We are delighted to welcome Emma Drake as Associate Director
Emma is a strategic communications advisor with more than 30 years’ experience, specialising in place communications, stakeholder engagement, social value and marketing for the built environment.
As Founder and Director of Henbe Communications, and formerly Strategic Communications for Large Sites at Homes England, she has led a broad range of communications activities for some of the UK’s most high-profile new communities, including Northstowe, Ebbsfleet Garden City, Eddington and existing communities including Purfleet-on-Thames and others. Her work helps customers create places people want to be and buildings they love to use, using insights, engagement, communication and marketing.
With thinkingplace, Emma brings deep expertise in housing, development and placemaking, complementing the team’s strengths in place identity and branding for existing towns and cities. Her approach is outcomes-led and rooted in social value, with a strong track record of advising clients on how to connect vision and story with implementation that brings long-term community impact in both new and evolving places.
Emma will bring great value to helping new places develop and implement their identity from the ground up. She brings deep expertise in large-scale development, planning, housing and the built environment, with a clear focus on creating social value through communications, engagement, and implementing communication strategies. Together, we offer a compelling proposition to developers, local authorities and partnerships looking to deliver meaningful, people-first places.
She has always believed storytelling is a critical part of how places are made, not just at launch, but from day one. Via Henbe Communications, her experience has involved emerging garden cities to complex urban extensions, always with a focus on how identity and community can be built in tandem with homes, infrastructure and public space for people.
Places like Northstowe, Eddington, and Ebbsfleet Garden City, Brookleigh and Purfleet on Thames have shown Emma what’s possible when communications, marketing and placemaking are woven together with purpose.
Her work has always been outcomes-driven, grounded in the idea that communications should lead to real-world results, from community cohesion to footfall, trust, sales, and stewardship. It can’t just be about “good PR”, it’s about unlocking social value, delivering long-term returns for communities and clients alike.
With the New Towns Taskforce releasing a list of potential new settlements, there’s renewed urgency around how we create and communicate new communities. Place identity is no longer a luxury, it’s essential infrastructure.
With Emma we intend to make sure that story, brand and engagement are not just add-ons for new places, but embedded tools for delivering places that work for residents, for investors, and for the long term.
You can listen to the Podcast featuring Emma here
