Mike Strong, who retired in December after a 40-year career at CBRE, has been appointed non-executive director of NHS Property Services.
It is Strong’s first non-executive role since standing down as CBRE executive chairman and comes into effect on 1 February.
Strong is among a host of heavyweight business and property figures who have joined the state-owned body, which manages 3,500 buildings with a combined value of £3.4bn.
He joins BT’s former group property director Elaine Hewitt, who took up the role of chief executive in February last year, and Devonshire Investors International’s former head of corporate real estate strategy John Westwood, who joined as director of asset management last July.
The body was set up by the Department of Health in 2013 to help rationalise the NHS estate to raise funds and provide better facilities and services.
While other government departments have moved more quickly to sell off land and assets in the past five years, the NHS is likely to be one of the largest sources of land disposals in the future.
NHS Property Services’ portfolio represents just 10% of the entire NHS estate.
In the past two years it has delivered around £150m of capital receipts and it is now embarking on a three-year strategy to professionalise the company, increase its portfolio from within the NHS estate and look to more creative options for realising value.
It is working with the 211 clinical commissioning groups in England to create estate strategies in line with NHS England’s healthcare plans. These focus on building larger community healthcare hubs with multiple GP practices and more specialised services on one site to reduce pressure on acute hospitals.
The company will seek development partners for a number of sites not yet identified for the community hubs, with a focus on residential developers to help the government meet its housebuilding ambitions.
Strong said: “We are providing the facilities that the NHS needs to deliver a fundamental shift in service delivery, at the same time as raising capital for investment and identifying real efficiencies.”
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