Meet the team
EA Strategic Land is organised around a small and experienced executive team leading a wide range of industry experts, allowing us to be nimble in our operations while drawing on extensive specialist skills and knowledge as required. This approach enables us to retain a close connection between our projects, partners, landowners and technical experts to scale up our resources to fit the size of each opportunity.
David Kavanagh, Managing Director
David has led development projects for more than 25 years and is experienced in the whole development cycle – from land acquisition through planning and construction to aftercare and estate management. He cut his teeth delivering large scale engineering and infrastructure projects for both the private and public sectors – both in the UK and overseas.
David has held significant roles at strategic land funds as well as a FTSE100 housebuilder, and was formerly Managing Director of a national planning and development consultancy. His portfolio includes leading a 1,800 home development through a £1bn joint venture between Countryside Properties and Taylor Wimpey on land owned by the Mayor of London.
As a Chartered Civil Engineer, David leads from the front – from planning large
scale new settlements, to constructing gold mines in West Africa and operating within complex stakeholder environments. David’s career with EA Strategic Land started when the organisation was first created. At the beginning in 2010, he was instrumental in finding and contracting new opportunities and achieving EA Strategic Land’s very first successes. He re-joined as Managing Director in 2023 to enhance its delivery capability and to lead the team.
Kevin Ashman, Technical Director
An experienced Development Director with a strong track record in delivering projects from concept to completion across a range of development classes, Kevin is integral to every project EA Strategic Land completes.
Kevin previously worked for Prudential Property Investment Management for over 20 years, with responsibilities including the delivery of Green Park in Reading – a new-build business quarter of over 1.5m square feet, with a GDV of £500m and construction spend in excess of £150m.
Kevin was also responsible for developing Prudential’s strategic land portfolio, which was valued in excess of £500m. After leaving Prudential, Kevin joined Cordea Savills, where he managed projects within their strategic land fund, and successfully delivered a number of challenging planning consents.
More recently Kevin has continued to focus on the management and procurement of strategic land opportunities through a defining role in the expansion and delivery of EA Strategic Land’s portfolio. Kevin’s blend of skills and experience place him in an ideal position to lead multi-disciplined teams and manage a myriad of stakeholders on the path to delivering complex, commercially successful projects.
Ben Fjaerem, Project Director
A Chartered Surveyor with over 25 years of residential development experience in the land market and securing planning consents, Ben’s early career was with national housebuilders including Laing Homes, Wates and Crest Nicholson. As Development Director, Ben was responsible for acquiring immediate land capable of delivering hundreds of private and affordable new homes throughout the south east.
At Savills Investment Management, Ben was responsible for managing, acquiring and delivering several thousand plots from a strategic investment portfolio within the south east and the midlands. Successes include land sales for 300 new homes to Persimmon Homes and 3,000 new homes to Clowes Developments and the Homes and Communities Agency.
Ben joined EA Strategic Land in 2024 to lead on project delivery and to reinforce our technical leadership team.