Last year was another bumper year for BTR investment – with new homes coming to market, company launches and consolidation in the sector. Here EG highlights 50 individuals who made their mark and will continue to push reform and expansion in 2022.
Stephanie Barbabosa Lendlease
Last year, Barbabosa oversaw the first BTR opening at the £2.5bn Elephant Park scheme, with the launch of Park Central West. The Zone 1 regeneration will see 900 BTR homes funded by Lendlease and CPPIB. Barbabosa has held the role at Lendlease for almost five years, following her move from Washington in a BTR career spanning more than two decades.
Bobby Barnett Gerald Eve
Gerald Eve recruited Barnett as partner in its capital markets team last March. As part of the 50-strong division, he advises on a range of specialist rental strategies, working with investors including PGIM Real Estate, Enfield Council and Patrizia. Barnett previously worked for the Vista Fund at Countrywide and was director for BTR and PRS at Lambert Smith Hampton.
Paul Bashir Harrison Street
After 12 years at Round Hill Capital, Bashir joined Harrison Street as European chief executive in 2020 to head investment in student housing, BTR and healthcare. Bashir has since launched a number of ventures, working with Apache Capital, Cortland, CA Ventures and Torison Developments.
Danielle Bayless Quintain Living
In 2020, Bayless left a 23,000-home portfolio on the West Coast of the US and moved to Wembley Park as Quintain Living’s chief operating officer. Bayless was drawn by the opportunity to shape the sector after 30 years working in US BTR, and will support Quintain’s lease-up to create the UK’s largest BTR community and expansion in Europe.
Martin Bellinger Goodstone Living
Bellinger co-founded one of the first specialist BTR platforms in the UK, Essential Living, a decade ago. After expanding through the capital, his new venture Goodstone Living will target the regions, developing a premium offering for edge-of-city centre sites. Goodstone has partnered with Australian bank Macquarie to deploy £1bn, with Bellinger and Daryl Flay reunited with Essential co-founder Scott Hammond at the developer’s first scheme in Birmingham.
Hugo Black Europa Capital
Europa Capital inked a number of firsts last year in an acquisition spree that saw it enter Birmingham BTR and the senior housing market in Denmark. Expansion has been driven by acquisitions partner and former accountant Black. In 12 years at Europa he has overseen £1bn of investment into the living sector – totalling more than 10,000 beds – while also establishing an in-house residential management team.
Kate Brennan Montagu Evans
Brennan joined Montagu Evans last year as head of BTR in its alternative living team. She held previous roles in residential at CBRE and Allsop. At Montagu Evans she focuses on identifying and securing sites, delivering planning consents and advising capital markets on valuations, funding and sales.
Andrew Brentnall Savills
In almost two decades at Savills, Brentnall has risen from head of development in Nottingham to head of UK residential investment in the operational capital markets division and UK board director. He and his team closed last year by securing Greystar as the buyer of a £400m stake in Fizzy Living, one of the largest single investments of the year.
Dave Butler UK Apartment Association
Butler has lead the UK Apartment Association as chief executive since 2018. The organisation aims to educate and innovate in BTR, providing a voice for the sector and research to drive standards. Butler draws on his 30-year career in real estate, retail and B2B, including eight years at Grainger as director of strategy and change.
Johnny Caddick Caddick Developments
Harrogate-based Caddick has been a director of Caddick Developments for almost 17 years. The firm was founded by his father, Paul. He has led Caddick’s joint venture with Brooks-owned Generate Land, Moda Living, as chief executive since its launch in 2013. Moda has a £3bn portfolio in the regions with Apache, and recently added strategies with Ares, KKR and Osborne+Co in a £6bn BTR drive.
Emma Cariaga British Land
Cariaga joined British Land in 2014 as residential development director. She joined the FTSE 100 REIT’s executive committee in 2019 and was made head of residential last year. Cariaga oversees the 53-acre Canada Water project alongside Roger Madelin. The regeneration will provide 3,000 homes, including mixed tenures with BTR.
Jo Cowen Jo Cowen Architects
When Apache Capital wanted to create the first purpose-built rental housing specialist product, the company turned to architect Cowen for the design work. Cowen’s homes will be built using modern methods of construction achieving net zero carbon. The first Present Made BTR homes will start on site next year in Cambridge, following various housing and city centre BTR flats from Cowen.
Ed Crockett Abrdn
A vociferous spokesman for tenancy reform, Crockett argues the sector must engage with government to provide security for tenants and landlords. Crockett worked at Aberdeen Standard Investments for 15 years, most recently as head of UK residential investment. He oversaw £1.3bn in assets across 14 funds. This year he leaves amid a restructure that saw a number of high-profile exits.
Adina David Greystar
In 2019 the world’s largest BTR company, Greystar, established a global strategy housing division led by returning employee David. As director of urban living, David is focused on flexible rental solutions tailored for densification. She previously worked at co-living developer The Collective as vice-president of investments and is leading co-living developments for Greystar in Paris and Battersea in London.
Rick de Blaby Get Living
Get Living was one of the few BTR developers whose investors secured new funds during the first months of the pandemic. Delancey and Oxford Properties’ DOOR vehicle closed £660m, doubling its capital commitments, giving it £1.2bn for new schemes. Get Living chief executive de Blaby will lead that expansion with an immediate focus on commuter hotspots, and development, standing stock and corporate acquisitions all on the table.
Delphine Deasy Pension Insurance Corporation
PIC completed its long-awaited BTR debut during the height of lockdown in 2020, inking a complex deal with Muse Developments, Network Rail and Manchester City Council at New Victoria in Manchester. Under Deasy as head of real assets, the investor moved to London, with an art deco development in Ealing, while pursuing schemes at scale in the regions.
Ed Ellerington Packaged Living
Fiera Real Estate, under the former company name Palmer Capital, launched BTR platform Packaged Living in 2018, appointing Grainger’s former national PRS acquisitions director Ellerington as chief executive to lead expansion to more than 1,500 homes. Last year, Ellerington oversaw schemes in Manchester and Southampton.
Peter Everest Rothschild & Co
Rothschild’s Everest has advised on some of the biggest corporate acquisitions, take-privates and funding deals, as the residential sector adapts in the wake of the pandemic. In the past year, he supported sales of Miller Homes, Kier Living and Sigma Capital, as well as Audley’s £500m joint venture with BlackRock, and Macquarie Capital and John Laing’s £200m retirement rental strategy with McCarthy Stone.
Will Gibby Federated Hermes
Federated Hermes’ platform Hestia launched in 2020, ploughing new funds into BTR on behalf of the BT Pension Scheme. Gibby leads BTR investment and has been with Hermes since 2006, previously looking after the Vista Fund, which was managed by Countrywide. Now Gibby and Hestia are seeking further funders with a plan to deploy up to £1bn in less than three years.
Helen Gordon Grainger
The UK’s largest BTR owner boasts an operational portfolio of £3.1bn, with some 9,727 homes and developments with an end value that brings it to more than £5bn. Grainger has been a landlord since 1992, but in 2016 new chief executive Gordon sought to grow BTR. She has since more than doubled her targets, consistently adding around 1,000 homes a year through development, acquisitions and partnerships.
Alex Greaves M&G Real Estate
At M&G Real Estate, Greaves has a multi-pronged approach to residential. After growing the UK BTR fund to more than £1bn by 2020, he has sought expansion in UK affordable and wider European living assets. Last year, M&G agreed a £500m tie-up with Hyde Group to fund 2,000 shared-ownership homes and appointed APG’s Martijn Vos to lead its European living expansion.
Alix Green DS2
Development consultancy DS2 recruited Green last June to head its BTR advisory and transactional services and expand its affordable housing offer. She spent 10 years at JLL, with roles in residential advisory and capital markets, and previously worked at Drivers Jonas. Green is also a board member for Cottsway Housing Association.
Tim Holden Edmond de Rothschild REIM
Holden is co-head of residential, UK, at Edmond de Rothschild REIM. He launched the UK BTR fund under Cording in 2018 and recently let the first completed development at Merlin Wharf in Leicester. EDR REIM has been one of the most prolific regional BTR investors of late, scooping up schemes in Birmingham, Rugby, Newcastle and Glasgow as it seeks to grow its resi platform to more than £1bn.
Andy Hutchinson Citra Living
Lloyds Banking Group is the first UK bank to launch a dedicated BTR business. Hutchinson was appointed managing director of Citra Living last year, after the bank concocted a rental strategy under Project Generation. The business has already made its first acquisitions and housebuilder partnership with Barratt Developments to expand its suburban rental offering across the country.
Richard Jackson Apache Capital
Last year, Apache Capital secured investment from KKR for its prime city centre strategy and launched its second BTR strategy, targeting single family via new business Present Made. Jackson, co-founder of Apache Capital and chief executive of Present Made, said the move to create a vertically integrated investor-developer-operator was an obvious route for Apache as investors gain confidence.
Laura Mason L&G Capital
L&G Capital brought Mason back into the business last year as chief executive of the alternatives arm. Mason has a mandate to grow LGC’s net asset value to £5bn by 2025, with BTR, affordable and specialist rental tenures to form a large part of that growth. As chair of L&G’s global diversity and inclusion council, she works to support a broader range of talent in the industry.
Anthony McCourt Court Collaboration
Former Wragge & Co real estate lawyer McCourt cut his teeth working at Birmingham’s iconic Cube, securing some of the highest residential values in the city. He founded BTR developer Court Collaboration in 2011 and has amassed a BTR portfolio in excess of £1.5bn, working to introduce a range of investors to the sector, from property veteran Tony Gallagher to global investor KKR.
James Mulcare Godwin Developments
Godwin Developments has ramped up its BTR strategy under Mulcare. The developer has been hiring BTR talent, buying sites and promoted Mulcare to head of residential capital markets last year. Godwin has sought expansion through large city centre BTR, PBSA and suburban rental housing.
Alastair Mullens Canary Wharf Group
Commanding some of the highest rents in the capital and with the most ambitious expansion plans, Canary Wharf Group’s next phase of development will focus on BTR. The group aims to add a further 2,000 BTR homes to the existing 1,137-home community. CWG’s Mullens heads that BTR strategy as managing director for the group’s rental platform Vertus, transforming the Docklands CBD.
Geeta Nanda MTVH
As group chief executive of Thames Valley Housing Association, Nanda was a founding director of one of the UK’s first BTR specialist developers Fizzy Living. The company was formed in 2012 in the wake of the market crash, bringing on £400m in investment from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. Nanda oversaw Thames Valley’s merger with Metropolitan and last year MTVH’s sale of its stake to Greystar.
Alex Notay PfP Capital
Notay is placemaking and investment director at PfP Capital, but also holds a string of positions guiding the sector, working with the ULI, AREF, Creative Land Trust, LandAid SW, Essensys and Sound Diplomacy. She has background in ESG and this year led the BPF’s ESG guide and also joined the Geospatial Commission. Notay’s government profile describes her as “abnormally energetic”.
Olaide Oboh Socius Development
For the past decade, Oboh has led partnerships at developer First Base, working with the public and private sectors. When First Base split last year she joined new company Socius Development to continue a £1bn pipeline of regenerations in Milton Keynes, Bristol, Brighton and Cambridge, working with a range of investors including Patron Capital and Havering Council.
Niamh O’Connor Summix Capital
O’Connor is executive director at Summix Capital, a property company backed by video games entrepreneur Shukri Shammas. She joined Summix in 2016 as head of student accommodation and PRS, to drive the developer’s expansion in residential investment assets. O’Connor has secured a number of schemes and consents, notably receiving approval last year for the tallest residential tower in Ireland.
James Pargeter Global Apartment Advisors
A passionate BTR advocate, Pargeter has more than 20 years’ experience in the sector. He was partner and head of residential projects at Deloitte for more than a decade, spent five years leading development at Greystar and is now senior adviser at Global Apartment Advisors. Pargeter has sat on a range of committees, including the government’s BTR joint committee and the ULI UK Residential Council.
Alex Pease Watkin Jones
Pease has headed investment at AIM-listed Watkin Jones for nearly 12 years. Recently this has meant leading the pivot from student housing to embrace BTR, co-living and affordable housing. In 2021, Pease was appointed chief investment officer and secured deals for expansion in Belfast, Leicester and Lewisham under the new strategy.
Ryan Prince Realstar
In 2020, Prince closed the largest BTR portfolio sale to date, with Realstar clocking CA$1bn (£570m) from fellow Canadian investor QuadReal Property Group for assets in London and Manchester. Prince founded operating platform Uncle in 2017. Together with Quadreal, Realstar has a UK BTR and student portfolio valued at CA$2.5bn (£1.5bn), with plans to double this in five years.
Victoria Quinlan Cortland
Cortland has significantly grown its UK team since entering UK BTR in 2018. After boosting its property management capabilities buying Liv Group and Qdime, the company last year recruited Quinlan as European president. Quinlan was at Lendlease for nearly two decades with senior positions including managing director and head of investment management for Europe.
Lesley Roberts Allsop
Roberts is a partner at Allsop, specialising in BTR and president of the UK Apartment Association. After rallying to share advice with BTR investors, developers and managers during the pandemic, Roberts and the UKAA are now working to create the first guide for best practices in design, development, construction, mobilisation and operation.
Katherine Rose VervLife
BTR management expert Rose launched VervLife last year, joining the management skills of Navana Property Group and the UK’s second-largest student accommodation operator, Homes for Students. VervLife’s managing director Rose has specialisms in BTR and single-family housing, through previous division-leading roles at Navana and PRSim.
Katherine Russell John Lewis
When John Lewis announced plans to develop BTR homes on its land, many saw this as BTR finally becoming a mainstream consumer product. Last year, the company appointed Russell as head of BTR, following roles including head of property and head of real estate, planning, policy and commercial, and confirmed plans to develop 10,000 homes in the space above car parks and Waitrose stores.
Andrew Saunderson CBRE
After two decades at the UK’s largest BTR landlord Grainger, investment director Saunderson announced his departure last year. He joins CBRE as executive director and head of UK residential capital markets, taking over from Peter Burns, who has moved to a transactional lead position to secure new business for the agent.
Simon Scott JLL
Scott has been head of living at JLL since 2015, with previous roles at Watkin Jones, Savills and Brookfield’s Serviced Apartment Company. He has advised buyers in some of the biggest BTR sector-defining deals, bringing German investor ECE into the UK with the £400m acquisition of Dandara’s BTR portfolio and advising on QuadReal’s £570m buy from Realstar and subsequent £1.5bn partnership.
James Simondson BPF
The British Property Federation’s assistant director of policy, Simondson is building on the BPF’s BTR data provision. Last year, he led the BPF’s first ESG guide for BTR, collating 42 relevant frameworks and accreditation systems. He collaborated on a study of 20,000 BTR residents with Dataloft and also supports young professionals in the industry through the BPF Futures programme.
Andrew Stanford Colliers
A decade ago, Stanford led the government’s PRS task force, with a remit to promote and improve the sector. He has since worked as head of residential asset management for LaSalle IM, overseeing the launch of the Private Sector Residential Fund and portfolio growth to £500m. He is chairman of the BPF’s BTR committee and last year joined Colliers UK as head of BTR.
Jonny Stevenson Knight Frank
Stevenson joined Knight Frank a year ago as head of BTR and funding in the residential capital markets team. He has 18 years’ experience, including leading acquisitions and development for self- storage titan Access Storage Solutions. At the end of 2021, Knight Frank closed funding for the world’s first octagonal BTR tower, with City Developments agreeing to fund the 49-storey building at Birmingham’s Paradise Circus.
Richard Stonehouse Avison Young
Avison Young completed a flurry of deals at the end of 2021 from principal and head of residential investment Stonehouse. The team secured Gresham House as the funder for Ecotek Homes’ £200m sustainable housing drive to deliver a portfolio of 1,000 homes at city fringe schemes in the Midlands and the North West and also advised LGIM on a £150m deal for Telford Homes’ Stratford International.
Rebecca Taylor Long Harbour
Long Harbour promoted Taylor to managing director of BTR in 2019. She is overseeing deployment of the £1.5bn BTR strategy which recently secured £650m of equity from Canadian pension funds Cadillac Fairview and PSP Investments. The fund has £1bn to invest primarily in London, targeting forward-funding opportunities and direct development.
David Walters Osborne
Another Grainger alumni, Walters was previously director of development for 14 years. In 2017, he joined developer Osborne as head of PRS to broaden the group’s investment and development strategy. He became director of development in 2020 to oversee alternative assets and last year agreed a £250m partnership with PGIM Real Estate to develop, stabilise and operate BTR in the south of England.
Charlie Weatherill Telford Homes
Former Macquarie banker Weatherill was a founding director of Savills’ operational capital markets team. In 10 years at Savills, he completed more than 70 deals with a value exceeding £6.4bn, including £550m for Telford Homes. Following Telford’s acquisition by CBRE’s Trammell Crow Company, the London BTR developer has ramped up new schemes, also securing Weatherill as capital markets director on the executive committee.
Debra Yudolph Say Property Consulting
Say Property Consulting’s co-founder has more than 25 years’ experience in residential. She was formerly director of asset and property management at Grainger. Last year, Yudolph masterminded a mystery shopper investigation into the UK’s largest BTR schemes and launched the service HearSay to help BTR customer service.
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