Speakers include

Russell is a founding director of RCKa architects. The practice has won six Housing Design Awards, the RIBA Journal’s MacEwen Award, and has been twice named Social Value Architect of the Year.

Russell’s research into urban golf courses, grey belt and developing around rural stations have received national media attention, with several appearances on BBC TV and radio talking about his work, and he is currently advising MHCLG on suburban intensification and brownfield policies. He is also chair of Barnet’s Quality Review Panel.

Neil’s career commenced as a firefighter, he progressed to become Deputy Chief Fire Officer of Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service. Neil was lead officer for fire protection for the Chief Fire Officers Association from 2007 to 2013. He was President of the Institution of Fire Engineers in 2013 and became CEO the following year.

He is now working with CROSS, leading the expansion into the fire sector.

Andrew is a Partner at PRP and leads the PRPs’ Development Consultancy. He has much experience of residential development including existing building remediation, retrofit and reuse. Andrew acts as an expert technical advisor to building owners with regards to considering compliance, future standards, risks and the wellbeing of residents. His current work includes adaptive reuse, refurbishment and retrofit projects where innovative approaches are being used to ensure efficiencies with regards to costs, time and environmental performance. He undertakes technical and analytical impact policy work for MHCLG and the Welsh Government including various parts of the Building Regulations, Building Safety regimes, second stairs and building safety proportionate risk evaluation projects. 

Ted started his career in the steelwork industry and also has experience in the precast concrete and timber frame industries. He has also worked at a senior level in civil and structural consultancy.

Starting with portal frame design during its early adoption, Ted contributed to the boundary wall fire collapse analysis. Moving into consultancy to get a better all-round understanding of structural and civil engineering, Ted became a practice partner in 1990.

Ted returned to the steelwork industry in 1994, as a Technical and Commercial Director, and worked on a number of high profile projects including Chek Lap Kok airport, numerous stadiums and Portcullis House.

Moving into the precast concrete industry in 2000, Ted was the Commercial Director for a national precast concrete manufacturer involved in a number of tunnelling and stadium projects.

Ted set up his own consultancy in 2004, building on his earlier consultancy experience - particularly in historic structures and timber frame construction. He formally retired in 2017 but retains a small number of consultancy roles and is a part-time lecturer at the Liverpool School of Architecture. Ted has been a Structural Consultant with CROSS since 2023.

Nia is a non-contentious construction lawyer advising both public and private sector clients on complex projects predominantly in the Built Environment sector.

She advises on multifaceted construction transactions, with particular emphasis on development and regeneration schemes, industrial and logistics projects, tenant and corporate occupier fit-outs, facilities management, real estate finance and heat networks. She also has extensive experience in alliancing forms of contract and has advised widely in the nuclear and fusion sectors.

Andrea White is an independent fire engineer and third-party accredited fire risk assessor, with her own consultancy – A W Fire Ltd. She is an Incorporated Engineer with both the IFE and with CABE. And she is proud to be a Fellow of the IFE, of CABE and a Chartered Fellow of IOSH. In 2023, Andrea was voted one of the Top 100 most influential women in the construction industry. In 2025 she was runner up for the Princes Royal’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Women in Science and Engineering. Andrea is Founder and Director of the Women Talking Fire group, an independent women’s networking and support group for the UK fire safety industry, and she also serves as an expert witness for the Courts on fire safety matters.

Geoff is highly respected and experienced with over 40 years of experience in the Building Regulations field within the construction industry. Geoff is a class 3 H Inspector and can deal with the most complex of projects. Geoff also writes the Building Regulations Column every month in The Architects’ Journal.

Jonathan joined Clarion’s Building Safety Systems Team in February 2024 and supports in the development of safety case reports, working in close partnership with colleagues across the organisation. Prior to that, he has held a senior policy manager role in the Building Safety Programme, at the Department for Levelling-up, Housing and Communities, that including leading the development of the assessment and management of building safety risks and safety case report duties in the Building Safety Act 2022 and associated regulations. While at DLUHC, Jonathan was part of the drafting panel that produced PAS:8673 2022 Built environment – Competence requirements for the management of safety in residential buildings. Jonathan’s background includes a BA (Hons) in History and Politics and over 10 years experience as a political consultant.