Director of Development for ClwydAlyn Housing with responsibility for a large development programme across 7 counties and also, part of the Executive Leadership Team. Craig is well known in the sector, the Chair of the Strategic delivery Group for Future Homes and an enthusiastic supporter of delivering the highest quality homes which are kind to our environment. Working with Welsh Government on a number of initiatives, including the delivery of the Carbon Zero Hub for Wales, he is passionate about partnership working and finding new and innovative ways to deliver more and better homes. Craig lives in North Wales, has two daughters and enjoys traveling.
Roisin Willmott
Director
Royal Town Planning Institute
@RTPICymru
Roisin is a Chartered Town Planner and a Director at the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), leading the RTPI’s policy and member services in Wales and Northern Ireland, and Planning Aid England.Roisin has held a number of positions in local government and the further education sector developing and delivering regeneration initiatives and has worked in economic and planning consultancy across the UK and Europe. In 2017, Roisin was awarded an OBE for services to planning in Wales.
Sarah Williams
Head of Corporate Strategy & PMO
Natural Resources Wales
Sarah leads the Corporate Strategy Department, and over the last 12 months has been focussed on the preparation of NRWs new corporate plan – Nature and People Thriving Together. A social scientist and economist with a PhD in environmental management from the University of Hull she has 25 years’ experience of working with complex environmental problems in the public sector, consultancy and academia. Having developed the new corporate plan, Sarah is focussed on the realignment of the NRW performance framework to ensure resources line up behind the three well-being objectives. Born and brought up as the fifth generation on a farm in mid Wales, Sarah has a deep understanding of the challenges facing Welsh rural and farming communities.Iwan is passionate about working in partnership, especially to address inequality and to create opportunities. His goal is to use his diverse skills to make a real and genuine difference - at Adra, Gafael Llaw and within his local community.
Paul Stevens
Executive Director
Centrus
@_Centrus
Paul is a founder of Centrus with over 25 years of corporate banking experience gained with Lloyds and Santander and advisory experience across capital raising & restructuring, M&A, treasury and derivatives. He has advised a range of organisations across different sectors, including housing, regeneration, real estate, education, healthcare and charities. Paul has an MBA from Henley where his final thesis focused on Corporate Social Responsibility and Effective Stakeholder Engagement.
Arun Poobalasingam
Head of Relationship Management
The Housing Finance Corporation
Arun joined THFC in August 2021 as Head of Relationship Management and Business Development. He joined from HSBC where he helped set up and then led their social housing business focusing predominantly on larger housing associations. Having started his career working at Diageo, he moved to Network Rail where starting as a financial modeller he moved on to the Treasury team that raised over £20bn of debt through the Global Capital Markets during his stint. He left in 2007 to join HSBC’s real estate team at an interesting time for the sector and specialised in property for most of his time there. At THFC he is responsible for the Relationship Management team across the UK.
Rachel Orgill-Harris
Partner
Devonshires
Rachel is a Partner in the Banking Team. She advises on a range of financial arrangements, including public bond issues, private placements, loan facilities, intra-group funding agreements, facility restructurings, group re-financings and interest rate derivatives.Rachel’s primary specialism is advising issuers on multi-million pound public bond issues and bond programmes and she often acts for clients on their retained bond sales and EMTN programme updates.Rachel also has significant experience in merger consents and refinancing having acted on the Southern Housing and Notting Hill Genesis amalgamations, amongst others.
Bethan Gladwyn
Partner, Head of Housing Management
Hugh James
Bethan is head of the housing management team as a result of her capability and specialist knowledge in her field of law, having exclusively practised in the area of social housing and anti-social behaviour since qualification in 2003.A specialist in social housing law and practice, anti-social behaviour and landlord and tenant (residential), Bethan assisted in setting up Wales’s first anti-social behaviour unit at Hugh James. She has over 15 years’ experience advising local authorities and registered social landlords on all issues of housing management and tenancy enforcement, particularly in relation to measures to combat nuisance and anti-social behaviour.
Harry Cursham
Managing Director/Founder
Vivus Solutions
Harry has amassed almost 40 years’ experience in traditional building work and lime across the UK and Europe. This unique experience and learning led to ‘The Vivus Solution’ and the combined use of appropriate materials & techniques in order to achieve our “modern” urgently needed requirements. Vivus is now engaged in the Social Housing Sector, supplying and installing Vivus developed EWI air-lime render and plain render, that work in conjunction with the existing. The EWI is now demonstrating standards changing performance as a resolution to underperforming older buildings. Cold – Damp & Mould resolution leading to better health and fuel poverty reduction, Carbon efficiency, energy efficiency – the list is almost endless. Harry believes that ALL older buildings are worth treating, can be properly treated and encouraged to perform in the way that historically they were designed - to protect the occupants – why else were they built? “By protecting them, they in turn protect us.”
Helen White
Chief Executive
Taff Housing
Helen is Chief Executive of Taff Housing based in Canton, Cardiff. They provide homes and services to over 5,000 people across South East Wales. Helen is passionate about providing great homes and services. She is also a board member at Careers Wales, the Cymru Football Foundation and TPAS Wales.
Siân Diaz
Development Director
Linc Cymru
@diaz_sian
Siân Diaz, Development Director leads the Linc Development Team with responsibility for the delivery of the organisation’s new build affordable homes programme across South Wales. She also oversees the organisation’s Social Value and Community Benefits activities and is driven by providing maximum positive impacts from the projects Linc delivers.Before joining Linc in September 2021 Siân held the position of Senior Development Manager at Lovell where she had worked for over 16 years. She started her career with Countryside Properties as a Graduate in 1999.Siân holds a degree in Town and Regional Planning, a Surveying Diploma and is a Chartered RICS Surveyor (Planning & Development).She is extremely passionate about housing, development and regeneration and is driven by her desire to make a positive change to people’s lives by delivering sustainable communities.
Louise Attwood
Executive Director of Property
Linc Cymru
Louise Attwood and her team are responsible for delivering the organisation’s new business and growth strategy across our social and market rental products as well as Linc’s independent living business. In addition Louise is also responsible for the leadership and performance of Linc’s Asset Management, Health & Safety and Community Regeneration Teams.
Debansu Das
Business Development Director
Zed Pods Limited
@debansudas
Debansu is passionate about housing, sustainability, and diversity. He advocates offsite construction in the social housing sector through Partnership and Collaborative working.He also champions Social Value for Zed Pods, a specialist SME contractor who designs and builds zero-carbon modular housing schemes for vulnerable households.
Debansu acts as a catalyst to bring these projects into fruition, helps clients to overcome barriers and unlock constrained sites for social-rented homes. He works with all stakeholders, from decision makers to project managers, from policy makers to local communities, to deliver economic benefits, uplift social equity, and protect the environment.
He has over two decades of experience in this sector and champions equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in workplaces, amongst supply chains and resident communities. He is the Chairman of “Housing Diversity Network”, which specialises in providing in-house training on EDI and helping individuals to build confidence through well-renowned “mentoring” programs.
Debansu acts as a catalyst to bring these projects into fruition, helps clients to overcome barriers and unlock constrained sites for social-rented homes. He works with all stakeholders, from decision makers to project managers, from policy makers to local communities, to deliver economic benefits, uplift social equity, and protect the environment.
He has over two decades of experience in this sector and champions equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in workplaces, amongst supply chains and resident communities. He is the Chairman of “Housing Diversity Network”, which specialises in providing in-house training on EDI and helping individuals to build confidence through well-renowned “mentoring” programs.
Imran Mubeen
Director of Treasury
Bromford
Imran leads the treasury team at Bromford Housing Group, a housing association with over 46,000 homes serving over 100,000 customers in the West Midlands and West of England. Imran has raised over £1bn of new funding with UK and overseas investors, issuing the group’s debut public bond and inaugural private placement. He has pioneered sustainable finance, delivering the first green and governance linked loans in the social housing sector. Imran published Bromford’s accredited sustainable finance framework and established the group’s sustainability impact report which is now delivered annually. Imran continues to drive Bromford’s sector leading dual credit rating platform with Moody’s (A2) and S&P (A+) and is a key driver of thought leadership in the sector on all matters related to finance and treasury.
Ian Walters
Head of Regulation
Welsh Government
Tori James
Adventurer & Speaker
Tori James is the first Welsh woman to climb Mount Everest. Tori stars in the BBC documentary ‘On Top of the World’ and she is also the author of ‘Peak Performance’. In 2005 she was a member of the Pink Lady PoleCats, the first all- female team to complete a gruelling 360 mile race to the Magnetic North Pole. In June 2014 Tori was part of the Beeline Britain team who became the first to travel in a straight line from Land’s End to John O’Groats. This 1,100km journey involved a record- breaking sea kayak and is documented in the award-winning film “As The Crow Flies”. Tori lives in Cardiff. She is an adventurer and motivational speaker. Tori is the President of Girlguiding Cymru, a Fellow of British Exploring and an ambassador for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in Wales.