Our Team

Dr Alan Gardner

University of GLASGOW

Alan is a Real Estate Lecturer at the University of Glasgow.  An experienced and innovative researcher across a range of commercial property vehicles, he previously worked at Ignis Asset Management as Head of Research and Strategy and JLL as Head of Forecasting Services along with extended periods at Gerald Eve and Investment Property Databank (now MSCI). More recently, he has completed a PhD on performance measurement and mispricing within dynamic property market systems at Heriot-Watt University. Alan has been a member of the Investment Property Forum since 2004.

Dr James Hickie

FORMERLY University of Sheffield

James was a Research Associate at the University of Sheffield, working as a part of the REPAIR Team between June 2019 and October 2020, before leaving for a lectureship at Queen’s University Belfast.  He studied Social and Political Sciences at the University of Cambridge, followed by a PhD at Loughborough University and has wide experience as a media commentator on innovation and entrepreneurship, including for the Sunday Times and Financial Times.

Dr Cath Jackson

University of Sheffield

Cath is a senior lecturer in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, University of Sheffield. Her research explores investment decision-making at stock and local market levels, with particular interest in retailing markets and how stakeholders and the policy environment impact on town centre promotion and management.

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Dr Victoria Lawson

FORMERLY University of Sheffield

Victoria is a Research Associate who was previously based at the University of Sheffield. She started working in January 2021 on innovation in city centre retail. She is a dual qualified Chartered Town Planner and Urban Designer. Since 2000 she has largely specialised in city centre regeneration, as the Urban Renewal Officer at New Zealand’s Christchurch City Council, in the UK private sector and through the completion of her PhD at the University of Manchester. Her PhD evaluated the impacts of ‘design-led’ regeneration, with a focus on the Liverpool One retail scheme in Liverpool city centre.

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Dr Allison Orr

University of Glasgow

Allison is a Senior Lecturer in Real Estate. She has extensive experience modelling the pricing of commercial and residential property markets, and researching the inter-linkages between urban change, urban development and adaptation in the investment and occupation sectors of the property market.

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Rob Richardson

University of GLASGOW

Rob is a PhD researcher and Graduate Teaching Assistant within Urban Studies at the University of Glasgow. His research explores the governance of urban design through a collaborative partnership with a local planning authority, and aims to consider how places of higher design quality can be more consistently delivered through the Scottish planning system. He previously studied Urban Research (MRes) and City Planning and Real Estate Development (MSc) at the University of Glasgow, and Geography (MA) at the University of Cambridge..

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Prof James White

University of Glasgow

James is Professor of Planning and Urban Design in Urban Studies. He is a Chartered Town Planner and a Member of the Urban Design Group.   His research focuses on spatial planning tools and mechanisms, and how flexibility and innovation in design can be embraaced to enhance the design quality of real estate development and build resilience into urban placemaking.

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