Who we are:

The MP for Greenwich and Woolwich; he joined the Government in 1997 and held responsibility for housing, planning and construction as well as being Minister for London, then was Minister for Local and Regional Government in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister from 2001 to 2005. He is currently Chairman of the Strategic Forum for Construction and Deputy Chairman of the Construction Industry Council, President of the Labour Housing Group, the National Home Improvement Council, and the Constructionarium, and a Vice President of the Town and Country Planning Association, Chairman of the NHBC Foundation, the Fire Protection Association Council, the Centre for Public Scrutiny and the London Open House Supporters at Large Group. He is Chairman of Rockpools and a Non-executive Director of Hometrack.

National Development Director of the Community Self Build Agency. He was employed for many years in the construction industry prior to becoming a qualified social worker. For 19 years he worked with young offenders and young people in their communities who were at risk of offending. He then returned to the construction industry prior to joining the Community Self Build Agency in 1998.

Job Title: Head of Corporate Responsibility - London Portfolio
Company: Land Securities

Debbie has over 20 years of experience working within regeneration and economic development, predominately in the East of England and London. She has developed major partnerships such as Local Strategic Partnerships and implemented Local Area Agreements, bringing together private, public and the voluntary sector to deliver economic and social regeneration programmes.

Debbie has been at Land Securities for 4 years and during that time has reviewed the London Development Corporate Responsibility programme and developed and implemented a change process for its delivery. She has developed and written a new Employment Strategy for London which offers education and training opportunities for local residents across the London Portfolio. She is responsible for the strategic management of Corporate Responsibility covering; employment, volunteering, schools programme [education] and charitable giving.

Retired from the post of National Education Development Manager, Barnardo's Children's Services in 2010 - a qualified teacher and social worker with a background in special education. A keen supporter and advocate of alternative / vocational education as a tool to engage the disaffected - using construction skills / craftsmanship training to find areas where young people can succeed and raise their self-esteem / confidence so that they can take their place in the working world. Such training is as vital to the economy as academic qualifications.

Community Development - Skanska UK Plc.

She has a long association with the construction industry first with Carillion and now with Skanska since 2004. For 16 years she has worked at the forefront of the employment and training agenda, primarily with the long term unemployed. She is a founding trustee of the Youthbuild UK and Essex Youthbuild in addition to being a national Diploma Champion.

John is currently an independent consultant supporting social enterprise development particularly those that provide the provision of training and inclusion of more difficult to reach groups of individuals into the construction industry. John was Chair of YBUK from 2007 until 2012.

John was until recently Chief Executive of the TREES Group, an East Midlands construction based social enterprise and formerly a senior manager with John Mowlem plc and the Kier Group. He is currently a non- executive Director of Building Safety Group, and Steps Conductive Education Centre.

Public Policy Advisor - Kibble Education Centre

Mark MacMillan is the Public Policy Advisor for the Kibble Centre, the largest multi-service centre in the United Kingdom specialising in work with young people at risk. He has an extensive background in policy and legislative analysis, strategy and implementation. He has worked for and with politicians at a local and national level over the past 20 years and he is currently an elected member of Renfrewshire Council.

Joe's grassroots beginnings in the construction industry as an apprenticed carpenter with Bovis, have held him in good stead to this day. After enjoying a successful period of using his carpentry and building skills, running his own business, Joe returned to his studies and altered direction, gaining teaching qualifications.

A combination of his construction industry experience and teaching skills led Joe into construction training, working with Wimpey, Carillion, and the Notting Hill Housing Group, amongst others.

Joe has extensive experience in designing and delivering construction training programmes; programmes aimed at, ex-offenders, long term unemployed and young people to name but a few.

Joe is currently a director of Denbre Ltd, a consultancy specialising in employment and training.

Manager of Action Trust a Leicester based social enterprise that provides work experience and employment opportunities to ex-offenders, homeless people and armed forces veterans. He previously managed Spark Challenge which invested in 33 social enterprises that support disadvantaged people into employment and independent living. Former Chief Executive of NECTA, a Nottingham based construction training company providing vocational training to disadvantaged young people. Before moving into social enterprise he held senior finance and general management positions, mainly, in the engineering sector.