Student Accommodation Conference

Brookfield Asset Management – Jeannie Wong, Senior Vice President, Portfolio Management

Brookfield Asset Management is a leading global alternative asset manager with over US$211 billion of real estate assets under management globally. They manage 20,000 student beds in the UK under the Student Roost brand, and operate in excess of 35,000 PBSA units in mainland Europe under several brands including The Fizz, Livensa Living and Suitétudes.

Jeannie Wong joined Brookfield in 2009 in Toronto as a Manager in the Corporate Finance team. Since then, Ms. Wong has worked in the New York and Berlin offices in various roles before relocating to London in 2014. She is currently part of the European Real Estate Investments Group focusing on Portfolio Management of Brookfield’s Global Opportunistic Real Estate Funds.

Summix Capital – Niamh O’Connor, Executive Director

Summix Capital are behind Harrington – a major new carbon neutral settlement planned for South Oxfordshire. The project, which is in its early stages and will be Summix’s first project in the region, will utilise a 500 hectare site capable of providing a new planned community, with all the facilities required for a population of over 15,000 people. Niamh will discuss how it will play a critical role in driving the regional and national economy forwards by acting as a natural home for innovation within the Oxford-Cambridge Arc.

Watkin Jones – Alex Pease, Chief Investment Officer

Watkin Jones will be delivering over 700 one, two and three bedroom flats and 19,500 sq. ft of leisure and retail space at the former Brains Brewery site in Cardiff. They are also delivering a major PBSA project in Bristol and have ambitions to strike out further into the Western Gateway. Alex joins the even to go into detail about their plans.

Prime Student Living – Joanne Pollard, Managing Director

For over 10 years Prime Student Living have provided a full suite of student accommodation management services for a range of clients and their assets, whilst simultaneously delivering exceptional living experiences for thousands of students who have stayed in their 30 properties which contain over 7000 beds in 22 cities over 6 countries. Joanne will join the conference to discuss Prime Student Living’s future development plans which will see over 6000 more bed added to their portfolio.

Sheppard Robson Architects – Clayre Massey, Associate

Clayre has been with Sheppard Robson since 2011, working almost exclusively in the Student Accommodation sector since 2013.

In this time she has overseen the design and delivery of over 7000 built beds across various locations in the UK. Her delivery of the Peel Park residences for the University of Salford was awarded the Student Accommodation Development of the Year at the NW Insider Property Awards in 2017. Her in-depth knowledge of the sector has also assisted University clients on their long term residential strategy plans and also the selection of potential development partners.

Clayre has also driven forward wellbeing and inclusivity agendas, and has authored articles on mental health which have been published in the Architects Journal.

https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/opinion/how-architects-can-help-tackle-the-student-mental-health-crisis

Study Inn Group – Gurvinder Gill, Group Finance Director

Study Inn Group designs, builds and operates high quality student accommodation around the UK, with locations including Bristol, Nottingham, Loughborough, and Exeter, with facilities in Leeds and Leicester in the pipeline. They currently operate over 1,900 beds and are working to add many more, with developments in Leeds and Exeter opening later this year and more planned for Leeds and Leicester, set to open in 2022. Gurvinder has been involved with the PBSA sector for 18 years and will provide some thought leadership on Study Inn Group’s work to create vibrant student communities as well as discussing wider trends in the student accommodation sector.

Built Environment Networking – Amanda Griffiths, Director

Amanda is one of the Co-Founder’s of Built Environment Networking – formed almost 10 years ago.

She’ll be hosting throughout the day, running the days proceedings and managing the interaction between our delegates and the speakers.

University of London – Andrew Howarth, Director of Residential Services

Working with the universities of London and Sussex Andrew has gained over 20 years’ experience in the management and provision of student accommodation. He is currently working on a five-year plan to grow the University of London’s portfolio from 2,500 to 7,000 rooms. He also led its ‘Safe to Stay’ programme to bring students back to halls in September 2020.

Kinetic Capital – Stephen Grant, Chief Executive

Kinetic Capital are a specialist PBSA lender launched last year with an initial £100m commitment, and will provide finance for student accommodation owners, developers and operators. They are already active in the market, having provided a £39m loan to Jensco Group for a 522 bed project in Nottingham and a £34m loan for a 436 bed development in Coventry to be built by Cassidy Group. Stephen will discuss their unique position as a specialist PBSA lender, their upcoming pipeline over the next 12 months and how they incentivise a commitment to student health and wellbeing initiatives among recipients of their funding.

Built Environment Networking – Fahmida Nisa, Host & Event Manager

Nisa is a research, marketing and content specialist at Built Environment Networking. She will be hosting a number of the sessions throughout the day, running the day’s proceedings and managing the interaction between our virtual delegates and the speakers.

Cushman & Wakefield – David Feeney, Partner, Student Accommodation Advisory

David Feeney, Partner, is Cushman & Wakefield’s lead for Student Accommodation Advisory services across the UK, advising universities, developers, funders, investors and operators on student accommodation development and the sector as a whole. With ten years’ experience in the sector, David has a comprehensive knowledge of the UK market and he has acted as project lead on all of the 4,595 on-campus partnership beds beds to have reached financial close and be delivered to the market since 2018. David also leads on Cushman & Wakefield’s consulting work with the private sector, assessing markets, portfolios, accommodation quality and rent levels for a range of clients. David regularly speaks on national trends at conferences across the UK and produces Cushman & Wakefield’s Student Accommodation Annual Report.