2022 FMB Building Conference

Tom Hall

Chief Economist, Barbour ABI

Tom Hall is Chief Economist at Barbour ABI, providing analysis and economic insight for the built environment, assessing the trends and developments that impact the industry. Barbour ABI delivers market-leading intelligence, insight and analysis, enabling customers to identify new business opportunities, monitor clients and competitor relationships and make smarter, more timely decisions.

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Fergus Harradence

Deputy Director, Infrastructure & Construction,

Fergus Harradence is responsible for working to deliver a more productive and sustainable construction sector in the UK. He is a member of the Government Construction Board and the Construction Leadership Council.

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Bill Esterson MP

Shadow Minister for Small Business,

Bill Esterson has been MP for Sefton Central since 2010 and is Shadow Minister for Business and Industry. His brief covers manufacturing, construction and professional services and includes responsibilities for skills, levelling up and net zero.

Mr Esterson started and grew two businesses between 1995 and 2010 and was a local councillor before entering parliament. He graduated from Leeds University in 1990 with BSc Hons in Maths and Philosophy and trained as a chartered accountant after graduating.

He was a member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Education, Housing, Communities & Local Government and Treasury Committees between 2010 and 2015, is Treasurer of the Tribune group of Labour MPs, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, vice-chair of the All Party Group for Children in Care and Care Leavers and vice chair of the All Party Group on Carbon Capture and Underground Storage.

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Brian Berry

Chief Executive, Federation of Master Builders

Brian Berry is Chief Executive of the Federation of Master Builders. Prior to his current position Brian was Director of External Affairs at the FMB with responsibility for UK and EU policy, public affairs and media relations. Before the FMB, he worked at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), where he was Head of UK Public Policy. Brian regularly provides commentary on construction issues for TV, Radio, national and trade press.

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Gary Olsen

Director, Create Building and Developments Ltd and President, FMB London

Gary Olsen is an SME builder and President of the FMB London Board. He has a keen interest in a broad range of construction industry matters including consumer issues where they relate to standards and practices within the industry. He is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Building.

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Paula Higgins

Chief Executive, HomeOwners Alliance

Paula Higgins launched the HomeOwners Alliance after 15 years working for the UK Government and the EU on housing policy. Now in its 10^th year, HomeOwners Alliance exists to restore trust in home ownership by lobbying for policies and industry practices to get a better deal for homeowners.

With almost five million unique visitors a year, her website offers practical help to homeowners facing some of the biggest and most complex decisions of their lives.

Paula is a respected commentator and advocate for homeowners and is regularly quoted in the media.

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Jim Brown

Director, Energy Skills Partnership

Jim Brown has a wealth of experience in the energy industry with roles including Head of the Whitlock Energy Collaboration Centre at Carnegie College and Head of Renewables at Energy and Utility Skills. Jim was also seconded into Scottish Government to develop and deliver the Renewable Energy Skills Framework for Action.

The Energy Skills Partnership is established to provide the link between industry, government and its agencies and Scotland’s colleges whilst supporting colleges in the development and delivery of programmes to meet the energy sector’s skills needs.

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Professor Martin Haran

Professor of Real Estate and Urban Studies, Ulster University

Professor Martin Haran PhD is Professor of Real Estate and Urban Studies at Ulster University. He holds a First Class BA Hons in Business and Finance and a PhD in Urban Regeneration and Property Investment.  Professor Haran has served as Principal Investigator on a series of prestigious national and international housing and real estate research projects over the course of his career as well as designing and developing policy intervention evaluation frameworks for the built environment at EU, National and local government levels. Professor Haran is also a member of the Northern Ireland Better Housing Forum and has worked to promote a more sustainable approach to housing provision within NI. Principal research interests include housing provision and market performance, affordable housing provision, real estate finance, urban regeneration, partnership based property development, decarbonisation of the built environment and infrastructure investment.

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Dr Alice Owen

Professor of Business, Sustainability and Stakeholder Engagement, University of Leeds

Dr Alice Owen's career spanned private, public and voluntary sectors before undertaking PhD research and joining the University of Leeds in 2013.  She is now Professor of Business & Sustainability and her research explores how the construction industry can make a real difference to energy use in buildings.  Alice trained as an engineer and gained first-hand experience of the chemical industry and waste management before working as an NGO project manager on international capacity building. Public sector experience includes being a member of the UK Sustainable Development Commission from 2005-11, working for the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority from 1998-2001 and establishing the sustainable development team in Yorkshire Forward, one of nine English regional development agencies. She also led consultancy firm Arup’s sustainability consulting work from Leeds for five years.

 

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Gordon Nelson

Director, FMB Scotland

Gordon Nelson has nearly twenty years’ experience of working in membership organisations in Scotland and joined the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) in 2014. Prior to this, he worked at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) and for Unilever in business development, membership management and business-to-business marketing roles.

Amongst his responsibilities in his role as the Director for FMB Scotland are public affairs, media relations, governance and representing member’s interests to Scottish policy makers and stakeholders within the Scottish construction industry. 

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Gavin McGuire

FMB Northern Ireland Director, Federation of Master Builders

Gavin McGuire serves as NI Director of FMB, he has a strong passion to see improved standards within the Industry. Addressing the Skills shortage, more access to Finance for SME’s to build new homes and a strong supply chain are all key prioritise of McGuire’s role. Having some nearly 30 years’ experience working in the Industry, he has a strong passion to champion the high quality work produced by NI companies.

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Ifan Glyn

Senior Hub Director, Federation of Master Builder (FMB)

Ifan Glyn is both the FMB Senior Director for the UK Hubs and the Director of the FMB in Wales. As Senior Director, Ifan balances his responsibilities in Wales with line management duties over the Directors of the other devolved nations and English regions. He is also a member of the FMB Senior Management Team. Ifan holds an MA in History from the University of St Andrews and an MSc in Welsh Government and Politics from Cardiff University. Ifan has held three roles during his time at the FMB. He initially joined as a Public Affairs Executive before becoming the Director of the FMB in Wales and then the FMB UK Senior Director.

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Chris Jofeh

Consultant,

Chris Jofeh is a consultant to Arup and chair of the Welsh Government advisory group on the decarbonisation of existing housing. Its report, Better Homes, Better Wales, Better World was presented to Welsh Ministers in July 2019 and in September 2019 they accepted every recommendation. Chris is now leading the work to advise Welsh Government on the implementation of a national programme of residential decarbonisation.

Until April 2018 Chris was Arup’s global buildings retrofit leader and led the team that produced the 2016 report Towards the delivery of a national residential energy efficiency programme . This proposes a series of steps to create the right conditions in which to halve the energy consumed in all UK homes within 25 years.

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Gavin Hoccom

Senior Associate, Browne Jacobson

Gavin Hoccom is ranked as a “Rising Star” in the Legal 500. Gavin specialises in dispute resolution for the construction sector.

Acting for household name SME contractors as well as local authority and SME employers, Gavin draws on his understanding of the commercial drivers of both parties to a construction contract to provide the pragmatic and solution focused advice which his clients value.

Gavin is experienced in advising on disputes relating to interim and final account payments and valuations, delay, extensions of time, termination and variations, as well as claims and risk management for SME contractors in response to the introduction of the Building Safety Act 2022.

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Eddie Tuttle

Director of Policy, Research and Public Affairs, Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB)

Eddie Tuttle has extensive experience working in the public sector, working closely with government ministers, senior civil servants, and other officials across a variety of regulatory and legislative issues within many facets of government policy.

Eddie, in his remit as Director of Policy, Research, and Public Affairs, is responsible for providing strategic advice to the CIOB’s Senior Management team concerning policy and public affairs issues across the built environment, nationally and internationally.

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Jackie Ducker

Executive Director - Customer & Product, Construction Industry Training Board (CITB)

Jackie Ducker is the executive lead for the customer engagement, product management, apprenticeships, insight, and direct training teams, across CITB. With an ambition to deliver excellent experiences, drive value and support employers to access the training they need now – and for the future, Jackie’s team work with customers, stakeholders, and partners to encourage training and help talented people, from diverse backgrounds, join the construction industry, develop their skills and progress sustainable careers in the sector. Jackie is passionate about the end-to-end experience of colleagues and customers and has a strong track record in the construction and service sectors having held a range of business improvement, collaboration, growth, and customer experience leadership roles prior to joining CITB in July 2021.

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Luke Emery

2021 Master Builder Awards Apprentice of the Year, Lowry Building & Civil Engineering

Luke Emery, is a carpenter at FMB member company Lowry Building and Civil Engineering (LBCE), based in Northern Ireland.

In 2021 he was national winner of the Apprenticeship of the Year award at the FMB Master Builder Awards. He was recognised for his commitment to learning and compliance, and his ongoing reliability, efficiency and meticulous work ethic.

Luke has been working across a variety of projects, ranging from maintenance works for Northern Ireland Water to general carpentry components on various construction sites.

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Shenaaz Chenia

CEO, YouthBuild Ventures UK

Shenaaz Chenia began her career in finance and moved from the private sector to become the founding CEO of YouthBuild in the United Kingdom.

Shenaaz provides insight and expertise on the London Mayors, Skills for London Steering Group as well as the Construction Leadership Council (CLC)’s Skills Work stream, she is a member the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Apprenticeships as well as the Youth Employment Group.

Reaching across most sectors and forming deep meaningful partnerships with the sole aim of assisting youth into employment and into leadership roles, Shenaaz is adept at joining the dots to ensure that youth are given the best chances to succeed.

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Amos Simbo

Founder, BPIC Network (Built Environment Inclusion)

Amos Simbo is the founder of BPIC Network (Built Environment Inclusion) and Winway Group a fitout M&E services specialist contractor

After graduating from Loughborough University with a Mechanical Engineering degree, he started working in construction as a trainee Projects Engineer. He has since moved on within the industry ranks as a Technical Services Manager and has been running Winway since leaving full time employment to run his own construction business. Amos is passionate about maintaining professional standards and delivering service excellence.

BPIC Network is a built environment inclusion organisation working with industry partners to improve ethnic minorities representation, retention as well as minority led businesses. We are dedicated to provide guidance, career opportunities, training and networking events tailored to those currently working and aspiring to be in the industry. We also look to create an aspirational platform for young people and those seeking to join the built environment.

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Ivan McKee MSP

Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise,

Ivan McKee has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow Provan since 2016. Brought up in Glasgow, he obtained a BSc BEng in Manufacturing Sciences and Engineering from the University of Strathclyde and an MBA from Newcastle University. Before entering politics, he managed businesses in Scotland, England, Poland, Finland, Croatia and Bosnia. Mr McKee has chaired the Construction Leadership Forum for the last year and is keenly interested in construction matters.

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Gordon Nelson

Director, FMB Scotland

Gordon Nelson has nearly twenty years’ experience of working in membership organisations in Scotland and joined the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) in 2014. Prior to this, he worked at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) and for Unilever in business development, membership management and business-to-business marketing roles.

Amongst his responsibilities in his role as the Director for FMB Scotland are public affairs, media relations, governance and representing member’s interests to Scottish policy makers and stakeholders within the Scottish construction industry. 

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Dr Sue Hurrell

Head of Fair Work Procurement, Welsh Government

Sue Hurrell is responsible for developing the Socially Responsible Procurement Duties in the Social Partnership and Public Procurement Bill. After a short career as a research scientist she has worked in procurement policy within the civil service for the UK and Welsh Governments, and has been responsible for a number of special projects including, most recently, the Welsh Government’s Code of Practice on Ethical Employment in Supply Chains.

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Ifan Glyn

Senior Hub Director, Federation of Master Builder (FMB)

Ifan Glyn is both the FMB Senior Director for the UK Hubs and the Director of the FMB in Wales. As Senior Director, Ifan balances his responsibilities in Wales with line management duties over the Directors of the other devolved nations and English regions. He is also a member of the FMB Senior Management Team. Ifan holds an MA in History from the University of St Andrews and an MSc in Welsh Government and Politics from Cardiff University. Ifan has held three roles during his time at the FMB. He initially joined as a Public Affairs Executive before becoming the Director of the FMB in Wales and then the FMB UK Senior Director.

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Brian Berry

Chief Executive, Federation of Master Builders

Brian Berry is Chief Executive of the Federation of Master Builders. Prior to his current position Brian was Director of External Affairs at the FMB with responsibility for UK and EU policy, public affairs and media relations. Before the FMB, he worked at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), where he was Head of UK Public Policy. Brian regularly provides commentary on construction issues for TV, Radio, national and trade press.

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Juliet Phillips

Senior Policy Adviser, Energy Efficiency Infrastructure Group (EEIG)

Juliet leads E3G’s UK place-based transition workstreams, focusing on the policies and politics of decarbonising UK housing, as well as the financial solutions needed to underpin this major infrastructure opportunity. 

Juliet joined E3G from the Environmental Investigation Agency where she worked as an Ocean Campaigner, focused on UK and EU policies around the circular economy, and working with Greenpeace on a supermarket campaign targeting plastic reduction and reuse measures.

Before then, she was Campaigns Manager at ShareAction, coordinating climate change-focused shareholder activism around the fossil fuel and banking sectors.

She holds a MSc in Political Theory from the London School of Economics.

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Josh Emden

Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR)

Josh Emden's work at IPPR focusses on developing just transition policy across all sectors of the economy. He is the programme lead for heat decarbonisation, industrial decarbonisation and green jobs and skills.

Josh has previously worked on renewable generation, energy networks and systems and implementation strategies that include devolved and local governance. He is a regular commentator on climate, energy and just transition policy appearing on national news and radio including BBC News, Sky News and LBC. He has also written on the subject for Huffington Post, Red Box, Business Green and Energy Monitor, among others.

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Chris Carr

Managing Director, Carr & Carr (Builders) Limited

Chris Carr works for Carr & Carr (Builders) Ltd; house developers and general construction contractors for over 90 years. Carr & Carr specialise in high-end new homes and have won awards for their developments in the North East Lincolnshire area.

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Dr Stephen Garvin

Head of Building Standards, Scottish Government

Stephen Garvin joined Scottish Government in January 2018 after spending most of his career at the Building Research Establishment.  He leads of Division of 39 staff working on all aspects of the Building Standards system.  He has initiated programmes of improvement to the Building Standards system in Scotland through the Futures Board, with a particular focus on increasing levels of compliance, making delivery more efficient, investing in the workforce and expanding the digital services.  He is also responsible for the Single Building Assessment programme to address the need for cladding remediation.

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Gordon Nelson

Director, FMB Scotland

Gordon Nelson has nearly twenty years’ experience of working in membership organisations in Scotland and joined the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) in 2014. Prior to this, he worked at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) and for Unilever in business development, membership management and business-to-business marketing roles.

Amongst his responsibilities in his role as the Director for FMB Scotland are public affairs, media relations, governance and representing member’s interests to Scottish policy makers and stakeholders within the Scottish construction industry. 

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Jon Cunliffe

Investment Managing Director, B&CE, provider of The People’s Pension

Jon Cunliffe began his career at the Bank of England where he became an official in the Gilt Edged and Money Market division in 1994.

He has held several senior-level roles at Lombard Odier, ABN AMRO Asset Management and Aberdeen Asset Management. Following this, he joined Tesco’s in-house pension team as Head of Fixed Income and Asset Allocation.

Before coming to his new role at B&CE, Jon was previously Chief Investment Officer and Head of the Research team at Charles Stanley.

He has a BA honours degree in Divinity from Robinson College at the University of Cambridge.

Jon is responsible for the overall performance of the Investment Business Unit at B&CE.

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Mark Farmer

CEO and Founding Director, Cast Consultancy

Mark Farmer is CEO and a Founding Director of Cast Consultancy. He has over 30 years experience in construction and real estate and is a recognised international commentator on a variety of industry and policy related issues.

Mark authored the Farmer Review, an influential 2016 independent government review of the UK’s construction labour model entitled ‘Modernise or Die’.

In 2019 he was appointed as the Government’s Champion for Modern Methods of Construction in Housebuilding. Mark is a member of  the Construction Leadership Council Senior Advisors Group, a national co-chair of Constructing Excellence, a technical advisor to Homes England, a board member of BE-ST, the chair of the West Midlands Combined Authority Future Homes Taskforce and is a trustee of the MOBIE educational charity. 

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Brian Berry

Chief Executive, Federation of Master Builders

Brian Berry is Chief Executive of the Federation of Master Builders. Prior to his current position Brian was Director of External Affairs at the FMB with responsibility for UK and EU policy, public affairs and media relations. Before the FMB, he worked at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), where he was Head of UK Public Policy. Brian regularly provides commentary on construction issues for TV, Radio, national and trade press.

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Chris Pearman

Regional Sales Manager, Jewson Build Aviator

Chris Pearman has extensive experience in construction and builders merchanting, with specific interest and knowledge of procurement, project management and compliance. He is passionate about reducing hassle for SME builders and helping them to build more sustainably.

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The Rt Hon Lucy Frazer KC MP

Minister of State in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities,

The Rt Hon Lucy Frazer KC MP was appointed Minister of State in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 26 October 2022. She was previously Minister of State at the Department for Transport from 7 September to 26 October 2022.

She was Financial Secretary to the Treasury from 16 September 2021 to 7 September 2022.

Lucy was Minister of State in the Ministry of Justice from 10 September 2021 to 16 September 2021 and from 25 July 2019 to 2 March 2021. She previously served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice from 9 January 2018 to 9 May 2019.

She was Solicitor General from 2 March 2021 to 10 September 2021 and from 9 May 2019 to 25 July 2019.

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Brian Berry

Chief Executive, Federation of Master Builders

Brian Berry is Chief Executive of the Federation of Master Builders. Prior to his current position Brian was Director of External Affairs at the FMB with responsibility for UK and EU policy, public affairs and media relations. Before the FMB, he worked at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), where he was Head of UK Public Policy. Brian regularly provides commentary on construction issues for TV, Radio, national and trade press.

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