Meet the Local Authority Team

Lorna Pimlott

Managing Director, Local Authority Advisory and Lending

Prior to joining us, Lorna worked for over 30 years developing and delivering major infrastructure projects. She started her career as an architect and worked with both the public and private sectors, engaging with central and local government to solve challenges in infrastructure. She has led schemes from a multinational contractor, central government grant organisations, big four and specialist boutique consultancies to government arm’s length bodies. Her most recent roles were at the Great British Rail Transition Team and as Sponsorship Director for Phase 2 at HS2. Lorna started as Managing Director of the Local Authority function in July 2023 and is continuing to develop offerings for advisory and lending services across the UK’s four nations.

Dan Mansfield

Director for Transport Infrastructure, Local Authority function.

Prior to joining us, Dan worked for over 20 years as a financial and commercial advisor to government departments, devolved administrations, local authorities and private sector sponsors on transport and infrastructure projects. During this time, he advised on projects such as the procurement of rolling stock for light rail networks, funding for the bus industry in England, Scotland and Wales, rail franchises and concessions, and the funding and financing of major transport infrastructure projects and programmes. His clients included: the Department for Transport, Transport Scotland, Transport for Wales, Transport for London, Transport for the North, most combined authorities/ passenger transport executives and several local authorities. Prior to focusing on transport Dan worked with many local authorities, private sector sponsors and senior lenders on the procurement, financing and delivery of over £5 billion of economic and social infrastructure projects through public-private partnerships.

Stuart Leslie

Director for Buildings Decarbonisation and Energy Efficiency, Local Authority function

Stuart joined us at the start of 2023 after 15 years at Lloyds Bank, where he was a Relationship Director responsible for a portfolio of large corporate UK FTSE and international clients. He has extensive experience leading complex debt financing transactions and providing insight on capital structuring, liquidity and risk, and has also previously worked in both debt restructuring and securitisation. In 2018 he became an Exec Board member at St Nicks, an award-winning environmental charity, stepping up to Chair. Stuart lives in York with his wife and two young boys.

Raphael Miller

Director for Mixed Infrastructure, Local Authority function

Raphael joined us in January 2023. Raphael has around 20 years of experience in professional financial services, advising both the public and private sector on the development of public infrastructure and regeneration projects. This included projects in commercial property, renewable energy, waste management, housing, education and social care. Prior to joining the bank, Raphael was Assistant Director for Investment at the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority where he managed the Authority’s regeneration funds. This was deployed through provision of both grant and loan support to projects within the City Region which would support economic growth. Raphael was also a director of a number of Authority-owned and joint venture companies including a commercial property investment entity and the City Region’s joint venture company to deliver a fibre-optic backhaul network.

Peter Chalmers

Director for Heat Networks, Local Authority function

Peter has over 15 years of experience in infrastructure financing and investing. During this time Peter worked for a number of banks, initially focussing on funding and principal investments in social infrastructure projects in the UK, the US and Australia. Peter then moved on to corporate infrastructure financing, providing complex debt solutions and advice to large sponsor backed and listed infrastructure companies in the UK. Subsequent to this, Peter gained significant experience building and leading niche lending businesses focussed on providing advice and financing solutions to renewable energy and energy transition projects in the UK and northern Europe.

Iain Watson

Director for Lending, Local Authority function

Iain has worked in the public infrastructure sector for over 25 years, including advising the UK Government on privatisations in the 1990s and developing innovative public-private partnership models for investment and enhanced service delivery in health and education during his early years in the corporate finance arms of PwC and KPMG. He subsequently joined RBS structured finance, where he worked with local authorities and large UK and international corporates to deliver complex debt and equity financial solutions in areas such as ports, roads, transportation, and waste management. Following this, Iain led the UK Green Investment Bank’s public sector lending team, specialising in energy efficiency, building retrofit, and heat network projects.