SSA UK Level Up Conference 2026

Matt Barbet

Conference Chair

Matt Barbet is a news broadcaster and journalist. He presented 5 News Tonight on Channel 5 for a decade. Matt has also previously presented Breakfast, BBC London News (BBC 1), The Cycle Show (ITV 4), The Wright Stuff, The 5 O'Clock Show (Channel 5) and News Hour (Daybreak).

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Bruce Daisley

Keynote

Bruce Daisley is a best-selling author of 2019 “The Joy of Work”, which was the Sunday Times number one business bestseller, his follow up book, “Eat Sleep, Work Repeat”, is a compelling manifesto for an era overwhelmed with work pressures. Bruce spent 8 years as EMEA Vice President for Twitter having joined the company in 2012. Prior to this, he ran YouTube UK at Google and worked at Emap/Bauer and Capital Radio.

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Stefanie Sword-Williams

Keynote

Stef Sword-Williams is the Founder and author of F*ck Being Humble - an empowering movement and consultancy dedicated to inspiring individuals to embrace their achievements unapologetically and conquer the fear of self-promotion.

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Trevor Williams

Economist

Trevor Williams served as Chief Economist at Lloyds Bank for over a decade. Now an author, academic and consultant, he analyses the key trends and policies that shape the economy and markets. From energy and climate to how companies use their data to understand the wider economy, he brings clarity and relevance to an often complex and abstract field.

Trevor worked for the civil service whilst studying for his economics PhD, after which he went on to work for over 30 years as an economist in the City, most notably at Lloyds. His professional life has encompassed equity and foreign exchange, forecasting and financial analysis. Today he provides clear insight into how politics, demographics and trade shape economies and economic trends.

From earnings and inflation to stock markets and trade deals, Trevor explores what is going on in the economy and what it means to organisations and individuals. Looking at both the global and the local, the long and short term, he explains what the numbers really reveal. With a focus on interpreting the information as it is, not as people might think or wish it was, he considers the effects of disruptions like Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic, and how (and how quickly) economies can recover and what actions influence that recovery.

Trevor also studies what risks businesses and government face and how the economy will react. In particular, he looks at the political economics of climate change, including the risks for investors, insurers and the general population that this existential challenge could impose. He also examines the economics of energy; the likelihood, causes and potential effects of energy shortages and what decisions and policies have increased the risk of energy reserves running low, as well as the cost to businesses and consumers.

As rotating Chair of the Institute of Economic Affairs’ Shadow Monetary Policy Committee Trevor keeps a close eye on Bank of England decisions and direction of travel. He unpicks the impact of interest rates, monetary policy and quantitative easing and translates them into useful intelligence businesses can use to inform strategy. He also reveals how companies can use their own big data sets to reveal insights into the broader economy and their place within it.

Along with his own blog, Trevor writes regularly on financial and market matters, including a regular column in the personal finance magazine Moneyfacts. He is the co-author of Trading Economics, a clear guide to the statistics and indicators that underpin market economics. He is a Professor at St Mary’s University, London and Visiting Professor at the University of Derby.

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Simon Forrester

CEO, SSA UK

Simon joined the Self Storage Association UK in September 2025, having previously led a range of trade associations and professional bodies at the UK and European level across such diverse sectors as jewellery, construction, healthcare, business tourism and public health pest control. He is responsible for the strategic direction of SSA UK and leadership of the staff team. Simon has an MBA from Birmingham City University.

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Bill Brennan

Storage Future

Following a career in structural engineering and construction, Bill Brennan joined the self storage industry 20 years ago and spent 5 years as Design and Construction Director at Steel Storage. Following this, he launched his own self storage construction business with his wife, Sara and business partner, Justin Beavis, which has since delivered over 1000 further fit-outs to clients throughout the United Kingdom and across Europe. Operating his self storage facilities has enabled Bill to develop a unique customer-focused design style, delivering optimum space utilisation with the best possible experience for customers. As an engineer, BREEAM specialist and operator, Bill has a lot to offer the industry as the operating, legislative and investor landscape continues to evolve.

Helen Bourke

SSA UK

Helen is Operations Director at the Self Storage Association, taking up post in March 2019.  Previously, Helen was Director of Membership Services at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, a not-for-profit, national membership organisation where she spent 8 years working across membership, communications and events. Prior to this, Helen spent 12 additional years in the education, learning and training sector and a number of years working within the corporate sector.

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Mike Cole

Bell Cornwell

With extensive planning experience across local authorities and the private sector, Mike Cole is a Partner at Bell Cornwell. He leads the London team of Chartered Town Planners and spends time with all the other 6 offices.

Mike’s diverse portfolio covers commercial and residential proposals. He is a commercially minded planner whose insight assists to realise a developments’ full potential. With a deep understanding of Use Class B8 requirements and policies Mike has successfully delivered approvals for self-storage operators of varying types from shipping containers, changes of use and purpose built facilities. He leverages his expertise in development management to steer projects through local policies and politics in both rural and urban areas.

By bridging the gap between planning policy and commercial viability, Mike helps developers and investors navigate the entire project lifecycle — from initial feasibility studies and site appraisals to securing full planning permission.

Self storage proposals can face many challenges, not least being wrongly perceived to offer limited economic benefits in retail or commercial areas. However, these facilities increasingly support start-ups, small businesses, van hire, removals, and delivery services as well as providing an invaluable service to domestic customers. Mike successfully conveys the significant merits and economic benefits of low impact self storage uses to local planning authorities, securing planning permissions nationwide.

Rob Dovey

DSOC

Rob is the Managing Director of DSOC, an independent Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) and CCTV monitoring specialist with a leading presence in the self storage sector. DSOC now supports over 800 self storage sites, delivering trusted monitoring services across the UK and Europe. With a deep understanding of the operational and security challenges facing self storage operators, Rob and the DSOC team have established themselves as industry partners recognised for reliability, innovation, and an outstanding commitment to security.

 

Emma Greenwood

SSA UK

Emma joined the SSA UK in December 2023 as a Membership Services Officer.  She has worked in the industry since 2017 as a Store Manager for two large operators and therefore has a wealth of sector knowledge and experience.  Emma is responsible for retention and will be keeping in touch with, and visiting operator members.  She is also the YSN Liaison Officer.

Justin Freeman

Master Locksmiths Association Ltd

Before joining the MLA in 2008, Justin had already established a reputation among UK locksmiths, thanks to his work at Squire, Mul-T-Lock, Expresslock, and Hoppe. As Technical Manager at the MLA, Justin is responsible for representing the organisation on over 30 committees for BSI and other industry bodies. He also manages the GVA testing conducted for BS3621and writes and updates test specifications for Sold Secure. Thanks to his expertise and experience, Justin is a valuable member of the MLA team, and his contributions have helped to maintain the associations position as a leading authority in the locksmith industry.

Ben Kelly

OPSYS Fire and Security

Ben is the Operations Director at OPSYS Fire and Security, a Bristol-based fire and security systems provider. As the company’s BAFE-nominated designer, Ben brings a wealth of knowledge and technical expertise to the role. His career began in the Armed Forces, where he developed a strong foundation in discipline, leadership and operational effectiveness before transitioning into the fire and security industry.  Ben holds multiple professional qualifications, including a Level 6 in Security Risk Management Consultancy and has successfully led projects for a wide range of organisations. His portfolio includes delivering critical security and fire safety systems for high-profile sites, such as United States Air Force bases at RAF Lakenheath and RAF Feltwell.  Ben specialises in CCTV system design and fire alarm detection, bringing both big picture planning and practical know-how to the table. This helps OPSYS deliver smart, reliable and compliant solutions that are built around each client’s needs.

Trevor Ling

Crowe UK

I am a corporate tax partner based in London with over 22 years’ tax experience. I have acted as Head of Tax for two FTSE listed companies and held senior roles in practice, where I have focused on advising entrepreneurial organisations across a whole range of tax and commercial matters.

I support companies on their growth journey through commercially focused and risk based solutions. I advise on the tax structuring of acquisitions and disposals on UK transactions, group reorganisations and shareholder advice and support.

Lucy Maidman

Store & Secure Self Storage

Director of Store & Secure Self Storage in South England. I run the business with my sister Sophie and have been in the industry 15 years. We recently sold our first brand and are now building our second portfolio of stores. Love everything self storage!

Sarah Manning

Secure Stores Nationwide Ltd

Sarah Manning is Managing Director of Secure Stores Nationwide, supplier of shipping containers and related accessories.

Sarah has been in the container industry for the past 14 years, starting her career at Mr Box, which she ran and grew in to one of the largest market players.  Mr Box was then acquired by Mobile Mini in 2016, who Sarah continued to work with for a further 4 years.  Sarah has recently launched her own container business, Secure Stores Nationwide. Secure Stores specialist area is Self-Storage, with a strong focus on customer service.

Andy Marks

Keeper's Cottage

Andy has a diverse background across different sectors, and for the last six years has been a supplier in the self storage sector as Director of Keeper's Cottage, who provide auction and clearance services. Andy has experience and extensive knowledge in many areas during his career, including procurement, property and development, finance and business strategy development, in businesses of different sizes. His previous roles include a Commercial Director for a national multi-site FTSE 250 company, a Finance Director for a private equity backed start-up, non-exec director of an IT start-up, and a single site operator. Andy joined the SSA UK Board in June 2023 as the supplier representative, and is looking forward to helping to shape the lines of communication and opportunities available to all suppliers. 

Steffan Morgan

Cushman and Wakefield

Professional Expertise and Summary of Experience

Steffan has 11 years of experience in the Real Estate sector and has a wide-ranging skill set that includes brokerage, capital markets and valuation. Steffan is an RICS registered valuer with experience in valuation of retail, industrial, offices and alternative assets across the UK and Europe. Steffan is a former director of a small independent practice in Wales, and later joined Vail Williams concentrating on UK based operation occupancy and strategy.

Steffan joined Cushman & Wakefield to bolster the self-storage team in 2021 and has been a key part in dealing with valuations and transactional activity across the EMEA region. He has a significant network of agents, clients, and investors on a pan European level.

Cushman & Wakefield

Steffan is a Partner in the Self-Storage Team and now leads the Self-Storage Investment and Advisory initiative in the EMEA region.

Steffan works closely with Cushman & Wakefield’s most valuable self-storage clients offering advise and services relating to capital markets, investment and advisory, working closely with client on growth aspirations and portfolio strategy. His experience in valuing the asset class and transactional work makes him an invaluable resource to any client’s team.

Advising across the UK and Europe has meant that Steffan has developed an understanding of international capital flows, cross border operational intricacies and complicated corporate structures.

Developing key relationships with small, medium and large self-storage operators has been at the fore front of Steffan’s activity, understanding the complicated operational drivers of value of his clients’ businesses, developing the Cushman & Wakefield business consultancy offerings.

Portfolio strategy and growth have been a priority for Steffan, using client requirements, data and locational expertise to identify geographical voids and opportunities across the UK. deploying strategic teams across Europe, including the industrial and logistics and repurposing teams to unlock on and off market opportunities. Conversely his role as a portfolio strategist makes him well placed to advise on exit strategy and disposal, leveraging his team to advise on and deliver the best possible exit or restructuring for operators, investors and partners.

Advising on sell side and buy side M&A transactions on a single asset and portfolio level, his expertise on pan European advisory has enabled the development of a best in class offering for Cushman & Wakefield.

Capital Markets and Valuation work undertaken for C&W’s self-storage clients is pan European and coverage includes;

• UK
• Netherlands
• Germany
• Spain
• France
• Denmark
• Belgium
• Italy
• Sweden
• Portugal

Daryl Perry

Cushman & Wakefield

Daryl is responsible for leading the UK Research & Insight team, delivering value-adding market insight across offices, retail, logistics and industrial and specialist markets, as well as thought leadership on emerging trends and issues.  He works closely with the firm’s subject matter experts and analysts to deliver innovative data-driven insight and analysis for its clients across all property sectors.  He has been directing production of the SSA UK industry report for the past 3 years.

Stephen Ramage

SSA UK

Stephen has been head of Membership Acquisitions at the SSA UK for 4 years seeing member numbers increase by nearly 50% in his time. With over 10 years of sales experience, predominantly in the motor trade, he believes in letting benefits of the Association speak for themselves rather than giving a hard-sell.

Susanne Samuel

Hillingdon HR

Susanne Samuel is an experienced HR professional with over 20 years’ experience working in self storage, retail, engineering and manufacturing. Driven by the belief that most people want to do a good job, that work should be enjoyable, and that creating a great place to work doesn’t need to be complex or expensive, Susanne is known for her straight-talking, bespoke and commercially focused HR support that saves time, reduces risk and boosts profitability.

Susanne founded Hillingdon HR (www.hillingdonhr.co.uk) in 2020 to partner with business owners who believe their people are their greatest asset and who are committed to building strong, engaged workplace cultures. With experience across the full employee lifecycle — from attracting great talent through to supporting people as they move on — she helps businesses put the right HR building blocks in place for long-term success. Whether supporting startups, growing SMEs or established organisations seeking a more strategic HR approach, Susanne provides tailored, pragmatic solutions.

Gavin Shields

Stora

Gavin Shields is the CEO and co-founder of Stora, a self storage software platform designed to automate operations and enhance sales for storage businesses. He also serves as the Managing Director of StoreStuff, a self storage facility in Northern Ireland. Prior to his ventures in self storage, Gavin held roles as CEO of fintech startups PiggyPot and Yomo, Interim CMO at Orca Money, and COO at games technology company Turbulenz. He also worked as a Private Equity Investor at Summit Partners and as a Financial Analyst at Procter & Gamble. Gavin holds a Master's degree in Economics and Accounting from the University of Edinburgh and has completed a Mini MBA at the William J Clinton Leadership Institute

Hunter Webb

Landlord

Hunter bought his first self storage facility at 17, built custom tools to automate it, and sold it for $1M at 19. He's a GenZ storage manager, expert in Machine Learning & LLMs, and his dream is to make EU self storage more profitable and innovative than the US within 10 years. He is the Founder & CEO of Landlord storage software, where he helps owners achieve 100% automation so they can focus on buying more properties. 

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Thomas Blangy

QuadReal

Thomas is a Senior Vice President at QuadReal, International Real Estate and joined in May 2019. He forms part of the investment team, which is focused on building the international portfolio, with an emphasis on investing in Global Cities in the UK and Europe. Thomas joined QuadReal, having spent eight years at Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing (MSREI) in London, where he was originally hired as an Analyst and was promoted to Vice President prior to joining QuadReal. At MSREI, he was a part of the pan-European acquisitions team, where he invested in Western Europe and CEE. Thomas graduated from HEC Paris with a specialisation in Economics.

Tim Brant Coles

Brant Self Storage

Tim Brant Coles is the owner and founder of Brant Self Storage with 6 sites operational and another 2 in development.  A combination of internal and external storage sites.  One of his stores uniquely uses shipping containers to form the structure for an internal storage solution. He opened his first store in 2008 after researching the industry through the SSA UK and has been a regular at SSA UK events ever since.  Always looking to learn from others but also put his own unique spin on his business.

Alison Gallagher-Hughes

Tillymint Marketing & PR

Alison Gallagher-Hughes is a senior strategic communications leader and founder of Tillymint Marketing & PR, a Midlands-based consultancy supporting organisations across the UK. She helps clients build reputation, influence and engagement through ethical, audience-led communications aligned to clear organisational goals. Her experience spans manufacturing, retail, membership bodies, the pet trade, the built environment and the public sector, delivering PR, digital, content, internal communications and integrated campaigns. Her work has earned industry recognition, including being a winner of the Impact 50 Awards 2025 and a finalist in the Chartered Institute of Public Relations Excellence Awards for four consecutive years. Alison is Chair of CIPR Midlands, leading regional strategy and programming, and serves on the Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce Local Area Advisory Board for Stafford. A Chartered PR Practitioner, she is committed to professional standards and continuous development.

Rachel Hand

Storage King

Rachel Hand is Chief Marketing Officer at Storage King and represents Management First, the UK’s leading third party self storage management platform. With over 20 years in the sector, she has a hands-on track record of using data led marketing, digital demand generation and brand building to drive occupancy, rate growth and across a diverse portfolio.

Alex Henney

Squab

Alex has 8 years of experience in the self storage industry. Alex owns and operates Squab Storage which has a growing number of locations based across the Midlands. Prior to his involvement at Squab, Alex spent almost 20 years working within the banking sector at firms such as JPMorgan, Citigroup and Credit Suisse. Alex joined the board in July 2021. Squab Storage, Evesham won Independent Store of the Year in 2021.

Amy King

Basil Fry

Amy King is the Managing Director of Basil Fry and brings 15 years of insurance expertise, including 12 years specialising in the self storage and removals sector. Her background spans broking, claims, and risk management, giving her a detailed understanding of how operators work and what they need from their insurance. Amy focuses on tailoring policies to fit each business’s operations, exposures, and growth plans, ensuring cover that is practical, efficient, and responsive when it matters. As MD, she leads Basil Fry’s strategy while remaining closely aligned with clients, known for her clear, grounded advice and industry insight.

David McCutcheon

Simple Selfstore

David, with his business partner, started their haulage company, Bullet Express Ltd, in 1990 after David received "the Bullet from Parceline (now DPD). With 2 vans and a £22.00 a week grant, they grew the business from a same-day courier business to all aspects of logistics and storage. They delivered across the UK as well as worldwide freight and container movements, adding storage in 2014. The company was sold in late 2023 when it had storage of over 40,000 pallets, 150 trucks and trailers and a staff of over 150. During David's 30-plus years at Bullet, they purchased 3 major properties covering over 500,000 sq ft, which they mostly still own today. David also spent 5 years on the board of the Road Haulage Association and is currently in his 6^th year on the board of the UK Warehouse Association. David received the 2025/26 merit award for his contribution to the storage industry from the association. By chance, David visited a self storage unit in Oxenholm in 2024, which led him to start Simple Selfstore in early 2024. The depot is building strongly, with over 80% occupancy at present, with more capacity in the pipeline 

Brian Rees

Fisher German LLP

Brian has been involved in dealing with business rate assessments on self storage properties since 1986. He was actively involved in central discussions with the Valuation Office in agreeing the basis of assessment for this specialist class of property. Whilst initially dealing with self storage buildings he has in recent years started to look more closely at container sites. This is of particular relevance under the Government’s proposal to introduce a ‘Duty to Notify’.

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Paul Whittaker

Flexiss Group

Paul started his Self-Storage adventure in 2012 with NorthWest based storage experts BiG Storage and was lucky enough to be initially mentored by two of the best independent operators in Kevin Murphy and Paul Fahey, whilst in his in his group sales manager role. Alongside the whole BiG team, Paul’s abilities to raise standards and in particular revenues led to the Big Yellow/Armadillo  group acquiring the business in early 2015.

After being the only member of the senior management team to be retained, Paul assisted with integration of the two businesses before being given a golden opportunity to join Mike Wilson at Smart Storage in late 2015. After implementing radical changes to the business as well as new technology and a sixth site, it was decided that with new opportunities on the horizon that they would prepare the business for sale. This occurred in early 2018 achieving a sixfold return for the investment group after less than three years involvement.

Mike and fellow storage entrepreneur Andy Wood formally of Storage Boost now had investors and capitol in place to realise the dream of creating SureStore. Paul has become a key part of developing and operating these multi-purpose facilities which not only cater for domestic and commercial storage requirements, but offering office space, drive up units, retail spaces and trade counters all in purpose-built brand new, high specification, environmentally conscious and technologically advanced sites. Bolton was the first site to open in April 2018 and seven more sites across the North West and Midlands have followed, with a substantial number of sites due to open across the UK in 2021.

Paul owes his success down to his team of hard working but life enjoying individuals and eats drinks and sleeps the wonderful world of Self-Storage. Paul has four amazing children aged between 6 and 20, with the eldest recently learning the ropes as a part sales advisor at SureStore, so he is always busy and, in his spare time enjoys disco dancing, origami and welsh poetry. 

Ricky Williams

The Space Program

Ricky is one of our YSN board members, and is also Managing Director of Container Team, home of The Space Program and Team Refrigeration. Ricky has been involved in the family business since 2018, after many years working in the motor trade for Audi and Porsche. He is tasked with driving the businesses ambitious growth plans. Ricky uses ChatGPT extensively to assist him with a variety of day to day tasks in the business, and has refined his techniques and learnt about how to get the best from it.