REAL ESTATE EXPERT PETER COOPER JOINS INNER CIRCLE

Peter Cooper has joined Inner Circle Consulting as Director to broaden the organisation’s expertise in supporting local councils’ financial resilience and capacity to provide 21^st century services for their communities.  

Cooper, a former FTSE 100 UK portfolio director, brings some 35 years of real estate investment experience to Inner Circle, which is driving forward a major growth and development programme to devise and deliver innovative support for local government leaders.    

“I’m delighted to be contributing expertise on real estate and the wider civic value it can unlock to a diverse range of fascinating projects across the UK, alongside the immensely talented folk at Inner Circle. As local authorities move towards long-term, sustainable growth-based operating models, harnessing their real estate well can make a big strategic and financial difference. Its permanence, unbeatable partnership potential and ability to leverage wider outputs adds stabilising and enabling value in uncertain markets,” Cooper said.   

“Looking at real estate beyond investment performance to include social function is also incredibly fulfilling.  We can and should build and run portfolios that can provide sustainable yields and incomes – and also ensure people can live good lives.”

Cooper will be working closely alongside ex-local government chief executive Andrew Travers who joined Inner Circle in 2022 to set up a team of experts in helping councils facing a challenging funding environment to achieve sustainability.   

“We’re in volatile times and local government needs to build confidence and capacity to focus on long-term benefits as well as short-term risks,” Travers said. 

 “It’s great to have Peter’s real estate expertise to help local councils understand the full range of partnerships and assets they have, so they can develop a clear strategic vision and scheme-specific financing structures. Our vital work is to ensure that councils can deliver their community’s priorities – be it infrastructure, housing, jobs and skills, a net zero strategy – as well as a balanced budget.” 

Inner Circle co-founder Jamie Ounan added: “Peter’s appointment exemplifies our approach to assembling the very best of talent. For too long the public sector has been poorly serviced by cookie-cutter consultancy advice, while the most creative thinking was saved for private sector clients. We’ve always aimed to address that at Inner Circle, and this appointment will support a continued expansion of better advice to a wider range of public services.” 

EDITORS’ NOTES:

About Inner Circle Consultancy:

Inner Circle Consultancy is working across the UK to drive forward the reimagining of the public sector with a movement of like-minded civic and community leaders. It works alongside clients with mutual ambition to design preventative services, grow shared local prosperity and build a trusted public sector alongside world-class towns, cities and places, ensuring that every drop of investment goes towards transforming and improving lives.

In the last six months Inner Circle has won major transformation work for Liverpool City Council, been appointed partner to Salford to develop its neighbourhood model of integrated health, and been appointed strategic advisor to the Planning Advisory Services, working with planning authorities across England on CIL, s106 and value capture measures.

Inner Circle was co-founded by directors Jamie Ounan and Chris Twigg in 2011.

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