Judges in 2026 Include

Matthew is the Founder and Managing Director of UK Property Forums. Established in 2004, UKPF enables conferences, events and networking opportunities across the Greater Thames Valley region including Oxford, Reading and Aylesbury. As part of the range of events which UKPF have created, he leads UK Prop Social, a networking club for 150+ members and also the Thames Valley offer at MIPIM UK and MIPIM Cannes, France. Having lived and studied in the Thames Valley, he is very informed about the region and passionate about the development of a group for all those involved in the Thames Valley property markets. 

Adam Bluett is an apprentice building surveyor at Savills, working in the Architecture & Building Surveying team in Oxford. He has gained on the job experience, running multiple refurbishment projects in central Oxford and the surrounding area, taking these from concept stage, through planning, all the way to completion on site. As part of the Architectural team, Adam has worked on various large-scale heritage projects for high profile clients. These projects have won a number of awards, including OxProp’s “Best Legacy & Heritage Project of the Year” in 2025. Since starting at Savills in 2021, Adam has won 2 individual awards; Savills “Making an Impact” award, and more notably, OxProp’s “Apprentice of the Year” award in 2025. This year, Adam graduated from Reading University with a BSc (Hons) in Building Surveying, and will be sitting his APC later this year.

Tom is a chartered town planner who has worked across the public, private and social enterprise sectors. He joined Oxford City Council is April 2019 as the Executive Director of Development, where he has responsibility for planning, property, housing supply, regeneration, economic development & city centre management. In February 2025 he became Deputy Chief Executive – Place, which includes additional responsibilities including environment & sustainability, and regulatory services.

He is also a director of Oxford West End Developments (OXWED), which is the Council’s joint venture with Nuffield College, currently bringing forward the Oxpens redevelopment, and Barton LLP, the council’s JV with Grosvenor now in the final stages of the city’s Barton urban extension. Tom is also the council’s client for OX Place, its wholly owned housing company.

Other key projects being led by Tom include the Blackbird Leys estate regeneration, major improvements to the Covered Market, plans to reopen the Cowley Branch Line, and a refresh of masterplan for Oxford train station. He is also leading the work for the City Council to establish the Oxford Growth Commission, working with MHCLG, HMT and the County Council.

Prior to joining Oxford City Council, Tom was the Assistant Director for Area Regeneration at Lambeth Council, where he delivered a range of mixed use, public realm and meanwhile projects. He joined Lambeth from AECOM, where he led numerous masterplanning, regeneration and infrastructure planning projects.

He has also worked for the Greater London Authority, establishing the Royal Docks Enterprise Zone, and working as part of the team that secured the funding package for the Northern Line Extension. Tom began his career at Renaisi, a social enterprise based in east London, where he led the Woodberry Down and Stamford Hill Single Regeneration Budget programme.

Charles Butters is the Founding Director of Sulgrave Advisors Limited, a consultancy business that advises property owners, investors, developers and operators with a focus on creating assets and places that are resilient and successful.  Prior to Sulgrave Advisors, Charles was Head of Investment at British Land.  Charles studied at Oxford University and has lived close to Oxford for over 15 years.  He has been active in the Oxford property market for a number of years and since April 2024 he has been Strategic Property Advisor to Oxfordshire County Council.

Izzie is a Transport Planner at Paul Basham Associates having joined in 2018 as a Graduate Transport Planner and works within the Central Office based in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. Izzie has worked on multiple successful projects within Oxford, but also further afield providing high level transport advice to clients all over the country.

In addition to her passion for transport planning and sustainable travel, Izzie is also the Vice-Chair of the RTPI Thames Valley Young Planners committee and on the Women in Planning Thames Valley Committee, assisting and leading on organising and hosting more inclusive networking events for younger members of the planning industry.

Izzie was also part of the RTPI Thames Valley committee when they hosted the Young Planners Conference in 2022 in Milton Keynes and was awarded the NextGen of the year award at OxProp Fest in 2023.

Tom…

Sarah Haywood is the managing director for Advanced Oxford. This not-for-profit company is a membership group which brings together companies, institutions and organisations which all have a focus on innovation and knowledge-related business, and are based in Oxfordshire. Both the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University are also members. Advanced Oxford is therefore an academic science network which provides a united voice for the innovation business community on issues that impact the development of Oxfordshire.  Advanced Oxford wants to ensure that Oxfordshire is a great place for companies to start, scale up and grow within the region, and feel they can continue to work here.

Adrian James (MA DipArchCantab ARB RIBA) is the director of Adrian James Architects, the practice he founded over 25 years ago.  Based in central Oxford, a stone’s throw from Worcester College, the practice has gained a national reputation for design excellence, garnering many awards for buildings which achieve the triple whammy of being at the cutting edge of sustainability, bold in their use of contemporary design, and yet sensitive to their contexts. In 2004, the practice achieved the unprecedented success of winning the first permission for a for a ‘truly outstanding’ modern country house under the new national planning policy PPG7.  Since then, the practice has diversified into a much wider range of building types and sizes, working across the whole of the UK.  As well as housing, the practice portfolio includes commercial offices and labs, community buildings, hotels, student accommodation and school buildings. The practice’s oeuvre is regularly published in online and paper journals and has been featured in the national press.

Alfie is the New Editor for The Forum, UK Property Forums.  Alfie edits and publishes property news, for Thames Tap, Eastern Echo and Western Whistle journals, also creating social media content. Alongside this he is currently working towards an NCTJ diploma to solidify his journalistic credentials.

Richard was educated at St Edward’s, Oxford and Exeter University where he gained a geography degree. He commenced his surveying career in 1989 at Gerald Eve in London. He joined James Offen and Partners and in 2002 jointly started VSL. Richard has considerable experience in office, industrial, retail, development and investment agency work. Richard dedicates considerable time and energy to economic and cultural development in Oxfordshire. He is a board member of Experience Oxfordshire and Active Oxfordshire, a member of the Ashmolean corporate circle, a member of the Oxford City Council Economic Growth Steering Group and Chair of Reciprocate.  Richard was appointed Deputy Lieutenant for Oxfordshire in 2017 and High Sheriff of Oxfordshire in 2018/19. Outside work he is a hockey fanatic playing at Oxford Hawks Hockey Club and an enthusiastic park runner.