Leading central London student accommodation provider urbanest has announced the appointment of Gavin de Klerk as Head of Development, who joins the business with immediate effect.

Bringing over 25 years’ experience delivering complex and large-scale development projects across the UK, Europe and MENA, Gavin will strengthen the senior team at urbanest.

Joining urbanest from luxury residential developer Concord London, where he was Development Director, Gavin has worked across mixed-use, commercial, residential, retail and hospitality schemes with aggregate values in excess of £10bn.

Prior to his time at Concord London, Gavin spent four years at Lendlease developing his strategic leadership capabilities, ability to steer projects through diverse stakeholder environments and expertise in delivering schemes from concept through to completion in line with financial returns.

At urbanest, Gavin’s key responsibilities will include leading on the delivery of future schemes and upgrading existing developments across urbanest’s portfolio of purpose-build student accommodation (PBSA) to meet higher sustainability credentials. All nine current urbanest schemes are rated BREEAM Excellent or above, with Gavin set to push for even higher performance criteria.

Over the coming months there will be a transition period with current Head of Development, Angus Kearin, who will continue his role through to the completion of urbanest Canary Wharf later in 2026.

Johnny Manns – Chief Investment Officer, urbanest:
“Gavin adds vast expertise, strategic leadership and commercial rigour to the urbanest team. Bringing a demonstrable cross-sector track record of developments that create long-term social and economic value, Gavin will enable urbanest to continue driving forward on our growth trajectory.”

Gavin de Klerk – Head of Development, urbanest:
“Joining urbanest is an excellent opportunity to contribute to the growth of London’s leading student accommodation provider. Building on the achievements of the existing urbanest portfolio, together we will continue to strive for higher standards in our future developments and cement our position as a PBSA provider with exceptional sustainability credentials.”