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Northern Powerhouse: RICS reveals speaker lineup for North East Summit

The RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) has announced a respected line-up of industry speakers - eminent at both local and national level - for its annual North East Summit held at The Vermont Hotel, Newcastle on 17 May.

The full day conference, held from 08.30am - 4.30pm, will highlight the economic challenges facing the North East and to what extent the region can expect to share in the gains of the Northern Powerhouse initiative.

A panel discussion - chaired by James Ramsbotham, Chief Executive of the North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC) - will address the role of the North East in the Northern Powerhouse, and concerns regarding how and why previous infrastructure upgrade plans have fallen short. Panellists include Chris Hearld, Chair of KPMG North and Tom Warburton, Director of Investment and Development at Newcastle City Council.

Anna Round, North East Senior Research Fellow from the Institute of Public Policy Research will speak about what a Metro Mayor can do for the region, whilst Mauricio Armellini, North East Agent for the Bank of England will discuss key performance trends in the region.

Discussions

A discussion on what we can we learn from the Olympic Delivery Commission will be led by Ralph Luck, the former Director of Property on the Olympic Delivery Commission; now Director for Real Estate at Kings College London. Meanwhile, RICS’ Chief Economist, Simon Rubinsohn will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the North East’s commercial property market and current investment trends.

Other discussions raised on the day include; What powers do the Land Commissions and Development Corporations need to be successful? How can lessons learned on existing large-scale projects be applied to the delivery of improved infrastructure in the North East? How do we entice investors and present the North East to the global marketplace?

Summit Chair David Furniss (pictured above), Senior Director and Head of Office at BNP Paribas Real Estate Newcastle, said: “With the government committed to the most fundamental shake up of the way the country is governed in a generation, the practical implications of such extensive reform, and associated regeneration and development projects, is an emerging concern for our region’s property professionals.

“Therefore, those involved in any area of land, property and construction, and interested in the region’s future regeneration, will find the RICS North East Summit particularly insightful and useful.”

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