Bloom, the ultra-urban industrial investor and developer, has appointed Chris Leonard, an experienced London industrial real estate development manager, as development director.

Chris will lead the delivery of Bloom’s development programme with existing projects and pipeline opportunities. He will also be supporting the leadership team, headed by co-founders Tom Davies and Sam McGirr, on setting Bloom’s real estate investment and location strategies. 

Since the inception of its £250 million joint venture with Angelo Gordon in 2021, Bloom has acquired six London assets in Brixton, Greenwich, Hackney, Fulham, Camberwell and Park Royal for £78 million. The portfolio comprises a mix of extensive refurbishment and ground-up redevelopment projects, with practical completion for all assets expected in 2023.

Chris joins Bloom from Capital Industrial, where he was capital projects manager responsible for the redevelopment and refurbishment of industrial properties. Before joining Capital Industrial in 2016, Chris was property development manager at Ocado, where he was responsible for the acquisition and development of various properties within the UK and Europe. Before joining Ocado, he worked at Faithful+Gould.

Chris Leonard said: “I am delighted to be joining Bloom at this exciting time for the company. I look forward to delivering best-in-class, sustainable ultra-urban industrial units suited for the modern market”.

Tom Davies, co-founder of Bloom, said: “We are delighted that Chris has joined as a senior member of our team to lead the delivery of our extensive development programme”.

Sam McGirr, co-founder of Bloom, said: “Chris’s experience and expertise, gained form his previous development roles at Capital Industrial and Ocado, will be invaluable to us as we progress our strategy to transform under-utilised real estate in central london into ultra-urban warehouse space to enable modern businesses to thrive”.