The Future of London Speaker Bank is buzzing with fresh ideas from built environment professionals who reflect the diversity of London and deserve to be heard. For National Inclusion Week, we highlight four exciting speakers with expertise in culture, planning and housing.
To address the big challenges and seize opportunities in London, it’s essential that we develop creative ideas, fuelled by diverse perspectives. Future of London is committed to making sure our places are shaped and influenced by people who truly reflect London’s diversity.
Our Speaker Diversity Network promotes new, exciting voices who are determined to be heard at built environment events. To mark National Inclusion Week, we’re spotlighting some new additions to our Speaker Bank who all bring a fresh take on the capital’s big challenges and opportunities.
These speakers are drawn from across the built environment sector. A couple are rising stars of the sector. Just starting their career, they offer new ideas, informed by their background and personal characteristics. Others are more experienced and are flying the flag for their specialism – to influence the built environment to implement the approaches they know are key to London’s success.
Meet Nabeel, Andrea, Adriana and Bébert. Adding their voices to vital discussions about London’s future will lead to a richer debate. Find out what they have to say and and contact them directly via the Speaker Bank links.
From data visualisation to stranded assets, this housing expert offers an “unconventional perspective”
Nabeel Alhassan, Financial Planning Manager, Accent Group
We’ve seen Nabeel in action at our Speaker Showcase. He’s a confident, charismatic presenter who brings complex issues to life through his passion and lived experience of social housing.
Nabeel is starting his career as a housing finance specialist. So far his speaking experiences have come about through him proactively seeking opportunities. This has included EG Magazine’s Future Leader Summit in 2023.
London’s housing crisis requires us to think differently about how we fund projects. With Nabeel’s understanding of complex finance models, plus his passion for the housing sector, he brings a fresh take on our urgent affordability challenge.
“There are some very big issues such as addressing London’s affordable housing crisis, plus some we don’t even know about coming up on the horizon. If we have the same perspectives offering the same kind of advice over and over again we simply won’t fix them!”
In particular, Nabeel is concerned about new build homes from recently years becoming “stranded assets” because they’ve not been built as climate-proof. He knows that a more nuanced approach to long-term financial modelling could help avoid this.
Nabeel’s unique perspective is informed by him being dyslexic, dyspraxic and on the autistic spectrum. Nabeel now sees these conditions as a strength at work. “I look at things differently and have a more unconventional perspective,” he says.
For example, Nabeel is able to see complex and number-heavy data as visualisations. This means he can put detailed financial analysis into very accessible and engaging formats, bringing it to life for non-financial audiences.
Find out how Nabeel could bring this creative and enthusiastic approach to your event.
Why promoting London living rent is a personal mission to reduce housing inequalities
Andrea Palmer, Head of London Living Rent, L&Q
With significant experience in housing sales, Andrea has now shifted her focus to London Living Rent – a model she is hugely passionate about. Now she is determined to increase uptake of this model across the capital.
“London Living Rent is plugging a gap in the capital’s housing market. It’s giving more Londoners the chance to get on the property ladder and it can play a big role in reducing inequalities”
Andrea is dedicated to diversity and inclusion, drawing on her own experiences as a Londoner, she’s always been exposed to diverse perspectives which have informed her work.
Most of Andrea’s speaking experiences have been within L&Q and the G15 group, such as the G15 Women’s Mentor Network. Andrea believes in amplifying the voices of underrepresented groups in the sector and keen to advocate for the changes she wants to see in the sector and London on a broader platform.
Her personal experience growing up in local authority housing has shaped Andrea’s empathetic and holistic approach to tackling London’s’ affordable housing crisis. She knows there is an “unseen group of people” in London whose views aren’t always represented in the big conversations.
“You can’t make a meal with just one ingredient,” she says. For that reason, she’s adding her voice to our speaker bank.
Check out Andrea’s profile to out how she can bring an informed, principled and empathetic perspective on affordable housing in London.
Culture must be more than the icing on the cake for London communities
Adriana Marques, Head of Thamesmead Cultural Strategy, Peabody
A cultural professional in the built environment, Adriana has spoken at tours, conferences and roundtables informed by her experiences on the Olympic site and Peabody.
Working on some of London’s biggest regeneration projects with the London Legacy Development Corporation and Peabody, Adriana, she has seen first hand the importance of embedding culture in place from the get-go. She is passionate about the integral role culture plays in our wellbeing, economy and sense of local pride.
Adriana advocates for the importance of thinking long term and integrating culture early to development and regeneration plans for place.
“London is massively at risk of losing culture,” she says. “We’re haemorrhaging cultural institutions and artists’ studios. If we do not act now, we will lose culture, and with it the jobs, income and community cohesion they bring”.
While she has seen some change during her career, Adriana knows there are many in the built environment sector who still need convincing of the value of culture to our city. Adriana wants to influence these people, by bringing real life evidence of what culture can do to our places, as well as how to practically make it part of plans.
As she puts it “people see culture as the icing on the cake. I will have succeeded when we see it as the flour or the eggs!”
Find out how Adriana can bring her expertise in culture-led regeneration to your event.
“Politics is about trying to improve people’s lives, and so is planning”
Bébert Longi, Richmond and Wandsworth Councils
As a graduate of our Emerging Talent Programme, Bébert shone as a fantastic champion for diversity in the sector. With a passion for planning and politics, Bébert is a presenter with a compelling and informed style.
Bébert’s time on the Emerging Talent programme opened his eyes to a career in planning and led him to his role at Richmond and Wandsworth Councils.
Now he is determined to increase the diversity of planners and to use his voice to help speed up the career progression of people of colour in the built environment sector.
“It’s hard to get your foot in the door,” says Bébert. “Once you’re there, it’s common for people from ethnic minority backgrounds to have a slower progression. I want to do my bit to change that and encourage others to join the sector.”
We know that while the sector has come a long way, organisations can still struggle to implement practical steps to increase the diversity of their workforce. Bébert feels that by demonstrating the link between politics and planning, we can make planning a more engaging and appealing career option to a broader range of people.
“Politics is about trying to improve people’s lives, and so is planning,” he says. “They both require balancing the needs of community members and finding ways to make a positive difference”.
Bébert wants to use his practical knowledge gained from public and private sectors to advise organisations on how improve to diversity and appeal to broader talent pool so that our cities can be more inclusive.
Find out more about Bébert’s planning journey and contact him to speak at your event.
Thanks to L&Q and the G15, the group of London’s leading housing associations, for supporting the Future of London Speaker Bank.
