Geospatial Commission appoints new commissioner

Alexandra Notay joins the Board of the Geospatial Commission replacing Dame Kate Barker whose term ended on 30 June 2021.

The Chair of the Geospatial Commission, Sir Bernard Silverman, said:

I welcome the appointment of Alex Notay to the board of Commissioners and look forward to working with her and the board in continuing to unlock the significant economic, social and environmental value derived from location data and ensuring that the UK is a world leader in this area.

I would also like to convey my sincere thanks to Dame Kate Barker for her valuable contribution to the board, especially her expert advice on housing and land use policy.

The Minister for State, Lord True CBE added:

I am very pleased to welcome Alex to the Geospatial Commission. Our vision as outlined in the UK’s geospatial strategy is to have a coherent national location data framework by 2025 and Alex’s expertise and experience will make a vital contribution towards realising this vision.

I would also like to express my thanks to Dame Kate Barker for her expertise and contribution which has been invaluable in helping the Commission to develop the UK’s Geospatial Strategy.

Alex said:

I am delighted to join the Commission at such an important time. I am always keen to support the effective use and expansion of technology and innovation, both in policy-making and in business practice.

I see the improved and more integrated use of location data as absolutely integral to the real estate investment, housing and planning sector’s contribution to our post-COVID recovery.

The Commissioners are responsible for providing expert, impartial advice to the government on geospatial data, including on strategic priorities and value for money, to inform the UK’s Geospatial Strategy. The Board of Commissioners meet formally up to 6 times per year.

About the Commission

The Geospatial Commission was established in 2018 as an independent, expert committee responsible for setting the UK’s geospatial strategy and coordinating public sector geospatial activity. Its aim is to unlock the significant economic, social and environmental opportunities offered by location data and to boost the UK’s global geospatial expertise.

The overarching objectives of the Commission are to increase economic growth and improve social and environmental outcomes by:

setting cross-cutting geospatial strategy, policy and data standards

promoting competition within markets for geospatial data, products and services

improving accessibility, interoperability and quality of data

improving capability, skills and resources to support the growth of new and existing geospatial businesses and improve public services

The UK’s geospatial strategy, published in June 2020, sets a vision that by 2025 the UK will have a coherent national location data framework.

The strategy sets out an ambitious programme of activity to achieve the vision, across four key missions:

Promoting and safeguarding the use of location data to provide an evidenced view of the market value of location data, set clear guidelines on data access, privacy, ethics and security, and promote better use of location data.

Improving access to better location data to streamline, test and scale the development of new and existing location data ensuring it is findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable and of high quality.

Enhancing skills, capabilities and awareness to develop more people with the right skills and tools to work with location data - across organisations and sectors - to meet the UK’s future needs and support global development.

Enabling innovation to maximise the commercial opportunities for innovation and promote market-wide adoption of high value emerging location technologies.

The Geospatial Commission has 9 Commissioners:

Sir Bernard Silverman (Chair)

Nigel Clifford (Deputy Chair)

Kru Desai (Independent Commissioner)

Edwina Dunn (Independent Commissioner)

Steve Unger (Independent Commissioner)

Alex Notay (Independent Commissioner)

Thalia Baldwin (Director of the Commission)

Karen Hanghoj and Steve Blair are the two commissioners nominated by the six Partner Bodies of the Commission to represent them.

The Independent Commissioners were appointed through an open competition.

Alex Notay Biography

Alexandra Notay is Placemaking and Investment Director at PfP Capital, the fund and asset management arm of Places for People Group, overseeing a UK-wide residential strategy. She is an internationally recognised expert on build to rent, placemaking and sustainable urban development, with 16 years’ strategic advisory and investment experience to private sector, government and third sector organisations across four continents. In January 2019 Alex was selected as one of the 48 women shaping the future of UK real estate at the prestigious BISNOW Women Leaders event.

Alex is a published author and editor of over 30 books and reports on real estate including the renowned ULI UK Best Practice Guide on Build to Rent (2014, 2016). Alex is vice-chair of the ULI UK Residential Council, chair of the BPF working group on residential ESG, serves on BPF’s Build to Rent Committee, AREF’s ESG / Impact Investing committee and is a Member of CREFC Europe. She is also a non-executive director of Essensys plc, Co-Chair of the Creative Land Trust, SouthWest Board Member for LandAid and trustee of the SunScreenIT Foundation.

With a reputation for being ‘abnormally energetic’, Alex is passionate about enabling tangible social impact through innovation and collaboration as well as mentoring the next generation of diverse talent.