Since joining NHBC as a building inspector, Richard has held roles in surveying and claims departments. Following promotion to Area Manager, other roles have included Inspection Manager, Operations Manager, responsible for Inspection staff, through to his current role since 2001 as Regional Director for the East. Since 2004 Richard has chaired the Supreme Judging panel in NHBCs annual Pride in the Job awards, and currently chairs NHBC’s technical guidance group.
Richard Hartshorn
Nigel Harris
A widely experienced hotel technical professional with significant exposure to design, strategic, development, project management, construction and operations functions throughout Asia Pacific.
Nigel has worked in the region for the past 27 years with senior management positions in commercial, design consultant and hotel operating companies, as well as managing his own hospitality consultancy practice. In this period he has lived and worked in Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, Australia, Thailand and India .
Direct technical experience within the hospitality industry has been extensive, and has included senior regional roles with Shangri La Hotels, Holiday Inn Worldwide and Hilton International. Nigel has also been a guest speaker at many of the regions key hotel design conferences.
Nigel is a qualified UK architect who currently heads Onyx Hospitality ‘Project and Product Development’ functions and is based with his family in Bangkok, Thailand.
Matthew Clare
Steve Brownless
Patrick Kennedy-Sanigar
Arabia 2014
Regional Winners
Africa 2014
Regional Winners
International 2014
Chazova, Victoria
London based estate agent, Victoria Chazova works within Knight Frank’s prestigious Russian Desk. She is passionate about delivering the very best level of service possible for her clients who are highly knowledgeable of the market and extremely discerning. The Prime Central London residential market and international properties across Italy, France and the United States are her areas of expertise.
Waud, Lucy
After graduating in History and Politics at University, Lucy studied Interior Design at the prestigious KLC School of Design where she formed an excellent foundation from which to expand her interior design knowledge and skills.
As a designer at Cochrane Design she is involved with each project from the initial client meeting through to the final dressing of a property. She has worked on a number of large scale refurbishments, including Sean Cochrane’s personal residence in Fulham, as well as numerous furnishing and dressing projects in Central London. She is currently co-ordinating all elements of the refurbishment of a townhouse in Fulham, a garden house and working alongside a senior designer on a complete reconfiguration of a Victorian villa in Clapham Old Town.
Smit, Alexa
After graduating in Biomedical Science at University, Alexa moved to London to study a Post Graduate diploma at the prestigious Inchbald School of Design where she gained extensive training in interior design.
As a designer at Cochrane Design, Alexa’s involvement encompasses all aspects of design from initial sketches, client meetings and technical drawings through to sourcing and the final dressing of a property. She is currently working on a number of UK based projects including a large residential property in Mayfair, as well as the full refurbishment of Hotel Es Vive in Ibiza. Her strong passion for architectural interior design stems from a combination of her creative flair and her scientific background. It is this unique combination that gives her a distinctive perspective and outlook on design.
Stokes, Lucy
With over 15 years’ sales and marketing experience from both the UK and internationally, Lucy Stokes’ career has spanned many arenas, including a two year role within one of the largest hospitality businesses in Mexico. This focused on all areas from sourcing prime luxury locations for new sites to ensuring the marketing delivery of the resort itself. Lucy has worked with some of the best known names in hotel and residential channels worldwide with a clear focus on luxury, performance and consumer validation.
For the past six years, Lucy has established a strong career as Director of Res & Hotel Channel at one of the world’s largest bathroom manufacturers. The company holds an impressive track record of multi discipline project delivery from commercial buildings such as the Shard, London to luxury hotels such as The Burj Al Arab, Dubai. This experience has allowed Lucy to become an authority on all areas of consumer expectation whether hotel or residential sector. The company has an enviable portfolio of projects UK and worldwide concentrated in all sectors and therefore an unrivalled wealth of expertise.
Walker, Anthony
Anthony is a Director with Trident Building Consultancy where he leads the Public Sector offer, implementing mobile-based technology to gather surveying information.
He has extensive senior experience in the public sector – prior to joining Trident he was a senior civil servant with the Education Funding Agency, Department for Education (DfE), delivering capital projects. Whilst at the Education Funding Agency, Anthony lead the Property Data Survey Programme from inception to completion. This involved building condition surveys on circa 20,000 education establishments making it the largest national building surveying programme in Europe, if not the world.
In addition he has worked as an Operations Director with Mace providing technical and project management support to the public sector. Anthony’s last post in local government was as a Chief Officer with Calderdale MBC heading a newly created department, Building Consultancy, which delivered all building, design and property related functions.
Anthony has worked throughout the UK, Europe, the Far East and the South Atlantic on MOD construction projects as a commissioned officer within a specialist team of the Royal Engineers, Territorial Army. He is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and a member of the Building Surveying Professional Group Board.
Mitchell, Carolyn
Watson, Colin
Managing Director of the BCFA (British Contract Furnishing Association), Colin is also Secretary General of FEMB (European Office Furniture Federation) and sits on a number of boards including FIRA, the BFC (British Furniture Confederation) and the Creative Industries Sector Advisory Board for the UK Government.
He worked for BTR, GEC and Thorn EMI before joining office furniture group Arenson as Marketing and Design Director. In the 1990s, Colin’s team designed the Kyo furniture system, which won awards in the US and in Japan, and in 2002 was listed as a top 10 product, alongside the likes of iMac, IKEA and Dyson. He joined the BCFA in 2007 to lend his support to the interiors’ manufacturing industry.
Philpott, Hilary
Being a part of a world wide team delivering the Kempinski brand through warmth and hospitality is something Hilary Philpott relishes. She joined the Kempinski family as PR Manager in 2011 on the hotel pre-opening team in the Middle East and since 2012 has held the role of Regional PR Director UK/Ireland & Southern Europe based back in London.
Having been in hospitality management, PR and events for 23 years, Hilary has established moments to draw on. These include numerous impeccably produced film premières, through to the annual International Woman of the Year Awards, plus an array of society events including the Henley Royal Regatta Ball and other British stalwarts. Hilary is welcomed for her genial nature, enthusiasm and in-depth knowledge of the hotel industry.
Asia Pacific 2015
Wood, Georgina
Georgina is an award winning interior designer and the creative director for Fenton Whelan Design, a Mayfair based design studio in London. It is Georgina’s 18 years of experience, passion and inspirational vision that enables her to create elegant interiors for clients within high-end luxury residences and hospitality projects.
Prior to joining Fenton Whelan Design, Georgina worked with some of London’s finest interior design companies, as well as spending time as a private interior design consultant under the banner of Georgina Wood Design. The projects Georgina has designed and completed include two large-scale residential London developments, a large private client ski chalet in Courchevel 1850, two 20,000 sq ft private Mayfair houses and over 20 high-end projects. Georgina is currently creatively directing and overseeing her team of 20 on a landmark residential development in west London, four boutique apartments in Mayfair, and two mansion houses in Notting Hill with additional projects in the pipeline.
Steinbeck, Ariane
Ariane Steinbeck has recently joined RPW Design as its new managing director giving the practice an additional global outlook due to her experience in the hospitality design arena in the US and Caribbean market as well as her most recent experience in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.
Ariane started her career as one of the founding partners of The Gettys Group, Inc, headquartered in the USA. Her primary responsibility was the evolution of the firm’s interior design business, focusing on luxury and upscale hotels, restaurants, spas, and residential projects. Most recently, Ariane is returning to Europe from Asia, where she completed projects for Peninsula Hotels, Langham, Hilton, Marriott, Shangri-La and others.
Ariane was educated at the Deutsche Schule der Provinz Malaga, Marbella, Spain and Cornell University, Ithaca, New York where she received a Bachelors of Science degree from the distinguished School of Hotel Administration. She has a number of professional and international certifications and memberships, speaks three European languages fluently and enjoys writing articles for industry publications. Her profound interest in all things culinary, artisanal and globetrotting manifests her passion for the hospitality industry.
Wilson, Jan
Jan Wilson is renowned in the world of international design. Having left Australia in 1978 with a degree in architecture, Jan spent the intervening years working solely within the hotel design industry, predominantly at director level, before founding RPW design.
As the founder and owner of RPW Design she has been pivotal to the company’s development. She is widely recognised as an innovative designer with a unique understanding of the operational and commercial issues fundamental to client satisfaction and the successful outcome of any design project. She continues to be ‘hands on’ in all aspects of RPW design and management. RPW Design has worked with some of the world’s leading 5-star brands and operators, including Hyatt, Mandarin Oriental, JW Marriott, Kempinski, Fairmont Raffles, Ritz Carlton, Okura, Waldorf Astoria, and InterContinental Hotels Group. Jan continuous her close involvement in the company as its president giving her essential creative input into the design developments.