Our Team

Co-Project Manager

Zimmie

After almost 10 years studying and working in architecture, Zimmie joined My Place in order to work more closely with communities to create more equitable, sustainable and thriving places. He believes passionately that My Place can transform how we think about (re)building places and who gets to lead and participates in this process.

Rico

Co-Project Manager

Rico is a young community activist and Finsbury Park local with a background in education and youth empowerment. Rico leads our youth work, supporting and mentoring our young leaders

Team

Naomi

Project Assistant

Naomi is an award winning architect and My Place co-founder. She uses her community listening expertise to support the team, alongside her work as Director of Operations at Footwork.

Abbie

Project Assistant

Alongside her work at Footwork and Creative Wick, Abbie lends her creative and research expertise to support the My Place team in developing our training and youth empowerment programmes

Our Advisory Board

Alvin Owusu-Fordwo

Co-Chair

Alvin is passionate about amplifying diverse young voices and transforming the lives of young people from underrepresented backgrounds. He is the co-founder of Tag Agency and is working with Children in Need to deliver their £10 million Black Futures Fund

Clare Richards

Clare is a My Place co-founder and supports the project through the independent charity Footwork Trust, of which she is also the founder. Footwork identifies and supports local social innovators to create positive change for people and places

Kerri Hall

Kerri is a former My Place Director and long time youth champion and educator, including coordinating the national #iwill campaign. At My Place she led the Finsbury Park pilot, building partnerships with funders, stakeholders and collaborators

Roland Karthaus

Co-Chair

Roland is a long time supporter and collaborator of My Place, and founding Director of Matter Architecture, based in East London. Roland has set up and runs many public, collaborative design workshops and also teaches and researches part-time at the University of East London

David Prince

David is a drama student who lives in Woodberry Down. Alongside Rico, he was part of the ftwork film 'regeneration divide' in which he shared his passion for local people having a genuine say in what happens in their local area

Hani Salih

Hani is a researcher at Quality of Life Foundation. He is driven by the desire to improve the lives of those who need it the most through the application of his architectural education. At QoLF Hani works to evaluate health and wellbeing in housing and neighbourhoods

Lola McLoughlin

Lola studies art at City of Liverpool College and is a passionate champion for young people’s voices. In 2020 she graduated from PLACED Academy; a programme that empowers young people to shape their local area, and has written in the Urban Design Group magazine for PLACED

Nathan Richardson

Nathan grew up in Finsbury Park and recently became a head teacher in Bristol. He previously headed a year group at Ofsted Outstanding Alexandra Park School and led the school’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy to support outcomes for all students, especially those from BAME backgrounds

Sarah Beth Riley

Sarah is an Associate Architect at urban regeneration company Be First. She is a mentor for Public Practice, a member of the Hackney Regeneration Design Advisory Group, and NLA Expert Panel member for the Housing programme #NLAHousing

Simon Donovan

Simon is CEO of award winning community development organisation London Development Trust and has delivered lasting community development on numerous regeneration projects across London Boroughs of Hackney, Ealing, Tower Hamlets, Southwark and Waltham Forest

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