Bourgeois takes permanent gig at GPA

The Government Property Agency has officially appointed Mark Bourgeois as its new chief executive. Bourgeois has been interim chief executive for 10 months, having taken over from Steven Boyd in November 2023. He brings some 30 years’ experience in strategic and operational leadership across the fields of investment, development and asset management in commercial real estate to the role and has held positions including managing director for the UK and Ireland at Hammerson and executive director at Capital & Regional. Bourgeois also has extensive expertise in regeneration in partnership with local and city authorities, including acting as interim corporate director for city development at Liverpool City Council. Georgia Gould, parliamentary secretary for the Cabinet Office, said: “With decades of experience, Mark will be instrumental in enhancing the financial and environmental performance of the government estate while delivering world-class workplaces for civil servants nationwide.”  GPA chair Pat Ritchie said Bourgeois had already had a “huge impact” on the leadership of the GPA. “Working closely with the board and executive team, Mark will continue to play a fundamental role in the way property is managed across government and creating great places to work for civil servants, supporting economic growth and local communities,” said Ritchie. “He and the executive team will further build the agency’s commercial organisational culture, with our client and customer needs being at the heart of this. With Mark’s experience in real estate and building, inspiring and developing teams, he is the ideal leader to take the GPA to the next stage of our development.”  Since launching in 2018, the GPA has grown to manage around 1m sq m of the government’s office portfolio. The agency is also responsible for the Government Hubs Programme – bringing civil service teams closer to the communities they serve across the UK. Recent milestones in the programme have included the opening of the Peterborough hub last year and acquiring 5.5 acres of the former Central Retail Park at Ancoats in Manchester earlier this year, which is currently the subject of a public consultation on the future development of Manchester Digital Campus. Bourgeois said: “We are well placed to further strengthen the GPA culture, deliver financial efficiencies and productivity gains across the civil service, all in support of the government’s missions. I am looking forward to the continued challenge.”