Fusion Group appoints Richard Pilkington as CEO

UK PBSA developer and operator Fusion Group has named Richard Pilkington as its new Group CEO, taking over from co-founder Nigel Henry, who transitions to chairman.

Richard Pilkington

Pilkington brings extensive real estate experience, having recently served as CEO of Modon's international business, where he established their UK presence and partnered on the 2 Finsbury Avenue development in London. Before Modon, he was head of European Real Estate at Cain International and held senior roles at Oxford Properties and MGPA (now part of BlackRock).
Fusion has seen substantial growth recently, driven by high demand for student accommodation. Over the past year, the company has significantly expanded its team, capital partnerships, and development pipeline. It also relaunched its operating platform, Fusion Students, which now manages 2,000 PBSA beds, with 1,700 of those completed by Fusion in the last year alone (plus an additional 275 developed by Olympian for Cain International). Since its founding in 2012, Fusion has delivered a total of 5,000 PBSA beds.
Looking ahead, Fusion plans to deliver another 1,500 beds in 2026 and has a development pipeline with the potential to add 9,000 more beds across the living sector by 2030, aiming for a minimum of 12,000 operational beds under management. Nigel Henry, who co-founded Fusion in 2005, will now provide strategic guidance as Chairman.
Richard Pilkington, CEO of Fusion Group, said: “The living sector across Europe continues to experience a significant imbalance in supply and demand, creating opportunity for investors and developers. However, delivering appropriate risk adjusted returns remains challenging due to planning and regulatory matters, building and operating cost inflation, the fluctuating cost of capital and the need for hands-on operational management. This means that more than ever investors value partnering with a fully integrated operating platform that can manage these challenges and deliver returns. Fusion is a business that is really well positioned to respond to these market needs and become one of Europe’s leading living platforms.”
Nigel Henry, chairman of Fusion Group, added: “Fusion has grown significantly over the past few years and the time is right for our business to develop with new executive leadership. Richard has been a friend to me and the business for a number of years now, and his experience in leading growth businesses, his knowledge of capital markets, development and operating platforms, together with his style and approach, make him the perfect fit for our business.”