Welcome to the 35th Annual Westminster Property Association Lunch, our keynote event and an opportunity for the industry, colleagues, policy makers and partners to come together and reflect on the year.

The theme of this year’s event is Future Westminster. At the core of this is private and public partnership in the interests of social and economic prosperity.

As the investors and custodians of the built environment in central London, our sector plays an important role in driving the local, and indeed national, economy. We create social and economic opportunities for the people and communities who call Westminster home. But we need to work harder to ensure these opportunities are available to more people.

It’s in this spirit that WPA and our members are deepening the work we do with our charity partner Young Westminster Foundation, in order to help fund a three year property-specific careers programme for young people, building upon the fantastic work that so many of our members are already undertaking.

Only through enabling growth can such opportunities be opened up. Whilst macro-economic challenges are largely out of our control, national government has tools to mitigate these. At local level councils are critically important in unlocking investment in their communities. It is with clear and consistent policies that social prosperity can be generated.

With national and regional elections on the horizon we are likely to see further political change following years of political and economic instability.

I look forward to hearing from our guest speaker, Alastair Campbell on this changing landscape. After spending a decade at the heart of the New Labour Government, I am sure he will shed some insight that will help us all make sense of this time of change.

Thank you for your continued support of the WPA, and I hope you enjoy the lunch.

Marcus Geddes
Chair