Place Capital Group, the housing estate regeneration specialist that works with large social landlords to revive inner urban communities, has added two senior industry specialists to its Board of Directors.  Joining the business as non-executive directors are Karl Eddy, former Senior Partner at Grant Thornton and Scot Morrison, a Senior Partner at Pinsent Masons with 25 years’ experience in property, housing and regeneration.

Founded by David Smith-Milne and Peter Martin earlier this year, Place Capital Group is working with major owners of social housing stock to bring new life and place led investment to large scale housing estates.  The Company is growing through a buy and build strategy and announced its first acquisition, Fourth Street Place Consultants, in February 2021.  With a strong project and acquisition pipeline, the Company is now expanding its Board to support the group’s corporate development and governance.  

Eddy joins from a career that includes senior roles with Drivers Jonas, KPMG and, more recently, Grant Thornton where he was a member of the Senior Leadership Team and previously headed up the Government and Infrastructure advisory team.

Commenting on his appointment, Eddy said “Place Capital Group is bringing a much-needed focus on some of the hardest regeneration challenges.  It wants to create better places.  Sustainable and thriving places that connect people with prosperity.  The unique combination of robust advisory and development / investment capabilities will provide a new model for project delivery at a time when Governments focus has rightly shifted to tackling some of the most over-looked places of the UK.”      

Morrison has spent over 25 years advising public and private sector clients ranging from central government bodies such as Homes England, Local Authorities and a variety of developers on structuring large scale regeneration and urban development projects.  He is recognised for structuring and delivering public private JVs, partnerships and finance arrangements with the ability to navigate the public private space and associated regulatory space.

Commenting on his new appointment, Morrison said “The Place Capital Group is bringing real innovation to the comprehensive revival of our essential former Council Estates through its development partnering model and the outputs of this will benefit thousands of people through better quality, affordable homes set within renewed urban spaces.”

David Smith-Milne, CEO of Place Capital Group, said, “We are delighted to announce the appointment of Karl and Scot to the board.  Their knowledge of the regeneration sector and the strength of their experience will be invaluable as we grow the business, both organically and through acquisition.”