People moves: CBRE appoints Hirigoyen special adviser on sustainability

CBRE,  Delin Property, Cushman & Wakefield, VIA Outlets, Klépierre, Warehouse Reit, Lendlease, Climate Asset Management, Knight Frank, Marathon Asset Management, Europa, Invel Real Estate, Vandor Real Estate, The Social Hub

CBRE – Julie Hirigoyen has joined the commercial real estate services and investment firm as special adviser to its ESG consultancy. Hirigoyen, who was CEO of the UK Green Building Council for eight years, will provide support to CBRE’s sustainability and ESG consultancy team in the UK, led by Kaela Fenn-Smith. As special adviser, Hirigoyen will focus on anticipating emerging trends and priorities for real estate owners, occupiers and investors over the medium to long term. She is currently a strategic sustainability adviser to a range of organisations and initiatives alongside her existing NED and charity roles.

ATP Real Estate – Thomas Fog, currently chief real estate officer at Danish property firm DEAS, has been appointed as the new property director at the real estate subsidiary of Danish statutory pension fund ATP. He will be in charge of property management, project development and facility management and other areas. Before becoming CREO at DEAS in April last year, Fog worked at companies including COOR Service Management, technical installations company Glenco and electrical installation firm EL:CON. Fog is replacing Jan Johansen in the role, who is leaving ATP Real Estate to become chief executive officer of asphalt company Colas Danmark. There, Johansen will be taking over from Hans Oluf Krog, who is retiring after 40 years at the firm.

Delin Property – Florus Paans has been appointed asset and leasing manager in the Netherlands. Paans will oversee and implement asset management and leasing strategies on the 14 properties the company operates in the Netherlands. He joins Delin Property from Cushman & Wakefield, where he led the industrial and logistics agency team for the Amsterdam and Utrecht markets. Paans began his real estate career in property management for Camelot Europe, where he worked for more than five years until 2016, when he left for Australia. Based in Sydney, he spent almost two years in sales and leasing, specialising towards the end of his time there in the industrial and logistics market. He returned to the Netherlands in 2017 and joined Cushman & Wakefield.

Europa – Sabine Jones has joined the European real estate investment firm’s asset management team as director. Jones joins from Marathon Asset Management where she spent the last 10 years overseeing the asset and investment management of sizeable retail and office portfolios across key European markets.

Invel Real Estate – The real estate investment and asset manager focused on southern Europe has appointed Christophe de Taurines as partner and head of business development at Invel’s flagship asset management company.De Taurines will focus on fundraising activity for current and future vehicles and will manage the business development team, helping devise and implement new strategic initiatives. De Taurines is also a non-executive senior advisor to Long Harbour, where he was previously head of business development and helped to set up a successful build-to-rent platform. Over the course of his career, his responsibilities have included being European head of business development for Colony Capital; founder and CEO of Capital & Marketing; European head of DLJ’s Real Estate Private Funds; and managing director and EMEA head of business development at LaSalle Investment Management.

VIA Outlets – Johan Caspar Bergenthal has been appointed chief operating officer. He will work alongside CEO Otto Ambagtsheer to accelerate VIA Outlets’ growth strategy across its 11 premium fashion outlets. Bergenthal brings almost 20 years’ experience of retail real estate, the last eight at pan-European shopping mall operator Klépierre, and will be responsible for day-to-day business operations. Bergenthal was managing director and head of territory at Klépierre with responsibility for its business in Germany, The Netherlands and Turkey, and a member of the group’s executive committee. He started his career at the German retail real estate developer ECE in 2004, with roles in leasing and architecture, before he moved to Corio to lead the German leasing team. He was appointed as COO for the German market in 2015 following Klépierre’s acquisition of Corio and subesquently promoted to head of country, Germany in 2018.

Knight Frank – The global property consultancy has appointed David Goatman to the newly created role of global head of energy and sustainability services. The new role will allow the firm to grow its energy and sustainability services teams in 8 global locations over the next 2 years. Goatman is currently head of energy, sustainability and natural resources EMEA and has been with Knight Frank for over 13 years.

Climate Asset Management – Hugh Killen has joined the firm’s board as non-executive chair, Irina Frolova, formerly independent member of Climate Asset Management’s natural capital fund investment committee, has been appointed independent chair of the committee, and Andrea Abrahams has been appointed independent chair of Climate Asset Management’s nature-based carbon fund investment committee. Killen is independent chair of Climate Asset Management. Frolova, independent chair of the Natural Capital Fund investment committee, originally joined the natural capital fund investment committee in October 2022. Abrahams, independent chair of the nature-based carbon fund investment committee is managing director of Voluntary Carbon Markets at the International Emissions Trading Association.

Vandor Real Estate – Jules Choukroun has been appointed CEO. Choukroun will lead the Vandor - Cotown platform including securing new acquisitions, refinancings and capital raisings. Choukroun joins from The Social Hub, where he led on the company’s investment activity and major transactions across Southern Europe. Prior to this he was an investment manager at Unibail-Rodamco.

Lendlease – Meg Spriggs has been appointed managing director of development for the Americas. Spriggs, currently the head of residential for Lendlease’s Google development ventures partnership, will be based out of Lendlease’s San Francisco office and report directly to Claire Johnston, CEO, Americas. In her new role, Spriggs will assume responsibility for the firm’s $21bn development pipeline in the Americas, including projects in New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Spriggs brings 23 years of development experience to her new role, having overseen the acquisition and development of over 4,000 apartment homes across various US markets. Prior to joining Lendlease, Spriggs held leadership positions with Shorenstein Properties and AvalonBay Communities.

Warehouse Reit – Dominic O’Rourke has been appointed independent non-executive director. O’Rourke is currently group property director for FTSE 100 retailer Next, a role he has held since 2014. Prior to this, he spent 13 years at Land Securities Group, where he was a director and retail executive committee member.