Work

Transforming Services

Recognising your unique selling points and delivering services which embrace them helps you create a unique brand of delivery, tailored to your community. 

Listening and understanding those needs and transforming them into viable and enviable solutions not only creates happy communities but a happy workforce and sustainable service solutions.

From departmental service reviews to full scale transformation of internal services using effective digital platforms or redesigning delivery options, we have worked on major reorganisations, devolution deals and effective collaborations using joint venture and partnership models.

Transforming Place

Understanding your place, its community you serve and its heritage, makes your place stand apart from every other and is an invaluable and necessary step to creating a successful community asset. Being able to succinctly capture that USP in one place or one document helps sell your vision to interested parties and potential investors. 

Marketing that vision to find the best partners to deliver it is made easier by capturing the very information that informs your thinking. So much data is owned by local authorities through its many software packages but how much of it is adapted and used to properly inform our decision making? Using that vast data source provides invaluable insight into what is possible for our local place.

Inspiring People

In these challenging times in the public sector, creating successful, self-sufficient and creative places and having the confidence to create teams which are not afraid to try new and innovative ideas, to challenge the status quo and preserve excellent quality services for the community, is what makes a successful organisation.   

People are the greatest and most valuable asset of any business. Having achieved my own success at the very top level by being given the opportunity and creative space to succeed, my wish now is to provide the support, motivation and self-belief to others to achieve the same. Maintaining that confidence through challenging times is what creates the leaders in our business.


Creating a Vision

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Transforming Place Case Studies

  • Camberley

    Delivering a major transformation of Camberley Town Centre, managing and sponsoring 10 major regeneration projects from the creation of the Vision to appointing the Developers and delivering through effective project management, the resources, skills and determination to succeed. Camberley has undergone a period of huge transformation and regeneration with the Atirum, Ashwood House, Camberley Leisure Centre, The SQ shopping Centre, Public Realm improvements and delivering the developers for the London Road Development scheme.

  • The Atrium

    A partnership development with Crest Nicholson, work involved delivering the terms of  a number of Agreements for the Local Authority to create a mixed use scheme of residential development, multi storey parking, retail,bowling and cinema complex in 2008.

  • London Road Development

    Delivering the developers to commence the 8 year project of 4 phases of development of a 5.5 acre site on the Camberley frontage, creating a mixed use development offer surrounded by new public realm and  linear park offer. This included creating and selling the vision at MIPIM Cannes, soft marketing exercises and full scale procurement to deliver a developer partner.

  • The SQ Shopping Centre

    Working  with Addleshaw Goddard and Montagu Evans to lead and manage the acquisition of an offshore interest the Mall Shopping Centre, via one of the largest local authority backed town centre investments, as part of a ten year regeneration priority for the Council. 


    Delivering in partnership with Haskolls its refurbishment and rebranding to the SQ Camberley in record time and within budget. The investment was part of an ongoing decision by the Local Authority in 2016 to invest in the regeneration and longer term future of its town. The project used a blend of prudential borrowing and dividend returns to fund the project.

  • Staines Upon Thames and Two Rivers

    Working alongside MEPC and Cushmans to deliver the property acquisitions and site assembly for the project.


    Also managing lettings and new lease arrangements for the Elmsleigh Centre

  • Other Work

    Many housing regeneration projects across Surrey including Mytchett and Deepcut, Stanwell and Staines 


    Garden Village Initiatives working with Lord Taylor and Robert Tregay on understanding the unique qualities of garden village status.


    Working closely with OPE and local LEPS to deliver invaluable funding streams for delivering feasibility studies for sites owned by the Local Authority ,with potential for housing redevelopment , via the SHAPE programme across Surrey.


Karen Whelan Speaking at Revo 2019

In 2019 Karen Whelan joined a panel of experts at the Revo Conference to discuss how town centres can re-imagine their property and town centres for the future. Now more than ever we will need to be creative and innovative to create safe places to live work and enjoy in the future.

2018 LGA Conference

In 2018 the LGA in London hosted a seminar on taking control of town centres and property. Alongside Montagu Evans, experts in this field and fellow local authority Chief Executives, Karen Whelan presented Camberley's journey.