The winners of the 15^th annual Michelmores Property Awards have been revealed, celebrating outstanding property and construction projects in Devon, Somerset, Bristol, Dorset and Cornwall, across ten categories.

Congratulations to the Cornwall Energy Recovery Centre (CERC), St Dennis – winner of Sustainable Project of the Year, sponsored by Midas

The CERC, a project managed by Cornwall Energy Recovery, is central to an integrated waste management strategy for Cornwall. It uses innovative methods to reduce and reuse waste, developing facilities to allow for more recycling, composting and energy recovery to take place. The CERC plays an important role in reducing Cornwall’s carbon footprint by recovering energy, both heat and electricity, from the waste left over after recycling and composting, and reducing the reliance on landfill sites.

The winners were announced at an Awards Dinner on Thursday 15 June at the University of Exeter, hosted by comedian and actor Marcus Brigstocke.

View the full list of winning projects

The winners of the 15^th annual Michelmores Property Awards have been revealed, celebrating outstanding property and construction projects in Devon, Somerset, Bristol, Dorset and Cornwall, across ten categories.

Congratulations to Seaton Jurassic, Seaton – winner of Leisure & Hospitality Project of the Year, sponsored by The Samphire Club

Seaton Jurassic, a project submitted by East Devon District Council, is a multi-use, community-led visitor centre. It allows visitors to enjoy an inspirational and educational time-travelling voyage – bringing to life the evolution of the Jurassic Coast, England’s first Natural World Heritage Site. The centre comprises various internal exhibitions, including a specially adapted time-ship and a human-sized rockpool, as well as external wildlife gardens, where habitats representing the wetlands, the harbour, the beach and Seaton Hole can be discovered.

The winners were announced at an Awards Dinner on Thursday 15 June at the University of Exeter, hosted by comedian and actor Marcus Brigstocke.

View the full list of winning projects

The winners of the 15^th annual Michelmores Property Awards have been announced, celebrating outstanding property and construction projects in Devon, Somerset, Bristol, Dorset and Cornwall, across ten categories.

The University of Exeter’s Living Systems Institute was a double winner on the night – taking home the Awards’ most prestigious accolade, Building of the Year, as well as the award for Education Project of the Year. The Institute represents the single largest investment in the sciences by the University, providing state-of-the-art facilities for research into some of humanity’s most severe diseases.

Three Bristol-based projects were also triumphant, with The General, a mixed-use development at the former Bristol General Hospital being named Heritage Project of the Year. Wapping Wharf – Phase 1, on Bristol’s harbourside, won Residential Project of the Year 41 Units and Over.

Meanwhile, the refurbishment of Bristol’s Grade II* listed City Hall took home the award for Public Project of the Year. The remodelling of City Hall is central to Bristol City Council’s efficiency strategy and has generated savings in excess of £72m.

One Research Way, the gateway building to the Plymouth Science Park campus which opened in 1995, was awarded Commercial Project of the Year. The building provides flexible accommodation and facilities for science and technology businesses and was designed to foster collaboration, encouraging users to interact and share ideas.

In addition, the Seaton Jurassic visitor centre was named Leisure & Hospitality Project of the Year. The community-led centre brings to life the evolution of the Jurassic Coast, England’s first Natural World Heritage Site, through various specially adapted internal and external exhibitions.

The John Laurence Special Contribution Award, which spotlights outstanding property and construction professionals in the region, was awarded to Exeter-based Ralph Collison of Alder King for his significant contribution to the property landscape of the South West.

Other winning projects for 2017 include Cedar Court in Rockbeare, near Exeter, awarded Residential Project of the Year 40 Units and Under, alongside the Cornwall Energy Recovery Centre (CERC) in St Dennis, which was awarded Sustainable Project of the Year.

Emma Honey, Head of Real Estate at Michelmores, said:

“Once again, the standard of entries we received for this year’s Property Awards was outstanding. From a complex heritage project in Bristol to highly energy efficient residential projects on Dartmoor, the range and breadth of projects has been fantastic and has demonstrated the excellence of the property and construction sector in our region. My congratulations go to all of our winners and to all those shortlisted.”

Now in their fifteenth year, the annual Awards, which are sponsored by accountancy, investment management and tax group Smith & Williamson, showcase and celebrate the best of the South West’s property and construction industry.

The winners were announced at an Awards Dinner on Thursday 15 June at the University of Exeter, hosted by comedian and actor Marcus Brigstocke.

The 2017 Michelmores Property Awards winning projects in full:

Commercial Project of the Year, sponsored by Smith and Williamson

• One Research Way, Plymouth Science Park, Plymouth – submitted by HLM Architects and BAM Construct UK

Public Project of the Year, sponsored by Ravenslade

• City Hall, Bristol – submitted by Alec French Architects

Education Project of the Year, sponsored by Atkins

• Living Systems Institute, University of Exeter, Exeter – submitted by BAM Construct UK

Leisure & Hospitality Project of the Year, sponsored by The Samphire Club 

• Seaton Jurassic, Seaton – submitted by East Devon District Council

Heritage Project of the Year, sponsored by Kier

• The General, Bristol – submitted by Hydrock

Sustainable Project of the Year, sponsored by Midas

• Cornwall Energy Recovery Centre, St Dennis – submitted by Cornwall Energy Recovery

Residential Project of the Year 41 Units and Over, sponsored by GVA

• Wapping Wharf – Phase 1, Bristol – submitted by Alec French Architects

Residential Project of the Year 40 Units and Under, sponsored by NatWest

• Cedar Court, Rockbeare, Exeter – submitted by Jameson Homes

The John Laurence Special Contribution Award, sponsored by Interserve

• Ralph Collison, Alder King

Building of the Year, sponsored by Girling Jones

• Living Systems Institute, University of Exeter, Exeter – submitted by BAM Construct UK

Click here to view the shortlist in full

Click here to view photos of the evening

Earlier this month, we saw the second instance of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) issuing a £400,000 fine, this time on cold-calling firm Keurboom Communications (Keurboom). A previous fine at that level was issued against Talk Talk for security breaches.

Keurbroom breached privacy laws by calling people without their consent, often repeatedly and during unsocial hours. It had even made efforts to hide its identity so that it would be harder for anyone to complain. The ICO wanted to send a very clear message, but the fine is only a sign of potential greater enforcement actions to come.

The Keurbroom Director had been quoted as saying that while he didn’t enjoy receiving cold calls himself and personally found them annoying, it didn’t make them illegal. A few words of warning:

• Firstly, making automatic marketing calls without people’s consent is illegal. Of even greater significance is that company directors are shortly due to find themselves directly responsible and face personal liability, with each director being capable of a fine of up to £500,000 by the ICO. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport originally announced that the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 would be amended, to make all directors liable for nuisance call fines. In light of the up-coming election, we understand this change is now likely to take place in the autumn.
• Secondly, under the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016 (GDPR), which comes in to force here in the UK on 25 May 2018, ICO fines for data protection breaches are set to increase further – potentially extending up to the greater of €20m or 4% of global annual turnover.
• The third (and final for the purposes of this article only!) words of warning are that the ePrivacy Regulation is weaving its way through the European institutions. It has the aim of ensuring even stronger privacy in electronic communications. The regulation will strengthen laws on processing communications content and breaches, which apply extra-territoriality, can also attract fines of up to 4% of worldwide annual turnover.

Ultimately, this fresh wave of new legislation emphasises the Europe-wide aims upholding privacy, security and information rights in the UK’s public interest. Companies and their directors need to be alert to the full extent of the powers that will shortly be extended to the ICO and ensure they are suitably prepared to remain on the right side of the law. Not to do so could be an expensive mistake.

For further insights on Data Protection, please contact Tom Torkar, Partner and head of Technology at tom.torkar@michelmores.com

Organisations with 250+ employees (where ’employees’ includes both casual and other workers/consultants providing personal service) are required to compute detailed gender pay comparison calculations, as at 5 April 2017, and later publicise their gender pay gap stats.

This may have been considered by many as a low priority, vis-à-vis more pressing matters such as managing the challenging exchange rates in overseas supply chains. However, the new Gender Pay Reporting Regulations carry hidden potential longer-term risks, and therefore should be more than a ‘tick box’ exercise.

Employers first need to decide when and how to publicise the calculations, and how they tackle the recommended ‘supporting statement’, to comment on any unhelpful gender pay gap the pay stats highlight. The longstop date for publication is 4 April 2018, and the information needs to be confirmed by an ‘appropriate person’ (eg the CEO) and published on both the Companies, and a Government, websites. Breach of this requirement risks being featured in the ‘name and shame’ tables which the Government are increasingly using to bring ‘rogue employers’ into line.

The main hidden risk is the accelerating demographic changes, with a shrinking talent pool, which will inevitably further-exacerbate the current skills shortages issues for manufacturers. As a result, prospective employees are likely to take greater notice of factors such as gender pay discrepancy, and also the employer’s attitude to such issues, as revealed in their ‘supporting statement’.

More positively, the required pay gap analysis, to produce that statement, provides a great opportunity to both address any unexplained gender pay discrepancies, and also then provide the best spin on the Companies values, and plans to address any unhelpful statistics which might otherwise affect recruitment/retention down the line. There is helpful online guidance from ACAS, on both the detail of the required, complex, number-crunching, but also on how best to analyse & address the results.

This is therefore a topic which should be high on the agenda of your HR team, with strategic input on how the Company wishes to position itself so that it is best-placed to fish for talent in the shrinking talent pool.

The shortlist has been announced for the 2017 Michelmores Property Awards, which celebrate outstanding property and construction projects in Bristol, Devon, Somerset, Dorset and Cornwall, across ten categories.

A panel of ten judges with expertise across the property and construction sector and in-depth knowledge of the region, came together for the judging day on 24 March 2017 to shortlist an impressive list of submissions.

The shortlisted projects for Category 4: Leisure & Hospitality Project of the Year are:

COACH, Taunton – submitted by SWH Build

COACH, located at French Weir Avenue in Taunton, is an outdoor activity centre offering a diverse range of adventure activities, outdoor education and personal development programs for community users of all ages. The facility offers canoeing and cycling facilities, a boat store, a café and meeting space for social events. It is supported and used by a number of local clubs and groups.

Gaia Spa, Boringdon Hall, Plymouth – submitted by Ward Williams Associates

Luxury spa retreat Gaia Spa is set within the grounds of Boringdon Hall – a Grade I listed 16^th century country manor hotel in Plymouth. The contemporary design of the spa’s pools, treatment rooms and social areas discretely span three floors, utilising nature to create spaces for relaxation and rejuvenation. The Spa also comprises gym facilities, heat and hydrotherapy experiences and a restaurant – which offers outdoor terraces overlooking views of Dartmoor.

Pavilions Teignmouth, Teignmouth – submitted by Devon Contractors

Pavilions Teignmouth is a new multi-functional arts and cultural centre located on the site of the old Carlton Theatre. It comprises an auditorium seating over 200 people, incubator offices for start-up businesses, gallery and exhibition space, fitness and dance studios, a café and a restaurant. The project has brought a new lease of life to Teignmouth Seafront and town, and aims to encourage further regeneration work for Teignmouth and other coastal towns in the region.

Seaton Jurassic, Seaton – submitted by East Devon District Council

Seaton Jurassic is a multi-use, community-led visitor centre. It allows visitors to enjoy an inspirational and educational time-travelling voyage – bringing to life the evolution of the Jurassic Coast, England’s first Natural World Heritage Site. The centre comprises various internal exhibitions, including a specially adapted time-ship and a human-sized rockpool, as well as external wildlife gardens, where habitats representing the wetlands, the harbour, the beach and Seaton Hole can be discovered.

The shortlist has been announced for the 2017 Michelmores Property Awards, which celebrate outstanding property and construction projects in Bristol, Devon, Somerset, Dorset and Cornwall, across ten categories.

A panel of ten judges with expertise across the property and construction sector and in-depth knowledge of the region, came together for the judging day on 24 March to shortlist an impressive list of submissions.

The shortlisted projects for Category 2: Public Project of the Year are:

City Hall, Bristol – submitted by Alec French Architects

City Hall is a Grade II listed building, commissioned by Bristol City Council as its corporate HQ in the 1930s. 2016 saw the comprehensive remodelling of the building to create a contemporary and agile working environment for staff and partner organisations, with increased access to the public. The refurbishment process comprised extensive redesigning to workspaces across five floors, including repairing original heritage building features and adapting building services in line with 21^st century working practices.

Met Office High Performance Computer Complex, Exeter – submitted by Met Office

The Met Office’s High Performance Computer Centre at Exeter Science Park is a £97m project,  housing the Met Office’s super computer which is capable of performing 14,000 trillion calculations per second – 13 times more powerful than its previous system. The building itself, classed a BREEAM excellent for sustainability, will also be used as collaboration space to enable partnerships between science, business and academia.

Pavilions Teignmouth, Teignmouth – submitted by Devon Contractors

Pavilions Teignmouth is a new multi-functional arts and cultural centre located on the site of the old Carlton Theatre. It comprises an auditorium seating over 200 people, incubator offices for start-up businesses, gallery and exhibition space, fitness and dance studios, a café and a restaurant. The project has brought a new lease of life to Teignmouth seafront and town, and aims to encourage further regeneration work on Teignmouth seafront and other coastal towns in the region.

The Cove Macmillan Support Centre, Truro – submitted by Kier Construction

The Cove Macmillan Support Centre, a joint project between Macmillan and The Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, provides essential services to all those affected by cancer on Cornwall and the isles of Scilly. The Centre is a dedicated cancer support facility, offering treatment and therapy rooms, quiet rooms for patients and relatives, counselling and psychology rooms, training rooms and a café. The Centre opened to the public in November 2016.

The shortlist has been announced for the 2017 Michelmores Property Awards, which celebrate outstanding property and construction projects in Bristol, Devon, Somerset, Dorset and Cornwall, across ten categories.

A panel of ten judges with expertise across the property and construction sector and in-depth knowledge of the region, came together for the judging day on 24 March 2017 to shortlist an impressive list of submissions.

The shortlisted projects for Category 9: John Laurence Special Contribution Award are:

David Parsons, Pearce Construction

David is the Managing Director of Pearce Construction. With over 35 years in the construction industry, he has been the driver behind a range of diverse, quality development projects. Key projects include Passivhaus standard homes at Christow and regeneration projects in Barnstaple. David’s dedication to health and safety is second to none – he is a Director of The Building Safety Group Limited, the UK’s largest Independent health and safety advisory group operating within the construction industry.

Andrew Pearce, JLL

Andrew is a Director at JLL. In 2016, he celebrated 25 years in commercial property agency and consultancy in the South West. One of the region’s leading property advisors, he has assisted with the delivery of over 3m sq. ft. of new-build or refurbished offices, with a total value of over £0.5bn. Key highlights include the delivery of 1m sq. ft. of commercial space at Exeter Business Park and the creation of highly sustainable commercial buildings, including Gadeon House, Milford House and Oxygen House, Exeter.

Ralph Collison, Alder King

Ralph, a Consultant at Alder King, has become a well-established figure in Devon’s business community over the past 29 years. He has been involved in many high-profile developments which have been fundamental in changing the landscape of the South West, including advising Land Securities on the development of Princesshay in Exeter City Centre and buying the Science Park site at Exeter for Eagle One.

The shortlist has been announced for the 2017 Michelmores Property Awards, which celebrate outstanding property and construction projects in Bristol, Devon, Somerset, Dorset and Cornwall, across ten categories.

A panel of ten judges with expertise across the property and construction sector and in-depth knowledge of the region, came together for the judging day on 24 March 2017 to shortlist an impressive list of submissions.

The shortlisted projects for Category 6: Sustainble Project of the Year are:

Cornwall Energy Recovery Centre (CERC), St Austell – submitted by Cornwall Energy Recovery

The CERC is central to an integrated waste management strategy for Cornwall, which uses innovative methods to reduce and reuse waste – developing facilities to allow for more recycling, composting and energy recovery to take place. CERC plays an important role in reducing Cornwall’s Carbon Footprint by recovering energy, both heat and electricity, from the waste left over after recycling and composting, and reducing the reliance on landfill sites.

Cranbrook & Skypark District Heating Scheme, Exeter – submitted by EON Energy Solutions and  Exeter & East Devon Growth Point

Cranbrook & Skypark is the first and largest low-density district heating scheme in the UK. All units in the scheme are connected via an energy centre, which serves as a hub for a state-of-the-art district heating network that provides a sustainable, cost-effective source of heat to business units at Skypark and homes in Cranbrook. The Energy Centre will house heat and energy turbines, providing heat and hot water 24 hours a day to both developments – with surplus electricity fed back into the national grid.

Severnside Energy Recovery Centre, Bristol – submitted by West London Energy Recovery

The Severnside Energy Recovery Centre is the key component of an integrated waste management strategy for the West London Waste Authority. It utilises ground-breaking technology to maximise the extraction of usable renewable energy, whilst dramatically reducing the volume of residual waste sent to landfill. The facility makes use of rail as its key transportation measure, helping to further reduce emissions, as well as congestion on the public highway.

Stafford Close, Christow, Devon – submitted by Pearce Construction

Stafford Close is a development of 18 highly energy efficient Passivhaus standard homes – the first of its kind based within Dartmoor National Park. Amongst other sustainability measures, the homes feature solar panels, rainwater harvesting and Passivhaus certified triple glazed windows – to generate estimated annual heating and hot water bills of just £60 per year. Fourteen of the homes are designated as affordable rented housing for local people, managed by Teign Housing.

This article was first published in Solicitors Journal on 7 March 2017 and is reproduced by kind permission.

It is for the law to keep up with changing relationship formats and social attitudes to reflect reality and protect those involved, writes Pippa Allsop.

I have previously discussed the myth of ‘common law marriage’: the popular misconception that living with your partner for a lengthy period of time gives rise to some sort of legal protection in the event the relationship breaks down, akin to that afforded by marriage and civil partnerships. I am still strongly of the opinion that with couples in the UK increasingly opting to cohabit without getting married, this is an area of the law which needs to maintain pace with societal realities.

It was with interest, therefore, that I recently reviewed the judgment handed down by the Court of Appeal in the matter of Steinfeld and another v Secretary of State for Education [2017] EWCA Civ 81.

Charles Keidan and Rebecca Steinfeld are a heterosexual couple who both hold ‘deep-rooted and genuine ideological objections to the institution of marriage, based on what they consider to be its historically patriarchal nature’. As UK law currently limits the ability to enter into a civil partnership to those who are in a same-sex relationship, the couple claimed that this equated to an infringement of their human rights, being discriminatory on the basis of their sexual orientation.

‘Wait and see’

Following previous consultation, the government took the decision to ‘wait and see’ what effect extending marriage to same-sex couples has on civil partnerships before permitting opposite-sex couples to enter into civil partnerships, or indeed abolishing or phasing out civil partnerships altogether. Accordingly, Keidan and Steinfeld also sought to challenge this previous refusal to extend civil partnerships to heterosexual couples.

The upshot was that although the couple’s appeal was ultimately dismissed, it was accepted that the ‘future of the legal status of civil partnerships is an important matter of social policy that government is entitled to consider carefully’. Essentially, although it was accepted that the current position did create a difference in the way same-sex and opposite-sex couples are treated by the law, the Court of Appeal felt this was justified in light of the ‘wait and evaluate’ approach the government was taking.

Cohabiting couples

I would be very interested to see whether opening up civil partnerships to heterosexual couples would actually result in a large number of cohabiting couples taking advantage of the option to enter into a civil partnership.

Undoubtedly, there are many people who share the feeling that the concept of marriage does not accord with their values and, as such, does not provide them with the outcome they desire in ‘formalising’ their relationship. Many others, though, may well still not wish to ‘formalise’ their relationship at all and still chose to live with one another without any label attached. My feeling is that it is for the law to keep up with relationship formats and social attitudes, so as to not only reflect reality, but also to protect people’s positions as far as possible when a relationship breaks down – whatever family format they chose to adopt as autonomous adults.

For more information please contact Pippa Allsop, Associate in the Family Law team.

The High Court has considered trade mark infringement/passing off in the context of Google AdSense for the first time.

Google AdSense offers website operators the opportunity to contract with Google for it to place adverts on their website and pay a fee per user’s click on the adverts.

In this case, UK retailer Argos claimed that Argos Inc.’s use of Google AdSense on its website www.argos.com (which was registered prior to www.argos.co.uk) amounted to trade mark infringement.  Argos argued that Argos Inc. was ‘free riding’ on its reputation.

A key (and highly unusual point) was that most UK visitors visited Argos Inc.’s website by mistake and bounced off the page almost immediately. However, as www.argos.com was (1) registered in 1992 and pre-existed Argos’ 2004 domain name and (2) targeted customers in the USA only, Argos accepted it could not complain about the use of the domain name alone.

Argos complained that its paid-for adverts appeared on Argos Inc.’s website and Argos Inc. therefore received revenue from Google for user clicks. Argos argued that it was indirectly paying Argos Inc. to infringe Argos’ rights (via Google AdWords).

Argos Inc. raised the defence that it was a US focused site and produced evidence to show that 85% of UK visitors to the website left after a median time of 10 seconds.  Argos Inc. also argued that Argos had signed Google’s AdWords terms and conditions and consented to the use of its adverts on Argos Inc.’s and third party websites. Crucially Argos had not excluded any particular website from showing its advert.

The High Court agreed with Argos Inc. To infringe a trade mark, its use must have been made without consent but here Argos consented to the use of the domain name argos.com and the use of Argos’ adverts on the Argos Inc. website. The sign was also not used in the UK so did not amount to trade mark infringement in the UK.

The Judge made it clear that it was not the case that wherever an adviser entered into an AdWords contract with Google, it would consent to the use of the trade mark by any third party in any context.

The real issue for Argos in this case is that the domain had been registered by Argos Inc.. in 1992, prior to Argos’ 2004 registration and it accepted it could not complain about it.

This is a useful reminder for new businesses to register domain names early to avoid being in a position where a third party legitimately owns a domain name which consumers are likely to mistake with their brand.

Another key point when signing up for AdWords is to carefully consider excluding some third parties from using your adverts, to avoid being deemed to have consented to a potential infringement.

For more information please contact Charlotte Bolton, Associate on charlotte.bolton@michelmores.com or +44 (0)1392 687745

With the judging day for the 2017 Michelmores Property Awards now just under a month away, we are pleased to introduce the judging panel for this year’s event.

We are delighted to welcome five new judges to the 2017 awards: Mike Lea, Graham Norwood, Sarah Buck, John Beauchamp and Chris Curling.

We are also pleased to welcome back five of last year’s judges: Nick Hole, Mike Leece OBE, Will Mumford, Peter Lacey and Thelma Sorensen OBE. The full panel will all come together on Friday 24 March 2017 to select the very best buildings, projects and businesses from across the South West.

Meet the judges

Mike Lea

Mike is the Senior Partner of Smith & Williamson’s Bristol office, with responsibility for around 190 people and for the strategic direction of the office across the South West and beyond.

He is also lead partner of business tax in Bristol and has built up a vast amount of experience, with over 32 years in the profession. He is a trustee of several charities, covering areas as varied as education, theatre, care homes, youth clubs, drugs treatment and sports.

Graham Norwood 

Graham is a freelance property journalist, writing on residential markets and housing. He is a regular contributor to The Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail property pages, appears in lifestyle magazines such as Country & Town House, edits the online trade titles Estate Agent Today and Letting Agent Today, and frequently writes for Estates Gazette. He has also written four books on residential property. Outside of work, Graham lives in Topsham, Devon. He claims to spend too much time in the cinema and, a few times a year, at F1 motor races. You can follow Graham on Twitter @propertyjourn.

Sarah Buck 

Sarah Buck is a Chartered Civil and Structural Engineer and was the first female President of Institution of Structural Engineers in 2007. She is currently Director of BSW Consulting, an Exeter-based company which she co-founded 20 years ago. She has been involved in the design and supervision of a wide range of civil and structural projects during her career, both in the UK and overseas and has developed a particular interest in historic structures and sustainable construction. Sarah is involved internationally with structural engineering ethics and nationally with degree accreditation. Sarah was awarded an honorary degree (DEng) by the University of Exeter in 2008 and an OBE in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to Engineering and Education.

John Beauchamp 

John established benjamin +beauchamp architects in Wedmore, Somerset ten years ago. He has over 25 years’ experience in the conservation and repair of historic buildings, as well as the adaptation of existing buildings and the construction of new buildings within an historic context. John is involved in ongoing work on major medieval buildings including Cathedrals and churches throughout the South West and in the Republic of Ireland. He is a member of the Bath and Wells Diocesan Advisory Committee (DAC) and an RIBA and AABC conservation accredited architect.

Chris Curling 

Chris Curling is a lawyer, business leader and environmentalist. As a corporate finance lawyer and 15 years as either Chief Executive or Executive Chairman, he led the development of Osborne Clarke from a Bristol-based provincial firm into a national and international law practice with offices throughout Europe and in Silicon Valley.

For the past 14 years he has sat on the Boards of a range of listed and private companies. Chris has also been Chairman of several environmental bodies, including Wildscreen, the External Advisory Board of Bristol University’s Environmental Research Institute, Sustrans, and a Trustee of Avon Wildlife Trust. He has been a member of the governing body of Bristol University, and he now chairs the committee responsible for the oversight of nine Bristol schools under the umbrella of the Society of Merchant Venturers of Bristol, of which he was Master in 2015.

Nick Hole

Nick Hole has over 30 years’ experience in the property development sector. He is a director of Exeter-based property company Eagle One, which he first joined as a Chartered Surveyor in 1987.  He is also Managing Director of Eagle One company Blue Cedar Homes, which specialises in the luxury retirement market in the South West.

Mike Leece OBE

With a background in engineering, Mike Leece became CEO for Devonport Management Limited (DML) in 1987, where he led the company’s transition from a public sector organisation into a commercial entity. Subsequently, Mike was appointed CEO of the National Marine Aquarium – a position he held for over ten years.  He was also Non-Executive Director of Ireland’s largest house builder, Governor of the University of Plymouth, and Director/Chair of Plymouth Chamber of Commerce. Mike is a self-employed business consultant and is currently a NED of Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust.

Will Mumford

Before joining LocatED as the Assistant Director of technical and planning, Will worked as the Operations Director at NPS South West – a multi-disciplinary property consultancy. Will has been based in the West Country for over 20 years working in retail, property and local politics.

LocatED is a property company which buys and develops sites in order to realise the government’s manifesto commitment to open 500 new free schools in England by 2020. LocatED is wholly owned by the Secretary of State for Education.

Peter Lacey

A highly experienced architect, Peter Lacey co-founded the Exeter and Plymouth based Architecture and Urban Design practice, Lacey Hickie Caley in 1992 – later becoming Chairman of the LHC Group. Since retiring from the business, he has been Non-Executive Chair of property consultants Vickery Holman Ltd. and Pro-Chancellor at the University of Exeter where he held the infrastructure and environmental sustainability portfolios. He retired from both last year and is currently Chair of the Green Infrastructure Board reporting to the Exeter and Heart of Devon Growth Board and a director of Exeter Golf and Country Club.

Thelma Sorenson OBE

A well-known champion of the Cornish business scene, Thelma Sorensen has a wealth of experience in the construction sector, holding the position of Regional Administration Officer for Devon and Cornwall for the Chartered Institute of Building for many years. She is also Hon. President of the South West Women in Construction group, an organisation she is extremely passionate about. Thelma is currently Chairman of the Cornwall Business Partnership and Vice Chair Cornwall for the Devon and Cornwall Business Council and now also a Director of the Architecture Centre Devon and Cornwall.  In 2010, Thelma was awarded an OBE for her contribution to economic regeneration in Cornwall.