Built to Rent operator – Get Living – announces the appointment of Ailish Christian-West as Director of Real Estate. Ailish has over 20 years of experience in the UK real estate market. Reporting directly to the CEO, Rick de Blaby, Ailish will manage the business’ existing £2bn Build to Rent portfolio – which currently comprises 3,000 homes across three operational neighbourhoods and all its existing retail and public realm environments.
“I am excited to be joining the leading operator in the Build to Rent sector and look forward to working with colleagues who are passionate about creating sustainable, thriving communities across the UK.
“The team’s relentless focus on understanding how and where people want to live in the future is a fantastic platform for delivering Get Living’s ambitious growth plans.”
Ailish Christian-West, Director of Real Estate, Get Living
Working closely alongside Ian Gibbs, Director of Neighbourhoods and the wider executive team and partnership of investors, Ailish will additionally oversee Get Living’s 5,000 home development pipeline – which will see the business more than double over the next five years. She will also direct the considerable programme of capital expenditure projects and the mobilisation of planned new launches; ensuring the business is well positioned to sustain the ongoing growth in total returns on behalf of its investors.
“We are thrilled to be announcing Ailish’s timely appointment, which comes at an important point in Get Living’s journey. We were the pioneers of this sector and in our quest to remain the innovators, we seek to ensure our real estate – from home design, buildings, public realm and retail mix to our ESG impact – continues to perform for residents and investors alike.
“Given Ailish’s extensive investment management and operational expertise, we are well placed to take our maturing assets into the next era of growth and accelerate our pipeline further.”
Rick de Blaby, CEO, Get Living
Ailish joins Get Living from Landsec where she spent 12 years of her career, most recently as Head of Property for a £6bn portfolio of retail, leisure and London suburban assets, leading a team of over 200 people. As a member of executive and property committees, she has significant experience across capital allocation, asset management and operation of real estate. Prior to joining Landsec, Ailish spent 10 years in fund management – including roles at La Salle Investment Management and Invista.
Ailish is a passionate advocate of creating experiential and sustainable destinations for communities, business partners and consumers. She is the current President of Revo, a placemaking and retail property organisation, which represents all stakeholders in the £360bn retail property sector, including property owners, retailers and local authorities. In her role as President of Revo, Ailish has been focused on supporting the re-invention of retail places, rates review and development of the social value contribution of members to highlight that real estate is and will continue to be a force for good.
“I, alongside the rest of the Get Living team, look forward to working with Ailish as we seek to apply a lot of the learnings that we’ve accumulated over the past seven years, as well as the unprecedented experiences from the last three months, in continuing to build a forward looking, high performing and socially conscious business for the benefit of our residents and investors.”
Rick de Blaby, CEO, Get Living
