People
Our board and implementation team are made up of brilliant people with a diverse range of skills and experience. You can find out more about them here.
Consultant
Angela Koch
Angela’s background is in Planning, Regeneration and Urban Design. She is interested in co-designed urban change at the scale of residential mixed-use sites, streets, neighbourhoods and town centres. Being trained and educated in the UK (The Bartlett, UCL) and Germany (University of Trier, 5+ years), she has 25 years of practice in the field. In 2010, she founded ImaginePlaces.ImaginePlaces 3D design workshops and co-production methodologies, developed and refined in contexts of planning applications, master planning and design coding processes, are widely recognised as best practices, award-winning and more importantly the co-design work led to tangible impacts in the design, building and re-building of more sociable, nature-positive and economically resilient places.She is co-author of CABE’s ‘Paved with Gold – The Real Value of Good Street Design’ and the CIHT’s ‘Involving the Public and Other Stakeholders’.Since 2023, Angela collaborated with us in drafting the Quality of Life Code of Practice for effective community consultation and engagement in development, planning and design.Angela serves on Design South East, Greater Cambridge Design and Bedford Design Review Panels with a focus on housing, urban design, character and communities.
Head of Operations
Anna Purdie
Anna brings a background in gender, global, and public health from both the academic and charity sectors, with experience in charity establishment, operations and strategy. Her diverse expertise encompasses research design, project management, communication, dissemination, and public engagement.
Anna is currently leading the operations of the Foundation and is passionate about contributing to the creation of health-enabling societies. She holds a BA in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge and an MSc in Anthropology and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Outreach and Learning Coordinator
Annick Matthews
With a Master’s of Teaching and experience working in multicultural and multilingual communities across Australia, Switzerland, France and the UK, Annick has taught at all levels creating programmes focused on French language and English as an Additional Language both online and in person. She is responsible for guiding the Foundation’s Associates programme and workshops, is part of the Outreach and Engagement team, and looks after the charity’s administration.
Trustee
Cat Langdon
Cat is a project management, operations and strategy expert, with over 10 years working for evidence based policy organisations in the development, humanitarian and sustainability space. In her role as Head of Strategic Operations at ODI, she leads the project management function, contributing to the strategic direction of the institute, ensuring operations positively enable the delivery of organisational strategy. Cat holds a MSc in Development and Security from the University of Bristol and a BSocSc in Social Anthropology from the University of Manchester.
Trustee
Christine de Ferrars Green
Christine is a lawyer who has been advising on projects in the housing development sector for 35 years. She works with landowners, developers and local authorities promoting and delivering schemes where the quality of design is at the heart of the places and spaces created.
She has a particular expertise in advising on the concept of stewardship both in the development and in the longterm management of new neighbourhoods, and the social value created by great placemaking and place-keeping. Christine works with a number of charities whose principal objectives are the promotion of health and well-being in local communities.
Trustee
David Roberts
David has specialised in urban regeneration for 30 years and was a Director and Deputy Chief Executive of sustainable urban developer Igloo Regeneration Ltd, working throughout the UK. David retired from Igloo in 2022 and is currently retained as an advisor to Wirral Council’s Birkenhead 2040 regeneration.
In 2021 David co-founded Common Good, a non-profit sharing best practice in design and development across the North of England. He is currently on the Design Review Panel for the NW Architecture Centre, a judge for the National Housing Design Awards, and Non-Exec Director of Design for Homes.
Trustee
Debbie Whitfield
Debbie is Director of Impact at Fabrix, a London-based development and investment company delivering commercial-led urban development with a focus on high quality design and positive social and environmental impact. She leads on the company’s contribution to enhancing urban environments and strengthening its position as one of London’s most progressive developers. Prior to Fabrix, Debbie was Managing Director of New London Architecture, the pre-eminent centre for debate about London’s built environment. She is passionate about shaping better cities for all and is a Critical Friend to the arts charity UP Projects.
Consultant
Dominique Staindl
Dominique is the founder of South Facing, a communications agency championing the transformative power of big ideas in the built environment. She believes the spaces we design and build are the most impactful on Earth, and that bold, effective communication is as vital as architecture itself.
From her in-house role at Max Fordham to her agency experience with ING Media, Dominique’s straight-talking approach has shaped some of the biggest brands in property and design. At South Facing, she collaborates with partners including UKREiiF, the Quality of Life Foundation, Connected Places Catapult, ES Global, and Richard Upton, delivering strategic narratives that leave a lasting mark.
A Civic Trust Awards national judge and Women in Property committee member, Dominique also contributes to industry progress through her involvement with Build Up and Real Estate Women, helping to create events that inspire change.
Trustee
Dr Kelly Watson
Kelly is a Director in the Hatch Urban Solutions team with wide-ranging experience in sustainability, social impact and placemaking. She leads the team’s social value practice and has over 10 years of industry and academic research experience in the development and application of social sustainability and social impact approaches for cities, built environment, infrastructure and anchor institution clients. She has a PhD in applying Social Return on Investment (SROI) to the built environment, and is the author of several peer review publications in this field. She was previously involved in working groups for social value convened by RIBA and UKGBC.
Head of External Affairs
Emma Cooke
A CIPR-qualified communicator, Emma has a wealth of experience in the housing and charity sectors. She has worked in local government on housing policy, in communications roles at a housing association and a research charity, and in public affairs at a national active travel charity.
With the Foundation, Emma shapes communications and report strategies, as well as developing policy recommendations that achieve maximum impact across industry and government on a local and national level.
Emma has a real interest in increasing equity in our communities and in the role the built environment plays in achieving that.
Consultant
Hani Salih
Hani’s interests are informed by a foundation in critical spatial thinking, through his background in architecture, further refined by his studies at the London School of Economics. This led to his interest in systems and the infrastructure that shape our lives. Hani aims to bridge gaps between different contexts through his research, curation, and programming to establish connections that underpin the importance of collective alliances to bring about positive social change.
Hani’s work is focussed particularly on understanding mechanisms for change, working on research that explores policy innovation, health and wellbeing, placemaking and infrastructure. His previous work as a researcher has involved building place-based indicators to measure quality of life, carrying out evidence reviews and delivering qualitative and quantitative research on the impact of the built environment on health and wellbeing.
Image by Justine Trickett.
Trustee
Jo Lancaster
Jo has over 30 years experience of working proudly as a public servant, in district and unitary councils with the last 10 years as a CEO. She has an extensive understanding of how to transform organisations and stewarding scarce resources to make maximum impact. Also a qualified planner, Jo has worked across both urban and rural areas striving to achieve the best balance between sustainable, connected and thoughtful places, where communities can grow and people live good lives.
Now building a portfolio of interesting and stimulating NED opportunities to really pursue opportunities to bring together place shaping and better outcomes for people.
She is a Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute and has an MSc in Public Service Management.
Trustee
John Alker
John is Head of Sustainability at Legal & General Capital, where he challenges and supports the business to align all its investments with positive environmental and social impact, working across different asset classes including real estate. With 20 years’ experience in the sustainability sector, John previously led UKGBC’s policy and advocacy, covering topics such as net zero, social value, and health & wellbeing in the built environment. His early career was in public affairs, including work for WWF-UK.
Trading Director
John Bee
John has over 20 years’ experience as a management consultant, helping organisations innovate and grow. He founded and ran White Space Strategy, recognised by the Financial Times as one of the UK’s leading strategy consultancies, and works with a wide range of charities supporting their commercial development. He is passionate about social wellbeing, and has worked with housing charities, NHS trusts and universities to increase their community impact.
Trustee (Chair)
Jonny Anstead
Jonny has been a trustee of the Quality of Life Foundation since 2019, and has served as Chair since July 2022. He oversees our governance, board and activities.
Jonny is a founding director of TOWN, a developer with a mission to deliver good places for better lives, with developments spanning 15 to 5,000+ homes. TOWN developed the much-celebrated Marmalade Lane, a 42-home cohousing project that’s won numerous awards and has been extensively recognised in national best practice guidance. Jonny speaks regularly on design and development and is a frequent contributor to industry journals.
Researcher
Jordan Whitewood-Neal
Jordan is part of our Research and Engagement Team. He currently works on the Building Health Equity project, leading on stakeholder interviews and analysis. Alongside this he is working with the rest of the team to develop and update the Quality of Life Foundation’s Framework. He is particularly interested in the impact of the Foundation’s work for disabled communities, and how disability and its relationship to health can inform better homes and neighbourhoods.
Beyond the Foundation, Jordan is a researcher, writer, designer, and educator working at the intersections of architectural history, design pedagogy, disability, and spatial justice. He currently co-leads a Design Think Tank at the London School of Architecture. In 2022 he co-founded disability-led research collective Dis with James Zatka-Haas, exploring disability, storytelling, and the built environment.
Director
Matthew Morgan (Founder)
Matthew Morgan is the Director and co-Founder of the Quality of Life Foundation. He is responsible for setting strategy with the Board of Trustees, overseeing the Foundation’s commercial services and delivering lasting impact with the Quality of Life team, itself focused on highlighting the impact of the built environment on people’s lived experience.
With over 20 years’ experience in writing and communications, Matthew has previously worked with architects, engineers and developers; in book and magazine publishing; and with charities and start-ups. He is a participant on a number of advisory boards and chairs a multi-stakeholder group that advises on community engagement as part of the UKRI-funded CCQOL (Community Consultation for Quality of Life) project.
A published author and mental health advocate, Matthew is particularly interested in how communities are formed and their effects on people’s physical, social and psychological wellbeing, an interest he developed while growing up in an intentional community in Kent.
Senior Engagement Officer
Melissa Lacide
Melissa is passionate about community participation and quality in design, understanding the aspirations, connections and needs between people and places. She has wide-ranging experience working collaboratively with a range of stakeholders, managing client and partnership projects, and mapping social value across community investment.
Her career spans working in the social housing sector to establish community development and enable resident involvement; as a consultant practising participatory design; advising in placemaking and supporting stakeholders in community-led design; and, design research engagement at an architectural practice.
Melissa’s role at the Foundation is to lead on our engagement work, ensuring it has a more positive impact on quality of life, especially inclusive of stakeholders who are most marginalised and underrepresented. Working across resident reviews, quality of life mapping, and stakeholders her role supports clients to work collaboratively, develop an engagement strategy, review and report on methodologies, and deliver projects across neighbourhoods.
Prof. Sadie Morgan OBE (Founder)
Sadie Morgan OBE is co-founder of the Quality of Life Foundation and a co-founding director of dRMM, a RIBA Stirling Prize-winning architecture studio.
Championing design for over two decades, Sadie is involved in several advisory roles including chairing the Design Panel for High Speed Two (HS2) and acting as commissioner for the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC). She has been instrumental in setting up the NIC’s Design Group, which places design at the heart of major infrastructure projects.
Sadie was made board member of the UK government’s housing accelerator, Homes England, in 2019, followed by a commissioner role on the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission in 2020. In 2021, she became a member of the Net Zero Building’s council.
Sadie lectures internationally about her practice and the role of design in infrastructure and large-scale development. In 2013, she became the youngest president of the Architectural Association, followed by an honorary doctorate from London South Bank University and professorship at the University of Westminster in 2016. In 2021, she was awarded the visiting Sir Arthur Marshall Professorship in Sustainable Urban Design at Jesus College, Cambridge University.
In 2017, Sadie became a Mayor’s Design Advocate for the Greater London Authority (GLA) and was named ‘New Londoner of the Year’ by New London Architecture (NLA). She has won the ‘Female Architectural Leader of the Year’ BD award and an ‘AJ100 Contribution to the Profession’ award. In 2020, she was awarded an OBE for services to design advocacy.
Trustee
Rachel Fisher
Rachel Fisher is Deputy Director for Land Use Policy at DEFRA and is interested in the interaction between people and place. In 2012 she co-founded Urbanistas – a women led network whose mission is to amplify the voices of women to make cities better for everyone.
She has held a variety of roles in policy and public affairs across the built environment industry including the Cities and Local Growth Unit, National Housing Federation, Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE), Design Council and Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
Trustee
Richard Ford
Richard has been involved in the real estate and built environment sector since 2001, on the finance, accounting and operations side, and has held senior roles both in practice, and in various investment businesses. This included a six-year tenure at Norges, the Norwegian sovereign fund, a major, long-term investor in the UK real estate market.
Since 2018, he has run his own consultancy and interim management practice, working with various organisations in the industry. He also has experience in the not-for-profit sector, including a six-month overseas assignment with an NGO in East Africa.
Richard is a “big four” qualified Chartered Accountant with a full public practicing licence.
Consultant
Sem Lee
Sem Lee is an urban strategist and social entrepreneur with over 11 years’ experience managing sustainability, communications, and design projects. Sem founded OURI Labs in response to the pressing need to understand how to link public health and urban planning. OURI Labs is a health innovation research consultancy committed to shaping healthy and equitable cities that better serve communities and the planet. The practice specialises in participatory research, evaluation, and design, bridging urban planning policy and public health. Key organisations they have collaborated with include Health Innovation North East North Cumbria, Greater London Authority, the former Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, University College London (Bartlett), and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities.
Tony Pidgley CBE, 1947-2020 (Founder)
Tony Pidgley CBE, Berkeley Group’s founder and Chairman, who passed away in June 2020, was instrumental in the creation of the Quality of Life Foundation… His commitment to and belief in people and communities will be the lasting legacy of a remarkable life.
The Quality of Life Foundation came about after a series of conversations between Tony and Sadie Morgan. Tony identified the need for an organisation that would champion people and communities, and this chimed with Sadie’s increasing frustrated with the pace and focus of change in the housing sector.
“I’ve rarely met anyone with such a zest for life, a twinkle in his eye, and unrivalled energy,” Sadie said. “I shall never forget his support and encouragement.”
We remain grateful for Tony’s foresight and leadership, and Berkeley Group’s support, without which this endeavour would never have happened.
Trustee
Yemí Aládérun
Yemi describes herself as an agitator, innovator and orchestrator. She is an advocate for education, income & housing equality and is committed to matters relating to social mobility and broadening access to the built environment. Yemi served as an elected national council member for the Royal Institute of British Architects and sat on its education committee. She was selected as one the UK’s next generation of boundary-pushing designers and innovators by the Architect’s Journal in its 40 under 40 cohort for 2020.