Gill Cook

Gill has over twenty years’ experience with local authorities and housing associations, and has also worked in the banking and charity sectors.  Gill runs Corn Villas Consulting, offering a range of services to the housing sector. These include questionnaire design, carrying out a variety of surveys including postal, telephone and face-to-face surveys, with both focus groups and on a one-to-one basis.  Recent work includes resident satisfaction and stakeholder surveys, including Board appraisals. Gill delivers a regional career mentoring programme and is Vice-Chair of the CIH Eastern regional committee.

David Poole

David has worked in housing for 48 years and has experience of every area of the service. He spent 42 years with various local authorities, the last twenty in Cambridge, first as City Housing Manager and then as Director of Community Services.

He retired in 2004 and worked as a consultant almost exclusively with housing associations. The work has included interim management, customer surveys, writing policy & procedures and assisting with preparation for inspections. David is also active in the Eastern Region of the CIH (Equalities and Diversity lead) and sits on the Board of Broadland Housing Group where he chairs the Housing Management Panel.

Neil Stott

Neil is Chief Executive of Keystone Development Trust, one of the largest development trusts in the country delivering children and youth services, community development, social enterprises and property development (commercial, community and housing). Previously Head of Community Development at Canterbury City Council, Principal Officer (Community) at Cambridge City Council and a youth and community worker for a number of childrens’ charities, Neil is a graduate of Bradford University and holds a Masters degree in Community Enterprise from Cambridge University. He is currently studying for a PhD at Brunel University. Neil is Eastern Region Chair of the Development Trust Association and a member of the National Community Forum (Department of Communities and Local Government), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), Senior Fellow of the Institute of Place Management (SFIPM) and Member of the Institute of Economic Development (MIED).

David Manns

David is the lead Partner at Manns Property Services providing Building Surveying and Architectural Services. He is  a Chartered Surveyor, Builder and Architectural Technologist; he has extensive experience in managing the delivery of property related professional services in both the public and private sectors. He was previously Head of Asset Management for a large social housing provider, managing the strategic and operational delivery of asset management services to over 20,000 properties throughout East Anglia.  He has won National and Regional Awards relating to maintenance procurement and the architectural design of residential housing projects.  David can take the lead in delivering Architectural and Building Surveying Services and reviewing asset management strategies and performance.