Judges in 2025 Include

Damon co-founded a’bear & ball architects with Robert A’Bear after also gaining a wealth of experience at West Waddy ADP in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. In his Senior Architect role, Damon delivered a whole host of schemes ranging in value from £50K to in excess of £3m across a variety of sectors with a range of teams and consultants. OxPropFest 2022 Young Leader of the Year.

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. 

Hugh enjoyed a highly successful career as a commercial property lawyer, leading one of the major real estate firms in the country. Having graduated from University College Oxford and trained in the City, Hugh returned to Oxford in 1986 where he now works as a consultant to the property community. He believes that whilst there is much to admire in recent developments, the plans which are being forged to harness and accommodate the activity in the region will make the next few years the most exciting in the region for decades.

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.

Peter is Director at Original Field of Architecture, based in Oxford. The practice was established in 2008 and has carried out a wide variety of projects including the renovation and refurbishment of historic buildings for Oxford Colleges, the decarbonisation of individual buildings and entire college campuses including Wolfson College, and a variety of new build projects such as Falcon Boat Club.

Peter joined OFA from Barton Wilmore where he was a director in their architecture team leading a range of projects from large scale regeneration masterplans through to individual buildings for both local authority and private sector clients. Peter is an imaginative and open-minded architect and urbanist who has great enthusiasm for collaboration and inventive problem solving. He is also an Associate Lecturer at Oxford Brookes University, an External Examiner at Coventry University, and is also appointed to the Oxford Design Review Panel.

Nigel joined Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP) in June 2013 and has made his mark with energetic and inspirational leadership. He spearheaded the bid for the Oxford and Oxfordshire City Deal, the EU Structural and Investment Fund and Strategic Economic Plan submissions and is assisting the county’s businesses into a period of exceptional growth. Oxfordshire is already a powerhouse of innovation and wealth creation and Nigel is focused on building upon the region’s unique strengths to deliver economic success through the commercialisation of innovation. Nigel has over 20 years’ experience in the formation, development, operation and management of Public/Private sector organisations.

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.