Steve Norris FRICS FCIHT FCILT has been in the property business for more than forty years. Having graduated with an MA (Hons) in Jurisprudence from Oxford University he worked in private industry before being elected to Berkshire County Council where he was Deputy Leader from 1983-85. He was elected as a Conservative MP in 1983 and served as Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Departments of Environment, Trade and Industry and the Home Office before being appointed Minister of Transport in 1992 where he served until 1997. He was his party’s candidate for Mayor of London in 2000 and 2004 and is a former Vice Chairman of the Party. He is Chairman of Soho Estates Ltd and Senior Strategic Adviser at BECG, the public affairs specialists as well s Chairman of a number of related private companies. He is also Chair of the Council of the National Infrastructure Planning Association. He advises a number of companies on strategic property planning and investment issues and was recently voted to the UK Property Power 100. Steve is an Eminent Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, an Honorary Fellow of the Association of Project Management and has an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of East London.
Craig Calder has spent almost all his working life in the property industry. He moved from his native South Africa to the UK in 1994 working first in the Kuwait Investment Office and then in the financial services sector for several years in management roles with Citigroup. During that time he was part of a team which successfully obtained full planning consent for a 7000 acre lifestyle estate incorporating 600 homes, a hotel, 18-hole golf course and an equestrian centre. As Development Director for Obsidian Strategic Development and Regeneration he successfully delivered a major high end residential scheme in Wimbledon and worked on a portfolio of projects including a £300m scheme to transform Forest Gate in Newham. He has advised on a number of significant regeneration projects in London where his particular strength is in unlocking significant opportunities for investors through extensive negotiation with local stakeholders and statutory bodies and in assembling first class teams to deliver projects from the outline planning phase through to construction and sale. He has an excellent understanding of the London and Home Counties property market and is in great demand from developers and investors alike.