Dan Johnson

Dan has worked for over twenty years in public realm, placemaking and sustainable transport. Dan has developed a specialism in placemaking, sustainability, healthy and active travel. 

Dan was the Director of Placemaking at the New West End Company, representing over 600 leading businesses, transforming the public realm, air quality and experience in the West End. Dan was the West End business community's lead representative on the £150m Oxford Street place-shaping project. Previously working for City of York Council, JMP Consulting and Transport for London.

At TfL Dan managed a multi-million pound annual programme, leading on public realm, air quality, safety, cycling and pedestrian programmes across central and inner London. This included delivering concepts, strategies and on the ground schemes in places such as Soho, Strand-Aldwych, Bond Street, Vauxhall, Clapham Old Town, Baker Street and Bank junction. 

Dan was successful in building the case for and introducing London's first 20mph speed limits on the TLRN in the City of London and leading TfL's role in making Bank junction a cycle and bus only scheme.

Dan is advising clients on pathways to a zero-carbon future and leading the transformation of the West End's public spaces, including Charing Cross Road, St Martin's Lane and the creation of a new Cultural Quarter.

Dan isa Design Expert for New London Architecture.

Rob Kidd 

Rob specialises in strategic change and productive green spaces. His recent clients include Pret a Manger and Gail’s artisan bakery, market-leading hospitality organisations for whom he has undertaken several projects. These have involved launching a mobile app, migrating and upgrading three e-commerce websites, selecting and implementing a new electronic point-of-sale system, implementing product life cycle software and various other feasibility studies and options appraisals. 

Rob is particularly well versed in organisational strategy, requirements gathering, procurement, supplier selection and evaluation, cultural change and continuous improvement. He is a fellow of both the Association for Project Management and the Chartered Management Institute. Rob has an MBA from the Open University, which focused on technology strategy.

Rob has worked in the public, private and voluntary sectors, working with high-profile consumer brands, non-profits, BIDs (including the New West End Company), membership organisations and start-ups. 

Earlier in his career, Rob worked for several local government organisations, leading policy and project portfolios covering road use, public realm, parking, freight, public transport and London 2012. He managed the relationship between London’s 33 boroughs and Transport for London, including the successful renegotiation of a £168m annual funding settlement to be divided among the boroughs. He also wrote policy, commissioned research and supported politicians in their roles as committee chairs and participants.

Alongside his management consultancy practice, Rob is a lecturer in project management. Rob writes and delivers modules and courses at apprentice, bachelor’s and master’s degree level. Rob’s teaching practice focuses on the areas project managers can add value: sound governance, agility of approach and a level of project control commensurate with risk. 

Rob is chair of a medium-sized charity supporting homeless young people. He also holds several non-executive director and board advisory roles. New Paragraph

Catherine Jenkins 

Cat is an experienced urban planner and placemaker, highly skilled in the delivery of mixed use, arts, culture, leisure, and public space projects. Over a twenty-year career in London she has specialised in the creative and sustainable revitalisation of cities and delivery of visionary place-based regeneration strategies through the bold adaptation of historic derelict buildings, structures, public spaces and waterfronts incorporating new strategic infrastructure, public ream and major  artworks. 

Trained at University of Wales Cardiff and the University of the Arts London she is a chartered member of the Royal Town Planning Institute and Commonwealth Planners Association and an affiliate member of the Landscape Institute. 

Cat has worked for clients including major developers, the London Estates, universities and hospitals, building owners, tenant occupiers, BIDS and private clients. She has been an expert Design Review Panel Member for the Royal Borough of Kingston Council and Urban Design London; and acted as a professional mentor including as part of the New London Architecture’s Inspiring Women programme. She has also taken part in the City of London's Culture Mile and Northbank BID stakeholder groups.

She has been closely engaged for many years with the delivery of projects and strategies that enhance the resilience and attractiveness of the West End, the City of London and wider Central London Activities Zone including the River Thames Embankment City Fringe and Docklands. She has specialist experience in the repurposing of historic buildings and other heritage assets for imaginative cultural and public use for a range of owners and occupiers . 

Sam Crosfield

Sam is a horticultural consultant and garden designer, with over 20 years’ experience in the industry. He has worked in some of London’s most high-profile gardens, including the Chelsea Physic Garden, the Royal College of Physicians, Buckingham Palace, the Imperial War Museum, and Eltham Palace as head gardener. As a consultant, Sam has developed a comprehensive landscape masterplan for a 300-unit residential development near Tower Bridge, a garden design and planting plan for a north London school, and several residential garden designs.

Sam holds the prestigious Kew Diploma in Horticulture from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He also holds the RHS General Certificate in Horticulture and a Certificate in Garden Design, both from Capel Manor. More recently, Sam returned to Kew to study construction drawing with the London College of Garden Design. He is a member of the Professional Garden Consultants Network and the London Gardens Network.

Sam is particularly interested in sustainable horticultural design, balancing aesthetic and commercial concerns with biodiversity, climate adaptation and flood mitigation. With extensive experience in amenity horticulture, Sam is well-versed in the challenges and opportunities of planting in the public realm. He has worked with friends’ groups, residents’ associations and other stakeholder groups to create inclusive, engaging and accessible public spaces.

Tom Billington

Tom has sector leading knowledge and experience in the development and implementation of significant capital development programmes containing diverse projects with aims spanning regeneration, income generation and public outreach.

Having been involved in both the construction and management of contemporary buildings on large construction sites (such as the London Olympic Park) as well as having lead significant development of over 100 listed buildings and structures - including being responsible for the estates of 2 UNESCO world heritage sites (Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, and Durham Cathedral) - he has extensive knowledge of the management and development of built assets. 

A keen proponent of sustainable development and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in particular, he is keen to aid clients determine how their operation creates positive, lasting impact and putting in plans to do the same.

Tom's background is rooted in the operation and development of estates and delivery of major capital programmes, and also has key strengths in the aligning of teams and stakeholders to the objectives of the organisation and embedding values throughout all that is delivered. He has been fortunate to have had experience across public and private sectors, working with an array of stakeholders from the Royal Academy of Arts to Investment Funds. 

He is currently supplementing this experience through research with the University of Cambridge, and the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership.