National BIDs Conference 2023

Nic Durston, Chair of British BIDs

Nic leads the British BIDs team, his skillset complements the existing team to ensure that Bb continues to lead the industry and provide comprehensive support to BIDs throughout the UK.

Nic is the chair the Advisory Board, which he has been since May 2020. Experienced within the BID industry, Nic is Chief Executive of South Bank Business Improvement District, and South Bank Employers’ Group (SBEG) and will retain his responsibilities for both. Nic has over 30+ years’ experience working for South Bank BID, SBEG, the National Trust, Heritage Lottery Fund, English Heritage, the Woodland Trust, Groundwork, and the Westway Trust.

Professor Christopher Turner, Head of Research, British BIDs

Chris is an Economist and Information scientist, having worked initially at the British Institute of Management before moving into academic research and teaching before becoming Chief Executive of British BIDs. Chris focuses on BID research, training, governance, business intelligence and local and central government relationships for British BIDs. 

Chris authors the annual National BID Survey and will be walking us through BIDs in 2023 - What does the data say?

Stephen Toal, Head of Property Management Research, Savills

Stephen is Head of Property Management Research at Savills. He is in charge of analysing Retail & Leisure performance, occupier opinion and visitor profiling across 150 shopping centres, 350 retail parks and 65 leisure schemes.

Stephen has over 25 years’ experience in the Research sector and is author of the report “The Relationship Between Online Sales and Physical Stores – How Are Stores Dealing With Returns?”

Stephen will provide an update on the current retail environment and highlight trends being seen within physical retail.

Rob Sloper, Development Director, LandsecU+I   

Rob is a senior development director at LandsecU+I with over 20 years of experience in the property industry. Rob is passionate about mixed-use place making and specialises in town centre regeneration, often in partnership with the public sector. Rob has guided some of U+I’s most prestigious and significant urban projects over the last decade across London and South East.

Rob will be exploring the role regenerative development has in influencing the future of our towns & cities and enacting positive change, citing examples from projects in London to Manchester.  Key themes will include reuse of existing assets, the importance of authenticity in placemaking and the power of partnership.

Philip Clifford, Senior Advisor, Local Government Association

Throughout the pandemic local councils and business improvement districts worked hand in hand to support high streets and sustain local economies. As the country embarks on the run-up to the next general election and with national political parties keen to unlock growth and drive prosperity, this session will highlight the opportunities for councils and BIDs to work together on this agenda and set out the Local Government Association's ambitions for the year ahead.

Andrew Williams, Emergency Planning and Events Compliance, Savills

Andy is responsible for managing emergency planning and high profile incidents across the UK, including shopping centres, retail, leisure commercial and residential. 

And has over 20 years experience in the security and resilience section, with specialisms in security management, emergency planning, business continuity and events management.

Andy will provide an update on the current proposed Protect legislation and what, as event professionals, we should be considering now to align with the upcoming legislation.

Karen Pengelly, Epsom BID Manager

Karen Pengelly manages Go Epsom, a medium sized BID, currently in the first year of its second term.

Karen started her career in Town Centre Management in Richmond in 1998 and she has worked in marketing for brands including Samsung and Canon. She has extensive stakeholder engagement, communications and tourism experience. She was Town Centre Manager in Royal Tunbridge Wells where she established the BID and is now in her 4th year managing the BID in Epsom, Surrey.

Karen will outline the challenges, solutions and huge learning curves Epsom has been on when focusing on crime reduction and prevention.

Fran Inman, Senior Project Manager, Bristol City Centre BID

Fran Inman, oversees the strategic direction and city-wide partnerships to ensure the Business Crime Partnership for Bristol is fully optimised, working closely with the three Bristol City Centre Bids, under the umbrella of Visit West. Fran has led and supported several City of Bristol major priorities alongside key stakeholders and partners on a variety of campaigns such as Harm Reduction, Drink Spiking, Violence against Women and Girls, Anti-sexual harassment training and assisted the local Chief Inspector on the creation of the Business Crime Strategy. Fran is a dedicated individual that looks at place management and safety under the same lens, with a particular passion for building relationships at a strategic and ground level to leverage the ability to influence change.

At the conference Fran will be talking about a number of city centre projects and how partnership working and collaboration is at the forefront of success.

Hannah Wadey, Chief Executive Officer, Safer Business Network

Hannah Wadey is Chief Executive for Safer Business Network, a Community Interest Company which brings businesses together with the police to promote safety and security professionalism through partnership working, intelligence sharing and training. She has grown the Company to be one of the leading Business Crime Partnership in the UK, representing thousands of businesses, across 52 town centres with an award winner women’s safety programme.

After studying Criminology at University, Hannah started her career in local government leading on key community projects in an inner-city London borough. It was moving to the New West End Company that sparked her interest in business crime and its impact on our town and city centres. She feels passionately about ensuring the business community gets the attention it deserves as they play a vital role in the fight against crime.

Yasmine McNamara, UK Security Project Manager, Tesco

Yasmine McNamara is the UK Security Project Manager at Tesco, this role is a multifaceted role which blends Project Management, Security Operations, Team Portfolio, Governance and Strategy Building. With the most recent addition to the project streams, the BID & BCRP review work.

After studying for her Master’s Degree in International Security & Terrorism where she studied Risk Management inc Resilience and Continuity modules, International Conflict/War as well as Post-Conflict Reconciliation. Taking all her knowledge into the retail security space since 2019, prior to this she worked in the retail sector for 5 years. 

Clark Dunstan, Divisional Licensing & Development Manager, William Hill

With 30 years at William Hill, Clark Dunstan is responsible for sourcing new premises for either existing William Hill shops or new locations to trade.

Since my involvement with British BIDs I have been very keen to encourage more local involvement from our Operations & Safety & Security Teams. 83% of our customers visit other local businesses so therefore we have an interest in making the localities in which we trade as attractive to visitors as we can.  Also, at a time in which every penny spent is scrutinised, it is really important to understand how our levy payments are being spent whilst also taking advantage of the services of the local BID teams.

Thank you to our sponsor

Thank you to our National BIDs Conference sponsor for 2023 Blachere Illumination, who have been leading the way in commercial festive decorations for 45 years. Most recently, Blachere have been addressing plastic pollution with their Recyprint range, where plastic bottles are collected and used to create stunning illuminations. They are also a recognised partner with WWC thank to their eco-friendly products.

We hope you had the chance to catch up with the Blachere team.

The Venue

This year we will be hosting the conference in a 300-seat tiered Auditorium space is a central feature of 30 Euston Square, one of the best conference and event spaces in Central London.

Equipped with a state-of-the-art Sony HDR 4K laser projector (DCI cinema industry-approved), surround sound speakers, show lights and the opportunity to produce video conferencing and streaming, the Auditorium space will satisfy the most seasoned conference professionals and enhance your ability to deliver the ultimate delegate or cinema screening experience.