Pannone recently sponsored a must-attend event on the Manchester property calendar: the latest Property Lunch hosted by TheBusinessDesk.com.

Held in the Garden Court at Manchester Hall, developers, investors, architects and other property professionals were welcomed with drinks and networking on the rooftop terrace, making the most of the sunny weather and city views.

Gareth Birch, partner in the Real Estate team, opened the event by introducing Pannone and reflecting on its decade-long journey in the sector.

He told attendees: “We’re very happy to sponsor the event today. I’d like to thank each and every one of you for joining us, and to Tim Heatley from Capital & Centric for giving his time to speak. I’ve worked on the other side of several Capital & Centric developments over the years, and I’ve always been impressed with the quality of the developments and the extra thought that goes into them.”

The afternoon featured a keynote conversation between Tim Heatley, co-founder of social impact developer Capital & Centric, and editor of TheBusinessDesk.com Michael Taylor. Tim spoke openly about his journey from Salford law student to a driving force behind some of the UK’s most ambitious regeneration projects.

Capital & Centric is currently investing over £2 million a week in regeneration, with schemes including the £250m Kampus neighbourhood in Manchester and the £50m redevelopment of Liverpool’s Littlewoods building into TV and film studios to create “the Hollywood of the North”.

Tim shared how his early ventures, from selling upcycled art and banger cars at university to developing his first house in Salford using his student loan, laid the groundwork for his current work. He also spoke about how his parents inspired his values-led approach at Capital & Centric.

“I’m still upcycling things that are overlooked and under-loved, and under-appreciated, trying to make them more accessible” he explained. “I’m going to make sure that if I can help, I will help other people who aren’t as fortunate as I am. It’s the Manchester way – you leave the ladder down for others.”

Capital & Centric are behind Embassy Village, a project which started with the renovation of a tour bus into a homeless shelter and is now a permanent facility under previously disused railway arches with 40 new high-quality homes.

Asked about his role as Chair of the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity, Tim said: “Homelessness and rough sleeping is mind-bogglingly complicated. It moves and changes all the time and just when you think you’ve cracked it, something macroeconomically happens.”

On the growth of Capital & Centric over the years, Tim spoke about doubling output every two years, the importance of adapting to local and national government policy priorities, and how appearing in the BBC documentary Manctopia opened doors.

Now leading the development of the UK’s largest new town in Cambridge, with 10,000 new homes planned, Tim reflected: “If you were talking about doing that when I started out with a semi-detached in Salford, I wouldn’t have believed it.”

Pannone was proud to support this event and play a role in facilitating a valuable and interesting learning and networking opportunity for sector professionals.