British Council For Offices Appoints Natwest’s Andy McBain As President

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• British Council For Offices Appoints Natwest’s Andy McBain As President

17 September 2026 | Updated 16 September 2026

The British Council for Offices (BCO) has announced changes to its presidential team following its annual general meeting, with Andy McBain, Head of Branch & Workplace Design at NatWest Group, elected President with immediate effect.

McBain succeeds Helen Hare, Director of Projects at GPE, and will lead the organisation over the coming year alongside Vice President John Wright, Director at Stride Treglown, and newly appointed Junior Vice President Ben Cross, Founder of MORE.

Reflecting the breadth of the BCO’s membership, the presidential team spans Scotland, Bristol and London, and brings together occupier, developer and architect expertise. Over the coming year, the team will focus on driving collaboration across the industry, advancing sustainability and supporting the continued evolution of the workplace sector.

The BCO’s presidential team now formally includes a NextGen representative to ensure that the voice of this growing element of its membership is heard. Beth Starling, Director at Broadway Malyan, joins the presidential team as National NextGen Chair. This role was created in 2025 to reflect the growing influence of the NextGen network, which now represents around a quarter of the BCO's 4,000-strong membership. She replaces Make Architects’ Oliver Hall.

The appointments reflect the BCO's continued commitment to bringing together voices from across the UK’s office sector, broadening participation within its membership and supporting the next generation of industry leaders.

As President, McBain brings more than two decades of workplace and occupier experience to the role. At NatWest Group, he leads workplace design and helps shape the ongoing evolution of the colleague experience and the bank's future workplace strategy, alongside responsibility for branch design across the UK.

A long-standing contributor to the BCO, McBain has already spent two years on the presidential team and has been involved with the organisation since joining the Scotland Committee in 2010. During that time, he has played a key role in a number of initiatives, including curating and chairing the BCO's 2026 Annual Conference, “Festival of Enlightenment”, in Edinburgh and Glasgow and helping to establish the organisation's NextGen Scotland group. In 2024, he led the publication of the BCO's research paper, “Towards Experience Utopia”, and launched the BCO’s Customer Experience Award, reinforcing the organisation's focus on operational and design excellence.

McBain will be supported by John Wright, Director at Stride Treglown, who succeeds him as Vice President. Bringing expertise in commercial architecture, workplace strategy and sustainability, Wright will help the BCO continue to drive collaboration, innovation and best practice across the office sector, with sustainability remaining a key focus for the Presidential Team.

Ben Cross, founder of MORE, joins the presidential team as Junior Vice President. This year, for the first time, the BCO opened the role to nominations from across its membership underscoring the organisation's commitment to an inclusive and representative leadership pipeline.

With more than 20 years' experience spanning architecture, development, and investment, Cross founded MORE after holding senior roles at General Projects and HUB.

Andy McBain, BCO President, said “It is a real privilege to become President of the BCO and build on the outstanding work of Helen Hare and the wider membership. The conversations at this year’s Conference highlighted the pace of change across society and our industry, with growing emphasis on experience, sustainability and the transformative potential of AI in shaping new occupier expectations towards their workplace.”

McBain added: “I look forward to working closely with John, Ben, Beth, Sam and our wider membership across the UK to ensure the BCO continues to lead the sector through its industry-leading research, trusted guidance, the renowned awards programme and over 140 brilliant UK wide events every year."

Ben Cross, BCO Junior Vice President, said “The office sector is at an inflection point. How and why people use workplaces is changing quickly, while the expectations placed on buildings continue to rise. The BCO has an important role to play in helping the industry respond to that change and shape the future of the workplace. I’m looking forward to contributing to that as part of the presidential team.”

Samantha McClary, BCO Chief Executive, said: “The presidential team plays an incredibly important, strategic and powerful role at the BCO, and it was particularly encouraging to see more than 20 nominations submitted for the Junior Vice President role this year. The nominations showcased just how talented, passionate and purpose-driven the BCO membership is. And it is this that makes the BCO so special.”

McClary continued: “I’m very much looking forward to welcoming Ben and Beth into the presidential team and working much closer with Andy as he steps into the presidential role. Huge thanks must also go to Helen Hare for her leadership over the past year, guiding the team and supporting the BCO on its journey of evolution and to Pete Crowther for his four years of dedication to the presidential team.

McClary added: “As we move into a new presidential year at the BCO, members can expect more focus on delivering content, events and connections that help them design, develop and operate workspaces that work for human beings. Members have been incredibly generous with their feedback over the past 12 to 18 months, and the next year and a half will be focused on delivering on what they want and need from their BCO and I am excited to get cracking on what I know is going to an incredible new chapter for the world of workspace.”

Picture: A headshot of Andy McBain, President at the British Council for Offices.

Article written by Dave Mapps | Published 17 September 2026

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