Office refurbishment:
Sustainable prime opportunity...or never as good as new?

Charlotte Fullard

Senior Associate Director, BNP Paribas Real Estate

Charlotte joined the BNP Paribas Real Estate office agency team in 2023 focusing on Birmingham City centre and Solihull/M42. She acts on behalf of Landlords and Developers, in addition to working with occupiers on their occupational strategy reviewing a stay vs go approach to optimise their existing premises or conducting a search/find service to acquire new office premises.

This follows almost 4 years at Vail Williams where she headed its commercial agency. She has 22 years’ experience as an office agent and is adept at both disposals and acquisitions having previously acted for clients including Real Estate Investors plc, Hortons Estate and Ingeus UK Limited.

Rob Valentine

Regional Director (Birmingham), Bruntwood

Rob is Bruntwood’s regional lead for the West Midlands – supporting the development of thriving cities including Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton.

Drawing on more than 20 years’ experience within Bruntwood, Rob specialises in facilitating collaborative partnerships between the private sector, local authorities, research institutions and universities to create world-class innovation districts and drive strategic growth.

Philip Twiss

Senior Associate - Studio Director and Design Director, Gensler Birmingham

Phil’s approach to design achieves high-quality architectural solutions which embody simplicity, attention to detail, and intelligent and responsible use of materials. 

Phil has a diverse background ranging from workplace, critical facilities, hospitality, and commercial office design. Phil is able to draw on his broad experience to create better, sustainable design solutions for his clients. He has an in-depth understanding of how to create spaces that enhance the employee experience and specialises in delivering work for the consumer goods industry. 

Phil has a seat on the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Council, he is the Regional Chair of RIBA West Midlands, RIBA External Examiner for Coventry School of Architecture, and a committee member of the Birmingham Architectural Association.

Katy Lightbody

Senior Director (Heritage and Townscape), Turley

Katy is a senior director in the heritage, townscape and landscape team at Turley. She has over 20 years’ experience as a town planner and heritage specialist and specialises in the provision of strategic and detailed advice on managing change within the historic environment.

Katy is experienced in dealing with the challenges presented by the reuse, adaptation and alteration of existing buildings, development within the setting of heritage assets, heritage led regeneration and the integration of new development, including tall buildings. She takes a positive approach to problem solving and engagement and provides clear strategy advice to de-risk complex projects.

Andrew Bickerdyke

UK Sector Director for Commercial Offices, Ramboll

Andrew is Ramboll’s Head of Building Services for London and Cambridge and the UK Sector Director for Commercial Offices and Workplace for the UK MEP business. Andrew also sits on the British Council for Offices Technical Affairs Committee.

Andrew has a passion for human centric, design led engineering of offices and workspace; and in recent years has led multi-disciplinary engineering teams on a number of notable buildings including 5 Kingdom Street for British Land, and the Kensington Building for Ashby Capital, which won best refurbished / recycled workspace at the BCO London 2023 awards.

James Willis (Moderator)

Markets Director, Ramboll

James is Markets Director at Ramboll. He has a career history embedded in project management and client development, spending the majority of his early career contractor side delivering a wide variety of projects.

The past 4-years of his role with Ramboll has involved leading the national Buildings team approach to local markets, sector engagement and client development as well as overall growth of the Midlands business.