Shaping Tomorrow’s Places

Monday 15th September at Arding & Hobbs, London

As the needs of our communities, customers, and cities continue to evolve, so must the spaces we create. This year’s conference – Shaping Tomorrow’s Places – brings together placemakers, investors, retailers, and visionaries to explore how we design, invest in, and activate places that are not just fit for the future, but resilient, relevant, and people-focused.

From unlocking hidden value in existing assets, to human-centred design, to the role of AI and inclusive placemaking – these sessions will delve into the ideas, innovations, and partnerships driving meaningful change across the retail, leisure, and built environment sectors.

Let’s shape what’s next – together.

Alberto Esguevillas, CEO, Eurofund Group 

A strategic leader with more than 25 years’ international experience within the Real Estate Industry in Asset, Development and Investment Management. Alberto has led the launch of Eurofund’s platform in the UK securing the acquisition of its first asset in Silverburn, attracting some of the most respected professionals in the industry and developing key JV relationships. Before joining Eurofund as the CEO for the UK business, Alberto led Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield’s Italian business, Alberto worked delivering Westfield London’s extension, Westfield Stratford City mixed use projects and headed new business in Europe. Alberto sat in the European Management Team (EMT) for URW and served as a corporate director in a number of URW and JV entities. Prior to joining Westfield in 2014, Alberto led Internos’ Global Investors (now Principal) pan European platform leading the retail teams and the Iberian offices. Alberto moved to London in 2004 to continue his career with Lend Lease. Alberto has a Masters in Industrial engineering, ICAI (Madrid) and an MBA by London Business School.

Peter Papadakos, Managing Director, Head of Research, Europe & APAC, Green Street

Claire Barber, CEO, SGS Group

Andrew Hilston, Managing Director, The Ardent Companies

Andrew Hilston is a Managing Director at The Ardent Companies in the London office. He is responsible for deal origination, development, marketing, asset management and investment performance for UK operations. Andrew is a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and is also a Chartered Town Planner. Andrew has over 20 years of client-side property experience at UK FTSE 100 REITs Landsec and Hammerson, as well as Brookfield. Prior to joining Ardent in January 2021, he was a member of the senior management team at the sovereign wealth backed Battersea Power Station development project. Andrew has extensive knowledge of Retail, Office and Residential asset classes as well as strategic land acquisitions and dispositions. He has been involved in a number of joint venture partnerships and corporate disposals. Andrew has a BSc (Hons) in Land Management and an MSc in Property Development from the University of Reading.

Cat White, Planning Director at Turley

Paul Sargent, Founder & CEO of Queensberry

Sascha Lewin, CEO, W.RE

Marc Myers, Retail Operations Director, Outlets, Central London, Suburban London and Retail Parks at Landsec

Mike Adams OBE, CEO at Purple Tuesday

As the Creator, Founder, CEO and a disabled customer Purple Tuesday is my passion. It is part of a need to change the disability conversation. And to support organisations to be confident in putting in place accessibility solutions to improve the experience of disabled customers and employees. Disability is a commercial and social impact game changer. The Purple Tuesday Team will support you to play a great game to enable all disabled people. In my view, disability holds immense significance because inclusivity is not just a choice but an essential human right that should be extended to all.

Hanna Afolabi, Managing Director of Mood and Space

As a planning and development surveyor and holder of a BA (Hons) in architecture, she is passionate about the built environment and ensuring that people come first in the process. In her most recent role prior to setting up MAS, Hanna was a Development Director for Balfour Beatty Investments seconded into East Wick and Sweetwater Ltd a joint venture with Places for People. She lead on the feasibility, business planning, budget, design, programming and planning of the mixed-use regeneration project of c.1,900 homes on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. She has worked on other notable projects in London, including Hallsville Quarter in Canning Town and Borough Triangle in Elephant and Castle. Hanna also founded Black Women in Real Estate (BWRE) an organisation that brings together black women in property with the intent for them to connect. 

Mark Rebbeck, Co-Founder of Altered/Space

Mark is a Chartered Surveyor who initially trained as an architect. He has over 30 years experience working in the property industry, primarily in the fields of property development and asset management. He has a passion for urban regeneration and a desire to ensure our traditional high streets and urban centres thrive and are sustainable in the future. Mark has extensive experience of delivering mixed use schemes in towns and cities across the UK; and of working collaboratively with both public and private bodies. A tree-lover, he also sits on the board of Portaferry Regeneration Limited.

Peter Larkum, Mental Health Expert & Industry Advocate

Jennie Colville, Head of ESG and Sustainability at Landsec

Jennie is Head of ESG and Sustainability at Landsec. In her role, Jennie leads Landsec’s sustainability strategy and its implementation across the company’s £11bn portfolio. 

A 20-year veteran of sustainability, Jennie has helped companies translate environmental, social and governance (ESG) opportunities and challenges into practical actions and business priorities. Jennie joined Landsec after three years at Capita, where she was the Responsible Business Director. Prior to that, she held numerous roles at both public and private sector companies including RSA Insurance Group, Kent County Council and Linklaters.

In the course of her career, Jennie has supported over 500 small and medium sized businesses to improve their environmental performance, secured £2.5 million to deliver a grant scheme for businesses in the low carbon sector and implemented a global law firm’s first ever ISO 14001 Environmental Management System.

Alasdair McClimont , Customer Manager at The Crown Estate 

Alasdair McClimont has over 15 years of experience managing flagship retail stores for prominent brands such as Topshop/Topman and Vision Express in major retail destinations across the South East. He joined The Crown Estate in 2022 to launch its performance support offer for Regent Street and St James’s retail and hospitality brands. In 2023 he also became responsible for the Customer Performance Support approach for The Crown Estate’s national Retail and Hospitality portfolio, working with their managing agent.

Dan Mason, Managing Director, Multi-Realm

Dan is a Chartered Surveyor with over 30 years’ experience in the retail and leisure property industry. Having worked for listed property company MEPC and real estate consultancies in London, in 2001 he co-founded Realm – a leading operator of retail and leisure destinations and designer outlets. In 2024 Realm was acquired by Multi Corporation, a pan-European platform for integrated real estate management services, and was renamed Multi-Realm. Multi-Realm’s experienced team of retail, property and financial professionals have extensive experience in operational property, and an unrivalled network of contacts across the retail, food, and beverage occupier markets. In his role as Co-Owner and Managing Director, Dan is responsible for all aspects of company strategy and operations, new business initiatives, client and corporate management, as well as development activity, large-scale asset management initiatives, and capital projects across the portfolio. Multi-Realm is proud to be a B Corp business which demonstrates its commitment to a very high level of employee, environmental and social responsibility. Multi-Realm’s current portfolio includes London Designer Outlet, Wembley Park, Lakeside Village in Doncaster, Ringsted Outlet in Denmark, Resorts World Birmingham and Cotswold Designer Outlet, which is opening Summer 2025.