We target a wide range of carefully chosen properties – including retail, office and industrial units across the UK. Our long-term goal is to maintain a balanced portfolio with the potential to grow sustainably.
A balanced asset allocation and active stock diversification strategy looking for balanced risk and return within a single solution.
Active property management to maximise returns and create sustainable value.
A dedicated team of six investment professionals with over 16 years’ average industry experience.
Oversight from a wholly independent appointments committee to ensure a responsible investment approach.
An industry leader in environmental management.
The Trust invests directly in properties ranging in value from £1.2million to £101.5million.
Hermes selects, owns and manages all these properties directly. All the investors in the strategy are UK pension funds or charities, committed to achieving long-term returns.
Chris Darroch
Interim Fund Director
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Chris Darroch
Interim Fund Director
Chris joined Hermes Real Estate in December 2009 and is Fund Director for the BT Pension Scheme's UK real estate portfolio. As fund manager he is responsible for all aspects of managing the portfolio and is accountable for delivering investment performance. Chris joined from Aberdeen Asset Managers, where he was a Director of Fund Management, responsible for the management of over £1.2 billion on behalf of pension fund clients. Chris began his career at Richard Ellis (now CBRE), where he gained a broad range of experience in the commercial property sector, which extended to opening an office to asset manage an underperforming portfolio with a view to realising the investment. Following completion of this project in 1994, Chris joined Scottish Amicable Investment Managers (now Aberdeen), where he gained broad experience in all aspects of property fund management and assumed control of a number of client mandates. Chris has a BSc in Land Economics from Paisley University and is a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the Investment Property Forum.
Russell Black
Fund Manager – HPUT
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Russell Black
Fund Manager – HPUT
Russell joined Hermes in March 2002 as a Retail Surveyor to work on a UK mixed use retail portfolio. In 2005 he was appointed as an Investment Manager responsible for the Hermes Retail Warehouse portfolio (approx £700 million) with responsibility for both direct and indirect retail warehouse assets. In 2009 Russell was appointed as Asset Manager for the Hermes Property Unit Trust.
The Appointments Committee consists of at least three, and at most eight, members. Each year at least one third of the Appointments Committee retires at the Annual General Meeting and is then eligible for re-election by Unit Holders.
The Appointments Committee provides independent oversight of Hermes on behalf of Unit Holders. The Appointments Committee was formed as part of a restructuring in order to comply with the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive which became effective from 22 July 2013.
David is a Chartered Accountant and worked for Morgan Stanley from 1984 until 2010 taking various senior operational roles. He was chair of Morgan Stanley Pension Trustee Limited and non-executive chair of the audit committee of Morgan Stanley International until the end of 2011. He is currently Chief Executive of Brewin Dolphin plc and a member of the Council of ICAS. David accepted the position of trustee for The Urology Foundation in 2017.
Paul is Chief Investment Officer at the Crown Estate, previously Director of Investment and Asset Management since 2007, prior to that he ran the Church Commissioners global real estate investment portfolio. He also sits on various industry bodies including the Policy Committee of The British Property Federation.
Sue is an Executive Director at CBRE, the global property advisers, where she has specialised in UK investment markets for over 25 years. Sue is a Non-Executive Director of Helical Plc where she chairs the Valuation Committee and sits on the Audit and Remuneration Committees. She is a Trustee of the Reading Real Estate Foundation. Barwood Capital Ltd have appointed Sue as Chair of its Barwood Property Fund 2017.
Andrew is a non-executive director of C. Hoare & Co and Ecclesiastical Insurance Group plc, and was previously a board member and chairman of Southern Housing Group Limited. He was a partner at Ernst & Young for 28 years. He also served on the firm’s board and was a trustee of the firm’s pension schemes. Andrew is a trustee of the Centre for Economic Policy Research and a member of the Financial Reporting Council Review Panel.
Frances has more than 30 years’ experience across various roles within the asset management and investment banking industries. Since 2007 she has been a partner of Opus Corporate Finance and she currently holds non-executive roles on the JP Morgan Smaller Companies Investment Trust Board, Aviva’s With-Profits Committee, the Aegon Investments Ltd Board and, the Board of HICL plc.
