Railpen is backing a major science and research development project and has hired a leasing specialist to help its progress.
The £34bn pension scheme manager has hired Emma Goodford from property company Knight Frank to lead Railpen’s life sciences and innovation leasing work.
She will focus on developing the pension fund’s portfolio of assets that it is building in the Oxford-Cambridge “growth corridor”.
Goodford’s appointment was “a key step” in its work in the Oxford-Cambridge region, according to Railpen’s head of property Matthew Howard.
He explained that the pension fund wanted to create “a series of best-in-class assets that support the national economic and social growth agendas”.
“Emma brings a wealth of experience and, most crucially, an unparalleled focus in her understanding of occupiers that will ensure we create a thriving ecosystem across our assets over the coming years,” he said.
Railpen said Goodford – who worked at Knight Frank for more than 35 years, latterly as head of life sciences and innovation – would seek to establish long-term relationships with tenants as assets are developed.
Her focus was to maximise “the experience standards across commercial properties”, the pension fund said, as well as encouraging interactions between tenants and help business scalability.
Railpen and the Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor
Railpen is already the second largest investor in Cambridge, with a portfolio of 11 commercial properties worth a combined £782m. It plans to invest a further £1.5bn.
The pension fund wants to create an “innovation cluster” in the region, including sustainable workspaces, laboratories, research facilities, and build-to-rent homes.
Earlier this year, Railpen announced that construction had begun on a £180m mixed-use campus in the centre of Cambridge on a site known as Mill Yard. It has also received consent to redevelop an office building and retail and leisure space in Cambridge, alongside other “significant developments”.
Meanwhile, in Oxford, the pension fund has been given permission to redevelop the Eastpoint Business Park into a life sciences campus.
Goodford said: “Railpen’s vision and ambition are transformative, but that requires an elevated and innovative approach to leasing strategy.
“While there will be a tactical focus on individual assets as they are developed, it will be important to take a holistic view of what is being created. By doing so, we can accommodate evolving occupier needs and, as the portfolio gains critical mass, establish new benchmarks for experience and quality.
“Having spent so long working in the sector, the time is right for such an approach, and I am very excited to be part of what Railpen is seeking to achieve.”
At the start of this year, chancellor Rachel Reeves set out plans to put Oxford and Cambridge at the centre of economic growth through additional investment in transport infrastructure, as well as backing for research and development facilities and the creation of an artificial intelligence hub.
The government has appointed the science minister, Sir Patrick Vallance, as “Oxford-Cambridge Innovation Champion” to help promote development activities in the region.
Other pension funds to have supported similar ventures include Border to Coast Pension Partnership, which recently announced a £40m investment into a UBS-managed life sciences fund focused on assets in and around the Oxford and Cambridge region.
