Richard is an independent regeneration and partnerships practitioner. Born in Liverpool, he trained in Birmingham as a Town Planner. Following a brief exile in Peterborough he returned north to spend a dozen years managing development projects, town centres and the countryside of Salford, followed by a six year stint heading up government funded programmes on Merseyside, championing the cause of deprived communities, even though they thought he just worked for the council.

During almost a decade at the Northwest Regional Development Agency he first established ‘RENEW’ - the North West Centre of Excellence for Regeneration, before taking on the derelict land regeneration portfolio. Along the way he helped guide the work of the Forestry Commission’s efforts to create 900ha of new public green spaces, was a Board member of the Mersey Waterfront Regional Park and a jury member for a number of international architecturally competitions, most notably in the selection of the Adam Khan designed floating village at Brockholes in Preston.

Before establishing his own company he spent three years at Liverpool Vision working with the team regenerating North Liverpool, resulting in the adoption of the ‘GreenPrint for Growth’ strategy and the creation of the ‘Sky Pier’ at Everton Park – a unique destination building capitalising on the spectacular view of the city and its waterfront.

In 1998 he gained an MBA, so as to prevent the initials after his name from being sung along to the Mickey Mouse theme tune. He lists his hobbies as: adoring Morrissey; drinking three-shot Grande Latte; spending other people’s money on more interesting things than they had intended it for; and, trying to understand the world with pictures.