CBRE Bolsters Life Sciences Team with New Senior Appointments

The move follows the firm’s acquisition of Oxfordshire commercial property agency VSL and Partners earlier this year, which amongst other services has strong sector expertise in Life Sciences. The acquisition cemented CBRE’s presence in the CaMKOx region, a key hub for the burgeoning sector.

Adding to the market leading team, the firm has hired Life Sciences Capital Markets expert John Knight as a Senior Director. He joins the firm from Carter Jonas LLP where he headed the National Investment & Asset Management team. Since joining Carter Jonas in 2019, John has predominantly focussed on the emerging life science investment and development markets in the Oxford Cambridge Arc, advising on a number of notable transactions for life science investors.  John has 20 years of capital markets experience, specialising in the science park and out of town office markets. Prior to joining Carter Jonas, he was a director at BNP Paribas Real Estate and previously an investment partner at Strutt & Parker.

John has recently advised on the sale of a major ground-up life science development opportunity within the Oxford Cambridge Arc to Breakthrough Properties, a leading global developer of life sciences JV between Tishman Speyer and Bellco Capital. In the last year, John headed a team that has advised on an off-market sale to Kadans Science Partners, as well as acting for a growing range of life science specialist clients including Arlington, The Oxford Science Park, Lateral and Life Science REIT

In another new appointment, the firm has appointed Chris Williams as Head of London & South East Life Sciences. Chris is a highly experienced agent, who has led the firm’s South East Tenant Advisory team for over 17 years. In his new role, Chris will leverage his deep expertise in advising life sciences occupiers, with a focus on the London and CaMKOx region as it continues to attract and develop industry leaders. Chris will be supported by Jeremy Rodale, who joined the firm this year a senior director in the investor leasing team, he has also advised many clients and offers much experience in the sector. Joanne Henderson, Head of Life Sciences UK & EMEA, CBRE commented: “The new appointments and our acquisition of VSL, reinforce our commitment to the growing life sciences sector and supporting the evolving needs of our clients who operate within it. Our broader UK life sciences Advisory team is also growing at pace and now comprises of over 50 professionals who partner with the leading pharma, biotech and medtech companies to advise across all elements of their R&D, manufacturing and office portfolios.”