Mark Allan is to leave Unite Students after 17 years with the firm to take up the role of chief executive of St Modwen.
Allan joins the regeneration specialist after the announcement in February that Bill Oliver was to step down at St Modwen after 16 years at the helm.
Allan will be replaced at Unite by Richard Smith, managing director of operations.
The move, which comes into effect on 1 December, follows 10 years in which Allan was in charge of the student accommodation provider and seven more in a senior role at the company.
Allan has been the force behind the growth of Unite, which owns and operates more than 125 student homes in the UK with more than 42,000 rooms.
One of Allan’s strategies was to trade non-core assets for schemes in growth areas, often in locations that required regeneration.
He also reduced the firm’s debt and created a capital structure that was cheaper and easier to maintain by turning to the corporate and retail bond markets rather than the banks.
Smith joined Unite in 2010 and was appointed to the board in 2012. As managing director of operations he was responsible for the delivery of services to students living in Unite housing.
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