Chris O’Callaghan

Originally trained as a furniture designer, Chris has always maintained a passion for interesting and innovative design. Along with his wife Renate, Chris has built a portfolio of properties across London and the South East, many of which he has renovated, converted or built. His primary focus is on Property Development, where he is able to combine his expertise and experience of the property sector with his passion for design, to bring buildings and spaces back to life and use.

The Flimwell Park site was purchased in 2001 with a determination to protect and highlight the woodland, despite the limited commercial potential of the site, and Chris is excited for the opportunity to experiment with alternative building methods, eco-friendly and by the longer terms potential for Flimwell Park to become a place for education and leisure.

Renate O'Callaghan

Renate has been a long-time partner and collaborator with her husband Chris. She is one half of Regalmain LTD, purchasing, managing and developing properties across London and the South-East, utilising Renate’s background in design, fasion and internal furnishings. She has been involved with the Flimwell Park site since it was purchased in 2001. She is particularly interested in flora and fauna and excited for the opportunity to encourage the biodiversity of the woodland and develop a system of agroforestry on the site. 

Stephanie O'Callaghan

Stephanie is the daughter of Chris and Renate and she has always been involved with the family property business in some shape or form.

Following her BSc in International Management and German at the University of Bath, Stephanie gained some experience in the Real Estate Agency industry before deciding to do a MSc in International Real Estate and Planning at UCL.

Since completing her masters Stephanie has worked for the Planning Consultancy ‘Quod’ where she was a Planning Consultant for just under 4 years. At Quod, Stephanie was involved with numerous development projects in areas such as retail, residential and infrastructure. This included gaining planning consent for a 28 storey tower on Wandsworth’s riverfront as well as advising on the redevelopment strategy for a number of de-commissioned Gasholder sites throughout the UK. 

Stephanie left Quod in 2017 to join the family business, where she hopes to use her experience to help it grow. She is looking forward to getting Flimwell Park up and running and is excited to be involved with such a unique project. Stephanie is especially interested in learning about the sustainable development opportunities for the site such as solar, wind and hydro power generation as well as building connections between the Flimwell Park Project, the Forest and the Local Community.

Steve Johnson, The Architecture Ensemble

Steve became involved with all-timber design and construction after leading the Downland Gridshell project at the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum while working with Edward Cullinan Architects. This was a turning point when it became a revelation that drawing timber directly from local landscapes and returning that timber back to land and cityscapes as architecture was a good way of producing beautiful, well-built buildings while meeting and working with highly talented and committed people.

More recently, Steve has been working on new timber buildings at the Woodland Enterprise Centre, Flimwell, and, together with a small group of foresters, makers, and builders, they have made progress in developing a series of woodland workspace projects making use of local timber as a primary material. Flimwell Park will be the next step in terms of trying to look into appropriate and highly sustainable mixed-use development within woodland settings.

Steve also teaches architecture at The Bartlett School of Architecture - University College London and at the Architectural Association's Design & Make course at Hooke Park, Dorset.