CHAIR
Jo McCafferty, Director, Levitt Bernstein
With vast experience of designing and delivering innovative housing, Jo is adept at steering projects through complex planning processes and advising clients on design and quality standards. Her key role has been to champion imaginative housing solutions; an approach that has been rewarded with numerous awards and competition wins, including Vaudeville Court in Islington and Aberfeldy Village regeneration in Poplar. She sits on Design Review Panels for Lewisham, Hackney, Newham, Croydon, the Design Council and Urban Design London, and is also co-author of the second edition of The Housing Design Handbook, published in 2018.

Having joined Catalyst in 2017, Adunni has been a Head of Delivery for the past 18 months where she leads a team managing a multi-tenure development delivery programme with projects across London and the south east. She is passionate about delivering homes people love, emphasising high quality materials and work standards across all her projects. She has over 17 years’ experience in the sector, having worked in a number of roles at A2Dominion. 

She is currently leading on the delivery of Catalyst’s regeneration of the Wornington Green Estate in North Kensington, as well as the redevelopment of the Webb’s Industrial Estate (also known as Blackhorse Yard) in Waltham Forest, working in collaboration Swan Housing. 

Outside of housing, Adunni is heavily involved with the Notting Hill Carnival and sits as chair on an advisory council to the carnival organisers. 

Caroline Harper, Chief Planner, London Borough of Barking & Dagenham / Be First       
Caroline is a strategic thinker who pays attention to detail, has a great love for cities and the built environment and enjoys working with good people who like to get things done.  She has experience working with public and private sector clients on a wide range of projects including residential-led planning applications, planning strategy and risk advice and utilising planning to optimise site value.  At Be First, the urban regeneration vehicle for the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham, she is growing a planning super service combining public and private to include the core services that you’d expect of a local planning authority (Development Management, Policy, Building Control etc), and planning consultancy. 

Dipa Joshi, Partner, Fletcher Priest Architects and Mayor's Design Advocate. 

Dipa is an architect with 25 years’ experience in various sectors and is passionate about building better communities.  A board member of Catalyst Gateway Housing Trust, she has worked in Regeneration for the London Borough of Brent.  As MDA she is on the Housing and Equality, Diversity & Inclusion steering groups.

At Fletcher Priest Architects she drives diverse, sustainable, quality design on a range of mixed-use residential projects.

Heather Macey, Associate, John McAslan + Partners 
Heather is an Associate Director at John McAslan & Partners, a teacher at the London School of Architecture and founding member of Architects Aware! a London based think tank dedicated to addressing the homeless crisis.

She is a leading member of the practice’s residential, and mixed-use studio overseeing a number of international mixed-use schemes ranging in scale and typology. Heather also runs the practices initiative studio developing pro-bono initiatives internationally and in the U.K. Heather is passionate about ethical design and seeking new opportunities to develop high-quality socially responsive architecture. Heather is also involved in several teaching and research groups, she has given lectures and written articles on residential design, the housing and homeless crisis.

James Pargeter, Senior Director, Projects, Greystar   
James has over 20 years’ experience of delivering homes across the tenure spectrum, most recently within the Build to Rent sector with Greystar. He has a broad appreciation of priorities for residents, local communities and policymakers in delivering successful developments that have placemaking at their heart. James is a regular speaker and commentator on residential issues and has been a member of numerous sector working groups over many years.

John Lewis, Managing Director, Modular Housing, AECOM     
John Lewis is a senior executive at AECOM, with over 30 years’ experience developing and leading design, project management and construction businesses. Transforming our construction industry through better processes, high quality design and increased productivity is the focus of AECOM’s modular housing solution, INNO. And, as part of a joint venture partnership with RSHP, John is responsible for bringing together the team responsible for the design, engineering, cost and project management, manufacturing, assembly and construction of INNO, an off-site volumetric solution that out-performs current standards and delivers quality housing for all. With previous experience, as a project manager, leading teams across the UK, Middle East, India and Asia John is currently working with investors, developers, real estate owners and city and local authorities to integrate INNO into our cities and communities.

Linda Thiel, Director of London Studio, White Arkitekter
Linda has 20 years’ experience in architecture and urban design, including a wealth of experience in housing design, particularly in urban contexts. She currently leads several high-density housing projects in London and the north of England. Her work embodies a Scandinavian approach to designing homes and neighbourhoods to meet the growing challenge of urbanisation. With emphasis on density and quality living, she pursues the values of high-quality public space to provide the foundation for long-term sustainable solutions and places that empower people.

Melissa Dowler, Director, Bell Phillips Architects
Melissa is a director of Bell Phillips Architects, a 35-person practice based in Wapping with an award-winning portfolio of housing projects based in London and the South-East and a client list including many of the London boroughs. Melissa has extensive experience in designing regeneration and residential schemes, as well as urban design, public buildings and public realm.  She is a passionate advocate for raising the standards of residential design in the public sector and has a particular interest in the role of residential development as a catalyst for regeneration across the city. 

Fergus Evans, Project Director, Estate Development Programme, Grosvenor
Fergus leads a number of residential and mixed-use projects in Victoria and Belgravia, most notably the Cundy Street Quarter which would deliver 163 affordable and market homes, specialist senior living accommodation with a range of ground floor uses alongside significant public realm improvements.  He previously led the masterplan design of Grosvenor’s 1,500 home build to rent scheme in Bermondsey and asset managed a dynamic portfolio on the fringes of Victoria, including Eccleston Yards.  Fergus co-chairs the ULI Development Forum.

Russ Edwards, Head of Product, Residential, Lendlease
Russ is a qualified architect with over 15 years in award winning architectural practice, including 8 years with RIBA Stirling Award winning practice dRMM. 

As Head of Product - Residential, he is tasked with ensuring quality across the European residential portfolio, including responsibility for digital design and the regional Design for Manufacture & Assembly (DfMA) strategy. 

Russ is a Trustee with ‘action-learning’ housing and social injustice charity Commonweal Housing and a speaker/mentor with Speakers 4 Schools.

Peter Elliott, Head of Property Development, TfL
Having joined Transport for London in 2013, Peter jointly runs the Property Development team in transforming TfL property, and delivering circa 10m sq.ft. of development over the next ten years.

Peter is currently engaged on major schemes in Victoria, Edgware Road, Whitechapel and Hammersmith, exemplifying the new approach TfL is taking to asset management and land redevelopment, whilst delivering regeneration projects in Northwood, and numerous other outer London centres. Peter has previously worked with the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation with responsibility for major regeneration within Barking, including Barking Riverside.