Urbano Communities

Urbano Business

Urbano Network has been connecting companies of all sizes and sectors from PLCs to SMEs, in London, the UK and beyond, for ten years.

Urbano's calendar is a diverse mix, from speaker and panel events to breakfasts, lunches and evenings, each designed to bring together a range of companies from our different  Communities: Build, Create-Media, Finance, People, Host, Tech, and UWACTE (Urbano Women In Architecture, Construction, Technology and Engineering).


For more on the approach and history of Urbano, how we work and who we work with, who we have had as speakers, and our commitment to sustainability, please click here: Urbano Network

Urbano believes that new business opportunities come attached to people and these are revealed through developing relationships between humans representing their companies. Every event we organise is a catalyst to a conversation and chance to meet, share knowledge and ideas, and develop valuable new relationships.

Find out our upcoming events here: Urbano Events

Add yourself to the events mailer list here: Urbano Events Mailer



Urbano Network was formed in 2011 and in 2021 celebrates its tenth anniversary. It’s management team, however, have a proud track record in creating and running successful business communities stretching back to 2002, when one of Urbano’s co-founders, Mark Herring, was one of the founders of Shoreditch Business Network.

With his background in creative communications, branding and marketing, he blended these elements with a belief that all business opportunities depend on relationships and that these critical relationships start with a conversation. So, in his past 15 years at the forefront of business community building and during which time he and his team have organised over 1,000 events, they have all been with one main purpose in mind: to be catalysts to conversations.

The Urbano calendar and its various business communities - Build, Create-Media, Finance, Host, People, Tech & UWACTE (Urbano Women in Architecture, Construction, Technology & Engineering) – all exist to facilitate and encourage new contacts and connections, but not just with those in the same sectors, but to hear from others with different approaches, backgrounds, knowledge, skills and status. We are proud to say you will never meet the same group of people at any Urbano event. Our calendar is as diverse as the mix of companies you will find there, from speaker events on key business topics to informal breakfasts, lunches and evenings.

Beyond making introductions between companies – and often these take place away from events - our other focus is to help our members create sustainable businesses.

In business, sustainability is seen in its tight environmental definition as finding ways to avoid depleting natural resources and harming the planet, but it is also economic and social elements to it.

We first organised a green construction event way back in 2005 and since then we have looked to not only invite those with experience and knowledge in sustainability in all its forms, but also proudly champion diversity – 80% of our speakers have always been women, - new technology, such as BIM (2011), Bitcoin (2021), Blockchain (2018), especially as these offer opportunities to younger, smaller specialist service companies, and opening up tenders and supply chains to SMEs.

Any company can send representatives to any Urbano event as non-members twice. To enjoy future events, and the other services we offer, a company has to join the community we have created. Not every company likes to be challenged, many only go networking to make a sale and judge us against that. That is their right, but they are wrong if they think networking is only that. If you want to turn up, pitch across a table and judge the event a success only if you leave with a contract, then sorry, but Urbano is not and never has been the network for you.

When the Paris Agreement was signed in 2016, the world of business changed. We now had the science to support the irrefutable proof of climate change and the damage human activities were doing to our planet and the other species with which we share it. It also gave us a target of 1.5c increase in global average temperatures and the pathways we had to follow in order to achieve that.

Urbano has taken its own steps to reduce our own emissions around our activities and we help and encourage – and champion – that that follow similar commitments. We want to become a Net Zero Carbon company – which is just as hard for a micro-business as for PLC - as there are costs involved. But the cost of not doing so is too expensive to imagine.
We will match this commitment by keeping our events and membership affordable as we also align ourselves and our services as an organisation to connect and help enterprises and entrepreneurs. Caroline Brock, co-director of Urbano, is a member of the Social Value UK, and we will start the journey to be a B Corps Member over the coming months.

If you share these values and believe in the same things we do; that you can do business without harming our planet, that you can be in business for the right reasons and create opportunities for yourselves and your workforce by doing the right thing, that sharing knowledge and learning is an life-long, never ending process, and that no-one or the company they work for too big that they can’t fail because they failed to adapt, and that fundamentally networking is about connecting and engaging with others, then please book an event and see if Urbano is the community for your company to be a part of.

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Next Events

  1. Urbano Build Top Table networking lunch

    Wednesday November 6th, 12:00pm

    Urbano Build Top Table networking lunch at The Bleeding Heart in Farringdon. SOLD OUT

    Read more > Bleeding Heart
  2. London Build panel event on SMEs & the new Procurement Act

    Thursday November 21st, 1:00pm

    London Build Panel Event: The New Procurement Act & Opportunities for SMEs - Turning Words Into Actions

    Read more > London Build
  3. Urbano Christmas networking evening

    Thursday November 21st, 6:00pm

    Urbano Christmas networking evening at Shuffle Club, Shoreditch. Sponsored by Lucidica.

    Read more > Shuffle Club
  4. Urbano Christmas Top Table networking lunch

    Thursday December 12th, 12:00pm

    Urbano Christmas Top Table networking lunch in the Anise private event space of Cinnamon Kitchen in the City.

    Read more > Cinnamon Kitchen & Anise Bar
  5. Urbano networking breakfast event with Alex Partridge on adult ADHD

    Thursday January 9th, 9:00am

    Urbano networking breakfast with Alex Partridge, host of ADHD Chatter, on ADHD in adults.

    Read more > Sagal Group Showroom
  6. Urbano January Networking Top Table

    Wednesday January 22nd, 12:00pm

    Urbano January Top Table - venue TBC

    Read more > TBC
  7. Urbano Top Table Pre MIPIM networking lunch

    Wednesday February 19th, 12:00pm

    Urbano Pre MIPIM Top Table Networking Lunch.

    Read more > TBC
  8. Urbano - Connecting Companies Facilitating Opportunities

    Friday February 28th, 12:00am

    Connecting Companies & Facilitating New Business Opportunities. Information for Non-Members.

    Read more > Urbano Network

Community Members

If you want to connect your venue to Urbano's collection of 55,000 members, associates and business subscribers, click Contact.

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Annabelle Charles Associates is a specialist beauty recruitment company which supplies high calibre candidates across the sector.

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Ashwells Reclaimed Timber reclaims tropical hardwoods for creative people working on a wide range of structural projects throughout the UK

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Bowman Riley - Award-winning architects, building consultants and interior designers in Leeds, London and Skipton, established in 1969.

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Clarke Wilmott - national full service law firm.

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Clearview Consultancy are global strategic change management, project management, workplace solution and business relocation specialists.

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Crispy Dog is a visual content agency - we create photography & video, to tell your story & express your message with style & a smile.

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CSB Logistics provides specialist logistics and Just-In-Time site delivery management to London's complex and high-profile projects.

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Doyle Clayton is an employee-owned specialist law firm, offering legal and advisory support to clients on issues arising in the workplace.

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Duane Morris - Multi-practice law firm which advises all companies, from start-ups to PLCs.

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eb7 Limited - Rights of Light, Party Wall and Visualisation Consultants

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Ecovis: London Chartered Accountants, Tax & Business Advisors. Specialists in Creative, International, Technology, Green & Financial sectors

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Partners