Propertyshe Podcast

Mark was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of The Government Property Agency in October 2024, heading up a 400-strong team that aims to transform how the civil service works and what its real estate portfolio looks like. He is an established corporate leader with over 30 years of strategic and operational real estate experience across asset management, investment, development and operations.  Mark was previously Managing Director UK and Ireland at Hammerson plc, Executive Director at Capital & Regional plc and Interim Corporate Director City Development at Liverpool City Council.  He studied Industrial Economics at Nottingham University and began his career in Audit at KPMG.

Allan Lockhart is Chief Executive of NewRiver REIT.  He has over 35 years’ experience in the UK retail real estate market.  Having started his career with Strutt & Parker in 1988 advising major property companies and institutions on retail leasing, investment and development, in 2002, Allan was appointed Retail Director of Halladale Plc focusing on acquiring value add opportunities in UK retail real estate.   Following the successful sale of Halladale Plc in early 2007, Allan co-founded NewRiver and served as Property Director from its IPO until being appointed CEO in 2018.

Samantha McClary, Former editor Estates Gazette, Chief Executive of the British Council for Offices  Until recently Editor of Estates Gazette, Sam's new role is as Chief Executive of the British Council for Offices.  Sam McClary has more than two decades of experience in the UK real estate sector. She spent the first 24 years of her career as a journalist and editor, with an introduction to the property sector through a specialism in hotel and leisure reporting. In 2004 she took up a role as a rookie reporter at Estates Gazette, first covering the retail and leisure sector. Over the following 20 years she moved her way up through the ranks of EG, building connections with key players across the real estate sector and broadening her coverage to include the key issues facing the industry and the core ways the sector contributes to the UK’s economy and prosperity. She took over as editor of EG in 2019 and held the position until January 2025 when the business was sold to family-owned publishing house Mark Allen Group.  Sam is best known in the industry for being a fierce champion and challenger to the real estate sector, utilising her platform to help showcase the good that real estate can and does do for people, planet and UK PLC while poking the sector to continue to improve in key areas such as diversity and inclusion, environmental and societal impact and technological advancement.  Sam is a particularly vocal supporter of ED&I in the industry and of unlocking and attracting talent from places the industry may not have traditionally gone looking. Among her proudest achievements is the launch and development of the Future Leaders programme, which gave powerful voices to underrepresented groups in the built environment, enabling them to tell stories of the true impact that real estate has on all of our lives.  In early 2025, Sam was appointed as chief executive of the British Council for Offices, a key industry body representing the workplace sector and the diverse set of players that bring this vital element of the UK built and business environment to life. She takes up the role from 6 May and plans to continue to be both champion and challenger for the sector as it continues through this most transformative period.  Sam also sits on the advisory board of Black Women in Real Estate.

CEO of HUB, Robert Sloss, has been an entrepreneur in property and development for over 25 years. During this time, Robert has created a series of real estate investment and development platforms, primarily in the residential and office sectors. Robert has a passion for vibrant urban living and the need for the built environment to reflect changing human demand. As a result, HUB was one of the first developers to recognise that changing UK work practices would drive the need to repurpose redundant office buildings, for living uses.  Robert co-founded HUB in 2012, and over time it has become a leading UK BTR-led residential developer, with more than 9,600 homes completed or under development across the UK. A pioneer of both BTR and co-living in the UK, HUB continues to deliver industry-leading developments, including the award-winning Queen’s Quarter in Croydon; One Maidenhead, a major mixed-use regeneration scheme in Maidenhead town centre; and the Yardhouse co-living scheme at Wood Lane.  HUB’s adaptive reuse strategy, in line with its commitment to urban regeneration and sustainability, continues to bear fruit. As well as Cornerstone in the Barbican, the first co-living planning consent in the City of London, HUB has Assemblies in Minories, which it hopes will be the City’s second co-living consent. HUB believes that co-living is particularly well suited to the City, with its long working hours and significant transitory, international workforce.

Michelle is responsible for the management of Shaftesbury Capital’s £5bn property portfolio, including asset management, investment, leasing, and marketing across Covent Garden, Soho, and Chinatown London, and is a member of the Executive Committee. Michelle was previously on the Board of Capco and has significant financial and real estate experience having joined Capco in 2014 undertaking a number of senior roles across the business.   Michelle is an experienced Corporate financier and was previously at UBS Investment Bank, advising companies across the UK listed real estate sector.