Central South Panel Session on the Public Sector Stage
The Central South UK: A National Growth Region Hiding in Plain Sight
How clusters, collaboration and confidence can put the Central South on the same stage as the UK’s major city regions. When seen as one economic area, the Central South matches the scale, diversity, and opportunity of the UK’s major city regions. Our panel featuring business leaders and local authority leaders will discuss why we are a leading region and the many opportunities to invest in the Central South.
Join us at the SCAPE Public Sector stage. No need to book into the session but you will need to purchase a pass to UKREiiF to join us, visit UKREiiF – The UK’s Real Estate Investment & Infrastructure Forum
Event Speakers
Sarah Longthorpe
Sarah is a member of the corporate team at Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council and leads on the investment and sustainable growth agenda for the borough, oversees a large commercial investment portfolio and is responsible for the delivery of major projects.
Experienced in place making and regeneration underpinned by a solid foundation of land and property skills gained over 25+ years of working in a Local Authority environment, Sarah’s work focuses on enabling delivery, working closely with public and private sector partners. Sarah is experienced in setting up and operating joint ventures and commercial trading entities.
Sarah remains committed to raising the profile, maximising opportunities and driving forward the Council’s ambition for regeneration across the borough.
Brian Johnson
Brian is the Chair of Solent Freeport.
He has recently retired from BAE Systems Maritime, where he was Business Development Director.
He brings a wealth of private sector experience to his role, with over 30 years’ in the Marine and Maritime sector at organisations such as Thales, Marconi and the aforementioned BAE Systems. Brian is on the Board of the Society of Maritime Industries and Maritime UK and previously chair of the Solent LEP.
Chris Fry
Chris is Chief Executive of Kingsbridge, a privately owned property company developing exceptional spaces for work, life and leisure across the South.
The experienced, award-winning team collaborates with like-minded partners to create outstanding schemes with a focus on responsibility, sustainability and community.
Chris has almost 30 years’ experience in commercial property. He has been leading Kingsbridge for the last 8 years, prior to which he was a fund manager at LaSalle Investment Management, responsible for over £3bn of assets across sectors and throughout the UK.
Gavin Hall
Gavin has worked at Savills since 2003, moving across from Southampton City Council, where he had worked in the Regeneration and Design team after graduating from Cardiff University in 1999. At Southampton City Council, Gavin worked in an inward investment team assisting deliver regeneration schemes for the city.
Gavin specialises in complex mixed-use regeneration across the country, especially waterfront and infrastructure projects for both public and private sector clients and is driven to enable deliverable and viable consents that add value to the built environment and to people’s own surroundings.
As well as his roles at Savills, Gavin was elected to Chair of the Planning and Transport Committee of the Hampshire Chamber of Commerce in summer 2022, is a Non-Executive Director on the Board of Business South and chairs their Regenerate South Action Group and sits on the Southampton Renaissance Board.
Gavin was elected a Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute in 2002, has been an RTPI APC Assessor and is the outgoing national RTPI Graduate Pathway Leader for Savills overseeing recruitment and career progression for Savills planning graduates across the country.
Laura Wyatt
Event Partners
