GlobalWelsh, a non-profit organisation focused on engaging and connecting the Welsh diaspora, has announced that Owen Davies has joined the team in an advisory role as Placemaking Associate.
This new appointment formalises an already successful collaboration between Owen and GlobalWelsh and strengthens the organisation’s place-based strategies and regional development efforts across Wales.
Owen Davies will take on this role alongside leading his consultancy practice, Owen Davies Consulting. Through this dual role, Owen will provide strategic advice and support to GlobalWelsh’s local and regional initiatives while remaining active in his ongoing consultancy work with towns, cities, and local authorities across the UK.
Owen, a Chartered Town Planner (MRTPI) and Fellow of the Institute of Place Management (FIPM), has more than 30 years’ experience in placemaking, masterplanning, and regeneration. He is the founder of Owen Davies Consulting and Gwagle, a shared workspace in Abergavenny. His consultancy has supported more than 80 towns and cities, and he has served on the UK Government’s High Street Task Force Experts Panel and the Welsh Government’s Transforming Towns Ministerial Task Group. He also led the delivery of Wrexham’s successful City Status bid and its City Centre Placemaking Plan.
This appointment marks a significant step in the ongoing partnership between Owen Davies Consulting and GlobalWelsh, who have already collaborated on innovative place-based diaspora engagement projects in regions across Wales, including Blaenau Gwent. By formalising the relationship, the two organisations aim to further strengthen GlobalWelsh’s approach to inward investment, localised diaspora engagement, and place-based economic development.
Walter May, founder and CEO of GlobalWelsh said:
“We are thrilled to welcome Owen to the GlobalWelsh team in a more formal capacity. At the heart of all diaspora engagement programmes is a connection to place. Owen’s deep knowledge and passion for placemaking will be invaluable as we scale our impact at the local and regional level.”
In this new role, Owen will also act as a public sector advisor and ambassador for GlobalWelsh’s work with councils, regions, and government partners.
Owen’s broader experience includes heritage restoration as Chair of the Plas Gunter Mansion Trust, and he is also a committed cyclist, British Cycling qualified coach and advocate for local cycling initiatives.
He said:
“The Welsh diaspora—people who’ve left but remain deeply connected to the places they call home—has been largely overlooked in traditional economic strategies, despite being one of Wales’s greatest untapped assets. Working with GlobalWelsh, I’m excited to help change that—leveraging the platform and its growing momentum to connect skills, investment, and lived experience with the communities across Wales that need them most.”
