Goodford to lead on Railpen’s £1.5bn portfolio
Emma Goodford has taken the helm of life sciences and innovation leasing across Railway Pension Fund’s Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor portfolio.
Goodford joins Railpen from Knight Frank, where she has served for more than 37 years, most recently as head of life sciences and innovation. Late last year, Knight Frank hired Nicholas Blevins to lead its life sciences team.
In her new role, Goodford will be tasked with establishing long-term relationships with tenants across its commercial properties and establishing an ecosystem that fosters interaction among tenants and supports business scalability.
Emma Goodford has taken the helm of life sciences and innovation leasing across Railway Pension Fund’s Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor portfolio.
Goodford joins Railpen from Knight Frank, where she has served for more than 37 years, most recently as head of life sciences and innovation. Late last year, Knight Frank hired Nicholas Blevins to lead its life sciences team.
In her new role, Goodford will be tasked with establishing long-term relationships with tenants across its commercial properties and establishing an ecosystem that fosters interaction among tenants and supports business scalability.
Goodford’s appointment comes as Railpen sets out plans to invest £1.5bn to create an innovation cluster within the OxCam Arc, comprising 1.9m sq ft of workspace. It already owns 11 commercial assets in Cambridge, valued at £782m.
Earlier this month, it kicked off the construction of Mill Yard, a £180m, 180,000 sq ft mixed-use campus in the centre of Cambridge, while last month the fund and its development partner, Ridgelift, were given the go-ahead for the development of a 167,000 sq ft mixed-use scheme at 230 Newmarket Road.
Railpen is also awaiting a decision from Angela Rayner, the secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, for its Beehive Centre redevelopment proposals.
In Oxford, it has received consent to redevelop Eastpoint Business Park into a 200,000 sq ft 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.”
Matthew Howard, head of property at Railpen, said: “Emma’s appointment is a key step in realising our ambition in the Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor, where we are creating a series of assets that support the national economic and social growth agendas.”
