Plenary and Panel Speakers

Ravi Chand CBE CBE QPM Chartered Fellow CIPD

Director, Places for Growth
Office of Government Property. Cabinet Office

Ravi Chand is the Director for Civil Service People and Places Directorate in The Cabinet Office where he leads the government’s Places for Growth Portfolio. Before the Cabinet Office, Ravi was the Chief People Officer at the Department for International Development (DFID), holding responsibility for people, operations, IT and systems, estates and change.

He was previously the HR director at HM Revenue and Customs with responsibility for workforce management of its 69,000 staff. He led the work on reforming the workforce to deliver the department’s blueprint ambitions for the future. He also worked as the director responsible for capability, talent and diversity at the Home Office, Managing Consultant in a FTSE 100 company and as a serving Police Officer with Bedfordshire Police.

He was awarded a CBE in 2011 and QPM in 2002 for distinguished service..

Ravi is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

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 Levelling Up 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.

Lynda Rawsthorne FRICS

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 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.

Saurabh Bhandari

Director, Property Delivery and Transformation
Office of Government Property, Cabinet Office

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.

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Session Speakers

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Ruksana Ali

Head of Locations and Asset Management
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Ruksana is the Head of Locations and Asset Management at DCMS, where she integrates property management with organisational change to ensure the department aligns with the broader government agenda. She collaborates closely with a variety of organisations and public bodies to develop modern workplaces that promote community, collaboration, and wellbeing.

Ruksana plays a pivotal role in driving strategic property management, particularly during times of uncertainty. She led on the creation of DCMS’ Manchester headquarters, marking the first time in the department’s history it had a presence beyond Whitehall, and oversaw the management of  a significant heritage building project.

A strong advocate for diversity and inclusion, Ruksana is committed to creating opportunities within both the Civil Service and the property sector. She mentors and supports colleagues from diverse backgrounds and is part of an outreach programme with inner London schools to inspire pupils to pursue careers in the Civil Service.

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Andrew Bannister

National Key Accounts Manager
SCAPE

Andrew joined SCAPE in 2015 after twenty years in construction consultancy, four years in the European motor industry and a spell in the NHS. His role is to proactively support clients in achieving value for money across their capital programme, whilst also helping them to deliver with efficiency, speed and the best community outcomes possible.

Andrew is an expert on multidisciplinary multi-sector projects having worked extensively for clients in Education, Health, Defence and Local Government, as well as many clients in Residential, Commercial and Industrial property. He is also a Chartered Environmentalist and an expert in Sustainable Construction.

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Dr Ann Bicknell

Senior People and Organisations Consultant
Arup

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Simon Brown

Partner and Head of Carbon and Energy
Rider Levett Bucknall

Sam Carey-Smith

Head of Workplace Design
Government Property Agency

Sam Carey-Smith is the Head of Workplace Design for the Government Property Agency (GPA), an executive agency of the Cabinet Office. Sam joined the GPA in 2022, and draws on a decade of experience as a Conservation Architect in the private sector to inform his leadership on workplace design policy for the Government’s workplace estate, including across the Whitehall Campus. Sam is particularly passionate about delivering inclusive, accessible and sustainable design which is client focussed and suitable for a modern civil service.

Adam Challis

Research and Strategy Lead
JLL

Adam leads UK Research & Strategy at JLL. His role brings together a best in class UK team covering insight, analytics and client advisory as part of a 500+ personnel global structure. The team covers a wide spectrum of real estate sectors to deliver solutions for investors and corporate occupiers. Adam works extensively with JLL teams to drive business line and corporate strategy.

Adam’s experience spans over 20 years of real estate advisory with both public and private sector clients. He is regularly cited in national and international media as a commentator on the factors that shape real estate markets. He provides public policy advice, with a particular focus on the role of real estate as a catalyst to sustainable prosperity in cities.

Adam holds an MBA from London Business School, an MSc Urban Regeneration from the Bartlett, University College London and BA Economics from Western University (London, Canada). He is Board Chairperson at World Habitat and a member of the Philanthropy Advisory Board at Shelterbox.

David Chambers

Director of Operations
Mace

Dave Chambers is an experienced director of operations with over 29 years’ experience in the construction industry. He has successfully delivered projects up to £150m across many sectors including culture, education, blue light, research and defence, leading major projects from inception to completion.

Specialising in strategic stakeholder management and operational leadership, Dave has delivered over £400 million of framework projects, consistently exceeding client expectations. Notable projects delivered across London and the Southeast include, Kentish Town Police Station Redevelopment, the Hendon Training and Operational HQ for the Metropolitan Police, Bexley Civic Centre, the Natural History Museum and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).

James Franklin

Digital Twin Project Director
Kier

Dr David Haygarth

Head of Energy Management
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

David is the FCDO Head of Energy Management and leads the Department’s global net zero investment decision making and programme of works, focussing on delivering decarbonisation, renewable power, and key energy resilience projects overseas. Prior to this he spent 7 years as Head of Energy and Sustainability at Royal Holloway University, also overseeing BREEAM requirements in their capital programme. He continues his association with the College as an Honorary Lecturer in the Geography Department. David has over 12 years’ experience in local government managing strategy and delivery for corporate energy, fuel poverty and climate change for Watford, Westminster, and Hillingdon Borough Councils. During this time, he also served 20 years in the Royal Air Force Reserve as an Air and Space Operations SNCO and was commended in the 2020 Queens Birthday Honours for his leadership during the transformation of Air Battlespace Management.   David holds a PhD in Law focussed on public sector duties and powers to reduce carbon emissions and fuel poverty, underpinned by a PGC in Research Methods and B.Sc. in Maritime Environmental Management.  Professionally, he is a Member of the Energy Institute, Chartered Environmentalist and Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Nick Helm

Partner
Mills & Reeve

Dr Jason Liggins

CEO
Crown Hosting Data Centres

Jason’s first exposure to Ark was as the lead hosting enterprise architect for the UK Ministry of Justice. Tasked with consolidating the back-office IT of eleven data centres into two using private cloud infrastructures, Ark bid for and won the contract for the two data centres.

Jason liked the innovation and forward thinking of Ark so much that he joined in 2014 as their CTO and was instrumental in winning the Crown Hosting contract, awarded by Cabinet Office in 2015.

Alongside his role as Ark’s CTO, Jason also simultaneously served as CIO to Crown Hosting Data Centres Ltd which addressed the growing needs of the public sector.

In 2020 Jason left to become a consultant to the Cabinet Office and Crown Commercial Service, within the Crown Hosting Framework Authority to assist with the steering of central government’s aims towards a public cloud future, using Crown Hosting as a bridging step from traditional IT services. This led to changes in the UK Government’s Cloud First Policy and the award of the Crown Hosting II Contract (RM6262).

In January 2024, Jason re-joined Ark as the CEO to Crown Hosting Data Centres Ltd and is looking to make greater inroads into the digital transformation journey of the public sector.

Sam Maw

Partner, Real Estate
Mills and Reeve

Sam is a partner in our real estate team. He deals with all forms of property related disputes, providing important strategic and risk-based advice to clients, helping them resolve or reduce the risk of disputes and conducting formal litigation, or alternative forms of dispute resolution, where necessary. He acts for government bodies and public sector clients, landlords and tenants in commercial and residential contexts, as well as a range of other commercial and residential developers. He also has extensive experience acting for a range of utility companies and other statutory undertakers. Testimonials in Chambers UK describe him as “a breath of fresh air. He listens, he follows up, he is pragmatic and knows where a deal should be struck. He is everything you could want in a litigation lawyer”.

Sonia McRobb

Senior Associate
Rider Levett Bucknall

A Senior Associate in RLB’s Built Asset Consultancy team, Sonia is a finance (CIPFA) professional with over 20 years’ experience working on large infrastructure and change transformation programmes.  Her experience includes working on PPPs and PFIs covering both public and private sector advisory spanning waste, social infrastructure and transport projects.

Throughout her career, Sonia has supported a range of large transformation programmes, notably at the Department of Health & Social Care, and private sector developments in the UK and Middle East, where the approach to driving change and projects relied heavily on collaboration across complex stakeholder environments.

Raj Singh

Principal Project Manager
Ministry of Justice

Rand Watkins

Client Director
AtkinsRéalis

Rand is the AtkinsRéalis Central Government Sector Lead bringing the best of our business skills and innovation to our Central Government clients. She also leads the AtkinsRéalis Strategic Partner account with the Government Property Agency, overseeing a large team of engineering, construction and property professionals supporting the GPA in delivering a sustainable and inclusive workplace for our Civil Service.

Committed to developing careers in the construction industry, Rand has also acted as a mentor for junior staff and aspiring female leaders.

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Speakers, agenda and times may be subject to change