BOOK NOW | Revitalising Our Town and City Centres
The fate of high streets and how development can best boost town centres across the North will be hotly debated during this stimulating session at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall on Thursday 24 September.
Allied London chief executive Michael Ingall, the creator of Manchester’s Spinningfields and St John’s enterprise districts, heads up a robust line-up of developers, local authorities, architects, and more.
Our speakers will debate and discuss the factors reshaping town and city centres, with deep dives into the heritage-led regeneration of Hull, the ongoing cultural-led work revitalising Bootle and Southport, and the impact of Barnsley’s official Tech Town status.
Sponsored by Brabners, Muse, Font Comms, and Morgan Sindall Construction, Revitalising Our Town and City Centres will include a mix of presentations and panels, as well as ample time for networking. Breakfast and lunch are included.
Those attending include representatives from Homes England, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Cityheart, DLA Architecture, Rochdale Development Agency, Tawd Valley Developments, Turnery & Townsend, AEW Architects, Ridge, Lichfields, JDA Architects, Turley, AHR Architects, Feilden Clegg Bradley STudios, Hoare Lea, Hilson Moran, WSP, TLT, and RECOM Solutions.
Confirmed speakers
Rebecca Eatwell is the founder and managing director of Font Communications. A passionate advocate for community-led placemaking with over 20 years of experience, Eatwell has led award-winning consultation programmes for major town-centre regeneration and housing schemes, helping communities shape successful places across the North.
Jon Humphreys is the creative director and co-owner of Sheila Bird Studio. Humphreys has built a reputation for joining the dots between brand narrative, place design, and cultural transformation. With over 30 years of experience and multiple industry awards, he creates people-centric environments that inspire collaboration and creativity, including the recent transformation of Manchester’s New Century Hall into a thriving creative ecosystem.
Michael Ingall is the chief executive of Allied London. Allied London is an award-winning multi-platform real estate investment, development, and services group. He has earned a reputation for tackling complex, difficult, and pioneering developments, as well as the restoration of listed historic buildings and iconic landmarks. Ingall’s ability to blend vision with technical and financial skills has established Allied London as a leader and authority in the area of complex city centre redevelopment.
Tom Jonson is a director of landscape architecture at LUC. Jonson is an innovative and passionate landscape architect and urban designer with over 25 years of public realm design experience. He has overseen the design and implementation of several high-profile public realm schemes including projects in Manchester, Sheffield, Salford, Liverpool, and Birmingham. Jonson is currently working on large public realm enhancement projects for Galway, Limerick, Sligo, Waterford, and Roscommon Councils.
Chithra Marsh is a director at Buttress. Bringing people together is Marsh’s get-out-of-bed purpose. As former National Chair of Women in Property, she hopes to leave an indelible mark on the property industry with her commitment to “bringing people into focus”. With nearly three decades of experience as an architect, in her role as a director at Buttress she leads on community regeneration projects, including those funded through Levelling Up alongside the “community” and social value areas of the practice’s B Corp business strategy.
Matt O’Neill is the place executive director at Barnsley Council. O’Neill is a highly accomplished public sector leader with over two decades of experience in economic development, regeneration, strategic planning, and delivery of front-line services. Currently serving as the executive director of place at Barnsley Council, O’Neill provides strategic leadership across a wide portfolio including economic regeneration, planning, housing, culture, zero carbon initiatives, waste, neighbourhoods, highways, assets, environment, transport, communities and regulatory services.
Gillian Osgerby is a programme director at Hull City Council. As programme director for the £70m Hull Maritime project, Osgerby oversees the restoration of six of Hull’s most significant maritime landmarks, including the grade two star-listed Maritime Museum, Dock Office Chambers, Queen’s Gardens, the North End Shipyard, and the historic ships – Arctic Corsair and Spurn Lightship. Her role involves providing strategic leadership to ensure the successful delivery of these high-profile projects, alongside a comprehensive community engagement programme that aims to connect the city’s rich maritime history with its residents and visitors alike.
Laura Percy is a development director at Muse. Percy has over 18 years of experience delivering major mixed-use regeneration projects across the UK and internationally. Renowned for leading complex public-private partnerships, she brings deep expertise in creating long-term value through design-led, commercially robust, and socially impactful places. Before joining Muse in 2025, Percy was senior development director at Landsec, where she led transformative schemes across the North West including the £1.7bn Mayfield regeneration and the acquisition of MediaCityUK. As head of development at Bruntwood, she directed nationally significant projects such as Sister and Circle Square.
Pete Swift is the chief executive of Planit. Swift established the landscape architecture practice nearly 30 years ago. He is a member of the B Corp Climate Collective, and a co-founder of Manchester’s Cyan Lines project alongside Tom Bloxham. Planit is behind the latest designs for Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens.
Stephen Watson is the executive director of regeneration, economy, and assets for Sefton Council. Watson leads the council’s significant growth and strategic investment programme, of which the Southport Town Deal (including the Marine Lake Events Centre) and the future of Bootle town centre (including the revitalisation of the Strand and Salt & Tar) are priority parts. His professional background is in corporate strategy, finance and investment, and mergers and acquisitions, having previously held executive roles and board positions in the private sector in both the UK and Canada.
Tickets cost £90+VAT. Local authorities and registered providers can buy tickets at a 50% discount.
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