UKSPA Summer Conference 2024

UKSPA members and stakeholders gathered in Birmingham on Wednesday 26th and Thursday 27th June, for the UKSPA Summer Conference 2024. The Conference was hosted by  STEAMhouse, and there were opportunities to once again tour this amazing venue.

Conference Programme:
The final Conference Programme, including the delegate list, is available for download here.

Presentations:
The plenary and parallel session presentations, where available, can be downloaded using the links below:

Agenda

UKSPA Welcome – John Leake, Chairman UKSPA and James Chaffer, Chief Executive UKSPA  

Welcome from the hosts:

Joanna Birch, Director Innovation, Enterprise, Employability and Business Engagement, Birmingham City University.

STEAMhouse – Fostering Creativity and Encouraging Connectivity:

Simon Davies Design Associate, Aukett Swanke.

Plenary 1

Circular Economy : Looking at the Challenges & Opportunities of Transitioning 

Ed Willmott, Managing Director, Prova

Vita Woods, Innovation Manager, STEAMhouse, Birmingham City University 

Richard Pickett, Regional Sustainability Manager, Wates Group.

Plenary 2

How Innovation and Investment Thrive by Leveraging Local Strengths and Fostering Strategic Partnerships.  

Katharine Fuller, COO, TechWM

Melissa Snover, CEO, Nourished

David Horsfall, Property Director, Webster and Horsfall Group and Director of Tyseley Energy Park.   

Plenary 3

How Retrofitting and Adaptive Re-Use of Existing Buildings Contribute to Achieving Net Zero Goals.  

Dr Monica Mateo Garcia. Senior Lecturer, Sustainable Built Environment, Birmingham City University

Nathan Bowen, Senior Project Manager, Mace

Stephen Fernandez, Director, Arup

Parallel Session 1: 

Creating and Developing an Effective and Sustainable Entrepreneurial Incubation Ecosystem. 

Richard Scutt, Head of Growth and Incubation STEAMhouse Birmingham City UniversIty and David Mellor, Head of Commercialisation, Birmingham City University.

John Morse Brown, Director, Pigeon Posted

Kathryn White, Innovation Director at Innovation Centre Knowledge Gateway

Parallel Session 2: 

Healthy and Sustainable Buildings and Wellbeing in the Built Environment  

Mike Leonard, CEO, Building Alliance.

Mitesh Parmar,  Director and Co-Founder, Wellspace Architects and Minal Parmar, Co-Founder and Director, Wellspace Architects

Phil Kelly, Partner, Sustainably, Net Zero and Circularity Ridge and partner LLP and Liz Sparrow Partner, Ridge and Partners LLP.

Veronica Flemming, Director, Asa Landscape Architects

Closing Talks

Richard Fallon, CEO, The Technology Supply Chain

A huge thank you to all of the speakers and session chairs for their time, effort and input, as well as all the conference delegates for interacting and contributing to the sessions.

We look forward to seeing you all again later in the year at the UKSPA 40th Anniversary Conference at University of Warwick on the 16th to 18th October.