Landsec launches regen business as U+I’s Upton steps down

Mike Hood will become chief executive of Landsec’s regeneration division, leading on projects such as the £1.4bn Mayfield in Manchester.

This new Landsec company will combine the existing regeneration projects team at Landsec, as well as the staff from U+I, which Landsec acquired last year for £190m. The regeneration division will be tasked with both creating value and building a pipeline of mixed-use urban neighbourhoods that can support Landsec’s other products – such as offices and retail parks.

Hood was the managing director of U+I. Today, he was announced as the chief executive of U+I as well and will handle the day-to-day operations of the company while it undergoes the transition into the new Landsec regeneration division.

He takes on the role from Richard Upton, who will become a part-time senior advisor.

Upton said: “The acquisition of our business by Landsec in December 2021 has offered us an unparalleled opportunity to scale this compelling enterprise, to further empower the next generation of its talented team and ultimately create some of the most important places of the future. This is an exciting new chapter in a mission I have dedicated most of my life to.

“I am deeply proud of my team for all they have become and all they have achieved and as I hand the day-to-day leadership of the business to Mike Hood who will assume the role of CEO of U+I with immediate effect, I am excited for the future of this business and the impact it will make under his guidance.”

Hood said that the merging of Landsec’s regeneration projects team and U+I was the “next step” in U+I’s evolution.

“We’re excited to be building something that will be truly special in our sector,” he said.

Of the major regeneration projects on the docket for Landsec is Mayfield, the £1.4bn mixed-use scheme on the site of the old Mayfield Train Station in Manchester. One of the first parts of Mayfield, a 6.5-acre publicly-funded park, is nearing completion and set to open this autumn.

Earlier this year, Landsec chief executive Mark Allan told Place North West that his company was aiming to complete the first phase of Mayfield in 2025. That first phase includes 320,000 sq ft of offices.

Allan said he is targeting a completion date of 2032 for work on all phases of Mayfield, including a potential 1,500 homes.