ARL announces new Board succession in line with wider strategic remit

• New Board Members will take up posts at ARL AGM in late November 2024
• Board appointments mark strategic step in ARL’s evolution
• Highly experienced consultant and NED, Helen Kings, will lead new Board, taking on role of ARL Chair

The Association for Rental Living (ARL) has announced the lineup of its new Non Executive Board as the membership body for all institutionally backed, professionally managed purpose-built rental living sectors including Build to Rent (BTR), continues to broaden its strategic remit.

New Board induction is underway, with the new Members due to formally take over the governance, control and strategic direction of the ARL as of its Annual General Meeting in late November 2024.

Helen Kings, Chartered Director and Founder of boutique consultancy and advisory firm Kings Residential, who holds over 10 years of executive and non-executive real estate experience including as former Managing Director of Touchstone Residential, one of the UK’s biggest third-party property managers, will serve as Chair. Blending a commercial background with Build to Rent and wider private rented sector expertise including shared ownership, student and retirement sectors, Kings has experience of corporate growth and expansion.

Appointed as Vice Chair & Treasurer is Harry Swales, Director & Head of Residential at Dorrington. Swales has significant experience of residential investment strategy and portfolio management, following a 20-year career that has spanned government, banking, private equity and real estate.

Providing legal expertise on the new Board is Cyrille West, Eversheds Sutherland’s Head of Build to Rent, London and a key member of the firm’s Living Sector group. In addition to Build to Rent, his 20 or more years’ experience in the operational residential real estate market encompasses the hotel, affordable, student and senior living sectors.

Appointed to lead the Board on governance is Karen Cooksley. Qualified solicitor and real estate sector specialist consultant, Cooksley commands over three decades of experience in the legal sphere with a planning specialism. As well as an impressive track record of successful local council lobbying Cooksley advises board-level clients across a variety of sectors including property. Founder of three consulting businesses utilising her legal expertise within the ESG space, Cooksley also holds a series of non-executive appointments including with the Edmund de Rothschild-backed Funding Affordable Housing, Housing Association (FAHHA).

Serving as an independent voice on the Board is Martin Bellinger, who has more than 30 years’ experience in real estate, notably in affordable housing spanning both the public and private sectors. Bellinger is a pioneer of the BTR sector, having been one of the founders of Essential Living, delivering the first BTR scheme to include discount market rent homes and the first to use offsite manufacturing. Martin is a Founding Director of Goodstone Living, which currently has almost 1,000 homes under construction.

Stephanie Smith, the Head of Living Sector at Hubbl, completes the new ARL Board appointments in the role of Secretary. Smith, also Chair of the ARL Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, brings over 20 years of experience in living sector operations, training, and asset management to the position, having built a career internationally across 11 countries including multifamily/BTR, single family rental, student and senior living assets. Smith’s previous roles also include Director of Residential Operations for Invesco, where she was responsible for the £2.5 billion pan-European portfolio.

Lesley Roberts, Chair of the ARL commented on behalf of the Board,

“We are delighted to be welcoming the new Board to the ARL at this key point in the organisation’s evolution. The current Board has served since just before Covid in 2019 and now feel that the ARL is ready to supercharge the next phase of membership growth and strategic positioning within the rental living sector ecosystem. The ARL’s next period of expansion requires fresh energy, perspective and a diversity of knowledge and expertise which this new Board will bring. We’re confident the organisation will be in safe hands.

“The Nominations Committee had a really tough gig filtering and selecting candidates from a large and very talented pool of applicants. The aim was to create a capability, gender and skills mix that would allow the ARL to fire on all cylinders of the strategic vision going forward and meet the needs of members, and I think we’ve achieved that.

“Our sincere appreciation goes to those who applied and also to those on the Nominations Committee who gave their time, expertise and energy in shaping and selecting the new Board cohort. Congratulations to all new ARL Board Members.”

The ARL was established in 2016 as the UK Apartment Association (UKAA), then rebranded in early 2024 to reflect its widening remit. The membership organisation fully represents all institutionally backed, professionally managed purpose-built rental living sectors, including urban and suburban single-family and multi-family rental, co-living and later living. Its goal is to deliver an increasingly amplified and unified voice for the purpose-built rental sector, redefining the concept of rental living.

Board succession and Special Advisors play an important role in informing ARL’s evolution, ensuring the organisation can continue to meet the needs of members in the BTR space. With Board succession secured, the ARL will now turn its attention to selecting Special Advisors to support the Executive and the new Board.

For more information, please visit www.theARL.org.uk.