Plenary and Panel Speakers

Saurabh Bhandari

Director, Property Delivery & Transformation

Cabinet Office, Office of Government Property

Saurabh Bhandari was appointed Director, Property Delivery and Transformation, within the Office of Government Property (Cabinet Office), in May 2024.

Saurabh leads strategic initiatives to modernise and optimise the Government Property Portfolio, with a particular focus on transforming property investments and assets into catalysts for  innovation & growth, that create public value.

Saurabh leads the drive to improve the condition of the government estate. He is responsible for the ongoing improvement of facilities management in government buildings,  including modernising infrastructure to enhance safety, energy efficiency and operational effectiveness across the public sector.  As a precursor to transforming assets and investments, he will also provide leadership in using data and analytics to enable decisions across the government estate.

Having trained as a Chartered Architect  and a Programme manager he brings multi-sector experience across real estate, social and economic infrastructure. Saurabh has extensive experience at senior positions on high-profile, national and international property programmes in a career spanning across multiple market sectors and both public and private investment led development programmes.

He is a Fellow of the Association of Project Management and a graduate of the Major Project Leadership Academy at Oxford University.

A keen reader and amateur runner, Saurabh lives in Manchester with his wife and two children.

Mark Bourgeois

Chief Executive Officer

Government Property Agency

Mark was appointed CEO of the GPA in October 2024. He is an established corporate leader with over 30 years of strategic and operational real estate experience across asset management, investment, development and operations. Mark was previously Managing Director UK and Ireland at Hammerson plc, Executive Director at Capital & Regional plc and Interim Corporate Director City Development at Liverpool City Council. He studied Industrial Economics at Nottingham University and began his career in Audit at KPMG.

Mark Chivers

Government Chief Property Officer

Cabinet Office

Mark joined the Cabinet Office as Government Chief Property Officer in January 2022.

Mark is responsible for providing senior, strategic leadership for the whole cross-government property function. He works with a wide range of senior stakeholders within government and in the wider public sector promoting the intelligent use of property to deliver better public services at lower cost to the taxpayer.

Mark provides strategic leadership for the Government Property Function, and holds senior leaders accountable to the Government Functional Standard. He leads on major change programmes, supporting the delivery of better and more integrated public services, overseeing – among others – the Places for Growth programme and supporting the regional growth agenda.

Mark has 20 years experience at Board level in both the private and public sectors, most recently as Director of Estates Engineering and Energy at Boots UK, but has led teams across Property, Marketing, Procurement, Operations and Transformation in Walgreens Boots Alliance businesses.

He is also a Non-Executive Director at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.

Sara Humber

Projects Director

National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority

Sara is a senior commercial lawyer working as a Projects Director within the Expert Advisory Team in the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (“NISTA”).  Sara is leading on  implementing the Social Infrastructure Roadmap which is part of the 10 Year National Infrastructure Strategy.  She is also the project lead in NISTA for the New Hospital Programme.

Previously she was deployed at Welsh Government as the Programme Director for the Sustainable Communities for Learning Mutual Investment Model (“MIM”) Programme where she developed, structured procured and delivered a strategic partner named the Welsh Education Partnership Company (“WEPCo”) to facilitate the delivery of a £1.5 Billion pipeline of revenue funded net zero carbon educational infrastructure using the Mutual Investment Model  (an off-government debt PPP model).   Prior to that, Sara delivered a twelve school batch in the North West under the PF2 arm of the Priority School Building Programme as Project Director and Commercial Lead for the DFE.  Earlier in her career Sara worked in private practice where she acted for private and public sector clients and funders on major PPP projects across the education, health, waste and social housing sectors.

Relevant Experience includes: Structuring procuring and delivering major and complex programmes and projects; Construction and contracting in the accommodation sector, (including Net Zero Carbon specification) Delivering social value through contracting, PPP, PFI, Commercial Law, Procurement (particularly Competitive Dialogue), technical specification drafting, Property and planning, Classification.

Ricky McSeveney

Chief Property Officer

Ministry of Justice

Ricky McSeveney is Chief Property Officer at the Ministry of Justice with responsibility for one of the most diverse and complex estates in Government, leading a Property Function which provides a range of services including environmental sustainability, property strategy and communications, asset management (including acquisitions and disposals), capital planning and project delivery, maintenance and facilities management, fire, health and safety, compliance and business continuity.

As Chief Property Officer, Ricky provides strategic direction and leadership of MoJ’s ambitious property agenda, working in partnership with an extensive supply chain to deliver crucial services and places which support front-line delivery.

Lynda Rawsthorne

Government Head of Property Profession

Cabinet Office

Lynda Rawsthorne was appointed Government Head of Property Profession and Director, Property Capability, Sponsorship & Standards, in August 2023.

Lynda is head of the Government Property Profession, the community of property professionals across government. She provides professional leadership across a diverse range of government departments and arms-length bodies which deliver the government’s property ambitions.

Lynda is responsible for the Government Property Strategy and the Government Property Functional Standard. The strategy sets out the government’s plans for a public sector estate for public benefit, ensuring it enables the best possible public services, is efficient and sustainable and supports the government’s levelling up ambitions. The Functional Standard sets expectations for how government property is acquired, managed and disposed of.

Lynda has over 25 years’ professional experience across the property lifecycle including valuation, managing estates as well as delivering transformational and construction-based programmes. A Fellow of both the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the Association of Project Management, Lynda is a graduate of the Major Project Leadership Academy at the University of Oxford.

Lynda joined the Cabinet Office from the Department of Transport where she was Director of Programme Integration within High Speed Rail Group, leading the land and property interface. Her previous roles include Prison Infrastructure Director at Ministry of Justice, leading delivery of the 15,000 additional places construction and transformation programme, and Programme Director of the £4.4bn Priority School Building Programme at the Department for Education. Starting her career in Local Government, she then worked predominantly in the Valuation Office Agency which she joined on the graduate programme, serving as a Valuation Officer, Head of Customer Services and Chief of Staff.

Lynda grew up in Milton Keynes but as a military wife has travelled extensively, with married quarters in four countries. She juggled three children and a variety of working patterns while continuing her career.

Stephanie Walters

Regional Director, Sector Head for Central Government

AtkinsRéalis

Stephanie Walters brings 17 years of experience at AtkinsRéalis to her role as the National Head of Sector for Central Government. She plays a pivotal role in supporting government clients to align strategic estate planning with departmental objectives to develop, maintain, and operate agile, fit-for-purpose facilities.

A Chartered Building Surveyor by background, Stephanie has overseen complex multi-disciplinary technical delivery across Central Government, Education, Local Government, and Commercial sectors. Her approach centres on creating sustainable, future-ready environments that empower occupants and enhance public service outcomes.

Plenary Host:

Cat Charker

Government Property Fast Stream

Session Speakers

Ed Britton

Director

Deloitte

Ed advises on major regeneration projects across London and regional cities, and currently leads our planning team’s focus on Greater Manchester (GM).  Ed regularly advises both private and public sector clients from initial strategy development through to delivery, drawing on his broad experience across planning, stakeholder engagement, strategic master planning, land assembly / CPO and funding.   Ed is currently advising on a range of GM’s city centre and town centre projects, including Stockport8, Great Jackson Street, MediaCity and Old Trafford Regeneration.

Michael Ferris

Central Gov & ALBs

Crown Hosting

Michael Ferris leads engagement across central government and arm’s length bodies for Crown Hosting, a Cabinet Office partnership delivering secure, sustainable data centre services to the UK public sector. He works closely with estates and digital teams to help them make the most of the Crown Hosting Framework (RM6262) — reducing costs, cutting carbon emissions, and improving resiliency by migrating IT infrastructure out of existing buildings.

With a background in compliance, commercial operations, and public sector delivery, Michael brings a practical, client-focused approach to digital transformation — helping organisations align infrastructure decisions with estate strategy and net-zero goals.

Thomas Licklederer

Senior Consultant

Drees & Sommer UK

Dr.-Ing. Thomas Licklederer is a Senior Consultant at Drees & Sommer SE in Munich, specialising in energy and utility systems engineering with a focus on district heating and cooling (DHC). With a doctorate in Smart Thermal Grids from the Technical University of Munich, his expertise spans municipal heat planning, feasibility studies, thermohydraulic simulations, and the development of sustainable energy supply concepts for buildings, districts, and cities.
Thomas has led strategic and operational projects supporting the heat transition and decarbonisation across Germany. His work bridges technical modelling with regulatory implementation, helping public authorities and utilities translate complex frameworks into actionable strategies. Thomas brings a European perspective to heat network innovation, offering valuable insights into the design and operation of resilient, low-carbon infrastructure.

Richard Murray

Director

Drees & Sommer UK

Richard Murray is Director at Drees & Sommer UK, where he leads the Sustainability and Climate Solutions Division. Since establishing the team in 2008, he has overseen its growth into a dedicated division offering a wide range of services including energy modelling, heat decarbonisation roadmaps and delivery, green building certification and measurement and verification strategies.
A dual-qualified Chartered Environmentalist and Chartered Building Surveyor, Richard brings deep expertise across both the built environment and building services. His accreditations include CIBSE Low-Carbon Consultant, CIBSE Heat Networks Consultant, Non-Domestic Energy Assessor, and Operational Energy Assessor.
Richard works closely with clients to deliver complex schemes across the UK; ensuring that feasibility studies and technical reports are actionable and aligned with project goals.

Jack Saunders

Associate Director

AtkinsRéalis

Jack is a committed sustainability expert with over ten years of experience in the sustainability and net zero carbon sectors. His current focus is on building retrofit, net zero carbon strategy development, and environmental sustainability. He is the National Technical Lead for Sustainability for the UK, a chartered Environmentalist and chartered Manager.

At AtkinsRéalis, he has worked with public and private sector organisations developing portfolio-level decarbonisation roadmaps helping clients to develop a strategic approach to decarbonisation balancing cost, carbon, and risk. Jack works to integrate a broad view of sustainability including, climate resilience, ecosystem services, biodiversity net-gain, wellbeing, and social value.

Jack is passionate about helping the built environment deliver positive change for a greener future.

Richard Treanor-Smith

Programme Manager

Government Property Agency

Richard is the Programme Manager for the Government Property Agency’s Net Zero Programme, leading the portfolio delivery to decarbonise the GPA managed portfolio.

Richard is an accomplished leader, possessing experience in managing major projects and transformational change across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors, and is committed to implementing the GPA’s net zero strategy to meet the UK government’s target of 100% net zero by 2050.

Richard’s focus is on integrating decarbonisation into the core of property management, working with a diverse community of leaders and practitioners to ensure innovative and effective solutions are realised throughout the estate lifecycle.

Richard holds memberships with the Association of Project Management, the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management and the Government Property Profession, and is an Alumni of the Civil Service Future Leaders Scheme.

Passionate about making a positive difference to people and places, Richard embraces the challenge and opportunity to work alongside others, to share and promote good practices, which drive forward the practical realisation of decarbonisation in government properties – supporting the journey to a sustainable, low-carbon future.

Robbie Turner

Principal Associate

Mills & Reeve LLP

Robbie Turner is a lead real estate lawyer in our government sector. Robbie has transactional experience in all aspects of commercial real estate including acquisitions and disposals, mergers, joint ventures, land assembly, landlord and tenant work, and development work. Robbie regularly advises clients in the public and private sector on such issues and has a deep understanding of the requirements of government occupiers and the challenges they face. He recognises the importance of building strong relationships with clients and completing matters within deadlines and budget.

Mel Wilson

Director

Deloitte

Mel is a local government specialist and town planner advising on large scale regeneration and housing delivery projects.  She focuses on transforming places and delivering regional growth across Greater Manchester and the north. Working with Combined Authorities, Local Authorities and private sector partners, Mel supports funding strategy development and delivery model implementation.  Current Greater Manchester (GM) experience includes the NorthFold Delivery Strategy – covering GMCA’s Wigan and Bolton Growth Location and proposals for Mayoral Delivery Vehicles for GM town centres.

Stephanie Wright

Regional Director

AtkinsRéalis

Stephanie Wright is a Regional Director at AtkinsRéalis, with over a decade of experience supporting central and local government organisations across the UK in the successful delivery of national programmes for major capital investments in the built environment. As a Chartered Management Consultant, she specialises in programme advisory, programme management, and PMO leadership – bringing deep expertise in establishing and enhancing delivery frameworks at portfolio, programme, and project levels. Steph is known for working closely with client teams driving best practice, innovation, and continuous improvement in their delivery strategies.

Steph also leads strategic initiatives to help clients decarbonise their estates and achieve net zero goals, with a focus on delivering decarbonisation at scale and optimising public sector property portfolios for long-term sustainability.

Speakers, agenda and times may be subject to change