British Land has appointed Kelly Cleveland, currently head of strategy and investment, to a combined role of head of real estate and investment, taking on a position vacated by Darren Richards, who is leaving for fellow listed real estate giant LondonMetric.
Richards, who was head of real estate, will join LondonMetric Property as chief investment officer. Richards will report to chief executive Andrew Jones and joins the company’s senior leadership team. He will work alongside Andrew Smith, Valentine Beresford, Will Evers and Mark Stirling to oversee the property portfolio.
LondonMetric recently became the UK's fourth largest real estate investment trust, just behind British Land, via its merger with LXi REIT.
Richards has been a member of British Land's executive committee since 2014. Prior to joining British Land in 2005, he worked at Pillar Property, alongside a number of LondonMetric employees.
Since Cleveland joined British Land in 2011 she has worked across investment, strategy and treasury before joining the executive committee in 2020 and taking on her current position as head of strategy and investment in 2022. She will take on her new role in mid-October.
Simon Carter, chief executive, said in a statement: “Aligning our asset management, leasing and investment activity has become ever more important as we actively recycle capital and seize the opportunities emerging 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 joint venture partnerships with the likes of Allianz and AustralianSuper. She has also been instrumental in growing our presence in retail parks as we have doubled down on this attractive sub-sector.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Darren for his unwavering support and significant contribution to the business over nearly twenty years and wish him the very best in his new role.”
Andrew Jones, chief executive of LondonMetric, 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 get the band back together."