BNP Paribas Real Estate has appointed Edward O’Brien as senior director within its healthcare and senior living team based in London.

Madeleine Hitchcox also joins from Savills as associate director and will focus on valuation and consultancy.

O’Brien will focus on valuations, advisory and transactions in UK and Europe working alongside the existing European teams.

O’Brien has had a 17-year career within CBRE’s operational real estate group, where he specialised in the healthcare, senior living, infrastructure, and education sectors. His experience includes advisory, transactional and valuation mandates in the UK and continental Europe across all healthcare subsectors, on behalf of a range of operators, REITs, long-income investors, private equity and funders. 

Samantha Rowland, head of healthcare and senior living at BNP Paribas Real Estate, said: Healthcare and senior living is a prominent growth sector supported by the demographics, with a number of new entrants from REITs, institutional investors, private equity and pension funds. The addition of Edward to our growing team with his experience in both the UK and Europe adds an additional and unique offering for our clients.”

O’Brien added: “I’m thrilled to be joining Samantha’s team at this exciting stage of its growth. The healthcare and senior living sector in the UK and Europe is experiencing a phase of intense cross-border consolidation and diversification which presents a massive opportunity to all stakeholders. It is also experiencing an unprecedented range of challenges, which demand a proper understanding of the operational and real estate specifics of each sub-sector and geography.”