Expert Panels

As we enter 2026, London’s built environment faces a year of opportunity, renewal and challenge.

With policy shifts, market pressures and climate ambition reshaping how we work, the industry continues to show resilience and purpose.

We are delighted to launch the refreshed NLA Expert Panels for 2026, welcoming new members alongside returning experts. Together with the NLA Sounding Boards, this cohort will help advance the New London Agenda, shaping research, debate and practical solutions across our programmes.

Thank you to all departing panellists, and a warm welcome to this year’s cohort.

Built Environment Technology

Technology and the use of data are already transforming how people live in cities. Innovation in technology used in the built environment can contribute to addressing critical issues such as reducing carbon emissions, improving mobility and promoting more effective community engagement approaches. London is a hub of innovation and the need to harness the potential of technology to create a better city needs to be supported by the right policies, governance and collaboration. This Panel focuses on how technology and better use of data can contribute to create a better city while addressing the challenges that the adoption of new technology brings with it.

Chair: Nissa Shahid, Arup

Andrew Brown, Stantec
Andrew Victory, Broadway Malyan
Camilla Siggaard Andersen, Occasio Insights

Jenny Obee, Related Argent

Katherine Chimenes, Price & Myers

Maheer Khan, Futurecity

Nick Dunn, PRP

Radhika Trivedi, PUBLIC
Simon Long, Greater London Authority

Stewart Bailey, Virtual Viewing
Yalena Coleman, Buro Happold

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Culture

Existing and developing cultural infrastructures that represent and support the diversity and talent of the creative industries in cities lie at the heart of London’s identity as a global cultural city and its continued contribution to the city’s economy.

Chair: Adriana Marques, Peabody
Adala Leeson, Historic England
Anna Vickery, London Borough of Wandsworth
Caroline Hanson, Culture Mile BID
Chantelle Purcell, HiveCurates
Emma Markiewicz, City of London Corporation
Kirsten Dunne, Greater London Authority
Louise Page-Jenning, Yoo Capital
Lucy Picardo, Haworth Tompkins

Mark Davy, Futurecity
Maia Ardalla, British Film Institute
Rikki Weir, London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Simon Glynn, HOLBA
Stella Ioannou, Lacuna
Tamsin Ace, Eastbank
Tom Branton, Earls Court Development Company

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Education

Focusing on the future needs of the education, healthcare and knowledge economy sector, The Panel will explore how we make sure we plan and design the right spaces for high tech, life sciences and innovation that will lead the UK economic recovery in the future years.

Chair: Cora Kwiatkowski, Stride Treglown

Alicia Egan, London Borough of Bromley
Daniel Walder, BDP
Joyce Yazbeck, HLM Architects
Julia Gollings, Department of Education
Julie Désormiers, Jestico + Whiles
Juliet Hook, KSS Group
Kathryn Topham, Harris Federation

Mark Jennings, Exigere
Melissa Jogie, University of Roehampton
Minesh Varia, Hoare Lea
Peter Ward, King's College London
Polly Persechino, South London Partnership
Samantha Cooke, KPF
Tom Morgan, Bell Phillips

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Healthcare

The healthcare sector is set to see a new level of government investment not seen in over a decade. This Panel will focus on the delivery of new healthcare buildings for London, best practice in design, health and adaptability, as well as the opportunities for wider regeneration and integration into the urban environment.

Chair: Anisha Mayor, WSP

Dave Bell, Natural England
Geoff Southern, Arcadis
Prof Grant Mills, UCLH’s the Bartlett School Lead for Health
Hannah Brewster, ADP Architecture
Kate Orwin, City of London
Kemi Owoeye, Willmott Dixon Construction Ltd
Kerry Branford, GLA
Magali Thomson, Great Ormond Street
Mat Proctor, HTA Design
Paul Hanna, Hoare Lea
Richard Grove, RWDI
Sophie Crocker, White Arkitekter
Vasiliki Plati, Ryder Architecture

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High Streets

The retail and hospitality sector faces an unprecedented era of flux. Probably one of the sectors most affected by COVID-19, the successive lockdowns and social distancing measures drove the collapse of retail giants and the drop in international tourism left food and beverage outlets and hotels with minimum occupancy rates, causing central business districts to lose their vibrancy. The Panel will focus on how the built environment sector can adapt successfully and promote the recovery of London’s town centres and high streets?

Chair: Rumi Bose, Rumi Bose Ltd

Chris Simmons, HOK
Cristina Gaidos, GLA
Daisy Narayanan MBE, The Crown Estate
Giorgia Scognamiglio, LB Lambeth
Greg Lyons, Regal
James Dixon, Darling associates
Matt Sims, HOLBA
Michael Clark, Hadley Property Group
Michael Cowdy, MOOWD
Mihaela Shehova, Child Graddon Lewis
Nona Jones, DP9

Rose Jump, PRD

Steven Medway, Knightsbridge Partnership

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Housing

Delivering the quality and quantity of housing Londoners need remains perhaps the biggest challenge for London. This Panel will focus on developing thought-leadership around housing design and the impact that the coronavirus pandemic is likely to have in shaping housing design in the future; moving on with the Net Zero agenda across our housing stock; housing tenure including housing for key workers; and the future delivery of housing through offsite technology.

Chair: Miranda Mclaren, Orms
Areta Soare, Howells
Colin Ross, Countryside Partnerships (Vistry Group)
David Stronge, Peabody
Freya Turtle, Turley
Jennie Coombs, London Borough of Barking Dagenham - Be First
Jo McCafferty, Levitt Bernstein

Karen Scurlock, Places for London

Kathryn Woolley, Buro Happold
Lizzie Le Mare, Tibbalds

Lydia Liu, Threefold Architects

Matthew Hayes, Montagu Evans

Michael Gozo, Greater London Authority

Simon Hodson, JLL

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Industrial & Logistics

Supporting the urban logistics that keep the capital functioning, The Panel will examine the evolution of London’s industrial and logistics sectors which support London as a world-leading centre and in its post-COVID recovery.

Chair: Catriona Fraser, Turley

Anke Boehme, London Borough of Hillingdon
Anna Sinnott, BeFirst
Blazej Czuba, Maccreanor Lavington
Francis Moss, Ealing Council
Katie Parfitt, HLM Architects
Kit Cope, DMWR Architects
Louis Smith-Lassey, GLA
Mike Teague, Corstorphine & Wright

Nick Steens, Savills

Patrick Shannon, London Borough of Waltham Forest
Sophie Schofield, SEGRO

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Innovation Districts

London and the Golden Triangle contains the strongest biosciences cluster in Europe studying genomics, digital health, artificial intelligence in healthcare, and neuroscience; the greatest concentration of top universities in the world; as well as clusters of global tech companies. This panel will develop findings from NLA’s recent Knowledge Networks report, to focus on the design and delivery of spaces for the science, tech and innovation sectors to support the burgeoning knowledge economy, and the clustering of businesses across the region to foster innovation.

Chair: Elie Gamburg, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates

Dr Angela Kukula, MedCity
Amanda Robinson, PRD
Anna Wai, Price & Myers
Borane Gille, The Business of Cities
Caroline Wilson, London Borough of Islington
Francesca Colloca, LLDC
Iulia Fratila, Fletcher Priest Architects
Katherine Fieldgate, Imperial College London
Lorna Edwards, RSHP
Matt Blades, London Borough of Lambeth
Nathan Davies, Greater London Authority
Neil Stevens, Exigere
Stephen Lorimer, Spatial Sound & Guidance Co

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Net Zero

To meet the Paris Agreement declaration the Mayor of London has declared a climate emergency, committing to become carbon neutral by 2050. This Panel will focus on understanding the priorities for London to achieve Net Zero, and the role that the built environment has to play in meeting this target. Topics of focus will include London and local leadership, adaptability and flexibility of building stock, resilience and green infrastructure, and a prioritising a green recovery for London.

Chair: Gareth Atkinson, Civic Engineers

Alice Jackson, Hoare Lea
Ellen Hadden, Places for London
Gregor Haran, LandsecU+i
Hannah Jameson, London Councils
Julia Yao, BDP
Kartikeya Rajput, PRP
Kate Neale, City of London Corporation
Megan Life, GLA

Pru Ashby, London & Partners

Pushpa Arabindoo, UCL
Rachel Hoolahan, ORMS
Syreeta Bayne, Muse
Weiwei Song, AtkinsRéalis

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Planning

The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the digitalisation of the planning system, leading to significant, and potentially long-lasting, changes in the way we approach consultation and accessibility of information and data. This Panel will focus on best practice in the planning system to support London’s development, including new approaches to community consultation and trust in the development process; accessibility and transparency of data; the role of local and regional plans; and how the planning system can better support London’s economic recovery.

Chair: Craig Tabb, DP9 Limited

Alastair Butcher, Barratt London
Azzees Minott, 2-3 Degrees
Emma Dandy, Earls Court Development Company
Isabelle Asante, Muse
Joel Cohen, Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government
John Stiles, Brent Council
Lisa Fairmaner, Arup
Matthew Evans, Forsters
Michaela Winter-Taylor, Gensler
Nicholle Kingsley, Mishcon de Reya
Nina Miles, GLA
Raffaele Patitucci, HOK

Robyn Prince, Vistry Group

Tarun Cheema, Centro Planning Consultancy

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View the 2024 White Paper

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Retrofit & Conservation

Discussing the ongoing challenge of retrofitting and preserving London’s existing building stock, reviewing the impact of new policies in reducing carbon emissions, considering adaptive reuse and extending the life and heritage of historic buildings.

Chair: Andrew Henriques, Buckley Gray Yeoman
Alan Gardner, Historic England
Amy Doherty, Permasteelisa Group
Anja Schellenbauer, John Robertson Architects
Conor Worth, WilkinsonEyre
Fiona Batha, Hilson Moran
Genevieve Arblaster-Hulley, Kensington and Chelsea
Kiru Balson, Max Fordham
Rachael Owens, National Retrofit Hub

Scott Crease, Introba UK

Tom Burke, City of Westminster

William Swales, Barr Gazetas

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Tall Buildings

London is now a city of tall buildings, a city traditionally associated with a low-rise, low-density character. In the past decade, major new clusters of tall buildings have emerged in areas such as Nine Elms, Elephant and Castle, the Isle of Dogs and the City of London. And still more are to come, with a pipeline of over 500 tall buildings either in planning, approved or under construction in the capital. NLA has played a vital role in this debate and this Panel will play in key role in developing NLA’s contribution, including placemaking and environmental impacts of towers, construction of towers post Grenfell, and attitudes to tall buildings for those living and working in the capital.

Chair: Aulikki Sonntag, Staticus

Amelia Bryant, Engenuiti
Audrey McIver, WSP
Dr Chris Miele, Montagu Evans
Claire Brady, Historic England
Dalibor Savovic, DeSimone
Danny Brumby, Otis
James Keogh, GLA
Jonathan Ly, Canary Wharf Group
Kye Taylor, Multiplex

Michael Forrester, London Borough of Lewisham

Peter Vrahimis, AFK Studios

Rob McNicol, City of London Corporation

Stuart Marsh, SOM

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Technical Competency

In the aftermath of Grenfell, the relationship between architects, project managers and contractors’ roles the delivery of buildings is under question. In a world dominated by BIM the building team need to understand how different elements of their buildings go together. This Panel will share thought-leadership on improving technical competency in the detailed design and delivery of buildings in London, and advise NLA on the development of a new technical programme. Topics of focus will include fire safety and material performance, building regulations and procurement, modern methods of construction, digital collaboration, and training and education.

Chair: Stephen Workman, AtkinsRéalis

Arita Morris, CGL
Barry Coughlan, Be First - London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
Ben Burgess, Atelier Ten
Ben Oram, Buckley Gray Yeoman
Damian Fennell, MaxQ

Festus Moffat, John Robertson Architects

Gordon Roy, City of London Corporation
Lucy Atlee, Places for London
Matthew Harrison, Mott Macdonald
Rebecca Campbell, Studio PDP
Riah Wilkinson, Cundall
Ruth King, Allford Hall Monaghan Morris
Simón Santamaria, Stantec

Thérèse Marie Rodgers, Forsters LLP

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Transport & Infrastructure

The Mayor of London has launched ambitious new plans that will dramatically transform London’s streets to accommodate new cycle lanes and space for walking. As lockdown restrictions are eased, public transport will face challenges to respond to social distancing rules while meeting demand. This Panel will focus on the future of mobility and modal share of streets for all users, as well as the impact of transport infrastructure in unlocking growth and accessibility across the capital.

Chair: Shadi Shekarrizi, AECOM
Alice Duperrey, Momentum Transport Consultancy
Amy Tempest, GLA
Anthony Leslie, AtkinsRéalis
Jason Fowler, Gardiner & Theobald
Leah Stuart, Civic
Mark Powers, SLR
Miles Price
Paul Thompson, RSHP
Raffaella Rospo, WW+P
Rebecca Evans, ING Media
Tom Gray, Ordnance Survey

Ushma Samani, Network Rail

Victoria Spashett, Be First

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Work

The way we work in the capital is changing, requiring workspaces that are agile and responsive to flexible and hybrid working patterns. This Panel considers what the future holds for London’s office space, taking into account changes in worker behaviours and travelling patterns.

The panel contemplates how adaptive reuse could be applied to existing office buildings and consider the benefits of mixed, hybrid use developments for connecting workspaces with local communities and economies. Looking long term, the panel explores how office requirements, space standards, and consideration of flexibility, sustainability and wellbeing can effectively future proof workspaces.

Chair: Louise Ioannou, HB Reavis

Andrew Morrison, Hopkins Architects
Becky Spenceley, Gensler
Charlotte McManus, Newmark
Dolunay Dogahan, CO-RE
Frances Brown, Cundall
June Koh, Cushman & Wakefield
Lorna Keegan, New West End Company

Mike Burton, AECOM
Nicola Zech-Behrens, Ballymore

Peter Wilson, City of London Corporation

Rianna Reid, Fletcher Priest Architects

Tom Lacey, Barr Gazetas

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