British Land head of real estate Darren Richards is leaving the REIT to work with his former colleague Andrew Jones.
Richards will become chief investment officer at LondonMetric, a newly created role that will see him report directly to Jones.
He joins the senior leadership team and will work alongside Andrew Smith, Valentine Beresford, Will Evers and Mark Stirling to oversee LondonMetric’s “enlarged and growing portfolio”.
Richards joined BL in 2025 and has been a member of its executive committee since 2014. Prior to BL, Richards worked at Pillar Property alongside Jones and a number of other LondonMetric employees.
Jones said: “Darren is an influential and experienced real estate player and he will play an important role in the next phase of LondonMetric’s journey. It’s great to be back together.”
At BL, Kelly Cleveland, currently head of strategy and investment, will become head of real estate and investment.
Cleveland joined BL in 2011 and has progressed through the business. She joined the executive committee in 2020 and took on the strategy brief in 2022. She takes up the new role in mid-October.
BL chief executive Simon Carter said: “Aligning our asset management, leasing and investment activity has become ever more important as we actively recycle capital and seize the opportunities in our markets. Kelly has a wealth of real estate experience, leading key transactions such as the sale of our Meadowhall stake earlier this year and our join venture partnerships with the likes of Allianz and AustralianSuper.
“She had also been instrumental in growing our presence in retail parks as we have doubled down on this attractive sub-sector.”
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