The Midlands

Dan is a Partner at Glenn Howells Architects, having joined in 2005, and has designed and delivered multiple award-winning, mixed-use, residential-led projects that range from the small-scale Triangle, Swindon development, to the large-scale London City Island. He is passionate about LandAid and the charities that we support, and is driven to with ambitions to create a legacy of change for young people experiencing homelessness in Birmingham from the property industry.

Michelle Adams is a partner in the Real Estate Litigation team at Squire Patton Boggs (UK) LLP, leading the Birmingham offering. She is experienced in a broad range of property-related disputes for financial institutions, retail, telecoms, media and logistics clients in the management of their English and Welsh property portfolios.

Michelle is strong advocate of the Midlands, having been winner of the Birmingham Young Professional of the Year Award (Legal) and Future Face of Legal at the Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Awards. She has supported Landaid for a number of years, taking part in the Midlands Sleep Out, Midlands and London 10Ks and Steptober.

For more than 15 years, Stephen has been advising both domestic and international clients on talent acquisition within the Real Estate, Development and Construction sectors.

Stephen started his career back in London, in 2004, acting on behalf of construction and development groups. In 2010, Stephen left the big smoke for the beating heart of the Midlands. Here in Birmingham, Stephen leads the Built Environment division of Gleeson Recruitment Group as the Divisional Manager.

Stephen is passionate about contributing to the local community, and he will do all he can to raise funds and awareness for great causes. To this end, Stephen has organised teams to take part in several LandAid events including the Birmingham SleepOut and the St Mowden 10k charity run. During the SleepOut, Stephen even made his TV debut on ITV News!

Though Stephen has no further plans to appear on television, he remains committed to supporting efforts in the fight against homelessness, mental health and addiction.

Owen is a Principal Associate at the international law firm Eversheds Sutherland, specialising in commercial property development and acting for some of the UK’s largest developers on a broad range of work from site assembly, development, letting and funding to acquisitions and disposals.

Owen joined the Midlands Board after being a valued Ambassador for many years, he has enjoyed organising and participating in a number of fundraising events including the LandAid Sleep Out, Midlands 10k and Birmingham Velo.

Ross leads the delivery of the transformational mixed-use £700m Paradise development by the MEPC team in the cultural and civic centre of Birmingham.  Prior to this he managed the final development phase of Brindleyplace which helped to transform Birmingham city centre and the redevelopment of The Mailbox. Ross’ role focuses on all elements of the Paradise scheme including leading the development teams on each phase and playing a pivotal role in the commercial and retail leasing discussions helping to attract an eclectic mix of tenants and is increasingly focused on maximising the positive social value impact Paradise has on the local community .

Ross also sits on the BCO Midlands & East Anglia Committee leading the mentoring initiative and is passionate about raising awareness of homelessness in young people by regularly working closely with the local charity St Basil’s, in particular completing his 40 At 40 challenges with the help of his family.

Richard is Head of Planning at St Modwen Logistics where he is responsible for the strategic planning promotion of the next generation of St Modwen’s industrial and logistics developments across the country and leading the team of in-house planners. He joined St Modwen in 2010 and has been a chartered town planner for over 25 years, having previously worked in both the public sector and consultancy

Based at St Modwen’s headquarters at Longbridge, Richard has lived and worked in the Midlands all his life. He enjoys running, although the Longbridge LandAid 10K course tests his enjoyment!

George is a senior Architect at Howells, having joined in 2015 and has been involved in a broad range of projects, including i9, a flagship commercial building in Wolverhampton, now occupied by the Ministry of Housing. More recently, George has been working on Dove Lane, a scheme in Bristol which seeks to re-stitch a vacant plot in the heart of the vibrant St Paul’s neighbourhood, and is currently developing several residential projects at Port Loop, Birmingham.

He is Lead Ambassador for LandAid in the Midlands and has had major involvement in procuring the inaugural Commonwealth Cup 5-a-side tournament in 2022, with the intention of scaling it up in 2023!

Lydia joined Avison Young in 2018 as an Associate Director in the Real Estate Management team. She works on a range of assets across the country with landlords in both the public and private sector. She is currently very focused on providing property consultancy advice to clients on various development projects, from a Shopping Centre redevelopment in Walsall to a commercial and residential hybrid tower in Digbeth. She thoroughly enjoys working on these projects as it offers huge opportunity to advise and lead her clients towards initiatives to provide economic, environment and social value.

Lydia is passionate about raising awareness for mental health, addiction and homelessness and reducing the stigma and miseducation around these subjects. She has worked with Mind charity over several years in her personal time and did a sponsored sky dive with them in 2019 which was a hugely rewarding and exhilarating experience.

Since joining Avison Young, she has become increasingly interested in the work at LandAid and last year she took place in the St Modwen 10k run for LandAid. She looks forward to doing this again in 2024, as well as taking part in the Sleep Out in March. Lydia is excited for the opportunity to join the LandAid Midlands board and she is impassioned to create change.

Sarah is a Director in the Savills Development team, having joined the firm in 2015. She works on a variety of residential and mixed use projects across the Midlands from brownfield regeneration scheme in Birmingham City Centre to large scale garden communities proposed across the country.

She also sits on the RICS West Midlands Regional Board with a particular focus on DEI matters across the Midlands.

Sarah is a new member to the Board but is keen to get involved!