The Urban Land Institute (ULI) – a non-profit education and research institute supported by its members – has appointed CBRE’s Mark Collins as UK Chair, succeeding Anette Simpson, Director of Development and Partnerships at Legal & General, Affordable Homes, who has served in the role since June 2021.
Mark Collins is an Executive Director and Chairman of Residential at CBRE. He celebrates over 40 years in the property industry, having been Managing Director of Harrods Estates for 14 years before moving to CBRE to launch its Residential business in 2011. Mark also sits on the London Mayor’s Homes for Londoners Board.
In addition to an esteemed career within the UK residential market, Mark was a Director of Fulham Football Club from 2001-2013 and was an elected member of the Premier League, as a Football Association Council Member.
He comments: “I have long been impressed by the work of ULI to bring together the most engaged and ambitious of our industry to discuss and develop strategies to futureproof our built environment. For my part I am keen to grow our Young Leader membership and programme across the UK, a fantastic vehicle to support and encourage a new generation of diverse talent within our industry.”
“Uniquely, ULI’s members work across the entirety of the real estate value chain here in the UK, giving the organisation huge reach to deliver impact. I am also passionate about engaging with ULI’s C Change programme in Europe, which is mobilising the industry to decarbonise as well as it’s other global mission priority around housing attainability, something that I am already engaged with through my work with the Mayor’s office.”
The ULI is a non-profit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide. In the UK, ULI has over 1300 members nationwide from across the built environment. Collins currently sits on the UK ULI Executive Committee and has been a founding member of the ULI European Residential Product Council.
Lisette van Doorn, CEO, ULI Europe, comments, “With her strong commitment, Anette has led ULI UK by example and as a result membership increased with more than 17% over the past two years. The inauguration of our leadership awards and her award-winning work around our UrbanPlan education programme are other highlights of her legacy. Mark is one of the most experienced leaders in the residential sector in the UK. His wealth of experience and connections make him extremely well placed to build on Anette’s work and work closely with the executive committee and wider leadership to continue to grow our membership in the UK and embed ULI’s global mission priorities in our local programmes.”
Lars Huber, Chair, ULI Europe, adds, ‘I would like to thank Anette for her huge commitment to ULI over the past two years – she has made a significant contribution to our organisation in the UK. We are now privileged to have Mark Collins taking the role of UK Chair and I look forward to working with him at a European level to help inspire and mobilise our industry to address some of our biggest challenges yet.”
