Meet the team

Neill has more than 25 years’ experience in real estate and property development.

He started his career in Construction for a contractor before joining a number of large housing associations where he became skilled in all facets of a large residential investment and development business. Skills such as land buying, planning, property development, project management, sales and regeneration. Becoming skilled and proficient in joint ventures, differing deal structures and procurement routes as well as securing and managing large Government allocations of grant funding.

Neill is married with three children and lives in East Kent in a village near the coast. He has held senior leadership positions for more than 16 years, 14 of those as Director and Group Director at Optivo and legacy organisation AmicusHorizon Housing Association. More recently he worked for the Goldman Sachs owned Modular Housing Company, TopHat, before setting up the Counties & Capital Group of companies.

Neill began his property career working as a Site Manager for a construction company managing new build and refurbishment schemes. After switching to the client side, he worked for various Housing Associations, including L&Q and Amicus, securing land and delivering residential property in Kent, Sussex and London. Success followed and career progression was fast moving as he became Development Director at the age of 30.

Neill is a Fellow of the CIOB for Construction Management, a Member of the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) and a Level 7 certified NLP Coach and Mentor. Neill was Vice Chair of a ‘Super ALMO’ East Kent Housing for 4 years up to 2018 and he sits on numerous advisory panels and property industry think tanks.

Neill has been a part of the Leadership team at Optivo that went through 2 large mergers creating teams from a blank sheet of paper and creating and implementing a cultural programme rolled out to all 1,000+ staff to ensure performance didn’t drop through the uncertainty and transition.

In his role as Group Land and New Business Director and Development Director he was responsible for sourcing, seeking approval, securing and delivering thousands of new homes on hundreds of housing led property developments of differing kinds procured and delivered in differing ways. At the time of leaving Optivo Neill was responsible for over £350m of yearly investment and was delivering 1,500 physical property starts per annum.

In order to deliver this growth via sustainable and high-quality housing, Neill takes a keen interest in design and placemaking and is proud to have won a number of awards for schemes and design.

Now through Counties & Capital Neill is able to use his entrepreneurial spirit and positive and hardworking approach to add value for clients in many ways. Neill and colleagues assist with scheme design, specification, advocacy and Business Development, option appraisals, creating and advising on the right market for land sales to maximise client net returns, running planning on schemes, creating Package deals and partnerships to deliver the best scheme and product for the client. We review, and advise on, alternative property funding strategies, regeneration and asset option appraisals and assessment of business need for space and amenities.

In his spare time Neill loves watching and playing sport. A keen footballer and sportsman in younger years these days he’s a convert to the game of golf (albeit fair weather golf only!) and continues to captain Herne Cricket Club as he has since 2010.

Jenny is the newest member of the team and has recently joined Counties & Capital Consulting Ltd as an Associate Senior Development Manager back in August 2022. The introduction of Jenny to the company sees a reunion of her and Neill who have previously worked together at a large housing association, both in senior roles for more than 15 years.

With over 30 years’ experience of working within the housing and construction sector and the responsibility for delivering a development programme of over £400m, Jenny is well placed in assisting with much of the day-to-day project management work. Her level of knowledge and practical skills means she is well equipped in undertaking a wide range of responsibilities within the company ranging from feasibility studies, market research, valuation and the development of new business to name just a few.

Utilising the experience she has gathered from her former Senior Management roles, Jenny is well versed in working with a wide range of stakeholders including many registered providers, local authorities and private developers. Jenny is held in high-regard throughout the property and construction sector.

Jenny has previously been involved in a number of notable projects over the years which amongst others includes St Peters Hospital, a 147 unit scheme designed for key workers, Forstal Mead in Coxheath, a 210 unit scheme working in partnership with Chartways, Berengrave Lane, a 120 unit scheme working with Vistry, Leolyn House in St Leonards (a South East Local Enterprise Partnership /Homes England/Local Authority funded and Local Space scheme) and Atlas Place on St Mary’s Island, an extra care mixed tenure scheme working in partnership with Countryside.

Passionate about property, Jenny is completely obsessed with real estate and in her spare time, she is currently renovating property number 4! Jenny brings to the company a level of unrivalled expertise in the field of land and development and we are delighted to welcome her to the team!

Strategic planning, property development and affordable housing have been a keen interest of mine for some time now. I am delighted to join Counties and Capital to pursue this further. I live in Kent with my husband and three children. I love exploring, cooking and being outdoors. Always learning, Always trying. I look forward to hearing from you.

I am extremely excited to start this new adventure at Counties and Capital, alongside Neill, Jenny, and Georgia. An experienced office administrator for over 20 years, with experience in various sectors of the industry.
I am hoping that by starting at Counties and Capital i will be able to share my years of knowledge and bring some structure to the team. I enjoy socialising with friends and family, taking walks with my family and gardening on a summers day.