UBS Asset Management, Urban&Civic, CPP Investments, Hammerson, Europa Capital, Intrinsic Value Real Estate Advisers, Cromwell Property, Sustainable Development Capital, Wästbygg Gruppen, L&G, Harrison Street Real Estate Capital, Cain International, Fiera Real Estate, Assetz Capital

Cromwell Property – The real estate investor and fund manager has appointed Andrew Creighton as head of investment management Europe. Based in London, Creighton will join the European management team and report directly to Cromwell’s managing director in Europe, Pertti Vanhanen. In this role, he will be responsible for all aspects of Cromwell’s investment, fund and asset execution and management activity across Europe. Creighton joins Cromwell following ten years at Abrdn where he held several senior leadership roles, latterly as head of investment management real estate. Prior to this, he held the role of director of property at Henderson Global Investors and also previously worked at DTZ.

Fiera Real Estate – Charles Allen has been appointed to head the real estate investment firm’s UK arm. He will be responsible for the management of FRE UK and the execution of its business strategy. Allen will take over from Alex Price who will be remaining at FRE UK and moving into a vice-chairman role to support the growth of the global business, and more particularly, the firm’s expansion into continental Europe. Allen has been at FRE UK since 2013 and is currently the head of transactions, responsible for overseeing the firm’s acquisitions, disposals and new business development, working closely with the operating partner network. Prior to joining FRE UK, Allen worked in the corporate finance team at Ernst & Young where he focussed on capital raising, M&A and restructuring. 

UBS Asset Management – Andrew Morris has been appointed head of infrastructure equity, within the firm’s real estate and private markets group. Morris joins the infrastructure platform in a newly created role to further develop its presence and increase the business’s investment opportunities globally. Morris joins UBS from Canadian Pension Plan Investments where he was a managing director, infrastructure, real assets, and an investment committee member.

Urban&Civic – The UK master developer has appointed Richard Quartermaine as its head of sustainability. Quartermaine will be responsible for the implementation of the firm’s bespoke sustainability framework and driving forward the company’s commitment to continually improve its sustainable impact throughout all operations. Quartermaine joins Urban&Civic from Hammerson, where he was the company’s environmental manager for eight years. Prior to that, Quartermaine worked as a sustainability consultant for seven years developing sustainability strategies for commercial buildings and authoring best practice industry guidance.

Europa Capital – The pan-European real estate investment manager has appointed Russell Chaplin to the newly created role of CIO. Chaplin brings a wealth of experience having held the position of CIO at Abrdn between 2010 and 2018, as well as strategic roles at UBS Global Asset Management and Henderson Global Investors. He has spent the past three months as a consultant to Europa Capital, having previously been a co-founder and director of Intrinsic Value Real Estate Advisers, where he spent four years providing consulting services to the real estate industry.

Empiric Student Property –  The owner of student accommodation serving key UK universities has appointed Clair Preston-Beer to the board as an independent non-executive director. Preston-Beer spent 16 years with Costa Coffee in a range of senior leadership roles including UK operations director, COO in the UK with full financial and operational responsibility for UK property, business change and operations across 1,100 outlets, and latterly MD for the Middle East and Asia. Preston-Beer was a member of the Costa executive team. She joined Greene King as MD in November 2020. She sits on the main board and is responsible for 600 local community pubs across the UK.

Sustainable Development Capital – Sarah Miraj has been appointed chief compliance officer. Miraj will be responsible for the energy investment firm’s regulatory compliance function. She joins from CQS UK where she spearheaded fund governance, with particular focus on the six managerial functions prescribed by the Central Bank of Ireland for alternative investment fund managers. Prior to this, she held roles of compliance specialist at Vanguard Asset Management and compliance manager at Aberdeen Asset Management.

KlaraBo – The real estate firm has appointed Kristin Lundmark as its interim sustainability manager. She will take up the position in mid-August 2022. Lundmark has for the past several years held the position as sustainability manager for Wästbygg Gruppen, where she was responsible for the company’s strategic sustainability activities. She is also certified as an environmental coordinator by the Swedish Green Building Council and has extensive experience of sustainability issues within the construction and real estate industry. She is currently a sustainability strategist and founder of Hallå Hållbarhetsbyrå.

Legal & General Capital – Legal & General Group’s alternative asset platform has hired Vanisha Thakrar as head of investment for housing. Thakrar was a director in the European transactions group at Harrison Street Real Estate Capital. Previously, she worked at Macquarie Group before moving to Canada Pension Plan Investment Board where she worked on establishing new joint ventures, underwriting new investments and managing the business’ existing investments which included serving on the board of directors of various JV companies and as a board observer for CPP Investment’s student housing platform.

Cain International – The investment firm has appointed John Spillane and Robert van Vliet to bolster its European real estate equity team. Spillane joins from Orion Capital Managers and will be VP for portfolio management at Cain. Prior to his former role at Orion Capital Managers, Spillane worked for Rockspring Property Investment Managers and at a CMBS loan servicer in the US. Van Vliet joins Cain from Hammerson, where he was responsible for the asset management of prime shopping destinations. At Cain, Spillane will be working across the entirety of Cain’s European investment portfolios and strategies, while Van Vliet will focus on the firm’s UK development assets including Islington Square and The Stage.

Assetz Capital – The peer-to-peer lender has appointed Andrew Charnley as managing director. Charnley joins the business having spent 28 years working in commercial lending across various asset classes and having undertaken a number of senior leadership roles, most recently at Together. Charnley will focus on Assetz Capital’s lending side of the business, which brings retail and institutional investors together with SME trading businesses and housebuilders to fund new housing developments and commercial property across the UK.

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