NI Planner Live Chairs and Speakers

Chris Bryson is Director of Planning with Gravis Planning, a consultancy with offices in Belfast and Dublin, and leads a team of planners on large-scale development schemes. A graduate of Queens University Belfast, he has over 18 years’ experience working on a wide range of projects throughout Northern Ireland. Prior to joining Gravis Planning, Chris worked for the Planning Service (DoE) in the Belfast office, as part of the Development Control city centre team.

Alice Charles has more than 20 years’ experience working for the private & public sector in the areas of city & urban planning, real estate, urban development & regeneration, construction, infrastructure, transport, energy, climate change globally. She is currently a Director for Cities, Planning & Design in Arup, which is a leading global sustainable development professional services company. She focuses on cross cutting urban strategies (sustainability, climate change, resilience, mobility) in Europe & globally. She is also the Global Leader for Arup’s Global Strategic Partnerships with a number of international organisations, Mayoral Networks and Foundations including the World Economic Forum, UN High Level Champions, UN Global Compact, C40, Resilient Cities Network, World Green Building Council, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Earthshot, Stockholm International Water Institute and Resilience Rising. She also sits on a number of Advisory Boards including the UN Habitat Executive Directors Stakeholder Advisory Group Enterprise, she is a member of the SDSN Global Commission on Urban SDG Finance and Chairs its Private Sector Taskforce, she is a Member of the European Commission 100 Intelligent Cities Advisory Board, a Member of the International Telecommunications Union Focus Group on Environmental Efficiency for Artificial Intelligence and other Emerging Technologies and a Member of the World Economic Forum G20 Smart Cities Alliance.

 She previously led the World Economic Forum's cities & real estate work streams, the production of all city and urban development related content and curation of events at World Economic Forum summits. She was an External Member of the Board, National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) Planning Advisory Committee, Ireland. She was an EU Presidency Officer with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Ireland. She worked for the oppositions Chief Whip in Dail Eireann (Irish Parliament), Ireland. She managed the Dublin office of Jacobs (formerly Colin Buchanan and SKM). She specialised in planning, development and regeneration when working for Avison Young (formerly GVA), London, UK.

She has a Master’s in Global Leadership, World Economic Forum, in conjunction with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, Cornell Tech, INSEAD, London Business School and the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS); Master’s in Business Administration (MBA), University College Dublin; Postgraduate Diploma in Town and Country Planning, Queens University Belfast; First class Hons Degree in Environmental Planning, Queen’s University Belfast. Chartered Member, Royal Town Planning Institute; Member, Irish Planning Institute and Member of the Academy of Urbanism. Recipient, Irish Echo Irish 40-Under-40 Award 2017 for Irish and Irish Americans who have distinguished themselves in their respective fields of work before the age of 40.

Rosemary has recently taken up post as Director for Regional Planning Governance and Legislation with the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland.

With more than 27 years’ experience working in both the private and public sectors of planning and the built environment, she holds an extensive experience in the delivery of planning decisions across a wide range of planning and environmental issues across Northern Ireland.

Rosemary’s recent experience, returning to work in the private sector, has provided her with a key insight of the relevant issues relating to the delivery of infrastructure projects in the North and South of Ireland.

Working for some 18 years as a Commissioner with the Planning Appeals Commission for Northern Ireland, Rosemary has been involved in the delivery of many appeal decisions and reports on behalf of the Commission. Rosemary played a key role in the setting up and delivery of the first Independent Examination of a Council’s Local Development Plan in Northern Ireland.

As Director for Regional Planning Governance and Legislation Rosemary is now responsible for the Department’s Planning Improvement Programme, Planning Legislation, Notifications and Rathlin Island.

Ciarán was appointed Director of RSUA in June 2015 after 10 years with the Construction Employers Federation (CEF). RSUA is a charity dedicated to improving the built environment through good architecture. It is also the professional body for architects based in Northern Ireland and is in alliance with RIBA. RSUA has approximately 1,000 members. Ciarán is a former chair of the Northern Ireland Construction Group and the current chair of Climate NI.

John graduated in Law from the University of Dundee in 2009 and holds a Master's Degree from the University of Edinburgh.

With 15 years’ experience in Strategic Communications, he has managed a significant portfolio of work for public and private sector organisations and is recognised as a trusted adviser to a diverse client base.

On a day-to-day basis he advises clients on all aspects of engagement with politicians, the media and other key stakeholders on planning and development proposals.

Working across all industries, he has successfully advised on major energy and infrastructure projects, high value commercial proposals, large-scale residential developments, retail expansions and various mixed-use schemes.

Mark is a Chartered Town Planner with over twenty years’ experience working in the public sector in Wales.  This included development management, planning enforcement, appeals and policy followed by management and leadership roles.  Prior to starting at the Royal Town Planning Institute in March 2024, Mark was a Head of Service with responsibility for planning, building control, regeneration, highways and flooding.  He also has seven years’ experience of the planning system in Northern Ireland, having been commissioned by the Department for Infrastructure to advise on measuring planning performance and by a District Council to review its planning service and advise on the implications of the 2022 Northern Ireland Audit Office and Public Accounts Committee reports.

Mark is a past Chair of the Planning Officers’ Society Wales and of the South East Wales Strategic Planning Group, was an external examiner for Cardiff University’s School of City and Regional Planning, and is a past member of the RTPI’s General Assembly.  He is passionate about the role of planners in making the world a better place, and the collaborative approach with all built environment professions that is needed to achieve this.

As the Director for Wales, Northern Ireland and Planning Aid England, Mark is responsible for leading the Institute’s policy, public affairs and member services work in Wales and Northern Ireland and is the lead Director for our planning advice service delivered by approximately 400 volunteers for Planning Aid England. 

Outside work, Mark lives with his partner and Wilson the beagle, Sebastian the cat and Karma the chameleon.  He enjoys travel, caravanning, photography and socialising.

Philip is a Chartered Quantity Surveyor with over 25 years’ experience in the construction industry.  Philip has gained considerable experience in the procurement and cost management of construction projects having worked in consulting, sub-contracting and most recently public sector bodies.  He is an APC Assessor and is the current External Examiner for the BSc (Hons) Quantity Surveying and Commercial Management course at Ulster University.  Philip is passionate about improving standards and look forward to working with RICS NI Board members to improve member engagement levels with the events and opportunities afforded to us as RICS members.

Craig McLaren is Scotland's first National Planning Improvement Champion. This role was established in the 2019 Planning Act to monitor planning performance and support improvement; to identify, share and apply good practice; and to establish strategic challenges and broker action. Craig is based in the Improvement Service and took up post in September 2023.

Prior to that he was Director of Scotland, Ireland and English Regions in the Royal Town Planning Institute; Director of the Scottish Centre for Regeneration in Communities Scotland/ Scottish Government; Chief Executive of SURF (Scottish Urban Regeneration Forum); Scottish Policy Officer at RTPI; and a planner in the London Borough of Kingston upon Thames.

Craig writes a regular column for The Planner magazine called Planning Positive and is a Fellow of both the RTPI and the RSA, and an Academician of the Academy of Urbanism. He has sat on the Boards of Scotland's Towns Partnership, Built Environment Forum Scotland, Greenspace Scotland, Resilient Scotland and the Jim Boyack Memorial Trust.

His spare time revolves around family, football and music. He tries to attend a gig a month, plays the drums and can strum a guitar badly.

Alison McCullagh took up post as Chief Executive of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council on 1 February 2020; from December 2014, she had been the Council’s Director of Regeneration and Planning. Prior to this, Alison had been Omagh District Council’s Head of Development, she has also worked in higher education and in the voluntary and community sector.

She is a graduate of Queen’s University Belfast, the Federal Executive Institute, Charlottesville, Virginia, and also studied at Boston College.

Alison has led a number of strategic capital and partnership projects within the Council district and on a cross border basis and has a particular interest in community led regeneration and wider place shaping initiatives.

Karen is a Chartered Civil Engineer with over 35 years’ experience specialising in Transportation and Highway Design. Karen is the immediate Past National President of the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation and runs a Civil Engineering consultancy in Belfast. Some of her previous schemes included the Transportation elements for the first retail stores in Ireland for Ikea, Sainsbury, Asda and Lidl, as well as major city centre regeneration projects, educational, community treatment care centres and residential projects.

She is also a visiting lecturer to both Queens University and Ulster University over the last decade and held the chair of Ulster Universities Industrial Liaison Panel for 7 years. Karen currently holds a part time position with the Strategic Investment Board an advisory body to the Executive Office with Northern Ireland Government as well as attending the Governments All Party Working Group on Construction. As a board member of charities, The Rainbow Project and Ulster Touring Opera, Karen has a passion for diversity and Inclusion looking to bring out the best in young people and finding their strengths.  

John O’Dowd MLA is Minister for Infrastructure, he took up his post on 3 February 2024. He previously served as Minister in the Department for Infrastructure during 2022. He has also served as Minister for Education between 2011 and 2016 and as deputy First Minister for a short time. John has also been a member of various committees including the Committee for Finance and the Committee for the Economy and was chair of the Public Accounts Committee and the Audit Committee. John was first elected to the Assembly in 2003.

Lindsey Richards BA (Hons) DipTP FRTPI

Lindsey is a chartered town planner with over 30 years’ experience in planning, design and delivery. She has extensive background primarily working in the public sector, experienced in community engagement and bringing together multi-disciplinary teams to deliver key housing projects.  Lindsey’s previous roles included leading the planning team at Milton Keynes Partnership, responsible for the expansion of Milton Keynes and introducing the Milton Keynes Tariff.  Lindsey moved to English Partnerships (now Homes England) in 2009 to head up the delivery team in the Midlands. 

Lindsey’s last role was Head of Planning at Homes England, where she worked  in a consultancy role providing specialist advice to Homes England delivery teams. Lindsey was responsible for driving design quality standards and introducing BfL12 ( forerunner to BfHL) as an assessment tool on Homes England sites. She was a member of the Garden Town and Villages Programme Board and worked closely with DLUHC on policy formulation.  Lindsey strongly advocates the value that early community engagement contributes to projects and oversaw the introduction of a community engagement strategy and toolkit to support Homes England projects. 

Lindsey was Head of Profession within Homes England. She undertook a mentoring role to promote the profession and support licentiate members.  Lindsey established the Planners Network within the Agency and oversaw  training and Homes England annual planning conference. 

Lindsey stepped down from her role at Homes England in April 2023 to concentrate on her Vice-Presidential role with the RTPI.

Lindsey is a member of the General Assembly of the RTPI, vice chair of the Education and Lifelong Learning Committee and became a Fellow in 2018. She is RTPI President 2024.

Lindsey is a Trustee for Design: Midlands

Jan has over 28 years’ experience working in the social housing sector which includes roles within the development directorate at Clanmil as both Development Manager and Assistant Director of Development and her current role as Executive Director of Development and New Business. Jan has the oversight to deliver Clanmil’s growth ambition for new homes for social rented, Equity Share and private rental. She also manages Clanmil’s commercial rental portfolio

Lianne Weaver is an author, speaker, trainer and therapeutic coach with more than a decade of experience working within wellbeing and personal development. She is the Managing Director of Beam Development & Training Ltd, and helps organisations and individuals all around the world to feel happier, healthier and more resilient.