Ben joins the Corporation tasked with spearheading the delivery of tens of thousands of new homes and jobs at the West London site, from Hammerson, a FTSE100 owner, manager and developer of leading retail destinations in Europe. He has 10 years of experience across a range of public and private sector development and investment projects. During his time at Hammerson he worked in several asset management and development roles including, the £1.4bn regeneration of Croydon Town Centre and the £1.3bn Brent Cross Extension. He has most recently been responsible for Grand Central Birmingham and its integration following its £335m acquisition. Ben is a chartered surveyor and a trustee of Cockpit Arts.

Old Oak and Park Royal is one of the most important regeneration projects in London, with a new High Speed 2 (HS2) and Elizabeth Line (Crossrail) Station due to be constructed at Old Oak by 2026.

Redevelopment of the area has the potential to deliver 24,000 new homes and 55,000 jobs in Old Oak and 1,500 new homes and 10,000 jobs on the adjoining Park Royal industrial estate.

OPDC was established in April 2015 to drive forward future development plans for the wider area. OPDC has full planning powers within its 650 hectares boundary that includes land in the boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham, Ealing and Brent.

OPDC Chief Exec, Victoria Hills, said:

"I am delighted that Ben is joining OPDC. His expert commercial experience will provide a welcome boost to the strength of the OPDC team as we move forward to deliver our Business Plan."

Ben O’Neill, said:

"I look forward to joining OPDC at such an exciting stage of this project. To work on a scheme of such scale and complexity is a fantastic challenge. The development of Old Oak and regeneration of Park Royal provides a profound opportunity to reinvent urban development for the benefit of London and I look forward to working with OPDC partners in moving forward to delivery.”

On 29 October 2017, Deputy Mayor for Housing, James Murray joined OPDC Chairman, Liz Peace CBE at the first ground-breaking on the Genesis and QPR site, Oaklands, to kick-start the wider regeneration of Old Oak and Park Royal, the largest Opportunity Area in London.