Education Estates® People's Awards Judges

Claire has been a partner at Haverstock since 2006, demonstrating a dedication to delivering high quality design solutions within the public sector. Renowned for her adeptness in consultation, Claire ensures that projects cultivate positive engagement, resulting in exemplary design outcomes, fostering a collaborative approach among stakeholders. She has a rich portfolio spanning sectors including education, Blue Light, heritage, and civic and cultural architecture. Her particular passion is designing for children, young people and adults with special needs and supporting inclusive environments for all. In addition to her role as an architect, Claire acts as a Client Design Advisor and Technical Advisor for the Government. She also contributes significantly to architectural education across the UK, lecturing and tutoring on Part 3 Courses to support aspiring architects at the outset of their careers. Claire is a Civic Trust Award Judge, advocating for excellence in community and public sector design.

Steve was appointed Group Public Sector Director in July 2020 with responsibility for all public sector relationships within local and central Government. This includes the Department for Education (DfE), MOD, Ministry of Justice, MHCLG, BEIS and the Cabinet Office.

In his previous role as Group Strategy Director he was responsible for the Group business strategy, communications and government affairs.

With over 30 years’ experience, Steve has an excellent industry track record. He began his career as an Engineer with Tarmac in 1987 and progressed into a number of commercial roles before moving into a development and programme management role with Schal.

Subsequent roles included Development and Sector Directorships with Jarvis and Laing O’Rourke, where he was responsibility for over £2bn worth of PFI contracts across education, social housing, MOD, MOJ and infrastructure. He is a Chartered Surveyor, Chartered Builder and was a Founding Trustee of the XP Free School in Doncaster.

At Executive Committee level, Steve is also accountable for consistency around customer engagement and feedback and sits on the sustainability and corporate finance committees.

In January 2019, Steve joined the FTSE-listed building products group, Alumasc plc, as a non-executive director.

Dale is Commissioning Manager – SEND Sufficiency at Warwickshire County Council with responsibility for developing the number of specialist places available for children and young people with SEND, including transforming existing spaces within mainstream settings and delivering capital expansion education projects.  Dale has worked across various areas of education over the last three decades with a history of successful commissioning and inclusion outcomes on behalf of children with SEND, and disaffected young people. 

Robert is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and a Partner at Barker heading up their education team. He works with Academies, Trusts, Colleges and Universities to deliver capital projects and surveying services including condition surveying and estate planning. He also assists education clients in applying for capital funding and advises on energy efficiency strategies.

Dr Alex Green is the Head of Schools for Ashden, a climate solutions charity based in London. Alex leads on Let’s Go Zero 2030, a campaign that supports UK schools working together to be zero carbon. She leads the national Let’s Go Zero Climate Advisors network and sits on the DfE User Group for their Sustainability & Climate Change Strategy and previously managed Ashden’s sustainable school awards and peer to peer LESS CO2 programme. Alex has a Masters in Environmental Management from the University of Cape Town and has previously worked running an environmental business awards scheme for a local authority, supporting small businesses to cut carbon and regulating industry at the Environment Agency.

Development Director of the Modular and Portable Building Association

With an engineering background before moving into the construction industry early 2000's the impact of the fusion of manufacturing and construction comes as no surprise. Richard has been a Director of the MPBA for 3 years, setting up the Learning Hub to close the knowledge gap across the industry and help develop a solution for possible skills shortages in the future. 

Nikola has worked in and around school estates for over 15 years, equipping her with wealth of both public and privates sector expertise.

She worked in house for a Local Authority covering capital delivery, school reorganisation and Academy conversions before joining the DfE to work on the Priority Schools Building Programme.

Nikola was an original member of the Hull City Council team who delivered the BSF programme and returned to the city , working for the private sector partner to help define and deliver the subsequent capital expansion programme.

She has also supported the Council in developing their SEND Sufficiency Strategy and delivery plans.

Nikola now heads up Shared Agenda's strategic advisory sector, supporting a range of public sector clients with their estate and service delivery challenges as well as helping them produce compelling business cases and funding applications to turn their aspirations into reality .

Outside of work she volunteers as both as School Governor and MAT Trustee.

Jon Jones is a Director at MAC and leads their education sector business nationally. With a background in strategic consultancy and a former Head of Estates for a Multi Academy Trust, Jon leads our multi-disciplinary teams providing estates and construction management services to schools, academies, and the FE and HE sectors. This knowledge and expertise enables MAC’s clients to manage their estate effectively and Jon advises on Condition and Compliance Surveys; Capital Funding Support; Design and Project Management; and Decarbonisation Advice to support this.

Trevor Payne is the award-winning Director of Estates at the University of Birmingham responsible for a complex portfolio of heritage and cutting edge HE buildings. He is responsible for over 200+ buildings, over half a Million M2 of floor space and over 700 acres of landscaped grounds and sports fields that support 40,000 students and 8000 staff. Trevor has just delivered a £1BN capital programme and is about to launch a new comprehensive campus masterplanning in April 2024. He has also delivered a new 4,500 student Dubai university campus which opened in April 2022, and he is working with Bruntwood Scitech on a new Life Sciences Park in Edgbaston to open in June 2024 working closely with the UK NHS. Trevor completed a successful 28-year career in the UK Health service managing a portfolio of the largest, oldest and newest NHS healthcare hospital buildings & sites. He has developed an active network that links NHS and HE estates Directors Nationaly/Internationally. The University successfully hosted key facilities for the Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham in July 2022. Trevor oversees a ground breaking living lab/IoT partnership deal with Siemens to create the World’s Smartest campus. His first book “Facilities Management -  A Strategy for Success” was published in May 2000 (ISBN: 1 90237535 1) and is still on the International reading list of a number of University FM MSc academic courses. He is a visiting lecturer and regularly presents papers at seminars and conferences on a wide range of matters and is a thought leader on Facilities, Estates Management, SMART, intelligent Campus design, NZC and Sustainability.

Zane Putne is an SEND Director at Noviun, specialising in education projects with a particular interest for special education needs learning environments. Zane leads Noviun’s inclusive learning needs sector, overseeing all SEN projects within the practice. She is passionate to explore how designs can enhance pupils’ experience and believes that collaborative approach to learning environments achieve the best results. Zane leads practice’s research group that undertakes studies of how our designs perform in use through post occupancy evaluations and exploring research into special educational needs.   

Dr Jenny Russell is the Director of Education and Learning at the Royal Institute of British Architects where she acts as an advocate, both nationally and internationally, for excellence in standards of architectural education and student experience. Jenny leads the RIBA Education department who are responsible for the delivery of the renowned President's Medals, a variety of scholarships and bursaries, the RIBA's own suite of qualifications and the nationally and internationally sought and respected RIBA Validation Programme.  

Jenny has worked in Higher Education since 2002, gaining her doctorate in 2006 investigating the spatial perceptions of young children in educational buildings. Joining the Belfast School of Architecture in its infancy, Jenny was involved in the successful development and growth of the School, being appointed as the Associate Head of School in 2013. She is an experienced External Examiner, examining at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, up to, and including, PhD at institutions both in the UK and worldwide.  

A former journalist and marketer specialising in the entertainment and hospitality industries, Ben joined national charity, Caudwell Children, in 2008 as Head of PR.

During his 14 years at the charity he has worked closely alongside CEO, Trudi Beswick, on a diverse portfolio of projects including the design and construction of the award-winning Caudwell International Children’s Centre and the development of the charity’s innovative autism pathway and selective dorsal rhizotomy treatment services.

Ben also works on public affairs and international policy for the charity, as well as high-profile fundraising campaigns and corporate partnerships.    

Gemma is an Associate Director at Mace and Leads the Education Sector for Mace’s Responsible Business Unit. Gemma trained as Building Services Engineer and has been working in the Education Sector since 2012 across various roles in both public and private sector entities. Gemma has achieved many milestones in her career to date but the most notable to date is the development of climate change policy for the school estate, including being the lead technical author for the Department for Educations Net Zero Carbon in Operation Specification (S21). Gemma is passionate about being a role model, creating opportunity, developing talent, and creating a diverse and open sector where everybody is championed for being their true self. Gemma plays a pivotal role as a leader in developing and nurturing the future talent at Mace and her previous role as CIBSE Yen Global Chair where she supported over 400 developing engineers across the world is also testament to this.

Recently promoted to Director – Head of Education at HLM Architects, Claire has specialised in the education sector since 2006, and has worked on a diverse portfolio of education projects, to improve and provide new facilities for schools and further education colleges. Her focus is on developing and delivering innovative solutions, and her extensive experience of leading teams in providing outstanding designs has included working with leisure and arts organisations, local authorities, major contractors and developers, as well as acting as client-side technical advisor.

Charles is a Chartered Surveyor currently operating as an Associate Director within the Real Estate and Infrastructure Management Business Group at Avison Young UK Ltd and has over 13 years’ experience within commercial real estate practice.

Charles is also an RICS APC mentor and councillor and has been assessing and chairing RICS APC final assessments since 2020 and currently sits on the RICS North West Regional Board. He also acts as an external examiner for the built environment modules at Sheffield Hallam University.

Charles is passionate about promoting surveying as a career for the next generation and works closely with the RICS Early Engagement team delivering talks to students at local schools.