There are 18 members of the Steering Group. As the Hyde Park and Paddington Neighbourhood Area has been designated a ‘Business Area’ by Westminster City Council, nine people are drawn from the local resident population, and nine from the local organisations and businesses. The following were elected at the AGM of the Forum on 23 March 2021 and serve a two year term.
Andy has had a connection with the Hyde Park Estate since 2015 and moved to the area permanently in 2017. He has been a committee member of the Hyde Park Estate Association for most of that time, initially as the short-let rep, and more recently as the Honorary Secretary. He is involved in a number of software businesses, including his own which he founded on leaving the Royal Navy in 2014.
Sergio Chiquetto has lived in the Hyde Park Estate for over 20 years and is now in the process of setting up and chairing the Southwick Mews Residents Association. Sergio is a Transport Planning Consultant with 26 years of academic and consultancy experience, having worked for various international engineering companies on numerous transport infrastructure projects for both the public and private sectors.
Sarah Clifford has lived in the Hyde Park Estate for fifteen years and has been involved in local groups including the HPEA. She is a qualified chartered accountant who was a partner with EY for many years. Subsequently she was a founder and Chair of Governors of Marylebone Boys’ School in Paddington. Recently she has taken up volunteering at St Mary’s Hospital.
Matthew is a partner at Memery Crystal, an international law firm based in London. He specialises in real estate finance and international private capital. Matthew is a member of R3 (the association of business recovery professionals) and the Insolvency Lawyers Association and regularly speaks to finance professionals on all elements of real estate finance in Europe and the US. Matthew has lived in the Hyde Park and Paddington area for over 11 years and sits on the Hyde Park Estate Association Planning Committee.
Bernadette (Bernie) McKernan has lived in the Hyde Park Estate for almost 14 years. She is a qualified chartered accountant who worked in Deloitte Corporate Finance for many years. More recently she has held strategic change roles in the corporate sector. Bernie is also a co-opted member of the finance committee at the Trust for London, an independent charitable foundation which aims to tackle poverty and inequality in London.
Sally Martin has lived with her family in the Hyde Park Estate since 1999, when she was posted to London as Chief Executive of Qantas for the UK, Ireland, Middle East & Africa. She chose to remain in the UK at the end of her expatriate tenure and has since become a Non Executive Chairman, Director & Remuneration Chair of FTSE listed and start-up companies. She also advises private equity and investment banks in the UK, Europe & Middle East. Sally is a member of the Executive Committee of the Hyde Park Estate Association with responsibility for the Business Liaison & Transport portfolios and membership of the Planning & Royal Parks sub-committees. She is a Trustee of the Britain-Australia Society Education Trust UK, a Freeman of the City of London and a member of the Guild of Freeman of the City of London, The Incorporation of Wrights in Glasgow (Guild), Tech Advocates London and La Jurade de Saint Emilion.
Maria Parpou (BSc in Economics, MBA) has lived in Hyde Park Square for the past fifteen years and has been actively involved in the community as Treasurer of Hyde Park Square Garden Committee as well as the Hyde Park Estate Association. A former Management Consultant and Banker, Maria is the Global Senior Vice President of Paysafe, a payments company. Outside work, she is interested in how access to information can help people from disadvantaged backgrounds, and is currently the Chair of two Advice charities, the Woolwich Citizen Advice Bureau and Seafarer Advice line.
David Steyn first lived in the area in the 1980s (St Michael’s Street) and after bringing up his family in West London, returned to the Hyde Park Estate (Stanhope Terrace) to live and work ten years ago. He hopes never to leave. When he thinks about the community, two things are of particular interest to him, one small and one very large indeed. The small one is improving the public spaces in the Hyde Park Estate, a task where the HPPF in partnership with the HPEA has already made a difference. He wants to help build on recent successes, to which end he brings passion, commitment and team work. The very big one is the redevelopment of St Mary’s Hospital. This will be both an enormous opportunity for the area, and an equally large challenge. Both residents and businesses must have a voice in the process. After a forty year career in investment and business he believes he can contribute to that debate.
Dr Allen Zimbler (BA Hons, MBA, PhD (Psychology)) has lived in Hyde Park Square since 2000 and is Chairman of the Hyde Park Estate Association. A former Full Professor of Business Administration at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, he retired in 2016 as an Executive Director of Investec Bank Plc in London. He is Chairman of the Hyde Park Square Garden Committee and of the Hyde Park Paddington Safer Neighbourhood Ward Panel. He is also Chairman of Governors of Morpeth High School in Tower Hamlets, is the Middle Warden of the Worshipful Company of Carpenters, is a member of the Honourable Society of the Knights of the Round Table, a Director of the Archbishop Tutu African Leadership Institute, and Chairman of the Ju/‘hoansi Development Fund, responsible for building five entry-level village schools for young Khoisan children in Northern Namibia.
Kay Buxton is a chartered planner and a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute. She began working in Paddington in 1998, after a tenure at Westminster City Council and various planning and community planning roles in London. With a background of 20+ years in urban policy and stakeholder engagement Kay was involved in the setting up one of the first BIDs in London, PaddingtonNow, and London’s 50th BID, Marble Arch London. Kay heads up these BIDs, and the Paddington Partnership, a developer-led collective in the Paddington Opportunity Area. Kay also sits on the Marylebone Forum Steering Group, for Marble Arch London BID, ensuring that the approach to our boundary with Edgware Road is co-ordinated.
Paul Charalambous owns and operates Stylotel, a 50 bedroom budget boutique hotel and The Sussex Arms, a traditional pub; both located in the heart of Paddington. Paul has grown up for most of his life in the Paddington area and currently lives here. Taking on the family business at an early age, Paul has constantly strived to improve not only his businesses but the area surrounding them. Paul was involved from the beginning in the setting up of the Paddington Now BID and has sat on the Board from the outset, also enjoying the roles of both Chairman and Vice Chairman of the BID, and leading the marketing sub group. Paul’s particular interest in the area is that of achieving improvements to infrastructure and a better marketed Paddington.
Will Clayton is the Managing Director of the Gresham Collective and is the PaddingtonNow BID nomination to the Steering Group. As a local businessman, Will wants to improve the social, economic and environmental well-being of the Paddington and Hyde Park Area on both a residential and business front. Will first moved to Paddington in 2001. In 2009 he began working in the area when he purchased the Pride of Paddington public house, opposite the current Crossrail development. He also operates the Cork & Bottle Wine Bar on Spring Street. Will has been vocal in several local community, charitable and security based projects. He chaired the local Pubwatch committee for several years and since 2014 has chaired the Security Committee for the PaddingtonNow BID. He joined their board of directors in 2012. He is also a qualified professional Private Investigator and runs an investigation, PI training and security consultancy team.
Ian Lush has been Chief Executive of Imperial College Healthcare Charity since December 2014, having previously been Chief Executive of the Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF) for 11 years. Following an MA in music at the University of York, he started his career as a viola-player with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, before eight years as Marketing Director of the Barbican Centre. Ian was then Managing Director of the London Mozart Players from 1995 before joining the AHF. Ian was Lead Governor of Great Ormond Street Hospital Foundation Trust from 2012-15 having previously served on its strategy and redevelopment boards. He founded and directed ‘Discovering Places’, one of the major projects of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad and was Deputy Chair of the Heritage Alliance from 2005-13.
Ian became Chair of NHS Charities Together in April 2020 and was awarded an OBE for charitable services to the NHS in the New Year’s Honours List 2021.
Charlotte Moss (MRICS, MSc, BA Hons) is a Chartered Surveyor and Senior Commercial Asset Manager for the Church Commissioners for England. The Church Commissioners were formed in 1948 from the merger of Queen Anne’s Bounty (which was formed in 1704) and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners (1836), and they exist to support the work and mission of the Church of England across the country, today and for future generations. The Hyde Park Estate is one of the jewels in the crown of the Church Commissioners’ Real Asset portfolio. The Estate covers 90 acres bordered by Sussex Gardens, Edgware Road and Bayswater Road comprising a mix of commercial and residential assets. The Church Commissioners are committed to the long-term stewardship of the Hyde Park Estate, maintaining and enhancing its rich and varied heritage, investing in the built fabric and the public realm to ensure that the Estate remains a great place to live, work and visit. Charlotte joined the Church Commissioners in 2021 and prior to this was Asset Manager at The Crown Estate.
Stephen has been Vicar of St John’s Hyde Park since 2002. Trained in the liberal catholic tradition, he was a curate in the northern town of Grimsby and a Vicar in Tunbridge Wells beforehand. Stephen believes that the church should reflect God’s love and be relevant to modern life. His vision is for St John’s to be the welcoming centre of a thriving community in twenty-first century London.
As the CEO of European Land and Property Limited, Bernadette is committed to promoting Merchant Square’s philosophy of connecting people and encouraging work-life balance. Merchant Square is an 11-acre canal-side neighbourhood currently occupied by nearly 4,000 residents, with five bars and restaurants, a gym and 6,000 people working in the offices of international brands.
Will Scott is a real estate professional working at British Land and is responsible for delivering asset management initiatives at Paddington Central, an 11 acre campus comprising 1.2m sq ft of office, retail, residential and hotel space and 10,000 workers/residents. British Land are committed to driving forward Paddington Central with recent investments including the delivery of 4 Kingdom Street and commercial barges along the canalside. Initiatives currently being implemented by Will include increasing and upgrading the retail provision on the campus and improving public realm for the enjoyment of local residents and all visitors to the area. Will graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2018 and worked in the Strategy at British Land for 3 years before taking over asset management responsibilities at Paddington Central in the beginning of 2022.
To contact any members of the Steering Group, please email HPP@paddingtonnow.co.uk