BOOK NOW | Offices + Workspace Update
How is the office market really doing? Get your vital sector update at this event, which will also take a deep dive into a prominent retrofit scheme and explore the role design and tech plays in the fine art of productivity.
Place North West’s Offices + Workspace Update will bring together developers, agents, architects, engineers, and more to give the office industry a health check and examine best practice when it comes to sustainability. With the end user in mind, we’ll also delve into how the built environment can help optimise workflow in today’s hybrid working world.
Held during the morning of 10 October at the Innside by Melia in Manchester, the half-day conference will offer guests a mixture of engaging panel sessions, informative presentations, and networking opportunities.
The event kicks off with breakfast at 8am and also includes a series of breaks in between and a post-programme lunch, meaning there is plenty of time to make that next great business connection.
Offices + Workspace Update is sponsored by Yardi, TSK, and Civic Engineers.
What you’ll take away from the conference
- Intel on the state of the office market in terms of takeup and investment
- Practical tips on how to make projects more sustainable
- Insight into what occupiers are looking for
- Knowledge of how the built environment can boost office productivity
- New contacts for your business
Confirmed speakers:
Danielle Adler is a senior workplace consultant at TSK. Adler is experienced in all areas of workplace strategy, change management, and stakeholder engagement. She will bring industry-leading analysis and insight to inform the gathering of key data, analytics, and scenario planning. Expect to hear from her during a panel focussed on optimising productivity in offices.
Dominic Brankin is the property director at Government Property Agency. Brankin manages the GPA’s property portfolio and undertakes transactions at best value, leveraging the Government Covenant to meet client needs. He also leads its workplace experience and projects teams to ensure the GPA delivers strategic value for government departments.
Sabine Dunstan is a development manager at Capital&Centric. Dunstan is leading the social impact developer’s work at Civic, a 32,000 sq ft office retrofit scheme in Wigan. Working alongside Wigan Council, Capital&Centric is raising the bar with design-led, sustainable workspace aimed at fostering innovation and collaboration.
Abigail Gunning is the operations director at Department. Department provides a variety of workspaces for freelancers, entrepreneurs, and SMEs – with coworking desks, flexible workspaces, creative studios, and serviced private offices. In Manchester, Department operates office spaces at Bonded Warehouse, The Globe Building, and XYZ. The group also has a base at Leeds Dock in Leeds and Saville Row in London. Department prides itself on its sustainability credentials: repurposing old buildings for workspaces and ensuring the facilities are run completely using energy from green sources.
Helen Hodgkinson is the chief people officer of TLT. Hodgkinson is responsible for the law firm’s people, performance, and working environment. She has extensive experience in human resources, with previous leadership roles at Vodafone, KPMG, the Nationwide Building Society, the Health Service & Essex County Council. She will be bringing this expertise to our session on workplace optimisation.
Jay Patel is the director of planning for the North at Savills. Patel has built a name for himself as the go-to town planner for complex regeneration projects. With a background that includes time as a senior planner at Manchester City Council, he has a robust understanding of both the private and public sector perspectives on planning control and development policy. Patel’s team at Savills is leading on Stockport Council and Muse’s £145m Stockport Exchange scheme.
Dan Podesta is an associate director at Civic Engineers. Podesta has extensive experience in the design and delivery of listed building refurbishment, retrofit, and new-build developments, including the transformation of Wigan’s civic centre & Park Hill in Sheffield. Podesta will contribute to a deep dive into the Civic project in Wigan, sharing how the scheme has approached retrofitting the 1970s building into a modern workspace.
Joe Rigby is the managing director of the North at CBRE. Rigby oversees CBRE’s Manchester, Liverpool, and Leeds offices. He is regarded as a market leader by clients, as well as the wider industry across the region. In recent months, Rigby has advised occupiers on several high-profile deals in Manchester including Pinsent Masons and S&P Global, both acquiring space at Relentless’ St Michaels development.
Aidan Thatcher is the director of place at Wigan Council. Wigan is an ambitious council that is decidedly open for business – with Thatcher at the forefront working with his team on the local authority’s ambitious regeneration strategies. One of his projects includes working alongside Capital&Centric on the renovation of the old civic centre. He will be speaking at the event about the project and sharing the practical dos and don’ts the project team has learned along the way regarding retrofit and sustainability best practices.
Lee Treanor is a director at HBD. Treanor has been leading on the developer’s Manchester office projects, including the soon-to-open Island, a 100,000 sq ft net zero carbon workspace. The £140m Colloco is another HBD project. The 200,000 sq ft blue office building in Manchester secured planning permission earlier this year.
Philip Scott is a fund manager and head of Manchester at Schroders Capital. He leads a team of 10 real estate professionals who manage key city centre holdings including City Tower, No. 1 Spinningfields, St Ann’s House, and 340 Deansgate. Scott is responsible for growing the regional platform and is directly responsible for the management of an approximately £700m core portfolio of direct real estate on behalf of Greater Manchester Pension Fund. His current focus is to re-deploy around £160m of capital raised from the sale of a central London office building in 2022, into performance accretive assets such as core offices, industrial, retail warehousing, and alternatives in order to enhance the defensive qualities and liquidity of the portfolio by stabilising future income.
Mark Sidebotham is a practice director at Shedkm. He runs the architect’s Liverpool studio and works across a variety of sectors including education, health, commercial, culture, and residential. Sidebotham has led many of Shedkm’s regeneration projects in both the residential and commercial sectors including Crusader Works and Kampus in Manchester and Littlewoods in Liverpool. Sidebotham runs the company’s policy development in sustainability, in both its outputs and operations. He champions the practice’s approach to B Corp accreditation and 2030/Architects Declare.
Book your ticket today by using the form below.
If you cannot see the form, please contact events@placenorthwest.co.uk.
